Okay, so my wife and I are having lunch at our local Carl's Jr. restaurant.
In walk three Marines. Two of them, are in full Dress Blue Uniform, and appear to be appropriately dressed. The third Marine is wearing his Dress Blue slacks, low-quarters (oxfords, for those of you that haven't been in the military) and wearing a plain white t-shirt.
I do a double-take to make sure I'm actually seeing what I'm seeing. The other two Marines are looking uncomfortable with the 3rd Marine. They are carrying their white hat under their left arm as they should.
They are also standing a bit away from the Marine in the white t-shirt. My wife is looking at the Marine as well and she has a confused look on her face. She looks at me and asks about it. I tell her he's out of uniform and is in the wrong.
They all stand there until their order is ready and leave. They all get into a USMC marked van. The Marine in the t-shirt is also the driver. They then leave the parking lot.
I don't know why the Marine in the t-shirt was dressed as he was. At one time, I thought about approaching him and asking if he knew for fact, that he was out of uniform and violating the USMC dress code?
It was quite obvious that the two Marines in uniform were very uncomfortable with their fellow Marine in the t-shirt. The two in uniform were a Private and a PFC.
I'm a former Army Airborne Ranger, and if we were in Dress Greens, the only piece of clothing article that we could remove in public, if the situation allowed, was our jacket. To be caught in public, out of uniform, was an automatic Article 15.
The Marine in the t-shirt, needed to have someone challenge him, and put the fear of God in him.
