Army, Navy reveal special uniforms for 2023 edition of rivalry game
One of the most special and highly anticipated matchups of rivalry week in college football takes place in Gillette Stadium this Saturday, as Army and Navy will square off for the 134th time.
The tradition and history of this game are hard to rival, but so are the uniforms, as annually both teams have sported special edition uniforms for the big game.
This season is no different, as Army and Navy have now both revealed their threads for the weekend, and they do not disappoint. Check out what both teams will be wearing for their highly anticipated rivalry game below.
Last season Army decided to honor the 1st Armored Division during World War II through their uniforms, but this season they’ll be paying homage to the ‘Dogface Soldiers’ of the 3rd Infantry Division.
The Dogface Soldiers got their nickname from a song written by Cpl. Bert Gold and Lt. Ken Hart in 1942, which became the division’s song and can be heard in Army’s uniform reveal. The Black Knights will be honoring that division this weekend through their uniforms, and more specifically honoring the 20th anniversary of their operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Details on Army’s uniform include tan uniforms to denote the desert where the 3rd Infantry operated during the invasion of Iraq and the mascot of the 3rd Infantry Division ‘Rocky the Bulldog’ on both sides of the helmet.
“The 2023 Army-Navy uniform tells the story of the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division during the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Marne Division’s participation in the initiation of offensive operations in Iraq, the longest and most rapid armored advance since the Second World War,” Army wrote in a statement.
Navy on the other hand chose to go stealth for their uniforms this year, recognizing the ‘Silent Service’ Submarine Force.
“The entire uniform is flooded with Eclipse Navy (UA’s darkest shade of navy blue) to mimic the covert design of a submarine hull,” Navy wrote on their site. “The uniform was purposefully designed to embody the Force’s nickname: Silent Service. The overall design was intended to be simple and utilitarian to convey the stealth purposes of a submarine’s design.”
Not a detail was missed in Navy’s Silent Service uniforms including hand-painted helmets depicting a Virginia-class submarine on one side and Navy’s customary anchor with the submariner pin integrated into it with color-changing pragmatic paint on the other.
There’s no question that both teams will definitely look the part this weekend, as Army and Navy will face off at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.