Sand drives Army to ditch Velcro on pants

Source: USA Today

WASHINGTON — The Army is ripping space-age Velcro from its uniforms and replacing it with the humble button, which turns out to be tailor-made for the rigors of Afghanistan.

Hook-and-pile tape — the generic term for Velcro— strains to keep jam-packed cargo pants pockets closed. And when the Taliban attacks, the last thing soldiers need to worry about is spilling their gear.

"When concerns surfaced in surveys that the hook-and-pile tape was not holding under the weight of full pocket loads, the Army evaluated several solutions," Dawson said. Velcro has been part of the latest Army combat uniform since it was introduced in 2004.

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Snaps and buttons were identified as possible fixes for failing Velcro. The Army surveyed 2,700 soldiers who tested prototypes, and 60% said they preferred buttons and 29% liked snaps. Just 11% wanted to keep Velcro, according to the Army. In the end, the Army decided to substitute three buttons for Velcro on the cargo pockets of its pants.

It's cheaper, too. The Army will save 96 cents per uniform when it swaps buttons for Velcro, Dawson said.







Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-06-14-army-uniforms-velcro_N.htm?csp=abcnews

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Who'd have thunk it that velcro isn't suitable in dusty muddy environments. Duh!

Another mistake by those "brilliant" minds involved with planning at the Pentagon.

Don't worry, though. They'll just buy more uniforms, courtesy of the taxpayer, and some MIC rich guy will get richer. Same as always.

Soldiers compare to tissue paper they rip so easily.

start making them with buttons and replace the velcro ones as they wear out. They still haven't decided what camouflage pattern to go with though. It's pretty much been agreed that the ACU pattern doesn't work anywhere in the field except gravel pits and they have been trying various patterns to replace it. The soldiers want Multicam but a multitude of "experts" think they know better.

And how many friggin' experts and $$$$$'s did they spend to design it? Now they find out it doesn't work as camo??????

they didn't want to have to buy twice as many for a woodland and a desert issue to all the soldiers. They thought they found a happy medium with the grey-ish-blue that would work in the desert, woods, and urban environments. Turned out they were wrong.

There are times on the battlefield you want silence.

It's super-duper industrial grade. It sounds like a VW running down a dirt road every time you rip it open.

There are a few applications where it works fine, but I hate it on pants. Give me a button any day. Those hooks also grab onto ANYTHING. So they tear up other gear. Buttons for things that get open frequently. Snaps for occasional openings.

with Velcro strips.

Observation #1 and only: Yes, indeed, those hooks DO grab onto ANYTHING.

Conclusion: Don't do it.

Like a real primitive wax job.

"But we'll save almost a whole dollar with the switch."

(Quotes I'd like to see....)

It'll keep those remaining Velcro away from the sand.

;-)

Let me tell you!

When men sneak around to do dirty jobs, revealing their presence with a 'rip' of velcro could result in remarkably bad experience.