# Military patch question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-patch-question/396626 "2007-03-19T21:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-patch-question/396626/21 "2007-03-21T01:32:29Z")
[QUOTE=GomiBoy] _ **Loach** _ and _ **crowmanyclouds** _ - thanks for the info; didn’t realize MarPat was Marine-only. About time the jarheads get their own stuff :). Back in my day (USAF 1991-1998) we all wore the same BDUs in either desert or woodland pattern and the only way to tell the difference was in the scrounge hats (Marines had different ones than Army / AF) and in the badges / patches. [/QUOTE] The Air Force doesn’t want to be left out, they are getting their own. They started off looking into getting blue camouflage. Thats right blue camo. Here is a picture of what they were [testing.](http://federalvoice.dscc.dla.mil/federalvoice/031008/afuniform.html) That was not the only one they were testing. I saw an AF LTC at a mobilization center in 2004 who was wearing a pattern that was even more blue than that. I don’t know if they wear expecting to be hiding in the sky or what. From what I understand they almost had a mutiny when they were going to issue those uniforms. Instead they decided on [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airman_Battle_Uniform) which I think is a big improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-patch-question/396626/22 "2007-03-21T01:47:37Z")
**Loach** , How’d you like that bit in your link about the uniform won’t be ironed? Yeah, that’ll last. I remember when the Army introduced the BDU. Yep, show up for morning formation in an unironed BDU and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-patch-question/396626/23 "2007-03-21T01:59:02Z")
Hub hasn’t ironed an ACU since their inception. I, for one, am thrilled. 🙂 It’s my understanding that the heat of an iron and the velcro don’t play nice together. Brilliant uniform design, I say, brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-patch-question/396626/24 "2007-03-21T02:17:22Z")
[QUOTE=Ruby] Hub hasn’t ironed an ACU since their inception. I, for one, am thrilled. 🙂 It’s my understanding that the heat of an iron and the velcro don’t play nice together. Brilliant uniform design, I say, brilliant. [/QUOTE] The heat of the dryer wrinkles the velcro too so I’ve had to use an iron to straighten it out. Haven’t had to iron the rest of the uniform. I like the uniform, hate the color and I’m not too happy with all the velcro. ---
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-patch-question/396626/25 "2007-03-21T09:45:31Z")
Wow that uniform is really ugly 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DustyButt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc348/32.png) [@DustyButt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DustyButt)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-patch-question/396626/26 "2007-03-21T13:57:53Z")
I left the Army in '04 just as the new uniforms were issued. The folks who are still in have a few gripes… 1. The velcro loses its “grippy-ness” so your junk falls off of it. 2. The name tapes curl-up after a while. So, you end up with name tapes that like to curl-up and fall off. PLOP! DANG!!! But, I still like the look of all the uniforms. Now, if only we could do something about the Army Class-A’s… hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-patch-question/396626/27 "2007-03-21T14:12:42Z")
[QUOTE=DustyButt] I left the Army in '04 just as the new uniforms were issued. The folks who are still in have a few gripes… 1. The velcro loses its “grippy-ness” so your junk falls off of it. 2. The name tapes curl-up after a while. So, you end up with name tapes that like to curl-up and fall off. PLOP! DANG!!! But, I still like the look of all the uniforms. Now, if only we could do something about the Army Class-A’s… hmmm. [/QUOTE] Word is they are doing away with Class As along with Dress Mess (I have seen a few articles about this in official publications) . The only dress uniform will be Dress Blues. I’m not sure if they have made a final decision yet. I also have heard (but this is just a rumor to me since I have not seen it in writing) that they are going to change the ACUs already because of some of the complaints. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-patch-question/396626.md?page=1)