Our long national nightmare is over

Two long-awaited pieces of news to report to you today:

1. The Dallas Mavericks are the NBA Champions, vanquishing LeBron James' carefully-constructed (ha!) super-team and wiping clean the worst moment of my sports-fan life.

2. The Army plans to discontinue the wear of camouflage pajamas in the professional office setting of the Pentagon. A story headlined by the announcement that patrol caps, rather than berets, will become the standard ACU headgear has this little nugget buried near the end:

A more localized uniform decision will affect Soldiers assigned to the Army's headquarters at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. There, Soldiers had been wearing the ACU as their daily uniform. By as early as October, those Soldiers will show up to work in the Army service uniform, Chandler said.

"Our perspective is that this is the corporate part of the Army," he said. "The business-part of the Army is done in the Pentagon, and as a professional there are certain standards of attire associated with certain activities. For the business aspect of the Army, it is the Army service uniform."

Yeah, dude. Yeah.

300K Sikhs in the U.S., and now there's one in the Army

News to me, but the Army has apparently started granting waivers to personal grooming policy for the first time in a quarter of a century, allowing Sikhs -- complete with uncut hair, turban, and beard -- to serve without sacrificing the tenets of their faith.

Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a 31-year-old dentist, graduated Monday at Fort Sam Houston after the Army made an exemption to a uniform policy that has effectively prevented Sikhs from enlisting since 1984. "I'm feeling very humbled. I'm a soldier," he said, grinning after the ceremony as other members of the Sikh community milled about nearby. "This has been my dream." Rattan had to get a waiver from the Army to be allowed to serve without sacrificing the unshorn hair mandated by his faith. An immigrant from India who arrived in New York as a teenager, Rattan said it was important for him to serve a country that has given him so many opportunities.

The article I've linked above has a picture of CPT Rattan at his graduation and contains a little bit of info about uniform modifications and wear:

During training, Rattan wore a helmet over the small turban, which he doesn't remove, and was able to successfully create a seal with his gas mask despite the beard, resolving the Army's safety concerns, said Harsimran Kaur, the Sikh Coalition's legal director. Rattan worked with an Army tailor to create a flash, the insignia patch worn on soldiers' berets, that could be affixed to his black turban, she said.

But the way I first found out about this whole story was coming across this picture, which is totally badass, and shows Rattan in ACUs and a Universal Camouflage Pattern-ed (UCP) turban with captain's bars on the front. Awesome.

I wonder if he carries the kirpan, the iron bracelet, and the undergarments, too? (As an aside: when I spent my fabulous summer in Quantico, a Mormon guy in my platoon got an unbelievable amount of crap from the Sergeant Instructors over his wearing of what's apparently called the Temple undergarment. Nonconformity + military = fun & yuks.)

Seriously, though, I think this Sikh thing is pretty awesome. Sikhs have a long and distinguished history of military service: while they make up only two percent of the Indian population, they account for nearly one-third of the Indian army's officer corps. The British military has managed ethno-linguistic/sectarian nonconformity in personal appearance for centuries, so you'd figure the U.S. military can sort out a way to create an effective gas mask seal around facial hair. This is a good-news story for the country and the Army.

Army announces switch to MultiCam for troops in Afghanistan

Our long national nightmare is over: the Army has decided on a new camouflage uniform for Afghanistan. Starting with troops deploying this summer, the Army will issue MultiCam, a commercially-available pattern that a lot of people who know about this crap seem to think is pretty good. I've written about this debate here and here.

Here's the DoD press release:

The secretary of the Army announced today that the Army will provide combat uniforms in the MultiCam pattern to all soldiers deploying to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, starting this summer.

This decision follows a rigorous four-month evaluation and reflects the Army's commitment to giving soldiers in Afghanistan the most effective concealment possible.

Soldiers deploying to Afghanistan this summer will receive fire resistant Army combat uniforms in MultiCam, along with associated equipment including body armor, rucksacks, and helmet covers.

The Army's selection of MultiCam for soldiers in Afghanistan culminates phase III of a four-phase plan to thoroughly and deliberately evaluate camouflage alternatives.

