StoleIt Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/08/army_camo_081709w/ So looks like the Army is going to be ditching the ACU pattern ASAP. What are we going to do? It takes us like 5x longer to implement a uniform than they do (and we still screw it up). So we going to stick with a useless pattern or pull the plug? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pakin Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Oh the ironing. First the Army picks the ACU over MultiCam, and now it has buyer's remorse. Something to do with crossover SOF items for everyone (changing to the black berets)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yerfer Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Wow, these actually look pretty legitimate. It appears they have some sort of knee pads. I still don't think they rival the look of the Marines. Maybe somewhere in AF leadership somebody will closer inspect the doucheness of the ABU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breckey Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Even if the AF wises up and changes to MultiCam, there will still be a shitload of people in the AF that will complain of getting a new uniform. Heaven forbid we should have a combat uniform that actually camouflages the wearer and is functional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayou_Eagle_Driver Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Anyone else notice that in the picture on the armytimes website for this article, one of the troops is playing with an xbox controller? hehe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CharlieDontSurf Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 (edited) Rant ON: Before anybody tries to douche it up with 'camo performance stats' lets look at this for what it is. SOF brothers wear this stuff because its non-standard and privately made, therefore better quality and higher performance with more options. Every grunt out there with a GED and a rifle secretly strokes himself at night thinking he is Delta Force. This is just another 'black beret' incident for the army since GWOT is being fought primarily by SOF they feel the need to make everyone 'special' by having the same 'special' camo. What'll happen is SOF will just find something different by the time Multicam hits the grunts. This'll make all the wannabe-warriors out there feel extra 'special'. Rant OFF. Edited August 25, 2009 by CharlieDontSurf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hueypilot812 Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I disagree. The Army has been having problems with the ACU for some time. IMHO I think it's a better utility uniform than the ABU but it does have flaws, and durability is another issue aside from the useless camo pattern. The ACU actually is a little better at camo than the ABU...it seems our Air Force utility is only good at kinda looking like the Army's, but it really doesn't provide much camo ability. It appears the Multicam pattern might actually help hide troops a little better in both woodland and desert environments, instead of the ACU/ABU which does neither. By the way, the ABU virtually has zero real functionality improvements over the old BDU, it's as if they made it for the office lurkers that wanted to look like they actually did warfighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CharlieDontSurf Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 (edited) I disagree. The Army has been having problems with the ACU for some time. IMHO I think it's a better utility uniform than the ABU but it does have flaws, and durability is another issue aside from the useless camo pattern. The ACU actually is a little better at camo than the ABU...it seems our Air Force utility is only good at kinda looking like the Army's, but it really doesn't provide much camo ability. It appears the Multicam pattern might actually help hide troops a little better in both woodland and desert environments, instead of the ACU/ABU which does neither. By the way, the ABU virtually has zero real functionality improvements over the old BDU, it's as if they made it for the office lurkers that wanted to look like they actually did warfighting. I agree that Multicam works better in Afghanistan but I can't help but feel like this is another way of making everyone in the army 'feel' more like SOF. Guess I'm still pissed about the berets.... Edited August 25, 2009 by CharlieDontSurf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy.The.Engineer Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I agree that it has ZERO functionality. I only got one set for some recent PME and have never worn it since. It is garbage. I feel bad for the dudes who actually have to wear it on a daily basis. How many times have we seen change for the sake of change? Does anyone out there remember when it was THREATCON? One day, we come to work and it now FPCON. The only thing that changed was the name. They then spent how many millions to change all of the signs and what not. Someone got promoted/bronzed starred for that. Fraud waste and what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord B Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 (edited) I agree that it has ZERO functionality. I only got one set for some recent PME and have never worn it since. It is garbage. I feel bad for the dudes who actually have to wear it on a daily basis. How many times have we seen change for the sake of change? Does anyone out there remember when it was THREATCON? One day, we come to work and it now FPCON. The only thing that changed was the name. They then spent how many millions to change all of the signs and what not. Someone got promoted/bronzed starred for that. Fraud waste and what? Word. Lets not even get into the Army doing away with a perfectly good flight uniform. We don't want you pilots thinking your special in your green pajamas. Lets waste more money on three different patterns and numerous different approved T-shirts. Great OER/OPR bullet. Edited August 25, 2009 by kdizzo78 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CA Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Guess I'm still pissed about the berets.... Rightly so. Everyone I talk to hates it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lj35driver Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I was issued ACUs for the ILO deployment I did in 07-08 and think comfort wise it was a pretty decent uniform. Its very light and the practicality of the pocket design made it far more useful in a combat environment than the ABU. The color is the same obvious mistake we made with the ABU. It does nothing to hide you in a woodland environment nor in the desert. It was easy to pick up a group of soldiers from long distances over open sand until the uniform is caked with sand and dust. I got a couple of sets of the ACU 2 piece flight suits as well for convoy ops. I'd switch to that uniform in a heartbeat for flying purposes if the AF would go for it. Don't think I'd I'd feel the same about it if it were done in the ABU pattern/color though. A good illustration of how inadequate the ABU is when you see pics of airmen who routinely work outside the wire (EOD, CCT, TACP, etc). They are almost always wearing ACUs because as usual, the uniform boards cared more about the shoes in the air conditioned offices than the people who the ABU was really intended for. While it's got a crappy service life of only 4-6 months in that environment, at least it breathes somewhat under IBA and all the other crap we have to wear over it. When I showed up for CST at Ft Jackson, the DI's expressly forbid the AF guys from wearing ABUs during the training there