This photo, taken on Christmas Day 2013 depicts members of 3rd Battalion, 71st Calvary Regiment of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division as they move to secure the helicopter landing zone on Forward Operating Base Orgun-E in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. They are fully decked out in the latest clothing and equipment, developed by PEO Soldier, in the very effective Operational Camouflage Pattern, known commercially as MultiCam.
But it wasn’t that many years ago that our Army wasn’t so well equipped. I thought we should take a hop on the way back machine, to another Christmas Day. This time, it’s 2004 at Camp Taji, Iraq, where Chief of Staff of the Army, GEN Peter Schoomaker was visiting the troops. Take a gander at the uniforms. Or should I point out, the lack of uniformity. That’s what our Army looked like, just 10 years ago. The Army we took to war in Iraq in 2003 was forced to mix ALICE Green, Woodland Body Armor and Desert Combat Uniforms. And I want to point out that this is a year-and-a-half into the operation and over three into the overall war. With all of that going on, camouflage is pretty much pointless; one pattern cancelling out the effectiveness of another. On the Army’s birthday, June 14, 2004, GEN Schoomaker unveiled the new Army Combat Uniform in the Universal Camouflage Pattern, which he alone wears. This photo depicts it all, mixed up, in one setting.
Here we are, 10 years later. If PEO Soldier has its way, the early lessons of this war will be forgotten and the Army will once again be forced to mix multiple patterns operationally. Their new plan to adopt a pixelated version of MultiCam, called Digital Transitional Pattern, will have to be mixed with over a Billion Dollars’ worth of Operational Camouflage Pattern (MultiCam) clothing and equipment along with the previously purchased $5 Billion in UCP kit. “Why?” you ask? Well, it’s apparently about cash. The Army doesn’t feel they can afford to pay to continue to purchase OCP gear so they are creating their own pattern. But if they’re that broke, there’s no way they’ll be able to afford to purchase full ensembles of clothing and equipment in this new DTP, let alone bookend patterns of MARPAT.
This is your future looks like; more a trip to the Salvation Army than the world’s greatest Army.
I can’t wait for DTP. I feel like PEO is going to really get it right this time. I mean maybe in the oast when they tried to make an effective pattern failed almost every time. But lets forget about UCP, UCP-D, Urban Track and the rest they know what they are doing. And how dare crye try to make a profit and give the army a huge discount. DTP all the way.
(Sarcasm)
Wow, good write up unfortunately no one higher up the Army food chain will ever read this and make a decision worth a damn.
S/F
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We know that it is being read. Whether or not someone will take action, is yet to be seen.
Have any photos leaked of the so-called “digital transitional pattern”?
I imagine it is quite literally the spawn of UCP and OCP.
Washed out AOR2? The colour palette is pretty similar to MC/OCP as it is, and the pattern is the same as CADPAT/MARPAT/UCP.
I saw a previous post speculating (let me say again, this is SPECULATION) that it would look like Eblerstock’s Unicam.
http://www.eberlestock.com/UNICAM_ll.htm
The Army should just try to buy UNICAM II DTP problem solved…
Go take a look at Eberlestock’s UNICAM II camo pattern. It’s the digital/pixelated look of UCP/MARPAT/AOR, with the color palette and fading effect of Multicam.
I guarantee DTP looks like that. Or worse, seeing how easily they can fuck things up.
There are two ways of doing things. The right way, and the Army way.
Whatever. Making sure all of your kit is color-matched is an airsoft thing, anyways.
It’s also a “hey, let’s make sure our camo works” thing. There is a certain military organization that is emphatic about making their camouflage work. One that you probably read about on the internet. How do they do it? Soldier skills and using matching kit.
Also, this a UNIFORM, and it doesn’t look like much of a uniform when there are three or four different things going on.
I sense little sarcasm is Seans post… Relax SSD
If the Army is going full DTP. You might as well change the color of the rifles to go with it. The whole black rifle shit has been going on for way too long.
Who do you think you are one of them long haired special forces cowboys? I’m going to need you to police that moostash.
We, the Brits have finally cottoned on to that fact with new parts coming in coyote brown or very similar, we also have a retrospective painting programme going on in theatre and maybe back in the UK….looks wierd after seeing green and black all these years.
