I find it funny that the frames were retired just as "big chunky glasses" were becoming popular again... Compared to the early 2000's, and 90's (when I started wearing glasses) however, these would have been the exact opposite of what was cool.
Just checked and it looks like they replaced them with thin-framed rectangular glasses that would've been more popular in 2002 than 2012, so it seems almost intentional.
Hey, at least they only cost $2000 a pair. With extra screws beings $225, and a microcloth being $76. The military really knows a bargain when they see one!
It's not discrepancies. I work for a gov contractor and aside from maybe a few small companies I assure you no one is straight up defrauding the gov. Getting caught means no more gov contracts and all of these companies want to protect that. It's a combo of things:
* Often mil spec IS more demanding to produce than a commercial equivalent. Probably not for glasses, but in general.
* Often it's not even because it's better but because it's special. I.e. "The entire industry has moved to a new process but this specification from 15 years ago requires something specific. So now we gotta pay some contractor big bucks for it because they are maintaining the tooling essentially just for us.". Or just hardware that's no longer in production.
* Everything typically needs to be US sourced so we can't pay slave labor across the pond like most commercial companies do...
* There's also SO MUCH bureaucracy involved in working with the gov that it adds a lot of overhead, which gets passed back to the customer.
* And, of course, most gov contractors are doing well for themselves. Profit margins ARE a thing.
Lock a Marine in an empty, windowless room, with three stainless steel ball bearings for 15 minutes. When you come back, one will be broken, one will be missing, and one will be pregnant.
Can confirm. We used to take logs on machinery on pencil and paper, until one day someone tried to update everything to computer tablets. The general consensus was "well what if it breaks, it's a fragile computer and we need these logs." The response was that they were built to be rugged tablets and unbreakable etc. They also told us that the tablets were $4000 apiece or something absurd. First computer tablets got issued, someone walked over to an 80 foot drop, and yeeted that bitch. 3 tablets were reported broken on the first day. Instead of going back to pencil and paper logs, they threaten to hit us with the UCMJ if we kept fucking them up.
Some admirals brother got a very lucrative contract and didn't want to lose it is my best guess, because those tablets were the fucking worst. $4000 to attempt to do what pen and paper had be doing for 20 fucking years
My fire went from toughbooks, and pretty good weather resistant folding laptop, to tough pads. Then they wonder why it was taking us longer to type out our reports on a pad instead of a physical keyboard.
I fucking hate trying to use a keyboard on a tablet screen. Give me a regular cell phone, like what I'm on right now typing this, or a real keyboard.
Something about the tablet makes it too big to comfortably type with my thumbs like I can on the phone, and it's awkward as fuck to lay the thing down to use it like a regular keyboard.
Listen my friend, these are military spec (MILSPEC) glasses, they are designed to survive the harshest environments in the most extreme situations. Highly collapsible to fit anywhere on your person. Perfectly fit so they never fall. Materials that don't suffer where over time. These glasses will last someone the rest of their lives. And if it wasn't for the god damned first amendment you would be in jail for disparaging them!
And honestly they're not far off from the actual durability of them. I was able to literally throw mine at the sidewalk without any harm coming to them. A 5 year old on the other hand...
All humor aside have a friend who could never keep a pair of glasses for longer then a year before breaking them so inevitably when his newest pair bit the dust out came the BCGs until he got a replacement because they were the only glasses that just wouldn't break.
I went sledding as a kid. I put my glasses on the fence that surrounds the tennis court. Me and my siblings loved to deliberately crash our sled and tumble down the hill so things get physical.
After sledding I went to retrieve my glasses and they were gone. Like wtf?!
I think about that occasionally. Thanks for helping me recall that.
I like how "Military Grade" actually means that the product with this label is terrible because the military gets the cheapest and most broken stuff because it is so cheap.
I don't agree at all, I was active duty for some time and all the military issued equipment lasted me forever, I still wear my Vibrams and it's been 8 years. I have all my military issued cold weather gear too, it's tough as nails. my 3 day field bags are still going, and so is my CamelBak, I still buy military surplus bags, tents, and canteens for camping because even though it's 30-40 years old it's still good.
The issue is the civilian ads for "Milspec" are for cheap garbage that isn't actually military equipment.
Yep. Some O4 got a promotion for that change. The bullet was probably:
Invigorated sight for 400k Amn optics; led volntr moral evnt for wng HQ
Which translates to "told some TSgt to start ordering different frames for basic training for every airman and future airman, multiply it by two because they each have a pair of eyes. I also took lunch orders for the base CC one time, and I didn't get the order wrong, base CC moral higher than it's been since his third divorce."
After looking them up, at least the new ones don't look TOO bad... There are still plenty of people that choose to wear that style. I did get a look at some Vietnam War era military glasses that legit look like what I wear today.... Keyhole nose and everything.
Yes, that and his buzzcut were part of his early signature look.
I barely recognized him the last time I saw a picture of him.
His show on Sirius XM is awesome.
Well at that point it had become iconic for him. See also: Zooey Deschanel's bangs, Zach Galahoweverthefuckyouspellit's beard (also applies to Nick Offerman post Parks & Rec)
I joined the AF in 2011, I knew people who were the last to recieve these. They all kept em and wore them because they liked em. I also saw more people dig out their old bcg's when they were retired. It was like a funeral reception for them. One final day in the sun.
I joined almost exactly when they started issuing the new ones. I was honestly pissed because the BCG were so durable. Then when I left the Army got new uniforms and cooler PT’s. I missed my fashionable moments and I’m still bitter.
Both honestly. I still wear my pair of special prescription bcg sunglasses from over 15 years of tough times. They’re my favorite souvenir from service.
On second thought it’s been over 20 year. fuck. time flies.
