A short guide on the Woodland BDU Jacket

[yellowhammer history]

100% cotton and temperate versions with waist adjustment tabs. The patched one is the hot weather cotton version, I mainly took photos of it since they are constructed the same.

[yellowhammer history]

Temperate version without waist adjustment tabs.

[yellowhammer history]

Final hot weather version. 50% nylon 50% cotton ripstop.

[Firaq]

Thank you! I appreciate the detailed pictures of all the key changes / features. No worries about the other BDU eras, I'm sure some other folks can contribute. Your ha a nice label!, I rarely see them that nice, but most of the ones left in Europe are kinda battered, so that makes sense.

[yellowhammer history]

Also the flag patches are on later uniforms though I don't remember when they started that. 

[Firaq]

I believe those were added sometime in the 90s, I associate it with 3rd patterns, maybe the flag became a part of the uniform when they were introduced in 1995~? Thanks for another example. Currently hunting a 1st pattern, it's surprisingly tough to find them in my sizes. 

[Rhscott]

The Flag is GWOT era, unless it was a Sinai rotation, then it would be desert BDU.  We added the right side flag for everyone in 2005.  At first it went under the combat patch if you had one and was at first only for deploying units.

[Firaq]

Ah, thanks for the info. It's worth mentioning I've seen quite a few images of 80s/90s soldiers with flags on their sleeves, notably, the 7th Infantry (Light) in Panama. 

 

 

This is also visible in this video of lightfighters in Panama City. 

[Freedomplaza]

On 2/27/2026 at 1:35 PM, Firaq said:

Ah, thanks for the info. It's worth mentioning I've seen quite a few images of 80s/90s soldiers with flags on their sleeves, notably, the 7th Infantry (Light) in Panama. 

 

 

This is also visible in this video of lightfighters in Panama City. 

Those flags are notably different to the later reversed flag that came patched directly to 90s 3rd pattern BDUs. The invasion flags were not reversed and most of the time not sewn, the most common attachment method was safety pins. Troops didn't have enough advance notice that the invasion was coming to sew the flags on.

[Martinjmpr]

On 2/28/2026 at 9:17 PM, Freedomplaza said:

Those flags are notably different to the later reversed flag that came patched directly to 90s 3rd pattern BDUs. The invasion flags were not reversed and most of the time not sewn, the most common attachment method was safety pins. Troops didn't have enough advance notice that the invasion was coming to sew the flags on.

 

During the BDU era it was common for deployed troops to wear a US flag patch.  Prior to 9/11 this was done on contingency operations ONLY and the flag was always supposed to be removed when returning from the deployment.  

 

The purpose of the patch was practical, not ornamental:  US Troops always deployed with a coalition of allied forces, and the purpose of the flag was to identify the soldier as a US soldier to anyone who was there.  

 

On my first deployment to Haiti we were issued a flag on a velcro blousing strap (the same kind used to blouse boots) to be worn on the sleeve.  

 

On my second deployment to Bosnia for OJG in 1997, part of our mobilization processing included turning in our BDU jackets to have a reversed-field American flag patch sewn onto the left sleeve.  

 

Again, this was done for deployment ONLY and we specifically NOT authorized to be worn after the mobilization.  When we de-mobilized at the end of the deployment we were specifically instructed to remove the flag patch from the right sleeve.  

 

After 9/11, the Army decided to add the right-sleeve flag as a permanent part of the uniform.  I'm not exactly sure when this was, as I was in the National Guard at the time, but I believe it was around 2003 (Someone can probably pull up the Army ALARACT message to find out.) 

 

Initially, the flag was sewn BELOW the right sleeve FWTS-SSI for soldiers entitled to wear a FWTS-SSI.  Then someone pointed out that nothing should be above the US flag and the policy was changed to put the flag above the patch.  

 

Attached is a photo of my BDU field jacket from right before I retired in 2005.  This would have been period correct for the 2003 - 2004 period, not sure when the mandated the flag above the FWTS-SSI but I think it was 2005 or later.  

 

 

 

 

[vzemke]

Wearing the flag on BDUs when not deployed became standard Army-wide in 2004 (ALARACT 018/2004, dated 20 JAN 2004)

 

Reposted here: 

https://www.marlowwhite.com/faq/f-flag-patch-ar-update.html

 

When the BDU was worn, the flag was always supposed to be worn below the combat patch (yes, I know this goes against flag etiquette). This was not changed until the adoption of the ACU.