USAF to adopt Army's OCP camo

[Slater]

About damn time. Get rid of that awful pseudo-tiger stripe pattern:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AFNS) -- Air Force leaders announced the service will move to a single combat utility uniform, adopting the Operational Camouflage Pattern, or OCP, already in use by the Army and Airmen in combat zones and in certain jobs across the Air Force.

http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1520066/air-force-transitions-to-a-single-combat-uniform/

[Vandal]

About friggin time..... The ABU was a horrible gift from some moron USAF Good Idea Fairy that should have never happened. I hated that uniform and it permanently creased sleeves. Yes, the sleeves had perm-creases because some upper NCO or officer thought it was a neat thing to do.....

[BrigandTwoFour]

It was only a matter of time. I'm no longer in, but wearing my ABU pants out on a ruck session will feel distinctly "retro" now (like BDUs before that)

[Slater]

Probably the only camo uniform I can think of whose stated primary purpose was not to provide concealment but to be "distinctive". Moronic.

[thei3ug]

I have seen stranger things in China, Malaysia, etc., there are plenty of places where the use of camouflage patterns is solely as a uniform without the purpose of or properties necessary for concealment. I never did get around to snagging any of the stranger ones. ABU had the distinction of being not the absolute worst at its nominal purpose, though I have seen women's spring blouses with better attributes.

[turnburglar]

its the Army’s fault in the first place that the Air Force had to adopt the ABU. If they never would have retarded the ACU so friggin badely, than we probably could have just followed suit.

Honestly when i deployed i was rocking OCP, but if i had to choose between ABU or ACU the Airmans uniform is way better for hiding in cubicles or proning out on the flight line.

[SomeOtherGuy]

Probably the only camo uniform I can think of whose stated primary purpose was not to provide concealment but to be "distinctive". Moronic.

You know about the Navy's navy-blue digital camo monstrosity, right? It only hides you in the water, and it's not something you'd wear if you intend to go in the water.

[Jewell]

Really this shit is getting out of control. I remember when the Marine Corps went digital. At that point, those of us that had already been in for awhile were pretty reluctant to change. Mostly b/c we had to pay for the damn things out of our own pockets. We all held out as long as we could until our company 1st Sgt threatened to sand blast our skin if we didn't buy them.

[ABNAK]

You know about the Navy's navy-blue digital camo monstrosity, right? It only hides you in the water, and it's not something you'd wear if you intend to go in the water.

If I was in the Navy and my ship sunk, leaving me floating out there, the last damn thing I'd want to look like is water!

[soulezoo]

ABU... unfortunately, I still have all my issue hanging in the closet. Yes, I've been retired a few years. When I deployed to Kandahar, I got Crye multicam. And that KDF armor... I know, I know.

As a Shirt having to manage the changeover to ABU from BDU, the troops were excited. They were giddy at being able to vote on the pattern and win out with "Tiger Stripes". Cool baby. What's old is new again. Then when they actually arrived and everything was sage... well a collective sigh let out. Anyone with an eye could see that an airman was camouflaged from sage brush and nothing else. Sad. OCP is a step in a better direction even if the majority of airman never see off base much less even a flightline.

[Cagemonkey]

If I was in the Navy and my ship sunk, leaving me floating out there, the last damn thing I'd want to look like is water!
EXACTLY!!! The Army and Air Force should share land uniforms, likewise the Navy should use Marine land uniforms.

[flenna]

EXACTLY!!! The Army and Air Force should share land uniforms, likewise the Navy should use Marine land uniforms.

Or at least make it battleship gray camo so they can hide aboard ship.

[ThirdWatcher]

I’m old school (wore OD Green fatigues ‘73-76) but I’ve kinda wondered why all these camoflage uniforms aren’t theater-specific rather than branch-specific?

[Slater]

I believe the Marines are the only service to currently maintain a desert-pattern uniform. OCP is supposed to be a one-pattern-fits-all uniform.

[BoringGuy45]

I’m old school (wore OD Green fatigues ‘73-76) but I’ve kinda wondered why all these camoflage uniforms aren’t theater-specific rather than branch-specific?

It's the Marines' fault. My understanding is that is that one of their biggest reasons for picking up MARPAT was because they wanted something that was distinct from the other services, rather than any major shortcomings with the woodland and desert patterns of the time. Obviously, all the other services said that if the Marines got new uniforms, they wanted new uniforms too.

