Really? ABU's?

[lordmonar]

At the risk of inducing wincing and heavy sighing, has anybody heard anything when the new 39-1 will be officially released for review?

Last I heard they were shooting for November.

[PHall]

At the risk of inducing wincing and heavy sighing, has anybody heard anything when the new 39-1 will be officially released for review?

Last I heard they were shooting for November.

They're trying to put some "good" pictures and graphics in it this time and not something that looks like your Uncle Ed's fumbling with the camera stuff.
It's taking a bit longer then expected, but they are committed to putting out a "quality" product.

[Eclipse]

Hopefully they are using mannequins and not people.  Headless dress mannequins can be made to look perfect and don't introduce "personality" into the image.

Every.

Single.

Image.

And.

Diagram.

Needs to be redrawn or reshot.  Some date back to the 70's and have all kinds of noise in them. most have at least "something" wrong in them,
and there's no consistency of style from page to page.

[Flying Pig]

So it will look more like a reg instead of a classroom handout?  That's good

[PHall]

So it will look more like a reg instead of a classroom handout?  That's good

It's going to look almost identical to the current Air Force AFI 36-2903 in format.

That was one of their marching orders.

[Garibaldi]

Hopefully they are using mannequins and not people.  Headless dress mannequins can be made to look perfect and don't introduce "personality" into the image.

Every.

Single.

Image.

And.

Diagram.

Needs to be redrawn or reshot.  Some date back to the 70's and have all kinds of noise in them. most have at least "something" wrong in them,
and there's no consistency of style from page to page.

Handy acronym...ESIAD. You could adapt that to almost any thing you wanted...eat s** immediately and die...sorry, sleep deprivation makes me do weird things...

[Panache]

It's taking a bit longer then expected, but they are committed to putting out a "quality" product.

Excellent.  I would rather wait and have it done right than a rushed half-done reg.

Needs to be redrawn or reshot.  Some date back to the 70's and have all kinds of noise in them. most have at least "something" wrong in them,
and there's no consistency of style from page to page.

Does this means they're taking out the references of sideburns being limited to "groovy length" and not looking like a dirty hippy?

[Flying Pig]

HAAAAA!!    When I was a cadet in the 90s we made fun of that guy!   :clap:

[Майор Хаткевич]

We made even more fun in the 2000s. Especially cadets who went by that maximum.

[NIN]

We made even more fun in the 2000s. Especially cadets who went by that maximum.

Heck, I look back at pics from the early 1980s and the amount of hair we all had that was *clearly* not "tapered", etc.

We had that same diagram. What was our deal?

[Shuman 14]

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/10/18/wait-continues-for-armys-new-camo-decision.html?ESRC=todayinmil.sm

That's nice for the Army. But, IMHO, it will take a direct order from SecAF or higher before the Air Force abandons the ABU.
The excuse of "it will cost too much to change" will be used...

Well if Congress passes a bill and it becomes law the SecDef and SecAF will have no choice but to comply.

How long before that approved "all Services pattern" is authorized for CAP (if at all) is anyones' guess.

This might be the time to simply adopt the BBDU as the standard CAP field/utility uniform and be done with it. Allow BDUs to be worn until "unservice-able" and if ABUs are authorized in the next 39-1, do the same thing.

[Elioron]

This might be the time to simply adopt the BBDU as the standard CAP field/utility uniform and be done with it. Allow BDUs to be worn until "unservice-able" and if ABUs are authorized in the next 39-1, do the same thing.

Any change will include a phase out period for the current uniform, historically somewhere between 3-5 years.

There are advantages with the Distinctive Field Uniform.  It doesn't blend with much of anything, though it is dark.  It is readily available and will be for the foreseeable future unless the Coast Guard is forced to change their uniforms as well.

The disadvantage is that it is not and has never been a uniform of the USAF.  It would be a shame to lose that connection which has been a tradition for over 70 years.  Oh, and it's the uniform used by the Coast Guard!!

[Майор Хаткевич]

This might be the time to simply adopt the BBDU as the standard CAP field/utility uniform and be done with it. Allow BDUs to be worn until "unservice-able" and if ABUs are authorized in the next 39-1, do the same thing.

Any change will include a phase out period for the current uniform, historically somewhere between 3-5 years.

There are advantages with the Distinctive Field Uniform.  It doesn't blend with much of anything, though it is dark.  It is readily available and will be for the foreseeable future unless the Coast Guard is forced to change their uniforms as well.

The disadvantage is that it is not and has never been a uniform of the USAF.  It would be a shame to lose that connection which has been a tradition for over 70 years.  Oh, and it's the uniform used by the Coast Guard!!

The Coasties don't wear the same uniform as us.

[Shuman 14]

Elioron,

I see your point about tradition, but if all the uniformed Services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Public Health Service and NOAA Corps) are forced by Congress to adopt one single Field/Utility camouflage uniform, it ceases to be just an "Air Force" uniform and becomes a "United States Armed Forces" uniform and the other Service Secretaries may take issue with CAP (and USCGAux for that matter) wearing the uniform.

