I'm pretty sure that's for everybody with less than a year in. I know the OCdts I work with get free exchange up to a certain point, and I know I had free exchange of all uniforms in my first year. The reason I was given at the time, was that the "newer/younger" people still getting in were still growing physically and your body usually changes so much withing the first year. That was the idea, anyway. You'd have to check with a Sup Tech to make sure just what the policy is now.
I do not see what the problem is with buying extra kit from Logistic though. You would think they would love to get some more sales. If you want to buy some extra CF's, who cares?