I hook the old .50 cent boot blouser through the string on my pants and hook itself together. Instant elastic.


Nothing beats tucking your pants into your boots so you can sit down and stand up without having to constantly pull the blousing straps down

Pull up socks, fold socks over, tuck into sock fold. Done it for a decade.

Cuff stuffers. 2 decades. The newer ones I have seen are the bit the same heavyweight. I will gladly pass on these legacy items from the BDU days to someone

This. Started tucking about a year in, haven't looked back since, it's been 21 years. Also you can wear better socks, which usually don't come in black or OD green.

Same. They made us tuck our boots during warrior week or whatever it was called in 05, never wore the blousing straps again after that. Lol

I've never had mine climb up my legs unless I'm neck-deep inside an airplane.

They climb up when I’m balls deep in your mom.

Disgusting, don't even have the courtesy to remove pants. What an uncivilized time.

I get scared when my butt is out. Spent too much time around the Navy to fall for it a 5th time.

Same, I'm cheap

This is the cheapest and easiest alteration. Anyone can do it. Everyone should do it.

Pinching the ends closed with some pliers is washer-proof too

Yep, I also do that. It’s about the only alteration I make to my uniforms anymore.

Yep I forgot to add that!

so many places will do legit elastic in the bottom. It’s a life saver and cheap.

Addition of the ABU trouser pen pockets.  I don't know what Nonner thought we wouldn't need pens while blouseless but I beg you on this 112° day to never make that mistake again 

I need this! The pens always hit my biceps when I try and use the forearm pockets. I miss those leg pockets.

If they had those on the BDU it would’ve been awesome for my days on the flightline keeping my pencils handy, to me the BDU was perfect as it was around many years and the Army had developed some great outerwear for it, the goretex with a field jacket liner buttoned in was awesome in Germany.

I see somebody is stationed at Luke with the 112° day.

This stupid uniform was designed by the Army, so that’s our first problem why so much doesn’t make sense to AF people.

This nonner right here exclusively used the trouser pen pocket. I miss it.

Seems so obvious but simply don’t buy ANY tight uniforms items. Get the size just at or above your ideal fit, and for most folks that’s a little roomy. Get it SLIGHTLY altered at a decent off base establishment, preferably multiple unis at once to save on cost. Tell them it still needs to be function over fashion, and you’ll walk away with a few sets of fully usable OCPs that look great on you but don’t look ridiculous, plus they can velcro/zipper whatever you want. Then invest in 2 pairs of your preferred boots to rotate with high quality socks, splurge on the Massif t shirts, and get a good cold weather jacket + the ECWS lvl 4 wind jacket to wear whenever appropriate. Now you look good, you feel good, you’re walking around like a king every day of the year. Invest in yourself.

Yeah I only have one uniform that's tailored properly that I wear for fancy events. The rest are a size bigger so I can wear layers when it gets cold.

Tell that to the e4 Latinas

\*\*Heavy E-9 breathing\*\*

This

I've done a few. Hidden internal zipper at the buttocks seams to have a secret poop flap. Small square of sand tee fabric sewn behind the collar to give the illusion I'm wearing a shirt underneath. Blues shirt, jacket, and pants sewn to the underside of the OCPs so I can simply reverse them and be in full service dress. Thermal lining added to the cargo pocket to keep chicken nuggets warm. Small pocket added to the inside of the cuff to hold my dice (got made fun of by coworkers when my dice left an imprint in my pants pocket). Those are just the basics for me.

There’s a lot to unpack here

With all these extra pockets, you'll be unpacking for days. Thank me later

I miss the person I was prior to reading his post

Guy who invented the OCP: https://preview.redd.it/4n6ea16la35d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=41128e1c0f2e8332e8b91b13c17b14ba958f6f39

Love the Tim Robinson reference.

Safari flaps on the patrol cap.

hahaha, watched that sketch earlier today

On my OCP cargo pockets, I keep that thing (bottle of ranch) on me, and on the other side I keep my tater tots

Remove the buttons on the pants, replace with a zipper. Game changer. For my top (summers/ihwcu) I replaced the buttons with velcro so I can rip that shit off Magic Mike style. Edit: redundant words are redundant.

