220812 Bell Bottom Trousers

I was listening to an old Guy Lombardo song this morning, “Bell Bottom Trousers.”
That brought back some fond memories of my naval service, particularly my first uniform issue in boot camp. When I first looked at those trousers I didn’t care much for the bell bottoms. I was used to my pegged trousers I was wearing up until I joined the navy. Once I learned the reason for the enlisted men’s uniforms, I appreciated those bell bottom trousers. At sea the wide bottom trousers allow a sailor to get into uniform fast when general quarters are sounded they to go to battle stations. If the ship is hit and sunk and a sailor is in the open seas, his uniform can keep him alive. Every item of a sailor’s uniform can be used to keep him afloat in an unforgiving sea. We were taught in boot camp to use trousers, shirts, T-shirts and even a white hat to keep afloat long enough to be rescued by another ship or float to land on an incoming tide.

I think the navy has changed their uniforms these days and bell bottoms may be a thing of the past that took hundreds of years in the making. Progress isn’t always as good as it is touted to be. By gosh we were and are sailors and why would we want to have a uniform to look like a soldier or an airman or a marine? Sailors are a different breed and should be proud of it!