Now stocks of BDUs are still fairly plentiful (ABUs not so much) but will that still be the case in a year, two years, or five years?

Once the switch to a single uniform happens I expect those woodland BDU and ABU stocks to dry up completely so the adoption something else will be the only answer.

[lordmonar]

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/10/18/wait-continues-for-armys-new-camo-decision.html?ESRC=todayinmil.sm

That's nice for the Army. But, IMHO, it will take a direct order from SecAF or higher before the Air Force abandons the ABU.
The excuse of "it will cost too much to change" will be used...

Well if Congress passes a bill and it becomes law the SecDef and SecAF will have no choice but to comply.

How long before that approved "all Services pattern" is authorized for CAP (if at all) is anyones' guess.

This might be the time to simply adopt the BBDU as the standard CAP field/utility uniform and be done with it. Allow BDUs to be worn until "unservice-able" and if ABUs are authorized in the next 39-1, do the same thing.

Congress will be hard pressed to push a bill that requires millions of dollars spent in coming up with a new uniform.....when they can't pay for what they are already making the services do.

Of course it may happen.....and when that happens....we will change too  +/- a few years.

[Shuman 14]

This might be the time to simply adopt the BBDU as the standard CAP field/utility uniform and be done with it. Allow BDUs to be worn until "unservice-able" and if ABUs are authorized in the next 39-1, do the same thing.

Any change will include a phase out period for the current uniform, historically somewhere between 3-5 years.

There are advantages with the Distinctive Field Uniform.  It doesn't blend with much of anything, though it is dark.  It is readily available and will be for the foreseeable future unless the Coast Guard is forced to change their uniforms as well.

The disadvantage is that it is not and has never been a uniform of the USAF.  It would be a shame to lose that connection which has been a tradition for over 70 years.  Oh, and it's the uniform used by the Coast Guard!!

The Coasties don't wear the same uniform as us.

Coast Guard ODUs look very close to BBDUs but come with embroidery on both the top and bottoms to make them different from civilian market blue BDUs.

[Eclipse]

Congress will be hard pressed to push a bill that requires millions of dollars spent in coming up with a new uniform.....when they can't pay for what they are already making the services do.

The US Congress?  Of the United States?  Of 'Merica?

The same one that just blew through as much as $100 Million in real dollars and upwards of $23+Billion in economic impact
just to ultimately give federal workers 2-1/2 weeks paid vacation?

That Congress?

[lordmonar]

Congress will be hard pressed to push a bill that requires millions of dollars spent in coming up with a new uniform.....when they can't pay for what they are already making the services do.

The US Congress?  Of the United States?  Of 'Merica?

The same one that just blew through as much as $100 Million in real dollars and upwards of $23+Billion in economic impact
just to ultimately give federal workers 2-1/2 weeks paid vacation?

That Congress?

No....that one is all going to be unemployed in two years.....If I have anything to say about it?    A) there is little or no political power to be gained by forcing the services to spend money on new uniforms.  B)  There is no powerful BDU lobby out there willing to chuck money at congress over this issue.  C)  Even if one of the big uniform patter owners does push it....there is no guarantee that they are going to win the contract.

Like I said.....it may happen.....but so what....when the USAF changes....so will we.

[Elioron]

The Coasties don't wear the same uniform as us.

Aside from tapes and patches (Shuman also mentioned embroidery) the DFU is the same base garment as the CG ODU.

The CG Blue ODU Shirt is a Coast Guard blue variation of the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU).

It goes into more detail, but that's the gist of it.

Elioron,

I see your point about tradition, but if all the uniformed Services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Public Health Service and NOAA Corps) are forced by Congress to adopt one single Field/Utility camouflage uniform, it ceases to be just an "Air Force" uniform and becomes a "Unite States Armed Forces" uniform and the other Service Secretaries may take issue with CAP (and USCGAux for that matter) wearing the uniform.

Now stocks of BDUs are still fairly plentiful (ABUs not so much) but will that still be the case in a year, two years, or five years?

Once the switch to a single uniform happens I expect those woodland BDU and ABU stocks to dry up completely so the adoption something else will be the only answer.

It's been a while since we've worn the current USAF uniform, so I'd expect for ABUs to be next.  I don't expect ABUs to be available as long as BDUs have been as there has always been a strong civilian market for them, not so much for ABUs.  The impact would be on how long before we change again.

I do agree that if the USCG is also required to switch to the unified uniform that the DFU clothing will disappear even faster.

[modified to fix quotation issue]

[Shuman 14]

Scott,

Just so you know the reason for the Congress getting envolved has to do with the "perceived" problem of too many camouflage patterns in theater.

MARPAT desert, ACU, ABU,  and D-BDU all could be seen being worn on any given day on any given FOB in Iraq so a "good idea faery" said "Hey, I think it be a good idea for all our American Boys-n-Girls to be in the same uniform!" and there you are.

Google "Congress wants one military uniform" for plenty of articles, heres one for a quick reference:

http://kitup.military.com/2013/06/congress-eliminate-service-specific.html