Starching the BDU cover

[mikeylikey]

^ No.  I doubt they will even be out of "shutdown mode" when the show rolls around anyway!

[CadetProgramGuy]

Starching CPG way....


Get a metal coffee can.

Put Cover on can.

Spray with starch.

when it dries.......SPRAY IT AGAIN!!!!!

after about 3 sessions of torture with starch, let it dry completely on the can

Store it on the can when not in use (at home), upside down on it's top when not at home (it will stand up)

Thats all folks...

[CadetProgramGuy]

If you starch your BDU cap, you can't "Ranger Roll" it or crush it up.....

Thank god.....

[O-Rex]

I've done the coffee-can and aluminum cover-block: if you put it on while still wet and blast it with a blow-dryer, it'll work fine without the starch, especially if you buy the insert that stiffens the cap (or if you have a newer clothes dryers with the mesh-tray insert in the middle, that works too.)

I'm not a big starch fan: it really shortens the life of the garment, and now BDU items are getting harder to come by.

[LittleIronPilot]

Please don't, it looks dorky! 

[SARMedTech]

I've done the coffee-can and aluminum cover-block: if you put it on while still wet and blast it with a blow-dryer, it'll work fine without the starch, especially if you buy the insert that stiffens the cap (or if you have a newer clothes dryers with the mesh-tray insert in the middle, that works too.)

I'm not a big starch fan: it really shortens the life of the garment, and now BDU items are getting harder to come by.

Unless you live near an army navy store or have access to US Cav's catalogue.

[MSgt Van]

It's not a "cover". It's a cap.
(This should stir things up  )

[Eclipse]

Doesn't anyone follow the manufacturer's instruction to not starch.

The "no starch" indication is because of the tendency of some starch products to flourecese under infra red light, thus negating the camouflage.  We noticed that this weekend while taking photos during the encampment - you don't see it in natural light, but a digital camera picks it up.

There are also a number a detergents that add brighteners that do the same thing.

There's no reason, in a CAP context, not to starch your BDU's, especially if you're wearing them.

I'm not a big starch fan: it really shortens the life of the garment, and now BDU items are getting harder to come by.

My experience has been that starched uniforms stand up better and last longer than uniforms not starched.
They also tend to shed water and dirt better - YMMV.

As to the cover, I got a couple of those mesh hat stiffeners, and than just take care not to sit on my hat too much, even stowed in the pocket they look better.

[Hawk200]

My experience has been that starched uniforms stand up better and last longer than uniforms not starched.

You'd have to be the only one I've ever heard of.

It's a uniform meant to get dirty in. Making it prissy doesn't make anyone think better of you, and doesn't improve you as a person. If you want it to look nice, iron it. That's all that's needed. It was designed to be low maintenance.

Hopefully, no one will get stupid and starch ABU's.

[Stonewall]

My experience has been that starched uniforms stand up better and last longer than uniforms not starched.

You'd have to be the only one I've ever heard of.

+1

In fact, after a real quick google search, I found this (nothing official):

1. Never starch your BDUs/ACUs--once starched the starch never leaves, creating a uniform that breaths even less, holding heat in and odors. Starching weakens the fabric and ruins the infrared protective coating...unless you a marine with a death wish or working for the enemy, only clean and press the BDU. Don't buy into the narcissistic egomaniac vanity mentality. The regulations do not require you to starch your uniforms, so DON'T. Don't cave in to peer and superior official's pressure--MAKE THEM ABIDE BY THE REGULATIONS when they are good directives.

And #5 on the BDU label:

DO NOT USE CHLORINE BLEACH OR STARCH.

[Eclipse]

^ The above agrees with my comment about losing the IR protection, which is a non-issue for CAP, and I can only speak to the experience I have personally - they stay cleaner longer, hold up better, and look new a lot longer.

I would contend that the vast majority of CAP members never use their BDU's in a mode which would get them
dirty in the way they were intended to start with, and instead wear them to unit meetings, encampments and similar activities where looking sharp is more important than being IR invisible.

I've moved away from the "stand by themselves" card-board starch I used to get, but still do light starch from the cleaners.

I'll accept that my personal CAP experience may not mirror how BDU's function in a combat environment, but
its not really relevant to CAP anyway.  My most extreme use was in Mississippi, with 106° days and 90%+ humidity.  Even after 3 days in the same uniform, mine looked pretty good (except for the salt stains on the shoulders).

I'll take my sharp-corners, REMF-look any day compared to the "I slept in these last night and can't spell iron" look many members sport.

