Massif developed this Field Shirt and Pant for AFSOC and worked with the user community to include the features we’ll go over.
It’s made from a MultiCam print, SIGMA 4 Star which is an amazingly comfortable, yet durable, Kevlar and Nomex blend.
The Shirt features a two pocket layout with Velcro for rank at the center of the chest and two strips above the pockets for name and branch of service strips.
Each pocket consists of two compartments. The outer compartment features a flap and the inner compartment is accessed through a vertical zipper and is lined with mesh.
The hem of the Shirt features a slit for mobility.
The sleeves close with Velcro but there is also seam at the cuff in order to make rolling the sleeve easier.
Next up is a two pen slot at the left wrist.
Shoulder pockets on either side are lined with mesh and feature zippered openings. The two-piece Velcro for shoulder patches helps reduce bulk.
The seams are not at the top of the shoulder but rather, set back.
The big feature for the Shirt is the mesh-lined, vented back.
The Pant features 10 pockets, starting with the front pockets, with horizontally-oriented openings, offering lots of room for pocket access.
There are two flapped pockets mounted to the front of the thigh which will accommodate an iPhone 6 with case or similar.
The cargo pockets are of low-profile design and are accessible through either top or front zippers.
In addition to flapped pockets on either calf, there are zippered pockets at the rear. Additionally, there is a gussetted crotch, for mobility.
Nice, wonder what it will cost?
I wonder how color fast it is. Seems like color fastness has been a problem for Multicam prints in the past.
conjecture on my part, but the colorfastness problems I saw were largely with the Modacrylic and FR rayon based shirts, I expect it to be much better on a nomex based garment.
To echo what was said earlier. Colorfastness is more a factor of fabric than the printing. NYCO uniforms are just fine, the issue has been with mod acrylic.
Okay, that makes sense. I thought it had something to do with the dyes used because of some stuff from ten years ago before Multicam had been seriously adopted.
The dyes are dialed in at this point. It’s just that some substrates don’t take dye well. There are some materials you can’t print at all. That’s why laminates have started to become more prevalent.
Just out of curiosity, why the [continuing] rank centered on the chest (vs. collar for instance)? Is there an actual reason beyond compatibility with the Army’s moving it there? I’ve never felt like that was a “natural” location for introductory purposes (the only time anyone would be needing to see it anyway) and I feel like I somehow missed the original impetus that continues to drive it.
The Air Force has never had enlisted collar rank on work/field/combat uniforms. It was sleeves, until now.
Right, it was everyone vs USAF and then suddenly Army goes to chest. I just never understood what drove that move to begin with.
We’ve had rank on the chest since at least the late 80s with ECWCS.
The rank was moved for a simple reason … protect the fragile egos of soft-skilled MOS officers who felt sorry for themselves wearing Finance, Ordnance, Transportation, Quartermaster, MI, Signal, etc. on their collars.
Ha, I’ve never been a fan of it on the chest, and never heard any sort of reasoning for the move on the uniform vs something like the ECWCS mentioned above just out of the convenience of a flap or Velcro on a jacket. But for the regular wear of the uniform it’s always struck me as odd.
ECWCS moved it because there isn’t a collar. Originally, the CCU and ACU’s collar was meant to wear Mandarin-style to protect the neck. Once again, you can’t see collar rank.
AFSOC made the front pockets even easier to rest their mitts 😉