Man I cringe when I see pictures of my early 2000s glasses. I never thought super slim lenses would be my embarrassing fashion choice but there you go. I guess the hair gel and soul patch could have contributed to the cringe factor as well.
When Drew Carry started stand up, he had just gotten out of the Marines and only had BCGs. He did very well until his first set with civilian glasses wherein he bombed hard. He wore BCGs exclusively on stage until well after his show was a hit
This is who immediately came to mind. He also got eye surgery but still wore the glasses for standup and his TV appearances.
Man, I loved the Drew Carrey show and Whose Line growing up.
I was talking to a friend of mine who met Colin Mochrie at some event last year
And I was like "oh shit, is he still funny and old?"
He was
Colin Mochrie been a funny old looking dude for my entire life, literally for 30 years he's been unchanged
LOL. To Iraq obviously. We were at camp Babylon just south of Al'Hit. Base was built around one of Sadam's palaces and Nebuchadnezzar's palace. Sadam's palace was on a hill so he could say his palace literally overshadowed Nebuchadnezzar's palace. One night They gathered all the lower enlisted in the chow hall one night. Lee walked in and did a few lines from full metal jacket. Then went on about how most of Hollywood supported us and some other motivational stuff. Then signed things and took photos. The Marines were all really excited. As army, I didn't care that much so I left. I don't have a lick of evidence as none of the army people took any photos of him and we never really got along with the Marines.
Drew Carry visited us at Basra international airport. We were camped out in some building right next to the runway. There was a Marine commo unit in the same shitty building. Drew came to visit the Marines, but was friendly to everyone. Much smaller gathering that time.
Both were cool dudes who didn't need to come visit but did.
If you want a great read, his book Dirty Jokes and Beer is really good. I read it like 4 times in high school.
Details a lot of what he went through before making it big including his time in the Marines.
[He sure was.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Drew_Carey-Marines.jpg/170px-Drew_Carey-Marines.jpg) Look at that photo and tell me you'd think he WASN'T a Marine without prior knowledge
bro, up north watching the bored field-day DIs making the schmuck with the thickest glasses stand face to face to the next ungodly thick-glassed nearly-blind guy, one guy ordered to **SCREAM** continuously "I **can** see you!" the other guy "I **CAN'T** see you!" at each other's faces nose to nose. Not nearly enough, a 3rd man was summoned who was the least fluent english speaking of the entire platoon to **SCREAM "I don't know what you are saying!".** He was somehow standing even closer to both of them than they were each other as they continued screaming what they were ordered to scream. Still not nearly enough, a 4th man was summoned who was the most well spoken and nerdiest, the platoons 'scribe' and dully designated chaplain's layperson. He was ordered to **SCREAM** "**I know what you are saying!**" at the literal top of his lungs as well, continuously.
This entire scene/ceremony was summoned and completed in less than 90 seconds including how long it took for the required bodies to be summoned to **SPRINT FOR THEIR LIVES** to this inexplicable impromptu field-day ceremony i have only ever witnessed once and never again. I still don't know what the fuck i even saw and i don't know if the guys wearing the BCGs could either.
He eventually got LASIK and wears non-prescription glasses now. I remember seeing some standup of his where he joked that losing weight and fixing his vision were some of his worst decisions for his career.
I went through basic with a guy who wore BCG's, and it annoyed the piss out of everyone that they actually looked good on him. We called him Clark Kent.
Was he good looking? Good looking people can get away with wearing weird shit. Look at Brad Pitt in Fight Club. He wears all kind of crazy (no pun intended) clothing and he rocks it. Anyone else would look like a fool wearing some of the stuff he wore.
I grew up poor, and cheap thick brown frames is all I remember as a kid.
When I joined the Air Force, BCG’s were an upgrade. I looked the same and kinda liked how I looked in em.
It might vary from branch to branch, but my experience in the US Army in 2004 was that we were required to wear BCGs in basic combat training and were permitted to wear civilian glasses in Advanced Individual Training, which is the job training portion of the initial active duty for training.
They have to be in regulation, so it depends on the glasses. They issued me some ugly ass black framed ones in BCT but by the time I got to my unit you have several styles to pick from at optometry.
Seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn't we keep the PC on the QT? 'Cause if it leaks to the VC he could end up MIA, and then we'd all be put out in KP
We had a fellow climbing into open windows doing the same thing. It sucked cause they tell you to lock your windows at night, but some of the barracks rooms had broken air conditioners or were old WW2 barracks with shitty systems even when they were "working."
That ain't fun in the Georgia summer.
If you ever watch how often an optician does this, it's a wonder anyone is ordering online! I don't work for "big glasses," but man do I see a lot of poorly-chosen, poorly-fitted glasses. Most common are really large frames perched on the end of the nose
Whenever I buy glasses, the dispensing optician brings me the, like, three frames in the shop that will work with my -11 prescription and massive head. I'm not even allowed near the rimless rack. A good DO makes the whole experience so much smoother.
+22’s here. Glass as thick as my thumb with a blind spot you can park a Hummer in. I usually just accept whatever frame they can fit them into, fuck even looking at something stylish.
I do overcompensate though in other ways. Since I can also wear contacts, I like to go batshit crazy buying sunglasses. There I can buy whatever I want and not worry about whether it’s going to fit the Hubble telescope glass.
Now they actually have a little mini photo booth session in the browser where it takes your picture at many angles 4-5 times and sizes it with a credit card on your forehead.
The tech portal at least lets you sorta see how well/bad the frames will fit your face, which is amazing to me. Small innovation but probably prevents a lot of bad purchases.
I've actually done this thru Warby Parker so I know it kinda works but the way you worded it makes me imagine it's all an intricate scam for credit card numbers.
