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Seasoned Vet
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after 6 months it will be official.
Issue Date: September 01, 2003
Tell Us What You Think
Color uncoordinated? Air Force grabs tiger stripes by the tail as part of a proposed blue BDU design
By Diane Tsimekles
Times staff writer
Grins, whispers and goggle-eyed stares followed Chief Master Sgt. Rick Arnold as he walked through the Pentagon courtyard on Aug. 7.
Arnold cut a striking figure in his blue-and-gray tiger-stripe utilities. He stepped lively in a pair of no-shine Belleville boots and was topped by a Seabee-style hat with eight points.
Soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and civilians nudged each other and pointed to Arnold. “What was he wearing?” they asked.
This was the first time they had seen the Air Force’s proposed replacement for the woodland-pattern battle dress uniform that airmen have worn for more than a decade.
On Aug. 6, the Air Force released the first pictures of the proposed uniform, seven weeks after Air Force Times — sister publication to Army Times — reported that a new utility uniform was in the works.
But the Pentagon served as something of a fashion runway for many airmen, for whom Arnold’s appearance provided the first look at the actual proposed blue BDU.
“That’s different,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Dean Boyer, who works in the Pentagon Communications Agency.“The pattern is OK, but the color takes some getting used to.
“Well, we wear blue anyway,” he said. “I’ll take anything that makes us stand out.”
The Air Force new-BDU campaign comes as Army officials are evaluating a series of tests on a dozen proposed new designs — none of them blue — that could serve as the new cammies for soldiers. Army uniform officials say a final selection is expected this fall.
Up to 450 airmen at nine bases will get to know the tiger stripes up close and personal come late January.
Selecting nine bases for the wear test is a departure from the usual practice of conducting wear tests at three or four bases, said Senior Master Sgt. Jackie Dean, chief of the Air Force uniform board.
“We want people to see this uniform,” she said.
The wear test is scheduled to last six months.
New sizes, no dry cleaning
Some changes featured in the proposed new Air Force BDU:
•Small, medium and large sizes are replaced by even sizes for men; women will get even sizes for “misses” sizes; and petite sizes.
•The fabric, an equal blend of cotton and polyester, is the same as that used in the Marine Corps’ uniform.
•The tiger stripes are a wash-and-wear fabric, which means no dry cleaning, no ironing and no starch.
•The uniforms don’t have creases.
•There’s a map pocket inside the jacket on the right side.
•A tool pocket inside the front left pocket.
•A BDU shirt that can be worn out or tucked in.
•Wider belt loops on the pants that can accommodate 2-inch-wide rigger belts, from which some airmen may use to hang tools or other equipment.
•A three-button, black henley T-shirt embroidered with the airman’s name on the left and “Air Force” on the right and is worn under the utility jacket.
•All airmen, except those currently authorized to wear a beret, will wear the new hat.
•There are no plans to change the beret.
Though the new BDUs likely will cost $7 to $8 more a set, Air Force uniform officials say that the wash-and-wear uniform will save airmen more than that on cleaning costs.
Rank-and-file get a vote
After the six months is up, the Air Force clothing office will evaluate the responses both from airmen who wore the uniforms and others, make changes based on the feedback and submit the final results to Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper for his approval.
Air Force leaders have made no firm decision on whether to introduce the uniform, and won’t until they get lots of feedback from troops in a wide variety of career fields.
Why this? Why now?
The time is right for change, Air Force officials say.
Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Gerald Murray, on a tour of Alaska bases, told Air Force Times the possibility of change was prompted in part by similar changes in the Army and Marine Corps. As the Marine Corps began using its new digitally camouflaged uniform, and the Army considered several new designs, he said, “that struck a chord with the secretary and chief, and we started talking about whether perhaps we should follow suit.”
Distinctiveness is only one goal, Murray said.
“There have been complaints about the BDU all the time, almost as soon as we started wearing it,” he said. One example: Murray said when the current BDU first was issued, troops were told they wouldn’t have to starch it to achieve a sharp appearance. Yet almost immediately, troops had to get out the starch — which damages the BDU’s camouflage, especially when viewed with night-vision goggles.
Scientific testing of the blue-gray uniform’s camouflage characteristics is underway at Fort Belvoir, Va., but Murray said troops informally have said the pattern is harder to spot with night-vision goggles than any uniform the U.S. military uses now.
So how tactical is this thing?
