Army Combat Uniforms: the Nth Go-Around

Matthew Cox of the Army Times reported that two US Army battalions are going to Afghanistan with alternate camouflage patterns, to satisfy Rep. Murtha's congressional inquiry over the Army's "universal camouflage pattern". One battalion will wear Multi-Cam, while another will wear "UCP-Delta".

The UCP-Delta is so unique that I have to use a picture in this blog, for the first time ever!

A few observations:

1.) It took the Army more than 5 years to admit that the UCP is not universal enough.

2.) It took a Congressional mandate for the Army to admit it was wrong.

3.) We will probably end up with the UCP-Delta because it would be too expensive and too humiliating to go with the more versatile Multi-Cam.

4.) How the UCP came into being is still a mystery to most of us.

5.) At least this clothing mistake is way cheaper than the Future Combat System.

The picture came from DefenseTech.

PS: 6.) The big Army will have a reason to strip the Assymmetric Warfare Group, Rangers, Special Forces, and Delta of their Multi-Cam. That non-uniformity of these special people just makes their non-conformity that much more of an eyesore for the brass.

PSS: reduced picture size.