Idiots.

When an otherwise responsible commander makes public statements like this it usually means that nobody in his chain of command will listen. The First Sea Lord must be named Mohammed. May be the tip of an iceberg, problemwise.

This is upsetting. I don´t want a tax hike generally but I would happily pay more tax dollars to enhance the safety of soldiers. If better materials cost more we need to provide them.

this happened in the Bud Zumwalt days when they came out with a work uniform that was nylon and looked like hell(most guys I knew just kept wearing the Sea Farer type working uniform.Same thing with the dress uniforms brought out about the same time(made everyone look like a bus driver).I doubt that any uniform ever looked better than the bell bottom thirteen button dress blues of my day.
Retired Navy Chief

He forgot to mention that the pajamas they wear are much easier to fit to obese men and pregnant sailorettes.

curious.....are these uniforms made in China?

So, as a former Sailor, let me see if I have this straight: in Navy boot camp one of the tasks which you are taught is firefighting; you even go through a firefighting simulation, burning building and all. The importance of firefighting and damage control is drilled into your head from day one, and part of a normal duty day aboard ship is the nightly damage control drill.

And then you outfit these same potential firefighters with a highly flammable, 50% nylon uniform? Really?

BZ #4. Wash khakis and dungarees were (are) supremely practical - and fireproof. They stood up to rugged shipboard wear and tear. I thought the Uniform Board was loopy back when you and I were in, but they have gone completely bonkers.

Not what you want to be wearing while launching and recovering aircraft.

Also, digitized cammo is not what you want if you go overboard. You look like a breaking wave.

Why on earth does someone on a ship need digitized cammo? When the enemy goes after a ship, it is not aiming for individual personnel.

The burns that these personnel could suffer are sickening to contemplate.

This is no admiral.

Taxpayers don´t want to know how many screw ups the Navy has made trying to decide what sailors should wear. The physical training shirt for female sailors that turned PT into a wet t-shirt contest was another example.

Our Navy has too many Admirals, and not enough ships or sailors.

War is filled with bombs, which are combustibles, Rear Admiral. So I would suggest you get those uniforms flame proof and prepare for you demotion and release from the service. Your services are no longer needed.

Well I remember, #7, those days of boot camp firefighting. My group always seemed to figure that for some reason I was the one to hold the hose nozzle end, and get the backlash of water and soot. And to come out the dirtiest of all! That was when we had to hand wash all our clothes, and hang them to dry on lines, whereupon the firemen on the night watch wood stoke the coal-fired boilers and give our newly washed whites a sprinkling of soot.

I guess they never heard about the fire on the USS Forrestal back in the 1960s.

Kirby isn´t responsible for implementing these horrible uniforms, but it´s grotesque that he´s defending them.

@#4 "...I doubt that any uniform ever looked better than the bell bottom thirteen button dress blues of my day…"

Amen, Chief!
I wore them with pride!

I´m still trying to figure out why the Navy needs a camouflage uniform.

I joined the Navy 50 years ago this year. I was a Machinist Mate on a guided missle destroyer. I was also on a damage control team and served as nozzleman on the #1 hose team. I was aboard during two stints off the coast of Vietnam. Once in 1965 and again in 1966. Not once did I have to worry about my clothes catching fire.
I feel sorry for those in the military today. They´ll never experience what we did in the good old days. It wasn´t all good, but we served with pride.

My appologies to the RN, I should have read it first. Mea Culpa.

This is bad on so many levels I can´t even begin to contemplate where to begin. May God protect those who have to wear these deathtraps while in service to this great country. I do wonder if the fool who is so proud of these uniforms would like to stand in a really hot place wearing one, just to demonstrate for the msm?

How, exactly, are one´s chances for rescue improved if one is wearing a blue camo uniform after falling overboard?

During the 1970s many municipal fire depts. changed their 100% cotton class C daily duty uniforms- denim coveralls, to a nylon blend still used today.

The firefighters demonstrated the new uniform´s flamability and were ignored by mgmt. because firefighters don turnouts to fight fire.

Does today´s Navy fight fire wearing daily dress?

OP, thanks for posting this, but I have to correct you on a detail: RADM Kirby is not a submariner. That pin he´s wearing is a Surface Warfare pin.

What particularly ironic about RADM Kirby is that he once served on USS Forrestal !
However, his expertise (if you want to call it that) is as a public affairs officer - a spokesnoid.

I´ve also wondered why the Navy would need camo uniforms, and have taken the opportunity to ask that of several sailors I´ve met in the past few years. None of them could really say why.

Bring back the old bell bottom dungarees, for crying out loud. Who CARES if they´re not "wrinkle free" - they´re WORK uniforms, for crying out loud!

I served during the changeover period from that stupid airline pilot uniform of the early 70s (the double-breasted suit coat & tie, with the combination cap), and was lucky enough to see the ´Cracker Jack´ uniform reinstated. In the early 70s, we had that stupid, uncomfortable work uniform that was the dark blue shirt and dark blue trousers. Thank goodness that awful idea was replaced by the dungarees.

I see also that the Air Force has a digi-camo work uniform. How stupid is that?

Don´t worry the top brass are just stupid about their own uniforms. Everyone in D.C. as forgotten about the Pentagon being bombed and are back to wearing dress uniforms made out of polyester every day at work.

#22, we wear turnouts aboard ship as well. However, when/if a fire does happen in your workspace (or occurs as a result of combat), no one´s going to be automatically wearing them. There´s a chance that this uniform´s probably going to become a permanent part of your skin before you can even reach the damage control locker.

To understand some of the issues look at three GAO reports (GAO-10-669R, May 28, 2010; GAO-11-682R, Jun 30, 2011; and GAO-12-707, Sep 28, 2012). While the reports focus on ground combat uniforms, the issues are the same: cost and comfort. A fire retardant uniform will cost over twice what a non-fire retardant uniform will cost. And there will be comfort issues. As for the color scheme, it will hide paint and grease stains. Furthermore, if a sailor in the water does not make a proper splash pattern, the search helicopter will not see the victim, no matter what color uniform he or she is wearing.

Thanks, #23. I plead bleary eyes before 8 a.m. on a Saturday.