Was thinking the same thing. Awesome gear, black weapons.
Shows that we still have a ways to go.
BOHICA gentelman, BOHICA.
Total SNAFU… I swear, if the AF makes me wear a damn pixilated multicam tiger strip like the “all terrain pattern” over at opsgear, I’m going to scream. Thank goodness I worked my ass off to get my pilot wings, so now I have nice OD and Tan flight suits hanging up in my closet!
At least it wouldn’t be ABUs…?
We should just piss everyone off and take MultiCam for ourselves, since the Army can’t decide what they want to do with it.
Please do.
What is SSD agenda here??? EVERY DAY, well written pieces on The Army camo fiasco. This is a topic we can discuss all day long, but nothing we say or do has any effect on the outcome.
Agenda?
It’s SOLDIER SYSTEMS .net
Objective reporting that brings to light faux-pas executed by the clusterf*ck that is senior leadership that could shaft the end-users?
Relevant articles highlighting why inaction is not an acceptable action?
To appease the volume of daily readers interested in the subject?
Or maybe the fact SSD owns this site and can post whatever he pleases?
I’m pretty sure his agenda is to keep us informed and discuss things about which his audience is interested.
+1
+2
+3
+4 …thousand
Pretty darn good agenda. Look how transparent the UCP / ACU acquisition was…very few saw it coming and there was NO ability to stave it off / change the decision point.
While not keeping it totally honest (can’t be done as the Acquisition Corps is a beast of bureaucracy), have no doubt that this has an affect on conducting the COA development as they (PEO-Soldier) staff it. They are getting end user feedback from a route they didn’t have before (these comments and the commentary) and they also understand that they no longer get a “pass” for knowing what is better without the testing to back it up. Yes, they can hide in the bureaucracy and still screw it up…but they know deep down in their hearts that it won’t fill the hole in their soul.
I am pretty sure some of these posts are being forwarded to the people who need to read them. Trust me: I have been following this fiasco for two years, and this site has been on point the whole time.
The only pointless effort here is your endeavor to damage SSD’s reputation for covering the facts.
SSD’s agenda?
Let’s see, I think it could be summed up as seeing the Army pick an appropriate, well-performing camouflage pattern that A. Serves the sodliers’ needs while B. ensuring taxpayers’ money is not wasted. And he’s been pretty open and honest about that, too. He’s doing the right thing, and doing it the right way.
Keep on like you do, SSD.
But if we’re writing a wish list… I’d happily forward a form letter summarizing the whole nutroll into four paragraphs to my elected representatives!
Any Soldier with Congressional rep on any of the Defense committees not pinging them on this issue–based on the FACTUAL info presented pretty much continuously here–is a FAILURE as a member of the Profession of Arms.
True, there is some provocative invective in this particular posting. 80% of the editorial content is factual information. What is the value of that information?
I found myself in one of those random huddles that GOs from the Five Sided Square convene out on the line to get the ground truth. I’m not some kind of super trooper, just wrong place right time. Random. Turned into a brisk, two hour long conversation about A LOT of DOTLMPF stuff. I know what it looks like/sounds like when the staff is trying to get the Old Man to his next timehack. The camo issue hadn’t come up. HADN’T. COME. UP. So I threw it out there. What he said matched what’s been published here. Then one of his minions–an O-5–chimed in with some BS info. Yeah no. Corrected him. Pwned him, in fact. Waited for the GO to shut me down. No cues from ANY of the E-9s to reel it in. That guy knows that there are people out there who do care, and who have good scoop about what’s going on.
Its SSD’s house, he can say what he wants. And as long as there is good, factual info (and leads on good hats ;)) I’ll keep on listening, and indulge some editorialization.
If it’s not evident, this is an industry forum, and the sponsors want some closure on this issue too. THOUSANDS of troops who buy their own gear are putting off purchases (especially in light of upcoming uniform regs, which state explicitly that your pack shall be BLACK or a match for your uniform’s pattern, meaning you buy UCP that could be obsoleted or black, which is USELESS in the field). That’s MILLIONS of dollars in revenue for this forum’s constituency.
I appreciate SSD staying on top of this issue. No one else is.
