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Army Is Going Wrinkle-Free

Feb- 7-2007 » Filed Under: General Military

By WILLIAM YARDLEY, The New York Times

FORT LEWIS, Wash., Feb. 5 — Besides the hidden slots for knee and elbow pads, the extra room in the shoulders and the mod mandarin collar, the new Army uniform has a revolutionary feature critical to a nimbler military.

“You can just throw it in the dryer,” said Sgt. Donald Fisher, an instructor at this base for 30,000 soldiers about an hour south of Seattle. “You save money on dry cleaning.”

At military bases across the country and overseas, the era of the wash-and-war soldier has arrived. From Baghdad to Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York, the Army has been retiring its old starched and pressed Battle Dress Uniform in favor of a wrinkle-free cotton and nylon version.

The new Army Combat Uniform — known, of course, by an Army acronym, A.C.U. — has been phased in over the last two years as the Battle Dress Uniform, or B.D.U., becomes obsolete by May 2008.

The change has largely been welcomed by soldiers who have seen civilian fashion evolve in form and function in the quarter century since the old uniform was introduced. It also has come with repercussions, inside and outside the military, that are inevitable when half a million people suddenly get a new everyday wardrobe. [...]

Here at Fort Lewis, at least two of the base’s Stryker brigades played a key role in developing the new uniform, advising engineers at the Army’s Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass. The Third Brigade, Second Infantry wore a prototype during its initial deployment to Iraq in 2003.

Sergeant Fisher stood in a parking lot outside the Foxhole, a military surplus store, and provided an impromptu tour of his new uniform.

The most obvious change is its digital-pixel camouflage, a blur of muted tones that many soldiers say seems best suited to desert combat. The old uniform, by contrast, came in bold black, brown, tan and green blotches. In Iraq, many soldiers have worn the older Desert Combat Uniform, a variation on the standard one, but with desert hues. But the new uniform, which will replace both the old one and its desert counterpart, has colors and a camouflage pattern that its designers say is effective in desert, “woodland” and urban combat. Having just one combat uniform saves the Army money.

(via Blog-Ah!)


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