Very funny. Its stormtroopers that I saw the movies by Star Wars Episode 4-6. I don't really think they will not setting up new uniformed at all.

Wow, you really must have issues with rent-a-cops to insult them so severly!

You're right. I'll apologize to the rent-a-cops for the negative association.

Appearing as rent-a-cops would be a huge step up for TSA employees.

I kinda like the blue, but then, I'm a blonde, so it's a good color for me! :D

I'm not sure the poly-cotton blend shirts were a good idea, though -- our previous ones were 100% poly (woo, stylin'! :rolleyes: ) which made them pretty much wash-and-wear ... the new ones really ought to be ironed.

Wow. The Omaha World-Herald pulls no punches:

Oh, it's a colossal waste of taxpayer money, for sure! That kinda goes without saying ...

Especially changing our shoulderboards from black and GOLD to black and SILVER. I mean, really, was that necessary??? I'm pretty sure the gold ones would have sufficed in a pinch.

I have items from the old uniform that I've never even WORN ... now I have to cut them up and throw them away. I really hate waste, so yeah that does bug me ...

It's not like the uniforms were a huge improvement -- they're basically the same, just a different color shirt. Big whoop!

And the extra-wide belt makes me feel rather the lil guy in the 4th pic down on this site ... http://www.rense.com/general79/jcpenny.htm LOL!

Oh, and from the article posted above:

Umm, that's a lie! Screeners (err, I mean OFFICERS) get an initial uniform allotment, then $150 a year to buy new items as needed. They also can make purchases using personal funds, although why anyone would choose to do so is beyond me! :)

But it's not as if the uniforms all were issued at once, and thus needed to be replaced en masse, which is what the spokesperson suggested. WRONG! :td:

I'd suggest donating them to Goodwill, but the underprivilged and homeless have enough problems without being mistaken for a TSA employee. ;)

We have to turn in every thing that bears a TSA logo or patch. Everything is accounted for and kept in files, and is a big administrative mess when it comes to issuing uniforms and turning them back in. Only the things that don't have logos, patches, tags, or labels - namely, the socks, the pants, and the ties - we can keep. Alternatively, if you cut the patches off the uniforms yourself, you're supposed to be able to keep the stuff, but since only the jacket has non-embroidered TSA logos, this excludes the hat and shirts and epaulets.

I've already boxed up eight pairs of pants and four Waffle House-style ties for taking to the Salvation Army. The socks I'll keep. The socks are awesome. Everything else, including my twenty-five or so shirts (of which only four are in usable condition, and those only just barely), goes back, gets accounted for, the patches removed and sent to our hub (in this case, Birmingham). The shirts are disposed of in some way, and the patches are all incinerated.

In other news:

Pros of the new uniform:
+Blue is a lot easier to keep clean.

+The original TSA emblem is back on the uniform (the one with the nine stars and eleven stripes, as opposed to just the DHS seals)

+The shirts feel better.

+Overall, the look of the uniform is nicer and more professional in appearance than the white shirts.

Cons of the new uniform:
+They don't breathe. At all. This isn't a problem for the TSOs all over the country who work in climate-controlled areas. We at Huntsville get awfully miserable hiking back and forth in the back of the terminal area in unventilated baggage assembly bays where the AC hasn't worked since 1972. I thought our supervisor was going to die of heat stroke on Thursday.

+Black undershirts (a local policy to color-coordinate with the new uniform) make this situation even worse, are usually thicker than regular white undershirts, and tend to cost more.

+The metal badges are a pain in the butt. Thought I was going to break the thing mounting it on the uniform shirt, and it kept getting snagged on stuff.

+Female shirts are cut... oddly. A large-busted woman who'se slim otherwise is certainly not what the designers of the uniform were anticipating.

+The Shirts now clash with our blue nitrile gloves. As Junior Supply Flunky, I'm going to try to convince the Senior Supply Guru to convince the FSD to begin ordering black nitrile gloves instead.

Oh, and I finally figured out why everyone considers them to be doppleganger cop uniforms, though I would also point out my observation that they only look like cop uniforms when the TSO is wearing the long-sleeve shirt with the tie. Short-sleeve without the tie didn't smack to me of law enforcement officer in the least.

And, don't worry. We call ourselves smurfs now, too. ;)

Incidentally, the original uniforms - the ones TSA first rolled-out with, with the flat-orange Fisher Price™ badge? - were off-the-shelf uniforms for bus drivers with the TSA logos sewn onto the sleeves. The issued shoes even had a flat plane on the back of the heel for the pedal-pushing. :D

You mentioned one of the "B" words at a checkpoint & you're not in the hoosgow?

I'm not so sure about that! I used to bleach my white uniforms to get the cow slobber out (the girls like to greet me when I come home from work). Obviously, I won't be able to do that now.

Agreed, if the TSOs make the effort to iron the shirts. That doesn't seem to be happening where I work.

This is counterintuitive, because the poly-cotton blend should be better than pure poly in that regard.

Our FSD has specified white undershirts only -- no black allowed. Sigh! :)

Chicks dig the cool blue;) Dont be so jealous.

You'd think that! We all did, when we first got to see the new uniforms and stuff. Once we actually put 'em on and headed down into the bilges of HSV checked baggage, we learned better. Most of us were acting like wilted flowers for the first half-hour or so until we got used to the new and added heat, and even then we only reluctantly moved away from any of the fans that we brought in at that point.

The only TSO to not have any problems at all with it was actually wearing a long-sleeve shirt and his tie (which wouldn't be needed in baggage, but he didn't want to get it wrinkled or lost by taking it off). He said he was already used to it. Apparently, he doesn't have central heating or air in his home, which is an absolute requirement if you live in Alabama, or pretty much anywhere else in the south, so he's quite accustomed to existing in 95-degree environments with no moving air.

God knows it's happening here. Our FSD is a monstrous beast when it comes to uniform appearances. He ain't afraid to send someone home without pay on one-day suspensions if their hair is too long or their shirts aren't ironed and wrinkle-free. Other, more minor things like not having your shoes polished or wearing the wrong kind of shoes or whatever merely warrants a write-up.