Dress Etiquette OR "camo'd survivalist types"

[Prizefighter]

I was reading through the "Weirdos You've Met While Gun Shopping" thread when I noticed a couple of gents discussing their annoyance with fellows like these "camo'd survivalist types." Having just today picked up some SWAT boots from the local military surplus store for outdoors-ing in - I liked them better than the $40-$60 more expensive boots at REI - I thought I'd ask about it with the people I turn to first about anything firearms or outdoors related.

Naturally, I think going around wearing military patches, emblems, or a t-shirt with "ARMY" or the like printed on it if you haven't been in the service is silly at best. But there's a lot of functional, useful, comfortable gear that happens to be camo-patterned or olive drab. Plus, I'll admit it, I'm a red-blooded twenty-something firearms enthusiast; I'm partial to the "tactical" look sometimes.

I wouldn't go to the grocery store in BDUs. But for hiking, shooting, and other outings, I have been looking up items such as vests and MOLLE packs. But I don't like the idea of fellow enthusiasts or other people I'd respect labeling me a poseur. Do I need to find a shirt that says "NOT ARMY?"

Edit:
Incidentally, there's an article in the October Guns & Ammo that got me thinking about it, too.

...I was supposed to meet a group of outdoor writers in an airport baggage-claim area. Across the room I spotted a cluster of tanned, middle-aged men clad in various lighter earth tones.

Of course, they could have been environmental activists wearing L.L. Bean or REI, but I noticed a surplus of pockets and zippers and determined that they were my people.

[USMCSpeedy]

I think that while you're out shooting, hiking, etc. that all the "tactical stuff is fine. But if thats your 24/7 attire and you wear it to church on Sundays, that may be a little overboard. (But then again at some churches...)

[jack404]

well i wear a couple camo jackets here regularly as they are waterproof and wind proof and saves me wearing my dryazabone gear , pants i'm a jeans person ... my hat however was a issue one and i still wear it as i aint found better , keep rain off me sun off me and mounts fair few shooting club membership badges , RSL badges and other badges that i use regularly like my aoob badge ( aoob.com.au)

[Juker]

I've still got quite an array of military garb, and it still serves me well in the outdoors. I've probably worn my BDU field jacket more for shooting than I ever did in the Army.

Our hilarity on the 'Weirdos' thread was directed at those clingon tacticool mall ninjas who think the clothes make the man, and may or may not own anything more lethal than a paintball gun.

[millwright]

For a lot of folks "growing up poor" the Army/Navy Store was/is the "bargain outlet" of choice ! Good utilitarian clothes that wear well for an affordable price ! Not 24/7 garb to be sure, but for working utilities who cares about color/shade/pattern ? >MW

[gdmoody]

While I was still in the Army, it used to piss me off to no end to see people wearing "partial" uniforms, such as wearing the BDU pants around. I would not allow my children to put them on and I would never even think about it for myself. I might stop at the grocery store on the way home and be in full BDU's, but that was my uniform. Now that I am retired, it still bothers me a little but no where near as much. I still won't wear a partial uniform unless I am going hunting and then only to and from my hunting area.

[Slabsides]

I do not wear any camo currently in use (ACUs, etc). I will wear older camo (BDU or tiger stripe) pants OR shirt OR jacket.....never a full set unless going hunting.

No patches, ranks or insignia of any kind.

I really dont care what anyone else wears as long as they are not trying to look like a soldier and not actually be one. VERY disrespectful IMO.

I've never been in so I avoid looking like I have/am. I do work directly with soldiers every day and have the utmost respect for them. I would kill or die for them in an instant.

[carver]

The military has rules about wearing military issued clothing, either while on duty, or off duty. That old field jacket they issued me was absolutly the best cold/wet weather gear I have ever owned. I've wore a couple of them. Today I do wear cammo shirts for everyday wear, but the pants, and shirt together are for hunting.

[hogger129]

Eh, anybody that appreciates firearms and uses them in the safe, directed manner is cool in my book. Sure some people are a little different, but oh well, they aren't bugging me. The only camo I have is a pear of camo pants, and it's not even real camo.

[RustyFN]

I don't own anything Camo. That puts me in the big minority living in West Virginia. I love to shoot but never got into hunting.

[Brisk44]

My only camo is of the soft touch store bought variety and only worn hunting.

[1 Eyed Jack]

You see a lot of people in northern Ca wearing camo shirts and pants all the time, not sure what they are doing, trucks are all muddy, strange gear in the pickup like lots of shovels, containers etc., no guns in the rack though, so they are not hunting, must be some kind of regional style, or club or sumpin

[rentalguy1]

For me it's shorts and a (usually Harley Davidson) t-shirt one size too big or jeans and the same shirt. If I need to "dress up," I tuck the t-shirt in and throw a button down over the top, but not tucked. I still have a desire to conceal. All my old army gear is in the closet. I may have worn my old style field jacket a handful of times since '94. I do still wear some of my old PT t-shirts occasionally. I don't get into the tacticool clothing, but it's your dime and your taste. Don't worry about what others think. It serves your purpose and that's all that matters.

[HunterAlpha1]

i see no problem wearing military clothing. patterns that are no longer used by the regular military are preferred, but so long as you don't have unit emblems or rank insignia i don't see the problem. remember, we're all in the militia, and camo is militia uniform.

