Airmen will have to wait even longer than expected to purchase their new Air Force physical training uniforms on base, after patiently anticipating the new clothes since 2022.
In April, future airmen at Basic Military Training received the brand-new short-sleeved shirt, running shorts, all-purpose shorts and tracksuit that -- while similar in appearance to the old threads at first glance -- include softer fabric, quick-drying material and an updated design.
Officials had earlier announced that the workout clothes would be on shelves of stateside Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores by July, but that deadline was missed. Airmen will now have to wait until later this fall.
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The physical training uniform is currently expected to arrive at exchange stores beginning in November, an Air Force spokesperson confirmed to Military.com. Other extra physical training uniform items such as a long-sleeved T-shirt and sweatshirt are still being developed, and a rollout date has not yet been announced.
The uniform has yet to become available because it took longer than expected for government sources to buy the right fabric from manufacturers to meet requirements for the uniform, the spokesperson added.
Commenters on the popular Air Force Amn/Nco/Snco Facebook page -- where airmen often go to share insider news -- expressed frustration at news reports about the continued delay.
"At this rate, my kids will be the first to wear these (i don't have kids)," one commenter wrote. Another said, "How hard can athletic gear be to get right … lol."
The new design marks the first major change to the service's workout clothes in nearly 20 years.
The current, decades-old uniform has long received complaints about its "noisy" and "bulky" track jacket, according to a 2021 news release, something that has reportedly been remedied with the new design.
Meanwhile, the Space Force -- which is under the Department of the Air Force -- has already started getting its own physical training uniforms. In March, it began rolling out its own service-specific workout clothes to Guardians at Basic Military Training and plans to roll it out at Peterson, Schriever and Buckley Space Force Bases in Colorado; Vandenberg Space Force Base and Los Angeles Air Force Base in California; Patrick Space Force Base in Florida; and the Pentagon, Military.com previously reported.
But though the Space Force's physical training uniform is being rolled out, its dress uniform has encountered delays.
Earlier this month, Military.com reported that those uniforms are now not expected until December 2025, marking more than four years since the design was first made public at the Air Force Association's Air, Space and Cyber conference in September 2021.
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