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Uniform wear out date


hawkdriver
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As of October 1, 2009, BDU, DCU, and basically anything not ACU was no longer authorized for wear in the US Army. Because of this, you will probably begin seeing BDUs and DCUs being dumped for very low prices, better snag them up, from here on out, they start getting more and more scarce. Happy hunting.

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My local surplus guy told me the Government is no longer selling uniforms to the public , for fear of Terrorists,Militias and such stockpiling them for impersonating U.S. personnel , I thought this was B.S. till another surplus guy on another board said the same thing , Please if anyone in the know can verify this , please do !!

 

Steve

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I've heard the same rumour from two different US dealers. But if it is actually true, how can we explain the easy availability of ACUs? Wouldn't it make more sense to control the supply of current uniforms on the open market?

 

For the sake of comparison, it might be of interest to note that here in Canada, the CADPAT arid (ie desert) uniforms are extremely carefully controlled, and almost impossible to lay hands on. These are recycled several times over in Afghanistan, and it is not unusual to find two or three names and service numbers in a uniform when it is reissued. The ordinary green CADPATs are possible to find, but the supply is still relatively tight. In contrast, I can pick up ACUs, DCUs, BDUs, in just about any thrift store (in Canada) in a big city. The Pakistani copies of arid CADPAT are easy to tell apart from 10 feet away, but from a 100 yards away in the daylight, it would be tough.

 

As Hawkdriver noted, I have been buying lots of badged DCUs and BDUs for a few bucks a piece - the tough part is finding space for them at home.

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I've heard the same rumour from two different US dealers. But if it is actually true, how can we explain the easy availability of ACUs? Wouldn't it make more sense to control the supply of current uniforms on the open market?

 

For the sake of comparison, it might be of interest to note that here in Canada, the CADPAT arid (ie desert) uniforms are extremely carefully controlled, and almost impossible to lay hands on. These are recycled several times over in Afghanistan, and it is not unusual to find two or three names and service numbers in a uniform when it is reissued. The ordinary green CADPATs are possible to find, but the supply is still relatively tight. In contrast, I can pick up ACUs, DCUs, BDUs, in just about any thrift store (in Canada) in a big city. The Pakistani copies of arid CADPAT are easy to tell apart from 10 feet away, but from a 100 yards away in the daylight, it would be tough.

 

As Hawkdriver noted, I have been buying lots of badged DCUs and BDUs for a few bucks a piece - the tough part is finding space for them at home.

It is true about the governemnt wanting back surplused uniforms. One of our mutual friends forwarded me an email or a scan of a letter from the government.

 

As far as buying up DCU's......I'm trying to find places to store mine as well. :lol:

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Ah yes, I had forgotten about that letter...

 

Back in 1990 the Cdn gov't ordered a bunch of tan fatigues for Desert Shield. They apparently didn't arrive in quantity until after the war was over, and most were dumped on the surplus market. As the rumour goes, when Cdn forces deployed to Somalia a couple of years later, the gov't turned around and asked for the tan uniforms back. They are fairly uncommon now, but not widely collected either.

 

It is true about the governemnt wanting back surplused uniforms. One of our mutual friends forwarded me an email or a scan of a letter from the government.

 

As far as buying up DCU's......I'm trying to find places to store mine as well. :lol:

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As of October 1, 2009, BDU, DCU, and basically anything not ACU was no longer authorized for wear in the US Army. Because of this, you will probably begin seeing BDUs and DCUs being dumped for very low prices, better snag them up, from here on out, they start getting more and more scarce. Happy hunting.

 

What about the tan flight suits? Are they still authorized to wear or A2CU only?

thanks

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My local surplus guy told me the Government is no longer selling uniforms to the public , for fear of Terrorists,Militias and such stockpiling them for impersonating U.S. personnel , I thought this was B.S. till another surplus guy on another board said the same thing , Please if anyone in the know can verify this , please do !!

 

Steve

Let's hope that eBay aint gonna ban DCUs and BDUs from its auctions !

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Cobrahistorian
thanks.

All the coveralls also?

Interesting news...

 

Unless something has changed, pickle suits are still authorized alongside A2CUs. I think there might be a "revolt of the aviators" if we were just left with A2CUs to wear. Worthless friggin uniform! I don't think it fits ANYONE properly. Besides, who wants to fly a helicopter in the US Army equivalent of a pirate shirt!

