Apparently, Army commanders were "envious" of the dust-colored pixelated camouflage being developed for the Marine Corps, and rushed to demand a similar pattern in their own colors, instead of playing it safe with the classic cloudy globs traditionally used for Army camouflage. Things went haywire when officials insisted on using the Army's traditional grey-green color scheme, which, when paired with the pixels — not to mention darker gear — turned soldiers into walking targets. "Brand identity trumped camouflage utility," says military journalist Eric Graves. "That's what this really comes down to."Envious... of the fabric print...
This gives new meaning to the term "fashion victim."
Fashion victim is a term claimed to have been coined by Oscar de la Rental that is used to identify a person who is unable to identify commonly recognized boundaries of style.You'd think military men would be beyond this kind of thing, but then again... military uniforms nearly always have nonfunctional aspects, and thoughts about how one will look in uniform surely affects the male mind, as those in charge of ordering new uniforms must know.
Fashion victims are victims because they are vulnerable to faddishness and materialism, two of the widely recognized excesses of fashion, and consequently are at the mercy of society's prejudices or of the commercial interest of the fashion industry, or of both. According to Versace, "When a woman alters her look too much from season to season, she becomes a fashion victim."
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80 comments:
"...how one will look in uniform surely affect the male mind,"
The male mind.
The female mind.
The enemy mind.
The civilian paying-for-it mind.
What is happening in the US Army is, after ten years of war the leadership has already begun the transition to a peacetime mindset. The Army's newest appointed CSM has made it clear that his priorities are haircuts, looking skinny, and how soldiers wear their clothing while off-duty. He has actually decreed that any soldier who is wearing pants which have belt loops "had better have a belt in them."
One of the reasons I left the Army was the notion that grown men were going to upbraid me about how I folded my socks and underwear.
WV: the Brig now appropriate
This is a pattern for medical care under Natioanlized Health Care.
Appearances always have a political purpose, but life and death realities are ignored with a cruel vengeance.
thank god fashion will never trump utility now.
Oscar de la Rental?
As always, Monty Python has the situation pegged years ago!
Oscar de la Rental?
Exactly. That's where you rent tuxedos and stuff.
Useless without pics.
In a just world, those responsible for this idiocy would be required to walk the point in any firefight.
Maybe the army could sell their highly visible camos to the navy, so overboard sailors could be more easily seen.
The next step will be to figure out what to do with all of the navy's new camos, which unfortunately seem designed to render overboard sailors totally invisible in the drink.
Scott Walker was a fashion victim at yesterday's parade in Tosa. My wife, a non-Walker supporter, said he looked dorky in his truly ugly flag shirt, and I, a Walker supporter, agreed. Then I said I didn't think Walker cared that he looked dorky, and wife disagreed. She thought he looked dorky and would care if he knew.
I wish I knew how to link to a pic.
I'm a fashion celibate. The only method known that's 100% effective.
Is it wrong that I want to make a 'gays in the military' joke?
Lighten up, it's just fashion.
Oscar de la Rental?
Campy cut-rate designer who lives in a Miami trailer park with his aging mother.
Specializes in pagent gowns.
The whole BDU thing with the army is silly. I see army doctors at medical meetings wearing battle dress. It looks "dorky" to use a phrase. I can see it for on-post daily wear to save cleaning bills but in public it looks affected, like the berets.
I had thought, actually, that the digital camo was supposed to be an all purpose camo to eliminate the need for having multiple different sets for woodland, desert, or urban.
I've just about been trod upon wearing woodland camo (playing airsoft). Even a group of guys walking across a bare hillside are nearly invisible. (Oh, and don't hide in a tree... bad tactics, even if no one sees you.) But it doesn't help to look like a tree if you're on a city street. During desert storm anyone deploying to Saudi got the good old chocolate chip stuff. I couldn't say if that works in the desert like woodland camo works in the woods because my husband did the desert airsoft trip without me.
http://www.moillusions.com/2007/04/camo-in-couch-illusion.html
Digital works on a couch.
I can say with confidence that woodland camo does not hide someone working in the computer center printing orders and pay statements.
Army leadership for whatever good qualities it may have, is notoriously bad at these type of things. Spending huge amounts of time and resources on issues they aren't expert at, in any sense, or that are proportionally worth it. Compound the problem by the fact that unless they have a good Master Sgt around, no one else says anything but yessir.
