Pics of Multicam on the streets of Afghanistan

[Geoffrey]

Any idea who is making these?

Are they Crye? Propper?

I have a full propper set of acu style multicam the pics look like a different/darker pattern than mine.

[120mm]

Excuse the totaly newb question....but what does ISAF stand for? It looks like ISAF anyway.....

Actually, it stands for "I Suck At Fighting" or alternatively, "I Saw Americans Fighting".



I kid..... a little.

[Armati]

You take current contract holders for those who already produce uniforms in the ACU cut and give them new fabric.

Wrong!

You take the current crop of unflushed turds on the uniform committee that gave us the ACU in the first place and they still refuse to admit they are wrong.

Quick ACU history lesson:

Crye worked with Natick on the new 'soldier system' about 15 years ago.

Crye and Natick had a falling out over the intellectual property rights of Mulitcam and the Crye uniform pattern.

SOF guys had been modding their uniforms for years.

The Army wanted a modded uniform that would be compatible with body armor. So, a committee of Big Army SGM's was formed to come up with such a uniform. The uniform they developed was designed to fit pregnant females and fat SGM's. It was only so-so as a combat uniform with body armor in 100+ degree heat because combat was a secondary consideration. The primary consideration of the board was how it looked in garrison.

SOF kept their modded DCU's and BDU's for as long as possible because ACU's suck. This made Big Army very grumpy - especially SGM's.

After being offered the Crye Combat Shirt 15 years earlier, the Army realized they needed a combat shirt for use with body armor. They put the ultra-ghey Army Strong on it just prove a point. This shirt looks very bad on fat turds - especially SGM's.

[variablebinary]

BDU's are dead and let them stay that way. The layout sucks, and the material and cut makes it feel hot as hell. There is also a huge lack of utility compared to the ACU pattern

Death to the starch and polish era too. Sewing on patches is BS.

[Belmont31R]

BDU's are dead and let them stay that way. The layout sucks, and the material and cut makes it feel hot as hell. There is also a huge lack of utility compared to the ACU pattern

Death to the starch and polish era too. Sewing on patches is BS.

I always thought it was stupid as hell to have uniform inspections every Monday morning where our BDU's had to be highly pressed with starch, and boots shined to a high gloss. Then directly after formation we head to the motor pool to do motor maintenance, and within 10-20 minutes the uniforms look like shit, and the boots are scuffed to hell.


Then the fact coating boots with polish, and uniforms with starch means they dont work properly IE they do not breath at all so in the summer you get extra sweaty with all that starch embedded in the fabric.


I am glad the Army is slowly becoming more utilitarian in equipment/uniform procurement aside from the dumb ass UCP pattern. Should have gone MC in the 1st place. Overall Im very happy to see them coming around, and doing away with the dog and pony show attitude that predominated the military in the 90's and up until the mid 2000's. Whoever let the morons sneak dress uniform standards onto a combat uniform should be slapped in the face with a leather riding glove until their face bleeds.


Now if they can manage to downsize body armor, and go with a more lightweight setup that would be outstanding. Far and away the most injuries I saw were neck and back issues from all the weight. When you start with a 40 some pound vest setup you are already over what someone should be carrying if they have any hope of maintaining a semblance of maneuverability. Never mind all the crap you have to hang off the dang thing. My 2nd deployment with all the side plates, DAPs, ESAPI, mags, and all the other required crap I was pushing 70lbs just for the vest setup. Then I was on my feet 6-12hrs a day for months straight in it. Now I have daily back and neck pain with military docs who were uninterested in doing anything about upon redeployment. I was far from alone, too.

[kry226]

I always thought it was stupid as hell to have uniform inspections every Monday morning where our BDU's had to be highly pressed with starch, and boots shined to a high gloss. Then directly after formation we head to the motor pool to do motor maintenance, and within 10-20 minutes the uniforms look like shit, and the boots are scuffed to hell.


Then the fact coating boots with polish, and uniforms with starch means they dont work properly IE they do not breath at all so in the summer you get extra sweaty with all that starch embedded in the fabric.


I am glad the Army is slowly becoming more utilitarian in equipment/uniform procurement aside from the dumb ass UCP pattern. Should have gone MC in the 1st place. Overall Im very happy to see them coming around, and doing away with the dog and pony show attitude that predominated the military in the 90's and up until the mid 2000's. Whoever let the morons sneak dress uniform standards onto a combat uniform should be slapped in the face with a leather riding glove until their face bleeds.

Understood and agreed.

However, let's not make this an excuse to look like absolute garbage while in garrison either. A proper balance must be struck between the two, while not impeding any practicality or utility. All service members should look professional and disciplined at all times. It's what we do, it's who we are. It is a cornerstone of military service. As it should be.

