The Air Force is clamping down on digital multitasking while on duty, ending a previous policy that allowed Airmen to use phones and other digital devices while walking in uniform.
The change came with a handful of updates to the service’s dress and appearance standards released Jan. 9. Since December 2021, Airmen have enjoyed a policy that authorized the use of “personal electronic media devices, including cellular phones, earpieces, speaker phones or text messaging while walking,” according to Department of the Air Force Instruction 36-2903.
The new guidance limits the use of these devices and texting while walking in uniform “to emergencies or when official notifications are necessary,” according to the Jan. 9 announcement. There are exceptions to the guidance—for example, Airmen can wear “headphones and earphones during travel on public transportation and while wearing the physical training gear during individual or personal fitness training.”
Airmen, however, are not allowed to wear “mirrored lenses or smart glasses with photo, video or artificial intelligence capabilities while in uniform,” according to the announcement.
The new guidance is the latest instance of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David A. Wolfe rolling back previous policies since taking charge in November.
For instance, the Air Force under Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin put out guidance in July that required all officers, regardless of career field, to “maintain at least one complete set of either the non-fire-retardant operational camouflage pattern, or OCP, uniform or an improved hot weather combat OCP uniform.”
Wilsbach’s latest guidance kills that requirement, stating that “only those individuals performing assigned duties and mission requirements that necessitate OCPs must maintain a full set,” according to the announcement.
Many of the changes have been intended to boost morale. On Jan. 9, for example, Wolfe announced the return of duty identifier patches. The Velcro-backed shoulder patches that indicate an Airman’s career field or responsibilities were banned 11 months ago under Allvin’s guidance.
“I’ve decided to bring duty identifier patches back because the Air Force is made up of many different specialties, each with a unique role in our mission to generate airpower,” Wilsbach said in a statement.
Other changes have included the decision to authorize the wear of unit morale T-shirts on Fridays and aircrew to wear nametags with their callsigns daily. Another change reduces the requirement ordered by Alvin for quarterly command-wide inspections to only once per year.
The Jan. 9 guidance also states that sage green is no longer an authorized color for the cold weather watch cap. Airman can wear the coyote brown or black watch cap between Oct. 1 and March 31.
It also refines the authorized colors for personal bags to dark blue, black, brown, olive drab green, and OCP—tan and sage green are no longer authorized.