You can exercise your right not to read it.
Echelons above reality. Army senior “leadership” has lost all touch with the ranks. They are bean counters, not leaders, and have placed their careers and contracts above the safety of their soldiers. We saw this with the incredibly callous treatment of the armor issue in ’04-’05, and we are seeing it again now. Until one of these bureaucratic vultures see a profit or a promotion in it, we are doomed to suck the green weenie on the camo issue. Dead soldiers are worth less than a decision in the Pentagon’s arithmetic.
I would counter by saying that Army’s CURRENT leadership saw the impact of the TREASONOUS decision to adopt a pattern that would make a great recruiting material background but not such a good pattern for clothing and equipment used in battle. The Camo Improvement Program was an effort to unscrew that.
Then NDAA painted everyone into a corner. You have GEN Amos refusing to yield on MARPAT, you probably have Navy refusing to yield on AOR/NWU.
I hope they do DTP and Caleb Crye successfully sues Army for $24,000,001.
I don’t see how the NDAA painted ANYBODY into a corner – and if Army “leadership” (sarcasm / pun intended) are using that as an excuse, then they need to have “BULLSHIT!” called on them ASAFP.
NDAA/Enyart Amendment didn’t do shit. The Army had a FULL FUCKING YEAR to award phase IV. They chose instead to sit with their thumb up their collective ass. While the Marines may have started this mess with their childish attitude regarding MARPAT, everything since 2012 is all Army’s fault.
I think if anything, this speaks more about our lack of readiness. Wasn’t it Rumsfeld who said,”You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time,” (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/international/middleeast/08cnd-rumsfeld.html?_r=0)
When we see this sort of situation arise or even thinking when we go to war it’s due to complacency. He could have said the same exact thing if we went to war with a force armed with muskets traveling on horseback…
How much would they save if they dump all the garrison dress?
First, won’t happen.
Second, garrison dress for daily wear is mostly an occifer thing and they have to buy their own.
Third, Army has 1.5 garrison uniforms. Even as many enlisted as Army outfits, probably less than the far smaller number of Sailors and Marines who are outfitted with all their dress attire.
Would be pretty funny if it cost Army $24M a year though.
You mean the ASU? Or non-FR ACUs?
Make the combat uniform (whatever that winds up being) standard dress for all troops all the time till you hit about Colonel.
I know, I know. It’s just as likely to go the other way and have soldiers showing up for combat in a coat and tie.
In 2005/06 I wore an ACU uniform with DCU Body armor and BDU pouches. I looked like a rodeo clown but never got shot at on over 50 combat operations in Anbar Province. I figure the enemy was laughing so hard when they saw me they just could not take the shot.
Or maybe you created such a serious eye strain they couldn’t focus on you.
Or maybe looking like a pile of ass makes one seem like less of a worthwhile target to shoot at?
Were you mistaken for IA? Probably figured (a) another Iraqi and (b) marginal threat.
Well, there you have it. Looking like a slayer just makes you a bigger target. We should spend more time trying to look like a POG on a CAB hunt who is not worth killing.
The Army’s current ineptitude in selecting camouflage is really a calculated move in making us all look too ridiculous to take seriously.
This is how I see it as well.
Why is a pixelated version of MultiCam bad? At a minimum it would allow the use of all the OCP OCIE in inventory. Lets face it, whatever way this goes we are going to be wearing UCP OCIE for years. The move to all UCP gear was accelerated by wartime deployments, particularly for the Guard and Reserve. Unlike the USMC, the Army needs around a million sets of equipment to get everyone in the same uniform.
You could also move the combat arms units to the front of the line for new gear. Does it really matter if the finance battalion has matching gear? The same goes for all the TDA training units, etc.
I believe pixilated versions with the same color palette have been tried and it is not as effective as Multicam. I have no faith that the Army can get this right and keep troop welfare to the forefront of their thinking. This is just another way to keep retired generals and their corporate cronies pockets lined with a steady inflow of cash.
Actually pixiliated versions like MARPAT were more effective than multicam in more environments and in more specific picture scenes as per the ’08 test. AOR is supposed to be even better.
The issue continues to be the transitions. They fall flat.
Are you talking about pixelated patterns in general or MARPAT/AOR in particular?
