Thursday, August 2, 2001

Navy issues stricter civilian dress code, barring variety of casual clothing

By Steve Liewer, Yokosuka bureau chief

Greg Tyler / Stars and Stripes Petty Officer 3rd Class Aaron Sanders, a USS Essex sailor, shows the black-and-white drawing on his T-shirt recently at Sasebo Naval Base, Japan. Some T-shirts with offensive language and symbols are prohibited by the Navy civilian attire regulations.

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Sailors in Japan better forget their flip-flops, ditch their do-rags and burn their baggy jeans, because the Navy is cracking down on civilian clothing.

Rear Adm. Robert C. Chaplin, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Japan, issued the first comprehensive set of guidelines for off-duty attire of naval personnel in Japan two weeks ago. The controversial order affects all active-duty officers and enlisted personnel based in Japan and the Indian Ocean base at Diego Garcia.

Under Chaplin’s order, sailors are barred from wearing certain kinds of casual clothing in public, including head bandannas, flip-flops, tank tops, halter tops, oversized shirts and trousers, tank tops and jogging suits, with exceptions for swimming or sports.

The order took effect Monday.

It is not binding on dependents, civilian employees or family members, but they “are asked to abide by the spirit and intent of this regulation/policy,” according to the order.

The policy didn’t result from specific incidents or complaints, said Cmdr. David Wells, a CNFJ spokesman.

“The CNFJ leadership felt the existing civilian clothing policy needed to be updated in order to align all the Navy bases in Japan to the same standard to ensure consistency across the force,” he said.

Commissioned officers and chief petty officers are authorized to write up violators with “infraction chits,” which will be turned over to the sailor’s command for possible disciplinary action.

“The whole drive is to reinstall a sense of pride and professionalism,” said Capt. Dan Hartwell, Chaplin’s chief of staff. “You have to look good. ... this is a whole mindset that we’re working on here.”

Greg Tyler / Stars and Stripes Petty Officer 1st Class Dave Lord, who is in the process of transferring from Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, to U.S. Naval Station Annapolis, Md., is shown wearing some of his typical hot-weather civilian attire.

Hartwell said the order went through several drafts since April, when he began working on it with several Yokosuka-based command master chiefs.

“We’ve laid the expectation out so it’s in black and white,” Hartwell said. “It’s clear guidance, not confusing.”

Rules too strict

Many sailors are not pleased, especially those in the junior enlisted ranks.

“It’s just crap,” said Seaman Johnathan Pearson, 19, of the 7th Fleet command ship USS Blue Ridge. “It’s like having your mother and father back home telling you, ‘Son, you can’t wear that outside!’”

They see the code as another restriction on their rigidly regulated lives, and an attack on fashions that appeal to their generation.

“We should have some freedom of expression,” said Airman Robert Lyons, 22, of the Yokosuka-based carrier USS Kitty Hawk. “You are a grown man, you should be able to wear what you want. When you’re on your off time, if you want to look like an idiot, then you should be able to.”

“I’m 31, and my mother stopped dressing me a long time ago,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Natalie Burrowes of Helicopter Squadron 14 at Atsugi Naval Air Facility.

Sailors are accustomed to strict dress and grooming regulations when they are on duty, and few object. Hair and sideburn length is regulated, and beards have been prohibited since 1984. A long list of rules governs when, where and how uniforms must be worn.

But until now, civilian attire has been largely unregulated. The previous CNFJ order barred only torn and dirty clothes, or shirts with slogans carrying messages that are offensive, obscene or promote illegal drugs.

“I don’t understand how they can take our liberty attire,” said Seaman Happiness Hicks, 23, of the Blue Ridge. “Liberty time is our time.”

The strongest objections were to the provisions barring tank tops — commonly worn by men and women in Japan’s withering August heat — and against baggy clothes, which are a staple of youth culture.

“I’ve got to get rid of six pairs of pants,” Pearson complained.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason House, 26, of the cruiser USS Cowpens, served on a committee of junior sailors that offered recommendations when the Navy redesigned the service’s working dungarees a few years ago. He thinks the officers and chiefs who wrote the order should have done the same with the civilian clothing policy.

