The US Army has finally officially issued the long awaited ALARACT for the OCP transition. The ALARACT in its entirety can be read below, along with the uniform issue waves.
ALARACT 085/2015
DTG: R 012016Z JUN 15
UNCLAS
SUBJ/ALARACT 085/2015 – TRANSITION TO OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ARMY COMBAT UNIFORM (ACU) ENSEMBLE
THIS ALARACT MESSAGE HAS BEEN TRANSMITTED BY USAITA ON BEHALF OF HQDA DCS G-4//DALO-SUT//
(U) REFERENCES.
A. ARMY POSTURE STATEMENT, 2013
B. ARMY CAMPAIGN PLAN, 2013
C. AR 670-1, 10 APRIL 2015
D. DA PAM 670-1, 10 APRIL 2015
E. HOUSE REPORT 111-151, SEPTEMBER 2009
1. (U) THE PURPOSE OF THIS MESSAGE IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THE TRANSITION FROM THE UNIVERSAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN AND OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU TO THE OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU. THIS MESSAGE ALSO PROVIDES GUIDANCE ON THE WEAR OF THE OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU ENSEMBLE AS APPROVED BY THE SECRETARY OF ARMY AND CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE ARMY ON 1 MAY 2014. POLICY CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS EFFECTIVE 1 JULY 2015. PREVIOUSLY GRANTED EXCEPTIONS TO POLICY FOR WEAR OF THE OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN UNIFORM OUTSIDE OF COMBAT AREAS OF OPERATIONS REMAIN IN EFFECT.
2. (U) DURING THE TRANSITION PERIOD, SOLDIERS ARE AUTHORIZED TO WEAR ANY OF THE THREE CAMOUFLAGE PATTERNS OF THE ACU (UNIVERSAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN, AND THE OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN). ALL COMPONENTS OF THE UNIFORM MUST BE OF THE SAME CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED IN THIS MESSAGE. COMMANDERS WILL NOT REQUIRE SOLDIERS TO PURCHASE SPECIFIC UNIFORM ITEMS PRIOR TO THE MANDATORY POSSESSION DATE LISTED IN PARAGRAPH 10 BELOW.
3. (U) THE OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU ENSEMBLE CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:
3.A. COAT
3.B. TROUSERS
3.C. UNDERSHIRT (TAN 499)
3.D. BELT, RIGGER (TAN 499)
3.E. DRAWERS (TAN 499)
3.F. SOCKS, TAN, GREEN OR BLACK, CUSHION SOLE
3.G. BOOTS, COMBAT, COYOTE COLOR
3.H. HEADGEAR
4. (U) ACU WEAR POLICY. THERE IS NO CHANGE TO CURRENT WEAR POLICY (AR 670-1) EXCEPT AS NOTED BELOW.
4.A. DURING THE TRANSITION PERIOD, CLOTHING INITIAL ISSUE POINTS ARE AUTHORIZED TO CONTINUE TO ISSUE TO INITIAL ENTRY TRAINING SOLDIERS THE TAN/SAND COLORED UNDERGARMENTS WITH THE OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU. SOLDIERS ARE AUTHORIZED TO WEAR THE SAND UNDERSHIRT; WHITE, TAN OR BROWN DRAWERS; SAND RIGGER BELT; AND TAN COMBAT BOOTS WITH THE OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM AND/OR OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU COAT AND TROUSERS. THE TAN 499 UNDERSHIRT, TAN 499 RIGGER BELT, AND COYOTE COMBAT BOOTS ARE NOT AUTHORIZED FOR WEAR WITH THE UNIVERSAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN COAT AND TROUSERS.
4.B. THE EXCEPTIONS OUTLINED ABOVE ALSO APPLIES TO THE COMBAT VEHICLE CREWMAN UNIFORM, MECHANIC COVERALLS, AND THE ARMY AIRCREW COMBAT UNIFORM (A2CU).
5. (U) INSIGNIA AND ACCOUTERMENTS WORN ON THE ACU MUST BE OF THE CORRESPONDING CAMOUFLAGES PATTERN COLOR. THE BACKGROUND MATERIAL OF NAME TAPES, SHOULDER SLEEVE INSIGNIA, TABS, GRADE INSIGNIA, FORMER WARTIME SERVICE, AND SEW-ON BADGES WILL MATCH THE CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN OF THE UNIFORM.
6. (U) THE RAPID FIELDING INITIATIVE WILL CONTINUE TO ISSUE SOLDIERS FLAME RESISTANT ARMY COMBAT UNIFORMS IN THE OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN UNTIL INVENTORIES ARE EXHAUSTED.
