New US Army Uniforms

Man, does that look like Starship Troopers or what!!!

Heh. Funny, I thought the colors looked more like the uniforms from Aliens.

Here's more on it...

Army Unveils New Combat Uniform
Will Replace Battle Dress Uniform (BDU)

JUNE 14, 2004 -- The Army today, the 229th birthday of the United States Army, officially unveiled its new combat uniform designed with major input by the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Corps and enlisted Soldiers, and tested by Stryker Brigade Soldiers in Iraq since October 2003.

Army senior leadership introduced the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) during a 10 a.m. Army Birthday Pentagon courtyard cake-cutting ceremony. Soldiers displayed and also suited-up in the wrinkle-free uniform with a digitized camouflage pattern.

Three different versions of the ACU have been developed, and more than 10,000 uniforms have been produced and battle-tested in the sands of Iraq and at Army training centers. Even more are on American production lines to be issued by April 2005 to Soldiers in deploying units. Current fielding plans call for fielding to the total Army by December 2007, said officials from the Program Executive Office Soldier, known as PEO Soldier.

“This isn’t about a cosmetic redesign of the uniform,” said Col. John Norwood, the project manager for Clothing and Individual Equipment. “It’s a functionality change of the uniform that will improve the ability of Soldiers to execute their combat mission.”

Every change was made for a reason. The bottom pockets on the jacket were removed and placed on the shoulder sleeves so Soldiers can have access to them while wearing body armor. The pockets were also tilted forward so that they are easily accessible. Buttons were replaced with zippers that open from the top and bottom to provide comfort while wearing armor.

There were 18 changes made to the uniform, to include removing the color black and adapting the digital print from the Marine Corps uniform to meet the needs of the Army, said Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Myhre, the Clothing and Individual Equipment noncommissioned officer in charge.

The Army's Natick Laboratory in Natick, Mass., took the original digital pattern to the next level by developing a pattern for world-wide theaters to encompass both the BDU and DCU requirements.

Black is no longer useful on the uniform because it is not a color found in woodland areas, Myhre said. The current colors on the ACU are green and sandy brown. The pattern is not a 100-percent solution in every environment, Myhre said, but a good solution across the board.

Sergeant Major of the Army Kenneth Preston, is one of the ACU’s biggest supporters. The ACU was shown to each of the major commands' sergeant majors to give them a chance to see the uniform and give advice toward the final version.

“We have not made a major change to our uniforms since the BDUs were introduced in the early 1980s,” Preston said. “This new uniform performs well in multiple environments. Its new pockets and color designs are a result of Soldiers in combat. It's only fitting that the next generation of Army uniforms be designed to meet actual wartime requirements."

Patches and tabs are affixed to the uniform with Velcro to give the wearer more flexibility and to save the Soldier money, Myhre said. Soldiers can take the name-tapes and patches off their uniforms before laundering, which will add to the lifecycle of the patches. Also the cost to get patches sewn on will be eliminated, he added.

The ACU will consist of a jacket, trousers, moisture wicking t-shirt and the brown combat boots. It will replace both versions of the BDU and the desert camoflauge uniform. The black beret will be the normal headgear for the ACU, but there is a matching patrol cap to be worn at the commander’s discretion.

The life of the ACU began in January 2003 when PEO Soldier teamed with Myhre, Master Sgt. Alex Samoba and Staff Sgt. Matt Goodine - from the 1st Stryker Brigade, Fort Lewis, Wash.

The team looked at a number of uniforms and took the best part of each uniform and combined it into one. They built their first prototype and delivered 25 uniforms to Stryker squads at the National Training Center. After listening to their comments, the team went back to the lab and created prototype two.

Twenty-one uniforms were then delivered to Stryker Soldiers at the Joint Training and Readiness Center, Fort Polk, La.

“We watched them as they entered and cleared rooms, as they carried their rucksack and all of the things they had to be able to do in the uniform, and then we came up with prototype three,” Myhre said.

Two issues of the third version were given to the Stryker Soldiers deploying to Iraq. Three months ago, Myhre was among a team who visited Iraq to get more feedback from Soldiers.

“We would talk to Soldiers right after they had completed a mission while the benefits of the uniform were still fresh in their minds. We wanted to know how did the uniform help the mission.”

