Army weighs 4 options to replace current camo

bruno

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/03/army-camo-4-replacement-options-weighed-031012w/


The beauty of the Army is that it changes things so frequently that you can pretty much recycle the headlines about every ten years as the old and obsolete becomes new and cutting edge- whether it's organization or equipment..:rolleyes: what I want to know is Why there weren't some reliefs for cause over the ACU? It was apparent right from the beginning that the ACU was truly a dog, and apparently the testing they did at Natick before rolling these things out demonstrated that - yet they still went ahead fielding a uniform that basically provided excellent camouflage in a granite quarry but no where else.
 
I can't believe the Army can blow money on uniform changes when we're trimming the budgets. :rolleyes: Didn't the Army Service Dress change recently too?
 
I can't believe the Army can blow money on uniform changes when we're trimming the budgets. :rolleyes: Didn't the Army Service Dress change recently too?

Yeah, it did. We eliminated a uniform. And we have to buy the new one with our own money.

So...yeah...any other questions?
 
Would the decision by the Army to procure (or not procure) new uniforms affect the other branches?
 
Yeah, it did. We eliminated a uniform. And we have to buy the new one with our own money.

So...yeah...any other questions?

I guess I have one. Why is the Army so horrible as purchasing uniforms, and why is everyone else paying for it?

Maybe they should walk across the hall and ask the Marines how to pick their cloths out for them.... they've certainly done a fine job doing that for years.
 
I guess I have one. Why is the Army so horrible as purchasing uniforms, and why is everyone else paying for it?

Maybe they should walk across the hall and ask the Marines how to pick their cloths out for them.... they've certainly done a fine job doing that for years.

You fetched coffee at the Pentagon, so you tell us!

And please let me know how "everyone else" is paying for it.
 
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You fetched coffee at the Pentagon, so you tell us!

And please let me know how "everyone else" is paying for it.

You're about 3 ranks below "coffee fetching" in the Army ranks at the Pentagon, but beyond that, I'm no longer in the "uniform wearing" business, haven't been for 9 months. Last time I was there, I had to wait in the visitor's area for 30 mins until my party came for an Army E-8s retirement.


As for "everyone else" paying for it, let's consider a jar of jelly beans, 40 jelly beans for the 4 services in the Department of Defense. DOD owns the jar, and give you the beans.

"Kids, you each get 10 beans" says mama DOD. "Wish it could be more, but there aren't as many jelly beans to go around these days."

"Yummy" said Baby Army, Baby Navy, Baby Marines, and Baby Air Force.

Baby Navy eats her beans one at a time. So does Baby Marines and Baby Air Force. But Baby Army decides he's going to glue his jelly beans a piece of paper. Uh oh. Baby Army wanted to eat those jelly beans but he was too busy making pretty pictures.

"Ohhhhh Baby Army, don't cry. You can have some of Baby Air Force and Baby Marine's beans".


It's a limited pot Scout. Why, after 11 years of combat is the Army now doing to use a smaller number of resources to rework a uniform that's going to be used less and less? That, while it also justifies cutting it's forces?

We wonder why the Marines don't have an identity crisis. Some may say it's because they're "simple minded". Their uniforms haven't changed much, if at all, with the exception of their digi camms. Walk around DC and see the new Army dress and you think "hmmm, someone's dressed up like a Civil War soldier."


The "fun" thing is when you actually calculate how much these uniform changes cost the tax payer.
 
all right gents keep it reigned in and play nice on this thread
 
As for "everyone else" paying for it, let's consider a jar of jelly beans, 40 jelly beans for the 4 services in the Department of Defense. DOD owns the jar, and give you the beans.

"Kids, you each get 10 beans" says mama DOD. "Wish it could be more, but there aren't as many jelly beans to go around these days."

"Yummy" said Baby Army, Baby Navy, Baby Marines, and Baby Air Force.

Baby Navy eats her beans one at a time. So does Baby Marines and Baby Air Force. But Baby Army decides he's going to glue his jelly beans a piece of paper. Uh oh. Baby Army wanted to eat those jelly beans but he was too busy making pretty pictures.

"Ohhhhh Baby Army, don't cry. You can have some of Baby Air Force and Baby Marine's beans".

:rofl:

That has to be one of the funniest analogies to grace this forum

:rofl:
 
Well, I do agree that ACUs only blend into rocks...
That said, $1100 for 4 sets of uniforms?!?! How did they calculate that?

(Yeah, the AF is going to feel pretty stupid here, too...after jumping on the grayish digital bandwagon for who knows what reason.)
 
You're about 3 ranks below "coffee fetching" in the Army ranks at the Pentagon, but beyond that, I'm no longer in the "uniform wearing" business, haven't been for 9 months. Last time I was there, I had to wait in the visitor's area for 30 mins until my party came for an Army E-8s retirement.


As for "everyone else" paying for it, let's consider a jar of jelly beans, 40 jelly beans for the 4 services in the Department of Defense. DOD owns the jar, and give you the beans.

"Kids, you each get 10 beans" says mama DOD. "Wish it could be more, but there aren't as many jelly beans to go around these days."

"Yummy" said Baby Army, Baby Navy, Baby Marines, and Baby Air Force.

Baby Navy eats her beans one at a time. So does Baby Marines and Baby Air Force. But Baby Army decides he's going to glue his jelly beans a piece of paper. Uh oh. Baby Army wanted to eat those jelly beans but he was too busy making pretty pictures.

