Fabulous! But I'd really love to see it in more of a chartreuse.

This is odd. I've been around soldiers for years, including a lot of guys who have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan, and I've never heard any of them complain about the digicam. I'll ask around.

"We can't allow the Marine Corps to look more cool than the Army."

The Army's big problem in the cool department isn't camo, it's those dorky looking berets they insist everyone wear.

If Amy wants to wear a slinky dress in various shades of purple, I'm all for it.

The first problem the Army has is that they didn't listen to the ranks...[emphasis mine]

[The Marine's] pattern, known as MARPAT, first appeared in 2002 after being selected from among dozens of candidates and receiving plenty of input from Marines on the ground at the sniper school in Quantico, Va. The Marines even found one of the baseline colors themselves, an earth tone now called Coyote Brown.

“They went to Home Depot, looked at paint swatches, and said, ‘We want that color,’ ” said Anabelle Dugas, a textile technologist at Natick who helped develop the pattern. That particular hue, she added, was part of a paint series then sold by Ralph Lauren.

Why does the Air Force wear camo uniforms?

Neither myself nor anyone I know really cared that the digital pattern didn't conceal jack; our concern is the uniform itself. It is supremely uncomfortable, has seven square yards of useless velcroTM, and just looks frumpy.

The Army, except for Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces, doesn't wear the beret with ACUs any more. That ended over a year ago.

And we've been bitching about not only the pattern but the durability and comfort of the ACU since nearly day one. It's a hated uniform, and we eagerly await the day it is retired.

Why does the Air Force wear camo uniforms?

Why does the Navy wear blue camouflage?

Does the color of the duty fatigues actually make the ship easier to spot?

If that's the case, what about the flight deck guys on a carrier in bright colored tops?

Why were so many bomber pilots in the Hanoi Hilton?

(As I tweeted before)

I'm a veteran Marine, (but Jack Rayner's a pseudonym) served from '03 to '08, so I had just entered the Marine Corps when our own digital camo was still "new", and was around when the Army was starting to look into getting their own digital camo.

I remember reading about it a few times in Marine Corps Times articles, and at first it seemed like they would go with something very similar to our own two patterns; on woodland and one desert. So, when their final pattern was unveiled, we were all a little confused. They went with one pattern that had tan, grey, and foliage green, (a light, grayish green which, hilariously enough, is the color of our martial arts program's "Grey Belt") and touted these as a mix would blend equally into all environments.

While in Iraq, a lot of the ground in our base was covered in gravel, so I remember seeing Soldiers walking across it and thinking, "Well, at least they blend in with the gravel."

(Offtopic)

Amy - Chow down. As long as we go easy on carbs, right?

Chief said it. The only thing hated more than the godawful ACU pattern thing they make us wear was the beret. Now that its pretty much gone, somebody please do something about this useless uniform. It is flimsy, looks about as military as a muumuu, is covered with velcro (except the pants - I bought some new uniforms about 3 months ago with buttons on the cargo pockets) and the digicam pattern - well, the joke is its universal. It doesn't work anywhere. The woodland BDU's were much better, looked better, held up better - just all around better. Wish the Army would quit trying to build a better mousetrap. In Afghanistan we couldn't have stood out more if we had been carrying torches and blowing whistles.

Jack Rayner, I agree with you and have never met a soldier who didn't. The MarPat is great.

If that's the case, what about the flight deck guys on a carrier in bright colored tops? -- Conan the Grammarian at July 9, 2012 8:56 AM

A Nimitz class carrier is 1,092 feet long and weighs 101,000 tons. It's kind of hard to hide.

The guys wearing colors (www.navy.mil/navydata/ships/carriers/rainbow.asp) designate the general job groupings. Just like if you ever watch Star Trek and see the different colors of the uniforms, it's the same thing.

As for the USAF wearing camo -- prior to 1985 -- they essentially wore standard green army fatigues. Mid and senior rank enlisted had the option of solid blue similar to the fatigues. Office workers had various forms of the dress blues (short sleeve, no jacket, etc.) Think a dockers and button down shirts.

The Army had some variations of uniforms for the SF (re: Green Berets) prior to 83, but the day to day uniform for most was the plain green fatigue (re: Hair). Somewhere around '83 the Army started adopting the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU). They were a standard, jungle pattern, camo uniform that was quite comfortable. They held up to grease and a trek through the woods on about an equal basis. There was a summer weight with rip-stop nylon, or winter weight that was a solid cotton. They also had a desert (re: Jarhead) and snow (re: World War III movie starring David Soul) pattern.

The USAF generally just bought the same thing the Army did. When the Army went off on it's digicam adventure, the USAF looked at it and said what if we did a blue digicam variant, that would blend with the tarmac most exposed troops work on.

Trust me: the PJ's (Para-rescue Jumpers) and CCT's (Combat Control Teams) are wearing the same camo as the Marines.

I hope this all makes sense. Let me know if it doesn't

Just curious how you vets like(d) the ECWCS?

The guys wearing colors ... designate the general job groupings.

I get the reason for the colors.

My comment was really to say I think the Navy camouflage uniforms are kinda silly looking. Into what is the sailor trying to blend?

Dave if you haven't heard it, then it is because you haven't asked.

Few people have good things to say about it.

