Blue Mondays has Class Bs flying off shelves - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Blue Mondays has Class Bs flying off shelves

Dress Blues Uniform shops have been busy the last couple weeks. Sales of Class B uniform items such pants, shirts, belts and caps jumped 60 percent in the week following the Sept. 4 announcement that most airmen must wear the blue uniform on Mondays, said Army Lt. Col. Dean Thurmont, spokesman for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service.

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The rush created a temporary shortage of belts and enlisted caps and AAFES is working with suppliers to get the items back in stock, he added.

Since 2001, when airmen were allowed to wear their ABU, BDU or flight suit every day to reflect that the nation was at war, many have gone months without wearing their blue uniforms.

New Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz set the blue Monday policy after meeting with the service’s major command leaders in late August. “We all agreed that part of our image, culture and professionalism is instilled in our blues,” Schwartz said in message to airmen.

But part of his reason was to make sure airmen weren’t hiding a gut under that ABU.

“As you know, the ABU can hide a lot,” wrote Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Rodney McKinley in a memo obtained by Air Force Times.

He joked with airmen at the Air Force Association’s Air and Space Conference that he knew one reason for the last-minute shopping: “If you leave your uniform in the closet, it shrinks.”