All comments are appreciated. Personally, I think the ACU is garbage. What do you think?

Question:
Are you a fan of the Army Combat Uniform (ACU)?

Choices:
Yes. Keep it just as it is.
Yes. But make some changes to it.
No. Go back to BDUs/DCUs
No. We need a totally new combat uniform.

 

A few things I don't like about the ACU:

1. The camouflage pattern: Personally, I feel as though it doesn't blend in with anything. Seemed to stick out like a soar thumb in Bahgdad.

2. The Velcro: It's loud, it gets crappy, it sticks to everything (including other soldiers if you get to close to one another), it's expensive.

3. Durability: Every time I wear a set into the field, they seem to come out unserviceable. If you run into thorns- forget it. The crotches rip out and the knees wear through very easily.

4. The collar...it seems to never want to stay down- I'm constantly getting on the spot corrections for it, which is particularly annoying because there doesn't seem to be much that can be done about it- and you can't see it unless you look in a mirror.

5. No distinguishing branch insignia- a slap in the face to the officer corps if you ask me.

Things I like about the ACU:

1. The pockets on the sleeves, including the pen slots

2. They are pretty comfortable.

Just my two sense

I like the pen slots too-- on the BDU, there was nowhere to keep a pen, except for the little tab inside of and behind the topmost button that you'd button. And if anyone could see the pen there, it was a No-Go.

I am ambivalent about the velcro. As was posted above, it's loud and you stick to stuff or other soldiers. It picks up and traps lint when yoou wash and dry it too. However, it's nice not having to sew patches on.

Also, I wish that we were allowed to sew-on badges. I'm continually losing the "dammits."

The camo doesn't blend into anything except a gravel roadway and ugly couches. It is universal camo in that it is universally BAD.

I do like not having to wear black boots. I always took pride in my boots, as they were mirror-shined, but that took a lot of time. The suede desert boots do get to looking like crud, but at least you don't have to shine them!

Matt
SPC, US Army
15U

I voted for an entirely new uniform, BUT I wouldn't complain if we went back to BDUs and DCUs (with tan boots authorized for the BDUs in the field). They need the pockets on the sleeve though, that was a nice design aspect of the ACU. the fact that troopers were doing it on their own when this war started should have told Natick what the soldiers really needed. Instead they got creative and went way overboard. The enlisted grunt is not an idiot, he knows what he needs, but I guess higher brass knows better.

Although, what would be freaking sweet, would be the original manufacturer of multicam, crye precision. if you go to their website, you'll see their uniforms in multicam, and they're extremely better than the multicam version of the ACUs (TRU - tactical response uniform).

Like I said, that would be nice. I am about as anti-ACU as they come. the pattern, the velcro, the pin on skill badges, even the fit is retarded. How can this army expect to be taken seriously when we look like a bunch of *** clowns? I agree with the previous poster who said they are comfortable, but since when did comfort become a necessity for winning wars? besides, its not like the BDU/DCU were uncomfortable.

sorry for my rant.

ACUs are dumb and somebody needs to effect change soon. i cant believe the decision making process that went into that choice. im also a fan of multicam. you want comfortable buy your stuff a size bigger, problem solved.
you cant even comfortably put a blow-out kit in the shoulder pocket of the ACU, yea i can fit my little useless notepad and maybe my army values card, because those are the important things.
I vote to wise up, except reality and create and support radical change that get us the proper tactical uniform, multicam. period.

de oppresso liber

I do believe one the SDFs, I think it was Tenn. but I'm not 100%, adopted an ACU cut and style uniform but in woodland (BDU) camo.

All the velcro in the same places with OD nametapes and patches.

Not sure if that was a better call at least they'll blend in the woods of Tenn. better.

