No More Skirt-Chasing

This one's for the future Minister of War...

The U.S. Navy is getting a 21st century makeover, with a new dress code that makes skirts optional for its more than 54,000 female sailors for the first time since women officially entered the service in 1908.

Women can still choose to wear skirts, which come in colors that vary according to rank and sometimes the season. But until the new rules went into effect this month, they had to maintain skirts in their sea bags and could be ordered to wear them for special events such as change-of-command and retirement ceremonies.

The revamped skirt policy is one of several new changes to the dress code recommended after a survey of more than 40,000 sailors.

“They are really commonsense, practical changes that are in line with the Navy of the 21st century,” said Lisa Mikoliczyk, a spokeswoman for Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry Scott.

When the results of the survey came in earlier this year, Navy officials discovered that, along with answering the 33 questions, the respondents had written more than 5,500 pages of comments on topics that weren’t necessarily covered, said Master Chief Robert Carroll, director of the uniform task force.

Among women’s leading complaints: That it made little sense to pack skirts in their sea bags and maintain them aboard ships because it wasn’t practical to wear them.

They also noted that the skirts didn’t compliment many women’s shapes. “There was sensitivity regarding the abdomen area,” Carroll said. “They gave an individual a pouch even if you didn’t have one.”

5,500 pages of comments???? How many complaints can you have about a skirt design? I realize there may be several hundred ways to write "It makes me look fat", but it seems those five words would be most effective to convey the message.