ACU to Multicam?

2014-02-06T13:04:39-05:00

I'm speaking on behalf of what I was told from NCOs back in my first training phase of AIT: is it true by 2016 the Army will start phasing out ACUs & soldiers stateside will be wearing Multicam as well?

Response by CPT Mike M. made Feb 6 at 2014 1:15 PM

2014-02-06T13:15:06-05:00

I know the army's been looking into new uniform styles but to the best of my knowledge, no final decision on style of camo has been decided upon, much less a fielding plan with wear out date of ACUs.

Response by SPC Christopher Smith made Feb 6 at 2014 1:28 PM

2014-02-06T13:28:42-05:00

Nothing seems to be set in stone, but it looks like Congress wants to reduce spending by having all four services wear a universal camo. Here is a article, the latest I could find on the subject.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/12/13/military-common-camouflage/4008979/

Congress wants military to have common camouflage

WASHINGTON — Congress will try one more time to get the Pentagon to adopt a common camouflage pattern for all four services. The compromise defense authorization bill for 2014 includes a provision tha...

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 6 at 2014 3:00 PM

2014-02-06T15:00:49-05:00

The Army is currently testing a new camo pattern at multiple locations but is not remotely close to a final decision. For the time being, we are stuck with the parking lot camo.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 6 at 2014 5:33 PM

2014-02-06T17:33:48-05:00

I don't know if it's true or not, but I for one will not mourn the passing of the ACU (Awful Camouflage Uniform) Doesn't blend with anything but a rock pile, you glow like a chem lite at night in the woods, and the velcro wears out waaaaay to fast (and makes waaaaaaaaaay too much noise in a tactical situation). I just hope in this era of limited funds someone OTHER than a committee getting kick backs from contractors think this through. And gets input from actual soldiers who will wear the uniform in the field.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 6 at 2014 10:36 PM

2014-02-06T22:36:53-05:00

Im just going to clear the air up on this.

ACU= Army Combat Uniform which is the garment, being the cut and style ie: velcro everything and not needed to be pressed or ironed like the BDU ect...

UCP= Universal Camouflage Pattern ie: that horrible digital pattern that we wear that makes us look like computer viruses.

That being said the Army was looking at replacing the current camo pattern to multi cam haven't read anything on them disbanding the ACU. But what I heard last is that it was a NO GO and Congress wants the military was going to a universal uniform/camo pattern.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2014 4:12 AM

2014-02-09T04:12:24-05:00

While the Multicams do fade pretty fast, I'll take them over a pair of ACU's any day. There's just something about them. Maybe the fact that they're camouflaged and not ridiculous looking.

Response by SrA Michael Waldo made Feb 9 at 2014 8:49 PM

2014-02-09T20:49:30-05:00

I have no clue why every branch went ape shit to set themselves apart in the first place. We're all supposed to be brothers and sisters in arms. Having different uni's breeds indifference among the feeble minded. The AF was off by a LONG SHOT with the ABU pattern. I stood at post in Iraq donned in ABUs, with a desert camo flak vest cover and a BDU helmet cover. I suppose to a potential enemy, I looked like the least useful person to target OR the biggest dip shit that needed nothing more than a katyusha rocket to the face lol. Camo for concealment is basically no longer needed unless your AFSC/MOS entails recon. We come in throngs of chain smoking, dip spitting, barbarians with every combat occupation carrying a load out containing enough firepower to mow down a small city. I realize guerilla warfare is the new norm, but we don't generally sneak in to areas. We let everyone know we're coming by way of C-130s, helicopters, and armored vehicles. Then we trample and burn to ashes everything standing in our path until we find a nice place to set up camp, where we sit stagnant, armed to the teeth and await our foes to muster the testicular fortitude to attempt an engagement. And when they are too slow to act, we just pummel their strongholds until they're forced to fight or flee.

Shit, once DARPA finally invents drones that autonomously seek out and destroy IED's, we won't even need MRAPs lol. No clue why "active-camo" is being researched more fervently than IED sniffing drones.

Response by SSG Genaro Negrete made Apr 25 at 2014 4:51 PM

2014-04-25T16:51:37-04:00

This issue has been going on for years. Look up soldiersystems.net. They have done an amazing job covering a lot of the industry. In a nutshell, it seems that the Army wanted to buy the entire license for Multicam from Crye Precision. This price tag is supposed to include all future revenue from the marketing of the Multicam pattern. Crye, as a business, said no and made a counter offer. Through cost analysis, they offered the Army a price tag that was within 1% of current prices spent buying and fielding the UCP uniforms we wear in garrison. I think that the Army tried to make it look as if Crye was being uncooperative by refusing to sell the trademark for Multicam. Crye came back with what seems to me like a better offer.

I've always thought someone made off like a bandit when UCP was chosen. It tested HORRIBLY from among the other patterns (to include multicam), but those results were not taken into account (or so it would seem).

The Army's second wave of pattern testing called manufacturers to produce 3 different patterns: desert/arid, woodland/jungle, and a "transitional" pattern. Can you imagine having your entire OCIE in THREE different patterns?

So with current DoD wide budget cuts, Congress has in fact been considering the possibility of one uniform for all services. Recent legislature nixed the possibility of spending money to develop new patterns. However, Multicam as we know it, OCP, is not a new pattern. We've been messing with it in testing since roughly 2004. Natick Soldier System's Objective Force Warrior had a similar pattern named Scorpion. I'm fairly certain Scorpion is proprietary to the Army.

http://www.hyperstealth.com/scorpion/

Definitely a big mess here. It kills me that we are STILL spending money on the UCP pattern. OCP is already in the supply system and OCIE has been and is being made in that pattern.

On a side note, check out Crye's website. They have four new variants of Multicam. Regardless of the Army's purchasing practices and general shennanigans, Crye is still innovating.

U.S. Army Scorpion Camouflage

U.S. Army Scorpion Camouflage (updated June 3, 2013 additional information at end of article)by Guy Cramer, President/CEO of HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 25 at 2014 6:01 PM

2014-04-25T18:01:35-04:00

If it saves money then you could probably expect a multiservice multiuse uniform to come about. Perhaps only for deployments to certain environments like the DCU was used at the start of OIF/OEF. I think we'll be in this one a while longer, unless money is there.