“Most of us dress pretty nice. It’s common sense,” House said. “They should have asked the sailors first.”

Some sailors, though, believe the new rules were needed.

“I think they are trying to cut out the fads,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Tumekka Johnson, 23, a yeoman in Sasebo Naval Base’s Fleet and Family Services Center. “Nobody wants to see you walking around in some old T-shirt or showing your bra, anyway.”

Some sailors say they are aware of their role as “ambassador” while serving overseas and see the need for guidelines.

“You’re here to represent ... the United States as a whole,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Carl Scavo, 21, of the cruiser USS Vincennes. “You should actually act the part and dress the part.”

Morale, Welfare and Recreation departments at the affected bases are turning away sailors who don’t meet the dress code from restaurants, clubs and movie theaters under its management. Rusti Davis, the merchandise manager for the Navy Exchange, said the exchange will enforce the rule for its civilian employees as well as its military patrons.

“If you’re in athletic attire, we’ll ask you to leave,” she said. “We realize the exchange has an obligation to ensure that we enforce the dress code.”

Davis said the store is reviewing its clothing racks to determine if it is selling jeans, shirts or blouses that would violate the rules. She said the exchange is waiting for guidance from the Yokosuka base commander, Capt. Michael Seifert, and from its own headquarters in the United States.

Some guidelines unclear

The provisions are similar to an order issued in June 1999 by Marine Corps Bases Japan headquarters in Okinawa that applies to all Marines in Japan, and to all servicemembers of any branch working on Marine Corps bases.

“This is an order, it’s not a vote,” said Hartwell, Chaplin’s chief of staff. “You can go out and solicit too much advice.”

Gunnery Sgt. Roger Brand, a communications chief with the air traffic control detachment at Japan’s Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station, says a dress code is necessary to keep a good appearance.

“You have to have some type of guidelines in place [for civilian attire], especially when you are in another country, so that you will appear above the rest. It’s important to keep this good appearance up.”

The drafting committee sought consensus and tried to take a “reasonable man’s approach,” Hartwell said. He’s not particularly concerned that some people are displeased.

“There’s no way we were going to please everyone,” he said. “The intent was to set a reasonable standard, articulate it and implement it.”

Some sailors, though, are finding that “reasonable standard” difficult to discern.

For example, skirts, trousers, blue jeans and shorts “should be of a length and fit to maintain proper modesty and not be unacceptably revealing,” according to the regulation. But it offers no guidance as to what constitutes “proper modesty” or is “unacceptably revealing.”

The rules also prohibit trousers, shirts and shorts that are “excessively oversized,” without defining the term. They specifically bar trousers that reveal underwear or buttocks — but what about pants that fit properly in the waist, but are flared around the ankles?

“I’m not sure if it means legs that are 16 inches across, or 116 inches,” said the Navy Exchange’s Davis.

“Unnatural hair color is prohibited,” according to another rule, without explaining whether that covers, say, a middle-aged officer who colors her graying hair back to brown or a senior enlisted sailor who prefers blond hair to his natural brown. Or does it simply prohibit a youngster from showing up aboard ship with his buzz cut dyed a Dennis Rodman-style green?

“They’re being too strict,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Daly, 32, of the Blue Ridge, a 14-year Navy veteran, “and at the same time, it’s too vague.”

Other services to follow?

Hartwell said CNFJ has received “very, very strong and positive feedback” from the other bases under its leadership.

“We’ve gotten nothing but rave reviews,” he said.

They are so good, in fact, that he said the order has been forwarded to U.S. Forces Japan with a suggestion that other services consider adopting their own versions.

A USFJ official said she wasn’t sure whether that would happen.

“This is the first we’re hearing of CNFJ’s policy, and to this point we haven’t considered [adopting] their civilian clothing code at USFJ,” said Master Sgt. Leah Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the multiservice command.

CNFJ leaders believe the furor will die down once people get used to the new regulations.

“This will probably evolve as the questions get answered,” said Wells, the CNFJ spokesman. “It’s certainly a step in the right direction.”

Rick Chernitzer and Greg Tyler contributed to this report.

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