Army Introduces Digital Cammies

[BC22]

http://www4.army.mil/news/article.php?story=6042
The first thought I had when I saw that soldier in the picture was "Star Trek has come to life." It looks rather unnatractive and ugly to me, and seems to be a mere copycat of our digital camouflage. What do you gentlemen and ladies think?

[namgrunt]

Lots of interesting ideas being floated here, but also contradictory logic at work.

It was said that there was no "black" anywhere in the uniform because black stood out, not being a natural occuring color, and calling immediate enemy attention to the wearer. Then it seems the standard issue uniform would be topped off by the Army's new "common soldier" Black Beret. What kind of thinking was this? The enemy won't see a thing EXCEPT for a SEA of BLACK BERETS advancing on his bunker. Brilliant!

Uniform closures would be velcro, except for the blouse front zipper, and I presume, the trouser fly closure. If something gets snagged under some velcro patch and is removed by surprise, it will make SOUND. It would be a soft sound, but it is one that "doesn't occur normally in nature", giving away any element of surprise, when at close proximity to the enemy during night operations. Not only that, any doo-dads that fall off of the uniform might be found by an enemy patrol. If the patch is a unit designator, then that would tip opponents which outfit was in the immediate area.

Lastly, and this shows my age, the idea of zippers as main closures for a battle uniform seems hazardous, especially if it is the trousers. Consider if you are in the middle of a quick relief break, and the sh** hits the fan. Are you going to stuff your dingus back in your pants and yank the zipper up, in order to charge into action? Have any of you guys (ladies are not affected) ever gotten some tender part caught in a zipper by accident? Remember how that FROZE you in place until you had things "carefully"sorted out? Button flys will never do that, no matter how fast you refasten them.

You could just ignore replacement, and let the jewels fly in the wind. You would go charging off into battle, but you would have to watch out for thorns and saw grass too. You would be a true "swinging d***". Of course if you are small in stature, that could work to your advantage, since the enemy would be laughing and pointing to your asset, as it swings side to side like the clapper in a cowbell. Their laughter would incapacitate them as they roll on the deck in agony with tears running down their faces, while you charge the objective.

To put it mildly, I don't buy the usefulness of the new Army uniform.

[TracGunny]

More discussions on the Army's new uniforms:

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/sh...threadid=15159

namgrunt: thanks, buddy... too early in the day to read that... will be walking around bow-legged for a good part of the day... and very careful when " shaking hands with my best friend"...

:eek:

[namgrunt]

Your welcome, Gunny.

My response seemed a bit over the top to be used in the similar thread found over in the Poolee Forum by Eric Robinson. I ran into that thread after I replied to this one. I don't want to paint such "agonizing" mental pictures for young impressionable minds.

I don't recall any utilities of mine ever having a zipper. A button fly might have let leaches in, but would not trap skin in the closure. For all I know, normal digital Marine cammies might already have zippers as standard closure. I've been out too long.

[Stephen Petrone]

The only zippers i've seen on cammies were the jungle utilities issued in the late 70's. Buttons are better in the field because they're easy to repair/replace.

[cjwright90]

Yeah, buttons! I HATE the ACUs. I like our digital cammies, though.

[MillRatUSMC]

Why can't I imagine these new ditigal cammies without the thought of pregnant troops of the US Army leaving the service.
Now a question;
"Will they be making ditigal cammies for women that are expecting?"
To wear till they leave service.
A thought about these new boots issued to the troops.
I seem to recall that the boondockers were rough when issued.
Marines than wore them down with a coke bottle.
So they could spit-shine them.
That wouldn't be PC now.
But nothing is absolute except death...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

[snipowsky]

U - G - L - Y!