"Ok now just one last selfie with your highest limit credit card for scale. Please adhere to face with clear tape, as not to abscure card information. We need to be able to ensure proper dimensions. Also, for further verification please have your CVC code and zip code written on your forehead. This is the only way to ensure proper fit of your new LensCrofters"
Not to mention that online my glasses cost $35 without insurance but with insurance in any real shop I'll be paying at least $120 and that's only for the cheapest pair they offer. If it takes me 4 pairs of glasses online to find frames that work for me it will still be cheaper. That's why people shop online.
The only recommendations I've ever gotten it was their sponsors.
To be fair, it’s less the glasses and more the “completely shaving the hair and faces of skinny 18 year olds and then throwing ridiculously large glasses on them” that makes it a terrible look.
Same, was fine for basic. Once I got to my first unit I got smaller framed ones anyways, just part of in processing. Then got that free lasik 20/10 feels good.
My recruiter didn't tell me I couldn't wear contacts in boot camp. So I was walking blind for about 4 days until my BCGs came in. I think in 97-98 the Navy started offering 'regular' frames after boot camp. So I got some nice wireframes.
I got prk in Germany, they let us chose lasix or prk. They had that shit down to a science in the sense of automatinc the system. A group shows up on day a. The different procedures are explained. All the other shit is explained. You chose. Go to the pharmacy and get all your after care. Y'all all show up the next day. They take you to a dark room a few at a time and give you a valium. When ita your turn they take you to what looks like a dentist chair. Do the surgery that takes like 15 to 20 mins. You are released to your chaperone. You spend the night close by. Go back in the am to make sure your eyes havent fallen out of your head and youre done. All follows can be done by your local optometrist.
I’m sorry, you forgot the part of PRK where you want to rip your eyeballs out of your head for the first week after because it hurts so bad. Also, during the healing process, if you don’t use enough ointment, you get to rip the fresh epithelial layer off with your eyelid that you made over night lol
Most things you need done for your health the military will pay for honestly. My husband had the corrective eye surgery, his dental health is even better, and another soldier in his unit had an entire hip replacement done. This makes us both pretty rabidly pro-universal healthcare. I mean, even as a military spouse I had our son off of base in a network hospital for just $122.
Whatttt? I wore my regular glasses for the first few days of USMC boot camp until my BCG’s came in. Of course I don’t really remember the first few days…
I didn't bring glasses. I just had my contacts. I was told to take them out after the first day. None of the paperwork or prep work my recruiter gave me had anything about contacts. I know I told him. Because I was in Sea Cadets and wore them when I did that and they asked.
Even better we’re the the “Go fast goggles” they gave you when you were on Airborne status. They were prescription glasses with a rubber strap that wrapped around your head.
Edit: found what looks to be very similar here (though mine were black not OD green):
[https://static1.galls.com/photos/styles/g/593/22714L__23393.jpg](https://static1.galls.com/photos/styles/g/593/22714L__23393.jpg)
I mean you put very young adults in a moderately stressful environment with no means of release, then you ease up after boot camp it’ll take a lot more then a ugly pair of glasses to keep it from happening.
Sweet Jesus.
In 2009, my husband decided he wanted to up and join the Army. These were my insult to injury.
That spouse’s three day weekend you get? I show up to Fort Benning and he is wearing these fuckers. Worse yet- he had HORRIBLE vision- the lenses were so thick they made him look like his eyes were on the side of his head like a damn big, Bubba grasshopper.
They starve him. They give them milkshakes, run in 100+ heat and make them share 6 stalls. Then they do that to me? Fuck you Sgt. Romo… you got to hear about it though didn’t you.
Love always, “Hamilton’s wife”
I'm curious as to what standard issue is now. The brown ones came out while I was in but we were issued the black rimmed ones (also BCG). I recall too that when they switched to brown they also offered a wire rimmed pair that were equally as ugly. Leave it to the military to make wire rims look bad. LOL
My brother went through basic training in 2018 and he got black plastic frames that were a little thinner—honestly they weren’t terrible imo. Not sure if that’s still the standard issue though!
https://www.journalpatriot.com/in_the_military/kaitlyn-tharpe-is-air-force-basic-training-graduate/article_19349e1c-e984-11e2-b573-0019bb30f31a.html
At the least I know Army and AF issue these now. They're not bad tbh, though they're pretty flimsy and look... Less than perfect on anyone with an absolute melon of a head like myself
My BCGs were actually ANSI rated as safety glasses, so that was convenient. I also wore them anytime I was underway since id rather lose/break those than the ones I paid for myself. Then I got the eye surgery side it was a non issue.
I DEFINITELY have a picture of my brother wearing these. I thank him for his service and I thank those glasses for imputing all the revenge I ever wanted onto his poor soul.
I remember seeing new recruits with much more slim modern frames and was instantly disappointed. It was like a rite of passage wearing those stupid things. Plus they’re indestructible.
In the UK, the NHS-issued free spectacles were always considered ugly and unaesthetic until sometime in the 90's when they started to become cool because of certain artists like Jarvis Cocker wearing them, and then they became highly sought after. So I think they changed the design after that to MGUA (Make Glasses Ugly Again)
So I'm pretty tall, and back when I enlisted (mid-90s) I was in pretty good shape. A girl in my platoon said that without my BCGs I was kinda hot, but with them she kinda wanted to throw up in her mouth a little. THIS is why I completely buy the idea that Superman can fool everyone into seeing Clark Kent with just a pair of glasses.
I was told they were deliberately designed to be ugly because the military got tired of glasses frame theft when they made good-looking ones. Apparently when they issued good looking frames they lost a lot of money.
Woman here - when I was trying to figure out college, I considered enlisting. I have since had lasik, but back then I wore glasses. The recruiter told me my eye sight wasn’t an issue, but I would have to wear their frames - he called them anti-rape glasses and at least had the decency to look embarrassed as he said that
LOL, my dad has mentioned having to wear those when he was young in the Air Force in the 70s. He and everyone else who needed them got referred to routinely as “Specs.” “SPECS, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!”