"Ohhhhh Baby Army, don't cry. You can have some of Baby Air Force and Baby Marine's beans".


It's a limited pot Scout. Why, after 11 years of combat is the Army now doing to use a smaller number of resources to rework a uniform that's going to be used less and less? That, while it also justifies cutting it's forces?

We wonder why the Marines don't have an identity crisis. Some may say it's because they're "simple minded". Their uniforms haven't changed much, if at all, with the exception of their digi camms. Walk around DC and see the new Army dress and you think "hmmm, someone's dressed up like a Civil War soldier."


The "fun" thing is when you actually calculate how much these uniform changes cost the tax payer.

:rolleyes: Wow, what a revelation. I guess you learned all them fancy writin' words riding a desk. Thank for you such a detailed explanation of the world of limited resources. I suppose if I'd spent half my career in an office as well, I'd know all the intricacies like you do.

As some other folks have pointed out in the past, if you think the Army is stupid for getting that money, you must think your own service chief is brain-dead for not coming up with something--ANYTHING--that sounded better to the money-mongers than an idea you find to be so stupid.

To be fair, I stopped paying rapt attention right after the part where you you proved that you actually didn't know anything about the subject (paragraph two). It seems, based on Sam's sycophantic giggling, that you must have brought it down to a Coastie level. I'm just surprised there are no pictures.

Why aren't you in the uniform-wearing business anymore? Not enough jelly beans?
 
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Aaaaaand, there goes Bruno's request to reel it in a little.... :frown:

Just a friendly observation from someone still fetching that coffee in the Puzzle Palace and working those jelly beans:

1) Stupidity in some of the decision making / spending in this building is not exclusive to any particular service.

2) Each branch has its own office in the building responsible for these types of decisions, where some O-6 needs to have "busy work" (uh, I mean a "brilliant idea") to show they're a critical asset to their service and worthy of more power in the building. Without it, what else can they write on their performance report besides "oversaw a program that hasn't changed in the last two decades"?

3) My favorite jelly bean remains the AF blue ones, because those are stealth and cost a whole bunch more.... :biggrin:

Good luck getting these new uniforms, my Army friends. The AF will be just two steps behind you in changing ours to match yours (Yet again! We FINALLY just phased out the old ones only last Oct! :unhappy:)
 
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Bullet and Scout there you have it; pure embarrassment to the Coast Guard.

Ya right Bruno they got the message like usual. Lets see a few more of the finest come forward..
 
ok guys last warning round- this shouldn't be that hard to talk about without insulting each other. As Bullet points out- all of the services whether DoD or DHS have their own money foibles.
Uniforms are not the Army's finest moment- between the "Paul Blart- Mall Cop" look with the white shirts and the blue's trousers replacing class A's (not the best look to begin with but compared to these monstrosities they are a model of haute military fashion!) and the ACU the last decade has been pretty poor on that front. Like Bullet I believe this is a function of having a permanently constituted uniform board, some empire building and a CSA and SMA who wished to leave their mark on the Army. The Blue uniform is just ugly- but the ACU is really a bad uniform and it puts Infantrymen at a serious disadvantage, so it needs to go. The scandal is that it should never have been adopted- IMHO the BG who was the commander of PEO Soldier should have taken some serious flak over that.

I won't say this again though- keep this in bounds. If you wish to have a peeing contest - do so on some other forum.
 
Well do something. This ain't the first time you hear this stuff. It just gets jumped over to another thread.
 
:rolleyes: Wow, what a revelation. I guess you learned all them fancy writin' words riding a desk. Thank for you such a detailed explanation of the world of limited resources. I suppose if I'd spent half my career in an office as well, I'd know all the intricacies like you do.

As some other folks have pointed out in the past, if you think the Army is stupid for getting that money, you must think your own service chief is brain-dead for not coming up with something--ANYTHING--that sounded better to the money-mongers than an idea you find to be so stupid.

To be fair, I stopped paying rapt attention right after the part where you you proved that you actually didn't know anything about the subject (paragraph two). It seems, based on Sam's sycophantic giggling, that you must have brought it down to a Coastie level. I'm just surprised there are no pictures.

Why aren't you in the uniform-wearing business anymore? Not enough jelly beans?


My desk remained at sea level (or just above). Guess that's the difference. I'll sit you down sometime and we can go over bean counting. When I fly back to DC you can sit next to me on the plane, and explain what the pilots are doing up front. That sounds like a good deal.
 
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My desk remained at sea level (or just above). Guess that's the difference. I'll sit you down sometime and we can go over bean counting. When I fly back to DC you can sit next to me on the plane, and explain what the pilots are doing up front. That sounds like a good deal.

On the average commercial flight, very little. That's either comforting or frightening, depending upon your views on avionics.
 
Just spent 600 bucks on ASUs and I see this. I wonder if the new pattern will only be in combat and not garrison. Any chance they keep ACUs just for garrison?
 
Just spent 600 bucks on ASUs and I see this. I wonder if the new pattern will only be in combat and not garrison. Any chance they keep ACUs just for garrison?

Count yourself lucky. Once upon a time, blues were about $600 and greens were about $400. We had to buy both.
 
Count yourself lucky. Once upon a time, blues were about $600 and greens were about $400. We had to buy both.

for me Blues = ASU. I can't tell the difference. Luckily for me, I managed to gain only about 20 lbs since I got commisoned, so after one alternation I still can wear by my 2LT Blues. It's getting tighter, a reality check for me to work out more :smile:
 
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