The Great Camo Boondoggle

[JWB]

As is common, competence is inversely proportional to ostentatiousness. The true badasses are typically wearing sterile, plain Jane shit. S/F.....Ken M

Sukhomlinov Effect

[RETAC21]

Another boondoogle:

 

Afghan C-27As

scrapped

The scrapping of 16 C-27As delivered to

the Afghan Air Force began in July. The

aircraft were withdrawn from service during

March, less than fi ve years after the fi rst

examples entered service. The US Air Force

purchased 20 G222s that had previously

been operated by the Italian Air Force and

were refurbished by Alenia. Although the

fi rst two aircraft were delivered to Kabul in

November 2009, due to poor serviceability

the Spartans never achieved full operational

capability. By the time the aircraft were

taken out of service, 16 had been delivered

and the remaining four were fl own to

Ramstein Air Base, Germany for storage.

The Afghan C-27A program reportedly cost

US taxpayers $596 million. Tom Kaminski

[Gregory]

Jeez....

[Colin]

Color me uninformed but whatever happened to plain olive drab for the Army and dungarees for the Navy for "working" uniforms?

to much common sense

[Paul G.]

Great getting new boots...and new t-shirts, and new belts.

 

 

“To correspond with the introduction of the Operational Camouflage Pattern starting in the summer of 2015, the Army will change the color for the Army Combat Boot to a coyote brown color,” according to Thursday’s U.S. Army news release.

 

As part of the new OCP, soldiers will wear new t-shirts and belts made in a darker “tan 499 color,” the release states.

Read more: http://kitup.military.com/2014/11/army-selects-coyote-brown-combat.html#ixzz3MAtW3uvc

[rmgill]

So a change in boots AND belts? With the usual accompanying wear out date extensions?

I expect there will be a lot more eye twitching by Senior NCO's at formation...

[11E30]

At least none of you guys had to suffer the indigunity of wearing perment press OD fatigues. Came in around 78 -80, just before the BDU's came out. Couldn't press them and the first time you washed the perment press when away. Really thin and wore out the ass end real quick. Totally usless any where else but in an office.

[shep854]

That's about the time the Navy toyed with polyester 'easy care' uniforms. Which lasted until the first fire...

Edited December 18, 2014 by shep854

[shep854]

A reminder of the problem--I bet aggressors love it! Sorry I couldn't get a bigger image

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/02/17/army-completing-testing-for-jungle-boots-designed-for-pacific.html?ESRC=eb.nl

[shep854]

Soldiers Line Up to Buy New Camouflage Uniforms

 

http://kitup.military.com/2015/07/soldiers-line-buy-camouflage-uniforms.html

'In the first week of the July 1 rollout, soldiers have been standing in long lines to buy the Army’s new camouflage uniforms in record numbers, according to Army Air Force Exchange Service officials.

'Army Combat Uniforms in the new Operational Camouflage Pattern are now available at Military Clothing Sales stores at 20 locations and “demand has been exceptionally high, with the exchange reporting first-day sales in excess of $1.4 million,” according to Debra Dawson, spokeswoman for the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier.'

I bet this will be the fastest uniform transition in history.

[Mr King]

Soldiers Line Up to Buy New Camouflage Uniforms

 

http://kitup.military.com/2015/07/soldiers-line-buy-camouflage-uniforms.html

'In the first week of the July 1 rollout, soldiers have been standing in long lines to buy the Army’s new camouflage uniforms in record numbers, according to Army Air Force Exchange Service officials.

'Army Combat Uniforms in the new Operational Camouflage Pattern are now available at Military Clothing Sales stores at 20 locations and “demand has been exceptionally high, with the exchange reporting first-day sales in excess of $1.4 million,” according to Debra Dawson, spokeswoman for the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier.'

I bet this will be the fastest uniform transition in history.

 

That looks like an updated version of the BDU's.....?

[Paul G.]

Soldiers Line Up to Buy New Camouflage Uniforms

 

http://kitup.military.com/2015/07/soldiers-line-buy-camouflage-uniforms.html

'In the first week of the July 1 rollout, soldiers have been standing in long lines to buy the Army’s new camouflage uniforms in record numbers, according to Army Air Force Exchange Service officials.

'Army Combat Uniforms in the new Operational Camouflage Pattern are now available at Military Clothing Sales stores at 20 locations and “demand has been exceptionally high, with the exchange reporting first-day sales in excess of $1.4 million,” according to Debra Dawson, spokeswoman for the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier.'

I bet this will be the fastest uniform transition in history.

 

Im in no rush.

[Paul G.]

 

Soldiers Line Up to Buy New Camouflage Uniforms

 

http://kitup.military.com/2015/07/soldiers-line-buy-camouflage-uniforms.html

'In the first week of the July 1 rollout, soldiers have been standing in long lines to buy the Army’s new camouflage uniforms in record numbers, according to Army Air Force Exchange Service officials.

