U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Gina Vaile-Nelson, 133rd MPAD
Please review this morning’s lead story from SSD…
And then read Matt Cox’s KitUp’s article from today…
Camo Update: Army Doing “Research†on Camouflage
Based on what both Matt and I heard, and related to you, do you feel that the Army’s Camouflage Improvement Effort is a priority?
Between the two of these I would hope the companies involved are overloading PEO’s email and phones for a very public assurance that this is not just a smoke and mirrors project.
“I wanted to know how much of a priority this multi-phased camouflage effort was to senior Army acquisition officials and I think I got my answer.”
Yup – it sounds like you did.
Its shocking that something as fundamental as the effectiveness of the soldiers’ camouflage combat uniform and personal equipment gets such a brush-off response – especially as the last cluster-f*** has cost the taxpayer a cool $5 BILLION dollars so far, and it literally took an act of Congress to get them to address the problem in Afghanistan.
But, considering the story of how UCP was decided upon in the first place, its not really surprising…
I dont understand how the Army can basically say “Multicam works great in Afghanistan, BUT thats the only place it works great. So we need to find something else for everywhere else in the world, four different patterns as a matter of fact”. Afghanistan has some of the most varied terrain in the world, from desert to high desert to forest and everything in between. Pretty broad in my opinion, excluding jungle environments (though tight jungle more or less camouflages you by itself) and arctic (not sure how that could even be a viable issue) I’m not crazy about Multicam but when the Army says it works great in this place that happens to have wildly varied terrain while at the same time admitting UCP sucks by not even allowing it in trials to choose yet another pattern I realize this system is absolutely broken. Oh well, at least it only took them 7 years to get buttons back on pants pockets…
Well said
doesn’t seem like they give a rats ass about it. The military definitely needs an effective camouflage pattern, but they wont get their act together and find a good one!
This is really amazing to think that the Army wants to develop a new pattern of camouflage for it’s troops. The Multicam pattern has proven to be extremely effective and it is already in the system and the MOLLE II Load carriage system is already in production in that pattern. The Army should just save us the headaches and money and use Multicam and move on. This weird fixation on having a service specific “Brand” by all the services is stupid and a HUGE waste of money.
This isn’t something new that they are doing this. It’s been going on for some time.
Its not a priority and never has been.
PEO soldier, please stop buying anything else in UCP! Just stop. If you arent going to choose and outfit the troops with a NEW camo that is effective stop wasting time and money on R&D.
Don’t waste the time and resources of already strained American businesses either.
Dont keep buying UCP that will be replaced by something anyeay and start outfitting the troops for the current conflict.
We all know multicam works pretty well in the CURRENT conflict and chances are it will work fairly well in the next one. There is a reason that when guys have the liberty to choose the pattern of their kit they choose multicam. Not just in Afghanistan but in Asia, Europe, Africa etc. Oh yeah, and CONUS.
Bottom line, when in doubt- trust the guys on the ground.
The problem is that they can’t just ‘stop’ although for all practical purposes they already have with current procurements focused on OCP. But, until the Army chooses a permanent replacement, they will have to continue to throw good money after bad in order to keep everything nice and uniform. The big issue is that there is a reluctance to purchase more UCP as it will most likely be replaced. As the Army begins to run out of certain commodities there will be supply issues. The sooner the Army chooses a way ahead, the better, from both a combat effectiveness level as well as from a programmatic viewpoint.
I had a conversation this past week with a 2 Star (who I pointed to this site for correct, up-to-the-minute info about ACIP) who has already instructed his loggies to forsake UCP in favor of Khaki, RG or Coyote for ANYTHING not carried in sector on-person.
They should stop messing around, ADS has the three winning Patterns. Loving the Transitional pattern! All three are great but they could do without the desert and go with the Transitional and the woodland. Heck the USMC aor2 worked better than MC or aor1 in afghanistan .
They need a effective desert pattern, now and days no soldier would be caught in Iraq, kuwait, the sinai or saudi arabia without one. And the woodland pattern is pretty good for here at home and in korea or germany and to answer the top portion. YES, it is a priority having 5 services wearing different stuff is what is really wasting tax money, the army won’t settle for one camo that didn’t work in any place for 7 years or one that only works for just afghanistan and nowhere else. Dont forget it’s the biggest US military wide FUBAR courtesy of the Marine Corps and the “we want to look separate” mentality lol.
