Uniforms of the Antarctic State Military


 * This page is a lay adaptation of an official military document. For the original, see: ASM-545.PDF

Uniform regulations of the Antarctic State Military, otherwise known as ASM-545, are official rules and guidelines chiefly written by the Office of the President of the Department of Defense for the purpose of having all government personnel conform to a relatively small set of universal basic standards of dress, not including duty equipment. These regulations are a joint effort between the Department of Defense and the other Departments of the Castle in the pursuit of like-minded rules regarding how government employees will be expected to appear and act in and out of uniform, as well as what uniforms will be available to those employees.

On an overall level, ASM uniform regulations dictate that all personnel carry themselves in no less than a neat, clean, and professional manner, as well as look the part. Furthermore, there are rights granted by ASM-545 that allow authority figures to make exceptions for subordinates and/or groups of subordinates at their discretion, so long as higher-up superiors don't overrule the exception-making process. This is what is conceptually known to be a chain of command of sorts when dealing with uniform regulations.

Chapter 1 Chain of Command
There is a conceptual chain of command briefly outlined under Chapter 1 of ASM-545 that grants specific rights to waive or otherwise make exceptions to the uniform regulations for their subordinates. From top to bottom, the Chapter 1 chain of command is similar to the Departmental chain of command in that it is structured as follows: As provided by Chapter 1, Presidents have the final say in the decision to make, deny, or break any and all exceptions to ASM-545 for their respective departments. Immediately beneath the Presidents, are their respective offices, who act as the informative and advisory service to the Presidents, and technically have authority over Chiefs of Staff in the regulation process.
 * 1) Presidents
 * 2) Offices of the Presidents
 * 3) Chiefs of Staff
 * 4) Commanding Officers
 * 5) All Subordinate Individuals

Chiefs of Staff — the heads, or 'directors' of departmental divisions — have more focused authority to grant or deny waivers for recruits as well as already employed personnel. The waivers that Chiefs of Staff are most often concerned with are those for personal grooming standards and anatomical restriction standards. The former of these powers to waive are allowed to be passed down to a Chief of Staff's direct subordinate, such as a commanding officer. The power cannot be further passed down. Besides the power to waive, Chiefs of Staff are responsible for allowing or disallowing the wear of functional clothing atop a uniform such as a jacket or overcoat; determine what to wear and when to where it in regards to special uniforms; and allow or disallow the wearing of civilian clothing in lieu of uniform tops or bottoms.

Beneath Chiefs of Staff are commanders and commanding officers. Whereas Chiefs of Staff have power to waive, commanders and equivalent are overall in charge of enforcing the regulations and exceptions given to personnel by the higher authorities. Besides enforcement, commanders are also the foremost arbiters of what is and is not considered a professional appearance and behavior in line with the military image.

Subject to the brunt of the universal uniform standards are the non-commanding officers and lower-echelon troops, who are largely expected to be knowledgeable of all regulations that apply to them and respect the cohesion that they provide. Oftentimes, lower-echelon individuals are expected to police each other on the proper dress and behavior that is required of them.

Antarctic Battle Uniform
The Antarctic Battle Uniform (ABU) is widely known to be the basic, default uniform provided to all non-civilian government employees, specifically those of ranks E-1 to WO-3. As such, it is a majorly common sight to see in military circles.

The ABU is a moderately thick, rugged construction of a 65% polyester and 35% cotton coat and trousers with eight pockets in total. The ABUs are primarily meant to distinguish enlists apart from civilians, and secondarily are meant to insulate and protect enlists from the environment to an extent. They are known to be warm and notably resistant to ripping, tearing, and cutting.

ABUs require the use of several different velcro patches including those displaying rank, unit, surname, and department. Interestingly, unit patches are wholly customized by the units that are required to wear them. All other patches are mandated to be a specific design or text.

ABU Coloration
ABUs come in several different camo patterns and solid colors used to distinguish job areas from one another, and to a specific extent actually camouflage certain wearers in their environments. The common colors are as follows: CWP is by far the most common pattern seen worn by government personnel, and is the first pattern issued to every recruit that attends basic training. Due to this, CWP is known as the default or "basic" uniform for all enlists and warrant officers.
 * City Working Pattern (CWP) — Digital-patterned shades of blue
 * Blue Working Solid (BluWS) — Solid dark blue
 * White Working Solid (WWS) — Solid white color complete with white stitching as opposed to black stitching
 * White Working Pattern (WWP) — Digital-patterned black botches sparsely placed on a WWS background
 * Black Working Solid (BlkWS) — Black solid color

BluWS is known to be worn by government personnel working in police job fields. This includes minor police units within divisions as well as major organizations like the Security Forces and Public Security, and interestingly excludes the Riot Control Corps in practice.

WWS is mandatory for wear by government personnel who are stationed outside the boundaries of cities, including military bases located outside of cities. WWP is similar, in that it is worn by personnel outside of cities, however it is given to combat units only, such as the Border Patrol & Protection Agencies.

BlkWS is a special coloration only worn to specific military events where it is necessary or otherwise requested. A common example of an occasion it would be worn at is at a funeral. There is an oversight in ASM-545 that lists Black Working Solid and Blue Working Solid under the same acronym BWS.

