Battle Dress Uniform

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United States National Guard troops during an exercise, wearing standard woodland-colored BDUs. In the United States Army, this style of battledress is being replaced with the Army Combat Uniform.

Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) in the United States was the standard military uniform worn into combat, battledress as opposed to 'display' dress uniforms worn at parades and functions. BDUs may be either plain fatigues or in camouflage colors.

1 History
2 Replacements
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

While the Italian Army was the first military organization to issue camouflaged clothing, the Germans were noted for their efforts in this field before the Second World War. After much trial, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (abbrev. OKW) authorized Heeres-Splittermuster 31, more commonly known as 'splinter pattern', for use in shelter-quarters (zeltbahnen) in the 1930s. In 1940, SS-Verfügungstruppe (abbrev. SS-VT; renamed Waffen-SS designed, trialled and issued its own distinctive patterns not long after.

The United States Marine Corps received its first camouflage pattern in 1942, when the reversible beach/jungle three- and five-color frog skin uniform was issued, based on a 1940 trial design. The U.S. found it to be ineffective and was withdrawn in 1944 — in part because of friendly fire problems following D-Day. Camouflaged helmet covers and shelters were issued in the 1950s in "wine leaf" and "brown cloud" patterns.

The camouflage pattern uniform began with the four-color "ERDL" pattern from 1948. During Vietnam, it saw limited use in the Army, which preferred the solid olive green, while the Marines adopted it service wide after 1968. Both were roughly identical in layout, and would later be used in the design of the new MARPAT and ACU uniforms after Gulf War II. Other, unofficial, patterns used in Vietnam included black spray-paint on olive drab, adopting the various Vietnamese Tigerstripe patterns (itself being based on French Army airborne and Foreign Legion patterns), or using commercial "duck hunter" patterns.

The look of the modern BDU appeared in September 1981 when the woodland pattern began to be issued. A four-color development of the ERDL pattern, it used two shades of green, one of brown, and black on a cotton-nylon mix. It was issued in four variants: general (or temperate), lowland (more green), highland (more brown), and a transitional pattern (sometimes called delta). It was designed to camouflage in both the visual and near-infrared.

[edit] Replacements

The US military has run trials on many patterns (some of which have been used by other nations) and issued some environment-specific ones. Notably the six-color chocolate-chip camouflage (designed in 1962) and "night-time desert grid" used in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Both were discontinued just after the conflict in 1991. Desert BDUs using a three-color desert camouflage were introduced and saw limited use during the war. The DBDU is more commonly known as Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCU), or colloquially by the troops that wear them, "coffee stains". Three-color Desert BDUs largely replaced the six-color pattern shortly thereafter, although some items of six-color desert camouflage (such as helmet covers) have been seen in use by U.S. troops as recently as the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It is interesting to note that the New Iraqi Army being built by US and Multinational forces uses the chocolate-chip camouflage. This is likely because much of their equipment so far is surplus American and allied gear.

The development of more modern camouflage patterns and a wish for the service branches to differentiate themselves has had each branch looking for replacements for the BDU in recent years.

The Marine Corps was the first to choose a replacement. It uses the computer-generated MARPAT pattern and has front pockets that lean inward as well as other enhancements. Approved for wear in June 2001, the change-over was completed October 1, 2006.

An Army program running from 2005 to 2007 is in the process of replacing the BDU with the new Army Combat Uniform (ACU). This new uniform uses a pixelated pattern like MARPAT, but uses less saturated colors. The neutral colors are designed to be used in desert, woodland, and urban combat situations.

In 2007 the Navy will implement the adoption of a pixelated pattern uniform in blue and gray. To meet the Navy's cold-weather requirement the new working uniform will include fleece jacket, pullover sweater, and parka options. In addition, the Navy will also implement woodland and desert digital-pattern uniforms specially for sailors who need to work ashore (e.g. hospital corpsmen or SEALs). These uniforms will replace the seven different working uniforms currently in use, including the relatively new and unpopular utility uniform that itself replaced the time-honored "dungaree" uniform in 2000 [1].

In 2004 and 2005 the Air Force experimented with but rejected a blue tigerstripe uniform. In 2006 an earth-tone color "pixelated tigerstripe" uniform, called the Airman Battle Uniform, was approved. The uniform features additional pockets for tools. It is in production and will be available in 2007 [2].

The Coast Guard, on the other hand, has introduced the new "Operational Duty Uniform" (ODU) uniform in 2004 to replace the winter and summer "Undress Duty" uniform. Resembling law enforcement SWAT fatigues, the ODU uniforms resemble the old-style BDU uniforms, but with the lower pockets on the blouse being eliminated and the uniform being worn tucked into the trousers, similar in nature to the old-style Cold War-era fatigues. The sleeves are worn "folded up" in a manner similar to the old Army and Air Force BDUs (since been banned with the new Army ACU and Air Force ABU uniforms) and the trousers "bloused" into the boots similar to that of the Marine Corps (unless boating shoes, especially for the Coast Guard Auxiliary, who patrols for the Coast Guard onboard privately owned watercraft), with the ODU black belt and blackend buckle being worn with the metal tip 2 to 4 inches from the buckle, another Marine Corps regulation. The black Coast Guard unit ballcap is worn with this uniform. The ODU also has all of its allowable insignia sewn on, eliminating the chance of puncture wounds created by the pins if the individual suffers a blow to the chest while wearing a PFD.