The Army took action in fall 2009 to provide two battalion-size elements in Afghanistan with uniforms and associated gear in patterns other than the standard-issue universal camouflage pattern (UCP).

One unit received uniforms and gear in MultiCam, and the other in a variant of UCP known as UCP - Delta.

In addition, the Army deployed a team of experts to Afghanistan in October to gather extensive data and photos on the diverse environments of Afghanistan, where soldiers often travel through multiple environments in a single mission, from snow to woodland to desert.

The Army incorporated the information gathered into a photo simulation study it then administered to nearly 750 soldiers who had deployed to Afghanistan. The study asked them to compare six patterns against eight different environments. The results, along with surveys of soldiers in the two battalions who received alternate camouflage, formed the basis for the Army’s decision on MultiCam.

The Army will now implement phase IV of its plan for camouflage, which is to evaluate long-term Army combat uniform camouflage options for all soldiers.

Camouflage alternatives represent one facet of the Army’s ongoing efforts to improve the Army combat uniform. The Army has made more than 26 improvements to the ACU since it was first fielded in June 2004.

And finally, here's a link to some photos of dudes wearing MultiCam uniforms alongside other camo patterns (from Strike - Hold!, which is really where you should be going for Camo Talk).

Morrell explains Gates' uniform directive

Here's what I wrote on this a month ago.

In a move that I roundly applaud, Secretary Gates has apparently told his military staff to stop wearing cammies/ACUs/utilities/battle dress/whatever else you want to call it to the office.

Geoff Morrell got asked about it in his press conference yesterday, and he elaborated on the decision. His answer is copied here in full for your edification and education.

Q Real quickly, has there been a decision made to change within the Pentagon -- to change the dress code for the military? And if so, what's the thinking behind that?

MR. MORRELL: Let me try to do this in one minute.

There's not been a decision from on high about this. To give you the quick history of this, the secretary has for a long time been thinking about making a change in his office. When he came back from Christmas vacation, he asked his military staff to switch out of their BDUs, out of their fatigues, and into dress uniforms, their more appropriate work uniforms.

His thinking was simply that this is the headquarters of the United States military in our nation's capital. He hosts leaders from around the world. The people we do business with, from across the river, the professionals that come to see us are all dressed in business attire. And he thought it was time for his office to be dressed accordingly.

This is -- he understands fully why this building changed in 19 -- in 2001 into its fatigues. This building was hit, it was attacked. We were at war. Not only was that the appropriate dress, in the aftermath of that attack, it showed solidarity with the warfighter.

I think we are at a point now where he believes at least that what one dresses in does not necessarily reflect their commitment to the warfighter or, and that there are other ways to demonstrate their solidarity. Frankly it's by doing everything you can, once you walk in this door every day, to make sure they have what they need to succeed.

This was not a mandate for the building as a whole. This was meant for his staff. If others take notice, as they clearly have, and make adjustments, that is their decision. And I think you've seen some offices go about that.

You'll certainly see the people you deal with in Public Affairs, starting Monday [March 1], dressed in their business or dress attire. And I think you'll likely see other officers in the building as well. But it was not by fiat. It was not mandated. It's -- they've probably taken notice of the change upstairs and re-evaluated their own policies.

So there's that handled.

Gates: Please stop wearing your camo pajamas to work, k txs.

In a move that I roundly applaud, Secretary Gates has apparently told his military staff to stop wearing cammies/ACUs/utilities/battle dress/whatever else you want to call it to the office.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has told his military aides not to wear combat fatigues to work at the Pentagon anymore, reversing a symbolic change of protocol ordered in the harrowing days after the Sept. 11 attacks.

There was no formal announcement about Mr. Gates directing his military staff to shed their fatigues in favor of business uniforms — the smartly pressed ones bedecked with combat medals and service ribbons that are the military equivalent of a civilian coat and tie, worn with dress shoes and not combat boots.

But throughout the Defense Department, where every action by the civilian boss is parsed by officers with a care akin to old-school Kremlinology, Mr. Gates’s decision is likely to prompt deliberations across the armed services on whether to have personnel working in the Pentagon follow his example.

