Dud army uniforms....

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi

I was never a big fan of a one size fits all pattern... so this is interesting...

http://theweek.com/article/index/229924/how-pixelated-uniforms-turned-soldiers-into-walking-targets

[dmiller8]

I, and possibly all other former soldiers from the 1970's to the 1990's, was awash in several different patterns of camouflage uniforms on the way to this unmitigated disaster. I wore the famous OG 107 fatigues from 1977 until swapped out for the Forest Green Camo-pattern BDU's in 1981; the infamous flammable version with the floppy spread collar. In Fort Hood during 1984, I was allowed to purchase the OG ripstop jungle fatigues from the Vietnam era because a hot-weather BDU was still in development. When taking command of a Basic Training Company on Fort Knox in 1985, I switched back to a newer BDU with a smaller collar and an improved resistance to sudden burn-up caused by exposure to a match flame (for dealing with those loose threads). After I changed command assignments, I went to Recruiting Command with a whole new uniform requirement: the Class A (service dress in "olive green") and Class B (AG 415 dress shirt and AG 445 trousers). The original green uniform I had, made of long-lasting wool serge material was replaced by a 100% polyester fabric guaranteed to cause cancer in many species of lab animal . The uniform shirt changed four times as well. The first version was tan and was never intended to be worn as an outer garment. The second was green and had simple patch pockets and shoulder loops for the rank slides (told that story in the thread about the 5-star general's rank slides). The third version was made of a thicker perma-press fabric so that recruiters (and other soldiers as well) could wear their ribbons and badges. This generated a lot of business for the post uniform shops as ribbon racks would be routinely destroyed by seat belts in cars. The final version before they became obsolete was designed with pleats on the pockets, imitating the old cotton khaki shirts I was originally issued in 1977. Now the new soldiers have to wear Dress Blues as his/her Class A uniform. And if you want to hear my theory of why the trousers are a lighter shade of blue than the jacket for all ranks except Generals, the idea possibly dates back to the Mexican War of 1847-48, when soldiers would wash their trousers more often than the jacket and fight in their shirt sleeves most of the time. Generals, in their infinite dignity, wore their jackets and trousers together and laundered them together (as well as avoided more strenuous activities) and the pants never faded to a lighter shade of blue :speechless: