11 March 2019
Ahoy, Dogs of War!
Welcome to the second part of the Third Brigade Uniform Build-Along. In case you missed the first part, You Favorite Brigade is trying to get as many people as we can into the same uniform for the Dress Mess! (You ARE coming to the Dress Mess on Friday 07JUN2019 in Baton Rouge, aren’t you? Visit Summit 2019 to register)
We’re looking at the “new” Dress Blouse Black uniform, found in your Marine Force Manual 2015 on page 43 (Section 7.2.1.4). We’ll be using the updated guidelines for this uniform, as described in the “Uniform Wear Guidelines CH 1 201810.15” PDF, distributed by COFORCECOM to the Brigade OICs and published on the SFMC Facebook Group, under “Files,” by the ‘DANT. These guidelines have been incorporated into the new Brigade Uniform Guidebook, which will soon be available for download from the Third Brigade website (at 3bde.org) under the “Docs” tab.
In the first part of this build-along, we discussed the black trousers with blood stripe and footwear, Today, we’ll discuss the jacket and some of its accouterments.
Let’s take a look at what the manuals tell us about this uniform. Turn to page 43 in your MFM, section 7.2.1.4. Here, we see that the Dress Blouse Black is comprised of the Blouse, Dress Black Trousers, a Dress Branch of Service (BOS) Tunic or Dickey, and the rest. With the introduction of the new SFMC rank insignia, the uniform has changed a bit: there are no longer epaulets worn on this uniform, which makes things easier.
Point your browser to 3BDE Uniform Manual 2019. The Third Brigade Uniform Manual incorporates the regulations from the MFM, the SFMC Uniform Guideline Revision (201810.15), and some helpful notations on creating your own Dress Blouse Black uniform. This uniform is detailed starting on page 17
There are a huge number of sources for this jacket. I am ordering mine from Uniformalwearhouse at which it sells for $32.95. Notice that the buttons it comes with are simple black buttons.
We’ll be replacing the stock buttons with an anchor type button. I will be ordering my buttons from Etsy as an officer, I’ll order the “bronze” (gold) ones. If you’re enlisted, you should get the silver-colored ones. The MFM says 25mm buttons but the Mark 1 Eyeball shouldn’t tell the difference if it’s 23 or 25mm. 😉
The third item we’ll discuss here today is the BOS Tunic or dickey. My unit is a Support Branch unit (Military Intelligence), and as such our BOS color is gold. (Turn to page 61 & 62 of your handy MFM to see what color your BOS wears, if you don’t already know.) Remember that ALL Marines may wear Infantry Black, and that Unit Officers-in-Charge (OICs), First Sergeants, Sergeants Major, and General Staff officers may wear a white one instead of the BOS color. Turtlenecks have become less easy to find, and gold ones even more so. Men’s dickeys are likewise few and far-between, Howard Wolowitz notwithstanding. Of course,one may always sew a dickey (my wife tells me that they’re not too hard to do), but I intend to wear a gold “Bib Scarf” under my Dress Blouse Black. I purchased it from Glendale’s (“Parade Store”)I already have my shoulder cord, and it has a pin attachment (so it doesn’t require a button.) I bought it from the same source
Remember, Unit OICs may wear Kelly and White, and Unit DOICs may wear Kelly and White with a Kelly Attachment and gold tip. Again, check your MFM for details. The shoulder cord is worn on the right shoulder of this uniform. While you’re at Glendale’s, you should buy your webbed belt (if you don’t already own one.) It’s a black one; select nickel tip & buckle if you’re enlisted and brass if you’re an officer.
Once your jacket and your buttons arrive, carefully remove the stock buttons and replace them with the anchor style buttons. (If you don’t know how to sew on a button, you should learn. YouTube probably has instructional videos, or find a local Girl Scout or Home Economics teacher to show you.)
You’re almost done! The only thing that you lack is placing the rank and other insignia on the uniform, and we’ll discuss that next time around. Meanwhile, you should ensure that your uniform items are up-to-date. Check the SFMC Quartermaster (QM) for your rank insignia, collar brass, branch insignia, and so forth. Some ribbons are also available from the SFMC QM; you may buy others from Glendale’s. Check the MFM. You might also examine page 50 of the Third Brigade Uniform Manual for a peek at how I put mine together.
That’s it for this time around. Keep watching this space for the next installment of our 2019 Uniform Build-Along!
BGN T. Clark,
S-3 (Operations), Third Brigade