Good Tuesday morning, Uni Watch. I hope everyone had a good Monday.
Army football has unveiled their special uniforms for their annual game against Navy, and once again, the team and its designers have woven an important historical event into the tapestry of the uniforms. While other universities often create alternates out of whole cloth, or develop word salad backstories to describe their latest creations, Army (and Navy) have been developing incredible uniforms for their season-ending rivalry game since 2008. Army has once again outdone itself.
There’s a lot of detail to get to, so let’s start with the video, which clocks in at just over 3:00. It’s part uniform reveal, part History Channel documentary, and it’s well worth your time to give it a look.
The 2024 uniform honors the storied legacy of the 101st Airborne Division. According to the Army,
Nearly 80 years ago, the Screaming Eagles lived their motto, Rendezvous with Destiny, when they raced into the town of Bastogne in response to the Nazi offensive that would become known as the Battle of the Bulge. The 101st Airborne Division, encircled by Nazi forces, endured three weeks of relentless close combat in freezing weather.
Their endurance and outright refusal to surrender sapped Nazi morale and resources and played a significant role in the failure of the Nazi’s last great offensive in the Second World War.
On December 14, we are honored to represent the past, present, and future Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division. As we take the field against our rivals, we carry the paratroopers’ legacy and traditions with us as we seek to emulate their Rendezvous with Destiny by refusing to yield the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy.
Let’s look at the uniforms now.
While these may appear to be fairly simple mono-black (the Army are the “Black Knights”) uniforms, every element draws inspiration from the experiences of the 101st Airborne.
HELMET
As is usually the case in the battle between the Academies, the helmet shares top billing.
Our helmets display the card suit markings used by 101st paratroopers and glider troops to identify their unit affiliations for the jump into Normandy and throughout the European Theater of Operations.
They will be randomly assigned throughout the team.
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) November 18, 2024
The black helmet is in a slightly rough matte finish, speckled with bits of white. The front bumper features a parachute logo for the 101st, nicknamed the “Screaming Eagles.” As seen above (and in the video), the sides of each helmet will have card suit markings used by 101st paratroopers and glider troops to identify their unit affiliations. The rear bumper contains the phrase “Rendezvous With Destiny,” the 101st motto.
Here’s a closer look at how the four card suits will be rendered on the helmets:
JERSEY
The black jersey features a yoke and sleeve caps with a similar white-flecked pattern to the helmet (symbolic of the wintry conditions faced by the 101st during the Battle of the Bulge). On the left sleeve is the Airborne logo.
The front of the jersey contains the U.S. Army Star insignia (“Invasion Star”) on the right shoulder, a “BASTOGNE” nameplate beneath the star, and a coppered Athena shield at the base of the neckline.
The right sleeve cap features a 48-star United States flag, which mimics that worn by the 101st paratroopers, and is displayed in the orientation and proportion as that worn on a paratrooper jumpsuit in 1944.
Front number is white.
The rear of the jersey has “A R M Y !” as a NOB, a reference to the 101st’s acting commander Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe’s reply to a Nazi demand for that unit’s surrender. McAuliffe’s reply was one word: “NUTS!”
Rear number, like the front, is white.
The Army has also provided its own specific descriptions of the individual elements, which are below (click to enlarge):
The Army describes the jersey and helmet as having a fog effect which “reflects the canopy of fog and snow giving ways to shadows beneath the snow-covered pine forests” of France, where the 101st battled the Nazis in the Battle of the Bulge.
You can read much more about the uniforms here.
There are definitely some cool features, but it’s still just a black uniform to be worn against a heated rival. Still, it’s so much more. Judging it strictly as a uniform, I like — but don’t love — it. Having relearned the history of the trials and travails of the 101st Airborne, and their pivital role in defeating the Nazis in WWII, we all gain an important reminder of the sacrifices made by those who fought, and died, in defending our freedoms.
The Black Knights of Army and the Navy Midshipmen will meet for the 125th time on December 14 at Northwest Stadium (the home of the Washington Commanders) in Landover, MD. Navy leads the all-time Army-Navy series with a 62-55-1 record, while Army has won the last two meetings, with the most recent victory coming last December at Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium. As always, the game will be on CBS and coverage begins at 3:00 pm (ET).
Readers? Your thoughts?
GTGFTU: Navy 21, Army 15, Dec 7, 1963.
My Uncle Ted served with the 101st in WWII.
The only change that should be made IMO is the front helmet bumper should read “NUTS!”.
GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!
