PSA: Marking uniforms
Regardless of how you feel, some schools, courses, and units harp hard on marking uniforms as a metric of attention to detail, pride in one's uniform, etc. To that end, I want to share two bits of knowledge. This is especially for the junior bubbas who are often compelled to take the shittiest bites of shit sandwiches.
- Style- and location-based specifications can be found in MCO 1020.34H, Chapter 10, Section 2. Worthy excerpt: "In order to standardize throughout the Marine Corps and prevent variation from station to station, no elaboration of the following guide for marking will be made, nor will any greater preciseness of location be prescribed." Your leadership is out of line to conflate their preference as anything more than that: their preference.
- Stop wasting your time making your own uniform markings using the MCX-brand stamp kit and marking tape. Use commercial means instead.
Recommendation for iron-on: https://www.bestnametape.com/name-tape-labels-1-line-p/1linetape.htm 100 for $14 or https://thenamelabelco.com/name-labels/medium-once-iron-name-on-labels-tags 50 for $17. These are used in the majority of cases; the only exception is sweaters.
Recommendation for sew-in: https://thenamelabelco.com/sew-on-name-label/small-printed-sew-on-name-labels-tags 48 for $13. Don't use bestnametape's sew-on option, they are trash. These are used for your PT sweat tops and wool service sweaters with epaulets.
I have no affiliation with either brand.
Hope this helps Marines to minimize time spent on uniform maintenance and enables them to focus on what really matters: completing the Tobacco Cessation Course on MarineNet. I will be taking a shot for every comment mentioning any of the following: "DD-214" "grass is greener" "waste of time" "back in my day" "combat effectiveness" "MLP:FIM"