Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
February 7, 2007
Pg. 1
By William Yardley
FORT LEWIS, Wash., Feb. 5 — Besides the hidden slots for knee and elbow pads, the extra room in the shoulders and the mod mandarin collar, the new Army uniform has a revolutionary feature critical to a nimbler military.
“You can just throw it in the dryer,” said Sgt. Donald Fisher, an instructor at this base for 30,000 soldiers about an hour south of Seattle. “You save money on dry cleaning.”
At military bases across the country and overseas, the era of the wash-and-war soldier has arrived. From Baghdad to Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York, the Army has been retiring its old starched and pressed Battle Dress Uniform in favor of a wrinkle-free cotton and nylon version.
The new Army Combat Uniform — known, of course, by an Army acronym, A.C.U. — has been phased in over the last two years as the Battle Dress Uniform, or B.D.U., becomes obsolete by May 2008.
The change has largely been welcomed by soldiers who have seen civilian fashion evolve in form and function in the quarter century since the old uniform was introduced. It also has come with repercussions, inside and outside the military, that are inevitable when half a million people suddenly get a new everyday wardrobe.
While soldiers say they like the comfort, the look and the low maintenance, they complain almost universally about the Velcro, which has largely replaced needle and thread as the means for attaching patches to show name, rank, unit and other information.
And while some dry cleaners and seamstresses near military bases, long the invisible valets of the well-pressed soldier, have lost so much business that they have had to close stores, soldiers say they do not miss the creases.
“To me, it shows a newer, more modern Army,” said Sergeant Fisher, a soldier for two decades who trains troops in the final stages before deployment. “It’s kind of an intimidating sight.”
In recent years, each branch of the military has introduced a new uniform or has begun to develop one. The Army is the largest branch of the military, and so its shift in uniforms affects more people. It also goes beyond pants and tops. The spit-shined black leather boots that are standard with the old uniform are being replaced with tan “desert boots” made of suede and synthetic materials.
Here at Fort Lewis, at least two of the base’s Stryker brigades played a key role in developing the new uniform, advising engineers at the Army’s Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass. The Third Brigade, Second Infantry wore a prototype during its initial deployment to Iraq in 2003.
Sergeant Fisher stood in a parking lot outside the Foxhole, a military surplus store, and provided an impromptu tour of his new uniform.
The most obvious change is its digital-pixel camouflage, a blur of muted tones that many soldiers say seems best suited to desert combat. The old uniform, by contrast, came in bold black, brown, tan and green blotches. In Iraq, many soldiers have worn the older Desert Combat Uniform, a variation on the standard one, but with desert hues. But the new uniform, which will replace both the old one and its desert counterpart, has colors and a camouflage pattern that its designers say is effective in desert, “woodland” and urban combat. Having just one combat uniform saves the Army money.
New expansion pleats allow more freedom in the shoulders. The new collar, which can be worn up or down, does not chafe the neck. Buttons are gone. The material is meant to be tougher, though some soldiers dispute that claim.
An Army News Service article from June 2004 noted that the new uniform, then being tested, would probably cost about $88, some $30 more than the old one. However, the article said, “soldiers will eventually reap gains in money and time by not having to take uniforms to the cleaners or shine boots.”
Though there was no official requirement to have the old uniforms professionally cleaned and pressed, Army culture outside of combat situations has often been to do so. Now it is not only unnecessary, but also impractical.
“The plastic zipper and the Velcro, if we press it, that’s going to melt it,” said Moon Kim, who has been in the dry cleaning business near Fort Lewis since 1984.
Not too long ago, there were five dry cleaning businesses on Union Avenue, a small, struggling stretch in the city of Lakewood that is across Interstate 5 from Fort Lewis. Four of the stores were owned by Mr. Kim.
Now Mr. Kim has closed two stores, and the racks of those he has kept open are largely empty. He said he also had thousands of dollars worth of sew-on military patches but little market for them.
But Mr. Kim is adapting. He has a contract to do dry cleaning on the base itself, and he hopes that newly redesigned dress uniforms, which will require sew-on patches and are expected to arrive soon, will increase business. He also plans to open a barber shop.
Others are coping, too.
LaDon Pope used to work on the base repairing the heavy black leather boots, always adding a shine. But the new uniform’s “desert boot” requires no polishing.
Mr. Pope, who now has a small shop on Union Avenue, said that he still re-soled the boots for about half what it would cost to replace them and that his special finishing touch now included applying water-proofing.
“In Washington State,” he explained, “it can rain at any minute.”
Luz Robinson, a seamstress who once made her living sewing patches directly onto uniforms, is now taking advantage of what soldiers say is the principal weakness of the new uniform, the Velcro. It can lose its grip after a few washings, and patches can drop off.
Soldiers frequently lose their name strips. New name strips must still be sewn, letter by letter, onto a new Velcro patch. That is where Ms. Robinson makes her money.
She sells name strips for $6 each, turning them around in minutes for soldiers who rush in from the base, particularly in the days before deployment. Some soldiers note that this expense cuts into whatever they might save at the cleaners.
Cynthia Depoe, a senior staff sergeant with the Washington Air National Guard, stopped into one of Mr. Kim’s stores, Plaza Cleaners, on Monday night. Her unit had just been briefed on the new Airman Battle Uniform, the Air Force’s take on the digital, wrinkle-free future, just a step behind the Army’s that will be in place by 2011.
Sergeant Depoe said she was looking forward to not spending $6.50 on having her current uniform starched and pressed twice a week. She was also pleased to hear that the new uniform would have new features, including an elastic waistband, but will also stick with time-tested stitching for patches.
“We found out they had all of these problems with the Velcro,” she said of the Army. “So we’re not going to have Velcro.”
