Army vs. Navy uniforms, explained: The stories behind unique designs for 2024 football rivalry

Dan Treacy

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Army vs. Navy uniforms, explained: The stories behind unique designs for 2024 football rivalry image

The annual Army-Navy game is steeped in tradition, from the pregame ceremonies to the postgame "Honoring the Fallen" ceremony in which both teams come together to sing the alma maters. 

The uniforms are one of the few year-to-year variables. Army and Navy each wear custom jerseys and helmets for the game, changing up the look every year. As a result, each game has a distinct look.

In one sense, though, the uniforms are subject to one tradition: They almost always look terrific, with each side reliably delivering a classic look for the most meaningful game of their season.

Here's a look at the uniforms worn by Army and Navy for this year's game, as well as the stories behind him.

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Army 'Screaming Eagles' football uniform 2024

Army is honoring the 101st Airborne Division, also known as the "Screaming Eagles," with black and white uniforms for this year's game against Navy.

The uniforms specifically pay tribute to the Battle of the Bulge, when the 101st Airborne Division "raced into the town of Bastogne in response to the Nazi offensive."

"The 101st Airborne Division, encircled by Nazi forces, endured three weeks of relentless close combat in freezing weather," the official announcement says.

The uniforms are black and white, but they have a bit more detail than just the colors. Both the helmet and the uniforms feature white specks that depict "the canopy of fog and snow giving way to the shadows beneath of the snow-covered pine forests in the Ardennes," the announcement says.

Each helmet will have one of four symbols seen on playing cards, with each representing different units. For example, a spade represents the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

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Navy 'Fear the Bones' football uniform 2024

Navy's uniforms honor the Jolly Rogers squadron, whose slogan is "Fear the Bones."

"The Jolly Rogers were established in 1943 and are the most lethal and history-rich squadron in all of Naval Aviation," according to Navy's press release.

The Midshipmen will be donning white uniforms with dark navy blue, nearly black lettering and numbers. The uniforms feature the Jolly Rogers' skull and crossbones insignia on the shoulders and on the helmet, and the helmet is "a culmination of the past and present Jolly Rogers aviator helmets," Navy said.

The shoulders of the uniform are distinct, intended to mirror the "classic stripe found on the top edge of the tail fin" of Jolly Rogers planes. 

Both uniforms represent a major deviation from 2023, when Navy wore all blue while Army rolled with sand-colored uniforms from head to toe. Still, both service academies will come out looking fresh as always for one of the most prestigious games on the sports calendar. 

Dan Treacy

Dan Treacy Photo

Dan Treacy is a content producer for Sporting News, joining in 2022 after graduating from Boston University. He founded @allsportsnews on Instagram in 2012 and has written for Lineups and Yardbarker.