I like the acu, but it could be more durable and they need to make it where mud doesn't stain it. It looks like crap after one field exercise. I can't believe people still complain about noise...look if the enemy is that freaking close to hear your velcro then you got problems. besides with the IBA on there isnt much velcro you could get into.

youre obviously not a tactician.
ok heres an idea.... only combat arms people should have a say and everyone else should follow.
yes i am aware that anyone can and will leave the wire, sure. but where do all the tactics you use derive from. it should be the same with this stupid combat uniform issue. E-1 through
E-7 should have the final say, period. Even if the end result would have cost you and extra
$20-$30 a uniform. sorry you wont be able to buy coke cola and snikers bars for a pay period.

out

This is the uniform I think the Army should adopt to replace the ACUs for garrison, woodland,jungle missions. This is not the same uniform that Marines currently wear. I think MARPAT should be used for deployments to the middle east though.

S.Korean SF

As far as I'm concerned, the old Stryker BDU/DCU was the best. I never wore it, but it had all the improvements of the ACU, with sensible camoflauge. I like black books for wet environments. Suede is just ridiculous in many areas

Ill say this. When the ACUs came out I was a big skeptic. I didnt lke anything about them. After spending 16 months in Iraq waering them I can tell you they were just fine. They certainly werent a huge improvement over the DCU/BDU, but they didnt suck @ss either. Over all in the battle of DCU v. ACU the result is even.

quote:

Originally posted by foxred03:
As far as I'm concerned, the old Stryker BDU/DCU was the best. I never wore it, but it had all the improvements of the ACU, with sensible camoflauge. I like black books for wet environments. Suede is just ridiculous in many areas

Black leather boots aren't waterproof. That is, unless you waterproof them with solutions specially made for it. But then again, you can waterproof any boots. I had a pair of grey Timberlands that came waterproofed-- it stood up to snow, slush, and water. Never got a drop of cold wet stuff inside my boots.

However, the black leather boots were easier to "wash." Whenever I got mud on my black boots, I could hose them off and then dry the water off them. Of course, an additional polishing was in store then too. You get mud on the suede, it's a nightmare.

as for the ACUs and stains-- yup, one day at the Bayonet Assault Course at Ft. Benning and one set was orange from the mud. It took half a bottle of Oxy-Clean, and a hour with a scrub-brush to get the orange tint out of my ACUs. There was also some lighter orange dirt at Ft. Eustis, and I didn't have any Oxy-Clean, so I have one set of ACU pants that have a slightly yellow tint to them.

Matt
SPC, US Army
15U

quote:

Originally posted by Teknowil:
I like the acu, but it could be more durable and they need to make it where mud doesn't stain it. It looks like crap after one field exercise. I can't believe people still complain about noise...look if the enemy is that freaking close to hear your velcro then you got problems. besides with the IBA on there isnt much velcro you could get into.

I agree Tek. Im not a sniper, or a SF ninja, but velcro seriously wasnt an issue as far as noise went. We wanted the bad guys to know we were there, patrolling the streets, and showing force so the Iraqis could get back to a semi normal life. Rolling around in the streets with Strykers, the last thing you are concerned about is how quiet your velcro is.

When I wore DCUs on tour#1, I never had any problems with them tearing other than catching them on barbwire, or something else. With ACUs, I blew out the crotch on every set of ACU trousers I had just from running around. The material used for the ACU sucks. The camou design looks decent when used in the mountains of Afghanistan, but obviously sticks out like a sore thumb in Iraq.

In regards to the velcro....

I heard several short lectures about this when I went through OSUT in 1982 from the Vietnam vets, they hated velcro. They did not like the velcro closures over the watch bands people were buying at the PX to cover the sheen on their watch dial. It was not well liked in the Vietnam war because of the noise it made in tactical situations such as patrols.

It was also on some of the OD Green Jungle Fatigues I wore at Ft. Campbell (they were authorized in 1986). You can hear the "velcro rip" for quite a distance in the woods at night. So in that type of tactical situation where quiet is a requirement, velcro sucks.