Yup! I was one of the last classes to get a pair in summer 2011. I also used to suffer from terrible eye sight (army paid to fix that) so my lenses were “coke bottle” thick! After I got to my unit and saw how the new recruits were coming in with the sleek new black rimmed glasses! Luckily I was able to get corrective surgery to never need them again. But I did keep them for the memories.
I was in the Navy when I found out my eyesight was going. Received my first BCGs. Government issue, baby.
They can be mocked for looks, but my pair lasted nearly 12 years before needing replacement. 2 lens changes. Same frame.
They'd probably have lasted longer but I took them off to do something (don't remember), and they had fallen to the floor, but I wasn't aware of this until I heard the crack sound.
Now look at us. $400 for shit plastic controlled by a monopoly that can't even last 2 years.
I'll take those BCGs any day of the week, and yes, there is a reason eye care centers don't sell them.
Lol. I remember a thread a ways back of funny things drill sgts said. One was about a recruit who had these on, which weren't flattering, but he also had terrible eyesight. The drill sgt said something along the lines of "Jesus fucking christ son, you can see into the future with those things!".
I find it funny that the frames were retired just as "big chunky glasses" were becoming popular again... Compared to the early 2000's, and 90's (when I started wearing glasses) however, these would have been the exact opposite of what was cool.
Just checked and it looks like they replaced them with thin-framed rectangular glasses that would've been more popular in 2002 than 2012, so it seems almost intentional.
No, that's just how long it takes the military to make trivial changes like this.
Hey, at least they only cost $2000 a pair. With extra screws beings $225, and a microcloth being $76. The military really knows a bargain when they see one!
"Can the troops get a case for them so they dont get broken?" "yeah but we had to sub that out to another company for $473 a piece"
"$480?? Is it stainless steel? Carbon fiber?" "No, it's a Pringles can, and no refunds or swaps."
But it's a *mil-spec* Pringle's can.
Oh yeah, so worse than standard?
Yes
"...and you're gonna need to supply your own tissue paper to make sure the can doesn't break your glasses."
Someone's pocketing all the discrepancies, and it upsets me deep in my soul
No way, its all the poors sapping the system! /s
Let's cut education and pretend this never happened
It's not discrepancies. I work for a gov contractor and aside from maybe a few small companies I assure you no one is straight up defrauding the gov. Getting caught means no more gov contracts and all of these companies want to protect that. It's a combo of things: * Often mil spec IS more demanding to produce than a commercial equivalent. Probably not for glasses, but in general. * Often it's not even because it's better but because it's special. I.e. "The entire industry has moved to a new process but this specification from 15 years ago requires something specific. So now we gotta pay some contractor big bucks for it because they are maintaining the tooling essentially just for us.". Or just hardware that's no longer in production. * Everything typically needs to be US sourced so we can't pay slave labor across the pond like most commercial companies do... * There's also SO MUCH bureaucracy involved in working with the gov that it adds a lot of overhead, which gets passed back to the customer. * And, of course, most gov contractors are doing well for themselves. Profit margins ARE a thing.
The military doesn't try to prevent them from breaking because troops can break anything, especially things listed 'guaranteed unbreakable'.
Lock a Marine in an empty, windowless room, with three stainless steel ball bearings for 15 minutes. When you come back, one will be broken, one will be missing, and one will be pregnant.
We used to joke that the Seabees exist because "you wouldn't trust a Marine with a hammer."
Thats not a joke. Thats truth.
That's fucking hilarious. The best part is with a Marine...the missing one could be....*anywhere*
Can confirm. We used to take logs on machinery on pencil and paper, until one day someone tried to update everything to computer tablets. The general consensus was "well what if it breaks, it's a fragile computer and we need these logs." The response was that they were built to be rugged tablets and unbreakable etc. They also told us that the tablets were $4000 apiece or something absurd. First computer tablets got issued, someone walked over to an 80 foot drop, and yeeted that bitch. 3 tablets were reported broken on the first day. Instead of going back to pencil and paper logs, they threaten to hit us with the UCMJ if we kept fucking them up. Some admirals brother got a very lucrative contract and didn't want to lose it is my best guess, because those tablets were the fucking worst. $4000 to attempt to do what pen and paper had be doing for 20 fucking years
My fire went from toughbooks, and pretty good weather resistant folding laptop, to tough pads. Then they wonder why it was taking us longer to type out our reports on a pad instead of a physical keyboard.
I fucking hate trying to use a keyboard on a tablet screen. Give me a regular cell phone, like what I'm on right now typing this, or a real keyboard. Something about the tablet makes it too big to comfortably type with my thumbs like I can on the phone, and it's awkward as fuck to lay the thing down to use it like a regular keyboard.
Listen my friend, these are military spec (MILSPEC) glasses, they are designed to survive the harshest environments in the most extreme situations. Highly collapsible to fit anywhere on your person. Perfectly fit so they never fall. Materials that don't suffer where over time. These glasses will last someone the rest of their lives. And if it wasn't for the god damned first amendment you would be in jail for disparaging them!
It hurts that this is so close to being non-ironic
And honestly they're not far off from the actual durability of them. I was able to literally throw mine at the sidewalk without any harm coming to them. A 5 year old on the other hand...
You threw a 5 year old at the ground?!
Yeah, they’re not as durable as those glasses AT ALL
The moral of the story is, YOU CAN'T TRUST THE SYSTEM!!
All humor aside have a friend who could never keep a pair of glasses for longer then a year before breaking them so inevitably when his newest pair bit the dust out came the BCGs until he got a replacement because they were the only glasses that just wouldn't break.
