Navy Working Uniform (NWU) Idiocy

Navy Times has an article about feedback they received after writing about the Navy's planned new rules for the wear of the new Navy Working Uniform -- the "blue cammies of death". The Navy put out a message saying that the new working uniforms would not be allowed to be worn off base, not even for "brief stops" allowed with the current working uniforms:

The new rules are more restrictive than the regs covering the to-be-replaced utilities and wash khakis, as well as the current woodland cammies and flight suits.
Current uniform regulations allow sailors to make brief stops — such as pumping gas, picking up prescriptions and dropping off kids at day care — in the current uniforms. None of this will be allowed once sailors and officers begin wearing the Navy Working Uniform, which will be available to purchase in the Norfolk, Va., area next month...
...At the time of the message’s release, Navy officials told Navy Times that the commuting rules for the NWU were identical to the rules for all current working uniforms. Those officials have since corrected themselves, saying that the current rules for utilities and wash khakis do allow for brief stops.
Navy Times, on Tuesday morning, requested further clarification on the reason for the rule change from the office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
The rule change will likely cause problems for deck-plate leaders who need to enforce them.
That’s because once the NWU begins its two-year rollout, there will be two sets of uniform rules on the street — one for the NWU, authorizing no routine stops, and the current, and more liberal, rules for the rest of the uniforms.

Dukerulz has more on this story, including a report of a quote from the CNO on this issue. I think the Navy runs into this problem because they populate the various "Task Force" groups with people who are never going to sea again, and don't have the guts to retire; they'd rather take up office space and sit around talking about the Big Picture when they're not going to have to live by the ridiculous rules they're promulgating.

I'm hoping the new MCPON, a submariner, lets the CNO know that he got bad advice when he put the original message out, and will retract it as soon as possible.

(Among the "Big Picture" items the asshats who worry about these things came up with is a description of the "emblem" that is embedded in the pattern of the Navy Working Uniform. From the message: "EMBEDDED THROUGHOUT THE FABRIC ARE MINIATURIZED FEATURES OF THE SEAL OF THE NAVY FLAG WITH THE LETTERS "USN" DIRECTLY BENEATH IT. THE SEAL INCLUDES AN ANCHOR, A THREE-MASTED SQUARE RIGGED SHIP, AND AN EAGLE. THE EMBLEM WILL BE ABBREVIATED "ACE", WHICH STANDS FOR ANCHOR, USS CONSTITUTION, AND EAGLE." Seriously, who in their right mind gives a rat's ass about the abbreviation for an emblem on a seal on a uniform?)