NOT-​​SO-​​EXTREME MAKEOVER FOR G.I. FATIGUES

It isn’t the hi-​​tech reboot of G.I.‘s cam­mos, sched­uled for later in the decade. But the Army unveiled today a brand new com­bat uni­form — the first major change to the out­fits since 1981, accord­ing to the AP.
Gone are the sep­a­rate cammo pat­terns for desert and for­est fight­ing. Now, G.I.s will wear a sin­gle, grey-​​and-​​tan mon­tage.
The changes are more than cos­metic, how­ever. 18 sub­stan­tive changes were made to the uni­forms, accord­ing to an Army state­ment: “The bot­tom pock­ets on the jacket were removed and placed on the shoul­der sleeves so Soldiers can have access to them while wear­ing body armor. The pock­ets were also tilted for­ward so that they are eas­ily acces­si­ble. Buttons were replaced with zip­pers that open from the top and bot­tom to pro­vide com­fort while wear­ing armor.“
Knee pouches were added, to add padding. An infrared-​​relfective American flag if affixed to the right shoul­der, to help G.I.s with night vision gog­gles spot their pals. And an “inte­grated blouse bel­lows for increased upper body mobil­ity.“
Members of the Army’s Stryker brigade have been test­ing out the uni­forms in Iraq since last year. The whole Army should be in the out­fits by 2007.

June 14th, 2004 | Uncategorized | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.