Camo | Soldier Systems Daily Soldier Systems Daily

Archive for the ‘Camo’ Category

More on New Navy Working Uniform Variants

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

At first I was kind of perplexed by the Navy’s decision to retain the old 3-color desert pattern uniform for non-Special Warfare personnel as reported yesterday. And then it hit me. NSW has adopted PCU Level 9 and it comes in the AOR 1 pattern.

I guess rather than manufacturing a true “Type II” version of the NWU in AOR 1, they have chosen to continue to use the traditional 3-color desert combat uniform so that the two uniforms would remain distinct. PCU level 9 for NSW and DCUs for other Naval Ground Combatants so not only will the patterns be distinct but also the styles of uniforms.

One thing you can say about the new Level 9 uniform built by Ready One under license from Patagonia is that it is a full on combat uniform. I still find it interesting that they plan on issuing that uniform to everyone in NSW who is heading down range as they still have support troops and various attachments in addition to their actual operators. It is important to note that SOCOM also procures the PCU Customization System from Beyond Tactical. They produce garments for personnel who are in special size categories.

Additionally, there is a distinct line item in the still unsigned National Defense Authorization Act FY2010 budget for the Naval Special Warfare Protective Combat Uniform to the tune of $2.5 Million. So this is a good deal for the Navy. It isn’t going to cost them anything. Since PCU is SOF-unique it will be paid for with MFP-11 (Special Ops) funds and it looks like these will be beefed up specifically for this purpose. However, my guess is that there will be an AOR 1 variant of the NWU within a year. The Navy has chosen a theme or branding if you will, and it doesn’t make sense to continue to purchase something that doesn’t fit in with the rest. Additionally, developing an AOR 1 NWU won’t jeopardize the Navy taking advantage of the SOCOM gravy train. What really makes PCU unique is the cut of the uniform and not the pattern. It could just as easily be manufactured in MultiCam or UCP if one of SOCOM’s other components desired it. However, on the other hand, one could make the argument that the Navy calling PCU Level 9 an NWU could cause some to consider it a service common item and make it ineligible for MFP-11 funds. So Navy, beware one of the Assessment Directors at SOCOM figures that one out.

Finally, I’ve received numerous questions on what the plan for tactical nylon will be but at this point I have no idea. Over the last few years, both NSW as well as the fledgling Naval Expeditionary Combat Command which between them control all of the Navy’s ground forces have fielded equipment in Coyote Brown. For NSW I have been told that this will change to AOR patterned gear but since there has been no centralized purchasing of commodities by NECC it will most likely be left up to the individual unit as to what pattern of equipment they purchase. Up to now it has been all but impossible to acquire AOR patterned raw materials without contracts with specific customers. The patterns will be adapted slightly with the inclusion of the Anchor, Constitution and Eagle (ACE) symbol and a process to vet manufacturers will have to be instituted so it may be much later this year before we begin to see any quantifiable movement in this area.

Posted in Camo, Clothing | Comments Off on More on New Navy Working Uniform Variants

AOR Comes out of the Closet and into the Seabag

Friday, January 1st, 2010

The Navy has finally dealt with the issue of adopting proper uniforms for its ground forces in light of the fielding of the new Navy Working Uniform and its associated blue digital camo pattern optimized for hiding stains. Rumors had long surfaced that the mysterious AOR patterns would be adopted Navy wide for instances when Sailors would require camouflage uniforms for land combat effectively making the patterns naval in nature rather than dedicated for special operations use. Rumors also stated that the patterns would be altered ever so slightly with the addition of the Navy’s Anchor Constitution Eagle (ACE) design (see para 2). Apparently they were true on both counts or at least, sort of. Interestingly, the “Type II” or AOR 1 pattern will only be adopted by Naval Special Warfare and associated support forces. All other Sailors requiring desert camo will continue to use the current 3-color desert pattern first adopted almost 20 years ago during Operation DESERT STORM. Now it gets kind of confusing. The new “Type III” or AOR 2 pattern will be worn by ALL Navy personnel currently authorized.

Seems a little discombobulated. AOR 2 is fine for everybody, but AOR 1 will only be worn by NSW and that is AFTER the ACE is added to the pattern. Nothing like saying, “Hey, back off man, we’re Navy SEALs,” with your clothing. Also, sorry MAs. I had heard that you were going to be included in the new patterns but I guess it was not in the cards for you so keep on rocking those jaunty “Type I” NWUs.

The official Navy message traffic is below.

