Army Backs Off Talk of Using Marine Camouflage Pattern

[The Holmchicken]

What's funny is all the people who champion the ACU, the ABU (Air Force uniform), MARPAT and the Navy "blueberry" clusterfuck are the people who don't go outside of the wire, don't hump up and down the mountains, don't do the fighting. I have yet to see the ABU or the blueberry out in the field. People either wear multicam (cryes or issued, depending on the unit) or the desert MARPAT. That's it. All the other uniforms have no pratical function outside the FOB or the PX. Which should tell you the mentality of the leadership in each organization. It's a leaf eating garrison mentality and it shows in how they outfit their resepctive organizations. The whole thing is extremely expensive and wasteful in time, money and lives (how many guys were killed because they stood out like a bedsheet in a grassfield while wearing the ACU?). Just sickening. There were numerous, commercial-off-the-shelf products readily available and mass producing those products would have required a fraction of the money and time that went into all the horseshit R & D that produced these absolutely horrible uniforms. The Marines got it right with their uniforms but instead of being team players, they're acting like toddlers. Yet in the same breath, they whine and bitch about not being in JSOC. Share with us and we'll share with you because honestly, and I'm going on a personnel tangent here, we really have no need for the Marines in JSOC. They have brought nothing to the table that hasn't already been duplicated at nauseum in a variety of currently active units. They just want the money. Well fine, then give us you're fucking uniform and stop whining about it.

[mortar_guy78]

When have they ever listened to the actual ground pounders and what works equipment/uniform-wise?

X2

It seems that they only ever get the opinion of the fat ass chick that works in the finance office whenever it comes to MREs, gear, etc.

All input that I have ever heard that came from real, actual combat soldiers has been flatly ignored.

[scar]

When have they ever listened to the actual ground pounders and what works equipment/uniform-wise?

X2

It seems that they only ever get the opinion of the fat ass chick that works in the finance office whenever it comes to MREs, gear, etc.

All input that I have ever heard that came from real, actual combat soldiers has been flatly ignored.

When I was at Drum they had us trying out that God awful "ruck" with a plastic frame. EVERYONE hated it!

Lo and behold, its standard issue now. The same ruck some FEMALE Colonel said we could carry 150lbs "comfortably" with now.

I still use the large ALICE ruck myself....or my Kifaru.

Point being, exactly what you said, its always some limp dicked office fag whose idea of "having been to the field before" was running mermites out to the field so officers could have hot coffee.

Dear God I forgot about that shit show of a ruck, that thing was the biggest pain in the ass the one and only time I used it, unfortunatly it was in RS. I did break the shit out of it in Florida though so I could be issued an Alice pack.

[Baseplate]

Molle ruck and LCE thingy we were the one of 1st ones issued that shit in 2002. We fucking hated all of it. One day the RSM came out and this E6 gave reasons why it sucked and how using it sucked and asked if we could get something better because at that point we wanted to go back to the old style LCE. The RSM just listened and said You are going to use the Molle and left

[C-MAC]

I get having equipment that is mission specific by branch or unit for that matter. That's easy to conceptualize.

But I also concede there is applicability for equipment across branches for individual items also. Like. I don't know- a uniform?

If they have found the Rosetta Stone of camo that works better than others and in turn save lives; why behave like a bunch of schoolgirl pouts? Why spend tons of money and resources that can be better spent on other, more productive efforts? Just to be a dick and show everyone how special you are? Yeah, that's productive and will win you tons of accolades. :?

I am missing the argument as to why they need to look different- and their camo is...part of that look? They should kick somebody's ass just for uttering that stupid statement.

And before anyone starts, I hate the USAF ABU. What the hell are they trying to do- make airman harder to see when they are standing next to an aircraft? Cripes, if so they better hope it never takes off. They might as well be wearing a safety vest with a kick me sign on it.

[matman]

This uniform issue is some what of a sore spot with me as well. I remember reading sometime in the last 6 months or so that there was a possible mandate coming in politically based on the fact that EVERY unit had a different uniform, and it was dangerous for the soldiers, sailors/marines out there fighting. The issue was how do you ID friendlies when they could be in BDUs, DCUs, ACUs, ABUs, MARPAT woodland or dessert, Multicam, Dessery Tiger stripe, Tan BDUs or the Navy's new blues. I have come to see this as more of an issue as my first deployment was to Iraq, the land of ALL 31 flavors of uniforms and then some! You can roll up on a checkpoint and see any manner of camo out there, and furthermore go to the store and BUY any of those in a local downtown areas. There has to be a line drawn at somepoint to say hey guys, lets cut this or that, and be reasonable. I dont think the Marine camo is bad, but what a true TEAM PLAYER attitude they have shown! At this point I could care less IF we use thier shtuff or not. I honestly think there's alot of hype about finding the ultimate uniform, then the ACU came out and bombed so big that now leaders are SCARED to adapt Multicam as the official one stop setup. It really wouldnt matter if you went MC with tan, green or brown gear, it would all be better than the current ACU, ABU, Navy blue setups.

All that said we did some team research on area specific camo patterns in our last AO, I was the Multicam pusher, and we of course had like 31 other good idea fairies pushing everything else, but in the end MC ended up being the supperior camo for the AO. I had to remind guys that the military is using MC to success in Afghanistan FOR A REASON, it WORKS! To many folks think they should re-invent the wheel I think.

And the ruck... thats another topic altogether! As for boots, I think the Army, navy whoever should issue one or two kinds of boots, and IF your gonna get something else buy it yourself and write it off at tax time or have a way to re-emberse guys for buying a theater specific set of boots that will WORK for them. I've never been issued but one pair of boots that workout of for me size/comfort wise. I know 12 different guys I work with who use about 5 or more different types/brands of boots or shoes. Its all gonna be a personal preference in the end and allow guys that choice would save money, and give better results IMO.

Sorry if that came across as to much of a rant, just some personal pet peeves! Dont get me started on the fobbits that carry unloaded weapons on a one point sling that smack muzzle of thier weapon into the ground when they go to top off thier plates in the chow hall...

[rgrokelley]

It's some asshole who thinks he needs to justify his job so he makes useless changes.

Shinseki