Posted on 02/15/2014 7:48:03 PM PST by Red6
In 2004, the Army decided to scrap the two traditional camouflage uniforms that had long been used by the military—one meant for woodland environments, another for the desert—and claimed to have come up with a universal pattern that could be worn anywhere and blend in with any environment. The $5 billion dollar experiment with the universal pattern is over as the Army is phasing out the uniform after less than a decade of use. But many soldiers and observers are wondering why it took this long and cost this much to replace an item that performed poorly from the start during a period when the money could have been spent on other critical needs, like potentially life saving improvements to military vehicles and body armor.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Only back then nobody used the silly term “operator”. An operator was what my mom was. She connected your phone call.
yeah, i guess Trooper was just too mundane after the war was over...
how many middle class kids could get to college with $5 billion?...or how many taxes could be reduced?.....
Acquisition for the DoD has undergone many radical changes over the years. The current state is a mess that seeks to miracle-ize the acquisition process. First, requirements at the highest ORD level are often times are based on pure fantasy, and are not checked for technological achievability. It is not surprising to me that the requirement to meet camouflage in all environments, despite the obvious impossibility of such a task, became a “must have” in a uniform program.
Requirements for items to have characteristics that are incompatible with the required capabilities are common. This results in conflicting requirements that don’t necessarily say, but mean, “light but heavy”, “thin but thick”, “flexible but rigid”, and in this case “light but dark” or “tan but green”. Another huge issue is backwards compatibility, where users often insist that each new product be 100% compatible with every military product made since WWII. I call this one “new but old”.
Once a program is begun, it is not turned over to an expert like ADM Rickover to implement, but GS employee Program Manager (PM) who most likely has no idea or experience with the item. A subject-matter expert, whose job it is to represent the users interest, and to keep the fantasy element alive, is often brought in to participate, but the program remains in tight control of the PM.
Source Selection is an additional farce, where the guy who lies the most almost automatically wins the award. Either the firm is lying to government, or they lie to themselves. It does not matter as the result is the same. In the process of source selection, the unfortunate end result is not to pick the best player, but to rehabilitate the worst player(s) until they become acceptable. Realistic, truth-telling vendors are almost always eliminated as either being too expensive or not meeting (impossible) requirements.
The concept of “spiral development” has the unintended consequence of allowing the Product Team off the hook when major requirements are not met. The idea is that the product will be improved in future iterations. This does work in some cases in the private sector, but oftentimes it is just used as a “flex” when needed by bureaucrats. The otherwise effective Spiral Development concept conflicts directly with the Acquisitions Milestones model, and this is where faulty products and vendors are locked-in. They “shoot the engineers” who are often dumbfounded as to why the process has failed so miserably, yet marches on under full steam.
The final issue I see is the “executive-ization” of higher level Government employees. They have enormous power and prestige, and have slowly forgotten their responsibilities as Civil Servants. Publications like Government Executive only serve to feed their egos. If I were in charge, the first thing I would do is eliminate the name “Senior Executive Service” and change it to “Senior Civilian Service”. If you want to be an executive, then you should to go into private industry.
First time I saw them, I almost fell over laughing at the poor squid wearing them.
It was a true "WTF?" moment.
Wonder when the last president talked to troops that did not have the bolts to their rifles removed like the current usurper does?
The Marine Corps still use 2 basic camo patterns - one woodland MARPAT (Marine Pattern) and one desert MARPAT. Multicam, the camouflage pattern used in Afghanistan, worked pretty well during several western hunts a friend and I organized. The British have developed a version of Multicam using some of the shapes from their old woodland DPM (disrupted pattern material) combat uniform.
My nephew gave me one of his ACU shirts in Multicam for the aforementioned hunting. Like one of the other commenters, I found too much going on. The hook-and-loop system, the zipper and the gusseted back seem superfluous compared to the Marine Corps Combat Uniform blouse.
My nephew calls the Navy utilities “blueberries.” The Navy actually has one or two other digital camo uniforms, one is for EOD and SeaBees.
Several Marines think the “blueberries” were designed to hide stains and reduce frequent washing in the name of sustainability. I believe these Marines are onto something. If you think that squid looked sad, imagine if he fell overboard and the ship turned around to look for him.
I actually got a certification in gov contracting a number of years ago. Interesting stuff, if a bit dull.
The big failing with the ACU colors was that they completed the entire testing cycle, then decided on a color scheme that hadn’t been tested at any point during the program. At least the MARPAT colors were based on real-world testing and previous research. Ditto Multicam, which again has some actual environmental colors. The ACU is almost a literal example of “what color is the sky in your world”.
There was a time when “Pinks” were a standard dress uniform for officers.
I guess that’s what happens when you have gays running lose in the military uninhibited. At least you’ll look fabulous when some nut in a turban kills you. People are so stupid.
Assuming what you are saying is true about this particular program, you can't really test anymore if the DT&E and OT&E Milestones are already past. It's almost impossible, and to go back and test again would have been considered a huge failure and a threat to some government "executive's" advancement. So you see what I mean when I say the concepts of spiral development are at odds with the linear Milestones model. They should have went back and tested.
Now, years later, no one will be held responsible and they can just go through the entire process again with new taxpayer money.
The Navy with “cammo” is about the damned stupidest thing I have ever heard of.
Granted, if you were a sailor on a ship sunk in enemy waters, and your enemy happened to be the Japanese who were looking to kill you as you treaded water, that might be the only utility I could see.
Otherwise, what a joke. It is downright embarrassing.
“The Navy with “cammo” is about the damned stupidest thing I have ever heard of.
Granted, if you were a sailor on a ship sunk in enemy waters, and your enemy happened to be the Japanese who were looking to kill you as you treaded water, that might be the only utility I could see.
Otherwise, what a joke. It is downright embarrassing.”
They wouldn’t wear these at sea. At sea you wear “coveralls”. They wear this crap in-port. They will wear these top-side on a submarine entering and exiting port. However, if you were manning the rails, you would wear the dress uniform of the day.
I can only imagine, and if you have ever tried to quietly open a velcro even on a shirt in a setting you didn't want to make noise in, it doesn't take that much of an imagination, but here is what I feel like, and this isn't combat!
"RIP!"
"Crap! Crap! Crap!"
"RIIIIIII...IIII...PPPP!"
"Oh, mother of God!"
"RIP!"
"Whew! Finally can get that thing out of the pocket!"
Dang. Why does that sound to darn familiar? Oh, that's right. That is the way waste in this government functions in general.
I will forever be grateful to the memory of Ronald Reagan for what he did in making the military again be a reputable profession.
Liberals in the Sixties and Seventies did all they could to foster contempt and hatred for all things military.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.