This reference is available as a free resource for historians, government agencies, military personnel, collectors, artists & designers, airsoft & MILSIM enthusiasts, military modelers, and all others with an interest in camouflage design, development, and history. "This is really a morale issue, for our men and women in uniform," Coffman said.The Camopedia website is a living document, providing a comprehensive, accurate, and academically-supported database referencing all of the major military and paramilitary camouflage patterns that have been in use around the world since the beginning of the 20th century. He said the amount of savings gained by moving to a joint combat uniform was relatively small compared to the morale gained within the services of having separate uniforms. a former Marine and soldier, was one Congressman who voted against it. Twenty-seven Democrats and five Republicans voted for it, while one Democrat and 29 Republicans voted against it. The committee approved the amendment by the closest of margins with a vote of 32-30. Rob Wittman, R-Va., who chairs the committee that oversees military uniforms, supported the amendment, but said it would cost the military more money to develop a joint combat uniform that would satisfy all the services. The GAO estimates that the Army will have to spend another $4 billion on uniforms and equipment over the next five years when it selects its new family of camouflage patterns. The Army spent $2.6 million to develop the UCP pattern and then another $2.9 million to field Multicam combat uniforms after Army officials determined the UCP was unsuitable for Afghanistan. Enyart is a retired two-star who served in the Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Army National Guard.ĭuckworth still serves in the Illinois National Guard as a lieutenant colonel even though she lost both her legs in a helicopter crash in Iraq in 2004.Įnyart pleaded for committee members to "cut an abundance of uniforms" rather than approve further force reductions as Congress tries to balance budget cuts to the military. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., co-sponsored the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Natick officials last year, publicly criticized the Army for selecting UCP long before testing was complete, charging that UCP cost taxpayers billions in uniforms and matching body armor, backpacks and other equipment. In both studies, MultiCam, a pattern popular with Special Operations Forces, outperformed UCP, the pattern the Army adopted in 2004 to replace the service's woodland and desert camouflage uniforms. one completed in 2009 and the other in 2006 - showed that the UCP performed poorly in multiple environments when compared to other modern camouflage patterns. Two separate studies performed by Army scientists from Natick Soldier Systems Center, Mass. Some test community officials maintain that fielding UCP was a mistake that could have been avoided. Murtha died in 2010, just before the Army selected MultiCam as the clear winner over several other patterns to issue to soldiers deploying to Afghanistan. He pushed the service to look for a better camouflage pattern after receiving complaints from sergeants about the UCP's poor performance in the war zone. Murtha was then chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. John Murtha, got involved in the issue in 2009. The Army recently concluded an extensive, four-year camouflage improvement effort.Īrmy uniform officials launched the effort after Pennsylvania's Democratic Rep. It's unclear how this amendment, if approved by the Senate, would affect the Army's selection of a new camouflage pattern. Approval of the amendment comes as the Army is set to announce a replacement to its Universal Camouflage Pattern, a pixilated mix of gray, green and tan that has proven ineffective in tests and on the battlefield. The amendment restricts the creation of any further camouflage patterns for combat uniforms unless the intention is to share it. However, each service would not design their versions.
Different patterns could still be designed for specific geographic requirements such as the woodland or desert patterns. Moving to one joint combat uniform doesn't mean there would only be one camouflage pattern. House Armed Service Committee members want the Pentagon to develop a joint combat uniform over the next five years.