"Shanna said...
Is it wrong that I want to make a 'gays in the military' joke? "
Only in the sense that it would cause Andy to ruin the thread.
Wow, this is pretty hilarious (sadly). Like something out of an absurdist satire.
Much to do about nothing. Prior to 1967, there was no such thing as a camouflage uniform. US Army troops wore olive green 107 utility uniforms which were universally called "fatigues" and the color was referred to by the troops as "olive drab." It wasn't until the 1981, when the new fatigues became "BDUs" (Battle Dress Uniforms) that tropical BDUs with a woodland pattern were introduced and that was followed by the desert camo pattern used in Desert Storm. The ugly universal digital camo pattern showed up in 2005.
Ask the troops and I am sure that they will tell you that they don't mind whether or not the BDUs provide a hiding effect.
The whole BDU thing with the army is silly. I see army doctors at medical meetings wearing battle dress. It looks "dorky" to use a phrase.
Why do Marines look good in their BDUs and Army guys often look dumpy? The Army ones always seem to be oversized.
Shanna is the thread winner so far.
Oh, please! The biggest fashion victim ever was the character Sarah Jessica Parker played on Sex in the City and yet her very popularity convinced millions she was a fasionista. Meaningless.
Maybe the answer to my question is that Marines are hot and Army guys are dumpy...
This is unfortunate, of course. Especially if it ends up with guys getting wounded or KIA.
Not nearly as bad, but still worth noting - the US Military is, hands down, the best functioning part of the government.
Think of that when you go to the Obama-Clinic to see your imported Obama-Doctor working on a GS 12 salary.
Some of you will deserve that, of course.
MARPAT woodlands is a good look. I'd like to have my truck painted with it.
"Maybe the answer to my question is that Marines are hot and Army guys are dumpy..."
I've often been surprised by how much weight Army guys are allowed to carry.
But I don't know what current standards are.
The Fashion industry preys on fashion victims. The fashion industry needs fashion victims, these people who are tragically trendy.
The Marines always seem to have better uniforms, and they always look good wearing them. Partly it is literally eprit de Corps, and partly it's not having a bunch of overweight REMFs.
Supposedly, the UCP pattern was picked on whim by some general.
Multi-cam, which is what the Spec Ops guys wear and has recently been approved for the infantry, was developed by the Army (maybe before MARPAT, IIRC) and is the best thing going, it would seem.
The big problem, though, is that the military has to run all this past people like Senator Ma'am and Congressmen with local donors they want to pay off.
Palladian said...
Maybe the answer to my question is that Marines are hot and Army guys are dumpy...
Depends on the unit. Maybe an NG QM company, but not a Regular Army infantry outfit, especially Spec Ops or Airborne.
Then, too, the clothes are cut loose so these guys can work.
One of the reasons I left the Army was the notion that grown men were going to upbraid me about how I folded my socks and underwear.
LOL
We had a friend who, during the Vietnam War volunteered to join the Marines at the age of 18. Speaking to us afterwards in the mid 1970's we asked why the Marines. He said because he was sick of everyone telling him what to do. We all just stared at him, dumbfounded. He said: "Yeah, I know...stupid."
He must have liked it anyway since he reupped.
How could an article like that not include pics?
Even poking around yielded only models posing. How about a couple guys crouching in the bushes? Would that be so hard?
You underestimate by far the interest that many senior officers have in being fashion designers.
I was in the Air Force for twenty years. For all that period there was an unceasing flow of minor and major uniform changes.
Every four star general invents his own uniform, and the most senior four stars impose them on the service members, all paid for by the tax payer.
In the mid-90s we had a man named Merril McPeak, who became the senior officer in the Air Force. He imposed all sorts of comic opera uniforms on the Air Force, most of which were withdrawn as soon as he left. He copied Navy and airline uniforms.
They are always having fashion shows of new uniform designs at the pentagon.
In the Air Force fashion envy runs deep. The Air Force senior staff clearly feels inferior to the Marines and Army, as they often copy Marine and Army uniforms. For example, they copied the seven point Marine baseball style cap. They copied the black berets that were at the time worn only by Army Rangers.
Here are some pictures of one of the comical fashion shows that senior military love.
One reason the Army did not adopt the MARPAT scheme, is that the MARPAT design includes a small Eagle Globe and Anchor evey few inches, which that Army did not want on thier cammies.
