The Army in MARPAT?

[Chachi]

Not sure if any of you have seen this or not, but it is interesting. The Army in MARPAT? Huh?

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/06/a ... e-060411w/

[Snowman]

MARine PATtern....?

[Patterson]

What's lost in the shuffle here, at least from what I've seen and interpreted, is the issue of patterned gear and equipment. I liked what the Marine Corps did when they started using coyote brown for all their MOLLE gear (something that worked well with both the temperate and arid uniforms) even though there were occasions where coyote looked too light on the temperate/too dark on the arid.

Is the Army really going to have three different patterns for their equipment as well or would they scientifically discover some solid color that would blend with all three variations? Is there a possibility of having a pattern specifically for the equipment? I've seen MultiCam gear worn on pretty much every pattern at AP games and it never really took away from the darker uniforms or lighter uniforms.

Obviously this is going to be expensive no matter what is done, but the consensus is that it's something that needs to be done.

[code789]

i wonder if they're going to have completely new patterns coming out...

[Hoff]

This seems ridiculous to me that the Marines would complain about it.

They'd rather have our soldiers have less effective camouflage, which could increase their chances of being killed/ injured just so they can be their own unique snowflakes?

[Dukky]

I think the Army should be happy with Multicam. Although, MARPAT is a viable option for jungle warfare.

[Catch22]

The Navy owns the pattend on MarPat. The Army won't be able to use it. AOR1-AOR2 and Multicam with khaki or smoke green vests is what they should do.

[Wolverine12]

HOLY CRAP the army has a lot of money hmm makes you kinda think on where the get the money to buy all their equipment and uniforms.

[Hoff]

Can we please go back to standard, Armed Forces-wide patterns?

That's too damn logical!

[Mtgriz]

Multicam works just as well here as Marpat/Arid Marpat.

Reading comprehension would have worked wonders in this case, as the Army specifically mentions that Marpat is being used as a baseline to judge other patterns for effectiveness. The chances of the US Army using Marpat on any large scale basis is nil.

+1 Nasty. All this stupidity about being "unique" should get a few flag officers tossed in a brig for fraud, waste and abuse. We slash manning levels to build an extra 2 F-35s and spend over a billion to develop and issue a uniform that sucks a$$? Maybe I'm just silly junior NCO, but even I can smell the stupid on that one...

[Steve]

Funny thing is, we really aren't spending much in the way of extra money on the new patterns. The Army is going to need the new uniforms to replace the ones that wear out. The question is what pattern do we buy them in.

Now, if somebody wants something to complain about, ACUs last 6 months tops in country. BDUs used to last freaking forever.

Who out there believes that with the advances in technology over the last god-knows how many years, textile engineering hasn't advanced far enough to make a uniform last an entire deployment? Really?

[Jewish Ninja]

Wow, glad to see that our military gets in fights about such retarded things.

Can we please go back to standard, Armed Forces-wide patterns?

M81 FTMFW

[Mtgriz]

Steve- I was refering to the money spent by the AF to develop, construcyt and issue the ABU uniform. I understand the Army is not spending a ton of "extra" money to develop alternatives to the ACU.

And all the talk about "extra" is a bit misleading. When you're spending as much as the DOD is on uniform development, 10% extra could be $50 million.

[Darius137]

The Army lets companies spend money to develop patterns because if they win the contract they get a huge chunk of business. The Army's costs are in testing and then making sure the crotch will blow out for ventilation when overseas.

[OPFOR 503]

Its not such a stretch seeing as you can find ACU in MARPAT anyway. I personally liked the distinction between the branches, I thought the Marines look great in their digis; but in the end its about saving lives so whatever works is key.