Got a email on my AKO with a link that I couldn't get to work. Was suppose to show the "finalist" for the new camo to be used. Anyone have a picture of it or any info on the new uniform? I'm so glad I just paid for a brand new pair of ACU's. Damn things are so expensive, for sure when everything was sewn on

Was the Multi-Cam just for troops downrange in Afghanistan? Or is it supposed to replace ACU's?

June 2010 Article

Don't know if that's what you mean or if this was the last version.

How much money has the Army blown on new uniforms in the past decade?

No, the new uniform is still being worked on. Its not the multi cam. Totally different and I don't know anything about it other than our commander saying "hey, the Army is working on yet another new uniform to replace the ACU's" then I received that email which I need to go back and see if the link works again

FWIW: We were told last week that we would not have to turn in our Multi-Cam uniforms when we redeployed from Afghanistan.

From a Jul2010 article:


From an Aug2011 article:

This was mentioned in another Aug2011 article:


As was this...

Since the DOD is budget cutting anyway, why don't we do what we used to do when every service has BDUs or DCUs? It has got to be cheaper for all the services to wear the same combat uniform.

I see it still has the Velcro

If I were the SecDef, I'd call all the Chairmen into my office as tell them enough is enough. All services will wear plain, OD green unis like:

Army, USMC, USAF, USN - no exceptions. (I'd keep the rough-out boots - never liked shining my combat boots.)

When you deploy, you get the appropriate cammo pattern - and everyone wears it.

I would be heavily in favor of aggie infantry's proposal. In addition to the ACU's being crap, the new ones look like different colored crap.

You also gotta think of all the new ta50 that is purchased by the army in the new pattern. Someone is making a killing.

The TA-50, under my proposal, would be brown. This is a good, neutral color that would blend in with just about everything. If you needed specialized gear (i.e. - winter fighting), then an overwrap in the appropriate cammo/color might be possible.

AI- can the Marines go back to the Herringbones? Those are ODs with character!

Uniforms aren't so much for camo as they are something else these days. It's like the uniform threads on the football board. Cool unis draw recruits, think Oregon, think Nike. When these wars are over we will move on. We are a visual society, current uniforms tie us to these wars. New uniforms signify a new future.

Hell the ACUs were chosen in the same regard, they suck as camo but they look cool to the kids. They worked well enough in Iraq (even there we thought they were not great but sufficed). In A-stan we realized they sucked too bad to keep and were actually costing lives and had to change. I think the Marines got it right, we'll see what the Army comes up with next. I have duffle bags full of BDUs, DCUs, ACUs and OCPs....

[This message has been edited by CAVGrunt97 (edited 2/1/2012 1:08a).]

Believe this is the article you are looking for:

Army one step closer to replacement of ACU pattern
Story by C. Todd Lopez, Army News Service



A Soldier wearing the Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern, or OCP, uses an M14 Enhanced Battle Rifle. The OCP pattern was developed to help Soldiers blend in better in Afghanistan. Now, the Army is developing a new set of uniform patterns for all Soldiers, as part of the Phase IV camouflage effort. (U.S. Army photo)

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 13, 2012) — The Army is now one step closer to selecting a new set of camouflage patterns that could replace what Soldiers are wearing now in most places.

As part of the “Phase IV” camouflage effort, the Army this week awarded contracts to five vendors — selected from an initial 20 — to each provide enough fabric in the new camouflage patterns they have developed to produce 150 uniforms for the Army to test.

Each vendor had been asked to produce a “family of camouflage patterns,” including one that would be suitable in a woodland environment, one that would be suitable in a desert environment, and one that would work in a “transitional” environment.

The Army will spend the next nine months testing the effectiveness of those patterns.

“To really have confidence in being able to make a recommendation to senior leaders, we need to do field trials,” said Col. William Cole, of Program Executive Office Soldier. “We are looking forward to getting out into the woods, into the deserts, into the transitional areas and having real Soldiers wear these uniforms and have real Soldiers observe them.”

Cole said the Army will use both real-world testing in varying terrains and conditions, as well as more advanced computer testing to evaluate the patterns.

“We’re going to put them through the ringer,” he said.

Due to the varying types of terrain Soldiers operate in, Cole said the Army had found that “we can’t really have one pattern that is as effective as we’d like in every single terrain type.”

Today, most Soldiers wear the Army Combat Uniform. The ACU bears the Universal Camouflage Pattern, the familiar grey/blue “digital” pattern. In Afghanistan, Soldiers also have the Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern, or OCP, available for wear.

The vendors each developed three patterns with the same geometry — the shapes on the fabric — but with different color palettes. Additionally, the vendors were to develop a fourth “coordinated” pattern, or name one of the three already in their family of patterns, that would work well with all three patterns. That fourth pattern is for use on organizational clothing and individual equipment.

Cole said that OCIE, things like belts, protective vests, ruck sacks and plate carriers, are more expensive than a Soldier’s regular uniform. The Army doesn’t want to maintain OCIE in each of the three patterns, so instead the Army will have it in one pattern that looks good with all three of the uniform pattern variants.

Cole said other organizations have OCIE that is a solid color, but he said “we were hoping we could do better than that,” and the Army asked industry to come up with an OCIE pattern to break up solid color “and still look good on all three uniform patterns.”

“We had seen some examples of grossly mismatched OCIE in uniforms in the early part of Iraqi Freedom — we didn’t want to have any telltale signs of where the OCIE, the vest and armor stopped and where the rest of the body began,” Cole said.

Many vendors have chosen their “transitional” pattern for use on the OCIE, Cole said.

Each of the five vendors will now produce enough fabric to build 50 uniforms out of each of their three submitted patterns — for a total of 150 uniforms from each company. In all, the Army will have 750 uniforms for use in its testing.

Cole said by October, PEO Soldier will have completed testing of the patterns and will be able to make recommendations to Army senior leadership about the way ahead.

“There’s a lot to do between now and October, but that’s our plan,” Cole said. “Complete the field trials and complete the more sensitive computer simulations and come back to senior leaders in October and lay out the results of what we found and have a recommendation.”

The five vendors awarded contracts include:

– Atlantic Diving Supply, Inc., Virginia Beach, Va.

– Brookwood Companies Inc., New York, N.Y.

– Crye Precision, LLC, Brooklyn, N.Y.

– Kryptek Inc., Fairbanks, Alaska

– U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, Natick, Mass.

GEN Dempsey has been working hard.

First, he corrected Shinseki's mistake (black beret), now he's correcting Schoomaker's (ACU).

[This message has been edited by CGSC Lobotomy (edited 2/1/2012 1:51p).]

The ACU was around way before Casey. I remember getting welcomed by Casey in 2005 with us wearing ACUs and him wearing DCUs.

quote:

---

Hell the ACUs were chosen in the same regard, they suck as camo but they look cool to the kids.

---

Then why am I still stuck with A2CUs?

No way us Marines are going back to the od green utilities. We are not changing our utilities in the Corps. We have our MARPAT and it works just fine. Lets our enemies know they are getting ready to have their ass handed to them by US Marines. Don't try to lot other services problems on the Corps.

[This message has been edited by Burnetaggie99 (edited 2/1/2012 11:32p).]

Not to derail thread, but why does the USAF still have the BDUs and something newer that looks like the Acus (with the roll up sleeves)

BDUs and black boots are finally phased out, as of November 1. The tiger stripes are the new Air Force utility uniform. (Called ABUs, Airman Battle Uniform)

A cynical sort of person might observe that the various Joint Service awards are more valuable of late, if only for sorting out what uniform to wear.