Ugh, Jim. Those were awful!
And if my "blues" ever had a belt on the jacket, I'd be in BDU's every single day. Bleh. Who would belt over a suit jacket?
"Palladian said...
Why do Marines look good in their BDUs and Army guys often look dumpy? The Army ones always seem to be oversized."
The Marines didn't call them BDUs when I was in, but the answer to your question is that Marines look good in their uniforms because those uniforms contain Marines.
I like some of those AF uniforms. The high necked one has potential. They just need to have it be more form-fitting so that the belt doesn't cause the fabric to bunch-up at the waist.
Unless things have changed, service members have to pay for those uniforms themselves.
I had to buy a set of the then-brand-new post-Vietnam camouflage utilities for a junk-on-the-bunk right before leaving the Marine Corps back in the mid 1970s. Never worn, but had to be stencilled with my name (which isn't Smith.)
It must have worked, they let me out>
A small and often overlooked entry on service member's LES is Uniform Allowance. I don't know of anyone who actually saved-up that portion of their pay for uniform maintenance. On the other hand, I know a lot of Marines who had a complete set of uniforms that they never wore--always inspection ready.
dbp said...
The Marines didn't call them BDUs when I was in, but the answer to your question is that Marines look good in their uniforms because those uniforms contain Marines.
No, Marines are no better than soldiers, but the Marines have the luxury of relying on the Navy to do a lot of the support work.
Any good Regular Army man will wear his uniform well. It's the ones that are in for the freebies that drag the others down.
Mark D is correct, I mispoke.
After member's initial issue of uniforms when he joins, the military members themselves pay for every 'new and improved' uniform that comes along. At least for 'every day' and formal uniforms.
The exceptions being things like flight suits and uniforms specific job function or to a particular activity or region.
I don't think the support the Navy gave us is a complete answer. I was in the airwing, so we weren't expected to be fit like the way the ground divisions are. Yet the sailors we worked with in aircraft maintenance were mostly total dirt-bags, appearance-wise. It is the culture of the different organizations. Marines stand up straight, the do not walk around with their hands in their pockets or shuffle about. To my observation, soldiers are a step-up bearingwise from the Navy, but at least a couple steps below the Marines.
No, depends on the Soldier.
Anyone with an Airborne qualification, anyone Spec Ops, and probably most in Combat Arms wear it well.
As to the rest, some have a better appreciation for the uniform after Iraq and A-stan when they found out "behind the lines" is an obsolete term.
They should have gone for broke with broken lines. Dazzle camouflage too was based on a theory and fashion:
"In the UK ... the marine painter Norman Wilkinson invented the concept of dazzle painting as a way of using stripes and disrupted lines to confuse the enemy about the speed and dimensions of a ship....
"All British patterns were different, first tested on small wooden models viewed through a periscope in a studio. Most of the model designs were painted by women from London's Royal Academy of Arts. A foreman then scaled up their designs for the real thing. Painters, however, were not alone in the project. Creative people including sculptors, artists, and set designers designed camouflage.
"The Vorticist artist Edward Wadsworth supervised the camouflage of over two thousand warships, and his post-war canvases celebrated his dazzling ships."
MarkD said...
Unless things have changed, service members have to pay for those uniforms themselves.
as was mentioned, Enlisted troops get a uniform allowance.
troops in combat get free replacement uniforms. ACU's wear out in weeks if you are an 11B. So deployed combat units will be in Multi-cam fairly quickly.
I expect that the ACU's will get used up as well, so it's embarassing, but not too great a waste of resources.
PS I think one of the problems is some Army generals are very insecure over the Marines' marketing (their budget for it is bigger than the Army's and SOCOM's combined).
I remember Shinseki was in a tizzy over all the publicity the Marines got over Camp Rhino, while never doing much to ballyhoo the fact the 10th Mountain and SF were in the northern part of A-stan first and Rhino came about because the Rangers had already cleared the airstrip in the first offensive op of the war on Terror.
The combat uniform of the US Army has not been called BDU for a number of years. It is called ACU, Army Combat Uniform.
"Who would belt over a suit jacket?"
West Point Firstie India Whites. Well, a red sash, not a belt, but it's a wide sash and it belts the suit jacket.
Army GOs' ACU tunic/suit jacket, with the GO Belt.