Great story and even better info for my school report. Great waste of money, time, and lives. Maybe I am wrong but didnt congress want all the armed forces wearing the same camo by 2018?
Take a look at the NDAA and the Enyart Amendment. The phase in date was stripped in the final version due to the USMC lobby.
SSD – I believe you considering how this whole mess started but do you have documentation of that? It just further confirms the pattern that too many deny exists.
US4CES is how much different to this DTP?
DTP will be using the Cadpat geometry with a multicam color palette the only similarity would be that they are pixelated designs and that US4ces has a transitional pattern.
I’d imagine quite different, as different as Multicam is to MARPAT & AOR which US4CES closely resembles with some differences.
This problem would have been solved a long time ago if the SecDef had ordered the Commandant of the Corps to make MARPAT available to all branches or tender his resignation in protest. As much as I hate to admit, being a Marine, but I really do feel that the Marine Corps does bear a certain amount of responsibility for the current camo silliness that’s going on right now, if the Corps had been willing to play ball with the others right at the outset then we could have avoided a lot of this silliness.
Riceball – my respect for you continues to grow. There is no doubt the Army screwed the pooch but this whole affair started somewhere else.
VERY different. DTP will use the same screens as MARPAT/UCP/AOR. HyperStealth’s pixelated pattern adds depth and is much more effective.
I remember hearing that the DTP will consist of 5 colors. However, CADPAT TW uses only 4 screens I wonder how they will add that 5th color.
I’m wondering as well
Maybe some of these gripes could be heard via social media. PEO Soldiers does have a facebook account…hint hint.
https://www.facebook.com/PEOSoldier
Who has the final say on the decision, and who is Crye Precision directly negotiating this with? It is absolutely baffling that a U.S. company manufacturing the very best in the industry, is being balked at by our military when foreign nations and allies (with smaller budgets) are already on board. I’m embarrassed we are still having a back and forth on this after nearly a decade of the WORST uniform pattern in history. SOF has fixed itself through its own measures why can’t big Army follow suit?
That’s asking an awful lot haha
I have been trying to follow the twists and turns in this whole mess, and I am slightly confused on one point. If the new legislation effectively blocks a beach of service from adopting a new pattern unless all of the branches choose to adopt it, why is the Army testing DTP? Back when the results of the Camo Improvement Effort were set to be announced, word on the street was that the efforts of Congress prevented the Army from using. Crye’s family of new patterns. Now the Army claims the issue is the money. What’s really going on here?
Why indeed…
Read my post from today. That’s why indeed.
FWIW – I think one of the factor’s that has contributed to this fiasco specifically around the Phase IV announcement is Army Generals were simply afraid of taking their lumps. The budget is intimidating them and specific events like sequestration, gov’t closure, specific news articles and congressional action spooked the decision makers each time a decision was due.
Shameful and gutlesss but that’s often how eagles and stars on your shoulder are earned.
I remember what a goatscrew it was to build a formation of uniformly attired and equipped troops for those photo opps…
> “The Army doesn’t feel they can afford to pay to continue to purchase OCP gear so they are creating their own pattern.”
Much like every other SSD reader (and as a member of the US Army), I’ve been following the camo debacle quite closely and I feel like this is a talking point that has been somewhat glossed over.
Does the Army really think they can’t afford to keep buying OCP gear or does the Army actually think they can’t afford to buy out the rights to Multicam and have complete control over the pattern much like the Marines and MARPAT?
In Crye Precision’s press release, they said the Army wanted Crye to provide them with a price for a ‘”full buyout of Multicam.” I suspect that the Army’s true desire here is to have absolute and complete control over their next camo pattern (again, like the Marines and MARPAT) and came to that realization much too late. After Crye’s pattern won phase IV of the camo improvement program, the Army had already realized acquiring all the rights to Multicam was all but impossible and began their campaign of misinformation.
Clearly the Army has not held up their end of the bargain when it comes to contract figures to the phase IV winner and I urge them to come clean about the real reason.
I believe the Army would love to own multicam but I don’t think that’s caused all the miscues. The postponed announcements were likely due to fear over having to answer for a litany of miscues. No one wants to take ownership of that.