It was one of the reasons that BDU's used buttons instead of velcro, zippers or snaps that the OD green uniforms before them had.....I was told.

quote:

Originally posted by Mad_Matt:

quote:

Originally posted by foxred03:
As far as I'm concerned, the old Stryker BDU/DCU was the best. I never wore it, but it had all the improvements of the ACU, with sensible camoflauge. I like black books for wet environments. Suede is just ridiculous in many areas

Black leather boots aren't waterproof. That is, unless you waterproof them with solutions specially made for it. But then again, you can waterproof any boots. I had a pair of grey Timberlands that came waterproofed-- it stood up to snow, slush, and water. Never got a drop of cold wet stuff inside my boots.

However, the black leather boots were easier to "wash." Whenever I got mud on my black boots, I could hose them off and then dry the water off them. Of course, an additional polishing was in store then too. You get mud on the suede, it's a nightmare.

as for the ACUs and stains-- yup, one day at the Bayonet Assault Course at Ft. Benning and one set was orange from the mud. It took half a bottle of Oxy-Clean, and a hour with a scrub-brush to get the orange tint out of my ACUs. There was also some lighter orange dirt at Ft. Eustis, and I didn't have any Oxy-Clean, so I have one set of ACU pants that have a slightly yellow tint to them.

Matt
SPC, US Army
15U

Exactly, I do try my best to waterproof boots. You can buy suede spray-on but it dosent always work that well, especially when half the boot is one layer of nylon. Civilian boots like timberlands, or danners are better made, with thicker layers of gortex and leather. Many new alpine climbing boots are as waterproof plastic boots.

I grew up duck hunting where even the shine from glasses or your shotgun bolt could give you away. It seems to me like the Army has forgotten the lessons of camoflauge that so many learned the hard way in past wars. Soldiers in Iraq may not need camoflauge very often, but I guarantee that down the line, someone will.

Waterresistant treatment for the new Boots? I've had damn fine results with something called:

Revivex
Nubuck, Suede & Fabric waterproofing spray. Comes in a Pump bottle I ordered it from a camping place. So Far has workined like a charm.


I hate ACU's with a Passion, the A@#holes who picked this ought to be stuffed with fireants throught their southern exit point.

Velcro sucks

Collar Sucks

Chest Pockets suck(and look copied from the old MOPP suit)

Shirts too damned short

Arm pockets a Joke now with DAPS

Pants cargo pockets a freaking joke, esp. those f@#$ing bungees that catch everything, but what you dont want to fall out...

Pattern sucks ballz unless your on a tank trail at first light

Rank on the chest is too gddamn french

Pin-On is stupid, and the reason for it dumb as cindy sheehan, bring back sew-on ASAP

I watched the 48th in Baghdad when they showed up wearing this abomination, and you could easily spot them hundreds of Meters further than DCU's.

Improve the BDU, or better a BDU in Multicam or just admit the Army screwed the pooch and adopt the ABDU of the USAF

The shin pockets are nice for carrying a mag when you go to the chow hall though.

quote:

Originally posted by LineDoggie

I hate ACU's with a Passion, the A@#holes who picked this ought to be stuffed with fireants throught their southern exit point.

Velcro sucks

Collar Sucks

Chest Pockets suck(and look copied from the old MOPP suit)

Shirts too damned short

Arm pockets a Joke now with DAPS

Pants cargo pockets a freaking joke, esp. those f@#$ing bungees that catch everything, but what you dont want to fall out...

Pattern sucks ballz unless your on a tank trail at first light

Rank on the chest is too gddamn french

Pin-On is stupid, and the reason for it dumb as cindy sheehan, bring back sew-on ASAP

I watched the 48th in Baghdad when they showed up wearing this abomination, and you could easily spot them hundreds of Meters further than DCU's.

Amen.

quote:

Rank on the chest is too gddamn french

is this that big of a deal? Placement of rank?

I dont agree or disagree, since I never wore the ACU (Got out in Oct 05 just as they were coming on line)..is this a problem of functionality, I just have heard this before.......

I don't see how big of a deal the whole rank placement is...

I'm being serious...please point out your disatisfaction....it's an interesting statement.

My thing is, rank has been placed on that general area of the body in flak jackets and IBA's for years...(same area in the USMC {94-01} from what I remember), so whats the big deal with a uniform and rank placement?...