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?
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.
I'm sorry, but I can't subscribe to this line of tautological reasoning.
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.
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, TrinityI 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.
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.
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.
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!
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/
God I miss the good old days of looking straight with a pair of fresh pressed BDU's and shinny boots.
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.