Back in May we covered the strange decision to shoe-horn our female Sailors in to male uniforms.

From the May 2016 post;

All you need to know about the birth of the transgender combination cover you you can find out from those it was first experimented on, the female Midshipmen at USNA who were forced to be the first ones to wear it at graduation. Ask them.

Since then, the female Midshipmen and junior officers that have reached out to me with their concerns have also provided me a view of the command climate we have when it comes to discussing this. When I asked them to write about it, they backed off as they don’t want to deal with the backlash.

There was no rising demand for this from the fleet. Those most affected were not asked their opinion. No one was all that happy about it. Well, some were. Those who had the idea and those who found that this move scratched their personal socio-political itch.

As we do is such cases, everyone followed orders and marched forward – regardless of how silly and uncomfortable we looked.

There were some that took action to fight while others shrugged, and we should all take a moment and give then a nod of appreciation.

When faced by a boneheaded decision by those above you who will not listen, and even if they did you don’t think they would hear or care, in the military you have few options.

As reported by our pal Andrea Goldstein at T&P, in an act of impressive Beltway guerrilla warfare – this happened;

When normal avenues of dissent were exhausted, including asking questions at all hands calls and writing criticisms routed via the chain of command, female Navy officers took matters into their own hands. … Female Navy officers serving on Capitol Hill incorporated the article into a template distributed via social media that was used to write members of Congress. The same officers who worked on the Hill also worked to make sure the letters were properly responded to, the right questions asked of the right people.

While the Navy required the cover change on Oct. 31, 2016, many women refused to buy it, instead waiting for passing of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act . Their advocacy and hard work paid off. When President Barack Obama signed the NDAA in December 2016, it superseded the requirement to go out and purchased the “unisex” cover. The law changed the mandatory wear date of the unisex cover to October 2018. It also required the Secretary of the Navy to be transparent about the composition of wear test groups and their results, stipulated that wear test groups be representative of female personnel, and identify costs as a fraction of service members’ pay. The law furthermore required “an identification of the operational need” of the cover, forcing the Secretary of the Navy to explain why the changes are being put forth at all.

Despite the change in the law, Navy has still not released a new message announcing the delay. Perhaps Navy leadership hopes that women won’t know better and will go out and buy the mannish unisex cover that cost millions to develop. Nonetheless, female Navy officers now get to keep their covers, and by law have a say in a decision that affects them.

Bravo Zulu Shipmates. Bravo Zulu.

Their work of art is on page 399.

All I know is this – if for some reason I ever do something to upset any of these women, would someone be kind enough to let me know so I can send flowers, candy, 500 rounds from AmmoMan.com, or anything that would get traction to apologize short of genuflection? I don’t think this is a group you want to cross.

Just plain impressive.