Armed forces spend billions on camouflage uniforms

WASHINGTON — When it comes to dressing the U.S. military for combat, uniformity and belt-tightening apparently haven’t been in fashion recently.

Between 2003 and 2010, the Army spent more than $4 billion developing and producing a new camouflage uniform, the Army Combat Uniform (ACU). It decided on the camouflage pattern before testing was completed. And it began providing the uniform to troops before its Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center finished its evaluation and recommended a different pattern, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Friday.

In 2009, an Army study found the ACU “offered less effective concealment than the patterns chosen by the Marine Corps and some foreign military services, such as Syria and China,” according to the GAO report.

Meanwhile, soldiers in Afghanistan complained to the late Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., then chair of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee. In a June 2009 report, the House panel directed the Defense Department to take “immediate action” to supply new uniforms.

So, after the U.S. Army had spent billions over several years to outfit its troops, the Army in 2010 began replacing the ACU for the soldiers in Afghanistan, who got a new camouflage pattern that cost $3.4 million to develop and $300 million more last year to procure.

The new Operational Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern is in use, but since 2010 the Army has also been studying “three color variations, desert, woodland and transitional, as future uniform options,” according to the GAO. Army senior leaders will be briefed on the study and development plans, the GAO said.

More important, according to the GAO, if “the Army chooses a new camouflage uniform, officials estimate it may cost up to $4 billion over five years to replace its ⅛current€ uniform and related protective gear.”

The fashion story involving camouflage uniforms hardly ends with the Army.

Not so long ago, all the services were wearing what was known as the Army’s Battle Dress and Desert Camouflage uniform. However, since 2002 each service has introduced its own camouflage uniform.

Of course there are Defense Department policies and regulations that encourage the services to coordinate research and testing of such things as uniforms, and even a regulation that promotes standardization in combat clothing to reduce costs, the GAO said.

It was Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones who in 2000 broke away from the pack. He directed that a new camouflage uniform be developed with increased durability and combat utility. The Marines, according to the GAO, spent $319,000 to develop their unique camouflage pattern. They started with 70 patterns and picked one that was created digitally by computer-pixelated shapes rather than the more traditional organic, leaflike ones.

The final pattern was tested in 2001 by 284 Marines who wore the uniform in field operations and in their garrisons. Though 25 percent of them found durability problems such as rips at the knees during training, two-thirds liked its appearance because after laundering the fabric retained “hard creases that were sharp enough for garrison wear.” The old Army combat uniform had to be ironed to get the crease needed for inspections. The Marines also did 20-year life-cycle cost estimates for their own camouflage uniform, which came to roughly $502 million.

The final version was initially placed in the field in 2002. As if to emphasize the service’s uniqueness, the Marine Corps in November 2001 got a U.S. government patent on its camouflage “uniform, pattern, fabric and design.”

In October 2002, the Air Force chief of staff ordered his own development project for a new combat uniform, one that would be distinct from the Army’s and less costly to maintain, according to the GAO. The Air Force spent about $3.2 million to develop the Airman Battle Uniform. It was not permanently pressed, but Air Force personnel had a different standard from the Marines for appearance on duty at bases.

By 2005, though, with the Iraq war underway, the Air Force found through tests that the noncombat uniform’s fabric caused heat buildup. The GAO criticized the Air Force selection process, which chose a tiger-stripe pattern and one fabric weight for both trousers and blouses for use in hot and cold climates. A year later, Air Warfare Center observers, testing the Air Force combat uniform, found its camouflage was “marginal or unsatisfactory for concealment 58 percent of the time,” the GAO reported.

In 2010, Air Force Central Command decided personnel in Afghanistan would be safer wearing the Army’s camouflage uniform because they risked standing out to enemy forces when operating jointly.

The Navy went its separate camouflage way beginning in 2006 when it approved a concept for its own desert and woodland uniforms for ground forces. The Navy spent $435,000 on the final design, which it began using in the field in 2011. Approval was given to use two patterns developed by Navy Special Warfare Command.

“The Navy’s goals were to adopt a set of uniforms that reflected the requirements of a 21st century Navy and its navy heritage,” according to the GAO. One Navy camouflage uniform is blue.

By law, the services are permitted to have their own uniform designs. The Marines and Navy even printed their service logos into their camouflage fabric, making it difficult for another service to adopt the uniform.

The camouflage uniform history is another reminder that despite 26 years of laws and regulations to push standardization of uniforms, service rivalries remain — even though the country can no longer afford them.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Lynnwood
Crash in Lynnwood blocks Highway 99 south

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, fully blocked southbound lanes. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.