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Afghanistan is testing ground for new camo

Soldiers in Afghanistan will soon test two different camouflage uniforms to help the Army find a more effective pattern for the rugged, mountainous country.

After years of soldier complaints about the Army Combat Uniform’s camouflage pattern in the war zones, the Army is trying something new.

Under pressure from a powerful Pennsylvania congressman, the Army will outfit two combat battalions in Afghanistan with two different, alternative camouflage uniforms in an effort to find a better pattern for the expanding Afghan war.

By early October, Army uniform officials plan to give roughly 550 soldiers in Afghanistan new uniforms featuring a camouflage pattern that Program Executive Office Soldier is calling “UCP Delta,” which is the current Universal Camouflage Pattern enhanced with a new color, “coyote brown,” blended into it.

At the same time, the Army will supply the same number of soldiers in another battalion with uniforms in MultiCam, a camouflage pattern already worn in combat by Army special operations forces.

“We are getting two battalion sets out there within 30 days,” Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller, commander of PEO Soldier, told Army Times in an exclusive interview Sept. 8.

The move is part of a larger camouflage plan that Army uniform officials presented to members of Congress on Sept. 11. The briefing originally was scheduled for Sept. 14 but was moved up to Sept. 11, according to PEO spokeswoman Debi Dawson.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, launched the congressional mandate in mid-June, saying that he had heard complaints from “a dozen” Army noncommissioned officers that the ACU’s pattern is ineffective in rugged, mountainous countryside. He gave the Army until Sept. 30 to come up with a new pattern.

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