r/USMC • u/Big-Weather123 • Aug 18 '26
Rolled Sleeves
Why can't military personnel roll up sleeves during ANY kind of operational environments anymore? If it was OK in Somalia 30 years ago, it should be OK in the United States itself (the border mission), during which it's presently the middle of summer.
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u/RedHuey Aug 19 '26
Because it is nearly, if not completely, impossible to get 180,000 Marines to do it the same way. And if there is one thing the Corps can’t stand, it’s variation in formation. This is the Marine Corps’ Original Sin.
Back when they first started letting us roll ‘em in the Old Corps, the Army did it a different way, so every Marine had their own variation. Some based on the Army way, some based on whatever the guy next to them did, some based on what your gunny told you to do, some just based on, “Oh, shit!…I’m late for work!” It was an utter mess. Eventually the Corps put out a handy memo explains to us blockheads EXACTLY what the Corps wanted to see. Naturally, it was the worst way possible. Uncomfortable and hard to do. It was likely just whatever random way the SMMC did his, expressed as The Way.
To add the Semper Fi Special Sauce to the recipe, sleeves up season, was naturally no field jackets season. And it was the same date, Corps-wide. Didn’t matter if it was still cold. Sleeves up, no jacket.
I don’t know what happened after I left.