Difficulty in Changing Uniforms

Army Uniform Change Difficulty

The Army Combat Uniform (ACU) uses the pattern of Universal Camouflage Pattern. Anyone who knows about these uniforms knows they are not universal and suffer many flaws. The Army has replaced the use of ACUs in Afghanistan with MultiCam. This uniform does a much better job of blending in with the terrain.  However, due to costs and production constraints, Multi-Cam will only be worn by units deploying. This may change with the draw down in Afghanistan, but that has yet to be published. There are rumors of a new pattern and style of camouflage soon to be introduced. This will pose a major logistical problem during the transition.

            When the Army changed from Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) to ACU the process took place during the opening phases of Iraq. Units deploying used Desert Camouflage Uniforms (DCUs). The transition took time for the Army and had some implementation issues. Units transitioned as a whole and the Army would focus their supply of new uniforms to those units. This kept troops looking the same in units and did not detract from the professionalism. Soldiers are issued the uniforms and thus the Army had to provide several complete sets of new uniforms for the soldiers and then have plenty available to purchase by officers and to augment for enlisted who wanted more. Some were hurt by this change, especially those who had bought BDUs shortly before the announced change and never had the chance to wear them. With other transitions their might have been the possibly of sales, but when the entire military stops buying these uniforms and everyone tries to sell them the prices drop significantly.

            When a new uniform is introduced into the Army to replace ACUs (possibly the US4CES), steps will have to be taken to reduce costs. New uniforms cost money for the Army to issue and the time used to exchange uniforms.  Not only will the uniforms need to be changed, but so will all other items using the same patterns. Body armor, hats, helmet liners, boots, gloves, coats, jackets, carriers for ammo and other supplies on the body armor, and many other uniform items all must be changed with a change in camouflage.  All of these should be replaced at the same time to reduce intermixed uniforms.  When implementing a uniform change the army must also spend time creating new guides and posters regulating its wear. All of these changes require large purchases and time to implement.

            Different environments require different uniforms and this is another consideration in uniform supply. The jungle has different requirements than the desert or arctic environments. The Army must have a ready supply of uniforms for all environments in case of any contingency. Getting the uniforms to the right place at the right time in the right numbers will be a logistics nightmare on top of all the other logistical requirements, such as at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, not enough complete sets of DCUs were available and units had to wear mixed uniforms.