Stephen Colbert joins unisex cover debate, features Marine Corps Times story

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A Marine Corps Times story on the possibility of a universal cover for male and female Marines landed on Thursday night’s episode of “The Colbert Report.”

Colbert

“The Colbert Report” screenshot

The story written by James K. Sanborn on Monday stated that the Marine Corps Uniform Board was looking at adopting a universal cover for men and women to be worn with dress and service uniforms. The board collected feedback throughout the week and is expected to meet on Tuesday. The piece included a photo released by the Corps showing different cover options, including the possibility of “Dan Daly caps” for all Marines.

Marines immediately began sharing their opinions about the possible changes on social media, and other news outlets began to catch on.

Stephen Colbert joined the debate Thursday night’s episode of “The Colbert Report,” the satire conservative news program on Comedy Central. Colbert called the idea a “hatastrophe.” The extra inches on the brim would change the word “Marine” to “Maureen,” he quipped, playing on the ‘girly hats’ splashy headlines used by other news outlets to describe the cover.

"The Colbert Report" screenshot

“The Colbert Report” screenshot

Colbert then cuts to the Marine Corps Times story on the subject, which references that a similar cover was worn by two-time Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly, known best for his World War I exploits at Belleau Wood.

“What does he know about being manly? He’s wearing two necklaces and a brooch,” Colbert joked.

You can check out the whole clip here:

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31 Comments

  1. You got that right Doug. Colbert a total Asshole. As for the cover Bullshit. If a marine has to wear that Obama such have to a diaper.

  2. He’s a comedian. And I know Marines have a sense of humor. They’re jokes, not dicks, quit taking them so hard.

  3. Colbert your really an idiot insulting one of the greatest heros the USA has ever had, plus when did you ever serve in the military

  4. Elizabeth Bernius on

    The military wont be buying anything, each Marine has to buy their own uniforms, so this is just a way the government can make more money making the Marines have to buy a new cover! Like their sacrifice hasn’t been enough ,now lets take the money too, & make them look stupid!

  5. Seriously people the Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report is a satirical character. He is not mocking the Marine Corps or SgtMaj Dan Daly. The entire show is satire. COME ON MARINES!!

  6. Priscilla Schroeder on

    I think they need to spend the 8 million on our active and veterans instead of hat’s let’s think this thru people

  7. So long as the cover was dark, as that worn by Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly; or, Blue Dress A (Midnight Blue w/Red Trim) then I don’t think it would be a bad looking cover. Considering how difficult the white cover is to keep clean, it could be a welcome change. Get rid of that ugly, sweat showing, khaki blouse while you’re at it. Make a blouse that mimics the Blue Dress A, B.

  8. Elizabeth Bernius, the marine corps gives marines money every year for uniform items… If they make marines switch to these gay covers, then they will pay for them

  9. If you cant understand the satire in this segment then there is something wrong with your “brain housing group”.

    As far as the covers go…. get rid of that comical looking cover for WM’s and everyone where the green or white barracks covers.

  10. Carl Rove, when you say gives us money, you must mean the 300+ dollars they give us to replace 500+ dollars of gear, and that is if you manage to only mess up a fraction of your uniform, take boots, which i wear on a regular basis, cost about 120, a full set of each of my working uniforms, a little over a hundred each, and i got sock, undershirts, pt gear that will get ruined that year. So lets be generous and say i only mess that up, and not my dress uniforms. I am still going in the red on my uniform allowence. So yeah, I would have to pay for a stupid new cover.

  11. I was in the Marine Corps and think this is pretty funny. But then again I’m not wearing the new girly hats either 🙂

  12. Doug, Steven, and Drevulphd, you’re all total retards.

    This is VERY clearly satire and the fact that you’re taking this seriously shows that you need to go back to high school.

  13. We gotta few people here who have never heard of a satire here it seems. I got a chuckle outta Stephen’s little quip and a big Ol’ laugh outta their collective cluelessness.