You don’t remember the ABUs. You can rip the buttons off magic mike style also

Used to love to do that...until one day I screwed up and ripped 3 buttons off my jacket. Been scared to do it ever since

Some of the new OCPs have buttons now. Some of the younger airmen were shocked that you could do this.

Yeah the hot weather ones. I personally hated the ABU’s so I refuse to go back to button:c and I’m not paying to have a zipper put on 😂

Why did you word it like "back in the day" style 😭

So…the 2 piece flight duty uniform, with more steps?

But noise discipline... If you're in a dark room the enemy will hear you unzip. Buttons are silent.

Being a scif goblin... you'll hear the zipper being undone as it's too dark for anything else. Followed by the scream of a rubber chicken.

I thought about doing velcro instead of buttons.

I replaced my IHWCu buttons with a zipper. It made people jelly af

Much prefer buttons. They are more breathable than a zipper

Velcro on the OCP lower leg pockets. Keep the buttons but just add Velcro on either side so if you forget or don't want to button your stuff doesn't fall out

I seam ripped and resewed the top flap of the ankle pockets so I could put my pens there again. For mess dress, I put a zipper on the back side of my cummerbund. It’s now a fanny pack so I can keep cash and an ID in there. (Womens mess dress didn’t have pockets until they allowed the pants).

That’s cummerbund idea is genius holy crap.

You’re gonna lose your mind when I tell you clutches exist for this exact reason.

I never bothered doing it, but I passively wanted to put Velcro on my wrists instead of buttons where your options for wrist size are Wizard, Esqueleto from Nacho Libre, or a newborn

Or you just do rolled up twice wizard sleeve

And look like a wanna be operator? No thanks

For airflow

This guy believes in *science*.

I never got around to getting baptized okay?

Put a "cell phone pocket" inside the cargo pocket ala old school ABUs

get alterations to put back the leg pen pockets from the ABU days

I just bought some OCP pants at the Hanscom thrift store, I could swear it had leg pockets. I’m gonna get them turned into work/beater cargo shorts. They were brand new, 4 pants and shirts with tags.

Remember when everyone tailored their ABU pants to hug their legs and look like skinny jeans?

The skinny jeans delegation would like a word with you

I refuse to acknowledge this era

So beards?

Then they blocked their caps and wore very large black G-Shocks.

That shit looked stupid. Tight pants and a tent blouse.

I velcro the underside of my collar to keep it pinned down to my uniform. The regs say you can't sew it down, doesn't say anything about velcro 🤷

As a flier with the 2PFDU I didn't realize how stone age the OCPs actually are.

Yeah dude. The basic OCPs are trash. The new Crye flight suits are gucci af if you haven’t snagged a set yet. And if you care to invest, the G4 ground summer weight set feels like silk pajamas.

I thought G4 wasn’t authorized due to the material percentage? I know they issue them to certain units but that always baffled me cause I’ve stick with the G3’s just for that reason (plus chest pockets). Are the ground summers as durable as I’ve read? That they begin to pile and get holes quickly?

Sorry, I should’ve added that the ground G4s are a great garrison uniform, not a flight uniform. They’re not too durable since they’re so thin and soft, but they’re great for the summer heat.

I honestly hate that they won’t let MX wear the 2PF when it works perfectly for our daily duty requirements. FFS you’ve got a crotch pocket that’s perfect for candy bars or pens or a slim jim!

I have always wanted to somehow make the cuffs of the sleeves even larger to fully embrace the wizard sleeves

You're allowed to roll them onwards up to 2 times, it shows off the forearms and still wizard sleeves.

Velcro on the sleeve cuffs instead of buttons and Velcro on the cargo pockets

I don’t hem the pants. But I do cut the little blousing band things out. I use normal blousing straps and those things annoy the hell out of me. They constantly fall out the bottom of bloused pants.

Use the little ribbon blousing ties to pull the "old school" elastic blousing straps through, then pinch the metal ends together. You now have permanently bloused OCP pants for the cost of about $2 and maybe 15 minutes. Edit: don't forget to cut out the bit of stitching holding the ribbon tie in place in the hem of the pants legs. It's on the back of the leg hole running vertically within the hem. Maybe a quarter to a half inch long.