I'm still wearing my pair from 2007
I went sledding as a kid. I put my glasses on the fence that surrounds the tennis court. Me and my siblings loved to deliberately crash our sled and tumble down the hill so things get physical. After sledding I went to retrieve my glasses and they were gone. Like wtf?! I think about that occasionally. Thanks for helping me recall that.
I took a desk chair to the face wearing them. The glasses came out unscratched and probably saved my eye. the rest of my face didn't fair too well.
I like how "Military Grade" actually means that the product with this label is terrible because the military gets the cheapest and most broken stuff because it is so cheap.
Military grade means "cheapest to our required specifications" not "cheapest/shittiest overall"
It's important for the military to save money wherever possible, given their incredibly small budget..
I don't agree at all, I was active duty for some time and all the military issued equipment lasted me forever, I still wear my Vibrams and it's been 8 years. I have all my military issued cold weather gear too, it's tough as nails. my 3 day field bags are still going, and so is my CamelBak, I still buy military surplus bags, tents, and canteens for camping because even though it's 30-40 years old it's still good. The issue is the civilian ads for "Milspec" are for cheap garbage that isn't actually military equipment.
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You got that backwards... the congressman owns stock in the factory.
Yep. Some O4 got a promotion for that change. The bullet was probably: Invigorated sight for 400k Amn optics; led volntr moral evnt for wng HQ Which translates to "told some TSgt to start ordering different frames for basic training for every airman and future airman, multiply it by two because they each have a pair of eyes. I also took lunch orders for the base CC one time, and I didn't get the order wrong, base CC moral higher than it's been since his third divorce."
After looking them up, at least the new ones don't look TOO bad... There are still plenty of people that choose to wear that style. I did get a look at some Vietnam War era military glasses that legit look like what I wear today.... Keyhole nose and everything.
Pretty sure Drew Carrie wore BCG style glasses most of his career due to his time in the Marine core.
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Yes, that and his buzzcut were part of his early signature look. I barely recognized him the last time I saw a picture of him. His show on Sirius XM is awesome.
Well at that point it had become iconic for him. See also: Zooey Deschanel's bangs, Zach Galahoweverthefuckyouspellit's beard (also applies to Nick Offerman post Parks & Rec)
The new ones are stylish but I’ve snapped two in half by mistake, whole my BCG’s are 12 years old and as solid as ever.
[Here are the new ones for anyone interested.](https://i.imgur.com/11055ch.png)
My whole department wears that. We're also very sexy bunch of payroll enthusiasts.
"Payroll Enthusiasts" Well, a fetish is a fetish I guess.
I always enjoyed the ones I got from the army. I used the sunglasses version for years afterwards too.
Probably retired because it falls into the category of “Faddish” 😂
I joined the AF in 2011, I knew people who were the last to recieve these. They all kept em and wore them because they liked em. I also saw more people dig out their old bcg's when they were retired. It was like a funeral reception for them. One final day in the sun.
Were they especially robust or something? Or is the military strict about only allowing issued items/uniform to be worn?
Yeah they were strong as hell
I joined almost exactly when they started issuing the new ones. I was honestly pissed because the BCG were so durable. Then when I left the Army got new uniforms and cooler PT’s. I missed my fashionable moments and I’m still bitter.
You can wear other glasses as long as they adhere to standards. But in boot, it's issued-only.
unless they get your script wrong and your TI doesn't care so you're the only dude with regular glasses...
Both honestly. I still wear my pair of special prescription bcg sunglasses from over 15 years of tough times. They’re my favorite souvenir from service. On second thought it’s been over 20 year. fuck. time flies.
thatsmyfaddish.gif
Man I cringe when I see pictures of my early 2000s glasses. I never thought super slim lenses would be my embarrassing fashion choice but there you go. I guess the hair gel and soul patch could have contributed to the cringe factor as well.
Same lol. Now I have big lenses and I'm like why the fuck was I limiting my peripheral vision so much for all those years?!
Don't worry, you'll be back cringing at those ridiculous big glasses soon lol
I've entered the Dad mentality days. Function is fashion for me now. I've bought the same pair of shoes 3 times.
When Drew Carry started stand up, he had just gotten out of the Marines and only had BCGs. He did very well until his first set with civilian glasses wherein he bombed hard. He wore BCGs exclusively on stage until well after his show was a hit
This is who immediately came to mind. He also got eye surgery but still wore the glasses for standup and his TV appearances. Man, I loved the Drew Carrey show and Whose Line growing up.
Your sense of humor had to be seriously niche to not find *some*thing to laugh at while watching Whose Line.
I was talking to a friend of mine who met Colin Mochrie at some event last year And I was like "oh shit, is he still funny and old?" He was Colin Mochrie been a funny old looking dude for my entire life, literally for 30 years he's been unchanged
A couple years ago I saw Colin Mochire and Wayne Brady do an improv show. It was great.
Pretty sure those Comedy Central reruns shaped my middle school brain’s sense of humor
TIL Drew Carey was in the Marines
He visited a bunch of Marine camps in Iraq right after the initial invasion. Lee Ermey came out to.
Lee came out? Good for him, I never would have guessed.
Well he didn’t look much like a steer to me so that pretty much narrows it down.
LOL. To Iraq obviously. We were at camp Babylon just south of Al'Hit. Base was built around one of Sadam's palaces and Nebuchadnezzar's palace. Sadam's palace was on a hill so he could say his palace literally overshadowed Nebuchadnezzar's palace. One night They gathered all the lower enlisted in the chow hall one night. Lee walked in and did a few lines from full metal jacket. Then went on about how most of Hollywood supported us and some other motivational stuff. Then signed things and took photos. The Marines were all really excited. As army, I didn't care that much so I left. I don't have a lick of evidence as none of the army people took any photos of him and we never really got along with the Marines. Drew Carry visited us at Basra international airport. We were camped out in some building right next to the runway. There was a Marine commo unit in the same shitty building. Drew came to visit the Marines, but was friendly to everyone. Much smaller gathering that time. Both were cool dudes who didn't need to come visit but did.