 

Bring back the ABDU!

 

Jon

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Jim McCauley
Unless something has changed, pickle suits are still authorized alongside A2CUs. I think there might be a "revolt of the aviators" if we were just left with A2CUs to wear. Worthless friggin uniform! I don't think it fits ANYONE properly. Besides, who wants to fly a helicopter in the US Army equivalent of a pirate shirt!

 

Bring back the ABDU!

 

Jon

 

 

A2CUs are the only authorized flight suits for US Army aircrews as of 1 OCT 09.

 

An exception has been granted for Pacific Command, South Command and Africa command but only for the Enhanced Hot Weather BDU , the ABDU, Aviation Flight Suit (no color mentioned) and accessory items.

 

http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/Uniform/docs...ight%20suit.pdf

 

 

Jim

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thanks.

All the coveralls also?

Interesting news...

 

The flight suit coveralls are gone, but the mechanics coveralls are not considered clothing, so they can still be worn. This also didn't touch the CVC coveralls as far as I can tell.

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I hate ACU's

 

I still have bag fulls of BDU's and DCU's and ACU's in my basement. As far as the government not dumping the uniforms on the surplus market, individual soldiers will be selling this stuff off like crazy probably. I know they didn't ask for my uniforms back when I retired. Even though I have not seen anything but the ACU worn by AD since the first half of 2007 I am sure that there will still be plenty dumped when the 6 yr enlistees from that era get discharged. I have seen soldiers go into surplus stores and sell duffle bags full of uniforms and boots for $20.00 or so, plus new uniforms show up on racks around here regualrly.

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VolunteerArmoury

When was the OD green wool/nylon uniforms wear out date? I can't recall the nomenclature but the ones that came out late Korean war era & looked alot like the cotton fatigues. I was issued some in the late 90s for wear up north. We just put our pin on rank it for it had the US Army & no one bothered with the nametapes. We'd often wear them with the cold weather trousers & liners & coldweather boots.

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Cobrahistorian

Crap, and I just found my last set of ABDUs too... Seriously? No more pickle suits? So we're stuck with A2CU crap?! They'd better issue me several more sets then!

 

Worst. Flight. Suit. Ever.

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Crap, and I just found my last set of ABDUs too... Seriously? No more pickle suits? So we're stuck with A2CU crap?! They'd better issue me several more sets then!

 

Worst. Flight. Suit. Ever.

 

Ya, but now you look just like the infantry, kinda, .... not really.

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You look very much like Infantry because we were issued the A2CUs or whatever theyre called in Baghdad last year because they were flame retardent. We could wear them in theatre but not back in the states.

 

Kyle

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They are still fairly popular with non-flight related types here in Afghanistan too. A very popular uniform combo for infantry types is the Army Combat Shirt and the A2CUs pants, which also happens to be a popular outfit combo with the flight crews around here too. They hold up better (well, somewhat better atleast) than the Flame Resistant ACUs.

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Cobrahistorian

Really? You guys like em?

 

In the front seat of an Apache, they're a hindrance. Big flowy shirt in a cramped space is not cool. The velcro cuff tabs are about the worst ever and don't stay closed. Sure, our gloves cover them when we're in the cockpit, but they're annoying as hell outside the cockpit.

 

Oh well... anyone wanna buy a pickle suit?

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When we were preparing to deploy every non-aviation type had A2CUs and the flight crews couldn't get them. What a joke! :blink:

 

Jim

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Cobrahistorian
When we were preparing to deploy every non-aviation type had A2CUs and the flight crews couldn't get them. What a joke! :blink:

 

Jim

 

Well, this is the Army... Should we really expect any less?

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The Army is just now officially phasing our BDU/DCU's? I thought they did this years ago, when the ACU's started coming in. I can't imagine a soldier in BDU's this late in the game.

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Cobrahistorian
The Army is just now officially phasing our BDU/DCU's? I thought they did this years ago, when the ACU's started coming in. I can't imagine a soldier in BDU's this late in the game.

 

Jonesy,

 

BDUs were gone by 2007, but Aircrew BDUs (ABDU/ADCU) were just killed two weeks ago along with the one piece flight suit.

 

Jon

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