7. (U) THE ARMY’S PLAN TO TRANSITION TO THE OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU STARTING 1 JULY 2015 AND END 1 OCTOBER 2019. THE OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU WILL BE AVAILABLE AS FOLLOWS:
7.A. (U) IN ARMY MILITARY CLOTHING STORES (AMCS) BY INSTALLATION IAW THE ENCLOSED APPENDIX. DA FORM 3078 PERSONAL CLOTHING REQUESTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU UNTIL JANUARY 2016. EXCEPTIONS TO POLICY PRIOR TO THE START DATE WILL ONLY BE GRANTED BY THE CLOTHING AND SERVICES OFFICE.
7.B. AT THE CLOTHING INITIAL ISSUE POINT LOCATIONS FOR INITIAL ENTRY TRAINING SOLDIERS IN 2QFY16.
7.C. FOR SOLDIERS (ACTIVE DUTY AND UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVE (USAR)) ON ORDERS TO PERFORM DRILL SERGEANT DUTIES AND ADVANCED INDIVIDUAL TRAINING PLATOON SERGEANTS ARE AUTHORIZED TO OBTAIN THEIR SUPPLEMENTAL ISSUE OF THE OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU FROM THEIR LOCAL AMCS BEGINNING ON 15 DECEMBER 2015 (1QFY16) AND HAVE 90 DAYS TO DRAW THEIR SUPPLEMENTAL ISSUE IN ACCORDANCE WITH COMMON TABLE ALLOWANCES 50-900, TABLE NUMBER 3.
7.D. AT THE CLOTHING CENTRAL DISTRIBUTION FACILITY AT THE KENTUCKY LOGISTICS OPERATIONS CENTER FOR ARMY NATIONAL GUARD, USAR, AND SENIOR RESERVE OFFICER TRAINING CORPS IN 4QFY16.
8. (U) THE WEAR OUT DATE FOR THE UNIVERSAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU IS 30 SEPTEMBER 2019.
9. (U) THE MANDATORY POSSESSION DATE FOR THE OPERATIONAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN ACU IS 1 OCTOBER 2019.
10. (U) HQDA G-1 POC FOR UNIFORM WEAR POLICY IS SGM EVA COMMONS, DSN: 312-225-5473, COMMERCIAL: (703) 695-5473, OR E-MAIL: EVA.M.COMMONS.MIL@MAIL.MIL. HQDA G-4 POC IS MAJ DANNY PADELLO, DSN: 224-2718, COMMERCIAL: (703) 614-2718, OR E-MAIL: DANIEL.E.PADELLO.MIL@MAIL.MIL.
11. (U) THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED BY THE ARMY G-1 AND ARMY G-4.
12. (U) THE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, G-1 IS THE PROPONENT OF WEAR AND APPEARANCE OF ARMY UNIFORMS AND INSIGNIA POLICY AND WILL INCORPORATE THE GUIDANCE IN THIS MESSAGE INTO REFERENCE D BY 1 JULY 2015.
13. (U) THIS MESSAGE EXPIRES 15 MAY 2016.
Tags: US Army
Paragraph 2:COMMANDERS WILL NOT REQUIRE SOLDIERS TO PURCHASE SPECIFIC UNIFORM ITEMS PRIOR TO THE MANDATORY POSSESSION DATE LISTED IN PARAGRAPH 10 BELOW.
Paragraph 10: contact information.
But paragraph 9? That’s what you want.
WHY WAIT TILL 1 JULY?!?!?
Is it perfect? No. But after years of waffling and punting, there’s a decision and a plan of action. And that’s way better than glowing grey and stringing along the industry.
SMA Dailey is a deliberative but decisive shit-or-get-off-the-pot kind of decision maker.
I am very pleased with this announcement. I have been following this story for the last five years and I am pleased to see its culmination.
My only concern at this point is the lack of bookends. I am afraid we’ve swapped one universal pattern for another. OCP is without question an enormous improvement over UCP. Still I think we’d of learned by now that one size does not fit all.
Yes OCP is good and I am likewise pleased, but I fear the Army has not learned that “One Size Does Not Fit All” yet, maybe never. Hopefully bookends wont be a bridge to far
they have other color schemes, its not just going to be scorpian 2, there is a desert variation, tropical and in theory mountain/arctic for theater specific operations
But part of the reason why the Army went Scorpion instead of Mulitcam was to avoid having to pay Crye for the license and didn’t want to negotiate (apparently) with them to buy out the rights to Multicam outright. So, based on that, what makes you think that they would go with a set of Multicam variants for the bookends and pay Crye the licensing fee to use them? There’s also the matter of that bill that passed a good while back saying something about being able to use only existing patterns before the bill was passed or having to all branches adopt a common pattern if they were going with a new one, I don’t know that it applies to the bookends or not but it just might.