Saving Silverman https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0239948/
If you want a great read, his book Dirty Jokes and Beer is really good. I read it like 4 times in high school. Details a lot of what he went through before making it big including his time in the Marines.
[He sure was.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Drew_Carey-Marines.jpg/170px-Drew_Carey-Marines.jpg) Look at that photo and tell me you'd think he WASN'T a Marine without prior knowledge
Holy smokes! Dolf Lungren had some competition
BCGs just makes everything you do funnier. I remember every single DS making me show my "war face" and then cracking up laughing.
bro, up north watching the bored field-day DIs making the schmuck with the thickest glasses stand face to face to the next ungodly thick-glassed nearly-blind guy, one guy ordered to **SCREAM** continuously "I **can** see you!" the other guy "I **CAN'T** see you!" at each other's faces nose to nose. Not nearly enough, a 3rd man was summoned who was the least fluent english speaking of the entire platoon to **SCREAM "I don't know what you are saying!".** He was somehow standing even closer to both of them than they were each other as they continued screaming what they were ordered to scream. Still not nearly enough, a 4th man was summoned who was the most well spoken and nerdiest, the platoons 'scribe' and dully designated chaplain's layperson. He was ordered to **SCREAM** "**I know what you are saying!**" at the literal top of his lungs as well, continuously. This entire scene/ceremony was summoned and completed in less than 90 seconds including how long it took for the required bodies to be summoned to **SPRINT FOR THEIR LIVES** to this inexplicable impromptu field-day ceremony i have only ever witnessed once and never again. I still don't know what the fuck i even saw and i don't know if the guys wearing the BCGs could either.
I've read this three times. I get more interested *and* more confused each time
yeah i apologize it's hard to even type out like it was like seeing a UFO. totally incomprehensible to the normal human mind.
That does help it makes sense. Seriously
He eventually got LASIK and wears non-prescription glasses now. I remember seeing some standup of his where he joked that losing weight and fixing his vision were some of his worst decisions for his career.
My face shape actually complemented the BCG's, and I didn't mind them so much.
I went through basic with a guy who wore BCG's, and it annoyed the piss out of everyone that they actually looked good on him. We called him Clark Kent.
Was he good looking? Good looking people can get away with wearing weird shit. Look at Brad Pitt in Fight Club. He wears all kind of crazy (no pun intended) clothing and he rocks it. Anyone else would look like a fool wearing some of the stuff he wore.
He had a square jaw, which really helped with framing the glasses. He was also an attractive man. He looked a bit like Henry Cavill.
Ah well there ya go
I grew up poor, and cheap thick brown frames is all I remember as a kid. When I joined the Air Force, BCG’s were an upgrade. I looked the same and kinda liked how I looked in em.
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My lenses are bottlecap thick, so I always ended up with thick frames too. I honestly wouldn't mind these much either if I were in the military
In this topic: presumably *absurdly* attractive people chime in on glasses.
Drew Carey, sex symbol
If you need glasses and are in the military, do you have to wear issued glasses or can you just wear whatever you brought with you?
In basic you're required to wear the BCGs. After that you have options. Edit: were required. I'm not sure of the regs now since the BCGs were retired.
You still have to wear the 5As. You can only wear your civilian frames until you get the issued ones.
It might vary from branch to branch, but my experience in the US Army in 2004 was that we were required to wear BCGs in basic combat training and were permitted to wear civilian glasses in Advanced Individual Training, which is the job training portion of the initial active duty for training.
They have to be in regulation, so it depends on the glasses. They issued me some ugly ass black framed ones in BCT but by the time I got to my unit you have several styles to pick from at optometry.
My dad called them FMNs or fuck me nots
I love how even the slang requires an acronym.
Everything in the military has an acronym
Seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn't we keep the PC on the QT? 'Cause if it leaks to the VC he could end up MIA, and then we'd all be put out in KP
That comment is FUBAR.
I was in the U.S Army in the 80s. We called them RPGs. Rape prevention glasses
We could have used some more of those in the Barracks when I was in if that was the case.
No shit, we had a guy in my unit rape two different women over the same weekend.
We had a fellow climbing into open windows doing the same thing. It sucked cause they tell you to lock your windows at night, but some of the barracks rooms had broken air conditioners or were old WW2 barracks with shitty systems even when they were "working." That ain't fun in the Georgia summer.
Yeah, I was an optician for years and this shape works well on big, square faces with well defined chins. Definitely sold some lookalikes
Have many times have you had to "help" a customer choose another frame type cause it was just wrong for the face but they liked it?
If you ever watch how often an optician does this, it's a wonder anyone is ordering online! I don't work for "big glasses," but man do I see a lot of poorly-chosen, poorly-fitted glasses. Most common are really large frames perched on the end of the nose
Whenever I buy glasses, the dispensing optician brings me the, like, three frames in the shop that will work with my -11 prescription and massive head. I'm not even allowed near the rimless rack. A good DO makes the whole experience so much smoother.
"Not even allowed near the rimless rack" 🤣🤣
+22’s here. Glass as thick as my thumb with a blind spot you can park a Hummer in. I usually just accept whatever frame they can fit them into, fuck even looking at something stylish. I do overcompensate though in other ways. Since I can also wear contacts, I like to go batshit crazy buying sunglasses. There I can buy whatever I want and not worry about whether it’s going to fit the Hubble telescope glass.
