A Brief History Of The Military's Unsightly 'Birth Control Glasses'

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https://taskandpurpose.com/history/brief-history-militarys-unsightly-birth-control-glasses/

A Brief History Of The Military’s Unsightly ‘Birth Control Glasses’

Somehow, the iconic eyewear has gone from reviled standard-issue gear to hot commodity.

BY SARAH SICARD | UPDATED MAY 14, 2021 3:09 PM



Anyone who served in the U.S. armed forces in the last half-century or so is likely familiar with the standard-issue GI eyeglasses. With thick brown rims and lenses that looked like magnifying glasses, they were so unattractive that wearing them effectively reduced the chances of getting laid to near zero.

The S9s, more commonly known as “birth control glasses” or BCGs, were issued to U.S. troops for decades until 2012, when officials at the Department of Defense realized their iconically awful prescription eyewear actually functioned as a major cockblock for thousands of libidinous service members who would rather be blind than wear such atrocious spectacles.

Over the last five years, the Pentagon has gradually switched to the smaller, black-rimmed 5A glasses that take us back to an era when wannabe punk rockers everywhere donned the spectacles to look fly. But around the same time military scrapped the ghastly S9s, those civilian punks who made black-rimmed glasses popular in the first place grew up, got jobs, and reinvigorated the market for what appear to be overpriced military-style BCGs.

Those chunky glasses have become so mainstream that you can actually purchase them at *such classy* eyewear purveyors from Lenscrafters to Warby Parker. One site even refers to them specifically as BCGs, with specific reference to the military.

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[TreasonousBastard]

1. I an totally confused. I was drafted during Nam and...

I never saw those brown things. We were issued simple black frames.

Those were incel glasses for sure and were better known as the geek glasses that needed to be held together with the white tape across the bridge. The same utilitarian glasses were issued by the VA, and the alleged older ones look vastly superior.

We were also issed a pair that fit into our gas masks, but had no earpieces.

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2. She says that the brown BCGs were introduced in the mid 70s, they were black before that.

I think they still had plenty of the black ones left in the late 70s.

Regarding the glasses designed to fit under gas masks, I still have a pair. We called them “OBA glasses" in the Navy. (OBA = Oxygen Breathing Apparatus" )

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. I was issued some, but didn't really need them much, except ...

... at the rifle range. I had to use them to see the target. They were good for one shot, then the bolt's action threw oil on the lens. So much for marksmanship, had to qualify without glasses. I could sort of almost see the target, blurry thing way out there.

Maybe I had too much oil on the bolt, but the drill sergeant didn't make me do pushups over it. so all was well.

Drafted in the same era.

[Aristus]

3. I went in in 1986, and they were still issuing the black, Buddy Holly-style glasses then.

The brown ones went into general issue not long after that.