February 7, 2007
Pg. 1
By William Yardley
FORT LEWIS, Wash., Feb. 5 — Besides the hidden slots for knee and elbow pads, the extra room in the shoulders and the mod mandarin collar, the new Army uniform has a revolutionary feature critical to a nimbler military.
“You can just throw it in the dryer,” said Sgt. Donald Fisher, an instructor at this base for 30,000 soldiers about an hour south of Seattle. “You save money on dry cleaning.”
At military bases across the country and overseas, the era of the wash-and-war soldier has arrived. From Baghdad to Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York, the Army has been retiring its old starched and pressed Battle Dress Uniform in favor of a wrinkle-free cotton and nylon version.
The new Army Combat Uniform — known, of course, by an Army acronym, A.C.U. — has been phased in over the last two years as the Battle Dress Uniform, or B.D.U., becomes obsolete by May 2008.
The change has largely been welcomed by soldiers who have seen civilian fashion evolve in form and function in the quarter century since the old uniform was introduced. It also has come with repercussions, inside and outside the military, that are inevitable when half a million people suddenly get a new everyday wardrobe.
While soldiers say they like the comfort, the look and the low maintenance, they complain almost universally about the Velcro, which has largely replaced needle and thread as the means for attaching patches to show name, rank, unit and other information.
And while some dry cleaners and seamstresses near military bases, long the invisible valets of the well-pressed soldier, have lost so much business that they have had to close stores, soldiers say they do not miss the creases.
“To me, it shows a newer, more modern Army,” said Sergeant Fisher, a soldier for two decades who trains troops in the final stages before deployment. “It’s kind of an intimidating sight.”
In recent years, each branch of the military has introduced a new uniform or has begun to develop one. The Army is the largest branch of the military, and so its shift in uniforms affects more people. It also goes beyond pants and tops. The spit-shined black leather boots that are standard with the old uniform are being replaced with tan “desert boots” made of suede and synthetic materials.
Here at Fort Lewis, at least two of the base’s Stryker brigades played a key role in developing the new uniform, advising engineers at the Army’s Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass. The Third Brigade, Second Infantry wore a prototype during its initial deployment to Iraq in 2003.
Sergeant Fisher stood in a parking lot outside the Foxhole, a military surplus store, and provided an impromptu tour of his new uniform.
The most obvious change is its digital-pixel camouflage, a blur of muted tones that many soldiers say seems best suited to desert combat. The old uniform, by contrast, came in bold black, brown, tan and green blotches. In Iraq, many soldiers have worn the older Desert Combat Uniform, a variation on the standard one, but with desert hues. But the new uniform, which will replace both the old one and its desert counterpart, has colors and a camouflage pattern that its designers say is effective in desert, “woodland” and urban combat. Having just one combat uniform saves the Army money.
New expansion pleats allow more freedom in the shoulders. The new collar, which can be worn up or down, does not chafe the neck. Buttons are gone. The material is meant to be tougher, though some soldiers dispute that claim.
An Army News Service article from June 2004 noted that the new uniform, then being tested, would probably cost about $88, some $30 more than the old one. However, the article said, “soldiers will eventually reap gains in money and time by not having to take uniforms to the cleaners or shine boots.”
Though there was no official requirement to have the old uniforms professionally cleaned and pressed, Army culture outside of combat situations has often been to do so. Now it is not only unnecessary, but also impractical.
“The plastic zipper and the Velcro, if we press it, that’s going to melt it,” said Moon Kim, who has been in the dry cleaning business near Fort Lewis since 1984.
Not too long ago, there were five dry cleaning businesses on Union Avenue, a small, struggling stretch in the city of Lakewood that is across Interstate 5 from Fort Lewis. Four of the stores were owned by Mr. Kim.
Now Mr. Kim has closed two stores, and the racks of those he has kept open are largely empty. He said he also had thousands of dollars worth of sew-on military patches but little market for them.
But Mr. Kim is adapting. He has a contract to do dry cleaning on the base itself, and he hopes that newly redesigned dress uniforms, which will require sew-on patches and are expected to arrive soon, will increase business. He also plans to open a barber shop.
Others are coping, too.
LaDon Pope used to work on the base repairing the heavy black leather boots, always adding a shine. But the new uniform’s “desert boot” requires no polishing.
Mr. Pope, who now has a small shop on Union Avenue, said that he still re-soled the boots for about half what it would cost to replace them and that his special finishing touch now included applying water-proofing.
“In Washington State,” he explained, “it can rain at any minute.”
Luz Robinson, a seamstress who once made her living sewing patches directly onto uniforms, is now taking advantage of what soldiers say is the principal weakness of the new uniform, the Velcro. It can lose its grip after a few washings, and patches can drop off.
Soldiers frequently lose their name strips. New name strips must still be sewn, letter by letter, onto a new Velcro patch. That is where Ms. Robinson makes her money.
She sells name strips for $6 each, turning them around in minutes for soldiers who rush in from the base, particularly in the days before deployment. Some soldiers note that this expense cuts into whatever they might save at the cleaners.
Cynthia Depoe, a senior staff sergeant with the Washington Air National Guard, stopped into one of Mr. Kim’s stores, Plaza Cleaners, on Monday night. Her unit had just been briefed on the new Airman Battle Uniform, the Air Force’s take on the digital, wrinkle-free future, just a step behind the Army’s that will be in place by 2011.
Sergeant Depoe said she was looking forward to not spending $6.50 on having her current uniform starched and pressed twice a week. She was also pleased to hear that the new uniform would have new features, including an elastic waistband, but will also stick with time-tested stitching for patches.
“We found out they had all of these problems with the Velcro,” she said of the Army. “So we’re not going to have Velcro.”
