Camoflage Uniforms

[Dawes]

I think the SG-1 team has, on occasion, worn the three-color desert BDU's on certain missions. Does anyone recall if they ever wore the standard Woodland pattern BDU's?

 

[Rowan]

woodland

I don't believe so. The closest was when Jack and Hammond were wearing the old 'tiger stripe' pattern in "There But For the Grace of God" in the alternate universe. Pretty much every teams wears the woodlands, excpet SG-1.

I think it's so those particular actor/charactors are more visable in a group filming situation.

Rowan

 

[PTeppic]

Which of course is the entire opposite of the purpose of a decent DPM...

 

[Rowan]

Right!

We just can't have 'too' much reality in our SF, now can we?

Row

 

[webmouse]

Sort of like in any film with medieval combat, the hero and the villain fight the final battle to the death with their helmets off -- which majorly defeats the purpose of head protection.

Ah, the need for actors to act and to be clearly seen in their acting.

 

[webmouse]

Please excuse me for double-posting, but it occurs to me that I don't really know what "BDU" nor "DPM" stands for. :blush:

 

[Dawes]

BDU= Battledress Uniform

DPM= Disruptive Pattern Material

"BDU" is usually used to describe the US military's camoflage fatigues, while "DPM" refers to the British military's camo pattern (which, in my opinion, is somewhat superior to BDU Woodland as an all-purpose concealment pattern).

 

[webmouse]

Oh, thank you. I was thinking that the 'D' stood for 'day' and I was wondering what they wore at night

So "fatigues" are just the plain green uniform. Is the blue uniforn then the "dress" uniform?

 

[Dawes]

Jack and Dr. Frazer wear the USAF Service Dess uniform on occasion, and Dr. Frazer wears the light blue blouse/dark blue skirt combination (I believe) to some extent.

 

[Dawes]

BDU's are actually made in a bewildering array of patterns (including DPM-type patterns). Check out:

www.imsplus.com/ims7.html


My favories are the old 6-color desert ("CHOCOLATE CHIP") and "Safariflage"

 

[Rowan]

BDU's

'BDU' = Battle Dress Uniform - is a style of uniform: the cut, the pocket placement, etc. Fatigues is sort of a generic term for field uniforms - utility uniforms - that came before the more codified BDU style. People oftem mean 'woodland camoflague' BDU's when using just the three letter term.

The BDU's come in a frightening collection of colors: mixed and solid, as has been pointed out.

From the beginning of my Army career, I started with the old OD ripstop woman's fatigues from The Viet Nam era [three buttons on each site near where the pockets are], through the od cotton fabric [two styles] and finially to the BDU style [woodland and both desert patterns = 5 color: the 'chocolate chip cookie' or 'seagull' pattern and the 3 color used now]. And 'way too many changes in class A greens and class B's, not counting headgear.

it's amazing the variations that can happen over 20+ years. :}

Rowan

 

[Dawes]

I started out in the old 100% cotton sateens, went through the permanent press fatigues era, and finally in 1987 the USAF went to the BDU's. The 100% cotton ripstops were pure ****, but later types hold up better. The Marines have adopted their own unique camo suit to better stand out from the crowd. Looks pretty sharp from what I've seen. Some say the end is in sight for the traditional Woodland pattern, and a new pattern may be adopted in the future.

 

[Rowan]

Uniforms

Wouldn't surprise me. There are some uniform changes in the works for the Army greens: more of a OD color with an Eisenhower Jacket cut [looks sharp and more like a uniform than what we've got now]. Although my husband is justifiably upset with the Army CoS's change ot headgear to the black beret [he has earned several colors of them in his time in the Army, among them maroon, black and teal green], they look *much* better on me than the 'thelidomide mushroom' black thing we had to wear for too many years.

And, in my not-to-humble-opinion, the Marines *always* look sharp. Part of it is how they wear the uniform: from the inside and with intense pride.

My godson is a Marine [even though he's out on a combat medical, they are never 'ex-marines'] and he's awesome in anything from his blues to bdu's. It's the flavor of the person who wears them.

As an aside: I believe that all the branches of the service should consolidate their medical units into one, seperate branch of the service. It's not like we're as 'military' as everyone else and it would make more sense to consolidate training, etc.

Beside... we could desing our own uniforms, etc all. Perhaps something a Doctor could actually wear and not look like they haven't a clue wearing it.