In addition to the overall pattern and color changes, the ACU changes include:

1. Mandarin collar that can be worn up or down
2. Rank insignia affixed above right chest pocket
3. Velcro for wearing unit patch, skill tabs and recognition devices
4. Zippered front closure
5. Elbow pouch for internal elbow pad inserts
6. Knee pouch for internal knee pad inserts
7. Elastic leg cuff
8. Tilted chest pockets with Velcro closure
9. Three-slot pen pocket on bottom of sleeve
10. Velcro sleeve cuff closure
11. Shoulder pockets with Velcro
12. Forward tilted cargo pockets
13. Integrated blouse bellows for increased upper body mobility
14. Integrated Friend or Foe Identification Square on both left and right shoulder pocket flap
15. Bellowed calf storage pocket on left and right leg
16. Moisture-wicking desert tan t-shirt
17. Patrol Cap with double thick bill and internal pocket
18. Improved hot-weather desert boot or temperate-weather desert boot

More pix...
https://peosoldier.army.mil/default.asp?section=multi

Not sure about the "one pattern for all backgrounds" color scheme. The Marines fielded a woodland and desert versions of their new uniforms at least. You'd think that with the Comanche money free now, the Army could have afforded to do a separate green and tan versions.

Oh, and can we call these "ARMPAT?"

In the early 90's the italian army tested an OD combat uniform wich had a similar cut to this one. We called it the pijama, and that's what it looks to me a pijama.
I must say the digital camo scheme is cool but it will be a pain in the a** when painting it!
Brush industry will have to come out with short haired, square tipped brushes!!

I had a go at desert MARPAT for the Tamiya 1/16 Modern US infantry helmet cover. it was pretty hard to capture the right look, I'm not best happy with it. I'd hate to try a whole figure in it. I guess my figure modelling will for ever be limited to pre 2003!

holy crap lol I echo foster... Can you say Starship Troopers??? I hope that that is just their urban warfare uniform and not the all purpose field one

from how the articles seem and from goarmy.com it looks like this will be the new BDU replacing the old camo pattern . i forgot when but the whole army is supposed to be outfitted with them. to me they are hideous and dont seem like they will blend into anything. how the name tags awards and should patches look they need to rethink about using them. no doubt about it painting will be nearly impossible i think. i wonder who got the multi million dollar contract to come up with that lovely uniform lol.

that uniform is ugly if you ask me... the BDU is a clasic =D. I do like the marine uinforms, y didnt the army just take those lol

Who ever came up with the idea to put pockets in the shoulders, thank you. A problem with the old BDUs was that when you wore body armor, a gas mask, and a drop-down thigh pistol holster, NONE of the pockets in the blouse or trousers were easily accessible. We'll have to see how the troops respond to it (remember the Air Force and their new blue tiger strip uniforms that everyone hated).

i haven't been able to see the new uniforms yet, but if my experience with cotton and perma-pressed fatigues and bdu's is any indicator, there'll be someone bitching about them soon. ( it's a soldier's duty to gripe, you know )

I understand this new uniform is supposed to be for forest, desert AND urban terrain. But I honestly dont see it blending in any environment other than urban.

I read a review about this new camo scheme and it says that the removal of the black may have to be reviewed. To my mind black adds depth to the camo.

I wonder if the developers of the new digital uniforms ever thought of us modelers. Its just too hard to do. LOL.

I get the Marine Corps Times and they had a pic in there of them and i started laughing and saying what the @#$% is that, and people say the digital uniforms of the Marines are ugly.

QUOTE: Originally posted by TreadHead88 that uniform is ugly if you ask me... the BDU is a clasic =D. I do like the marine uinforms, y didnt the army just take those lol

Because we put little eagle, globe and anchor emblems in our pattern and then had it patented, so the army would have to pay the Corps to use our pattern, and we know they won't swallow their pride and do that. I had a good long laugh when I saw the new cammies on the web.

I have to go along with the others that said it's going to be a pain to try to paint these new patterns, maybe Archers or someone can come up with a dry transfer or decals in the pattern that you just cut and apply to the figures???? Would that even work?

From what I understand, the army just didn't explain themselves very well.

"Three different versions of the ACU have been developed, and more than 10,000 uniforms have been produced and dragged through the sand in Iraq and at Army training centers. "

"The current colors on the ACU are green-woodland, grey-urban environments and sand brown-desert. The pattern is not a 100-percent solution in every environment, but a good solution across the board."

As far as I understand, there are three versions. What they meant is that there is only one pattern. The current desert BDUs have different patterns as well as colors. So there is going to be a green woodland version, a grey-urban version, and a sand brown-desert version. By saying the pattern is a good solution across the board, they mean the digital pattern is good overall even though tiger-stripes or something might be better in some woodland situations.

Jaksak, THANK YOU and thank God. I'm going through Army ROTC right now and will recieve my commission just before the ACU is issued Army-wide in 2007. I though I'd have to deploy with a uniform that sticks out like a sore thumb. I've seen pics of it, only what I guess is the urban uniform and to me, it looks good. I still like the Marine's better, but then they had to put their eagle, globe, and anchor symbols every 18 square inches and patent the pattern.
BTW, to the forums.

I got issued the old four-color deserts right before we left for Afghanistan, and I had 3 sets of desert digies as well. Can you guess which ones never came out of the seabag? I've really gotten used to the new utilities and I don't think I would want to go back to the old ones. And I'm glad we patented the MARPAT, it's nice to be a little different from the other services.