10 camouflaged patterns is nine too many
When I left the military in 1994, there was one camouflaged pattern for all of the services – the “woodland” pattern, and we also had a desert uniform for people who were living in the desert. But as the Washington Post reports, the Pentagon has ten different patterns that it’s paying for with tax payer dollars;
Today, there is one camouflage pattern just for Marines in the desert. There is another just for Navy personnel in the desert. The Army has its own “universal” camouflage pattern, which is designed to work anywhere. It also has another one just for Afghanistan, where the first one doesn’t work.
Even the Air Force has its own unique camouflage, used in a new Airman Battle Uniform. But it has flaws. So in Afghanistan, airmen are told not to wear it in battle.
In just 11 years, two kinds of camouflage have turned into 10. And a simple aspect of the U.S. government has emerged as a complicated and expensive case study in federal duplication.
Somehow, people think that their uniform is an essential part of fighting wars. It really isn’t. Especially if you look at the Navy’s and Air Force’s uniforms which don’t hide anyone from anything. The Stars & Stripes has a chart which tracks the uniform changes over the last few years;
The Pentagon has spent billions of dollars going through the motions of picking “the best” pattern for their purposes and then changing their minds. But it’s all so much mental masturbation, since most of the wars we fought, the troops didn’t wear any camouflaged pattern and they still won the actual battles. The services are like a bunch of teenagers fretting over what cool new clothes they want to wear for the first day of school. But in the end, troops’ uniforms in combat all end up the same color – whatever color the dirt is in their particular area of operations. So all of that exercise that the pogues at Natick Labs go through has no real impact on the battlefield, but their jobs are secure for the next billion-dollar “back-to-school” shopping spree.
Category: Air Force, Big Army, Marine Corps, Navy
@49
The Army Uniform Board (AUB)
AUB CHAIRMAN
Deputy Chief of Staff G-4
AUB VOTING MEMBERS
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology
Deputy Chief of Staff G-1
Director, Army National Guard
Chief, Army Reserve
The Sergeant Major of the Army
Program Executive Officer Soldier
Deputy Inspector General
Deputy Chief of Staff G-3 (Director of Requirements)
Deputy Chief of Staff G-8 (Director of Force Development)
Headquarters Training and Doctrine Command G-4
A Senior Female Officer on the Army Staff
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower & Reserve Affairs
A Female Command Sergeant Major
A Junior Enlisted Male
A Junior Enlisted Female
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management & Comptroller
we were isued ACU’s in 2005 while we were getting ready for A-stan, and we called them “pajamas” because of how quickly they fell apart in the field, let alone while deployed! Velcro on the trouser pocket? If the trousers don’t fall apart first, one has to replace the velcro, or they soon go looking like Joe Shit the ragbag with open pockets. I blame the Army’s upper echelon, they shat themselves and thought that the USMC had “One-upped” them, now we’re stuck with something that camouflages perfectly with gravel, and that’s on a good day!! I remember seeing the blue tiger stripe uniform that the Air Farce fielded in 2004 and thought, DAMN, for once, someone else came up with something uglier than what the Army usually does!
#35 Hondo,
I agree with you in large part, and probably should have worded my earlier statement a bit better. Besides researching the next wonder-camo and/or the next generation uniform style, though, the cost of adopting all new gear to complement the uniforms–from the most expensive body armor to the cheapest grenade pouch–seems to be an expense that isn’t necessary. Stick with OD, coyote brown, or even foliage green and you have gear that a Soldier can use for most of their career. Uniforms are replaced by the Soldier (with the exception of deployment uniforms not available at MCSS such as the DCU and OCP-ACU) using their clothing allowance. Until I went to Recruiter School I was never issued a single set of ACUs. Fortunately, I went after the days of Class Bs, when ARC students received those uniform components instead.
Besides my disdain for the camouflaging of gear, I have to admit that this newest stuff is beyond nice. When I retire, I may have to pay for my MOLLE Rifleman’s set just to keep the medium ruck…
#52,
One thing I find cute about the ACU is the fact that some of the “high-speed” changes it implemented have now been discarded in favor of what has worked since the days of the OG-107s or before. Sewn-on badges and buttoned cargo pockets look better (former) and work much better in the long run (latter). Some of the other changes are more enduring and make sense, like the sleeve and calf pockets.
I liked the multicams. They work fine and wore pretty well. The ACU’s are horrible. The Army is screwing this up royally. We’re gonna have to buy all knew CIF related equipment in the new pattern. Most of the big units have deployed with multicam…just stick with that please. U want to change something, change our horrible dress uni’s.
AMEN TO THAT, headhuntersix!!!
I’m still pissed that we had to put name tapes on our cammies, so I don’t feel bad at what you guys are going through now…..
J/K
I’m with Nik, just share what has already prven to work.
*proven
We have US4CES, Kryptec, and Brookwood camo in the competition to replace both UCP and Multicam! Hopefully level minds will prevail in the end.
I never knew all this was happening. I had 8 pair of BDUs and two boots, plus one thermal set of boots during the early 90s. 4winter, 4 summer. Worked great! Only problem was unless you paid for starch, they looked like crap in garrison. Always wrinkled. Some guys had the starch so heavy they had to pull the sleeves apart to get their arms in them. Then there were the guys that folded their pants into their boots, versus blousing them. It worked better than having all these choices, though.