FUBAR?
How so?
The very EFFECTIVE patterns went into use with an improved (for the time,) practical uniform design in 2001 and remain very serviceable to this day. Objectively speaking both in how well they function and how much has been spent to outfit the force, they may be the most notable success story when it comes to military uniform patterns.
As far as the Marines wanting to stand out, there are well founded reasons for the smallest and most politically vulnerable branch to do so. I think they rightly want the tax paying public and the politicians who write the checks to know how much bang the country is getting for it’s defense bucks every time people see MARPAT on the news.
The US Marine Corps is not the smallest nor the most susceptible service to Budget Cutbacks…those folks go by the nickname of the Puddle Pirates.
There have been times when I’ve worked on projects that nobody (thought they) cared about when it was actually easier to deliver a good product.
There have been times when I’ve worked on projects where the heirarchies, roles and responsibilities (inside and out) were so brilliantly dilineated that we were protected from meddlesome influences. Because no outsider could kill, compromise, co-opt or take undeserved credit for the project, it was ignored.
ACIP’s greatest hope for success is that EVERYONE outside the testing process is as in the dark as is the average SSD reader. Which I don’t believe for a second…
I know what you mean
Is Camo really a priority for the (Big) Army?
Yes. They are only following Emperor Palpatine’s lead that worked for the Stormtroopers so well.
How very dissapointing…
I’ll bet if given the choice of buying Multicam or being provided UCP, many soldiers would pony up for their own. That is all I would need to know to move on from the worst pattern fielded since camoflage became the standard.
I believe the Army is serious about finding a camo pattern, but the guys in chance of it seem to be more concerned with making themselves look good.
As to the MC argument, just because it works better than what has been used (woodland, DCU, UCP) doesnt mean it is ideal. Lets no compromise now where there are clearly better patterns for individual climates and conditions involved in the testing.
Hopefully PEO and Natick will pull their heads out of the 4th POC and make a decision that benefits the Army instead of their own interests.
I get really pissed when I think of the lives that were lost over UCP. It would be hard to put a number on, but we all know how much we stuck out wearing that crap.
The photo posted for this discussion dates back to around 2009, and I think we all know that the early versions of this sub optimal camo were worse in the early days. I am not sure if it is still applicable to the current issued UCP, that seems to have a more brownish influence, yet still failing to meet the low standards of a universal pattern.
John, the pattern hasn’t changed. It’s just that it is printed on TenCate’s Defender-M fabric rather than NYCO and it gives it that different tint.
The U.S. Army will never adopt Multicam, nor admit to its superior camouflage abilities, because other countries beat the US Army to the punch, and now use MC for THEIR camo. If the US Army hadnt adopted the ACU shit camo and went with what worked, we (A):Wouldn’t be looking for a NEW camo pattern after JUST adopting one, with billions of dollars tied up in that now, and (B):We would have had MC before other countries,and then the OTHER country’s military would have debates on using the same camo as us, the United States of America,
Institutional pride and stubbornness are a Mother Fucker.
Also, the Army never admits it is wrong, and had tests that don’t exist now for some reason saying UCP was superior to Multicam. This whole debacle honestly should’ve landed someone in jail. No sane person would look at our stupid camouflage and think it works.
“If the US Army hadnt adopted the ACU shit camo and went with what worked”
—Then you’d be wearing ‘All Over Brush’ in woodland & desert palettes & not saving money by not paying outrageous licensing fees to Crye.
They’d be better off going back to ERDL for woodland at this point. Anything but “U”CP
I don’t have a dog in this fight but the UCP is so noticeable that I bought it for my survival readiness bag because it was easier to see than the bright orange/yellow that cost more than the surplus UCP.
I figured if I was lost/needed help, I could be seen a mile away without even needing a mirror. 🙂
One thing is for sure, that is you ever go hiking anywhere in the US always buy a UCP hat or coat. You are sure to be found if you do lol.
Someone just needs to make a decision and go with it. Maybe they should ask the front line soldiers what they think first? The Marines tested their camo at the unit level before adopting it.