Soldiers are now authorized to wear the coyote brown fleece cap while in combat uniform, as long as their commander approves it, according to a recent Army Human Resources Command Facebook post.
"The chief of staff of the Army has authorized the Coyote Brown Fleece Cap for optional wear with the Army Combat Uniform at the discretion of commanders. This change will be reflected in AR/DA Pam 670-1 in 2020," according to the post.
Currently, soldiers are authorized to wear the black fleece cap, which is a clothing bag issue item, according to the current Department of the Army Pamphlet 670-1.
Soldiers wore the foliage green fleece cap until the official Sept. 30, 2017, wear-out date. The black fleece cap became a mandatory possession item as of Oct. 1, 2017, according to DA PAM 670-1.
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"Personnel wear the fleece cap pulled down snugly on the head with the bottom edge covering the ears, but not covering the eyebrows," the document states. "The bottom edge (all) of the cap may be folded, but not rolled. The fleece cap is worn with the physical fitness uniform or the combat uniform, as prescribed by the commander."
Soldiers began wearing the Army's brown and green Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) in 2015; it officially replaced the digitized Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) as of Oct. 1, 2019.
The Facebook post about the coyote brown fleece cap, which matches the shade of brown in the OCP, received an interesting blend of comments.
"How many years have we been wearing multi cams/OCPs? This should have been done years ago!" one commenter wrote.
Another posted, "Do us a favor and STOP making it at the discretion of the commander! News flash not all Commanders agree with the chief of staff therefore some soldiers will never get to wear the fleece cap."
Another commenter thought wearing the brown cap had already been authorized.
"Wait it wasn't before? So, all the soldiers that had been wearing them were wrong?" the commenter wrote.
-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
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