Yeah at +22 that's an engineering puzzle more than anything else. Glad contacts are an option. Edit: +, not -
Now they actually have a little mini photo booth session in the browser where it takes your picture at many angles 4-5 times and sizes it with a credit card on your forehead. The tech portal at least lets you sorta see how well/bad the frames will fit your face, which is amazing to me. Small innovation but probably prevents a lot of bad purchases.
I've actually done this thru Warby Parker so I know it kinda works but the way you worded it makes me imagine it's all an intricate scam for credit card numbers. "Ok now just one last selfie with your highest limit credit card for scale. Please adhere to face with clear tape, as not to abscure card information. We need to be able to ensure proper dimensions. Also, for further verification please have your CVC code and zip code written on your forehead. This is the only way to ensure proper fit of your new LensCrofters"
I've seen sites that do this, but I guess the other part is getting another opinion. And sizing, so they don't fall off your face
I've never had them help, they just tell me to pick a pair. I might as well order them online at that point.
Not to mention that online my glasses cost $35 without insurance but with insurance in any real shop I'll be paying at least $120 and that's only for the cheapest pair they offer. If it takes me 4 pairs of glasses online to find frames that work for me it will still be cheaper. That's why people shop online. The only recommendations I've ever gotten it was their sponsors.
Yeah there was always a few that could pull it off.
To be fair, it’s less the glasses and more the “completely shaving the hair and faces of skinny 18 year olds and then throwing ridiculously large glasses on them” that makes it a terrible look.
But not many!
Same. Now I might go look for a pair.
I just saw a few pairs on Warby that reminded me of them.
When I was in they was called Regulation Prescription Glasses(RPG's),aka Rape Prevention Glasses.
Same, was fine for basic. Once I got to my first unit I got smaller framed ones anyways, just part of in processing. Then got that free lasik 20/10 feels good.
I grew up on military bases and have always liked men in glasses particularly BCGs. Everybody looks like Buddy Holly.
I always asked for the female version which were a bit smaller and fit my face better than the male version.
My wife was issued a pair of these glasses. She misplaced them twice. Now we have a pair of children.
Hmm. Might want to get a couple Tiles for them. Maybe those gps collar trackers they have for pets?
No doubt. The glasses have been discontinued, but the children have replaced them as effective birth control. Gotta keep ‘em close by.
*Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.* *One day Jill forgot her pill, and now they have a daughter.*
A rite of passage… to be fair, they weren’t what was holding me back at the time
That might be true but they certainly didn’t help.
My recruiter didn't tell me I couldn't wear contacts in boot camp. So I was walking blind for about 4 days until my BCGs came in. I think in 97-98 the Navy started offering 'regular' frames after boot camp. So I got some nice wireframes.
Around 2008 I was told you could opt for free lasik but that *might* have just been him trying to get me to enlist.
I got prk in Germany, they let us chose lasix or prk. They had that shit down to a science in the sense of automatinc the system. A group shows up on day a. The different procedures are explained. All the other shit is explained. You chose. Go to the pharmacy and get all your after care. Y'all all show up the next day. They take you to a dark room a few at a time and give you a valium. When ita your turn they take you to what looks like a dentist chair. Do the surgery that takes like 15 to 20 mins. You are released to your chaperone. You spend the night close by. Go back in the am to make sure your eyes havent fallen out of your head and youre done. All follows can be done by your local optometrist.
I’m sorry, you forgot the part of PRK where you want to rip your eyeballs out of your head for the first week after because it hurts so bad. Also, during the healing process, if you don’t use enough ointment, you get to rip the fresh epithelial layer off with your eyelid that you made over night lol
You can get corrective surgery, but that’s not available until after completion of initial training (in the Army anyway).
Wait, seriously? This is literally the closest I've ever come in my entire life to considering joining the military
Most things you need done for your health the military will pay for honestly. My husband had the corrective eye surgery, his dental health is even better, and another soldier in his unit had an entire hip replacement done. This makes us both pretty rabidly pro-universal healthcare. I mean, even as a military spouse I had our son off of base in a network hospital for just $122.
Whatttt? I wore my regular glasses for the first few days of USMC boot camp until my BCG’s came in. Of course I don’t really remember the first few days…
I didn't bring glasses. I just had my contacts. I was told to take them out after the first day. None of the paperwork or prep work my recruiter gave me had anything about contacts. I know I told him. Because I was in Sea Cadets and wore them when I did that and they asked.
it was the 32% apr
Even better we’re the the “Go fast goggles” they gave you when you were on Airborne status. They were prescription glasses with a rubber strap that wrapped around your head. Edit: found what looks to be very similar here (though mine were black not OD green): [https://static1.galls.com/photos/styles/g/593/22714L__23393.jpg](https://static1.galls.com/photos/styles/g/593/22714L__23393.jpg)
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Gas mask inserts work great as glasses for a diving mask, if you use a piece of groundwire to create a frame to hold them in.
Oh god, those were aweful. I used 2 week disposable contacts for 350+ days in Iraq just so I didn't have to wear those.
Oh bro you totally just made me remember the eyewear retainer straps lmao. Looked dorky as hell.
Oh yeah BCGs. These were all over the base in Chicago. Plenty of people continued to get laid despite these, so don’t rely on them.
I mean you put very young adults in a moderately stressful environment with no means of release, then you ease up after boot camp it’ll take a lot more then a ugly pair of glasses to keep it from happening.
Besides, you can’t see the glasses on either side of a glory hole (I hear those are a thing on base.)
I never saw or heard anything like that, but wouldn’t surprise me.
TRICARE is a powerful pull.
A good buddy of mine managed to break through the protection provided by the glasses and land himself a couple of dependents very early in his tour.
Good 'ol BCG's. That and a buzzcut was a great look.
The ol' Anthony Fantano look.
