How do women wear abayas ?
While most issues involving the military and religious apparel involve requests from service personnel for permission to wear apparel required by their own religions , in December 2001 air force Lieutenant Colonel Martha McSally ( a graduate of the Air Force Academy , and then the highest - ranking female fighter pilot in the air force ) sued the air force because of the policy that required female military personnel assigned to bases in Saudi Arabia to wear the Muslim abaya , a " head - to - toe " robe , whenever they were off base .