Admiral Mullen's Spiffy Britches

This morning, not having anything else to read (lately I’ve been on a James D. Doss kick) I was sitting in the “reading room” (that’s bathroom to most of you) going through the most recent Newsweek. I came across an article titled “Secrets From Inside the Obama War Room”, a book excerpt by Jonathan Alter. It wasn’t too bad.

Then my eye traveled to a photo in the article. It looked just a bit odd. It was a photo of Pres. Obama, Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen. That’s not what was odd about it. Obama and Gates, of course, were dressed in suits and Mullen was in uniform (his tan dress uniform, which he seems to favor). But that’s not what was odd.

Here’s a scan of the photo (I couldn’t find it anywhere online and so the quality’s not real good). See if you can notice what’s just so goofy about the image:

Newsweek, May 24 /31, 2010, page 30

Did you notice Mullen’s britches? His pants? His slacks? They’re camo! Camo? Since when did Navy dress uniforms come with camouflage trousers? Tailored and creased with spit shined dress shoes! (Do you think the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs spit shines his own shoes?)

And I’m not even going to say anything about the red briefcase that looks like the most obnoxious kind of faux designer handbag that the characters in “Sex in the City” might carry.

Now I was aghast. Is the Admiral making a fashion statement? Is this going to be the new trend in military dress uniforms? I notice that now Navy seamen have a black and grey camouflage BDU uniform they wear on ships. Why is absolutely beyond me unless it’s to try and hide from the CPO who’s supervising a work detail.

So, after my stint in the “reading room” with this photographic quandary, I adjourned to the computer and my old buddy Google.

I did manage to find this photo in a couple of places. It’s apparently a White House photo taken in 2009. And, unless I miss my guess, someone at “Newsweek” photoshopped it putting a camo pattern onto regular Navy tan dress slacks. Now why they would have done this is beyond me. Either it’s some kind of smart-ass editorial comment or someone’s smart-ass idea of a practical joke.

But here’s the original photo from Whitehouse.blogs.Foxnews:


Mystery solved? Well, not unless I knew why “Newsweek” would do this in its magazine. Or maybe I just have to chalk it up to another of those WTF? moments.