Uniform of the day

From USAFA Folklore

The Uniform of the Day (UOD) is the term for whatever uniform cadets are required to wear on a given day. The UOD is announced every morning over the loudspeaker by Command Post and fourth class cadets must remember it as part of Checkpoints. The UOD is normally chosen by the Senior Officer of the Day. At some point in the Academy's history, uniform lights communicated the UOD to the wing. Some years, Command Post would change the UOD so frequently that cadets began to refer to it as "Uniform of the Hour."

Monday through Thursday, the UOD normally includes blues (formerly known as Service Charlie or Service Delta), and Fridays it includes BDUs (formerly fatigues). In some years cadets were allowed to choose additional garments such as the parka or athletic jacket to wear over the blues, except during formation where the whole wing wore the same combination. In other years, every item of the uniform of the day, down to scarves and gloves, was announced and required all day.

Cadets must have a valid reason for wearing an alternate uniform, such as a flight suit for flying duties or BDUs for certain laboratory work. Academic instructors are known to send cadets back to their rooms to change into the proper uniform. Often, ranking cadets or PTB would stand on the bridges to Fairchild Hall as "bouncers" and force cadets wearing the wrong uniform to go back and change.