  14. WomanMarineVet on

    I was appalled at the brazen way that some of the tabloid media twisted this story, and at how gullible some of the comment makers are. People should’ve realized that this disinformation was just a way to keep the Obama hate campaign going. This junk about “girly” hats is a red herring. Just using that terminology decreases the credibility of those using it. Who uses such words? Are they still in middle school or something? The Marines who were making such strong objections to the “Dan Daly” cover need to read up on Sgt Maj Daly and then they’d realize that he was NOT someone to be ashamed of. He was one of the greatest war heroes in the history of the Corps! Moreover, the use of the world “girly” is a swipe against women in the Corps as though we are to be considered somehow inferior to the men? I object to that most of all.

  15. All the people who say girly aren’t taking a swipe at the women in the military… I don’t want to switch to a skirt either… Not because I hate women, but because I don’t want to look “girly”… And as far as what Dan daly wore as a cover, it doesn’t change the fact that it looks silly… Maybe he was a great American hero, but that doesn’t mean his hat was… And Will, there is no reason for the marine corps to pay for anything you wear anyway… It SHOULD be our responsibility, not the government’s

  16. Why can’t things be left alone? For year’s now the cover,

    for the dress blue uniform was always the same.

    Now our President (whom I voted for) decide s to get involved in how

    to dress a Marine. Well sir as a former Woman Marine who served proudly

    from 1959-1962 I find it rather offensive that you think you have the

    right to change what has been our uniform for our male Marines for

    many years.

    Mr.President don’t you have something else more pressing to do than

    to re design the covers of our male Marines ?….

    if you go on Facebook to a page entitled Marine Corps Vets you can

    read many notes of disapproval on this subject and many in fact I

    Would say all of these veterans who fought for all of our freedom, many dying to protect our country, are all against this crazy change.

    Those covers look like vthe French Foreign Legion and we do not want

    to look like frogs sir.

  17. Update: This is now a dead issue. The “powers that be” have backed off changing the cover male marines wear with the Blue Dress uniform (aka Dress Blues). Did someone really think this was going to be a good idea, Really? SgtMaj Dan Daly is not only a marine Corps legend, but a american legend. However, the era for that type of cover has passed. If it’s not broke, why fix it

  18. @Dan Aguillard

    Really? You won’t watch his show again because he expressed an opinion different from yours? Wow! Nice bubble you live in!

    By the way, he’s RIGHT! If Dan Daly was (is) a Marine legend and he wore it, I guess the 8 MoHs and 10 Navy Crosses you were awarded outweigh anything that Dan Daly character did. Because we all know, it’s the uniform that makes the person, not the other way around.

    Silly controversy. But not as silly as Amos expending precious money studying a uniform change when none is warranted.

  19. This is the last straw. Now, I know its offficial. The Marine Corps is trying to either get rid of female Marines or turn us into male Marines. Why is it every few years, we have to re-prove that we rate to be Marines? Every few years, something else comes out having us tested and tested and tested again. First the pull ups, then the proposal of us wearing male Dress Blues, now, the change in the covers. Of course no male Marines will want to wear the Dan Daly cover as it reminds them of the female bucket cover. So what that means is that the females will have to agree to wearing the male barracks cover. We cannot pay the death gatuity’s to the families of 6 servicemembers killed in combat, but we have the money to recreate uniform items? Why go through the trouble of creating new digital cammies to fit the female body with the new sizes if all we are going to do is end up looking like men? I hope that we do not think that if we all look like men, the sexual assaults will end. Hell, theres probably an increase in sexual assaults now that DADT has been lifted. If the Marine Corps is trying to get rid of female Marines, just come out and say it. Every change happening lately points directly to this. Because females came into the Marine Corps to become one of the few and the proud, didnt mean that they didnt want to be females anymore. Men and Women will never be equal physically. We are born different, we are different. If a man cannot understand that and expects a woman to be physically the same as a man, they have issues. I am sure that all the men who say “things arent fair” because we cannot physically do everything they can do, wouldnt want their wives to be buffer than they are, wouldnt want their wives to be stronger than they are. Get over yourselves and allow women to be women. They should be allowed to dress like a woman, not a man even though they are Marines.