The defense secretary’s instructions took effect with the start of the new year and were directed at only some of the 23,000 employees at the Pentagon. Even so, the change has been noticed by recent visitors to Mr. Gates’s third-floor suite of offices and has become a topic of conversation along the Pentagon’s 17.5 miles of corridors.

I've bitched about ACUs before (a lot). I was looking for evidence of it on the blog but I guess I've mostly just subjected my girlfriend and coworkers to my tirades. (Note to self: get life.) Seriously though, are we just now reaching the conclusion that it's effing stupid to wear a combat uniform to a meeting with foreign dignitaries? Or even just around a conference table where you're joined by a bunch of DoD civilians and contractors in suits and ties? Like that revelation just came as a bolt from the blue??

Anyway, I haven't personally noticed a trickle-down effect just yet -- the halls are still filled with ACU-clad field-grades and Air Force dudes in their six or seven different "combat uniforms" -- but I have all my appendages crossed that everyone else will get the message. As for now, this bodes well, as it does every time the Department takes a step away from stupid.

CQ reports on Army camo debate

Back in the fall, I linked to Wings Over Iraq and Strike - Hold! for coverage of the controversy over the Army's universal camouflage pattern, featured on the Army Combat Uniform (ACU). Long story short: in an attempt to provide adequate camouflage in all terrain, ACUs fail to effectively disguise their wearers in basically any environment. That's what the critics would have you believe, anyway.

This week, Congressional Quarterly jumps in with a 1,500 word Sunday story detailing how Congress has gotten involved.

Camouflage uniforms are supposed to help soldiers blend into their surroundings. But that's not what is happening in many instances with the camouflage pattern worn by U.S. Army soldiers.

Instead, the grey, green and tan "universal camouflage pattern" adopted for nearly all uses six years ago has become a new example of the Army's seeming inability to adapt quickly to new combat conditions.

The uniforms were designed mainly with the deserts of Iraq in mind -- though even there, internal Army studies have shown, the camouflage pattern is considered less able to hide its wearer than other color combinations. When the Army began to shift troops to Afghanistan in recent months, soldiers worried that the pattern actually made them stand out in some settings found in that country's diverse terrain, including in landscapes with darker earth, green valleys and mountain woodlands.

Although the Army has been conducting studies of the uniforms since 2006, nothing was done to replace the camouflage -- and perhaps nothing was going to be done -- until influential members of Congress, such as John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who chairs the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, stepped in and ordered it.

Interestingly, the Army is playing down the issue of how well its camouflage actually provides camouflage, suggesting instead that soldiers should be focused on how better TTPs can reduce their exposure.

Even though the Army is taking steps to field improved camouflage, officials have minimized the importance of the uniforms in concealing soldiers' movements versus other safety factors, such as the time of day the soldiers are moving and the routes they take.

As recently as September, in a report to Murtha on the camouflage issue, Army Secretary John M. McHugh wrote that commanders in Afghanistan have not asked for a new camouflage pattern, and so it is "not a priority from an operational perspective."

McHugh said in his report that the universal camouflage model, despite limitations, provides "adequate concealment across a range of environments."

Moreover, there is no evidence that soldiers have died in Afghanistan because their uniforms made their locations known to the enemy, said Col. William Cole, the project manager for soldier protection and individual equipment at Fort Belvoir, Va., headquarters of the Army's Materiel Command.

If the Army hasn't directed PEO Soldier to find a better solution, then hey, fine. But it seems silly to say "no problem here, move along!" when there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that the pattern is not effective, as demonstrated by soldiers' complaints. This seems a bit like what Ken White was talking about in this SWJ comment thread concerning the Army's head-in-the-sand approach to identifying problems with organic equipment and accepting outside solutions.

Anyway, go check out the article, and see the old camo thread here if you want a refresher.

Cool uni-nerd tidbits from Charlie in Afghanistan

First of all, a belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here in the States. Hope yours was as good as mine, and that you're enjoying the second day of a very long weekend (or at least that your office is as quiet as mine today).