Causing more miscues. That they’ll have to answer for.
Had the Army followed through phase IV they would’ve had complete control of multicam for far less than $1 million.
Here we go again…
Oh by the way, first picture, Climb to Glory! Well, stroll to glory anyways…… 82nd hasn’t jumped since Panama I don’t need any of your crap!
The 173rd has 😉
This is my representation on what the Army’s DTP may look like.
http://loyaltytotheend.deviantart.com/art/What-I-think-the-Army-s-DTP-may-look-like-441723655?ga_submit_new=10%253A1395367260&ga_type=edit&ga_changes=1&ga_recent=1
That’s really cool. What are the chances you could do a mock up showing what kit in that pattern would look like on woodland and desert marpat.
Again really cool.
Well that certainly wins the “cool factor” award. Too bad it is less effective than the ACTUAL Multicam.
SGT Gunner – how do you know? When was it compared and/or tested?
Are you doing the same thing they did with UCP and just “said” it was better because it was someone’s favorite?
It’s easier to see how the Army got itself into a situation when people make virtually the same mistake based on BFF patterns and emotion.
That was pretty cool.
Very good representation. Now am actually picturing something in my head.
Schweet!
Frankly I wonder how multicam compares to surpat (or as I like to call it “UCP done right”.
Surpat is good in many places but not in the Desert.
Eh, as long as it’s not sandy open desert it shouldn’t be any worse than UCP. In transitional and woodland environs in seems to be much better than UCP.
I dunno. I don’t think the tactics used in Iraq were such that camouflage would’ve made much of a difference. There isn’t much point in being camo when you’re speeding through an urban environment in a 10-foot-tall MRAP, or rattling along in a Bradley or Abrams, all in a big-assed convoy on predictable named routes between fixed bases, for years on end.
Iraq/Afghanistan: Individual experiences may vary…
No offense, but my Police Trainer Team did a LOT of mounted AND UNMOUNTED patrols though the city. Concealment was always a big concern. It mattered least during daytime raids, and most at night, but remaining undetected always meant something.
Example: blending into the environment in order to gather intel on a targeted house without being seen. …Setting up a hasty LP/OPs. …pulling security on the corner of a building, where you took fire, just hours before. Setting up a blocking position in known hostile areas. …the list goes on.
Afghanistan or Iraq, camouflage makes a difference to the man on the ground.
None taken. My EOD team did a lot of dismounted operations in Afghanistan, and we had enough Multicam gear to make even the most dedicated Airsofter shed a tear. The pattern worked really well there, especially since the OCP uniforms looked kind of faded and washed out (more tan). Get a little moon dust on you and you were indistinguishable from the terrain if you got low.
But it didn’t matter too much when you go rucking into a village in broad daylight, crossing open areas in a Ranger file, with a gaggle of ANA in their mint chocolate chip camo, interpreters in ACUs, and a bunch of Afghan kids following you begging for treats. And troops weren’t fond of trying to get low with a full IOTV with front, back, and side plates, helmet, and a bulbous 50-80 pound ruck, depending.
Camouflage is something you do, not just something you wear.
http://www.breachbangclear.com/site/10-blog/386-if-you-are-carrying-twice-your-body-weight-why-try-to-hide-at-all.html
My friend Peter Nealen, Recon Marine, explains his perspective in the linked article. It’s from not quite a year ago.
“In light of the reported butt-hurt going around after SSD’s April Fools’ post on the Army returning to OD utilities, I had a thought. What the hell are we spending millions of dollars on Camouflage Improvement for anyway?
Yes, I know, the UCP doesn’t blend into anything. I got to see that first hand at the Combat Tracker course several other Marines and I attended in 2007. There were several Army students in the course, and we got an up-close and personal look at just how well UCP stands out in grassland, desert, and woodland. We laughed. A lot.
The point is, with our present model of operations, where the average grunt carries at least 3/4s of his own bodyweight in gear and armor, camouflage has become a moot point. When you’re stuck lumbering along, upright, through open terrain thanks to the weight and bulk of your gear, it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing. You’re going to stand out. Camouflage clothing doesn’t render you invisible by virtue of its being camouflage. (I’m reminded of an old Scoutmaster, waving two camouflage shirts indoors like semaphore flags, calling out, “You can’t see ‘em, they’re camouflage!”)
