Posted on Feb 18, 2014

How do you feel about ACUs?

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I joined the Army as the BDUs were in the last steps of being phased out. I didn't get to experience the starching and ironing of my uniform or the shining of my boots. Many have told me that they took pride in these "tedious" tasks and that even if it was mundane the BDUs were way better.

Personally, I do not like the way the ACUs are made, the velcro doesn't last long and I know it says they have a wear life of 6 months, but I'm lucky if they look good for two. Also, it says they are "wrinkle free", I beg to differ. Basically I think they look atrocious and a waste of money. I know we can come up with a better uniform than this.

What's your opinion and what would you change?

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Uniforms

Edited >1 y ago

Posted >1 y ago

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SFC Stephen P.

Posted >1 y ago

I'm certainly a minority opinion here, but I don't think looking good is a valid reason to make changes to a utility uniform.

Yes I enjoyed shining my boots, but shining them did not make score any higher on the APFT. It did not tighten my shot group at the range. I seriously doubt it had any impact on my decisions of whether or not to drive drunk.

If you want your troops to look good, we have service uniforms that fill that role very nicely.

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SSG Daniel Rosploch

>1 y

I agree completely with bringing back the service uniform for normal, everyday wear. However, as a private wearing BDUs, I feel I learned more about discipline and maintaining my clothing and gear a lot more than with the ACU. If my boots weren't shined right, I paid a price; if my uniform wasn't ironed properly, I paid a price. I learned very quickly that I had to dedicate Sunday to uniform maintenance before Monday's inspection and it forced me to create a routine and to always ensure my uniform was sharp. Besides, the incentive to skip a morning of PT if you were the best during inspection was more than enough to motivate me!

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SFC Stephen P.

>1 y

What goal are we trying to achieve? Do we want to have a uniform that is more difficult to maintain just so we can spend more time maintaining the uniform? Are we really advocating shining boots just so that we can be yelled at if our boots aren't shined?

I'm sorry, but I can't subscribe to this line of tautological reasoning.

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SFC Anabel Cepero

>1 y

SFC Pate,

I agree that we should bring back the service uniform. I don't necessarily think that going back to BDU's and shiny boots is the answer, but there has to be a better uniform than the ACU.

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SGT (Join to see)

10 y

Hello all, I hope this finds you well! I just enlisted after a near decade break in service, so I have had the opportunity to wear both the ACUs and BDUs as have many of you. I really like the simplicity of the current ACU. However, I also liked the tradition and pride that went into preparing my BDUs for wear. With that being said I really do not care what the uniform is, as long as it achieves its intended purpose of assisting in the concealment of soldiers down range. That is what this whole debate should hinge on! So, whether we end of with Multicam, Marpat, or a hybrid of some sort let's hope that the powers that be make the right decision for the right reasons.

Best Regards,

SPC Davis, Trinity

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SSG (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

I would prefer sticking with Multicams over the ACUs. I can't stand the ACU velcro, and the ACP-D pattern is ridiculous. The Multicam pattern actually looks like a military utility/combat uniform and I've yet to have any issue with them becoming unserviceable.

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SFC (Join to see)

>1 y

I would say if we're going to have uniform debates; lets call them as they are. "multicams" are ACU's as well. I'll agree that the hook and pile tape just doesn't last, the wash and wear directions leave it looking sloppy, and not too many people actually care for their tan boots the way we cared for shining the black ones. If we're merely continuing to point out that the UCP pattern failed its task, that point has already been proven by the existance of the OCP pattern. and the remodeling of the ACU OCP pattern fixed a number of the problems. There is a large number of Soldiers whose job does not consist of behind a desk 4 out of 5 days of the week (excluding motor-pool mondays). The argument that it "teaches attention to detail".. i'd have to disagree, more like it shows your attention to detail. If the only way to show pride in the way you look is to spend the majority of your free time ironing and shining boots, i'd ask when we would like to be training. having worn BDU"s for a year before they were phased out, the only thing my ACU's are lacking, is an ironed in crease.

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SFC (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

Cant stand them. There is no pride in the uniform anymore. I get the wash and wear mentality, but save it for deployment/field operations and let us have a uniform that looks good for garrison. Now for the grease monkeys and flightline jockeys like myself, the constant washing and grease and hydraulic fluid was a pain in the butt...but I definitely miss the way a freshly pressed uniform looked.

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SFC Anabel Cepero

>1 y

SSG McNichol,

I really hate them. The velcro drives me crazy! I agree that there is no pride in them. I mean heck they tell you that you can't even iron them. I hear a lot that maintaining BDUs and shining boots is time consuming but they looked good. Soldiers took pride in them and it looked professional.

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SFC (Join to see)

>1 y

SGT Cepero

I definitely agree with you. When someone showed up looking like a wrinkle grenade had gone off on their uniform and like they had shined their boots with a Hershey bar, you automatically knew where you needed to direct your attention. When I was a brand new SGT, I always told my guys that I didn't expect them to go home looking spit shined, but they had better have shown up looking like it.

