Uniforms of the United States Coast Guard
Today, the Coast Guard has fewer uniform types and variations compared to other armed services.
[2] The Service Dress Blue is the standard uniform of the day for office environments and is considered equivalent to civilian business attire.
Officer and enlisted rank insignia are sewn onto the jacket sleeve in the same manner as Navy uniforms.
Rank insignia must also be worn on the blue shirt as part of the "Bravo" variant by officers (shoulder boards) and enlisted members (collar devices).
The Tropical Blue uniform omits the dress coat and instead features a short sleeve light blue shirt on which ribbons and devices are worn in the same manner as on the SDB coat, and rank is indicated on shoulder boards (officers and warrant officers) or collar devices (enlisted members).
It consists of a long-sleeve dark blue shirt of the same color as the service dress trousers, without shoulder loops.
[3] There are two sets of dinner dress uniforms worn for formal (black tie) evening ceremonies.
[3] A Formal Dress Blue uniform is authorized for senior officers (O-6 and above) as the equivalent of civilian white tie.
It is exceptionally rarely worn, with the only likely occasions for wear being a White House state dinner or similar event.
The ODU is similar, both in function and style, to the Battle Dress Uniform previously worn by all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.
However, the ODU is in a solid dark blue with no camouflage pattern and does not have lower pockets on the blouse.
[3] The ODU was introduced in the early 2000s as a replacement for the previous Working Blue uniform, which was an all-dark-blue cotton twill uniform with sew-on name tapes and collar devices, worn with a baseball cap and black boots (or boat shoes).
Brown boat shoes may be allowed for daily wear aboard ship unless boots are required for safety reasons.
[3] The standard headgear is a baseball-style cap with "U.S. Coast Guard," in gold lettering embroidered in an arch at the top front.
[citation needed] Coast Guard personnel serving in expeditionary combat units such as Port Security Units or Law Enforcement Detachments, and Coast Guard personnel deployed overseas (e.g. as part of PATFORSWA) may wear the Navy Working Uniform Type III or the Army Combat Uniform[5] with distinctive Coast Guard insignia.
For example, company commanders (the Coast Guard's equivalent of drill sergeants) at Training Center Cape May wear the traditional Smokey Bear-style campaign hat.
The Coast Guard Pipe Band, a special musical unit composed of active, reserve and auxiliary members, wears a modified form of highland dress, including kilt and sporran.
