CIVILIAN CLOTHING ALLOWANCE QUESTIONS
1. Question: How do I submit a request for a civilian clothing allowance?
Answer:
Per MCO P10120.28F w/change 1, paragraph 4301.1, upon
assignment to a permanent duty station qualifying you for an
initial permanent duty civilian clothing allowance, your
command must submit a request (in naval letter format) to CMC
(MCUB), 2200 Lester St, Quantico, VA 22134 via the
Defense Finance and Accounting Service Center (DFAS), Support
Services Division, Accounts Maintenance Sections, Kansas City,
MO 64197-0001.
The request must be made by your commanding officer, who will
attest to the amount of time you are in civilian clothing
(must be more than 50%), and must include the following
statement: “This
Marine will be required to wear civilian clothing full-time
for official duty for approximately ___ months.”
Your request must include the following information:
name, rank, SSN, MOS, the effective date of the
assignment, your end of current contract date (must have 6
months remaining from your effective date), rotation date, a
good point of contact, and assignment dates (date went
to qualifying billet or TAD dates (if requesting a TAD allowance, include a copy of
your TAD orders as an attachment)).
2. Question: I am an officer in a billet that requires civilian clothing, do I rate a civilian clothing allowance?
Answer:
Per MCO P10120.28F w/change 1, paragraph 4302.3,
“Only those officers who are on extended active duty
overseas <Hawaii and Alaska are not considered overseas in
this case> or performing temporary duty outside the United
States from an overseas permanent duty assignment, are
entitled to payment of an initial civilian clothing allowance
per MCO 10120.59.”
3. Question: Do I have to request a replacement civilian clothing allowance from HQMC, or can my unit approve and run the unit diary?
Answer:
Change 1 to MCO P10120.28F changed how replacement
civilian clothing allowances are awarded.
Prior to 1 October 1998, Marines were provided an
initial civilian clothing allowance and two replacement
allowances up front, and were not entitled to another civilian
clothing allowance of any type for three years from their
effective date.
Beginning 1 October 1998, you are entitled to only an
initial clothing allowance on the effective date of your
assignment. At
the 1 year and 1 day anniversary from the initial allowance
payment you are now entitled to a replacement allowance.
This allowance is initiated and processed at your
command level, no longer requiring submission to the Uniform
Board or DFAS. As
long as you remain in the billet that requires the wear of
civilian attire you will continue to rate a replacement
allowance at the 1 year, 1 day anniversary.
4. Question: I submitted a clothing allowance request 3 months ago and haven’t gotten an answer yet, how come it takes so long?
Answer: A three-month delay is not all that unusual, unfortunately. Normally, the delay is actually at the unit command level. Often a request has up to three or four “via’s” before it is forwarded DFAS for an endorsement. DFAS then has to do a monetary background check on each individual to see if they’ve received a clothing allowance payment in the last five years. After the background check is completed the request is mailed to the Uniform Board for processing. Once the request arrives at the Uniform Board, if it has all the correct/required information, the approval/disapproval letter is normally released within five business days of receipt. Most delays at the Uniform Board level are caused by insufficient information or poorly worded requests, requiring direct communication with the unit (this is where a good point of contact is important). If you can verify through your command that the letter did in fact leave your command for DFAS, and still hasn't made it to the Uniform Board for final approval authority, please contact DFAS to see if they received and/or processed the request (ph 816-926-7652).
DO
NOT WAIT OVER 3 MONTHS TO CHECK ON THE STATUS OF YOUR CLOTHING
ALLOWANCE REQUEST. If it has been that long there is a
problem, and waiting longer will just hurt you in the long
run.
5. Question: How come I only received $776 for my initial civilian clothing allowance and my gunnery sergeant received $1,200?
Answer:
The reason monetary awards can be different depends on
the fiscal year the allowance effective date is.
If you received the $776 allowance, your effective date
was probably after 1 October 1998, but you will rate a
replacement allowance at the 1 year, 1 day anniversary as long
as you stay in that billet.
Your gunnery sergeant probably had an effective date
prior to 1 October 1998, and was awarded an initial and two
replacement allowances up front.
He/she will not be eligible for another allowance for
three years.
6. Question: If I want to find out when I last received a clothing allowance, how do I get that information?
Answer:
If it has been more than a year you will not be able to
pull up the information at your local unit diary level, so you
will have to go to DFAS for that.
You may reach the Support Services Division at DSN
465-7652/53 or (816)926-7625/53.
7. Question: Where do I get the current monetary award for each type of civilian clothing monetary allowance?
Answer: MCBul 10120 is published annually at the beginning of each fiscal year. Enclosure (4) provides the monetary award. The bulletin may be viewed via hyperlink at the MCUB home page.
8. Question: As a reservist on active duty, can I get a civilian clothing allowance?
Answer: As a reservist you will not be eligible unless you have at least 180 days continuous active duty. If you do, just follow the filing instructions detailed above.
1. Question: What is a supplemental clothing issue?
Answer: Supplementary allowances are additional quantities or special items of individual uniform clothing not normally required for the majority of enlisted personnel in the same service. There are several types of supplementary dress clothing allowances, all of which are contained in MCBUL 10120. Special allowances consist of uniform clothing (other than special dress uniforms) different from that of the uniforms customarily required for the majority of enlisted personnel of the same service (ie. extra set of utilities, extra service uniform items).2. Question: How do I know if I rate a supplemental clothing issue?
Answer: MCBul 10120, provides a comprehensive list of units (by RUC and T/O line number) that rate supplemental clothing allowances. If your command/billet is listed in enclosure (3) of the bulletin, you rate the clothing and should report to supply for the issue.
3. Question: What is the difference between supplemental clothing and organizational clothing?
Answer:
Supplemental clothing is a one-time issue of clothing
to a Marine when he/she occupies a certain billet.
Once this issue is received it becomes the Marine’s
property, and thus his/her responsibility to maintain.
Organizational
clothing is purchased via unit funds and issued to a Marine
while he/she is in a pre-designated billet that requires the
items. These
items are maintained by the unit (ie. the unit pays for dry
cleaning costs, and if an item is damaged the Marine returns
it to supply and is issued a “like in kind” item), and
recovered when the Marine transfers or no longer requires the
items, whereas the Marine gets to keep the supplemental
uniform items.