GTGFTS: 10/18/81: Bucs at Raiders
my one quibble is the NOB. Cartoonish compared to the rest of the uni. If they wanted to reference McAuliffe’s message, why not simply, “NUTS!”?
I wish all of the other teams, both college and pro, would look at the thought and significance put into the Navy/Army uniforms and realize that they are, at best, poor amateur cosplayers by comparison and just stop out of respect and admiration.
I normally don’t much like the Army uniform for this matchup, but I’d give high marks here. I do kind of wish the uniform made use of olive, khaki, and dark brown, the colors of WWII-era Airborne uniforms, but for a mono-black uniform this is better than most. I’d also prefer the NOB to read “NUTS!” instead of “ARMY!” If you have to spell out the team name on the NOB, then the uniform is a design failure. Here, I just think it’s redundant. The uniforms scans pretty clearly as Army to me. And McAuliffe’s “Nuts!” response has become legendary; it’s roughly the American equivalent of Nelson’s “England expects that every man will do his duty” signal at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Also huge props for the correctly oriented American flag.
This would be 10x better in the actual colors worn by the 101st. I don’t recall anyone in Bastogne wearing all black.
My thought exactly. I think it’d be a great uni if they just replace the black for the olive green worn by the 101st. Love seeing the Band of Brothers get some attention very close to the 80th anniversary of the Bastogne stand.
An ad in the middle of a comment…?
link
Pretty good way to end an argument. Here’s my point, here’s why you’re wrong.. now go fly to san diego!
I think that should become Uni Watch’s version of “Lighten up, Francis” for anyone that makes a picayune comment.
“No jersey should ever have underlines, it just looks like so much trash!”
“Go fly to San Diego.”
GTGFTS: 18 Oct 1981, Week 7, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16 – 18 Oakland Raiders.
I like the unis, and I actually think the “snowy” elements on the helmet and shoulders will hold up better from a distance than usual. My one major gripe, however, is that they didn’t appear to do ANYTHING below the waist. Plain black pants, with black socks, and presumably black cleats? C’mon surely they can come up with SOME contrived storytelling to spice it up! Maybe a simple white-brown-white stripe to “symbolize the mud and snow that the 101st dug into as they beat back the German offensive”. It doesn’t need much, but breaking up the yoga pants look would greatly improve this uni.
“Even today, on a real cold night, we go to bed and my wife will tell you the first thing I’ll say is, ‘I’m glad I’m not in Bastogne.'” JB Stokes
Incredible perspective, thank you
My grandfather was captured by the Germans in Bastogne. He was rescued 24 hours later. He passed before I was born but would have loved to have heard more. My wife and I drive through Bastogne on a trip through Europe last year.
I served in the 101st Airborne Division 158th Aviation Battalion Co. A Camp Evans S. Vietnam…GO ARMY BEAT NAVY, NUTS!
This game is probably the only one where I care about the hype and stories that go with the uniform features.
While NUTS! on the uniform might have been a good touch, there is no way a football team is putting that in the place where a uniform typically has player names.
Regarding cleats, go to link and you’ll see that they’re special too
“link” is screamingeagles {dot} football
I like the uniforms. This is a real missed opportunity to use olive drab and tan again. I think when they cycle back around, the screaming eagle will be more front and center. This would have been a good opportunity to put Old Abe on the helmet, outside of the shield.
I like aspects of the Army uni, but overall, it’s a lot. And the underline NOB is unnecessary
Actually that’s an accurate detail:
When the Germans demanded surrender, they did so with a hand delivered message, in writing and they expected a reply in writing as well. The typed-up response to the German Commander from the American Commander was “nuts”, but was centered in the middle of the page, in all-caps, underlined and with an exclamation point.
Here is a great, detailed account…
link
Thanks for the link! A must read!
That was awesome! Thank you for sharing that battle-turning story with us!
My mother’s uncle, her dad’s brother, was killed in the Battle of the Bulge two days later, on Christmas Eve. So that story, with such vivid detail, really speaks to my heart.
Is this the first time a punctuation mark has appeared on a uniform? Anyways…this is a subtle storytelling, nothing too over the top. I appreciate the job they did on this one. My cousin served in the 101st in Vietnam so it has a little more meaning to me this time out.
I like the story telling and details of this jersey, but like others, some kind of thick single white or gold stripe or an all white or white/gold/white Northwestern stripe down the sides of the legs would looks better to me.
LOVE the flag with the field of stars in the upper left to the viewer as it should always be. I understand the thinking behind the ‘backwards’ flag in relation to the direction of motion, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. And I don’t!