My appologies to any military MD's out there. You folks are great, but ... after 20-some years, we both know you're not comfortable wearing it and would really like something that it would be okay to stuff your hands in your pockets and forget about the hat every now and then ... .

Rowan
US Army Health Services Command [ret]

 

[Dawes]

Every now and then someone raises the question: Why not readopt the old khaki uniforms? Both Army and AF used them USAF phased them out in 1979, Army a few years later). They do look sharp with all the accouterments attached, and have a long historical background behind them. If they ever come back, for God's sake make them so you can throw them in the washing machine and still come out looking good.

 

[Rowan]

Khakis

Deffinately. They wore well, looked sharp and took a nice crease without too much effort. With the modern fabrics available today, there has to be a way to make them more 'user friendly'.

And to all those 'garrison troopers' who insist on 20+ layers of startch to make their BDU's look good: Folks, you ruin the IF shilding when you do that. The fabric in BDU's was chosen to disperse the IF on a set of night-vision goggles. When you startch them, you stand out like a beacon.

A lesson *everyone* learned ricky-tick in the Gulf the first time around. "Wrinkles" beat "Target" in pretty much everyone's book.

Rowan <who must be getting cranky in her old age...

 

[webmouse]

Hey, military folks

I'm trying to follow the conversation, but need help with acro-speak. ODs? CoS?

Some of us don't understand all the TLAs and FLAs.
(Two/Three Letter Acronyms and Four Letter Acronyms )

 

[Dawes]

OD= Olive Drab

CoS= Chief of Staff

 

[Dawes]

Acronyms are pretty much a fixture in the military (and the contractors that deal with the military). Some of the cooler ones:

PATRIOT (Phased Array Tracking to Intercept of Target)

HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle)

MULE (Modular Universal Laser Equipment)

DROPS (Demountable Rack Offload Pallet System)

HELLFIRE (Helicopter Launched Fire and Forget)

HOT (High Subsonic, Optically Tracked, Tube-Launched)

SCAD (Subsonic Cruise Armed Decoy)

CYCLOPS (Clustered Antiarmor Sensor Fuzed Submunition)

BOSS (Ballistic Offensive Suppression System)

 

[Rowan]

And some others - a bit more colorful ...

FEBA: Forward Edge of the Battle Area. What used to be called the 'front line' until artillery and things like SCUDs make that hard to keep track of.

C&C: Command & Control - the location of the folks in charge.

PAO: Public Affairs Officer - the military to civillian liaison for press info, etc

SAC: Stratigic Air Command - [now know as U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM)] - the Air Force folks with the bombers, etc. that provide defense of the US

NORAD: North American Air Defense Command - our friends who really do live 'under the mountain; - a multinational radar and sattalite watch of all air and space areas that could provide an early warning of an attack on North America



And some of the more humerous ones: [Please substitute 'F**ked' for 'Fouled' as necessary]

FUBAR :Fouled up Beyond All Recognition

SNAFU: Situation Normal - All Fouled Up

JANFU: Joint Army-Navy Foul Up [used at my MedCen [Medical Center] where we had a few Navy Docs through every now and again]

FTA: Honest, it started out as a recruiting slogan - "Fun, Travel, Adventure". I don't think it lasted more than 45 sec before it became "F**k The Army" Sorry... Fouled just doesn't cut it on this one.

FRED: This honestly came from the Air Force long before Stargate. Have a friend who was working the electronics 'test bed' when they were playing with new RADAR packages for C-130's. Fouled up Redundent Electronic Device.

'CF' ["Charlie Foxtrot"]: Cluster 'insert F work here ...' A situation *and* a state of mind.

Here's a great site for various acronyms:
Military Acronyms

Enjoy!

Rowan [E-8 - MSG/1SG, USA, [ret], HSC, [91A, 91B, 91C70Z, 91D, 91V, 66Y & 76Y]

[name, paygrade, rank, military status, Health Services Command - the medical people & the MOS [Military Occupational Specialty codes for the major jobs I held in the Army] ]

 

[Rowan]

A BTW:

I will buy the first round for any PATRIOT Gunner from the Gulf.

The classic CNN film clip of the Patriot missle taking out the SCUD in the Gulf war? That was right over my billets in Eskan Village.

Thanks, folks ... I owe you one.

Rowan