Do you wear Air Force gloves? Published March 8, 2009 By Master Sgt. Jullie Palmer 919th Civil Engineer Squadron first sergeant DUKE FIELD, Fla. -- The training instructor approaches the new recruit and screams, "Get your hands out of your pockets! Those are Air Force gloves! We don't wear Air Force gloves!" How often do you see your fellow Airmen with their hands in their pockets? Air Force Instruction 36-2903 states that "members will not ... stand or walk with hands in pockets of any uniform combination, other than to insert or remove items." Why do we allow this blatant disregard for a clearly written instruction? In fact, why do we allow other standards to be ignored? Who is allowing this? All of us. Why? Think about the word "uniform." It says it all, doesn't it? Not only do we all follow the same uniform wear standards, but we uniformly follow every standard for performance required for the Air Force mission. What is the reason for this? Without uniformity in our appearance and actions, we slowly morph into a group of misguided members of a rogue militia. You don't think so? Okay, so one day you ignore my hands in my pockets, the next day you ignore my hair growing past my collar. By day three I'm unrecognizable as an Airman, and why should I even care about the laws of war? A slight exaggeration to make a point, but is it really that far of a stretch? The Airmen of the 919th Special Operations Wing - you -- wear the uniform of a military that belongs to the greatest, most powerful country in the world. But when one of us makes the decision not to be professional, either in our appearance or actions, it directly affects all of us. If you don't follow the rules at home, how can you do it in the war zone? In a war zone, we lose credibility, we become a target and progress is hindered. At home, our fellow citizens lose faith in us. Everyone has the right to correct their fellow Airman - when you do, you help us all. So take a look at yourself and your buddy and ask, "Do you wear Air Force gloves?"