Army Scuttlebutt...New Uniforms ???

The latest scuttlebutt in the Army that soldiers might be going back to their roots and start dressing like real soldiers again.

The last rime American soldiers dressed like real soldiers was back during the Vietnam War. Army khakis...

Then one day some soldier woke up on the wrong side of the cot and said why not have soldiers dress like hospital orderlies and out went the tan khakis in came the light green hospital orderly shirts.

Next it was a white shirts. Then someone decided that one didn't need to earn a beret...everyone will wear a beret without earning the right to wear a beret.

This past week the Army had a big shindig where Gen. "Mad Dog" Mattis told the Army to get combat ready. He might have been referring to North Korea ?

But something was spotted at the shindig...soldiers wearing real soldiers uniforms.

So what do you soldiers think ???

 

I like this, but the Army has been in a constant uniform change frenzy since 9/11. They've gone from BDU's to ACU's, to Multicams, and have dropped the green class A's and adopted a modified Blues. They've spent billions on this nonsense over the past couple of years.

 

It's more than obvious the Army has forgotten, "If it's not broken...don't fix it."

At least they are making an about face, going back to the past. I like the new uniforms, it's so soldier like.

The Marine Corps dress uniforms haven't changed much over the past 100 years.

Now the Army needs a new recruiting slogan.

The worse one the Army ever had was "Army of One."

I kinda liked the Army's unofficial recruiting slogan during the Vietnam War.

Join the Army; travel to exotic, distant lands; meet exciting, unusual people and kill them

 

I think they look smart the only time to wear work clothes should be at work in an armed force, off work detail they should dress well.

 

Actually it wouldn't be bad idea for the Army to have a slogan that reminds people that it's central purpose is killing people and breaking things.

 

folks working at the Pentagon wearing fatigues was very silly

folks working on Navy ships wearing fatigues is very silly.

 

Damn! Those retro style uniforms look sharp, and as you said, very Army like.

I vote an enthusiastic "Yes!"



Seth

 

I'm not a soldier. That said, I don't believe in closely fitting clothing, especially in the case of costly uniforms. It is hotter in hot weather and colder in cold weather. Additionally, if you build a bicep it leave no room for it in your sleeve.

 

Excuse me if your doing work which is dirty and demands movement then dress for safety and to stay clean, a mechanic in the army should wear suitable clothing like coveralls and those in the field in combat areas fatigues and nice comfy floppy hats if its sunny but a uniform in settings they are appropriate are to me also more proper in settings they make sense.

 

Working man here- dress for the job. If you sit at a desk, I dont care what you wear. But if you're doing actual work near dirt, you shouldn't have to wear something thats a pain in the ass to clean. Thats just cruel.

 

Work clothes like fatigues are loose-fitting. The Class A uniform is analogous to business attire. Every military base has small tailoring businesses that make the alterations that need to be made for individual soldiers' particular needs. When I was in, in warm weather areas, soldiers could wear a modified Class A uniform that was minus the outer jacket, had short sleeves, and an open collar with no tie. That jacket they're wearing is not for warmth; it is for appearance. The military has outer jackets for warmth in cold weather that match up with the type of uniform that's being worn underneath.

 

They do look good but over the last 3 decades or so the Army and uniforms seem to keep reinventing itself. Maybe we should match our enemy as of late and deploy in civies....

I did enjoy the jungle fatigues and boots, still have a pair of the boots. Wonder if Kiwi went out of business now that spit shines went the way of Spec 7 rank and pay grade?

In the worm pit batboy.

 

The Vietnam War era jungle boot has to be the best boot ever to go to war.

The Marines WW ll boon dockers gets a second place.

The problem with the jungle fatigues, they didn't breath and you had to go commando and not wear underwear or you wold get a bad case of crotch rot and a rash.

The problem with the old olive drab 100% cotton utilities (fatigues) they were comfortable and breathed but would rip easily and rotted really fast in the tropics like Vietnam.

 

I seen the Jungle fatigues so heavily starched that the center crease in the pants and shirt sleeves could cut you and all the sweat would stay on your body.

When I retired it seems we had our choice of 3 different uniforms to wear to include head cover when it came to the BDU's. The Baret was a dumb move for the Army in its need to mimic Euro trash, not to mention a insult to SFU who earned the distinction.

Wonder how many more millions of dollars it will take to find the perfect BDU given what part of the world we deploy in.

Starting to believe people in the Pentagon contracting office have friends in the garment industry.

 

ACUs were so stupid. The only camo it was good for was if we were in a fire fight on gravel.

