Parking garage sends employee home for wearing his military-issued pants and boots in the snow: 'They said dress warm today, so that's exactly what I did.'

His bosses don't want to give customers the wrong idea.

There are many rules about when, where, and who can wear official US Army uniforms. Civilians are not allowed to wear current-issue US military uniforms or any recognizable parts of them, such as a jacket with patches. You're allowed to wear camo pants bought from a second-hand or surplus store that don't have any official military tags or patches. You're only allowed to wear the full army getup if you're a veteran or an actor playing a soldier in a production. 

By all of these metrics, you'd think a former soldier would be able to wear his old pants and boots, especially when he's working outside in freezing temperatures while it's snowing. If he's just shoveling his driveway, it's likely nobody is going to bat an eye at him. But if he's directing traffic in an official capacity, it's understandable why a workplace wouldn't want him in official military getup. Customers might mistake him for a member of the military and assume something dangerous is happening. Military uniforms signal something very specific to civilians. Civilians everywhere know what their country's army uniform looks like; it's important for staying safe. We can easily differentiate someone wearing army pants from Forever 21 and combat boots from DSW footwear from someone wearing actual military-issued boots and pants. If you're wearing a real military uniform, you can't be surprised if people think that you're a real military member.