The ACU is nice, but they’ve gotta lose the hook-and-loop, lose the drawstring, and the seat gusset could be better. I like the new pocket locations though, especially on the “combat shirts”, which I wish we’d had in the Gulf War.
On a semi-related note, I’d appreciate any empirical info from anyone on the thread on all the new “tactical” boots. They all seem to have glued soles, instead of vulcanized or welt soles. My experience is that those don’t last long under hard use, so I have steered clear of them, but it’s getting tough to find the old-style boots, and most don’t match up well with the new uniform.
Acquisition for the DoD has undergone many radical changes over the years. The current state is a mess that seeks to miracle-ize the acquisition process. First, requirements at the highest ORD level are often times are based on pure fantasy, and are not checked for technological achievability. It is not surprising to me that the requirement to meet camouflage in all environments, despite the obvious impossibility of such a task, became a “must have” in a uniform program.
Requirements for items to have characteristics that are incompatible with the required capabilities are common. This results in conflicting requirements that don’t necessarily say, but mean, “light but heavy”, “thin but thick”, “flexible but rigid”, and in this case “light but dark” or “tan but green”. Another huge issue is backwards compatibility, where users often insist that each new product be 100% compatible with every military product made since WWII. I call this one “new but old”.
Once a program is begun, it is not turned over to an expert like ADM Rickover to implement, but GS employee Program Manager (PM) who most likely has no idea or experience with the item. A subject-matter expert, whose job it is to represent the users interest, and to keep the fantasy element alive, is often brought in to participate, but the program remains in tight control of the PM.
Source Selection is an additional farce, where the guy who lies the most almost automatically wins the award. Either the firm is lying to government, or they lie to themselves. It does not matter as the result is the same. In the process of source selection, the unfortunate end result is not to pick the best player, but to rehabilitate the worst player(s) until they become acceptable. Realistic, truth-telling vendors are almost always eliminated as either being too expensive or not meeting (impossible) requirements.
The concept of “spiral development” has the unintended consequence of allowing the Product Team off the hook when major requirements are not met. The idea is that the product will be improved in future iterations. This does work in some cases in the private sector, but oftentimes it is just used as a “flex” when needed by bureaucrats. The otherwise effective Spiral Development concept conflicts directly with the Acquisitions Milestones model, and this is where faulty products and vendors are locked-in. They “shoot the engineers” who are often dumbfounded as to why the process has failed so miserably, yet marches on under full steam.
The final issue I see is the “executive-ization” of higher level Government employees. They have enormous power and prestige, and have slowly forgotten their responsibilities as Civil Servants. Publications like Government Executive only serve to feed their egos. If I were in charge, the first thing I would do is eliminate the name “Senior Executive Service” and change it to “Senior Civilian Service”. If you want to be an executive, then you should to go into private industry.
I can only imagine, and if you have ever tried to quietly open a velcro even on a shirt in a setting you didn't want to make noise in, it doesn't take that much of an imagination, but here is what I feel like, and this isn't combat!
"RIP!"
"Crap! Crap! Crap!"
"RIIIIIII...IIII...PPPP!"
"Oh, mother of God!"
"RIP!"
"Whew! Finally can get that thing out of the pocket!"
Hubby wore nothing but whites as a firefighter for 33 years. They are expensive but last forever and can be ‘rebuilt’.