At the middle of 2004, the Army announced that its soldiers would get a new uniform. No longer would G.I.s have keep separate outfits for desert or woodland combat. The new, “digital” Army Combat Uniform, or ACU, would be capable of blending into them all. Slate explained how, shortly after the roll-out:
Making the ACU as invisible as possible required developing an entirely new “digital” camouflage pattern, derived from the Marine Corps’ so-called “MARPAT” camo scheme, which was launched in 2001. MARPAT is pixilatedbit-mapped on a computer, and then “printed” directly onto nylon… Unlike the old camo, digital camo suggests shapes and colors without actually being shapes and colorslike visual white noise. While it may serve a hunter well to appear to be part of a tree, a contemporary soldier needs to be on the move, and so his camouflage must help him blend into the “flow of space.”
But how much does it help, really? The ACU has now been in service for 18 months or so; the entire Army should be outfitted with the camos by the end of this year. Some soldiers, gathered on the AR15 website, are complaining that the “universal” cammos aren’t really suited to every environment. Yeah, the outfits do a good job of hiding people in the desert and in cities, they argue. But There’s very little green in the ACU’s pattern, they argue. So the things stick out like a sore thumb wherever there’s even a bit of vegetation.
“I just came back from a range, where there was dry sandy areas, grassy areas and a wooded area behind it. Many soldiers still had BDUs [Battle Dress Uniforms, the old green outfits] and the rest had ACUs. Throughout the day I couldn’t help but notice that no matter what the backgound was, the ACU attracted the eye and stood out quite obvious, whereas the BDU really only stood out in the sandy areas. What was also quite obvious was the fact that I wasn’t the only one that noticed it. From the colonel on down, there were rather drastic remarks on the uniforms ineffectiveness. Not so much bitching about durability, velco, etc., just the colors. It was obvious that at some time, some place, this garbage will get soldiers killed.“
“I just returned from A-stan where we were on of the last units to be issued DCU’s [the old Desert Combat Uniforms]. When the ACU’s started showing up there was quite a stink about the “multi environment” claim as it stuck out badly. The SF guys would wear the “target identification cloth” (ACU) inside the wire but when on an operation would wear BDU or DCU depending where they were going. Only the office and supply pogues at Bagram thought the ACU’s were the “hip” thing to wear.
Then there’s the conspiracy theory. Different uniform designs were tried out, including a “multicam” pattern from Brooklyn’s Crye & Associates, before the Army picked its digital camos. Some say Crye’s design (see left) did a better job hiding soldiers — but wasn’t picked, regardless.
“During testing the ACU was thrown out during the first round at Natick [Soldier Systems Center]. A Multicam type of uniform had won in the final testing. As was told by Natick labs, all research was set aside… the final “choice” [was made] with absolutely no soldier feedback or testing… There are hundreds of emails and letters daily as to the ineffectiveness of the ACU. However, leadership is turning a blind eye to these very valid complaints. For what reason is unknown. Political I would guess.”
So let’s hear it: Which uniform do y’all like better? Got any stories of the ACU sticking out — or working like a charm? Sound off in the comments.
(Big ups: WT)
UPDATE 2:17 PM: Just to be clear, there are definitely situations where the ACUs work very, very well. For instance, check out this picture David Axe took at the National Training Center last July. One soldiers’ legs are practically invisible.
I get a real kick out of the fact that it is typically POAGs that voice favor for the ACU while the grunts cite gross deficiencies with it. Well true to form I must side with my brothers in arms and agree, the ACU is a big heeping pile of shit. The POAGs and flyers can wear flourescent orange if they believe ACUs do their job. PEO soldier claims they used soldier input on the design-I say bullshit. Everyone has questioned what we as soldiers can do. I recommend that officers voice their positions and NCOs use channels to petition the matter. If 9 out of 10 soldiers see deficiencies in their uniform we as an Army need to act. The thirty-some bone heads who came up with the UCP should not sign the death warrants of hundreds. I ask that you tech savvy guys form a site and collect names and contact info. Call it “Soldiers for Multicam”, whatever, the bottom line is we need to make change. Contact PEO Soldier at their office in Ft. Belvoir 703–704-2802. Tell them you want change, submit a proposal, but don’t be surprised when they reply that your suggestion would not improve moral, combat effectiveness or some other bullshit excuse they can pull out of their ass.
I am new to the Army, having recently come over from the Marine Corps to attend SFAS and hopefully, the Q course. I have never disliked one thing in all my years in the military so much as this useless camo pattern they call ACU. While a general rule of the universe holds true that nothing universal will ever work as well as something designed with a more limited scope. If this was true every mechanic on earth would have a leatherman and do away with their toolbox but they don’t. In my job in the Marine Corps and my current job in the Army I can’t stress the importance of a good camo pattern enough. And this just isn’t it! Who in the military goes back to old gear by choice, and that is exactly what is happening with every single unit given the choice.
