"An observation on the ACU" Topic

So, back in the mists of time, we played a good deal of Warzone. We had fun with game, generally enjoyed the figures (or used proxies) and, like I said, had fun.

One of the sources of fun was making jokes about the "boot pouches" many of the figures had sculpted on them. They normally ringed the top of a boot, where a bloused pant leg would be and appeared to be big enough for a squash ball or a very large jawbreaker, perhaps a couple of boxes of raisins, what have you. They were good for a laugh.

Now the ACU (Army Combat Uniform) has various features that are "improvements" over the previous BDU (Battle Dress Uniform). One such feature is pockets on the pants at about mid-calf with velcro closures. When I first saw them, I though "Piff! Boot pouches, just like the Warzone figs. *Chuckle*"

Joke's on me.

These friggin' things are damn handy. I currently have a Gerber multi-tool in the left pocket and a AA cell MagLite, a Gerber knife and ear plugs in the right. This small addition saves me from having two pouches on my belt (multi-tool and flashlight), a knife clipped inside a pocket and I always have ear pro on my person (in addition to the other stuff). The pockets are easily accessible while sitting in a vehicle, are not obstructed by my body armor and everything stays handy (as mentioned previously).

I wonder what other uniform modification will come about that has previously been sculpted on a sci-fi mini? I hope not spikey shoulder pads. Or skullz (TM).

Jay Arnold wrote:

[…] I wonder what other uniform modification will come about that has previously been sculpted on a sci-fi mini?

Just wait for the sexy bloused pants and high-top shiny boots shown on the original Star Trek series. Just watch out if you end up in a red shirt! :)

Stay safe,

- Bob

In the Marine Corps for years in the 80's and the 90's we would cut off the top front pockets off of old cammie blouses and sew them on our sleeves of our field cammies and I don't know how many times I wouldn't beable to wear them in some commands because either a senior SNCO or Officer would have a bug up his about it. So now with the new cammies guess were the some of the new pockets are.

Pocket on the sleeve would be a great place to carry my iPod.

8)

Okay so HOW are they at being "Camouflage"? I've heard some folks say that you stick out like a sore thumb in them in the woods, etc…

The Marines had the sense to make different patterns for temperate and desert and work well, The armys suck too light in a green line to dark in the dessert. The Airforce and Navy's well what the heck where they thinking..Navy personel have been proud to wear USMC Battledress and I doubt they wanted to change that …Airforce speacial opps Squadrons happily wore comercial cammos or Army Battledress or a mixture. Army SF wears anything from acus to street corner wino stuff , CAG like gadgets and exotic cammos,AWG wear whatever,CIA SAD like the wino look as well and seals went all preppy on us with thier abercrombie and fitch and Northface gear. soon everyone will jump on the 511 bandwagon to take back the coolness factor from Blackwater.
But no matter what they wear they are still the finest warriors the world has ever seen and may each and everyone come home safe.

I picked up some of the hyper stealth CanPat for temperate climes – really nice.

Frankly the modern German and Swiss stuff is pretty darn good for woods, and you can get it cheap most of the time.

"Pocket on the sleeve"

German gear has sleeve pockets, and very handy they are for car keys and suchlike.

"Okay so HOW are they at being "Camouflage"? "

Terrible, they work alright in fog.

Flecktarn and DPM are best in the woods. All round I prefer DPM, even if it doesn't have that snazzy SS style camo pattern. I really like the zipped inner pockets in the jacket, and the pocket fastenings work really well. It could do with some boot pockets as mentioned in the original thread, and maybe jacket sleeve pockets like the German gear. The German gear is well made, the camo works really well but the patch pockets are awful and the material is just heavy cotton which takes an age to dry.

ACU works OK in a rocky desert, like A-stan or southern Idaho (which is being looked at for an A-stan training area), but it's too light in conifer woods (haven't seen it in deciduous woods). MARPAT woodland works great in heavy greenery (like western Washington, or other rainforests).

I have a set of Multicam in the ACU cut (hey, gotta airsoft in something), it's a huge improvement over my old BDUs for usability in full kit. The pockets are in much better locations than BDUs.