UNCLASSIFIED//

ROUTINE

R 291203Z DEC 09

BT
UNCLAS
FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1//
TO NAVADMIN
NAVADMIN 374/09

MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/DEC//

SUBJ/NAVY WORKING UNIFORM TYPE II AND III//

REF/A/MSG/CNO WASHINGTON DC/262243Z JUN 09//

REF/B/DOC/NAVPERS 15665I/01JAN2003//

NARR/REF A IS NAVADMIN 188/09. REF B IS U.S. NAVY UNIFORM REGULATIONS.//

RMKS/1. THIS NAVADMIN ANNOUNCES CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS APPROVAL OF THE NAVY WORKING UNIFORM (NWU) TYPE II AND III. THE NWU COLORING SCHEMES CONSIST OF TWO UNIQUE FOUR-SHADED DIGITAL CAMOUFLAGE PROFILES (DESERT AND WOODLAND) DEVELOPED BY NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE (NSW) UNDER THE AUTHORITY AND GUIDANCE OF UNITED STATES SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND FOR NSW AND MARITIME SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES. THE TACTICAL ADVANTAGE PROVIDED BY NWU TYPE II (DESERT) AND TYPE III (WOODLAND) DIGITAL PATTERNS WILL INCREASE PROBABILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS AND SURVIVABILITY IN COMBAT AND IRREGULAR WARFARE OPERATIONS DUE TO THE REDUCED VISUAL SIGNATURE IN THESE OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS.

2. THE NWU TYPE II AND III ARE OF UNISEX DESIGN AND INCLUDES THE NAVY’S LOGO ANCHOR CONSTITUTION EAGLE (ACE) DESIGN IN THE PRINT OF THE FABRIC. THE NWU TYPE II AND III WILL UNDERGO CONFORMANCE TESTING DURING 2010 TO VALIDATE DESIGN, FIT, AND WEAR. A PHASED FLEET DISTRIBUTION WILL COMMENCE ONCE CONFORMANCE TESTING IS COMPLETE WITH PRIORITY DISTRIBUTION TO DEPLOYING COMBAT AND DIRECT COMBAT SUPPORT COMMANDS AND UNITS.

3. OCCASION FOR WEAR:
A. THE NWU TYPE II WILL BE WORN ONLY BY NAVY SPECIAL WARFARE (NSW) PERSONNEL, SAILORS ASSIGNED TO NSW UNITS, OR SAILORS ASSIGNED TO UNITS DIRECTLY SUPPORTING NSW MISSIONS WITHIN THE THEATER OF OPERATIONS. IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES, THE NWU TYPE II WILL ONLY BE WORN BY THE AFOREMENTIONED AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ON TRAINING RANGES OR DURING ACTUAL OPERATIONS REQUIRING A DESERT CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORM. ALL OTHER COMMANDS AND INDIVIDUALS REQUIRING THE WEAR OF DESERT CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORMS WILL CONTINUE TO WEAR THE CURRENT TRI-COLOR DESERT CAMOUFLAGE UTILITY UNIFORM.
B. THE NWU TYPE III WILL REPLACE THE EXISTING TRI-COLORED WOODLAND CAMOUFLAGE UTILITY UNIFORM AND WILL BE THE STANDARD CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORM WORN IN CONUS AND CAN BE WORN DEPLOYED AS PRESCRIBED BY COMBATANT COMMANDERS. OCCASION FOR WEAR OF THE NWU TYPE III WILL BE THE SAME AS THE CURRENT WOODLAND CAMOUFLAGE UTILITY UNIFORM PER REF A, COMMANDS AND SAILORS CURRENTLY AUTHORIZED TO WEAR THE WOODLAND CAMOUFLAGE UTILITY UNIFORM (CUU) WILL CONTINUE TO WEAR THE CUU AS THEIR PRIMARY DAILY UNIFORM UNTIL THEIR TRANSITION TO THE NEW NWU TYPE III.
C. CNIC NAVY SECURITY FORCE SAILORS, TO INCLUDE AUXILIARY SECURITY FORCES AND RESERVE SECURITY FORCES, WILL WEAR NWU TYPE I (BLUE/GREY/BLACK) UNLESS ASSIGNED TO NSW COMMANDS AS OUTLINED IN PARAGRAPH 3A.

4. BASIC NWU TYPE II AND III COMPONENTS INCLUDE BROWN COTTON UNDERSHIRT, BLACK BOOT SOCKS, BLOUSING STRAPS, NAVY CERTIFIED DESERT TAN OR BROWN BRUSHLESS BOOTS, 1 1/4 INCH BLACK COTTON, NYLON OR ELASTIC WOVEN WEB BELT WITH BLACK TIP AND BLACK OPEN FACE BUCKLE OR 1 3/4 INCH WIDE BLACK OR TAN ONE PIECE ADJUSTABLE NYLON WEBBING RIGGERS BELT WITH FORGED STEEL BUCKLE,D-RING AND HOOK AND LOOP FASTENER, EIGHT POINT UTILITY CAP, UNISEX BLOUSE AND TROUSERS, EMBROIDERED COLLAR DEVICES (E4 AND ABOVE), SERVICE AND NAME TAPE.