They aren’t variants of multicam, they’re variants of scorpion. All they have to do is change the colors of they dye when they print it.
No, they’re variants of Multicam, all developed by Crye Precision. If you go to the Crye website you’ll see that they’re all being advertised as variants of Multicam by using the Multicam name. So far as I know, nobody has developed any variants of Scorpion yet because it was a rejected pattern that has been dragged back up from the grave, so to speak.
Have you not read the countless articles by SSD for the past 5 years on this subject. Good lord.
Why do you think they are multiple variants of the OCP? If there were why would they have tested OCP with M81, 3 Color Desert, and MARPAT?
There you go. Finally all official and shit.
Who’s going to have OCP name tapes any time soon?
multicam is practically indistinguisable on the size and scale of name tapes and badges
Just use OEF (Multicam) nametapes.
Curious how many SGMs have already overruled the common sense and forbidden soldiers to wear them “until everyone in the unit” can wear them – to avoid mix and match…
They can do that until Reception Battalion drops off a litter of pups who were issued OCP. Or for that matter, any new meat salty enough to say, “Sorry CSM, my old unit switched over on 1 July, our Independence Day weekend safety briefing was a UCP bonfire.” After that, it’s gonna trigger a virus-like transition.
Any SNCOs who want to put themselves between the Privates and Officers–who don’t want to be that last unit in an AO to change over–need to give up, retire, and report to WalMart HR for their greeter vests. Because they’ve demonstrated an inability to focus on What Matters.
On the flip side, let that E-deuce who joined up with 3 kids complete his clothing bag in ’19.
My CSM already did it 3 months ago when the rumors started coming out!
If he did this BEFORE seeing the draft ALARACT or AFTER seeing all the preliminary distro, he spoke too soon.
And I’d bet he was still an E-4 when UCP happened–or was Downrange and had a good Rear D crew building clothing bags for everyone to change over. Either way, blissfully ignorant about how these things work–then and now.
Saw this quote from Sergeant Major Dailey today, “We will still be the most lethal fighting force the world has even known even if our belts or t-shirts don’t match for the next few years.” He is my most favorite SGM ever!
Anyone who follows the CSM of a 2-star command on social media gets vignettes from previous SMA, usually their official portrait set over a long–LOOONG quote about leadership and concern, delivered at a USASMA commencement or retirement.
I have a feeling SMA Dailey will put out some good stuff, but this needs to be one of his vignettes. Or/and “You wanna lead? PT with your troops.”
+1
What about installations not on their slides? I was looking for Detroit Arsenal and Picatinny Arsenal, didn’t see them. Go with Redstone’s date?
Patches! We don’t need no stinkin patches! I figure my unit’s patch will be manufactured sometime in 2018. Maybe. I was hoping not to be stuck in UCP but not looking good for those not in the big units. In ‘Stan we just used the UCP versions but 5 sounds like that is going to be unlikely. RIT dye maybe?
I’m gonna try a diluted bleach on a ucp patch n see what happens…
We had a local shop just outside of Camp Shelby make us up some during our MOB, Kind of had to when we were the first 80ish people in the brigade to deploy under the new patch. I think we had more made up during the few days we were in Kandahar before continuing on.
Let me know if you have any luck with dying. A couple of guys in my organization and I are going to take a shot at dying UCP patches to a passable color.
Using spray-on bleach cleaner on an ACU 3d Chem patch and letting the patch ‘cook’ in the sun for a few hours made a passable patch. Just had to recolor the black with a Sharpie.
Yellow Dry Erase Marker! Can’t tell the difference between them. $1.00 for a marker vs 8.40 for a pair of patches. Hurry before AAFES stop selling them.
When do I get my SCRT patch? That’s all I want to know? 😉
Just got up and haven’t poured some coffee but TA-50? I assume it’s everything mentioned previously.
It is. OCIE is supposed to be replaced in OCP as current stocks of Multicam wear out. A couple of OCP stories back SSD posited that the replacement schedule could take up to ten years. Additionally, SSD mentioned that cordura, used to produce the OCIE, has yet be be produced in any measurable quantity, and that Multicam contracts have yet to be converted. So I doubt that we will see OCP rucks and such any time soon. We’ll likely have any army outfitted in OCP uniforms and Multicam kit for the foreseeable future.