  20. Kazseam – Thank you. I don’t know why we aren’t calling it like it is. As they always say in the Marine Corps “Perception is reality.” The perception is; the Marine Corps is trying to get rid of females. That is the perception felt by junior female Marines and senior female Marines alike. You’re right. If it’s not broke, why fix it? If there are female Marines who want to look like men, so be it, shave your heads, get a high and tight. Because not all females are “tom-boys,” not all of us want to act and dress like men. Isn’t it enough that we made it through boot camp? That we are only a handful of the very few females in America that did make it and earn the title Marine? Why can’t we be welcomed into the brotherhood and respected just for that? There were requirements for males to meet, there were requirements for females to meet. We met them. Why do we have to keep changing ourselves to belong? What’s next? CO-ED Recruit Training?

  21. I am actually waiting for a message to come out to do away with heels and skirts. To feminine for the Marine Corps….

    oh! I forgot…..let’s not leave out the haircuts. Something will be out next to require all females to have a 0-3 haircut. Why not? We are on a roll!!!!

  22. Cpl. Punishment on

    Wow. The comments about Colbert are wild. There are few people on television who support the troops as much as him. Remember when he broadcast from Iraq during the conflict?

    Lighten up, people. It’s satire. And the covers are silly.

  23. Marine O, Sorry that it looks like the CMC is trying to drive women out the corps. I’ve served alongside women marines throughout my time in the corps. They have shown time after time, they have earned the right to be called Marine. Best example I can think of, Sergeants Course Camp Hansen, Okinawa (1993). The class had the three squads, three women marines per squad. One of the women marines assigned was a close friend of mine (Sgt D). On the morning of the conditioning hike, Sgt D who stood 5′ 5 (at max) was carrying a SAW, body armor and the rest of her gear. As the hike progressed to the halfway point, the heat and weight (of our gear) started to take a toll. Marines dropping out left and right, this 5’5 marine continued to push on through it. Until the accordion effect started to take hold. At which time, at my (5th) request she turned the SAW over to me (her A gunner). Yes some of the other women dropped, however we had quite a few of males drop as well. Anyone who’s been on Oki, during the summer knows how miserable the heat can be.

    Men and women are not built the same, thank goodness. NO man wants a feminine version of himself. NO woman wants a masculine version of herself

  24. Kazseam- I concur. There are great female Marines. doesnt mean we have to look like men nor do we have to be as physically strong as them. We will see what happens…

  25. Carlos Danger – My assumption is that you were someone who was kicked out of the Marine Corps. For unprofessionalism……and for plain being a male chauvinist.

    Wonder if you think of your mother like that? What an indecent human being….

    People like you (notice I didn’t say “Marine”) shouldn’t even waste anyone’s time by posting something stupid out here. What you posted absolutely makes no sense at all and was completely juvenile. Maybe PFC’ish……

  26. Cornelius Q. Meriwether on

    It’s a joke, everybody, lighten up. If you were smart enough you’d realize it’s all a big satire. I’ve been in the Marines 10 years now, am a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan war, and I laughed. If you got offended I recommend you please take two fingers and remove that stick that is up your ass

  27. My USMC time was in the mid 60’s, and oh yes I am sadly aware how ancient that era is now considered. True, the then young Beatles, no air conditioning, the flower children and 33 cent gasoline have all vanished. However, the names, faces and memories of my time are as fresh as morning coffee. The Marine dress blues were essentially the same then as they are now, and that concept of the Marine Corps is ingrained into and is part of American tradition. A tradition altered radically is sometimes the result of underlying changes that create it. However, the traditions of the Marine Corps have not changed, and each generation of Marines, women and men, have continued those traditions. We all come from Bellau Wood, Iwo Jima, Frozen Chosin, ‘Nam, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and all of the other places unnamed and to be named. So, changing the dress blues “white hat” to something else does not come from below. Better functioning gear than the WWII fatigue jacket and leather boots of early ‘Nam Marines is one thing, but non-functional gear and tradition is another. We should not let others tamper with our Corps especially with its traditions and even with its appearance.

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