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Stryker Crew Uniforms


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Hi Mike,

So MGS only, not ATGM?

Wait... they now have ACU Nomex coveralls?!? I hadn't heard that. I figured since the previous Nomex coveralls for AFV crews were either OD or Sand colored that they would keep on trucking with them.

So does this mean all AFV crew (i.e. Abrams and Bradleys) are going to be wearing this as well? Crap... and we just did the Sand colored version too!!

Steve

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Wait a sec... that is a pic out of US Cavalry catalog. Hmmm... so is this a standard issue item or not? Clearly the one offered in US Cav is a commercial item (they always are), so its presence there is not in and of itself relevant.

In case you didn't know Lt Mike, I am a camouflage uniform collecting freak of nature. I've got more uniforms than Amelda Marcos had shoes :D

Steve

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Originally posted by Battlefront.com:

Wait... they now have ACU Nomex coveralls?!? I hadn't heard that. I figured since the previous Nomex coveralls for AFV crews were either OD or Sand colored that they would keep on trucking with them.

So does this mean all AFV crew (i.e. Abrams and Bradleys) are going to be wearing this as well? Crap... and we just did the Sand colored version too!!

Steve

The Army Times had a story on the new ACU coveralls and flight suits several months ago, Dec or Jan I believe. I don't recall if the article said when they were to begin issuing then though, and I didn't pay to much attention since I'm in the Air Force and not the Army.
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Thanks for the link Rune, however there is no mention of an ACU based Nomex coverall as far as I could see. Their website has been useful in the past, especially the Rapid Fielding Initiative info. But the info gets stale so it isn't totally reliable. For example, they still have the Mounted Warrior info posted and that program got axed.

If I missed something, please let me know!

Steve

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All,

My unit is issued ACU nomex crewman suits for all vehicle crews. It a FT Knox Armor community initiative but is trickling down (due to MGS fielding). It is good stuff, although hot. ACU gore-tex in lt wt and hvy wt, and an interesting gore-tex/nomex blend is also issued. Crazy amount of stuff right before deployment is the norm.

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It seems that the ACU Nomex coveralls are already being issued, for final pre-production tests anyways. From the above-mentioned Army Times article:

November 06, 2006

Going cammie

Aircrew, tankers adopt new uniforms to blend in

By Matthew Cox

Staff writer

Army fliers and tankers will soon don digital camouflage uniforms to help them blend in with their fellow soldiers.

Uniform officials at Program Executive Office Soldier are finalizing two new versions of the Army Combat Uniform: the Army Aviation Combat Uniform and the Improved Combat Vehicle Crewman Coverall.

The effort follows the Army's decision to replace the battle dress and desert camouflage uniforms with the ACU in June 2004.

Like the aircrew and tanker uniforms soldiers are now wearing, both new ACUs are made of flame-resistant Nomex fabric to protect these soldiers from fuel fires, a risk more associated with helicopters and armored vehicles.

"Essentially, all we are doing is upgrading the aviation and vehicle crewman community's uniforms while we upgrade to an ACU pattern," said Al Dassonville, deputy product manager for Clothing and Individual Equipment. Still, both new ACUs also have been redesigned with new features.

Uniform officials began working with the armor and aviation communities last fall to learn what changes needed to be made.

The Army Aviation Combat Uniform will change more. It replaces the Improved Aircrew Battle Dress Uniform and looks very similar to the ACU most soldiers wear.

But the AACU adds zipper closures to the jacket's two upper sleeve pockets and two breast pockets, as well as to the two thigh- and calf-level cargo pockets. The pockets also have a Velcro-like strip to close them.

"The pilots like the zippers," Lt. Col. Steven Wolf, deputy commander of the Operational Support Airlift Agency at Fort Belvoir, Va., said, describing how they help keep small items from falling out of aviators' pockets and damaging aircraft instruments. "It's just more secure."

The new AACU also has several unique features unlike the ACU and existing aircrew uniform.

•Upper sleeve pockets are slightly larger and sit farther back on the shoulder than those on the ACU, which is supposed to allow aviators to carry heavy items more comfortably. Shoulder pockets from the older aviation uniform have been removed.

•Like the ACU, the jacket features Velcro-style backings for name, Army tapes and rank.

•A pen pocket on the forearm is similar to the one on the ACU, but covered with a flap closure.

•Velcro-style waist tabs on the AACU jacket are aimed at preventing fabric from snagging inside the aircraft.

•The deep pleats in the side cargo pockets have been scaled back to prevent snagging.

•Both calf pockets feature a smaller pocket sewn to the outside for smaller items.

For the armor community, the biggest change the new uniform brings is the ACU's digital camouflage pattern.

The armor community decided few additional changes were needed, said Maj. Clay Williamson, assistant product manager for clothing and individual equipment.

"They didn't want to make many changes to the uniform," Williamson said. "They were happy with it the way it was."

Cammies will be a change for the armor community, which has always worn a solid color, Dassonville said.

It was easier to manufacture the Nomex blend fabric for the vehicle crewman uniform in a solid color, he added, but recent technical advancements in the fabric industry have changed that.

The new vehicle crewman uniform will eventually feature:

•An ACU-style pen pocket.

•Velcro-style waist tabs.

•A reinforced seat.

Uniform officials first presented the ACU pattern to senior Army leaders in December 2003. After its approval in 2004, Sgt. Maj. Of the Army Kenneth Preston and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker directed the new uniform to be fielded to units deploying to combat theaters beginning in April 2005.

New soldiers began receiving the ACU in October 2005 as part of their clothing bag issue. It became available for purchase at Army military clothing sales stores in April.

Active, Guard and Reserve soldiers will be required to own two sets of the ACU by May 2007 and four sets by May 2008.

So far, the Army has fielded about 5,000 of the first 10,000 new aviation uniforms to units such as the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. Equipment officials plan to begin fielding the first 10,000 vehicle crewman coveralls by the end of the year.

The Army plans to field enough to outfit the roughly 75,000 soldiers in each of the armor and aviation communities, Dassonville said.

Soldiers who receive this first batch of vehicle crewman uniforms are part of a final three-month user evaluation, Williamson said. Uniform officials will take that information and make any small adjustments needed before the uniform goes into full production.

"We don't want to build anything if it's not acceptable for soldiers," Williamson said. "There is no way we would know that without putting it on soldiers' backs. They will find ways to tear things up that no laboratory ever could."

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