 Editor in Chief Bill   | 21 Jun 2017 11:07 a.m. PST |
The U.S. government may have overpaid nearly $30 USD million for uniforms for the Afghan National Army because it used a private contractor who offered a camouflage pattern that is unsuited to the country's terrain, the Pentagon's Special Inspector General for Afghanistan has found… link |
| Zyphyr | 21 Jun 2017 11:32 a.m. PST |
I really wish that I could find this even slightly surprising. |
| Cacique Caribe | 21 Jun 2017 11:38 a.m. PST |
Contractors will show the buyer prototypes before they go full on with production. So it was someone on govt payroll that picked out the wrong pattern and they're just blaming the contractor. Dan |
| 15mm and 28mm Fanatik | 21 Jun 2017 12:03 p.m. PST |
A proprietary non-standard pattern was chosen in order to make it harder for the enemy to infiltrate the ANA with standard issue uniforms and create green-on-blue incidents, no doubt. |
| foxweasel | 21 Jun 2017 12:29 p.m. PST |
Hardly surprising, the U.S. Army was wearing a camouflage pattern unsuited to the whole world for ages. |
| paulgenna | 21 Jun 2017 12:32 p.m. PST |
I agree with CC, unless the records show the contractor produced the wrong camo pattern then someone in the government screwed up. It should be easy to prove one way r another. |
| Jcfrog | 21 Jun 2017 1:03 p.m. PST |
One famo?
For the whole place in every season?
You can have near euro green bckground, greyish montainous types, desert like yellow orange etc. depending on when and where. Then stick huge colour patches and everything you can think on it …;) |
peterx  | 21 Jun 2017 1:04 p.m. PST |
It was an ex- Defense Minister of Afghanistan (2006) who chose the pattern. But some  es at the Pentagon must have approved it. In any case, the US can collect the uniforms, distribute them to a client state in a forested or jungled part of the world and give the Afghanis desert style camo. There! I solved it for the Pentagon and the Afghan army. Can I get my consultant fee now? |
| Cacique Caribe | 21 Jun 2017 2:08 p.m. PST |
Peterx, You're a genius! You should get a check. Dan |
| Striker | 21 Jun 2017 2:11 p.m. PST |
It's only money, $30 USD mil of it. |
| 15mm and 28mm Fanatik | 21 Jun 2017 2:32 p.m. PST |
The 1st Recon marines portrayed in 'Generation Kill' had to wear woodland camo BDU's while spearheading the drive across Iraq in the 2003 invasion. |
| peterx | 21 Jun 2017 3:52 p.m. PST |
Gee , thanks, Dan! I always try to convince my wife I am a genius, but she doesn't believe me. |
| Dn Jackson | 21 Jun 2017 5:48 p.m. PST |
No different than the US in 1991. We went into Saudi wearing the chocolate chip desert cammies. Great for the Mojave, useless for the Middle East. Not that it mattered, when we went into Kuwait we were wearing woodland pattern mopp suits, because the Marine Corps didn't have any desert pattern mop suits. |
| Cacique Caribe | 21 Jun 2017 7:56 p.m. PST |
Peterx, I feel you, Brother. I have a similar problem convincing my wife about me. Dan |
| coopman | 22 Jun 2017 6:03 p.m. PST |
$30,000,000 USD is chump change when it's the people's money and you don't give a rat's a$$. |
| Apache 6 | 23 Jun 2017 11:43 a.m. PST |
Their are a lot of temperate/green areas in Afghanistan. The uniforms were actually purchased and delivered to the Afghan Army. Their soldiers liked them. Largely because they were "fashionable" – since they looked like the uniforms worn by "elite' Western units. I'm against a lot of wasteful government spending. Of all the things the Government wastes money on, I'm not sure this should be that high up on the list to get up in arms about. |