Zippers… good luck repairing that in the field. Velcro… Lets not bother tearing that idea apart. Pin ons… Won’t bother with that either. Quality… Not worth mentioning. And of course… the usefulness of the pattern itself. And please don’t try the “it adapts to its environment” line. If I wear a plain colored uniform and roll around in the dirt I am sure it to will stain and get dirty and thus “adapt to its environment”. But then again in the Army that wouldn’t be camouflage, it would just be dirt and you would be told real quick that you need to clean that uniform.
Hi, I’m Emiel from the Netherlands and I’m not in the military, but I play a lot of paintball in several surroundings. I’ve seen both ACU and Multicam in action and the only thing I want to say is that Multicam blows the ACU pattern away in every environment…
I’m AWFULLY confused on our Military; more specifically, the ARMY. I have looked at various pictures of the ACU’s, the proposed MULTICAM, and MARPAT. MARPAT does VERY well, but not as well as Multicam, YET the current ACU camo won out; this makes NO sense to me at all. For the one impressive picture of the ACU’s, there are probably literally 100’s for the other 2 patterns. As a side bar, you should all do some research into the DRAGONSKIN body armor. It OUT CLASSES out Army’s interceptor vests , yet the Army banned its use in I think March.…..and didn’t even test it until MAY. WHAT?? There are also instances of special ops forces, and security teams of Generals
equipped with DRAGONSKIN, yet the Army has banned it? I wonder how far this treachery goes.….…..next they’ll ban the .68 caliber rounds that have the accuracy and velocity of the 5.56, yet the knockdown and stopping power of the
7.62. I wonder if all this stuff boils down to cost or what.……
ACUs work in a lot of environments, (especially when they’re dirty, as others have pointed out; if the guy in the article’s first picture hadn’t just stepped out of his limo in a brand new uniform including boots he’d probably be at least as well hidden as the guy on the right in my experience) but they don’t work well in deep woodlands and they glow in the moonlight. When they were first coming out I remember that cost was one of the reasons cited for sticking with only one pattern. But the ACU costs twice as much as the old uniforms! I have to say though that the whole velcro patches deal seems to have caught on outside the US Army. Makes it easy to borrow your buddy’s stuff I guess.
2 point out im not in the military but n a jrotc high school programme but i do go hunting .
this summer r battalion formed up with other jrotc battlions 4 a cadet camp wer d majority of cadets wore acu’s I call them attracting/confirming/uniform.
this camp was n d new mexico woods they stuck out like a black eye on a white guy.
they wer 2 light n only blended in when they wer by dead grey trees ther wer very few. d cadets in old bdu’s blended n better . i also took me sum woodland marpat 2 test it out worked perfectly n d cadets their gave it high praise.
Also a camp assistant wore marpat n ran up a mountain side if it wasnt for his motion i wouldnt have spotted him. which shows d marines know what their doing once again like always OORAH!
Robert, I would advise that you not speak or spell in ebonix when communicating with people who serve; it’s disrespectful and makes you look stupid. –OORAH? WTF, JROTC?
so what can we do about it? who do we contact to change the ACU?
I have been of great success at finally, my rank already practiced 43 levels and we have own a large of fiesta Gold.
My friends in order to help me, send me much Requiem gold, I was very thank him.
Of course the Metin2 yang can bring funs. I believed that you will love this Metin2 gold new game.
If you want to Buy metin2 gold you can go to the company. I hope that we will become good friends in the Cheap metin2 gold game.
They ought to re-name these ICU’s. I see you’s…
All the fuss is for nothing! ACUs work GREAT… on a gravel road. Outside of that, we might as well wear our new army service uniform (new dress blues) to combat. The ACUs are combat ineffective and as wrong as two boys in bed!!
I dislike the ACU’s camo pattern,but I like the uniform itself.I like its overall design (a bit iffy on the velcro) and how it doesn’t need to be ironed.
I think we should just take the MARPAT and get it over with.
From what I can see ACU works ok in desert but only if it gets covered in sand first. It works ok in urban settings but no one is truly concealed in an urban setting; the best camouflage would be civilian dress. It looks useless everywhere else.
Multicam is better but not quite green enough for tropical or forest settings.
Interestingly, the British are overhauling their uniforms and equipment at the moment. They’ve not gone digital but are varying the colour schemes of their desert and temperate uniforms. They are also considering a hybrid pattern (khaki, brown and green flecks)which would be used on body armour and load carrying equipment and apply in both theatres. Apparently it works well in Afghanistan where you have arid regions with scraps of vegetation. For pictures go to the PECOC discussion thread on http://www.arsse.co.uk.
I just want to say that whoever(the government) chose this ACU uniform, wasn’t thinking at all. The the multicam uniform is the way to go! The ACUs just don’t even come close to the multicam.
WHEN I PUT ON MY ACUS I WANT TO JUST BREAK DOWN AND CRY. I HATE THESE THINGS SO MUCH IT DRIVES ME INSANE. HOW COULD THESE EVEN BE CONSIDERED A WORTHY UNIFORM. I PRAY FOR THE DAY THAT OUR ACQUISITIONS OFFICE ABANDONS ITS SELF-SERVING CORRUPT PRACTICES.