 

I laugh every time I see the Navy uniform. You would think they would put their people in hunter orange to make them easier to see if they ended up in the water.

 

Before 1941 American soldiers and Marines went into combat wearing their dress service uniforms except they replaced the garrison hat for a steel helmet, wore leggings with their dress shoes and a cartridge belt. In fact that's how most of the world armies dressed when going into combat.

During the 1930's the U.S. Army adopted a blue denim work uniform for work parties like peeling potatoes on KP or on a work party. Blue denim like used in Levis with a blue denim boonie hat.

In 1941 the Marines decided to come up with a work party uniform to wear in garrison while on work parties. They went with a sage green cotton herringbone twill trousers and jacket. Since it was designed to be worn over the service uniform it was baggy and very loose fitting making it really comfortable and since it was 100% cotton it breathed allowing the sweat on your body to evaporate to help cool you down.

Who cares how pretty you look on the battlefield ? The Marine Corps herringbone utilities field uniform was probably the best battle dress uniform ever to go to war.

The Marine Corps sage green Herringbone utility uniform would remain the Marine Corps field uniform until the early 1960's when Sec. Def. McNamara took away the Marines herringbone utilities and forced the Corps to wear the Army's olive drab cotton sateen fatigues. (utilities)

Basic designs
There were three basic models or "patterns" for the OG-107 Cotton Sateen Utility Uniform: -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OG-107

 

The camo was stupid, but the actual design modifications were pretty useful. They were more friendly to wear with flak jackets and the knee and elbow inserts were useful.

 

I never personally found any of it useful. I found the ACUs to be the retarded version of BDUs.

 

Actually, they were amazingly good in certain conditions.

I discovered this at Fort Bliss. In that scrub, they almost vanished. But in Kuwait-Qatar and Fort Hunter-Liggett, they stuck out like a sore thumb.

There were a lot of improvement, but also some really stupid ones.

1. That draw string at the waist, WTF? Utterly retarded, what was wrong with the pull straps on the side like the BDU had?
2. Velcro on the wrist, again WTF? After a few months were worthless and you had to remove and replace it.
3. Velcro on the cargo pockets, again WTF? Put anything remotely heavy in your pocket and it would fall out. And after a few months it would also be worthless.

Now granted the last 2 were solved in the last few releases of the uniform, but still it is not as good as the BDU in many ways.

 

Well the velcro was a bad idea in my opinion.

 

Meh, I never found them useful. Digi ACUs to me were a huge waste of money

 

While BDUs are head and shoulder better then ACUs in almost every respect anyone claiming that a combat uniform from the past is the best that has ever been issued has never put on a set of Cryes or Patagonia’s. They are far and away the best uniform built to date.

 

It's been being used for liberal PC social engineering since the 1990's.

That's why the taxpayers have to keep paying out yuge bonuses to get people to enlist and or to ship over.


Remember the U.S. Army's "Ridgeway" cap ?



It was never issued, a soldier had to purchase it at the PX.

The M-1951 Field Capbecame a problem for commanders who wanted to see a sharp military appearance with their troops. Although it was comfortable and liked by the soldiers, the cotton M1951 fatigue cap sagged and wrinkled, especially after laundering. It could not hold a shape and was considered slovenly by spit and polish officers. The Cap, Utility, Cotton OG-107 (1 Jul 1952 pattern), introduced in 1952, had exactly the same problems as the M-1951 cap. After the war in Korea became a stalemate, orders were issued demanding that M-1951 caps and OG-107 Caps be pressed and starched and cardboard inserts or other stiffeners be used with the field cap to keep it straight and upright.

In 1953 this policy became official throughout the Army when Chief of Staff Gen. Matthew B. Ridgeway began directing forces to improve their soldierly image. Commercial stiffened and blocked models of the field cap were produced with a "coffee can" shape that met military appearance standards. Ridgeway's leadership on the issue came to be associated with the headgear, hence the name "Ridgeway Cap." The preferred model was the "Spring-Up" manufactured by Louisville Cap Corp. that was sold for $2.00 at the PX. Their ads for the cap had the caption, "The fatigue cap that never shows fatigue."

The Ridgeway "coffee can" cap was not standardized by the Army, but its use became widespread. While the M-1951 fatigue cap and OG-107 cap remained the standard, many soldiers bought the Lousiville "Spring-Up" or other commercial Ridgeway caps during this period. These caps were superseded early in the Vietnam War period by the Cap, Field (Hot Weather) which is styled like a baseball cap.