5. PRESCRIBED NWU TYPE II AND III COMPONENTS INCLUDE MATCHING PATTERN WATERPROOF AND BREATHABLE FABRIC PARKA WITH REMOVABLE TAN FLEECE LINER AND SLIP ON RANK INSIGNIA FOR EXTREME COLD WEATHER SYSTEM (ECWS) PARKAS AND BLACK KNIT WATCH CAP.

6. OPTIONAL COMPONENTS INCLUDE SMOOTH BLACK LEATHER BOOTS, BROWN BOOT SOCKS, EARMUFFS (WITH OUTER-GARMENTS ONLY), EARRINGS (GOLD BALL FOR FEMALE E7 AND ABOVE AND SILVER BALL FOR FEMALE E6 AND BELOW), AND BLACK LEATHER GLOVES.

7. MANNER OF WEAR: THE MANNER OF WEAR OF THE NWU TYPE II AND III WILL BE CONSISTENT WITH THE CURRENT CAMOUFLAGE UTILITY UNIFORMS (DESERT AND WOODLAND) AS OUTLINED IN REF B. THE NWU TYPE II AND III WILL BE PROCURED AND ISSUED AS ORGANIZATIONAL CLOTHING AND WILL REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THE ISSUING COMMAND.

8. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL AUTHORITY FOR THE NWU TYPE II AND III IS ASSIGNED TO NAVAL FACILITIES ENGINEERING COMMAND (NAVFAC). PROGRAM MANAGER AND TECHNICAL AUTHORITY FOR THE DIGITAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERNS IS ASSIGNED TO PROGRAM MANAGER SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES SURVIVAL, SUPPORT AND EQUIPMENT SYSTEMS (PM-SOF SSES), US ARMY SOLDIER SYSTEMS CENTER, NATICK AS DIRECTED BY NSW. DISTRIBUTION AUTHORITY OF THE NWU TYPE II IS ASSIGNED TO COMMANDER, NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE COMMAND. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING AVAILABILITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE NWU TYPE II AND III WILL BE ANNOUNCED VIA FUTURE NAVADMIN.

9. FILE THIS NAVADMIN UNTIL CHANGES ARE INCORPORATED INTO THE QUARTERLY BUPERS DIRECTIVE CD-ROM CHANGE CONTAINING REF A. IN THE INTERIM, FOR MORE INFORMATION ON UNIFORMS AND UNIFORM POLICY, VISIT THE NAVY UNIFORM MATTERS WEBSITE AT HTTP://WWW.NPC.NAVY.MIL/COMMANDSUPPORT/USNAVYUNIFORMS/.

10. POINTS OF CONTACTS:
Edited for PERSEC

11. RELEASED BY VADM MARK FERGUSON, N1.//

Posted in Camo, Clothing, PM-SOF | Comments Off on AOR Comes out of the Closet and into the Seabag

The Plastic Rucksack Letter

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

This letter is priceless. Take a moment to read through it.

Letter to SefDef

It seems as though members of Congress have taken to talking to any old yahoo they can round up when they are on “fact finding” trips to exotic locales. It doesn’t seem to matter if any of what said yahoo complains about makes any sense.

Nothing like talking to GIs who have no idea what they are talking about. Of course the Soldiers were referring to the MOLLE rucksack. Somehow, the “plastic” frame is now an entire rucksack with matching plastic straps. Newsflash, I had the same problems with my arms and hands falling asleep back in the bad old days before we had high tech “plastic” rucksacks. The ALICE pack, affectionately known as the “big green tick” would put your arms to sleep just the same. This has much more to do with the load and a lot less to do with the pack.

Camo issues? Hello! The Army is knee deep in it. How about you give them a chance to at least bust their own time line before calling them out?

I am still scratching my head over the comments about needing a larger clothing allowance. I was under the impression that the Army is issuing FR ACUs to deployed troops for free. I guess the Overseas COLA isn’t enough to cover beer these days in Vincenza.

Interestingly, the letter wants to know what the Army is doing to “procure a superior replacement rifle, such as those used by our Special Operations forces (sic).” Do they mean like the SCAR? Excuse me while I guffaw. What wonder weapon are they talking about exactly?

Ok, so what do we have here? GIs want MultiCam. GIs hate their “plastic” rucksacks. GIs hate the M4 and want SOF weapons. GIs want even more of a clothing allowance (aka beer money). Hell, they could have found all of that out by spending five minutes on an internet message board.

