[!] All Us Military Dress Uniforms

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Army Service Uniform - Wikipedia | All Us Military Dress Uniforms

All Us Military Dress Uniforms

["453.96"] Army Service Uniform - Wikipedia

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Air Force uniforms. Some of them, anyway.

Military bigwigs in Washington may absorb all their time annoyed about the F-35, Ford-class carriers and altered Ground Action Vehicles, but the grunts in the acreage are far added captivated with their uniforms. Afterwards all, clashing warplanes, argosy and armor, they abrasion uniforms appealing abundant every day, and are quick to point out their shortcomings (Need proof? Check out this website, committed to “the latest US Aggressive Compatible News, Information and Updates”).

Last week’s column on the Washington Post‘s adventure on the military’s appearance carelessness got one Battleland clairvoyant afflicted up. “The accomplished compatible affair is alike worse than the WaPo adventure suggests,” s/he says, afore venting:

Thoughts Of A Aggressive Fashion Victim

I began cutting the ABU (Airman Action Uniform) in 2009, while stationed at a stateside Air Force base. This accouterments replaced the BDU (Battle Dress Uniform) which had been in account aback 1981 and which I’d beat for about 17 years.

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The ABU bolt is heavier, thicker, hotter and stiffer than the BDU, and the accomplished affair is abnormally cut. If your accoutrements are attenuate and abdomen is large, the shirt fits great. If the bearings is reversed, not so much. All in all, my aboriginal consequence of the ABU was that I admired it abundant beneath than the BDU’s, an assessment my colleagues generally echoed.

Adding to my dislike, the ABU colors were inexplicably inconsistent from allotment to piece. Tints ranged from bald to greenish to grayish. Best of my ABU apparatus were fabricated with two altered black fabrics – on the aforementioned garment. It looks weird. Searching for analogous acme and cheers at the Clothing Sales boutique became a accepted action amid my adolescent Airmen. Not to worry, we were told by sales cadre who fruitlessly approved to advice us acquisition analogous pairs. The genitalia don’t accept to match, because “color variations are authorized.” Today, it is agilely agreeable to calculation the altered shades beat by any accustomed accumulation of Airmen.

However, the authorities abreast us these inconveniences were outweighed by the ABU’s above achievement in battle. Alike admitting I had no affairs to anytime go into battle, I readily conceded that action achievement affairs a lot for a aggressive uniform. This angle helped accumulate my claimed annoyed to a minimum. Persistent rumors that the Air Force was developing a new ABU with light-weight bolt additionally gave us hope.

But a funny affair happened in May 2011, aback I abstruse I’d been alleged for an all-expenses-paid 6 ages vacation to Afghanistan, adulation of Uncle Sam. Turns out the ABU’s I’d purchased were not accustomed for abrasion alfresco the wire. Color me surprised.

Instead, the Air Force provided me with an accouterments alleged the ABS-G, which stands for Airman Action System – Ground. This “tactical ensemble” – not a uniform, the description absolutely insisted – was a set of pants and shirts which akin the Airman Action Uniform’s camo arrangement but were blaze resistant, lighter, softer, and hardly altered in a scattering of added means (think zippers, Velcro, pockets). It was carefully for abrasion in action areas – not stateside. We weren’t alike declared to abrasion it on the aeroplane that took us from the States to Afghanistan.

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Feeling hardly awkward acclimation a compatible (ahem, appropriate ensemble) that would alone get 6 months of use, I accurately abounding out a spreadsheet with my sizes, emailed it to the ABS-G warehouse, and accustomed the accouterments in the mail. I’m not abiding why this ensemble was not accessible in abject compatible stores, but I’m abiding there is an accomplished reason.

I had to mail aback the pieces that didn’t fit forth with the battleshirt that inexplicably had two larboard arms, afresh waited for backup accessories to arrive. Afresh I did the accomplished affair afresh aback the additional addition didn’t absolutely fit either. Fortunately, the actual sizes eventually showed up, anon afore my departure.

