Army Times article: Army is testing new camo patterns for ACUs

[17thairborne]

Well the whole universal camouflage thing has been a mess from the start. But saying five billion was wasted is a totally false premise. We have been wearing the UCP ACU since 2005/2006. It is worn Army wide and in Iraq and Afghanistan until OCP (multicam) was introduced for use in Afghanistan in 2010. That represents around eight to nine years of service. The author of the article makes it sound like the Army purchased 5 billion dollars worth of uniforms and gear and never used them. These items have been used hard through two wars.

 

Does he realize how quickly any uniform wears out in a combat zone? Or even in a training environment. The total Army (active, reserve, guard) is over one million members. Who knows how many million individuals have cycled through the Army since 2005. The real money is not in uniforms, the Army needs to replace them frequently regardless of what pattern of camouflage is on them. The real money is in all the gear (rucksacks, MOLLE, vests, cold weather gear, etc.) that goes with them. Many of these items can last quite some time. Kudos to the USMC for choosing one color for most of these items.

 

All that being said, the proliferation of camouflage is a disgrace. There is a law that passed the house and pending in the Senate that would mandate a single uniform across the DOD by 2018. That is a step in the right direction. Current sources point towards the Army moving to all Multicam. If so, I think the USMC will come to regret not sharing MARPAT with the other services. If all services move to one uniform, the Army has to clothe the most service members so what they wear will carry a lot of weight in moving towards one uniform.

 

By the way, the photo shown at the top of that article seems to imply that all that gear is being trashed. However, when hen you read the caption that gear belongs to the 3rd ACR who is shipping it home AFTER completing a full tour in Iraq. So the author is implying the U.S. taxpayer lost money in some way by providing this gear to the less then 1 % of the U.S. population that does all of the fighting? Five billion does not sound like much to equip millions of Soldiers through more then eight years of war.

 

Overall a very insightful perspective. I like your comments. You know this uniform thing has been going on for many centuries. Every time I read this thread I have to think of the riggers in WW2 airborne units who were put to work modifying the M42 and M43 trousers so they would last for more than 3 days in combat. Added pockets, reinforced knees, leg ties for the pockets etc. History does have a way of repeating itself. Now its the camo pattern.

 

 

I like the single DOD uniform idea for combat, although that will probably ire a lot of folks who like the individualism of each branch. You can solve that problem with a service-unique patch...or better yet a different color beret!

 

oz

 

 

[17thairborne]

Just another perspective...the more camo patterns that get fielded, the more stuff for us to collect. OD fatigues for the last 50 years would have made for a very boring junk room!

 

oz