Yes, but the Army doesn’t have enough MC kits to outfit everyone – so back to 2005 we go, OCP uniforms with UCP OCIE….
Anyone hear if MCS online will have stock come July 1st? That’s the rumor floating around my location but I haven’t seen anything in writing to back it up.
That’s my sincere hope.
I’d rather just put an order in than line up outside like I’m some sucker waiting for the season’s hot new sneaker at the mall. Even though a legit Sergeant-Major-Proof OCP uniform is MY hot new sneaker…
Spoke with customer service for MCS and they’re not expecting the items to available online July 1st. Guess I’m taking a small road trip.
Is anyone else interpreting this ALRACT and the most recent 670-1 as permitting SEW ON badges/rank/nametape on FR uniforms (in either OCP or UCP)??
Yes, but that may not be their intent.
Yes, half my deployed BN is wearing sew-on on our OEF-CP FRs to include the CSM and BC.
Last I checked, ACUs were to be treated the same across the board as far as sewing and such. I could be wrong, but that’s always been my impression anyway.
4–8. Combat uniform coat. (excerpt) “Soldiers may sew on the U.S. Army tape, name tape, rank, and all authorized badges as an option. Hook-and-loop
fasteners for U.S. Army tape and name tape may be left on or removed when sewing on the uniform. If worn, badges
must be all sewn on or all pinned on; Soldiers are not authorized to mix sew-on badges with pin-on badges. When
personnel sew on badges, the following must also be sewn on the combat uniform coat: name tape, U.S. Army tape,
and grade insignia. If a nametape, U.S. Army tape or grade insignia is sewn on, then personnel must sew all three of
these items on the uniform coat. This requirement does not apply to the patrol cap. If Soldiers choose to sew on U.S.
Army name tape, rank or authorized skill badges, it will be at their own expense. Soldiers are not authorized to wear
pinned on badges in a field or deployed environment.”
Considering that the new pattern is still the Army Combat Uniform, I don’t see why this wouldn’t apply.
Very good point-and thanks for the sourced material from AR670-1, you saved me a few minutes looking it up.
Thanks.
Gents, doesn’t the provision on mandatory matching patches pretty much place an unintended hold on OCP/Multicam’s official wear date? At least for the generating force, which hasn’t deployed and earned a multicam patch.
A year ago, you couldn’t give away a brand new set of Multicam FR ACUs to a surplus store. Now, they have value.
Quick question, probably mentioned somewhere but I missed it and wanted to double check. I’m looking to go with the OEF Multicam switch tomorrow but didn’t see anything about flags, do we wear the stateside red white and blue or stick with the IR we were issued for down range?
Wear your insignia like you would on the current ACU.
Just a wake-up.
🙂
Hit up miluniform.com for your patch got mine in 3 days just change shipping to usps for $4.00 compared to fedex next day(default) for $21.00.
Can commanders stop you from wearing this uniform after July 1 2015?
Mine has….
looks like the old woodland bdus to me right now
NY National Guard has issued a memorandum prohibiting the wear of OCP or multicam until 1 May 2016.
How quaint. I guess they’ve also stockpiled UCP for the new accessions who will begin receiving OCP at the first of the year.
So in all seriousness. Where is the best source for me to get hard proof that my CO and 1SG cant say no to wearing OCP? Ive got all i need and im going to rock it tm. I just would like some hard proof other than the alaract.
The following is being sent on behalf of the Sergeant Major of the Army.
The Chief of Staff and Sergeant Major of the Army would like to encourage
your Soldiers to wear any of the authorized uniform patterns in formation
if they have them.
Again, we do not wish to force Soldiers to purchase the new uniform and we
should allow them ample time to purchase them with their annual clothing
allowance. This will also provide our supply system enough time to meet the
demand. However, if Soldiers already possess the Operation Enduring Freedom
Camouflage Pattern uniform from a previous fielding/deployment, or they
recently purchased an Operational Camouflage Pattern uniform, we should
afford them the opportunity to wear them.
Commanders continue to hold the discretion to dictate the duty uniform, but
they should be comfortable with allowing multiple uniforms to be worn
within their formation during this transition period.
Please disseminate this to the lowest level to ensure this guidance is
received at the company/unit level.
Army Strong!
v/r
SGM Joe B. Parson Jr.
Executive Officer to the Sergeant Major of the Army
I was just threatened with UCMJ for wearing the new uniform by my BN CSM. WTF! I am an E-7 leading from the front in TRADOC. SMH.
My Commander has decree’d that no OCP-FRACU or Scorpion Uniforms will be worn until every Soldier in the unit has them.
See you in 2016 sometime.