The United States Department of Defense spends a great deal of time and resources developing uniforms. The respective organizations in each branch of service take requirements from leadership and design functional clothing that meets environmental, operational, safety and visual performance factors. The uniforms need to fit all heights, weights, shapes, sizes and genders across the force, be manufactured economically via mass production practices, and by law utilize a U.S.-based textile industry that has shrunk over the last few decades. Amy Brayshaw has been a part of this developmental community for 20+ years, and she’s in the studio to share her experiences with podcast editor Ron Granieri. Amy explains the difficulties associated with uniform development, including supply base issues, mass rollouts, color matching and durability, all while trying to meet the needs of the force and leadership’s guidance.
Most of our big programs, our new uniform like big launches of a new uniform come from leadership wanting their service members to look a certain way or a lot of times a general or an admiral will have an affinity to the uniform that they might have joined the service in or that they’re parent or grandparent, the uniform that they wore and they want to bring it back. That’s been a big theme over the last few years, heritage uniforms.
Podcast: Download
Amy Usborne Brayshaw is a senior civilian at the Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility (NCTRF) where she led the Organizational & Protective Clothing Team, and held the Navy’s Technical Warrant for General Purpose Organizational Clothing. In 2022, she was competitively selected for the Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Senior Leader Development Program (DSDLP). She is a graduate of the AY23 Resident Class at the U.S. Army War College.
Ron Granieri is Professor of History at the U.S. Army War College and the Editor of A BETTER PEACE.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.
Photo Description: Clockwise from top left: The Guardian uniform prototype was unveiled at the Air Force Associations Air, Space and Cyber conference in National Harbor, MD 2021; Lt. Cmdr. Jacqueline Nordan, Commander, Naval Air Force Reserve’s (CNAFR) mobilization program manager, poses in the first Navy maternity flight suit.; U.S. Navy Uniforms; U.S. Marine in 2002 modelling the MCCUU in woodland MARPAT; 2020 Army Service Uniform – Army Greens; Staff Sgt. Christopher Diggs-Goff, 40th Airlift Squadron loadmaster, conducts preflight checks on a C-130J Super Hercules at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, Jan. 13, 2022. Diggs-Goff conducted normal loadmaster and flying duties while testing the Two-Piece Undergarment universal integrative ensemble chemical, biological, radioactive, and nuclear protective equipment.
Photo Credit: Clockwise from top left: U.S. Department of Defense; Stephen Hickok/U.S. Navy; U.S. Navy photo; USMC photo; U.S. Army photo; U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Colin Hollowell