As to chlorine, well if you don't know enough not to use bleach on a colored garment....

[Stonewall]

I'll take my sharp-corners, REMF-look any day compared to the "I slept in these last night and can't spell iron" look many members sport.

As to chlorine, well if yo don't know enough not to use bleach on a colored garment....

I could care less about the IR crap, that was just in the quote.  Same goes for the chlorine on the garment tag.

Starch is fine, if you wish to use it.  I've never said it makes a uniform look worse.  However, I wore BDUs every day for years and I feel, based on my experience, that starch breaks down the fibers and makes the material weaker.  I could care less what you do, however, I don't want you or any other senior member telling cadets that they must use starch (not saying you do).  Use it, great.  But I'll never dock anyone a point for NOT starching.  Your money, your time.

And a good press, either by my hand with an iron or that of a commercial press at the cleaners, looks professional, without starch.  So much for the "I slept in these last night and can't spell iron look many members sport."

[Hawk200]

I'll take my sharp-corners, REMF-look any day compared to the "I slept in these last night and can't spell iron" look many members sport.

Nobody said to look like you slept in it. The manual does say to iron, which does not conflict with the instructions inside the garment against starch or bleach.

If you've ever said or even thought "I don't want to get my BDU's dirty" then you're taking the wrong stance. That's what it was intended for.

Starching a utility uniform is an oxymoron, even if it is done on a regular basis.

[mikeylikey]

For some reason my BDU's faded with all the starch I used before I moved on to ACU's.  Me personally, I liked the look of a faded pair of BDU's (in garrison of course). 

However, I never starched my cover. 

[floridacyclist]

As an SP, we had no choice. We had two sets of uniforms, one for garrison duty that we wore stiffly starched with spitshined jump boots and another pair that we kept packed in our mobility bags and had never seen starch. Not sure how an airman is supposed to stand up to a Tech Sgt though to make him follow the regs...but I'm sure it would have been interesting to see.

[Gunner C]

When we first got BDUs in the 1980s (I first saw them in 1982) it was expressly prohibited to starch them (we were also told to roll up the sleeves with the light side out - it didn't cut off the circulation the way the other way does).  The laundries were going broke - they had a pretty good thing going with the old pickle suits.  The old cammies that airborne units wore looked best when they weren't starched but BDUs looked like hell.  The CSMs started requiring the troops to iron the uniforms and use "sizing" (wink-wink).  The troops finally gave up started getting their BDUs starched at the off post laundries.

Frankly, the whole IR thing was bogus.  We looked at folks with new BDUs through thermal sights - they lit up like a Christmas tree.  Common sense would tell you that if they were going to actually reduce the IR signature of a soldier, the only way it could work is to trap the body heat within the uniform which would be hellishly hot in a short time.  They were hot but not THAT hot.

But I found the same thing:  starch degrades the integrity of the fabric.  It creates jagged crystals that act like tiny saws that cut the threads within the fabric.

GC

[O-Rex]

BDU's: I wash 'em cold-water in woolite, straighten and smooth them over with my hands and line-dry. Light iron, maybe little bit of magic-sizing, if I really need it.  To crease the pants, I use pant-stretchers (got them from one of those household odds-n-ends catalogs the wife gets in the mail) with a light touch-up on the pockets.

I've got BDU's that are VG-EX cond that older than some cadets.

**Take care of your BDU's, you might need them for the next several years.

[davedove]

but BDUs looked like hell.  

They certainly did, but I always figured that was mainly because they used that uniform in conditions it was not designed for, namely garrison wear.  The BDU's were designed as a field uniform, where the lack of sharp lines is a good thing.  It's when they started to wear them in the garrison that things fell apart though.  In garrison, you wanted to look sharp, and the BDU's just didn't look that good unless you at least ironed them a lot, and many used starch.

I really fear the same fate will befall the current field uniforms.

[O-Rex]

but BDUs looked like hell.  

They certainly did, but I always figured that was mainly because they used that uniform in conditions it was not designed for, namely garrison wear.  The BDU's were designed as a field uniform, where the lack of sharp lines is a good thing.  It's when they started to wear them in the garrison that things fell apart though.  In garrison, you wanted to look sharp, and the BDU's just didn't look that good unless you at least ironed them a lot, and many used starch.

I really fear the same fate will befall the current field uniforms.

And even then, harkening back to the days of fatigues and Khakis, after a couple of hours of wear, the starch thing was out the window anyway......

[Eeyore]

I really fear the same fate will befall the current field uniforms.

It's already happening, I know of a few AD folks who have started to get their uniforms starched.