I never fully understood the need for a multi-terrain camouflage pattern. Yeah, Multicam largely works as advertised, being relatively effective in both wooded and arid environments. But why not just stick with two (or more) patterns that are ideally suited for their specific environments? That makes more sense. The only logic I can see behind the decision for a one size fits all pattern is that bean counters figured that one combined uniform would trim budgets.

[SomeOtherGuy]

I’m old school (wore OD Green fatigues ‘73-76) but I’ve kinda wondered why all these camoflage uniforms aren’t theater-specific rather than branch-specific?

That would be logical, and wouldn't generate make-work for an officer staff and some civilian hangers-on.


I never fully understood the need for a multi-terrain camouflage pattern. Yeah, Multicam largely works as advertised, being relatively effective in both wooded and arid environments. But why not just stick with two (or more) patterns that are ideally suited for their specific environments? That makes more sense. The only logic I can see behind the decision for a one size fits all pattern is that bean counters figured that one combined uniform would trim budgets.

This varies by region, but in mountain/desert areas you could be in three or more totally different color environments just by going up and down in elevation: gray granite at the top of mountains, evergreen forests high up the slopes, brighter green deciduous forests lower on the slopes, and various colors of desert (sage green, red/orange clay, or yellow sand) in the bottom of the valleys. I can see a benefit to having a single pattern that's adequate for all of those vs. having the ideal desert pattern and sticking out in the forest.

[Slater]

Curiously enough, the old six-color "chocolate chip" desert pattern works pretty well in some autumn woodland environments.

[ABNAK]

I've seen pics of the OCP in wooded environments, in Afghanistan, and in northern Iraq/Syria. It does pretty good in all those. Haven't seen any with it in flat-out desert like Kuwait or Saudi though.

[HardToHandle]

It's the Marines' fault. My understanding is that is that one of their biggest reasons for picking up MARPAT was because they wanted something that was distinct from the other services, rather than any major shortcomings with the woodland and desert patterns of the time. Obviously, all the other services said that if the Marines got new uniforms, they wanted new uniforms too.

The uniform fiasco is mostly the Corps’ fault. They felt the need to always be special inside the post-WWII DOD, when the Depts of War and Navy were combined. Fast forward to 1980, when they need the Eagle, Globe and Anchor added onto the BDUs that every other service thought were fine.

Fast forward another 20 years, 2000, and Uncle Sam’s Most Coddled think they need to look different than everyone else, even though there were several years of joint uniform improvement projects. The Corps runs their own project, incorporating their trademark EGA and demonstrates their respect for the concept of jointness. The Corps argument was the blob based DCU and woodland patterns had shortcomings under night vision (arguably some truth). In the end the Corps produced a pretty effective set of camouflage patterns in a decent uniform design, in a calculated manner to effectively waste taxpayer dollars. The rest of the services, led by the Army, doubled down on dumb, with service-specific patterns.

Fast forward another 15 years and the Army bumbles into the Scorpion, intellectual property they have owned for years after finding it remarkably effective. Good decision by the Air Force to follow the Army lead in the OCP/Multicam/Scorpion uniforms, which are well vetted, well supported and well accepted by the Air Force at war. The good news is 15 years from now, the E-3 born in 2011 will be complaining about their outdated uniform.

[Averageman]

The Woodland pattern and the Chocolate Chip desert BDUs were fine.
After the second or third day of constant wear they were only better.
What looks good in garrison shouldn't determine what works best in the field.
Once they're dusty, sweaty and muddy they're better camouflage.

[BoringGuy45]

That would be logical, and wouldn't generate make-work for an officer staff and some civilian hangers-on.



This varies by region, but in mountain/desert areas you could be in three or more totally different color environments just by going up and down in elevation: gray granite at the top of mountains, evergreen forests high up the slopes, brighter green deciduous forests lower on the slopes, and various colors of desert (sage green, red/orange clay, or yellow sand) in the bottom of the valleys. I can see a benefit to having a single pattern that's adequate for all of those vs. having the ideal desert pattern and sticking out in the forest.

I think you could have the best of both worlds, that is, an environment specific pattern, but with gradient colors that are effective in transition. There's already multicam patterns like that.

[BrigandTwoFour]

The uniform fiasco is mostly the Corps’ fault. They felt the need to always be special inside the post-WWII DOD, when the Depts of War and Navy were combined. Fast forward to 1980, when they need the Eagle, Globe and Anchor added onto the BDUs that every other service thought were fine.

