Word from the Army Times is that most of the troops prefer the Marines approach to the battle uniforms.
[i]
Troops in Afghanistan would get new uniforms
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jun 21, 2009 14:23:20 EDT
Congress is about to order new combat uniforms for troops in Afghanistan after hearing complaints that camouflage that was fine in Iraq doesn’t work so well in a mountainous and often muddy environment.
“Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan have serious concerns about the current combat uniform which they indicated provides ineffective camouflage given the environment in Afghanistan,” lawmakers say in the report accompanying HR 2346, the 2009 supplemental appropriations act.
The bill passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, 226-202. It heads to the Senate for approval.
Tell us: Do you think the Army needs a special uniform for Afghanistan?
The bill orders the Defense Department to “take immediate action to provide combat uniforms to personnel deployed to Afghanistan with a camouflage pattern that is suited to the environment of Afghanistan.”
There is no extra money in the bill to cover the cost of issuing new uniforms but lawmakers indicated they might be willing to help, if needed. They want a full report by fall on plans and budget adjustments needed to provide new uniforms to both deployed troops and those who are deploying, the report says.
The $106 billion bill includes $79.9 billion for the Defense Department, mostly to cover cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Costs of uniforms would come from the $32.5 billion set aside in the bill for operations and maintenance.[/i]
If true, then thank God someone has come to their senses. I wonder how many soldiers were wounded and killed because they stood out like a sore thumb.:mad:
I’m guessing from the article that they’ll use an existing pattern, like the older desert cammies until they can come up with something new. I don’t know if they can change the USMC pattern because it has lots of little EGAs all through it and there’s no way in hell the Army would wear them so that’s probably a no-go, plus following the Marine Corps is not they’re style. Who knows they might go with Multicam since there’s already a lot of it out there and they could probably open purchase a butt load of it pretty quickly.
I actually like the velcro. My prior experience was with the BDUs and Jungle Fatigues and at least with the velcro you don’t have to pay for having your rank and patches sewn on. I do however, hate having to use pin-on badges!! :mad:
it’s not a rumour, as there have been pic’s of them posted in it, and on TV one night watching the NBC nightly news about a month ago, they had a segment/story/ride along with the Joint Narcotics Interdiction Team or something to that effect, which are SF guys, DEA and afgan ‘troops’, and all the US guys were wearing gen 2 Crye multicam.
