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The army physical training uniform is made up of many different parts. The most commonly used is the summer wear. The summer wear consists of a short sleeve shirt, black running shorts, reflective vest, white socks, and running shoes. The cold weather physical training uniform consists of improved running jacket, improved running pants, long sleeve physical training shirt, black running shorts, reflective vest, white socks, a black fleece cap, black gloves, and running shoes. Soldiers may not mix or match PFU and IPFU items.
When soldiers wear either the PFU or IPFU as a complete uniform, they will keep the sleeves down on the sweatshirt or jacket, the legs down on the pants, and they will tuck the T-shirt inside the trunks. Soldiers may not roll or push up the sleeves of the PFU sweatshirt or the IPFU jacket. Soldiers may wear the sleeves of the PFU sweatshirt cuffed or uncuffed; they may not cuff the IPFU jacket sleeves. Soldiers will wear the black knit cap pulled down snugly on the head, with the bottom edge of the cap folded up; soldiers will not roll the edge of the cap.
A similar, commercially designed black knit cap is authorized for wear. There are no restrictions on the combination of IPFU items worn, unless the commander has prescribed a particular combination for formation. The shoes are at the commander’s discretion. The reflective vest is designed for safety. The road guard vest or reflective vest is usually yellow in color. The vest has the name of the company name stenciled into in. The reflective vest usually has two strips. One contains the person’s name and rank. The other one has second strip has the persons unit.
The only authorized insignia for wear on the IPFU is the physical fitness badge. When the badge is worn it will be placed on the upper left front side of the IPFU-shirt, sweat jacket, and/or long sleeve shirt. The physical fitness badge is given to people who earned a 290 or higher on their physical training test. One of the dangerous thing some people do, is where cold weather gear underneath the physical training uniform. The reason that personal should not do it is because they could have a possible heat stroke or dehydration.
Some reasons behind people wearing cold weather gear are it is winter or just a little cooler then the personal is used to. The army combat uniform is to be worn with all pockets close or velcro shut. Fans should be blouse or tucked into the boot. The laces should not be out of the boot. A tan belt should always be worn. The U. S. army tab with Velcro should be on the left. The way I remember, is that the army is always near and dear to your heart. The name tag with Velcro should be on the right. The unit patch should be on the left side.
The combat patch should be on the right side. There should be two black in infrared tabs on the army combat uniform top. Oneis under the United States flag, and the other is on the left arm under the green tab. There should be a tan shirt underneath the army combat uniform top, it should be tucked in to the army combat uniform bottom. If a soldier has items in their cargo pockets, the soldier needs to make sure that the items carried in the cargo pockets do not protrude from the pockets or presented bold the appearance.
The army combat uniform has a place for three writing utensils. I highly recommend having cap pens. If you have retractable pens they have the potential of leaking out and ruining the army combat uniform top. Male soldiers are required to have a clean shave. Soldiers are required to have a clean hair cut so that the hair does not touch the ear or the back of the collar, or have hair in their face to the eyebrow. Male soldiers are not allowed to wear earrings. Female soldiers are permitted to wear earrings complement the uniform.
A patrol cap should be worn with the front vertical crease of the cap centered on the forehead in a straight line with the nose. The front, lower portion of the cap should be approximate 1 inch above the eyebrows (approximately the width of the first two fingers). The patrol cap should be placed on the head in such a manner that the front and the rear and the top edge former unbroken line in the silhouette, and the bottom of the cap is parallel to the ground while standing at the position of attention. Personnel will not crush or shape the patrol cap to form peaks in the front or rear of the cap.
The rank and the insignia on the beret and patrol cap are different for officers and enlisted personnel. The beret for officers and warrant officers wear a non subdued grade insignia centered on the beret flash. Enlisted personnel were their distinctive unit insignia (DUI) centered on the beret flash. On the patrol cap officers and warrant officers were non subdued grade insignia on a patrol cap in garrison environments, and subdued grade insignia in field environments. Enlisted personnel, wear subdued grade insignia of the patrol cap in garrison, also in the field environments.
The black beret is the standard headgear unless assigned to units or positions authorized the tan, green, or maroon beret. Soldiers are issued beret up on assignment to their first duty assignment after completion of advanced individual training or officer basic courses. The beret is the basic headgear for utility uniforms in a garrison environment. The beret is not worn in the field, in a training environment, or environments that the berets are impractical. The beret is not worn on deployments unless authorized by the commander.
The beret should be worn so that the headband (edge binding) is straight across the forehead, one inch above the eyebrows. The flash is positioned over the left eye, the excess material is draped over the right ear, extending to at least the top of the ear and no lower than the middle of the ear. Personnel will cut off the ends of the adjusting ribbon and secure the ribbon knot inside the edge binding at the back of the beret. When worn properly, the beret is formed to the shape of the head; therefore, soldiers may not wear hair styles that cause to discrimination of the beret.