This is why I laugh when people claim the US military has downed UFO technology.
"Who would belt over a suit jacket?"
USMC Dress Blues?
PPS FWIW The USMC dress blues are the old 1872 Army dress uniform with Marine distictions.
@ dbp
"It is the culture of the different organizations. Marines stand up straight, the do not walk around with their hands in their pockets or shuffle about."
It's the regulations. The USMC actually has regulations that forbid: holding hands with a woman while in uniform, chewing gum, running in the rain, not wearing a cover (hat) outside, wearing a cover (hat) -inside-, walking in step, having your hands inside trouser pockets, etc etc etc.
It's pretty extensive and believe it or not but senior NCOs will nail you for violating them if you're on base.
Do you know that now the Marines cannot roll their sleeves anymore? With the temps of 110 and above in Afghanistan, that is miserable, my daughter says she has a hand tan.
The Marines need uniforms that look good when blood soaked from going back into intense enemy fire to rescue wounded bleeding Marines and also any wounded Soldiers that the Army has judiciously abandoned.
Thanks ed for the reminder, Now that you mention it I seem to recall that it was in the regs. After a few years in it sort of becomes ingrained though. I still remember how, if for some reason I had a haircut more than one week old, I would feel uneasy. I wasn't concerned about being accosted (that would take a two week old haircut), I just felt...unsat.
FWIW, I have the highest regard for the men and women in all of our branches--they are brave and able. My comments are primarily about bearing.
My favorite Marine T-shirt says, "Pain is weakness leaving the body."
McPeak was an idiot in many ways. Wasn't he the guy sent home from the Gulf War ?
Leslyn, love the Devil Pup, adorable! My daughter will be coming home for R&R in September for my other daughter's wedding. She got all our sizes, I think we're going to get a cool Afghanistan Marine T Shirt, of sorts. she won't say what the design is.
No leslyn she is a Navy Hospital Corpsman, with the 1st MLG, forward.
I like some of those AF uniforms. The high necked one has potential. They just need to have it be more form-fitting so that the belt doesn't cause the fabric to bunch-up at the waist.
They're great if you want to look like a pretend Nazi.
Allie, my son was originally in a cavalry unit, and they always had their sleeves down for protection from not just sun but blowing sand and dust. Usually wore gloves, too. First time he came home on leave, I had a lot more tan than he did.
Wasn't Shinseki the clown who came up with the 'Army of One' commercials? And decided all Army units would wear a black beret(which turned out the ones ordered were made in freakin' CHINA)?
You want to know how the Army wound up with camo that doesn't work? Probably with help from the same bastards who think "If the enemy shoots at you and you return fire without permission from an officer, you can be court-martialed" is a intelligent ROE.
I wish I knew how to link to a pic.
Dear Google, if I ask nicely, will you be so kind as to show me how to link a picture? Thanks in advance.
My daughter is the tall one closest to the bus, holding the extra bag in her hands in front of her
This isn't violating OPSEC, it's from the 1ST MLG's Facebook page, open to the general public.
With Red Sash (actually maroon but they call it red) on India Whites R Day 2012.
"Wasn't Shinseki the clown .... "
GEN (Ret.) and Secretary of Veteran Affairs Eric Shinseki.
He fought to obtain the Stryker, an essential urban warfare fighting vehicle and to stand up Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, essential formations in modern warfare. And he argued for more boots on the ground in OIF.
Such men are not "clowns." Those who call them such beclown themselves.
"Goldberg writes that "[in] recent years McPeak has echoed the Mearsheimer-Walt view that American Middle East policy is being controlled by Jews at the expense of America's interests in the region."[8] Goldberg then quotes McPeak responding to a question as to what is the cause for the lack of progressing in getting Israelis and Palestinians together: "New York City. Miami. We have a large vote -- vote, here in favor of Israel. And no politician wants to run against it."
I was pretty sure he was an idiot.
I am still not convinced he was OK in the Gulf War.
Now explain the Navy camo.
Why do you, Ann, assume that it was male minds that did this? There are women in the army now.
We Marines made a lot of fun of those uniforms. Now the army has stolen the British uniform pattern in Afghanistan. They don't seem to have much originality in uniforms.
It also seems foolish to me to put rank insignia in the middle of the chest instead of the collars, sleeves or shoulders. Now we have to stare intently at an army woman's breasts to discern her rank.