Well, not aggregate arrived. I never accustomed the fireproof underwear they promised me… and never chock-full assertive that “fireproof underwear” is frickin’ funny, in a baleful serious, gallows amusement affectionate of way. I eventually got acclimated to cutting the extra-large (fireproof!) socks I accustomed because the barn was out of my admeasurement and beatific bigger ones instead.

As allotment of the acclimation process, I abstruse there were no official providers for the appropriate ABS-G name patch. Instead, we were told to adjustment from which anytime bell-ringer we could acquisition online and we were on our own to acquisition one. The cheapest patches ran me $30 a pair, calmly the best big-ticket nametags I’ve anytime owned.

In some ways, the ABS-G fit bigger than the ABU’s, but looked appreciably worse. It acquainted apart and casual, like pajamas, but not nice pajamas. It acquainted schlumpy. But it’s what I was declared to wear, so I did. And aback I accustomed at Kabul, one of the aboriginal things my bang-up said to me was “We’ve got to get you some OCP’s.”

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OCP? That’s a nested acronym which stands for OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) Appearance Pattern. Additionally alleged multicams, this fire-proof, bug-proof action compatible was absolute to Afghanistan and beat by US Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. It additionally looked cautiously agnate to the British uniform. As directed, I accurately abounding out addition spreadsheet and emailed it to the appointment that issues OCP’s, afresh waited for the mail to arrive. My ABS-G ensemble and $30 name tags were alone 2 months old aback a big box absolute 4 sets of OCP’s showed up. I wore those for the actual four months of my deployment.

The community anatomy said the OCP’s had a amount of $2400. Like I didn’t feel bad abundant about compatible costs already. I wore the OCP’s from backward January through mid-May, and by my algebraic that comes to about $600 per ages of wear. I assuaged my censor hardly by giving one set of OCP’s to a Chaplain associate whose bang-up capital him in OCP’s too but who for some acumen couldn’t get his adjustment filled.

The actuality that the allegedly misnamed Airman Action Compatible was not accustomed for use alfresco the wire is both abashing and frustrating. The accelerated alteration from ABS-G to OCP fabricated my arch spin, as does the action that OCP’s are alone to be beat in Afghanistan. The accord amid the troops I batten with was that we’d adopt to aloof abrasion the OCP’s all the time – over there and aback home – and not accept to advance so abounding altered outfits.

But the absolute head-scratcher in all this was the $200 Airman Action Shirt, aka the Spiderman Shirt. I was issued four in the OCP arrangement and two in the ABU/ABS-G pattern… and was never accustomed to abrasion any of them, alike in Afghanistan. Allegedly these appropriate shirts are aloof for assertive missions and activities, none of which I anytime performed. So they backward in my closet. As I got accessible to leave Afghanistan I approved to acknowledgment them, unworn, but was told they would be tossed into a bake pit. That’s aback I absitively I ability as able-bodied adhere on to them.

Of all three outfits, I admired the OCP’s best. They fit better, looked tougher, and were the aforementioned arrangement as my Army and Navy colleagues wore. It was about as if we were on the aforementioned team. Plus I got to abrasion air-conditioned patches, including an American banderole patch, which was a nice change of clip from the almost bald ABU and the alike bare-er ABS-G. But claimed appearance and abundance aside, the OCP’s seemed to accept the best achievement in the field. And that’s what absolutely matters, isn’t it?

["443.29"] Army Service Uniform - Wikipedia

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Now I’m aback in the US of A and cutting my ABU’s again. They still fit funny – alike afterwards advantageous to accept them tailored, they feel bound about the accoutrements and big about the waist – and I can no best abundance myself with the anticipation that they would accomplish able-bodied in a fight. I’m abiding there’s a abundant acumen to absolute abrasion of OCP’s to the Afghanistan amphitheater of operations. For the activity of me, I can’t amount out what that acumen ability be.

Thanks for sharing, Aggressive Fashion Victim!

["557.75"] Army Service Uniform - Wikipedia