[glens67]

Camo and tactical stuff is required here in Idaho.
Glen

[hunter29180]

I occasionally wear "camo" for hunting. in my opinion why should i pay full mint for something that wont last as long. wear as well or just to impress the "Jones". i get almost all my hunting camo at the surplus store. used to hunt turkey with a 12 in ruger SA .22, believe me a full used "gillie" even if tattered up a bit was way less than a comericial set anyday. the turkeys didn'd seem to know the diffrenance and since it was already "broken" in was far more confortable than a new one.

i do remove any patches out of respect for our boys though! Mil issue just seems to wear better and longer than comercial versions do.

[howlnmad]

I have some camo that I wear, mostly pants and of an old design. I like them for outdoorsy stuff because of the extra pockets. My field jacket gets worn every day in the winter. All insignia is removed on any of mine.
As far as dressing like you're going into combat just to go to the mall, that's a little much to me. It bugs me to see the local police cruising around dressed in SWAT tactical gear. What ever happened to the uniform and tie?
To those wearing shirts that represent the individual branches, well maybe they have a son or daughter or sister or brother enlisted and are just proud of them.

[The Duke]

I got a real nice woodland pattern, gore tex windbreaker/raincoat from the Barksdale BX....Id have preferred OD, but didnt have any...Its just right for down South when hunting, fishing, camping, or going to the mail box, post office or grocery store...In this rural small Southern town, Camo is the uniform of the day after hunting season opens..Got a pard who even wears his camo tie to church.

Admittedly, Id look out of place on Wall Street or most any Big Citty streets...But here in the South, it fits in and no one gives you a side glance....

[islenos]

I wish I could still wear my Issued Uniform!

[Jackman]

I was Army active duty 31 years ago but my BDU's shrank so I don't wear them anymore used to wear them darn near everywhere...

[Gatofeo]

I don't own or wear any camo.
I'm an old, fat dude and such types look silly in it. Few things are siller than a fat man, wearing camo and with a big ol' pistol strapped to his 48-inch waist. Used to see these types in northern Idaho, generally they were city folks out for the day.
Usually carrying a long-barreled Magnum, or a high-capacity 9mm. They couldn't hike 75 yards down a trail to the St. Joe River without sucking wind like a jet engine, and pouring out sweat.
I despised the survivalist look of the 1980s at gun shows. I'd see these youngsters, 19 or 20 when I was 30, with jump boots, bloused pants, jackets and sometimes even a beret! You KNEW they had never been in the military, but they were strutting around and racking back the bolt on AR15s like they were trying to pound it right out of the breech!
I can't stand phonies. Still plenty of them today, wearing camo and cowboy hats.
I was born and raised in the West, and I have no drawl.
But I've seen guys from the eastern seaboard move here and, suddenly, they're listening to that caterwauling country-western music, wearing ka-boy boots and sporting belt buckles bigger than a turkey platter.
Meh ... phonies ... wanna-be warriors and cowboys.
I wear jeans and a casual shirt when I attend gun shows.
I'm just a grumpy ol' desert cat, weary of all these posers, who make responsible gun owners look like morons.
These strutting gas bags are making it harder each year to keep our guns.

[armedandsafe]

I wear the OD pants with the thigh pockets with a white shirt and an OD vest every day. To dress up, I switch to dark blue or gray officer's pants and the khaki vest. My hat is an Aussie leather or (real) Stetson. My cap is a blue garrison cap with my militia ID button and the "Cold War Veteran" patch my granddaughter got me. Hat for normal wear, cap for when I'm photographing.

I buy those pants for comfort and price. I wear a white shirt, because I've worn them for over 50 years and old habits are hard to break. I switched to the commercial vests as the ones I make don't have enough pockets.

I've never had anyone mistake me for being "tacti-cool" but, then again, most people don't mess with me. I've never had anybody try to mess with me twice.

Pops

[Infidel]

About all I wear is mil-spec, twill bdu pants. I have them in all colors(no camo though) and they look quite nice and casual. I always wear boots, side zips or one of my two pairs of western work boots. I am not fancy in the least and after serving in the military found the clothing quite functional and durable.

I wear those same bdu's to work along with a Polo type shirt and boots. I look fine and professional. I work in hotels btw.

Screw appearances anyway, I care not what anyone thinks of my clothes. If they give a sh1t, they need to get a life.

I do get VERY annoyed by those jackwagons that wear patches on actual Army camo BDUs when it is obvious they do not deserve to wear it or even the uniform proper. That is why I don't wear the camo. It was my uniform that I respected.

[Woodnut]

Since I did not serve in the military, Camo is for hunting and not for casual wear, and I really don't like to see people wear it for casual. If you are working outside in the yard or on a farm OK but not in the city just to go shopping. Just my 2 cents.

[Double D]

I was in the army before the camo uniforms. We had solid green top and bottom and the jackets were the same. I could care less what a person wears and I dont like when people judge others by their clothes. I was brought up so poor we wore clothes and shoes that people gave us and nothing matched and nothing fit. I dress casual all the time and I despise getting dressed up. I played in the band at our church for a little over a yr and there was a dress code for those of us on stage. I hated every minute of it. If I cant go somewhere casual, I wont go. And if anyone doesnt like the way I dress, well, they can.......go fly a kite. I go to church every week in jeans and a shirt with the tails out. I will die dressed like that.