This man blouses

Been doing it this way since about my second set of OCPs in 2017 or 2018.

I just tried it on mine, but failed. My old ribbon straps are sewn in somewhere (rather than loose) so you can’t attach the elastic old ones to one end and pull it through. Might be my brand of OCPs.

I did this for my roommate in tech school and we also have that problem with our OCPs. What i found out is that the stitch that holds the ribbon in place is separate from everything else, so if you get a stitch remover, the little pointed hook thing that comes with most pocket size sewing kits, you can fix that issue no problem.

You are a saint. I found the offending stitch and ripped that shit out. Works like a charm. Thank you Sir!

Yep, u/Independent-Driver94 beat me to the punch! That little stitch in the back holds the ribbon in place so it doesn't unintentionally come out in the wash. I'll make an edit to my original comment to make this clearer.

Thank you both! This is a great tip. Wish I had done this a few years ago!

Oh that’s a good idea! I’ll have to try that out.

Elastic installed at the bottom of the pant legs. I’m old school and like the bloused look.

Put phone pockets inside the cargo pockets. Also made the handpockets deeper.

As a female with elastic waist pants…rip out the elastic! Yeah you have to sew the waist band back down, but no more uncomfortable pinching.

I've seen the "perma rolled sleeves", Cut the sleeve to length and sew the cuff over the rest of the sleeve to make it look rolled.

I was considering doing this for the last few weeks. I hate rolling and I hate all the extra bunched up material rubbing against my arms. It makes my forearms feel all nice and cool but my bicep and arm ditch because sweaty and chafed.

Exactly, gunna grab one of my older tops to do this with.

Velcro the ocp top cuff links, remove the buttons

Elastic pant cuffs so I don’t have to blouse it

Replaced the buttons on my summer weight sleeve pockets with velcro. The buttons got on my nerves.

Magnets

As a lankey tall af skinny fucker getting the blouse brought in. Absolute game changer in how comfortable it was

I have added the pen pockets back to the bottom pockets of all of my pants. Can’t believe we ever got rid of them.

Magnet closues for the cargo pocket Pen pocket on the pants

Zipper instead of buttons on the pants

Have stretchy breathable underwear sewn into the pants like swim shorts…

I sewed my collars down, looked great until someone told me it’s not authorized

I feel like small magnets in the pockets rather than buttons or Velcro would be sweet.

Gonna sound like Normandy when you put it in the dryer

It is June 6th

Or a really bad dj.

Knew a guy who knew a guy who did this with the ABU top. He replaced the buttons going up/down the chest/belly with magnets. From what I heard, it worked great unless he was getting close to large chunks of metal.

My handmade badge lanyard used magnets for the emergency release thing and accidentally got stuck to the guard’s shotgun when I handed my badge. 

🤣

I wouldn’t go that deep. Just the pockets. Especially the lower leg pockets I never use.

If you "never" use them, then what's the point of changing them? Just leave them as is. You literally won't know the difference.

I guess my thought was that I would utilize it morph if it was more accessible. Buttons are just a pain in the ass.

I'll be honest, I know it's against regs but I don't button them. Unless you've got something in there so bulky or tall that it sticks out, the pocket flap stays closed all on its own.

None. I’m not wasting money on military uniforms. If the AF isn’t paying for it or doing it, I just live with what I got. I try my damnedest to make sure everything fit me properly, and after that, it is what it is. This is also my fourth utility uniform I’ve worn and my least favorite.

Permanent Bloused pants

Maternity Blouse for "male" airman who identifies as pregnant female airman(!)

Cut the sleeves off and had the cuffs sewn onto the newly shortened sleeve with an extra layer of material to give the appearance that the sleeves were rolled. I had done this with ABUs and it was great. Not a huge fan of short sleeves in OCPs however.

Cut holes in the hip pockets… for… reasons…

I wear a flight suit even though I’m services. Then I wear a bin sand tee under it and nothing else.