I have a friend who may be showing this coming year. She’s a Marine and would like to wear her jacket. When the rules state active/retired military can wear their uniform, I’m assuming that’s with boots and breeches? I can’t find the specifics, though, so want to be sure.
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Is the military good with her using a jacket from their uniform for civilian activities?
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The Marines have a mounted color guard so they may actually have a uniform specification for riding. In this article it looks like white breeches and black boots along with the uniform jacket. https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/3791694/mounted-marines-color-the-east-coast/
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She’s going to check. But, the Marines have had active duty members ride in uniform
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Good catch! I’ll have her check on that!
It is considered appropriate
Edited because the answer was inappropriate.
Typically it’s a full military riding uniform, not just the jacket with normal boots and breeches. The military has pretty strict rules about wearing uniform pieces in non-standard ways so she should check before she does anything that might land her in trouble.
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You are correct.
Details are outlined here:
- Current and retired members of the Armed Services and police units may
ride in the uniform of their service. All riders who choose to wear Armed
Services or police uniform, must wear protective headgear as defined in
DR120.6 and in compliance with GR801.
I’m not a Marine Corps dress code expert, but know of at least 3 people (Navy, Army, Air Force) that wear their jackets while showing. Given the military tradition of dressage, nobody should be surprised by this.
I am reminded of the charmer who gave my husband a hard time when he wore his Navy mess dress uniform at his sister’s wedding. The non-military person assumed he should have been in his choker whites given the season; DH simply quoted the appropriate uniform code to this guy (who was wearing shorts btw).
ETA: each military rider I know wears white breeches and boots. One is/was enlisted, the other two are a CDR and COL.
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How interesting.
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I’m not the least bit surprised.
The wide cuffed gloves are eye-catching in the Marine turnout.
There is a Marine who hunts in Va and wears his dress uniform for formal days. It’s gorgeous.
Sure looks like a Navy CDR to me …
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It should be in her dress and appearance regulation. If not, then it is not authorized unless you have a letter from command level (what level that is will depend on event attending and structure of the branch of the mility the individual is in).
On a quick search, I could easily find Air Force and Space Force (which is currently under the Air Force) standards but not the other branches…of course being AF, I’m cheating a bit with knowing where to look.
Another thing to consider is whether a military salute is appropriate if the judge is a civilian.
AR (Army Regulation) 670-1 is the governing reg for the Army. Don’t have time to look it up, but if anyone is curious, it should pop up in a google search.
Good question. The rule book tells when it’s permissible, but not when it’s allowed by the military branch.
Salute. At the salute riders must take the reins in one hand. All riders shall let one arm drop loosely along their body and then incline their head in a slight bow. The military salute is only permissible when riding in uniform.
I bolded and biggened that text because I don’t understand where the arm stuck stiffly out to the side came from. That’s not the way you’re supposed to salute.
It’s not out to the side. It’s along the body
Ditto this! I have a friend who’s husband is active duty Army and rides and wanted to wear his uniform for dressage and the jog at a classic 3-day. He had to jump through some hoops to find breeches that met the required regulations but did eventually pull it off with some support from his higher-ups
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