Military Birth Control Glasses Finally Phased Out (PHOTO)

U.S. military uniforms aren't known for being trendy, despite the fashion industry's occasional embrace of camo. But unbeknownst to us non-military folks, the Army and Navy have been mandating hipster fashion for years in the form of Birth Control Glasses.

According to news reports, the U.S. military has been issuing the S9, brown, chunky, plastic-rimmed prescription glasses, for years. Soldiers who needed to wear glasses had no other choice but to wear the ugly frames.

But they were so nerdy that they became known military-wide as Birth Control Glasses, or BCGs (the army loves its abbreviations).

"The standard issue spectacles are so ugly that some troops stuff them in their trunks as soon as they leave training," said NPR's Robert Siegel. So the military has finally decided to upgrade to something a bit hipper, more rectangular black frames called the 5A.

Except the military has forgotten one crucial fact: Birth Control Glasses are actually cool. Fashion blogger Leandra Medine, a.k.a. The Man Repeller, has been calling her geek-chic specs "birth control glasses" since she started her blog. Whole neighborhoods in Brooklyn are filled with hipsters wearing S9 replicas.

In fact, if the military is looking to dump the remaining S9 frames, we recommend they simply sell them on eBay and Etsy. That'd be one way to close the budget deficit.

Check them out below and hear more about the switch from BCGs to less geeky specs on NPR.org.

PHOTO:

Comments

[Starya]

04:05 PM on 02/10/2013

They kind of look like my dad's 50 year old glasses!

[Ryan Oliver]

05:27 PM on 02/06/2012

I was issued these ugly things when I went into Basic back in 1991 because the Army doctors said my right eye was slightly less than perfect (20/40). I stashed mine as soon as I got them into the bottom of my duffel bag and kept them there before our drill sergeants saw us for the first time, so they never even knew I was supposed to have them.

[Fay Wild]

08:38 PM on 02/02/2012

I had always wondered, whenever I saw pictures of military personnel wearing glasses, why they all looked the same.

Now I know why.

[torgman3]

07:38 PM on 02/02/2012

Just got my pair in the mail! Yowza!

[Smarty5]

07:34 PM on 01/31/2012

lol, i have always thought about why is it that with all the technological advancements why is it that they couldnt come up with a decent pair of glasses for the men and women.

[Karmella]

01:45 PM on 01/31/2012

LOL @ that term still being used. The black nerdy one's from the 70's are now considered considered geek chic as well. I remember in basic and AIT how some service members would actually destroy or conviently lose the BCG's, so that they could wear their civilian glasses.

[Lovenhugs]

01:11 PM on 01/31/2012

Wait long enough and everything is in style. I love watching the styles that the people now think they created and they are just a remix of years ago.

[usamade]

11:56 AM on 01/31/2012

But, they're actually in style now.

[eric14]

12:29 PM on 01/31/2012

Exactly right.

[tyrDC]

04:23 AM on 02/01/2012

No. No, no, no. Now understand that I am a glasses wearer by choice because they are an awesome accessory as well as help me see. I even have my own hipster black plastic frame glasses but BCGs just.....no. They are not so-ugly-they're-stylish, they're just ugly. The color, the shape, the fit, what they do to anyone's face... it's bad. I even tried to paint my issued mottled brown ones black in an effort to make them a little more hip. It can't be done.

[pitciarn]

12:41 AM on 01/31/2012

Over 30 years and they change AFTER i retire !!!! I always bought my own rather than those Butt-Uggly glasses. The Black frames from the late 70s were bad, but the "New" Brown ones were worse. But as Darth stated in his post, they WERE tough. I had to take mine to the Range to kill them, no match for 5.56mm FMJ...

[GeneralBulldog]

10:16 PM on 01/30/2012

I still have mine... for use only in blue moon emergency purposes. I still think they gave me the wrong prescription, even though they copied it from my original pair, though I couldn't do anything about it. They banned me from wearing my transitions pair during BMT, to give my training flight a more uniform look. I liked the big eye look but the brown mix frame left a lot to be desired.

[darth leroy]

09:53 PM on 01/30/2012

Now see the old BCG's were actually kinda cool. I was in the last wave to receive the old black frames before they switched over to the brown ones. The old ones were like a thin Wayfarer frame and a bunch of us had ours tinted in local eye shops and turned into sunglasses. We'd then request new ones claiming loss and we'd have two pair. I loved them and had then re-lensed at least 4 times once I got out because those things were darn near indestructible. Unfortunately they were not pit-bull proof as an old room mates dog finally destroyed them.

[pitciarn]

12:43 AM on 01/31/2012

5.56mm fire at the range works wonders too on them, lol

[crystal clear 919]

09:36 PM on 01/30/2012

It's about time! Those things are awful.

[syds180turn]

06:09 PM on 01/30/2012

Too funny!