due to heat exhaustion issues. Since then, they claim to have had no problems even in the worst months of the year. BTW- anyone seen the Navy's new blue digicams? I'd hate to be the poor sap who gets blown over the side of ship wearing that thing. You'd be extremely lucky to ever be seen in the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M2 Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 BTW- anyone seen the Navy's new blue digicams? I'd hate to be the poor sap who gets blown over the side of ship wearing that thing. You'd be extremely lucky to ever be seen in the water. Yeah, I see them all the time at Lackland and I have to admit, I think they are pretty cool looking... Cheers! M2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Hungus Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Yeah, I see them all the time at Lackland and I have to admit, I think they are pretty cool looking... Cheers! M2 Makes me think of this. Yeah, I grew up in the 80s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PapaJu Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 ...or what the Chinese wear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fud Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Rightly so. Everyone I talk to hates it. Letting everyone wear the black beret was a bad idea, since it was a "ranger" thing. As soon as it was authorized, the rangers went to wearing a tan beret. It would be like a missile guy wearing a bomber jacket, simply because they are issued one. It doesn't make any sense. It will be interesting if my kids ever want to serve, because we will fight our wars with robots, and uniforms will be khaki pants and a polo shirt. At least they don't make their people wear baseball caps...WTF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy.The.Engineer Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Letting everyone wear the black beret was a bad idea, since it was a "ranger" thing. As soon as it was authorized, the rangers went to wearing a tan beret. It would be like a missile guy wearing a bomber jacket, simply because they are issued one. It doesn't make any sense. It will be interesting if my kids ever want to serve, because we will fight our wars with robots, and uniforms will be khaki pants and a polo shirt. At least they don't make their people wear baseball caps...WTF? Do the missle guys get to wear bomber jackets? I don't get too much exposure to those guys. You don't see me runnin around wearing a green beret for a reason. I didn't EARN one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepGuyC17 Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Yeah, I see them all the time at Lackland and I have to admit, I think they are pretty cool looking... Cheers! M2 I'm liking the black "no-shine" boot. Way better than the puke green ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lj35driver Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I'm liking the black "no-shine" boot. Way better than the puke green ones. "2" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AEWingsMN Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 The ACU actually is a little better at camo than the ABU...it seems our Air Force utility is only good at kinda looking like the Army's, but it really doesn't provide much camo ability. I disagree. I thought the same thing until I in-processed at maxwell a couple months ago. Then I noticed something, the ABU blended in perfectly with the pattern of the mesh of the cubicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilitaryToFinance Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Do the missle guys get to wear bomber jackets? I don't get too much exposure to those guys. You don't see me runnin around wearing a green beret for a reason. I didn't EARN one. Yes they do. I see them all over Peterson from the Space Command folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoleIt Posted August 26, 2009 Author Share Posted August 26, 2009 Rant ON: Before anybody tries to douche it up with 'camo performance stats' lets look at this for what it is. SOF brothers wear this stuff because its non-standard and privately made, therefore better quality and higher performance with more options. Every grunt out there with a GED and a rifle secretly strokes himself at night thinking he is Delta Force. This is just another 'black beret' incident for the army since GWOT is being fought primarily by SOF they feel the need to make everyone 'special' by having the same 'special' camo. What'll happen is SOF will just find something different by the time Multicam hits the grunts. This'll make all the wannabe-warriors out there feel extra 'special'. Rant OFF. Disagree with you here. My best friend is Ranger qual in the 101st so I get this info first hand. The ACU is crap. Sure its light weight, but its concealment is majorly lacking. Also, the velcro ends up trapping sand and becomes useless, the zippers are crap, and once you stain it you might as well throw them away. While some if this is might just be bitching I think the concealment portion is kind of a big deal. They are doing dismounted patrols in Afghanistan and blending in certainly helps. Yes the black beret for everyone was stupid (I agree). But generally the Army likes to incorporate things SOF is doing because they are doing it for a reason: It works! Not because it looks cool, but because its functional. I participated in an Army FTX (as OPFOR) in a woodland environment and it was painfully easy to spot them trying to be sneaky doing a recon while in ACUs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gravedigger Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 (edited) Do the missle guys get to wear bomber jackets? I don't get too much exposure to those guys. You don't see me runnin around wearing a green beret for a reason. I didn't EARN one. As long as 13S stays under ops, flightsuit and leather jacket wear will continue. In fact I'd imagine that since missiles is moving to Global Strike Command, the bomber jacket wear will become even more prevalent. Do I agree with the current policies? No. But at the same time, I am certainly not going to stop wearing a flightsuit. I know that it is unnecessary, and it does make me embarrassed to see some of the wide-bodies running around in bags, but somebody way above my pay grade decided this. Think it's bad now? Just wait until you see cyber-operators running around in flightsuits and leather jackets. Edited August 26, 2009 by Gravedigger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Flight nurse camouflage should probably have digital images of box lunches all over it. Maybe the rest of the crew should be camouflaged with digital images of the back of a flight nurse's head on the crotch. Seriously, if you're in the Air Force and you really need camouflage, you're probably already fvcked. It would be like putting camouflage on carrier deck crews...what's the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsplayr Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Seriously, if you're in the Air Force and you really need camouflage, you're probably already fvcked. It would be like putting camouflage on carrier deck crews...what's the point. I think that would be a nice little advantage of a camo two-piece flight suit. Wearing a two-piece in say multicam would A) not be as hot and B) help you hide if you got shot down.* Not that I plan on getting shot down but I don't think anyone plans on that... * Don't get me wrong, I love my pajamas and the 1-piece is comfortable as hell and obviously necessary for ejector types Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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