Posted on 05/04/2009 12:27:35 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Russian army scraps new uniforms
By Steven Eke
BBC Russian affairs analyst
Russian soldiers rehearse for Victory Day (24 April 2009) Senator Viktor Ozerov said uniforms were not a priority for the army
A plan to replace Soviet-era Russian military uniforms with ones by a leading fashion designer has been abandoned because of a lack of money.
The plan to bring in the new uniforms, designed by Valentin Yudashkin, was supported by Russian PM Vladimir Putin.
There is now only enough money to pay for uniforms for soldiers taking part in the forthcoming Victory Day parade.
Everyone else, it seems, will remain in the rather drab olive shades Russia inherited from the former Soviet Union.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Is the new style more expensive to produce than the old? What had they been doing with the old uniforms, just reusing them as people retired and new members joined?
LOL! It’s old Soviet parade uniforms with piping and excessive fur trimming added.
There is nothing more military-looking than drab/khaki/olive colors. Dark blue for parade, white for summer is ok.
The international (alas the US is leading) trend towards gaudy, colorful uniforms is ridiculous.
Fashion designer Hugo Boss manufactured the Nazi SS uniforms, so this is nothing new.
interesting didn’t know that.
I saw an interesting historical documentary on the battle of Stalingrad a few weeks ago. One of the topics investigated was the combat uniform used by both sides. The discussion went into how while the Nazis were "snappy dressers" their uniforms were ill-suited for a Russian winter. They went as far as to do infrared scans off people wearing the exact outfit for each side. You could see the Nazi uniform bleeding heat at negative 30 degrees.
The Russian uniform, while not a thing of beauty, had excellent heat retention and functionality even at 30 below. It was an impressive contrast, on any cold day, the Nazis were obviously suffering while the Russian were nice and toasty-warm (not quite but you get my drift).
The series is "Commanders at War" on one of those Military Channels. I think it's still playing every few weeks.
Cheers!
Hell, they haven’t learned the capitalist system as well as I thought.
Every time the idiots upstairs changed the US Navy uniform, the sailors had to buy the new ones themselves! Or, at least they did when I was in.
Come on man, I thought the russians were going to greatly improve their military with new equipment?
Seems they can’t afford new under ware for their troops?
What a real officer looks like.
I have a personal notion that the more medals, guadyier uniforms, the fakier is the military. It is a sign, a symptom of a decayed, decaying officer corps, or a military in which the tasks its self are not self evident or rewarding.
Pomp and pageantry over ability and results... It is a sign of the overall decay of the society...
I wish the US Army would go back to the Pinks uniform.
Classiest uniform ever.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.