Air Force officials are considering only a tiger-striped pattern, a throwback to the Vietnam War when some troops used the tiger-striped uniforms of the South Vietnamese. As for the color scheme, officials wanted to stay with blue, gray, sage green and tan, Dean said, each of which is in the Air Force inventory.
Murray said combat specialties such as special forces, tactical air-control parties and combat search and rescue always will have utility uniforms more closely matching the environment they’re working in. He said he expects that Air Force troops deployed to other services — air liaison officers assigned to Army units, for example — will wear the uniform of the troops they’re with.
But Arnold, who wore the new uniform briefly in the Pentagon courtyard, believes the uniform will be a tactical success and downplayed criticism about the color of the uniform.
“It gets us a little closer to what we are doing now, which is urban warfare,” said Arnold.
“At nighttime with [night-vision goggles], you disappear,” he said of the new uniform.
At first glance, the blue-and-gray uniform may seem like it would stand out in a woodland or desert environment, but Arnold says that may not be so. The colors blend well with the color of foliage in the spring and fall.
“In summer, stay low and you’ll do fine,” he said.
Even in the desert, this camo is good, Arnold said, because “these colors just don’t readily stand out to us in our field of vision.”
The idea of change, and such a radical one, doesn’t bother Arnold.
“I like change,” he said. “I like anything that gets us moving forward.”
Staff Writer Gordon Trowbridge contributed to this report.
------------------------------------------------------------ Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn't even be there, Eighty are just targets, Nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back." - Hericletus, circa 500 BC ----------------------------------------------------------- 
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Seasoned Vet
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Ummm Yeah Blue and Grey Tiger Stripes. With all due respect tour High Speed A.F. brothers somebody in the A.F. been suckin too many JP-4 fumes. I realy wish there had been a picture of this Uniform with the Article. Maybe can find one out here on the web.
Abraham Lincoln (quiet, reserved and selfless): “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here” -Gettysburg Address
Obama (egotistical): “Now the world will watch and remember what we do here”
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Seasoned Vet
 
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"•All airmen, except those currently authorized to wear a beret, will wear the new hat."
WTF???
[pissd][bomb][pissd][bomb][pissd][bomb][pissd][bomb]
They DO NOT RATE an eight pointed cover. The Seabees have a naval tradition, they work with the Marines, I don't mind. (The Navy wears eight point covers with cammies.) The USAF???Where did they get that stupid idea? You actually have to PRESS a cover every so often or it looks like a "Bob Hope Special" golf hat. The Army likes the USAF, immitate THEM.
Pusher, you said the USAF has a history of wearing eight point covers, please explain. I am DYING to hear this one.
Go with God, but make Him walk the point.
If you load a mudfoot down with a lot of gadgets he has to watch somebody a lot more simply equipped - say with a stone axe - will sneak up and bash his head in while he is trying to read a Vernier. - Robert Heinlein
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Detachment Sergeant
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I've got a few black berets I'd be willing to let 'em use!
 ALWAYS OUT FRONT
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Ei Temporis Vita Semper Resumo Sese
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??? Okay... so this pattern of camoflauge probably would work for nocturnal operations in wooded areas, otherwise... Would of made a hell of a lot more sense to keep PJ's, TAC-P, & security freaks in plain old BDUs and have everyone else issued a dark blue uniform or somesuch...
"The degenerative and loony should never be denigrated but, rather, thanked. In their absence, the rest of you would be obliged to fill congressional seats... positions naturally unsavory to the sane and honorable." Thorax
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Seasoned Vet
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Sh0t
and eat cake.
The beret thing pissed me because the non-Ranger soldiers don't rate it. I was pissed about it, but not on a gut level because it was a distant culture. I couldn't relate as closely. This thing is different. Its MY house. Its another SERVICE with a totally different mindset and mission adopting a symbol that has meant Marine in Iraq, Iraq, Beruit, Grenada, Vietnam, Korea, Okinawa, Guadalcanal, China and countless other places in the past century.
Go with God, but make Him walk the point.
If you load a mudfoot down with a lot of gadgets he has to watch somebody a lot more simply equipped - say with a stone axe - will sneak up and bash his head in while he is trying to read a Vernier. - Robert Heinlein
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Seasoned Vet
Group: Registered User
Last Login: 10/2/2005 10:13 PM
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It would also work in 'Blue Spruce' forests.
Go with God, but make Him walk the point.
If you load a mudfoot down with a lot of gadgets he has to watch somebody a lot more simply equipped - say with a stone axe - will sneak up and bash his head in while he is trying to read a Vernier. - Robert Heinlein
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