This is part of the uniform worn by Private Pepper, a cola-war veteran (though she later was promoted, and then got a doctorate degree, most people still call her Private) when she was promoting her new business venture -- a club where single men and women could come and chat, with private rooms for huggling. No one knows what the jacket's doing in the middle of the desert, or where Private Pepper went; maybe she chatted up the wrong woman's husband.