An eternal truth: people in uniform or who once wore it can engage in endless discussion on uniform policies!
The cycle is endless. Those of us who commissioned in the very late 70's had to fight to get khakis, summer whites, steel-toed boots in women's sizes, gold on our covers (the gold chin strap), pockets in our uniforms (guess they thought we carried handbags everywhere), swords...and PANTS. Imagine me going down the oily ladder into the engine room on my tugboats in service dress blue, skirt, and pumps - because the Navy, in its infinite wisdom, started sending women to non-traditional jobs as a precursor to the first women going to ships, but failed to make accompanying uniform adjustments. After trashing 3 sets of SDBs, and losing 4 combo covers ($$$) overboard, I begged my department head to let me go buy men's khakis and get them tailored, and wear them only when I was on my tugs, and wear a ball cap. He agreed, and it was our little secret, though as I look back, I am sure the XO had given his approval. A year later, we started getting the uniforms we needed, including pregnancy versions. That, I think, was due to women now being at USNA and the light bulb coming on about what women needed.
For a long time, the skirt was the required version (the "alpha") for any uniform, with pants the optional, or "bravo" version. It was crazy, because that meant every woman had to take skirt, hose, pumps to sea as a required seabag item, though they could not be worn aboard ship. A real pain when storage space is limited. We finally got that fixed in 2003, when the alpha and bravo designations were finally switched. Many male CO's had not allowed the bravo option ashore, so of course, we craved the pants option. Pants became the required version, but those who wanted the skirt variation for shore liberty or personal choice, could have them.
Swords also look, IMHO, ridiculous with skirts, so I wore pants - gasp!!! - at my changes of command.
There has been a bit of a sea change at USNA over the last 10-15 years. Female mids routinely wore the uniform pants version on liberty - because the skirt had been required for so long. Now, for the last decade or so, the trend has been skirts, including some who clearly tailor their uniform skirt to mini level and out of regs. I think that mirrors the fashion trends of the last several years toward cute little dresses and skirts, with very high heels.
I think as more and more of the Navy career paths have opened up to women, there has been an undercurrent of choosing to be different from men in the ways that are possible, so as not to lose identity as a woman. Witness the Navy gear in hot pink or animal print snapped up by the women, because the guys aren't wearing it.
It's a generational and human nature thing. You want what you're used to, or what you can't have.
My running joke - clumsy, I admit - about the trend to move women's uniforms to mirror the men more closely, is that we could certainly step back and weigh going the other way - earrings for men, etc.
It's inevitable, uniform change and the tempests that accompany it. I try not to get too wrapped up in it. But it's irresistible....
Edit: And it just kills me, those who are nay-sayers about women in the military, at a Service Academy or in non-traditional roles, will gleefully point out the fuss being made by (some) "girls" over skirts. Argh.