The stitching is lousy and the shit tears in half the time of the old uniform. Less than half, 3 months of ordinary garrison use, if you're lucky, before it starts to fray and tear. For comparison, the old "BDU" could last a year and you'd be unlikely to see a tear, if anything you might see fading from its frequent wear, but not a spot you'd see a tear.

Its color is ONLY camo in a western city environment, there is no fucking gray in Iraq for gods sake. It works well in shadow, but hell, what doesn't?

The cheap fucking velcro is worthless after a month, and when it isn't utterly worthless, its actually dangerous because you cannot quietly open or close any flap or pocket.

For the longest time you couldn't sew on anything, everything from your name to your rank to your unit was velcro, (because those change so fucking often) and they'd have to be frequently replaced because again…the velcro wears out so quickly.

The ONLY good thing about the current digital uniform is that it is wash and wear, making it easy to deal with as far as ordinary maintenance

I'm equally glad we finally ditched that WORTHLESS FUCKING BERRET.

Yeah, look like the fucking French, they have such a long record of victory after all, why shouldn't we dress like them? Ugh, the fucking thing was hot as hell in the Summer, shrank when it was cleaned, had a ridiculous amount of maintenance even to make it wearable the first time, provided no airflow and no shade…there was just not a goddamn thing good about that piece of crap, and the only reason it lasted as long as it did after the fucktard who came up with it retired, was because the next line of senior leadership was inundated with ass kissing officers who would tell them nothing but how much people loved the beret, and the seniors were to disconnected from the ground troops to hear differently.

I was happy as hell when we finally got leadership that asked US if they were being told the truth. The beet red expression on some of those aids faces when the thunderous "NO" came from our massed ranks, was almost worth putting up with the goddamn thing.

What REALLY pisses me off:

Some fucktard who made the buying decision, awarded contracts, and made selections for this shit, will retire from the service, and go get a vp job with the same company he was buying from just before that.

They don't "Call it" a "bribe" or a "kick back", but is anyone really blind to the obvious conflict of interest when Generals go work for arms manufacturers and whatnot? Is anyone really going to buy the line about how they're uniquely qualified yada yada, and that the huge profits their decisions gave to these companies before their hiring played no role in getting them those cushy high paying civilian jobs?

Am I the ONLY one familiar with the term "conflict of interest"?

I love this story for a number of reasons. First, the Marine Corps spent years and a gazillion dollars designing MARPAT camo in two shades (and redesigning the utility uniform itself), and it works fine. So the Army comes along and screws up digital camo in less time than it would take you to spitshine your boots. Second, I distinctly remember the Army saying when the new ACU was released, pres...umably with a straight face, that it contained no black "because research indicates that black doesn't occur in nature." One wonders what Pentagon chair-warmer came up with that gem. Third, and most satisfying, is the quote in the article about it only being effective in a gravel pit. I've been calling it the "Gravel Pit Suit" for years now and I feel vindicated.

It's nice to feel vindicated, and we can scoff at the money wasted - it's one of the things the Army does best. But there's probably no way to measure the number of soldiers' lives lost, or men and women permanently injured in combat, because they were issued what amounts to defective gear - gear that any fool could see was inadequate and not up to its fundamental task, camouflage, from the moment the first PFC put the stuff on.

Now if we can get them to drop the new ASU that is replacing the perfectly good, perfectly presentable green Class A uniform maybe we can get back to rebuilding an Army. That thing looks like a bus drivers uniform.
Robert, you are right. Nobody I serve with is under any illusions when the collest new gew-gaw comes down, and is completely useless, that somebody didn't make a hell of a lot of money from it.
And though it has been said before, it bears repeating. That beret was an abortion. I especially liked the look of it when Shaniqua piled up her weave to a dizzying height and stuck it on top.
Yep. Instead of making the black beret something something Rangers wore as a symbol of their earned, elite status, lets make it standard issue for the whole force so everybody can feel speshul.
Hmmm. Tell me again. Which party was the President from that appointed that Jackass?

Just curious how you vets like(d) the ECWCS? -- Mr. Teflon at July 9, 2012 8:25 PM

Assuming this is the Extended Cold system. I never wore that. I had the pre-system of parkas, bunny boots and mukluuks. The bunny boots sucked and you could never find a set that actually fit. Your feet were killing you at the end of an hour. The parkas were good, as well as the mukluuks. I kept the mukluuks and even wore them as a civilian.

I'm equally glad we finally ditched that WORTHLESS FUCKING BERET. -- Robert at July 10, 2012 6:29 AM

I was USAF -- the SP's, PJ's and CCT's wore the beret's. The rest didn't.

The one that irritated the fuck out of me was the baseball caps versus the woodland caps. When the USAF wore the green fatigues (because they were tucked) the baseball caps made sense. You could tuck them in at the small of the back out of habit when you had to doff them inside.

With the BDU they made no sense because they weren't tucked in. You had a giant uncomfortable bulge under your shirt. You crumpled the unit crest in weeks.

I always would wear the woodland cap because I could dump it in the side pocket on the BDU quickly, by habit. I think I still have about three unit ball caps, probably unworn, running around in a box in my house.

I also bought a couple of pair of Black BDU's a few months again. About the only thing they miss is the underfly that hides our tighty whiteys. ;-)

When son was in Basic, he was told the digital design was settled on because 'modern surveillance uses digital cameras, and the design will fade into the pixels, making troops harder to see.' I have no idea if that part works; even if it does, somebody apparently forgot that the stuff doesn't work for crap at hiding from the Mark 1 Eyeball.