[Kaslin]

First of all thanks for posting the photo, which was probably taken during President Bush's first term. The US military changed over the BDUs that are shown in the photo to the digital ACUs like this

in October 2007

[SuziQ]

I just finished reading the autobiography of the man who designed those uniforms for Marines who had lost their hands or an arm in Iraq or Afghanistan. He talked to the men who had been injured, and they said they wanted to be able to dress themselves, so he came up with the band that includes Velcro closures.

His name is Vittorio Palumbo, now retired from his job as a tailor for the US Military, for many years, and specifically, in the final years, for the U.S. Marines. He is an Italian immigrant who arrived in the US in the mid-50s after having grown up in Mussolini's Italy. The book is "Italian Days, Arabian Nights", and deals with the family being part of plans to populate the area Mussolini considered Italy's Fourth Shore, in Libya. It is a fascinating book!