Jim Howard,
Marines thought the air force was hilarious with those pictures. They copied the Marine uniforms but left out the most important reason why Marines look good in their uniforms: Tailors.
Just go to an air force or army base and try to find a tailor that does anything more than hem cuffs.
Those air force unforms look silly because they are ill-fitting. Vents are crooked, coats bunched up, not lying flat, breast pockets not straight, etc.
Marines have better tailors.
This should put to rest (as if GWB's profligacy was not enough) that an across the board cut would be a good thing. A Republican is just a Democrat spender in Army Drag.
And One - Military Fashion Show
Have you seen the pixelated uniforms on the street? Not only are they visually loud, but they look like hell - shabby, bag-like and cheap. Like something someone scrounged out of a trash barrel. Also, I've heard that they come apart quickly, especially under combat or even service conditions. I've read stories about troops rolling around Iraq with great gaping holes in their uniforms, just falling right off them, because of the weak stitching and poor fabric quality.
Lighten up, it's just fashion.
Eh, that's like dismissing someone complaining about one of those name architect buildings which keeps shedding windows onto passersby from five stories up as "lighten up, it's just design." Some mistakes have real-world consequences.
Then, too, the clothes are cut loose so these guys can work.
Except they're also worn by recruiters. Loose and baggy is *not* the way to wow the would-be recruit.
$5 billion? Who got the contract?
"There you go again with the treasonous statements. You're lucky the Marines around here can't reach you through the computer."
Heh. If Marines are so upset about being a part of the Navy then they should quit and join the Army.
Actually, we really should just give it up and merge the two. Think of all the money we'd save in uniform design costs alone.
"I can see it for on-post daily wear to save cleaning bills"
When I was wearing BDUs, I had to take them to the cleaners to be starched because that's how everyone in my unit handled it (you don't want to be the outlier on such things). The old style boots had to be polished.
I'm not complaining about that. It's a tradition that has its purpose (Though I believe the ACUs in use now do not require boot polish or ironing).
There's a lot of strange stuff with these uniform changes. The dress blues becoming the Class As some years back. Shinseki's making the Ranger Beret standard uniform for everybody... that's all very misguided.
A functional only approach looks better because it looks authentic. And that includes the dress uniforms, where the more functional WWII designs just look right and the gold mohair shiny class As of today look like they are trying too hard.
Just my opinion, but I also think WWII was a great point in our Army's history because of the epic scale of evil defeated, and using the uniform of that era would cultivate really awesome attitudes.
It's the regulations. The USMC actually has regulations that forbid: holding hands with a woman while in uniform, chewing gum, running in the rain, not wearing a cover (hat) outside, wearing a cover (hat) -inside-, walking in step, having your hands inside trouser pockets, etc etc etc.
The Army enforces those regs too. At least, Soldiers with pride enforce those regs.
We call trouser pockets "Air Force gloves".
Field uniforms are supposed to be loose and baggy to break up the silouette. The Army actually forbids tailoring it beyond size alterations. Your not supposed to block or "roll" your patrol cap either. Your not supposed to look pretty in a field uniform.
If the Army only had a few Divisions, we would have fewer fat bodies as well. But, most units have a pet fat guy they seem to keep around. Women are allowed a higher precentage of body fat too, and the older you get, the more you are allowed.
"he USMC actually has regulations that forbid: holding hands with a woman while in uniform, chewing gum, running in the rain, not wearing a cover (hat) outside, wearing a cover (hat) -inside-, walking in step, having your hands inside trouser pockets, etc etc etc."
When I was in the USAF we had all the same rules.
And we didn't need to run in the rain, because we were authorized to carry umbrellas.
Oh yeah, like the Stryker gun vehicle that rolled over if you fired the main gun more than about 15 degrees off centerline. Other problems too, that had to be solved after he was gone if I remember right. And didn't a lot of the mods get started in the field to try and fix the problems he'd insisted weren't there?
I notice you don't mention the berets, or the 'Army of One' crap.
The issue of bearing in the Navy might be somewhat due to having to walk and work on an unstable surface. Center of balance needs to be different.
So, the camo makes them easier to see.
After 9/11 I kept wondering why soldiers kept showing up in places like airports in full camo. Camo dress really isn't camoflage inside an airport of in an urban environment is it?
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