.. everyone who wore most every civilan-made leather bomber jacket would be a wanker, since the A-2 has pretty much inspired them all.
Besides, if you see anyone under the age of 70 wearing a classic-style, closely cut A2, they're not trying to make you think they're a pilot. They're trying to make you think they're Steve McQueen. Or perhaps the Fonz.
With regard to wearing other kit such as BDUs, there is another side to that as well. As far as I know it's still against regulations for service people to mix parts of the uniform with civilan clothing, though it may not be enforced. The Army is esp. big on that, because in the post-WW2 period lots of discharged soldiers would wear uniform items as clothing, and many also bought surplus uniforms and started wearing parts of them. Some of these people committed crimes, or were otherwise held in ill repute because they were drifters (domestic economic refugees). The resultant media images eventually compelled the Army to redesign the uniform. Nowadays, since BDUS are common street wear we may see this happening again. The Corps is already in the process of issuing new cammies.
I, for one, would love to buy one of those Richard James DPM suits.
Mike
Posted on Nov 23, 2001, 8:09 PM from IP address 209.232.54.166