Leadership and training are going to fix some of these issues long before the material developer can intercede. Until that happen clean your weapons and employ them properly, take a serious look at your load and accept some risk to lighten it, and use basic soldier skills to camouflage yourself and your equipment.

Posted in Camo, Clothing, Congress, Load Carrying, Packs, weapons | Comments Off on The Plastic Rucksack Letter

The Soldier Systems Daily Christmas Wish List

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

There are three things we would like to see happen in the Soldier Systems world for our American Warriors.

1. A New Camo Pattern for the Army (and Air Force). Something effective would be nice.

2. Change the Color of Small Arms from Black to Anything Earth-tone. SOCOM seems to have figured it out with the SCAR. Flat Dark Earth works pretty well.

3. Fresh Drawers for the Marines. A little known problem is that Marine Corps has a policy to reissue cold weather long underwear once a Marine turns them in. We get being thrifty and all but come on. Who wants to wear a pair of underwear that some other guy wore for 12 months before you? The Army has a Soldier retain them throughout their career and the Air Force doesn’t want anything back that was worn against the skin. Maybe somebody on the Hill can see their way to a set aside for underwear.

Posted in Camo, Clothing, weapons | Comments Off on The Soldier Systems Daily Christmas Wish List

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

But these guys are all warm and snuggly in their snow camouflage. Strike – Hold! has put together a great post on various issue and commercial snow camo from around the globe. Enjoy…

“‘Tis the Season – for Snow Camo!”

Tags: Strike - Hold!
Posted in Camo, Foreign | Comments Off on The Weather Outside is Frightful

Camo Test Photos from Afganistan

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

I know, I know, these things have shown up all over the web. I have been asking and asking PEO-Soldier for pictures and they have politely informed me that they aren’t quite ready to release any photos yet. The UCP-Delta uniforms and equipment have been in theater for awhile now but the MultiCam test items just reached troops within the last two weeks. So I can understand their position. What’s the point of just looking at one side of the equation? I mean someone may see that only UCP-D photos are out there and say that the Army is biased and already made up its mind.

Ironically, we all get to see our first glimpses of UCP-Delta in use on CNN. And then, today, DoD’s Digital Imagery & Video Distribution System releases several photos of US troops in Afghanistan doing what they do; soldiering. It just so happens that some of them are wearing UCP-D.

Now, I am sure you have noticed that some of the troops in the photos are from the 82d Airborne Division (2d Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment to be exact). No, they were not initially intended to participate in testing. About 1,000 uniforms were made in UCP-D, plus about 200 extras. CJTF-82 made the decision on who would receive test items and not PEO-Soldier. 3-61, being a squadron, rather than a battalion, has well under 1,200 Soldiers and consequently, the decision was made to spread the wealth so to speak. Looks like the paratrooper wearing the Arc’teryx Kneecaps is a Grey Group customer (just sayin’).

The Tactical Assault Platform (TAP) is in UCP-Delta.

Pictures of 4th ID Soldiers wearing MultiCam ACUs also began to show up. Unfortunately, it seems that their MultiCam TA-50 hadn’t been issued when these were taken.

Tags: UCP-Delta
Posted in Camo, Load Carrying | Comments Off on Camo Test Photos from Afganistan

MTP – The Competition

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Britain’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has released a photo showing the multitude of patterns that were tested in order to settle on the new Multi Terrain Pattern.

Click on the photo for a larger view

Tags: MTP
Posted in Camo, Foreign | Comments Off on MTP – The Competition

Testing the New British Camouflage

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Our friend Dom Hyde, posted this article from the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).

According to the article, which goes into great depth about their goals and methodology, “Dstl assessed whether a multi-terrain camouflage was better than the standard army woodland camouflage disruptive pattern material (DPM) or the desert DPM and if so what is the best pattern, or balance of colours. The two current camouflage schemes were tested alongside an existing off-the-shelf multi-terrain camouflage to see which performed best across various backgrounds that soldiers are likely to encounter across the landscape in Afghanistan.” Sounds an awful lot like what the US is currently doing.

Perhaps, based on the UK experience of adapting the Crye color palette to their pattern, the right answer for the US is to do something similar. It seems that the MultiCam pattern is challenging for the supply chain to sustain due to its complexity in printing. Apparently it is difficult for inspectors to quickly approve material printed in the pattern as they must look over the sample and decide whether it meets spec for color shading and blending. Due to the US obsession with so-called digital patterns, if a pixelated version were created, it would be much easier to print and quicker for the inspectors to proof. However, it would lose some of its effectiveness due to the loss of the fades in the pattern.

Tags: Crye Precision, MTP
Posted in Camo, Foreign | Comments Off on Testing the New British Camouflage