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SSG Zachery Mitchell

Posted >1 y ago

My ACU's last, on average, 3 - 4 months tops before they are no longer servicable. The Velcro always wears out way to fast, they fade quickly(regardless of what soap I use on them), they are not very durable as most of mine that are no longer serviceable have small holes in them. All in the same one or two spots. Right by the cargo pockets or right by the rear pocket flaps. I do enjoy the boots for the most part though. I have found a couple tricks to get them clean pretty easily.

I just wish they would give us a more durable and dependable uniform to wear. Stop wasting money on researching this pattern and that pattern. Just make a set standard across all DOD for all branches. Give us a woodland and a dessert pattern. Let each branch decide on boots separately.

I for one wish they would just use the MARPAT for all branches(obviously remove the EGA from the pattern for everyone else). That's how it was before all this new digital crap came along. Worked fine then, why not now? It would be much more cost effective and there'd be a lot less complaints i'm sure.

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SFC Fernando G.

>1 y

Agreed on all points, SSG. I would love to see a single uniform for all branches with a sharper and more pride-inspiring appearance than the baggy, velcro-heavy mess that is the ACU. I also liked the warm-weather / cold-weather options the BDUs offered. With all the high-speed moisture-wicking materials and such that are out there nowadays, we could surely produce something durable and functional.

I understand that a low-cost option may be desirable to the decision-makers at the top, but when wehave to replace uniforms every 3-4 months, it's not so low-cost for us!

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LTC Paul Labrador

>1 y

I have found the early production ones actually have outlasted my more recently bought ones.

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SSG Zachery Mitchell

>1 y

I would have to agree with you Sir. It seems like every time I buy a new pair the quality gets worse and worse. I know I get a clothing allowance every year but it gets old having to replace my uniforms as much as I do.

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SSG (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

I remember BDUs and DCUs; I think ACUs have zero merit in any military service. The camouflage pattern doesn't blend very well with any operational environment we have been in since they were indoctrinated, and the amount of Velcro involved makes for extremely noisy use. When I was playing OpFor, my job was made quite easy by ACUs.

In my opinion the MultiCam family of patterns is a better fit to the wide range of environments we may be called to act within.
http://www.multicampattern.com/

MULTICAM® FAMILY OF PATTERNS

The MultiCam® family of camouflage patterns is designed to help the wearer hide in varied environments, seasons, elevations, and light conditions.

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SFC (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

God I miss the good old days of looking straight with a pair of fresh pressed BDU's and shinny boots.

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SFC (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

No long explination need we all know.........CRAP!!!!!!!!

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SGT Ryan Siefert

Posted >1 y ago

The Army should drop the ACU and make the Multicam the new uniform.

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SGT (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

I believe that the ACU's need to be more streamlined, the pattern changed, and actually made to fit an individual properly instead of having, as an earlier poster commented, a pajama-like fit. Also, the Velcro of course is abominable. It should be replaced with buttons.
I do however like the boots, they don't necessarily have to be a tan color but they have always been serviceable to me for the past 7 years and there are measures you can take to make them look more presentable in garrison.

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SGT (Join to see)

>1 y

I actually agree with this, although I think that they should not completely take away the cargo pockets; but instead make them smaller and not able to balloon out as much as they do. If they simply made it with enough room to put some paper or a wallet in then that would be ideal and useful. It is not designed though to carry a Gatorade bottle and their lunch. That is why they should bring a black/ACU back pack or something.

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SFC (Join to see)

>1 y

I always wondered what the point of the lower set of pockets on the BDU's. you couldn't use them for anything. I can't say i ever have much of anything in my cargo pockets that I won't be using. As far as the size goes, i can fit an MRE in my cargo pocket the same as i could in BDU's and in fact was instructed to do sometimes. Maybe we could all wear grenadier vests. plenty of room for whatever we might need, but small pockets.

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SFC (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

I came into the Army in 1990, went to the Gulf and then had a four-year break in service. Although we spent a lot of time on polishing and ironing and starching, we looked like a professional group of soldiers. We all had "field uniforms" too, when less starch was called for. It goes a long way on instilling pride, attention to detail, and discipline. Wanted a four-day pass? make your uniform look better than your buddy's. Now passes are given out like candy, almost an entitlement rather than something that is earned. We had inspections at pay-day activities, another tradition that is becoming lost to 12 years of war and technology. In comparison, we might as well be wearing pajamas. I am a big fan of Multi-Cam myself, the ACU digital pattern is garbage, no other way to put it. But I'd like to see some changes that bring back pride in the uniform. Beret was a colossal failure. Fine for Airborne and Rangers and SF, but the majority of Soldiers just didn't get it. It was not practical for a daily headgear. The BDU was functional in many ways. With a few tweaks like better pocket design, it was all-in-all a good uniform. I'm OK with velcro SSI and the upper arm pockets on ACUs and the pen pockets.

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