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3ID DCU BOS Question


AKC123
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I just got this 3ID DCU and noticed that there appears to be a green BOS tape underneath the tan one. The tan one is simply sewn overtop. This has a 91 contract date, although I know it could have been made after, and I know that green woodland insignia was used in the early desert uniform days so I’m wondering if this wasn’t issued in the early 90’s. Does anyone know if all tops were issued clean or if they were issued with the BOS already sewn on? And perhaps this was a hold over from an earlier time that when finally was issued the soldier just sewed the tan tape over it since by then they were available? Also do these look like theater made rank? They are thinner than others I have. You can also see where the flag was relocated for the combat patch. 

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

Very odd, never seen or heard of this before! I have it in my head that some BDUs and 6 color DBDUs came from the factory with woven nylon US Army BOS tapes but I'm not sure where I got that idea. If true I could easily see it carrying over to 3 color DCUS. 

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7 minutes ago, Cap Camouflage Pattern I said:

Very odd, never seen or heard of this before! I have it in my head that some BDUs and 6 color DBDUs came from the factory with woven nylon US Army BOS tapes but I'm not sure where I got that idea. If true I could easily see it carrying over to 3 color DCUS. 

Yea I had never seen it before either. Maybe whenever the soldier was issued this DCU he wasn’t able to get a desert BOS so just put a green one on until one was available. Then rather then cut it off just decided to save the headache 

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Perhaps this was issued in the early 90’s then reissued in the early 2000’s to this soldier who got it with the green BOS already on and then just proceeded to put what he needed onto it? Iv been told that uniform items were in short supply around that time. 

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1 hour ago, ekclete said:

Or the regs changed and it was cheaper to have a new tape sewn over the earlier OD tape.  

Maybe. The name tape does not have anything under it or is there any visible evidence that anything ekes was ever in its place. So unless at one time the soldier had a green BOS with tan name tape that seems unlikely to me. But I was never in the military so I honestly couldn’t say that’s why I asked. 

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You do have a great eye for detail that is for sure.  With this uniform and others you have posted.   Also if you look at the back stitching you can see the OD tape was not to the end of the pocket and that was changed (but not sure when exactly).  All that being said it is a nice solid DCU.  Thanks!

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Having deployed to the sandbox a couple of times I'll hazard a guess as to what happened:  3rd ID at Fort Stewart, GA is one of the units that has had a "desert mission" since the end of the Gulf War (when it was the 24th Infantry division.  3rd ID in Germany was deactivated and then 24th ID was reflagged as 3rd ID.)  In the mid-90's, "desert tan" nametags were not widely available so the regulation at that time stated that soldiers would wear the green subdued nametags and US army tapes on the DCU. 

 

Units that deployed to the Middle East all the time (CENTCOM units and some SF units) would have desert-color name tapes and US army tapes made in theater, but in the US they weren't available.  It wasn't until after OEF started (the US operation in Afghanistan) that desert-color subdued name tapes and US army tapes were widely available within the Army system. 

 

So my thought is that this soldier was probably issued the DCU prior to the 9/11 attacks, since his unit regularly rotated into Kuwait for training.  Since desert-color name tapes weren't available, he used green name tapes, which the regulation allowed.  Then, after OEF and OIF started, the desert-color name tapes were made available and the unit was directed to switch their green name tapes for desert color.  This soldier probably just decided to have the desert color tape sewn over the old green tape to make it easier (maybe he even did it at home or had his wife do it.) 

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2 hours ago, Martinjmpr said:

Having deployed to the sandbox a couple of times I'll hazard a guess as to what happened:  3rd ID at Fort Stewart, GA is one of the units that has had a "desert mission" since the end of the Gulf War (when it was the 24th Infantry division.  3rd ID in Germany was deactivated and then 24th ID was reflagged as 3rd ID.)  In the mid-90's, "desert tan" nametags were not widely available so the regulation at that time stated that soldiers would wear the green subdued nametags and US army tapes on the DCU. 

 

Units that deployed to the Middle East all the time (CENTCOM units and some SF units) would have desert-color name tapes and US army tapes made in theater, but in the US they weren't available.  It wasn't until after OEF started (the US operation in Afghanistan) that desert-color subdued name tapes and US army tapes were widely available within the Army system. 

 

So my thought is that this soldier was probably issued the DCU prior to the 9/11 attacks, since his unit regularly rotated into Kuwait for training.  Since desert-color name tapes weren't available, he used green name tapes, which the regulation allowed.  Then, after OEF and OIF started, the desert-color name tapes were made available and the unit was directed to switch their green name tapes for desert color.  This soldier probably just decided to have the desert color tape sewn over the old green tape to make it easier (maybe he even did it at home or had his wife do it.) 

Awesome information! Thanks. Just still weird that the name tape isn’t in the same situation. Guess we will just never know it’s one of those things. Just find little things like this interesting. Part of the enjoyment of collecting these is discerning or trying to discern what information you can from them. Thanks 

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The short answer what Martinjmpr said, they applied the tape over the old one.  I've seen this before and have at least one top where they decided to do that to avoid the unnecessary pain of having to remove the tapes.  Time saving measure, and gets the job done, why not?  I've also got PASGT where they've simply put a DCU cover over the BDU one which i thought was pretty genius as well. 

 

With 3rd ID there were a few units already in Kuwait in 2002 who had desert tapes, but they weren't the 'standard' you'd see in Iraq.  When 3rd ID deployed, the supply couldn't meet up with demand for tapes which left the green ones their only option.

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I
5 hours ago, RedLegGI said:

I've also got PASGT where they've simply put a DCU cover over the BDU one which i thought was pretty genius as well. 

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Thanks for the responses. Sweet pasgt. I have a British Mk6a with a desert DPM cover under the MTP cover. Always sweet to find a little bonus. 

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