Army reinforcing 1 million sets of ACUs

[unhappycamper]

Millions of stitches
Kicking down doors can be hazardous for pants.


Army reinforcing 1 million sets of ACUs
Posted : Saturday Dec 15, 2007 8:12:37 EST

The Army is restitching 1 million pairs of Army Combat Uniform trousers in an attempt to fix a problem that surfaced two years ago when soldiers in Iraq complained of crotch seams ripping open on the battlefield.

This spring, uniform officials began “retrofitting” the crotch area of uniforms pulled from supply stocks, said Lt. Col. John Lemondes, product manager for Clothing and Individual Equipment.

“We’re taking the bad ones we know to be bad ... and we are reinforcing” the crotch with extra fabric and stronger stitching, he said. “It was the right thing to do.”

The retrofit effort will likely cost $3 million to $5 million and take about 18 months to complete, Lemondes said.

The move followed a redesign effort last year to ensure the service didn’t make any more new ACU trousers with stitching too weak for the rigors of combat duty. The ACUs currently being issued have been redesigned to strengthen the crotch area.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/army_ACU_071217w/

[Turbineguy]

1. That improvement will come in handy

for some domestic police departments too.