I know it’s a political decision, just like the political decisions that got us into this overloaded operational cluster. UCP was picked over Multicam in the first place because of political connections. But before we fix the camouflage, shouldn’t we be looking at whether it’s going to do any actual operational good? If we want to use camouflage, shouldn’t we adjust SOPs and ROEs so that it can actually be used as intended, to make soldiers and Marines harder for the enemy to see, and therefore harder to hit?”
Good camo uniforms are certainly an advantage, but I feel like that advantage sometimes gets overstated.
It’s like when you go onto a gun board and read an argument about which service rifle is the best. People will make long, detailed arguments high and low for their preferred brand. Truth be told, though, as long as your soldier has a reasonably reliable autoloading rifle, the individual specs don’t matter too much. Machine guns, mortars, communication, and fire support coordination are things that can make or break and engagement. I don’t know that anyone ever lost a battle because their rifles weren’t quite as nice as the other guy’s.
None of this is meant to excuse the silliness the Army is engaging in. Hell, if back in 2004, they took the MARPAT/AOR pattern, replaced the three colors with TAN, COYOTE, AND RANGER GREEN, they’d have had pretty good camo from the start and we wouldn’t be having this discussion a full decade later.
But that’s the DOD these days, I guess: fiddling while Rome burns.
Definite leadership issues, but… Never mind political parties. Remember where this financial mess comes from. None of those mega millionaires were held accountable. They got richer and people got poorer. Governments ran into massive debt. No matter what country you are from we are all paying for this mess. The US Army is paying in not being able to properly clothe the soldiers. Don’t forget where it started. Sure we a war weary, that is a big deal. But how much of our financial state contributes to our lack of response to Vlad.
The army has had a hard on for marpat since the USMC created and adopted it. They couldn’t have it, so that’s why we’re wearing UCP now, the army brass had to have their own cool “digy” camo, it’s an inferior product but it was forced upon us. It appeared that DA was beginning to get it right when we steered towards Multicam. Now that the NDAA says no branch can restrict another from using a pattern, the brass is back on the marpat kick again. Call it ADHD, “shiny beads”, fashion envy, whatever it is, DA is stuck on digital. Why? I don’t have a fucking clue, it’s shit. Does USASOC, SF, CAG, or USSOCOM wear digital? No, that should put that to rest. Gentlemen, there is no stopping this. DTP is coming. We’re going to continue wearing digital camo. The brass doesn’t care how much we’ve spent on UCP, OCP, the camo improvement effort, or anything else for that matter. DA will tell whatever to Caleb Crye to break that deal, I mean seriously, $25M is a sticking point for the Army?????? Everyone that has followed this or reads this site is smarter than that. $25M for the army is a drop in the bucket, even now during the budget crisis. It’s all Monopoly money in Washington. They spend more than that on R & D for one project. BLUF (bottom line up front): DA is finally getting their marpat, and they won’t let anyone or anything stop it.
FWIW, CAG has been seen wearing a certain pixilated pattern. Those aren’t always SEALs…
No….
This is just another symptom of the crisis in Army leadership and identity.
Small wars? Big Wars? Pacific Pivot? Africa? SW Asia? Mechanized BCTs? Light Infantry BCTs? Smaller BCTs, to larger BCTs and back to smaller BCTs with more drones? Scout Helicopter replacement? Scout Helo cancel? GCV? GCV cancelled? AMPV? 70-ton GCV or Ultra Light Combat Vehicle? Humvees rebuilt or JLTV? M1 Abrams upgrade or no upgrade? New camo? No camo? New carbine? bad old carbines? Army troop levels to cut to 490K. scratch that, it’s 450K….unless it the Grand Sequester continues in which case it is 420K…..or perhaps lower.
these twits with stars on their collars should do the Army and the taxpayers a favor and just retire. They don’t know what they are doing and cannot decide or lead. Seriously, if they did a poll of soldiers, how many would say they honestly had any faith in senior Army leadership?
Does MARSOC wear MARPAT or OCP?
MARSOC has actually contracted crye precision for combat pants in woodland camouflage. That should speak volumes.