I think Canada has it right, the CADPAT pattern works wonders in the bush up north, europe and in the jungle and the Arid version is PERFECT in the desert. Should stick with two patterns, one for desert and one for Northern bush and jungle.
I will returning to service in April 09 after 4yrs away. When i left BDUs and DCUs were in my opinion were adequate. When i look at the ACUs they almost glow against most backgrounds, on the other hand hand the MULTICAM is truly a more universal pat. I have also heard from some recruiters in the station where i reenlisted that in 2009 the army will oficially change to MULTICAM. IS this true? I hope so because it would suck to be a victim of Negligence on the the part of POLITICIAN-SOLDIERS. We have been misled and neglected too many times ie. NOT ENOUGH MRAPS, INFERIOR BODY ARMOR issues, etc.
The acus may look cool to some people. I think they look awesome myself, but they are hard to keep in decent shape they stain fairly easily, tear a lot and my name keeps sticking to my arm or coming off on my arm. Of course they won’t let me just sew it to the uniform at all kinda dumb but oh well. I don’t get why they chose this uniform really and I keep seeing new multicams coming out in our stores no name velcro only arm velcro they seem to be a sturdier material and look fairly nice they’d work awesome in sandy areas and some wooded areas by the looks of em hopefully we get something a little more useful like that. But only we can dream
GUYS — IT’S OVER! Congress just passed a bill ordering the Army to buy new different uniforms for the units in Afghanistan, probably Multicam. US Army also authorized 173rd Airborne BCT to wear Multicam for their next tour to A-stan. Here are the links: http://strikehold.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/congress-tells-army-to-get-new-camo-asap/ and http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/military_afghanistan_uniforms_061509w/
who in their right mind would have chosen this uniform. talk about sniper friendly.the first time i saw it on US troops in kosovo i thought it was an urban only uniform.it simply doesn’t work.it’s obvious it was the cheapest option.the pale/cream colour ruins it. replace it with green or brown like the multicam and you’re sorted.we had the same problem in the irish army with the new DPM uniform but eventually the pale colour was made green.so it’s not only my army that buys crap (MOWAGS,NISSANS) and the soldiers suffer.
The multicam design is superior from a visual perspective, this design will hide soldiers better than the pixelated bright “approved design” What are they trying to do kill more US soldiers?
An interesting approach would be to create a hybrid of the two by re-dyeing the existing uniforms to better match the multicam perspective.
From a digital graphic artist’s opinion, the logical approach is to deploy “area match” uniform printers that could have actual local flora, fauna, building patterns taken from local samples through digital means and printed on-site over existing patterns or on “pixelated uniform blanks” issued to new recruits who don’t receive actual deployment patterns until arriving onsite due to security surrounding active missions. Or better yet use chemically activated fast-fade inks that could be effectively washed out of uniforms so that new patterns could be assigned if needed.
Using this method the soldiers could be assured the best possible protection and these patterns could be sprayed over entire suited individuals.
keep up the good fight!
they picked acus because they didn’t have to pay a pattent to use them (like they would for mulitcam). The “Best” option is to have two uniforms like the marines do. thier digital desert is superior to acu in the desert and their digital woodland (maybe minus the black) wipes the mat with the ACUs.
anybody ever heard the saying that “One size fits all is one size fits none”.
if we had to have a “universal” camo… mulitcam would be it. it is darker than the ACUs.
its funny how every thing in the middle east is tan every thing right down to the spot a pot ..and here comes the great us soldier in his army acu’s sticking out like a bullseye.…thank you dept of the army for making it easier for the enemy to see us .…thanks
Good evening. If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
, Karimah.
I am from Grenada and too poorly know English, give true I wrote the following sentence: “Weft and purification should be achieved entirely.“
With love
mine turned whit with correct care over in afghanistan everywhere i went i was seen everything except the acus could blend in at least a little but not the acu they are a horrible idea the layout of the uniform is nice but the pattern sux rather have the old ones and still be shinning boots rather than sticking out the army is suppose to be green umm where is it foliage green is gray if you believe thats green wrong answer!! if they dont go to the multican at least make the acu a little darker “green” no gray and some brown and i believe we would be set and collectively all soldiers not rear escelaun FU<KS would be happy and not feeling so unconcealed
OOH yeah they work soo great the only terrain i can achieve concealment is Clothing & Sales Clothing Rack
in reference to ACU. there is no part of this unifom that is functional it is 2009 wtf this is how we treat our soldiers… soldiers who work, fight, get wounded, or die. D.A. just wants us to look like dogs and ponies. everywhere i go the army seems to be more worried about how well we not how well we operate or how well our equiptment and uniforms operate. for the ones who decided to go with the ACU and not get rid of it allready, F. you go shoot yourself.