The Army Times reports that the Army is retiring some clothing and is rushing to restitch a million pairs of pants because soldiers said the new pants couldn't stand up to battlefield conditions.
According to the story:
Soldiers will no longer be allowed to wear the battle dress uniform (BDU),
the desert battle dress uniform and eight other uniform items beginning
April 30, the Army announced Jan. 8 in a worldwide message to all
commands.
The April 30 wear-out date applies to soldiers in the
active Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve. The wear-out date
for the Reserve Officers' Training Corps is April 2009. ...
The BDU and desert BDU were replaced by the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) in 2004, and virtually all soldiers now wear the ACU.
The
transition to the ACUs was not seamless; soldiers complained
almost immediately after the uniform's debut in combat that the ACU
wasn't sturdy enough for the harsh conditions on the battlefield.
The
Army is now restitching 1 million pairs of ACU trousers in an attempt
to fix the problem of crotch seams ripping open in theater. The work,
which began in the spring, likely will cost $3 million to $5 million
and take about 18 months to complete.
