Fair winds, peacoat and desert camo: Navy makes big changes to seabag

At the conclusion of a months-long review, the Navy is streamlining the seabag of uniforms issued to new sailors and rolling out the much-anticipated new PT gear. According to a Navy Administrative message published on X, the service is phasing out its iconic double-breasted wool reefer/peacoat, which has been an optional uniform item since 2018. It will no longer be authorized for wear after Oct. 1, 2027. Also on borrowed time is the Navy’s rugged acrylic V-neck sweater, which is also an optional item and will see the end of authorized use next October. The wool V-neck sweater, the message adds, will continue to be authorized both afloat and ashore. The Navy Working Uniform Type II, the Navy’s desert digital camo working uniform, is coming to a faster phaseout. Its authorized wear will terminate at the end of November. The final item departing the seabag is the Navy’s dinner dress white jacket, a formal summer item meant to be worn with a cummerbund. After authorized wear of the jacket terminates on Oct. 1, 2027, the dinner dress blue jacket — essentially the same item, except for color — will be standard for formal wear year-round. The dinner dress blue jacket, the message notes, is a mandatory uniform item for officers in the ranks O-5 and above, and optional for the enlisted ranks and for officers through O-4. As those items are being retired, a new item will be added next October: the improved physical training uniform, or IPTU, with gender-specific sizing and an all-blue color scheme. Currently an optional item, it will now replace the unpopular gold T-shirt and blue shorts PT combo. Military Times first broke the news in February that the Navy was moving forward with scaling down to a single option for PT. “By 2027, it will be one PT uniform,” Rear Adm. Jennifer Couture, the Navy’s director of Personnel Plans and Policy, said in an interview at the time. “That makes sense. And it is also higher-quality. It is more in line with, if you were to go to a running store out in town … the kinds of clothing you would find there.” Beyond uniform changes, the new message announces improvements to the Navy uniform mobile app, including a build-your-uniform feature that will allow sailors to personalize their own awards and insignia and verify their correct wear. The message also extends the time new boot camp graduates have to use electronic gift cards issued to purchase uniform items from the Navy exchange. The e-gift card program was launched in May to help sailors purchase items that might not have been available at entry-level training due to supply chain issues dating back to 2024. The allowance, which sailors could obtain by emailing rtcuniforms@nexweb.org and providing personal and boot camp graduation information, was initially set to expire Sept. 30. Now, “due to operational commitments around the fleet,” that deadline has been extended to April 30, 2027, according to the message. “Any FY 2027 cost increase to uniform items covered by the EGC will not be passed on to the sailor,” it states. “The [e-gift card] Program applies to eligible sailors who graduated from RTC without a full seabag commencing 1 June 2024.” In the February interview, Couture explained that a review launched earlier this year by then-Navy Secretary John Phelan aimed to simplify uniform requirements for sailors and get rid of little-used items that are expensive to buy and maintain. “Do we have too many dress uniforms,” Couture said, “And [are we] making that less burdensome on people?” Still, some of these changes may receive mixed reactions. When the Navy in 2017 moved to phase out the beloved peacoat as part of mandatory wear, lawmakers expressed alarm, requiring the service to justify the decision and citing concerns that the move would result in hundreds of lost jobs for the Boston-based supplier. The Navy at the time noted that the service’s All Weather Parka was found to be an acceptable and versatile substitute for the peacoat for all uniform occasions. The removal of the NWU Type II desert camo from the seabag will leave the service’s NWU Type III four-color woodland digital camouflage uniform as the all-purpose work uniform. While most sailors were already wearing NWU Type IIIs, the NWU Type II uniform had been used by more specialized units, including special operations, explosive ordnance disposal and Seabees. More changes may be coming soon. The message notes that a Navy Uniform Board will convene beginning on Dec. 4, with topics including “a review of uniform streamlining efforts and potential expansion, fleet insignia proposals, and proposed uniform policy changes.”