Special Enlist Uniforms
Beyond maintaining the default ABU uniform, enlists in certain job titles are required to wear specific uniforms when on duty. Special enlist uniforms and their respective job titles are as follows:
 * ABU Jumpsuit (ABUJ) — Jumpsuit for heavy vehicle operators & mechanics
 * Aseptic Medical Uniform (AMU) — Scrubs for medical personnel
 * Phoenix Uniform (PU) — Heat-reflecting uniform designed for firefighters
 * Physical Training Uniform (PTU) — Common uniform for physical training
 * Public Security Patrol Uniform (PSPU) — Work uniform for metro police of Public Security Section 1
 * Riot Control Uniform (RCU) — Armor and overdress for the Riot Control Corps

ABU Jumpsuit
The ABU Jumpsuit, otherwise termed the ABUJ or ABJ, is very similar to the ABU with the single exception that the ABUJ comes in the form of a one-piece jumpsuit from collar to ankle. It is primarily worn by heavy vehicle operators such as tank personnel and pilots, and the mechanics that service those vehicles. The ABJ comes in all colors and patterns available to the ABU, with the addition of a separate olive green solid color.

Aseptic Medical Uniform
AMUs are simply what are known to the civilian sector as "scrubs", with the caveat that they may only be acquired by way of personnel being specifically provided with them at the time of shift, and returned to the proper administration upon the end of shift. This is a security measure that strives for infectious or otherwise biohazardous materials being isolated from the general military public and dealt with through very frequent sanitation. Many colors other than the common few that ABUs have, are used to distinguish between job areas, and the differentiation is different for each establishment. Those wearing AMUs are generally not allowed to leave the premises that they received the AMUs from, without returning them first.

Phoenix Uniform
PUs are dark green fire retardant coats and trousers that have infrared-reflective insulation built into their inner construction. There are also several highly reflective safety bands encircling the arms, legs, and torso that reflect visible light. Also part of the Phoenix Uniform are helmets and full-face respirators with attached oxygen supplies. PUs feature a large-font upper-back patch that reads ПОЖАР in all cap white letters.

Physical Training Uniform
PTUs, while not specifically dedicated to a single job title, are breathable clothing items used during indoor and sometimes outdoor exercising.

Public Security Patrol Uniform
PSPUs are the widely recognizable uniform of Public Security Section 1, alternatively known as "Metro". They are known to be beige work clothes with a black stripe along the outer side of limbs and torso, plus a utility belt with several small equipment items.

Riot Control Uniform
RCUs are recognizable as the bulky uniform most commonly seen on members of the Riot Control Corps, otherwise known as RC or Riot Controlmen. RCUs are perhaps the most complex uniforms in the Cyberian government, as they consist of several pieces of soft and hard body armor strapped to the whole body, over which there is worn a rugged black zip-up jacket, trousers, helmet, and a heavy duty utility belt. RCU jackets feature a large-font upper-back patch that reads ПОЛИЦИЯ in all caps and white lettering.

Antarctic Dress Uniform
The Antarctic Dress Uniform (ADU) is a dress uniform available only for use by commissioned officers of the State Military; meaning ranks of O-1 through to O-10. In practice, this does not include O-11, as Presidents have complete authority to change the regulations which they adhere themselves to. ADUs are made of a slightly softer material to ABUs, are provided to commissioned officers upon graduation of Officer Training School, come with an optional flowing overcoat, and are tailored/altered to each individual officer's physical and comfort needs.

In lieu of rank patches, commissioned officers wearing ADUs have attached fabric shoulder boards that point inward towards the neck, which feature gold stripes and gold stars denoting the wearer's rank.

Visor-type service caps are mandatory for commissioned officers to acquire and maintain, however they are not required to be worn, except at military events. Officer Service Caps (OSCs) also display the wearer's rank through gold stripes and stars, which are affixed to the front half of the midsection of the cap.



Differences Between Rank Groups
As outlined in ASM-545, all government personnel are expected to display a basic level of professional appearance and behavior in all that which the personnel do both on-duty and off-duty. Commanding officers are granted the first line of defense when it comes to determining what is and is not considered professional dress and behavior for their subordinates, which has been known to be quite strict when applied to enlisted ranks, and relatively relaxed when it comes to commissioned officers.

Enlists and commissioned officers alike are not allowed to wear an excess of hair, facial hair, nor other accessories such as rings and piercings. However, enlists are held to a more strict, less free standard that restricts the length of all hair, restricts ring wearing down to wedding bands, disallows the wear of any external piercings, and heavily discourages if not outright disallowing the wear of internal (for example, the tongue) piercings.

It is common knowledge within military communities that commissioned officers enjoy a relaxed standard of personal appearance, in that they are allowed more freedom to style themselves, so long as they keep themselves neat and clean. Commissioned officers enjoy relaxed guidelines pertaining to hair length, hair style, facial hair length and style, rings, piercings (generally only ear rings are allowed), nail polish/gloss, and tattoos/dyes.

In contrast to the relatively relaxed personal appearance standards, commissioned officers are known to hold each other to a stricter standard of dress in the context of clothing items. Commissioned officers are expected to show a greater degree of care for their uniform than even that of enlists; in practice including the placement of ribbons, medals, and other awards, and the polishing of one's boots.

Technically, since warrant officers have not earned a commission for their ranking, they are considered non-commissioned officers and therefore are enlists, not commissioned officers.