SureFire

OCP is OCP – Confused Yet?

Almost two months ago we posted this story under the title of “As far as the Army Is Concerned – It’s OCP.” Earlier today OCP had its coming out party as a garrison uniform when the Army authorized the 75th Ranger Regiment to don their RFI issued OCP FR ACUs during a ceremony to commemorate the unit’s 30th anniversary. This has confused many because up until just a few months ago there was only one flavor of OCP and that is Crye Precision’s MultiCam pattern. Everything that has been issued thus far is MultiCam OCP including the FAr ACUs worn by the Rangers. In the future this will change to Scorpion W2. Clothing bag items will be widely available by next Summer and TA-50 will be transitioned over the next eight years or so.

What is difficult for many to understand is that right now, it doesn’t matter which version you have. OCP is OCP. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. The Army announced adoption of OCP and convinced Congress that MultiCam and Scorpion W2 are the same thing. The contracts, labels and descriptions will all say “OCP” regardless of whether the fabric is printed with MultiCam or Scorpion W2 meaning no changes to contracts or NSNs.

Considering the Army created the situation, at the Soldier level run with it.

Those MultiCam FR ACUs you were issued by RFI? OCP
That Level 9 MultiCam uniform you were issued in Group? OCP
That MultiCam day pack your unit issued you? OCP

See how this works?

Expect an announcement from the CSA during AUSA later this month regarding OCP.

It’s as simple as OCP

If you notice in the Army’s announcement last Thursday that they plan a transition in Summer 2015 to the Operational Camouflage Pattern, they never referred to that pattern’s developmental name; Scorpion W2. Some found the announcement cryptic. But the reason is simple. As far as the Army is concerned, it’s OCP. And, OCP is OCP, which may blow the minds of some CSMs as this rolls out, considering OCP has been synonymous with MultiCam for several years. There are going to be instances in the future where your OCPs aren’t an exact match.

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There are several advantages for the Army in transitioning to OCP. For one thing, they don’t have to make any drastic changes to existing contracts for OCIE. For another, it’s easier to continue to use the equipment previously purchased in OCP. In my opinion, the Army is looking at this as a supply chain solution.

Who’s Down With OCP? Yeah, you know me!

For Soldiers, this decision is a major boon. If you look at what’s available on the open market in OCP, there are currently a lot of options out there for equipment. In fact, chances are good, you’ve already got a whole bunch of kit in OCP. By the Army’s own admission, it will take years to fully field the new OCP. During the transition period, things will be very fluid. Use that to your advantage.

So, OCP, it is. Embrace it.

34 Responses to “OCP is OCP – Confused Yet?”

  1. Lucky says:

    What’s the BLUF?

  2. AbnMedOps says:

    The BLUF is FLUB.

  3. cimg says:

    SSD you are making this too simple and logical, I cant expect .mil to follow that.

  4. strike-hold says:

    “Who’s Down With OCP? Yeah, you know me!”

    Ha ha!! You beat me to it! 😉

  5. Stu says:

    So OCP can be used as OCP, until OCP is OCP, then OCP won’t be OCP?

    • SSD says:

      Eventually, someone will decide OCP isn’t OCP but then you’ll be the Old Guy so when they tell you you don’t have the proper OCP you’ll tell them , “Nuts!”

  6. Will M says:

    Awesome, the only people this hurts is the post SGM academy lobotomy guys.

  7. JBAR says:

    I wonder many people are kicking themselves in the butt for getting rid of their OCP when they returned from deployment.

    • Mike says:

      Many, many people! I’m glad I still have four sets of RFI issued plus about one or two of ADO….

    • Explosive Hazard says:

      I didn’t get rid of any of my OCP uniforms but the reality is only 1 set is serviceable. All the rest have 3-4 patches on each, they are frayed and faded etc. Even though I ordered 3 uniforms from ADO I only ever received 1.

  8. 10thMountainMan says:

    You guys have to go look at the Army Times announcement on facebook. All the Ranger fanboys are acting like Regiment is doing this as a distinction for being a Ranger. Some of the less informed of the crowd think you can now wear OCP if you’ve been to Ranger School.

    Now to the subject at hand. I’m glad I kept my OCP from Afghanistan so I can wear it until OCP is no longer OCP and I have to replace it with OCP.

  9. Mike says:

    This is good news. While I was skeptical at first that the Army would ever see multicam=scorpion, this is a refreshing breath of common sense. Theoretically, if scorpion and Multicam are being treated as “substitute standard” (I think that may be a historically “doctrinal” term?) then we should be good purchasing/procuring either pattern long in to the foreseeable future for equipment.

    • Mike says:

      Well the term substitute standard may not be doctrinal asked on a quick google, but I think you can still see my point. Scorpion= multicam, same/same

  10. Wake27 says:

    So is this official, SSD? It sounds way too good to be true.

  11. LRRP says:

    I wonder how long after the announcement at AUSA will we actually be able to start wearing what some of us already have?

  12. FHRITP says:

    This is awesome news! Hopefully they dont change their minds because brain dead sgm’s give push back about it.

    Lol i imagine they still wont let me wear my multicam fight light plate carrier instead of my ucp iba, which would look like garbage on multicam. That thing is legit. Im wearing it when/if i deploy again, sgli be damned!

  13. Joker says:

    Whole lotta OCP’ing going on.

  14. Riceball says:

    Curious, has there ever been any precedence for this in the past? Specifically I’m thinking during the 50s & 60s when the Army was switching over from santeens to the pre-BUT OD green uniform or when they started to switch over to BDUs were soldiers allowed to wear their ERDLs, at least the few that had them.

    • Luddite4Change says:

      During the 80’s folks were authorized to wear a variety of field uniforms and I remember standing in a few formations with BDUs and ERDLs at the same time (also not uncommon to see both the 107 and 507 fatigues in the same formation).

  15. Paralus says:

    OCP is OCP, but Scorpion W2 is not Multicam.

    Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

  16. Maskirovka says:

    And aren’t they redesigning the ACU also, but still calling it the ACU? So during the transitional period you will have your choice of: ACUs in OCP, ACUs in OCP, ACUs in OCP, *or* ACUs in OCP!

    • SSD says:

      It’s still the ACU. They made changes to the BDU over the life cycle of that uniform as well.

  17. HOLLYWOOD22 says:

    Don’t forget SSD commanders/ 1SGs also have the new APFU to deal with! “Add to, not take away from…”

    • HOLLYWOOD22 says:

      In otherwords, “Alright, no one can wear the new PTs until EVERYONE is wearing the new PTs!”

  18. Erik says:

    I swear this is starting to sound like Pimp My Ride:

    Yo dawg, I heard you like OCP. So I gave you OCP which is OCP until it’s OCP, but then it becomes OCP!

  19. Mike B. says:

    The Army, changes the uniform, and camo but keeps the name. That will fool them all.

  20. EOD Jack says:

    Must’ve been some officers that thought up this common sense, no-nonsense solution. No worries though, we have an overabundance of PRC-E9s to poison and destroy this sudden burst of intelligent thought.