Marine bases on both the East Coast and West Coast are delaying rolling sleeves up due to unseasonably cold weather.
Every year, just after daylight saving time starts, Marines carry out the tradition of rolling the sleeves on their camouflage uniforms. Marines do it twice a year: Sleeves go up during the warmer months and down during the colder months.
But this year, several Marine installations are delaying the sleeves up policy because of cold weather. Marines with I Marine Expeditionary Force stationed at Camp Pendleton, Twentynine Palms, and Miramar bases all located in southern California, will delay rolling the sleeves on their woodland camouflage uniforms until April 1. The air station aboard Yuma, Arizona, is also choosing to delay.
On the East Coast, the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia, and the North Carolina installations of Camp Lejeune and the air station at Cherry Point will also delay rolling sleeves until April 1 because of cold weather.
The biannual sleeve ritual carried out by Marines across the Corps had a short hiatus in 2011 when then-Commandant Gen. James Amos ended the policy, keeping sleeves down year-round. In 2014, Amos did a 180-degree turn on that policy due to popular demand.
Amos announced the renewed sleeve rolling policy by stating “sun’s out, guns out,” in a Facebook message posted in 2014.
Shawn Snow is the senior reporter for Marine Corps Times and a Marine Corps veteran.
