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LTC Stephen F.
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Edited 6 y ago
Well CW5 Jack Cardwell as somebody who worked with the military clothing and textiles community for a number of years this is a myopic viewpoint.
Short-term costs of replacing existing camo-pattern uniforms and OCIE would soon be offset by savings in reduction of cost as the USAF and U.S. Army requirements for camo uniforms and OCIE would be combined.
Existing USAF camo pattern uniforms could be sold via FMS or demilitarized and sold to work clothes distributors :-)
Since military uniforms are procured through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the overall cost of purchasing uniforms would be reduced by less lines required.
I well remember when each service wore BDUs in the late 1990s and after 2001 until the influx of money and inter-service rivalry generated uniforms for each military service and patterns changed every few years.
I still have my tan boots as well as black combat boots.
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi LTC (Join to see) LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Jeff S. CPT Jack Durish MSG Dan Walther MSgt Robert C Aldi SFC Stephen King MSgt Danny Hope SGT Gregory Lawritson Cpl Craig Marton SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan
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Capt Tom Brown
Capt Tom Brown
6 y
Thanks for those insights. There is often more than meets the eye!
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LTC Stephen F.
LTC Stephen F.
6 y
Capt Tom Brown -you are very welcome.
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SGT Philip Roncari
SGT Philip Roncari
6 y
LTC Stephen Ford-Sir,I find this post gets me nostalgic for the old days, you remember when everyone “in country” wore jungle fatigues,I know that place had a distinctive environment and really isn’t comparative to today’s multi theater deployments,but damn it was a lot simpler then.
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SFC Counterintelligence (CI) Agent
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Edited 6 y ago
Can we all just get on the same page? How much money is dumped into the aether every 5-10 years because we can't make up our minds on a single uniform? Make one standard pattern for all branches with customization options available for each branch to add whatever they want and stick with it for at least a solid 10-20 years or so. SO much money dumped into uniform indecisiveness. Also - the ACU was a complete tragedy. Running around the Middle East and who knows where else looking like computer vomit...
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CW5 Jack Cardwell
CW5 Jack Cardwell
6 y
That's what we had with the BDUs then Marines went to digital uniform and all services decided to change.
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SSG Edward Tilton
SSG Edward Tilton
6 y
It's a racket, selling the troops something they don't need and the prices are amazing. AAFES must be owned by retired Generals
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SFC Counterintelligence (CI) Agent
SFC (Join to see)
6 y
SSG Edward Tilton - Haha, let me tell you the anatomy of a racket. 1) Set up bases in Korea. 2) Mandate that only certain people can own POVs. 3) Introduce cab service to the base through AAFES. 4) Profit.
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SSG Edward Tilton
SSG Edward Tilton
6 y
Three years in Korea, no one had a POV. Hap Sung or walk
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Maj John Bell
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Kind of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Why not... you are authorized to wear the old uniform until it is no longer serviceable. To avoid wannabes, if your initial issue is the new uniform, you may not EVER wear the old uniform (Army Navy Surplus store purchases).
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CW5 Jack Cardwell
CW5 Jack Cardwell
6 y
The Army places a wear out day on old version of uniform. Do not know if Air Force does this also. Maj John Bell
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Maj John Bell
Maj John Bell
6 y
CW5 Jack Cardwell - What purpose does the wear out date serve... if the uniform is still serviceable?
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Maj John Bell
Maj John Bell
6 y
MSG Dan Walther - With the possibility of 24-48 month epiration dates from the last issue, It doesn't seem like uniformity is necessarily all that vital. If the mon and stars align just right, a soldier could go his/her entire enlistment with mixed uniforms in a unit formation.

It's the penny pinching Scot in me. In the Marines we never had a problem with "expiration dates." I had Senior SNCO's that were nursing some "grease" Viet Nam era slant pocket jungle "utes" well past the 10 year mark from when they were no longer issued. The Sergeant Major once bragged that if he'd served in the Revolutionary war, he'd still have at least once set of CG inspection ready "Colonial Utes."

I and my Company gunny used to take a CUCV from NSB Bangor down to Ft Lewis Washington Once a quarter and pick up all the BDU's we could get from disposal. The Army would DX BDU's that were almost new because of a pencil sized hole. Darn it shut and it still meets the standards of clean, intact, and serviceable. We'd give them out to the Marines and Seabees for field uniforms. A couple of Seabee wives were so good at mending them that you couldn't pick out a 3 inch mend from double arm interval, unless it was pointed out to you.

Particularly useful when we were training on breaching wire obstacles.
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