Fast forward another 20 years, 2000, and Uncle Sam’s Most Coddled think they need to look different than everyone else, even though there were several years of joint uniform improvement projects. The Corps runs their own project, incorporating their trademark EGA and demonstrates their respect for the concept of jointness. The Corps argument was the blob based DCU and woodland patterns had shortcomings under night vision (arguably some truth). In the end the Corps produced a pretty effective set of camouflage patterns in a decent uniform design, in a calculated manner to effectively waste taxpayer dollars. The rest of the services, led by the Army, doubled down on dumb, with service-specific patterns.

Fast forward another 15 years and the Army bumbles into the Scorpion, intellectual property they have owned for years after finding it remarkably effective. Good decision by the Air Force to follow the Army lead in the OCP/Multicam/Scorpion uniforms, which are well vetted, well supported and well accepted by the Air Force at war. The good news is 15 years from now, the E-3 born in 2011 will be complaining about their outdated uniform.

SSD did a long series on camo a few years back (when the Army was downselecting to OCP). It was a good series.

The short version was this:

1. Army decides it wants to replace woodland/DCU with something else. It runs a series of tests, two of the products are Crye's "Scorpion" and something called "All over brush"

2. Marines take the opportunity to develop their own pattern based on the Canadian CADPAT, but using their own four colors.

3. Everyone else really likes MARPAT and wants to use it, Marines say no.

4. Army decides they still want digital pixelation. They takes MARPAT, reduces it to three colors instead of 4, use the colors from the "All Over Brush" test pattern, and calls it UCP.

5. Air Force sees what everyone else did and says they want their own. The original digitized tiger stripe had blue in it, but they eventually settle for using the same colors as UCP.

6. Army/Air Force realize their patterns suck in theater and look to the market to fill the gap. Since the competition, Crye had taken the Scorpion pattern, modified it slightly, and started selling it back to the government as Multicam.

7. Army starts another camo competition, Crye's Multicam wins. Crye doesn't agree to give up the rights to the pattern for what the government offered. Army realizes they still hold rights to the original Scorpion pattern. Army decides to make uniforms in Scorpion, and calls it OCP.

[SomeOtherGuy]

I think you could have the best of both worlds, that is, an environment specific pattern, but with gradient colors that are effective in transition. There's already multicam patterns like that.

No argument. But Multicam/Scorpion/OCP-yeah-you-know-me is pretty good for the current environments. If we ever end up fighting in a tropical rainforest (again), or in an arctic/mountain area, I imagine different patterns will be fielded. Probably just in time for us to declare victory, leave, and watch the ensuing collapse on CNN.

[pinzgauer]

No argument. But Multicam/Scorpion/OCP-yeah-you-know-me is pretty good for the current environments. If we ever end up fighting in a tropical rainforest (again), or in an arctic/mountain area, I imagine different patterns will be fielded. Probably just in time for us to declare victory, leave, and watch the ensuing collapse on CNN.There are desert and tropical/verdant flavors of the major camo families that work better in the unique environments based on testing. But really suck outside of those. The testing was pretty interesting, and regular multicam/ocp does pretty well in it's standard and environmental flavors.

Scorpion does not have some of the vertical metapatterns that multicam does, so not clear to me that it's quite as effective.

The Seabee camo did quite well, forget what it's called. (U4CES?)

I use some A-TACS for hunting to avoid OCP wannabee looks, but it's hard to argue with multicam effectiveness.

[ThirdWatcher]

To me, that’s all madness. What a waste of money! I know my time has passed (although I am a retired LEO) but I do have two young-us serving active duty Army (10+ years) so I do care. I’ve thought for the longest time that fatigue uniforms ought to be theater-specific, regardless of branch and if anything, the old OD Green fatigues we wore would serve just fine in CONUS. Get rid of those hideous velcro name tags and sew on the embroidered name tags (& rank & branch insignia on the collar for Officers). Sure would be a hulluva lot more practical than those “pinks and greens” they want to push on the troops. Just sayin...

[Slater]

For the Israelis, plain green seems to be OK for them in every environment from urban to desert.

[Amicus]

For the Israelis, plain green seems to be OK for them in every environment from urban to desert.

I have heard that the IDF will (rarely) issue uniforms that have some camo, but only for operation-specific reasons. And, yeah, OD otherwise.

Or, you could take the old SAS approach and roll around in some leaked out engine oil at the motor pool, then in the local dirt.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Or, you could take the old SAS approach and roll around in some leaked out engine oil at the motor pool, then in the local dirt.

I wonder if they abandoned that practice once they started using flash-bangs. Burns suck.