Why are the army dress blues pants lighter than the jacket?

Answer 1

The legend goes like this. US Army dress uniform pants are a lighter blue than the coat because of the days of horseback cavalry, where they would roll their coats up and keep them in their saddle bags. The pants would get bleached a light blue in the sun, and their coats would stay dark blue. Eventually, after the days of riding, they decided that it would be a cool tribute to their past if they issued them that way. The answer is because of the development of US army uniforms over the history of the army. The US 1831 uniform regulations designated a light blue uniform including a shell jacket and trousers for field use with a stripe on the outer seam of the trouser corresponding to the branch of service for sergeants and corporals. As was traditionally the case with frugally minded congressional budgets, light blue was cheaper to produce than the Indigo dyed wool previously used. The light blue also did not fade as badly as the dark blue. These same regulations required a dark blue coatee with standing collar for full dress which had it's precedent in the 1810 uniform regulations (circa War of 1812). The 1851 regulations changed the uniform to a dark blue frock coat and dark blue trousers for both enlisted men and officers. This was revised at the beginning of the Civil War in order to differentiate between officers and enlisted men by reverting to light blue trousers for enlisted men and retaining dark blue trousers for officers. This color combination was carried through until the 1910 regulations eliminated the dark blue uniform. The current change in the army uniform is following the idea of tradition previously carried forward by both the Marine Corps and the Navy by adopting color combinations that date back to the earlier history and tradition of that particular armed service.