I bought these Rothco cargo pants recently, since I’ve decided not to wear jeans anymore:

These are 8 pocket pants, and I’ve been using all of the pockets. In the left lower leg pocket is a first aid kit, and in the right lower leg pocket is a couple of pairs of ear plugs for work and a plastic shopping bag. Whenever I’m out with my wife, and she asks me to get her purse from the van, the purse goes in the bag. Technically, I’m carrying the bag, not the purse, and no one needs to know.

I was carrying my Leatherman Crater in the right change pocket, but reaching for change was very annoying. The knife was always in the way, and it actually hurt to get a few coins for coffee. Now I carry that knife in the upper leg pocket. I often carry my visibility vest in the upper left leg pocket. That way I have it with me wherever I’m at in the plant, should I decide to walk outside, and I don’t have to run back to the break area to get it from my lunch bag.

I really like having cargo pockets for all the things that I come across that I want to carry but be hands free. I can put lunch snacks (like kippered herring) in my pocket and eat them when it’s convenient. The hip pockets are deep enough for my wallet, so I’m not concerned about it falling out.

These are large, which I needed when I was over 220 lbs, but I’ve lost about 20 lbs so now I need medium. I’ve ordered a black pair, and I can’t wait to wear them. These brown pants are too big on me now, and not as comfortable as they could be. I plan to lose more weight this summer. I’ve been wearing 36 pants for 20 years, and it’s nice to be back down to 34 again! I’ve worn leather belts for as long as I’ve worn jeans, but I think nylon goes better with cargo pants, so I’m changing that too. I’ve had the belt pictured for about 20 years, but I’ve never used the tightest hole until the last couple of weeks. As soon as my nylon tactical belt comes in the mail, this will be thrown in the closet for good.

I’ve ordered this belt:

but I intend to get a Wilderness Instructor’s belt soon. I don’t know which one I’ll wear every day. I really like the idea of quick release. The Instructor’s belt will take 5 or 10 seconds to undo and do up, but it’s a high quality belt.

My intention here was to have military functionality without the military look. I want to blend in as much as possible, but with better functionality. That is why my pants are brown. I can fit in almost anywhere with colors like this. The thing is though, military camo is much more common today, so my concerns about how people see me are a little outdated (if you have conflict with someone, and wear camos, you might become a target of concern, and if you have a PAL, well, don’t have conflict and don’t look tactical! One phone call to the hotline, and you’ll get visitors at the door).

I saw a tradesman at the plant today with 8 pocket cargo pants in ACU digital camo. They looked exactly like mine. The pants I’m wearing come in ACU digital, so he might have been wearing Rothcos.

Shorts like you see below are all over our plant now. Camo shorts seem to signify a Chrysler worker. And by the way, no matter how cold it is in the winter, they ALWAYS wear shorts!! Crazy.

The shorts I’m wearing were city camo, with lots of white. I didn’t like that, so I dyed them in about 1.5 oz of dark brown, 1 oz of dark green, and .5 oz of black. No more white. These are both Wranglers. I probably spent an hour picking them out, since I’m so picky. I hate patch pockets in the front. If you lie on the couch, all your change goes in the couch. Very stupid.

I know I’m late with getting cargo shorts, but for so many years I only found shorts with patch pockets in the front. I wore hemmed cut-off jeans because they were no-hassle. All my jeans will be put in storage now. Social mores being what they are, you can’t ask a guy where he bought his pants!

Rothco makes shorts in all the same colors and patterns as their pants, so I plan to order some pairs soon, and they look like they only have an 8″ or 9″ inseam! I hate shorts that go to the knee. Okay, Magnum P.I. shorts are a bad idea, but so are gauchos! Guys wearing gauchos…..good grief!!

I also hope to get a couple of pairs of Tru-Spec 24-7 Tactical pants soon. They are made with much more thought than Rothcos. They actually have knife/mag pockets.