When it was introduced during World War II, the female utility cover or garrison cap was made of the same herringbone fabric used for the male version of the cap and employed a highly similar design. According to a 2011 article in
Leatherneck: Magazine of the Marines, the only noticeable difference was that the female version was “slightly more curved in order to fit a woman’s head and to stay on better in the wind.” Presumably, the better fit was an oblique reference to the fact that almost all female Marines at that time had considerably more hair than their male counterparts, while staying on “better in the wind” would seem also to justify a curved design for the garrison caps worn by male Marines.
In any event, the female garrison cap has undergone few changes in the many decades since that time, and still bears a remarkably strong resemblance to the male version. Current specifications call for the cap to made of a polywool gabardine; the cap is to be worn centered squarely or slightly tilted rightward. Rank insignia is worn centered vertically on the right front of the cap, and the left service collar insignia is worn on the left front (both left and right are from wearer’s perspective).
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