ETA: Don't show up to work for me looking like you got hit by a wrinkle grenade. You'll (not you, personally) likely get skinned up a little.

[Iraq Ninja]

BDUs were a poor attempt of converting jungle fatigues for use Army wide. The slanted pockets drove CSMs crazy.

I still think the jungle fatigues were one of the best designs. The problem I have with some of the new designs on the market are the total lack of pockets because we are currently using armor and I guess they think pockets are not needed or get in the way.

[Alex F]

I always thought it was stupid as hell to have uniform inspections every Monday morning where our BDU's had to be highly pressed with starch, and boots shined to a high gloss. Then directly after formation we head to the motor pool to do motor maintenance, and within 10-20 minutes the uniforms look like shit, and the boots are scuffed to hell.


Then the fact coating boots with polish, and uniforms with starch means they dont work properly IE they do not breath at all so in the summer you get extra sweaty with all that starch embedded in the fabric.


I am glad the Army is slowly becoming more utilitarian in equipment/uniform procurement aside from the dumb ass UCP pattern. Should have gone MC in the 1st place. Overall Im very happy to see them coming around, and doing away with the dog and pony show attitude that predominated the military in the 90's and up until the mid 2000's. Whoever let the morons sneak dress uniform standards onto a combat uniform should be slapped in the face with a leather riding glove until their face bleeds.


Now if they can manage to downsize body armor, and go with a more lightweight setup that would be outstanding. Far and away the most injuries I saw were neck and back issues from all the weight. When you start with a 40 some pound vest setup you are already over what someone should be carrying if they have any hope of maintaining a semblance of maneuverability. Never mind all the crap you have to hang off the dang thing. My 2nd deployment with all the side plates, DAPs, ESAPI, mags, and all the other required crap I was pushing 70lbs just for the vest setup. Then I was on my feet 6-12hrs a day for months straight in it. Now I have daily back and neck pain with military docs who were uninterested in doing anything about upon redeployment. I was far from alone, too.

We had our 'first formation' uniform and boots that we changed out of immediately after formation into pressed and buffed (rather than starched and shined) kit.

The CQ, runner, and officers/senior NCOs would stay in their starched/shined kit, of course.

The new uniform is ok. Just ok. It's nothing to write home about and nothing that couldn't have been done with the existing patterns at the time (and had been done over and over...)

Multicam, particularly the Crye uniform pieces, is the way to go in my opinion.

[Belmont31R]

Understood and agreed.

However, let's not make this an excuse to look like absolute garbage while in garrison either. A proper balance must be struck between the two, while not impeding any practicality or utility. All service members should look professional and disciplined at all times. It's what we do, it's who we are. It is a cornerstone of military service. As it should be.

ETA: Don't show up to work for me looking like you got hit by a wrinkle grenade. You'll (not you, personally) likely get skinned up a little.

Yes you should look professional. I just don't think that means taking a combat uniform, and pressing it to the same degree or higher than the actual dress uniform.


Aside from starch not allowing the uniform to breathe I also believe it ruins the uniforms IR signature. I know even with the ACU you are not supposed to use detergents with optical enhancers.


Even with the ACU people would get in trouble for having nasty boots, and if their uniform looked like they pulled it out of the bottom of their duffel bag. I never had a problem with cleaning the boots off to get mud or whatever else off, and ACU's are easy to take care of. Just take them out the dryer as soon as they are done. I got hangers I could hang the pants on, and then the top over the pants.


I actually like the cut of the ACU a lot more than the BDU. They are more comfortable, and allow more flexability. The first ones we got were thin, and sewn together like crap but we were one of the 1st to get them due to our deployment schedule. When we got back we found out they had made the material slightly heavier, the pattern a little darker, and double stitched the crotch area.


Oh another thing to get rid of is the beret except for official duty, and parade style functions. That thing sucks as a hat everywhere except that.

[Belmont31R]

We had our 'first formation' uniform and boots that we changed out of immediately after formation into pressed and buffed (rather than starched and shined) kit.

The CQ, runner, and officers/senior NCOs would stay in their starched/shined kit, of course.

The new uniform is ok. Just ok. It's nothing to write home about and nothing that couldn't have been done with the existing patterns at the time (and had been done over and over...)

Multicam, particularly the Crye uniform pieces, is the way to go in my opinion.

Not us. We were always directed to go directly to the motor pool right after formation. Sometimes the 1SG would stand around the gate until 1130 just to make sure people didn't sneak off to the shopette when we were supposed to be doing maintenance.


Yeah the Crye uniforms look pretty damn good from a functionality standpoint. The pants with the stretch area right over your butt actually comes from mountaineering and rock climbing apparel. They've been doing that for a very long time.