What Are the Pinks and Greens? Behind the Iconic Corps of Cadets Uniforms

The first cadets arrived on campus clad in cadet-gray wool frock coats and trousers, but this initial uniform didn’t last long. Just four years later, the attire changed to a gray version of the shorter U.S. Army officers’ coat and again in 1896 to the black-trimmed West Point-inspired coat.

A new era dawned in the 1910s when World War I and the birth of ROTC led the Corps to adopt the olive attire that emulated uniforms seen on the battlefield. Shortly after, in 1922, cadets began wearing the British-style service coat with a turn-down collar, which the U.S. Army soon adopted. Changes to these coats over the following decades became the Army’s “pinks and greens” uniform and the Corps’ Class A Winter uniform, known today simply as Class A’s. The familiar khaki colored-attire of Class B’s followed, first emerging as everyday wear in the ’30s and ’40s.

Through the years, the Corps’ class hierarchies have also shaped its attire, from the junior and senior privilege of wearing custom-tailored officer-style uniforms in the 1930s to today’s different-colored hats and belts. “The idea is that freshmen should wear the simplest uniforms possible,” Griffin explained. “With every succeeding year, you add something that makes it a little fancier.”

In 1920, these differences gave rise to the most notable class distinction—the coveted senior boots—when the change to WWI-style uniforms led seniors to claim the Army’s officer boots as their own. “Aggies’ love for the senior boots is key to why we still have the uniform we do today,” Griffin said. “It’s the only one that fits the senior boots, so if the uniform changed, you couldn’t keep the boots.”