So Erin Simpson, formerly professor of COIN at MCU and contributor "Charlie" on Abu Muqawama, is now in Afghanistan doing COINish things. She has a new blog, "Charlie Simpson's War," which we've had listed over in the blogroll for a couple of weeks. It seems to me that it's intended primarily to be a sort of online diary of Erin's time in the 'Stan and is directed to friends and family more than war nerds like us, but it's still a fun read. (Ricks and Exum have already linked over there, so I don't feel badly about directing a bunch of yahoos to her blog.)

In a post from this week we learn about a couple of really interesting uniform details (well, interesting, at least, to weirdos like me who care about this stuff):

What really throws me is people in full Army or Marine utilities with “DOD Contractor” on their service tape. It’s like we’re so frustrated that the Taliban don’t wear uniforms that we put our civilians in them instead.

On the flip side, I saw an Army soldier wearing a 1st Marine Division patch on his right arm the other day. (In the Army, that’s where you put the patch for the unit you served in combat with.) I had never seen that before. Pretty freaking sweet.

I've never even heard of either of these things -- "DOD Contractor" nametapes or Marine combat patches on Army ACUs (or really Marine patches of any kind).

I'm was initially a little confused about the latter bit; why would a soldier have done a combat tour with the 1st MarDiv? After a little digging around on the internet, I found (via a militaria forum) this piece from a 2004 issue of Leatherneck magazine. Apparently a company of the 9th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne) was attached to the 1stMarDiv at Camp Blue Diamond in Iraq (as just one example).


Others on the militaria forum speculate that prior Marines who did combat time before switching over to the Army may wear Marine patches, though this isn't authorized. (Ironically, because the Marine Corps and Navy don't authorize combat patches for their personnel, the only way to earn the combat patch of a Marine unit is to be a member of the Army and get attached to it.) Anyway, really interesting.

WAR NERD ALERT: Army camouflage drama! (UPDATED)

I've written a little bit about the Army Combat Uniform in the past, but mostly have limited my rants to its unsuitability for wear in office buildings rather than its combat effectiveness. Via Wings Over Iraq, I've stumbled across a blog called Strike-Hold! that is all over the debates (that I didn't even know existed) about replacing the ACU with a more, well, camouflagey camouflage. If you're interested in this subject, then check out these posts:

Wings Over Iraq -- 16 SEP Links of the Day (check out the third bullet)

Wings Over Iraq -- 16 AUG Don't tell me I need to buy ANOTHER uniform...

Strike - Hold! -- 31 JUL The US Armed Forces, Congress and The Great Camouflage Controversy – the extended remix

Strike - Hold! -- 31 AUG Mirage, MultiCam, UCP -- a quick comparison

Like I said before, I hadn't heard anything about this stuff, which is a serious blow to my nerd cred. Thanks to Starbuck and Lawrence for their good coverage of the camo drama.

UPDATE: Starbuck is back on this subject today.

What's wrong with this picture?

This is GEN McKiernan at his retirement ceremony. Retirement from the Army. After 37 years of service. And he's wearing ACUs. For those not familiar with the acronym, it's the Army COMBAT Uniform. Except he's not in combat; he's at Fort Myer.

This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while. I know it's a small thing. I know the explanation: this is an Army at war, and we reflect that fact by having staff officers wear camouflage pajamas on their Metro ride to a desk at the Pentagon. Or for a meeting with a General officer. Or a foreign dignitary. Or whatever.

It's nuts. Everyone knows we're at war. They don't need to be reminded by seeing a bunch of dudes walk around in coveralls. Can we get back to service uniforms for desk jobs, and I don't know, maybe a dress uniform for, say, retirement ceremonies? There's even a flashy new blue one for everybody!

In other, uh, peripheral news: GEN McKiernan retired yesterday. I absolutely believe that the President and the Secretary of Defense should have the field commander in place that they prefer, and so I don't have the same sort of heartburn that a lot of people do about how GEN McChrystal was brought in. Having said that, some of the commentary about how McKiernan "didn't get it" or was an "adequate officer, but not exceptional" has been totally uninformed and completely unnecessary. GEN McKiernan, for his part, has been all class.

The man gave nearly four decades of service to this country and should be allowed a more dignified departure from the stage than what he received.