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Most Recent Article
Tru-Spec Multi-Cam Uniforms
By Frank Borelli
The technology supporting our military service members has been
developing at a rapid rate across the past five
decades. When you look at what is publicly known about the Land
Warrior program it
becomes glaringly obvious that millions if not
billions of dollars is being spent to make sure that the American
soldier is the best
trained, best equipped and best supported fighter
on any future battlefield. Even with all of that technology taken
into consideration,
the most valuable piece of equipment on the field
of battle is still the PERSON in the uniform. A lot has changed
in uniforms
as far as design features, but the technology
of camouflage has come a long way too. From OD Green to woodland
camo to digital
woodland and now... multi-cam. Multi-cam has
been around for awhile and Tru-Spec now has Battle Dress Uniforms
available in this versatile
pattern.
Most of us who have served in the past decade or more are familiar
with the "classic" battle dress uniform or BDU. Different
from the current issue Army Combat Uniform, or ACU, the BDU didn't
have the slash pockets on the shoulders or the high collar neck
and rank insignia was worn on both lapels (for enlisted). When
the military evolved from the classic BDU to the current ACU they
also evolved from woodland camo to digital patterns. From a distance
those digital patterns look good but up close they still just look
like a collection of squares of different colors - which is what
they are.
The Tru-Spec BDUs that are the topic of this review are of the
classic BDU design but using the Crye Precision Multi-cam pattern.
Now, if you take a close look at it multi-cam doesn't appear to
be a digital pattern. Do some research and guess what you find?
It is indeed digital. According to the history information I can
find about the development of multi-cam, the pattern was developed
by Crye Precision in cooperation with the Army's Soldier Research
Center at Natick. The question they were trying to answer was whether
or not a single camo pattern could be developed that would work
equally well in desert, woodland, open field, urban areas, etc.
Apparently the multi-cam pattern was specifically designed to
take advantage of reflective light, naturally occurring patterns
and the fact that a good camo pattern will work well in numerous
environments. The end result was a digital pattern that doesn't
look digital at all - no small squares here. So, what does this
mean on a classic BDU?
Before the military adopted the new BDU design, many law enforcement
agencies - along with other public safety organizations - had adopted
the classic BDU as their uniform. Some of those same folks have
to work in varying environments on a regular basis. Heck, my own
home county Sheriff's SWAT guys have to be ready to work in fields,
woods, cities, marine environments, and more. I can't remember
how many times I've heard them discussing what the next day's uniform
would be. Where are we going? What are we doing? Multi-cam answers
a lot of questions for them. But they didn't or don't need the
new design ACU, so now Tru-Spec has the classic BDU design in the
multi-cam pattern.
The BUD has a lot going for it as a field uniform. The blouse,
or shirt, has two large cargo pockets on the bottom front and two
decent sized breast pockets. I know at least one gentleman who
served with the British military who told me that they had rearranged
the pockets on theirs. They took all the pockets off and put the
breast pockets material onto the shoulders. The cargo pockets were
then moved up to where the breast pockets had been. In doing this
they created a blouse that could be tucked into the pants without
giving up any pocket storage space. Interesting idea I've tried
in the past. I'm 5-10 and 200 pounds. I've got a 46" chest
and I'm hear to tell you that the cargo pockets take up A LOT of
space across your chest if you dod this. BIG guys will have more
luck with this reconfiguration. The elbows on the blouse are reinforced
to put up with the abuse and abrasion that is inevitable during
field ops.
The BDU pants have reinforced knees, adjustable waist via pull
tabs and a button crotch instead of a zipper. The cuffs have ties
built into them but I virtually always pull and cut these out.
If my pants need to be bloused I just tuck them into my boots.
It's not everyone's favorite way of working but it's always done
well by me. The back pockets have button flaps with the front (hip)
pockets being in the typical open design. The cargo pockets on
either thigh are plenty roomy and also close via a button flap.
When I think about some of the "civilian" clothing avaiable
I can't help but wonder how come the BDU design has never incorporated
some of the pockets or features other popular design brands enjoy.
I'd love a knife pocket on the front of my BDU pants or the ability
to put neoprene kneepads INSIDE the BDU pants rather than having
them wrap around. Just a few thoughts...
I've had my Tru-Spec Multi-cam BDUs for a couple weeks and have
worn them quite a bit. They are as comfortable as I've come to
expect from BDU clothing. The military testing that has been performed
repeatedly on the Crye Precision Multi-Cam pattern shows that it
works very well. I expect that it will be incorporated into the
next generation of uniform, whatever that may be.
Read this article in its original location here
Read more equipment reviews at www.borelliconsulting.com
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