'Army Combat Uniforms in the new Operational Camouflage Pattern are now available at Military Clothing Sales stores at 20 locations and “demand has been exceptionally high, with the exchange reporting first-day sales in excess of $1.4 million,” according to Debra Dawson, spokeswoman for the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier.'

I bet this will be the fastest uniform transition in history.

 

That looks like an updated version of the BDU's.....?

 

 

There's a story.

 

Its a Govmint owned version of Crye Multicam called Scorpion. Developed way back by the ASSC in 2004 but the Army chose UCP instead. So in 2010 Crye sold the Army a version of it's own cammo for Afghanistan when it was determined UCP was a fail.

 

Now $5 BILLION investment in UCP and 10 years later the Army is going BACK to the future.

[rmgill]

Who's idea was UCP? Who got their stars with that?

[seahawk]

That looks like old Woodland again.. well at least they will now look like Americans again and not smurfs.

[Paul G.]

Who's idea was UCP? Who got their stars with that?

 

Good question. Somthing I have been trying to determine. Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier was the responsible directorate.

 

 

“It got into political hands before the soldiers ever got the uniforms,” said Cheryl Stewardson, a textile technologist at the Army research center in Natick, Mass.,

The brigadier general ultimately responsible for the decision, James Moran, who retired from the Army after leaving Program Executive Office Soldier, has not responded to messages seeking comment.

 

http://www.strikehold.net/2012/06/24/us-army-camouflage-the-ucp-story/

 

GEN Peter Schoomaker was the CSA at the time.

 

http://www.army.mil/article/79353/PEO_Soldier_celebrates_anniversary__welcomes_new_leader__unveils_new_logo/

 

 

Retired Brig. Gen. James R. Moran, who was tasked with standing up PEO Soldier in 2002, recalled how just 10 years ago the organization's headquarters was in an abandoned motor pool and PEO Soldier Equipment was based in an abandoned warehouse. The war wasn't expected to last but a few months, so there was no real thought of growing the organization, he said.

 

Moran said he wasn't deterred by the Washington, D.C., cynicism, but was instead moved after making trips to the military morgue in Delaware to pay respects to the country's war dead from Iraq and Afghanistan. There he saw fatherless children, pregnant wives and despairing parents. He also recollected the years of worry when his father had served in Korea and later Vietnam. When Moran retired in 2006, PEO Soldier's budget had grown to $3.2 billion. In 2012, it's nearly twice that.

 

 

Highlights from PEO Soldier's first 10 years include:

 

6 highlights listed....UCP is not one of them.

 

The problem, the researchers said, was an oddly named branch of the Army in charge of equipping soldiers with gear — Program Executive Office Soldier — had suddenly ordered Natick’s camouflage team to pick a pattern long before trials were finished.

 

“They jumped the gun,” said James Fairneny, an electrical engineer on Natick’s camouflage team.

 

Researchers said they received a puzzling order: Take the winning colors and create a pixilated pattern. Researchers were ordered to “basically put it in the Marine Corps pattern,” Fairneny said.

 

For a decision that could ultimately affect more than a million soldiers in the Army, reserves and National Guard, the sudden shift from Program Executive Office Soldier was a head-scratcher. The consensus among the researchers was the Army brass had watched the Marine Corps don their new uniforms and caught a case of pixilated camouflage envy.

[Paul G.]

That looks like old Woodland again.. well at least they will now look like Americans again and not smurfs.

Kinda sorta...its not pixilated like woodland but it is lighter and much superior to woodland.

 

[shep854]

And don't forget, UCP was one of the LOSING patterns, when it was selected.

[Stargrunt6]

And don't forget, UCP was one of the LOSING patterns, when it was selected.

Some vet on Funker's FB page went off on me when I criticized it. Well, good luck to you if you trust your life to that.

 

Any love for CADPAT?

 

[shep854]

I've seen it written that CADPAT was a development of pixilating techniques originally worked out at Natick. The Marines then took CADPAT and tweaked it to come up with MARPAT.

[Colin]

Use the UCP gear in the field for training till it's gone

[Paul G.]

Use the UCP gear in the field for training till it's gone

 

That would make too much sense. But that is not the way the US Army operates. Didn't work that way for the woodland to UCP transition.

[rmgill]

Use the UCP gear in the field for training till it's gone

Why not make them wear Blaze orange to make their use of camouflage that much more challenging?

 

You can synergize the blaze orange with safety initiatives while you're at it. Think of the bulking out of every platoon leader's pre-mission risk avoidance plan!

Edited July 10, 2015 by rmgill

[Stargrunt6]

Use the UCP gear in the field for training till it's gone

Or just use it for non-combat units stateside.

[Gregory]

There is a whole complicated process of transitioning UCP->OCP or UCP->OEF-CP or OEF-CP->OCP .... oh,my aching head.

 

http://soldiersystems.net/2015/04/13/us-army-ocp-transition-update/