CG Uniform Center Prepares for Servicewide Shift in Garb

Story and photos by
Petty Officer 3rd Class Crystalynn A. Kneen
WOODBINE — A remote building appeared on the right-hand side of a long reserved road. The small black lettering on a white sign was the only indication from the road the structure was there. The plain white, brick building is nestled inside a quiet neighborhood. Entering through the double glass doors visitors find walls of cardboard flooding the 40,000-square-foot building located here.
Inside, employees working for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Uniform Distribution Center are preparing for a uniform change that will effect roughly 87,920 active duty, reserve and auxiliary personnel within just a few short years.
Looking throughout the box-flooded warehouse, eight employees hustle to pack uniforms in boxes, roll the boxes down a conveyor belt, slap address labels on them and ship them out in a bid to reduce the overstock of the old operational dress uniform before the new untucked uniform shipment is received.
“Approximately a year and a half ago, Coast Guard Headquarters, the service’s uniform program manager, Office of Military Personnel and the Uniform Distribution Center determined the Coast Guard ODU would change,” said Lt. Mike Bowman, the manager of the UDC.
The changes being made are to keep morale high and to upgrade the servicemen and woman of the Coast Guard, said Bowman. The new untucked ODU provides more air-flow and comfort.
“Typically, we send out 3,000 to 5,000 orders a month,” said Bowman. “Right now we have about 4,000 pre-orders for the new untucked ODU, so that should double our work load.”
The work load for the employees due to the uniform changeover will increase because the UDC is planning to have about 10,000 sets of new uniforms by the end of the month. With this shipment of untucked ODU’s, the UDC is selling the present ODU two for the price of one and plans to increase to four for one when new shipments come in.
“We have about 29 employees here at the UDC,” said Bowman. “These 29 employees pack and ship out daily orders, make cloth name tapes and are preparing for the pre-orders for next month.”
“We are anticipating working overtime,” said Cleveland Lazenby, an eight-year employee of the UDC. “We have already increased our cloth name tape orders.”
The cloth name tape orders have increased due to the two-for-one sale and the pre-orders for the new uniforms, said Cleveland.
The UDC standard is two days to get a service member’s uniform out the door, said Bowman. The goal is to maintain our standards even with the increase in output.
“The increase in output is not as challenging this time around. When we had to do a complete roll out a few years ago to the operational dress uniform from the working blue, we worked numerous hours of overtime including weekends to outfit the entire Coast Guard,” said Tom Chiera, the wage leader at the UDC.
When the Coast Guard was transferred from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, the Coast Guard transitioned from the working blue uniform to the operational dress uniform. That change was more challenging for the UDC staff because they had to outfit the entire Coast Guard with four new uniforms. This time the uniform change is a process that will be phased in throughout the next few years.
“Because the Coast Guard is slowly phasing in the untucked ODU, it gives us a chance for a little more organization,” said Cheira. “We continue to anticipate more work because we are trying to phase out the original ODU, and more orders are coming in because of the two-for-one deal.”
“I think we will get a huge demand for the untucked ODU. The uniform is fade, wrinkle and stain resistant. The uniform also has a few changes, such as blousing string holes, elastic pockets and the Coast Guard emblem embroidered on the pockets. Plus, the uniform cost the same amount as the current ODU,” said Bowman.
The UDC’s most challenging factor for the roll out is the actual space they will take up because we will still continue selling the tucked ODU,” said Bowman. “The great part about it is each employee can do each others job, so this makes the work load easier on everyone.”
The Coast Guard is planning to have a complete change out by the year 2012, said Bowman. As certain sizes become obsolete, recruits will start to get issued the untucked ODU.
“The UDC’s slower season is coming up because transfer season is slowing down. This will give us a chance to concentrate more on the change over, including orders of name tapes and sizing returns,” said Bowman.
Along with changes being made to the ODU, prototypes are being considered for new physical training gear, summer wear, which includes a polo shirt and cargo shorts, and a new trench coat that fits over the Bravo uniform. These uniforms are in the making and are currently being tested in the field.
These prototypes continue to keep the UDC employees busy through transfer season, new recruits reporting and well into the winter months.
The UDC suggests visiting the website for sizing charts. The tucked ODU sizes concentrate on the sleeve and chest measurements, but the untucked ODU concentrate on the chest and height measurements. The website also gives a visual image of the changes between the current ODU and the new one. The website also informs service members of special pricing of the original ODU to try to deplete the stock.