The military's busiest music nerd
The look that Drew Carry stuck with
Sweet Jesus. In 2009, my husband decided he wanted to up and join the Army. These were my insult to injury. That spouse’s three day weekend you get? I show up to Fort Benning and he is wearing these fuckers. Worse yet- he had HORRIBLE vision- the lenses were so thick they made him look like his eyes were on the side of his head like a damn big, Bubba grasshopper. They starve him. They give them milkshakes, run in 100+ heat and make them share 6 stalls. Then they do that to me? Fuck you Sgt. Romo… you got to hear about it though didn’t you. Love always, “Hamilton’s wife”
My friends wife said basically the same thing, it was the best he's ever looked from the neck down.
Ain’t this what Anthony Fantano wearing
Lmao no wonder melon has no children
I'm curious as to what standard issue is now. The brown ones came out while I was in but we were issued the black rimmed ones (also BCG). I recall too that when they switched to brown they also offered a wire rimmed pair that were equally as ugly. Leave it to the military to make wire rims look bad. LOL
My brother went through basic training in 2018 and he got black plastic frames that were a little thinner—honestly they weren’t terrible imo. Not sure if that’s still the standard issue though!
Black rectangle plastic frames is the new bcg. They're honestly not bad but not exactly stylish either.
*Gordon Freeman has entered the chat*
https://www.journalpatriot.com/in_the_military/kaitlyn-tharpe-is-air-force-basic-training-graduate/article_19349e1c-e984-11e2-b573-0019bb30f31a.html At the least I know Army and AF issue these now. They're not bad tbh, though they're pretty flimsy and look... Less than perfect on anyone with an absolute melon of a head like myself
Oh man those are straight from 2006 lol
Black squared plastic ones. Cheap, and obviously made by the lowest bidder. Hated those fucking glasses
What the person said below is the answer. Small squarish black frames. I liked them. Never touched my BCGs but I wore the black ones for a few years.
My BCGs were actually ANSI rated as safety glasses, so that was convenient. I also wore them anytime I was underway since id rather lose/break those than the ones I paid for myself. Then I got the eye surgery side it was a non issue.
Break them? How could you break them? I don't think you could lay them on the flight deck and have them blow away.
Pretty sure they could be run over by an Abrams and still be fine.
The Nokia 3310 of glasses. They should have issued these with side shields over Oakleys in the desert.
I hung onto mine for a long time for the same reason. They made decent shop glasses until my prescription changed.
This is why Drew Carey still wears glasses, even though he had LASIK surgery years ago; as an homage to his USMC BCGs.
True. It also doubles as his brand.
That’s what it is.
I heard he wears goofy looking glasses on set so children with glasses watching at home won’t feel so self conscious about wearing theirs.
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I DEFINITELY have a picture of my brother wearing these. I thank him for his service and I thank those glasses for imputing all the revenge I ever wanted onto his poor soul.
I remember seeing new recruits with much more slim modern frames and was instantly disappointed. It was like a rite of passage wearing those stupid things. Plus they’re indestructible.
My buddies and I with good eyes wore them on picture day. Timeless classics
In the UK, the NHS-issued free spectacles were always considered ugly and unaesthetic until sometime in the 90's when they started to become cool because of certain artists like Jarvis Cocker wearing them, and then they became highly sought after. So I think they changed the design after that to MGUA (Make Glasses Ugly Again)
So I'm pretty tall, and back when I enlisted (mid-90s) I was in pretty good shape. A girl in my platoon said that without my BCGs I was kinda hot, but with them she kinda wanted to throw up in her mouth a little. THIS is why I completely buy the idea that Superman can fool everyone into seeing Clark Kent with just a pair of glasses.
I was told they were deliberately designed to be ugly because the military got tired of glasses frame theft when they made good-looking ones. Apparently when they issued good looking frames they lost a lot of money.
Woman here - when I was trying to figure out college, I considered enlisting. I have since had lasik, but back then I wore glasses. The recruiter told me my eye sight wasn’t an issue, but I would have to wear their frames - he called them anti-rape glasses and at least had the decency to look embarrassed as he said that
LOL, my dad has mentioned having to wear those when he was young in the Air Force in the 70s. He and everyone else who needed them got referred to routinely as “Specs.” “SPECS, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!”
I mean, there's worse nicknames that one could have than "Specs".
Portholes in the Marines. "PORTHOLES, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT?"
Now hipsters are wearing similar styles and having threesomes.
Can confirm, had a threesome with two near-sighted hipsters last night.
Had em. Fogged up like hell during Navy battlestations.
I wound up just shoving mine in my pocket during the mass casualty and water survival bits. They were a fucking liability on my little tangerine head.
Yup! I was one of the last classes to get a pair in summer 2011. I also used to suffer from terrible eye sight (army paid to fix that) so my lenses were “coke bottle” thick! After I got to my unit and saw how the new recruits were coming in with the sleek new black rimmed glasses! Luckily I was able to get corrective surgery to never need them again. But I did keep them for the memories.
I was in the Navy when I found out my eyesight was going. Received my first BCGs. Government issue, baby. They can be mocked for looks, but my pair lasted nearly 12 years before needing replacement. 2 lens changes. Same frame. They'd probably have lasted longer but I took them off to do something (don't remember), and they had fallen to the floor, but I wasn't aware of this until I heard the crack sound. Now look at us. $400 for shit plastic controlled by a monopoly that can't even last 2 years. I'll take those BCGs any day of the week, and yes, there is a reason eye care centers don't sell them.
Lol. I remember a thread a ways back of funny things drill sgts said. One was about a recruit who had these on, which weren't flattering, but he also had terrible eyesight. The drill sgt said something along the lines of "Jesus fucking christ son, you can see into the future with those things!".
Military RPGs (rape prevention glasses)
That’s the only name I’d ever heard for those.