June 19th, 2009

It seems someone clued Congress in on the fact that the Universal Camouflage Pattern issued to troops fighting in Afghanistan is far from the ideal. So Congress has told the Army to issue something better. Well, the first word in UCP is after all “Universal” and that makes it a compromise since it has to blend in everywhere. Oddly, Afghanistan is not monochrome and there are a variety of environments to blend in with so ultimately a “Universal” camouflage is what is called for after all. Maybe it just needs to be tuned a bit.

Here is the wording from the Conference Committee Report.
“The conferees understand that soldiers deployed to Afghanistan have serious concerns about the current combat uniform which they indicate provides ineffective camouflage given the environment in Afghanistan. Accordingly, the conferees direct that within funding made available the Department of Defense take immediate action to provide combat uniforms to personnel deployed to Afghanistan with a camouflage pattern that is suited to the environment of Afghanistan.

The conferees further direct the Secretary of the Army to provide a report on the program plans and budgetary adjustments necessary to provide appropriate uniforms to deployed and deploying troops to Afghanistan. The report shall be submitted to the congressional defense committees by the end of fiscal year 2009.”

So Congress wants the Army to reprogram money “immediately” to provide an alternative camo pattern for forces in Afghanistan and report to the Armed Services Committees before the end of the fiscal year on it will be accomplished. Can you imagine how this went over when word reached PEO-Soldier? “The jig is up, they’re on to us”.

Now please remember, that this still isn’t law. The President hasn’t signed it YET but is expected to soon.

So how will this play out? Interesting question, considering when asked just weeks ago at the Soldier Systems APBI about the possibility of alternative camouflage patterns, PEO-Soldier officials gave a curt, “No”. However, it has come to our attention that the 173d Airborne Brigade has been granted approval to wear Multicam during their OEF rotation. So that option seems open…maybe. Alternatively, it is highly unlikely that any new SOCOM patterns will be used by general purpose forces. 3-color desert pattern is still available but was replaced by the superior UCP. Desert MARPAT is a possibility, if the Army can wade through the interservice rivalry issues. And finally, what about an entirely new pattern, or old for that matter. Several promising designs were tested by Natick in the 2003-2004 time frame before UCP was adopted virtually out of nowhere.

Ultimately, it is going to be about cost. It isn’t just uniforms. There are a variety of other equipage and accouterments that must also be produced in an alternative pattern. And all of this while the Army is still in the throes of a complete roll out of the UCP pattern. Who will foot the bill? Congress has essentially issued budgetary guidance to the Army to reprogram funds.

http://soldiersystems.net/2009/06/17/congr...res-about-camo/

Sounds like a massive screw up to me - I had the same concerns when the Air Force rolled out their new Aiman Battle Uniform. And to think I was just sifting through some old BDU gear in storage yesterday feeling old cause it was all obsolete. Now the ACUs, and subsequently ABUs, might get black listed too!

Rice, I always liked the 'look' of the Marines' CUU. And I can only assume it's functional since it's been in full use since 2004. What's your impression of it?

-C

I never was issued MARPATs, I got out before they started rolling them to everyone; by the time I got out they were only just starting to issue them to Sgts and Sgts only and I was only a Cpl and a ways off from making Sgt. So I haven't personally seen them in use but I have seen a picture at some sort of rifle shoot with people wearing various uniforms and civvies in the prone position on a dirt range and there was someone wearing desert MARPATs and he blended in very well and he was next someone in DCUs (3 color desert) and that person didn't blend nearly as well. In comparison, I've seen numerous pictures of soldiers in ACUs in the field and in 90% of those pictures they stood out like a sore thumb. About the only place the so-called Universal Pattern works is in a rocky environment where the rocks are primarily grey or greyish in color though they also seem to work reasonably well in some desert environments but not until after the wearer has rolled in the dirt and gotten his ACUs thoroughly filthy and covered in dirt and dust. But then again you could do the same wearing civvies and produce similar results; to me there's something wrong when you have to get your cammies completely dirty first before they begin to actually camouflage you.

What I don't understand is why the Army didn't ask Crye to develop a digital version of their Multicam because as I understand it the only reason the Army didn't go with Multicam was because it wasn't digital and the Army wanted digital because it breaks up your outline better when viewed with night vision gear. The odd thing about that requirement is that we've never actually fought anybody that fights at night as much as we do and uses as much night vision gear as we do. I think that a digital Multicam could work, I actually created my own just for the heck of it, well sort of, it's a generic digital camo pattern in Multicam colors but I think it works.

This is so true. I wore ACUs for a year in Iraq shortly after they began issuing them to deploying units, and they were perfectly desert-colored so long as you were covered in desert. I never understood how that pattern got approved. I don't understand how those flimsy, piece-of-crap uniforms got approved, either, but that's another story.

We are getting a MESS of new uniforms in the Navy!

We have just started getting our NWU or "WATERFLAGE" as some are calling it now...

Its different, in the sun they heat up fast! More to come...

EXAMPLE

At least the Navy is honest about their intent with the new NWUs, unlike the Air Force. The Navy has from the outset said that is not meant to be a tactical or field uniform and is only meant to replace dungarees and jumpsuits and the camo pattern is only there to hide dirt, oil, and grease stains and not the wearer. The Air Force on the other hand came up with a camouflage that is meant to be a straight up BDU replacement and is meant for field and tactical use yet they completely ignored the input from those in the Air Force that are part of tactical units that actually work in the field and could use an actual functional tactical uniform not some Hollywood version of it.

On the subject of new camo for the Army, here are a couple of follow up articles from Soldier Systems.

http://soldiersystems.net/2009/07/10/camo-...unity-to-excel/

http://soldiersystems.net/2009/07/08/camo-conundrum/

I look at the AF stuff now and just shake my head... I think its time to retire!

The digitized Multicam looks like a Marpat, but with more green, from far distance, so it could be a good solution.
BTW, Crye's Multicam is more effective than the UCP, so why don't the Army use it by the time they set up a new pattern ?