The ACU is dead. Long live the ACU!

The ACU is dead. Long live the ACU! It is now officially “military history” so I shall post about it: On this day in history, the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) uniform has finally and mercifully been completely phased out of Army service, replaced instead with a uniform in the Operation Camouflage Pattern (OCP). Of note the uniform will still be referred to as the Army Combat Uniform (ACU).

The original ACUs were first fielded in 2005 after testing showed that, when used across a broad spectrum of environments, it performed the best on average. That, coupled with the desire for a sexy new uniform (thanks for popularizing digi-cam USMC…) and the irresistible logistic draw of a “universal” camo pattern, made it an easy choice as the Army’s primary camouflage pattern.

What the testers and brass didn’t realize (or care about) apparently is that UCP performed like absolute dog-shit in many environments, especially after the uniform had been worn and laundered a bunch. Trying to sneak through a woodland environment, day or night, in one of these and you might as well be wearing a flashing neon sign. Add to that the easy-to-stain nature of the uniform, a staggering amount of velcro, and violent crotch explosion issues, and you had a uniform that wasn’t all that popular with most troops.

After only a few years in service, it became apparent that UCP wasn’t cutting the mustard, so designers went back to the drawing board for a new duty uniform. In addition they began issuing MultiCam uniforms to many troops deploying overseas. After about 5 years of testing and some disputes with the makers of MultiCam, the Army finally settled on “Scorpion W2”, the government’s own entry into the camo trials (which looks suspiciously similar to multicam). As of 01 July 2015 it was an optional uniform, with an extremely generous 4 year phase-in process, much to the chagrin of 1SGs and CSMs everywhere. And as of this morning at 0000, the UCP has finally come to an end. Much respect to those who wore them up until the last possible moment, and I’m sure some staff duty NCO or CQ runner did a solemn uniform change at midnight while on 24 hour duty last night.

Will I always have a small soft spot in my heart for UCP? Sure. I did a lot of stupidly fun things alongside amazing people while wearing them. And also just some stupid things (like when those $%#&%@&s at Ft. Benning CIF wouldn’t take back my UCP poncho because it was “too dirty”). But am I sorry to see it go? Hell no.