Equal Pricing For Servicemember Uniform Items (Flag Voice 590)

Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that all required uniform items for Coast Guard members are now sold at equal prices regardless of gender, at Coast Guard Exchanges and ShopCGX.com. Recent studies from both the Government Accountability Office and internal to the Coast Guard identified inequities in prices between men and women’s uniform items. Female servicemembers were paying far more for required uniforms than their male counterparts. As a result, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 included the Forces Assuring that Treatment of Items by Gender are Uniform and Equal across the Services (FATIGUES) Act of 2021, to develop consistent uniform pricing criteria, review uniform changes to determine potential out-of-pocket expenses, and identify retail costs for men and women across the Services.

The Community Services Command and the Coast Guard Exchange responded by adjusting prices of all gender-specific uniform items to eliminate the disparities between male and female uniforms. Now, all required uniform items are sold at equal prices regardless of gender specification.

New prices went into effect 1 October 2022, coinciding with FY23 Defense Logistics Agency price changes for uniforms supplied for the Coast Guard. CG-1332, the program managers for the Clothing Maintenance Allowance (CMA) will assess CMAs based on the new prices in December 2022.

Brian K. Penoyer
Rear Admiral, USCG
Assistant Commandant for Human Resources