The procurement process in the U.S. military has two centuries of history of knuckleheaded moves that end up creating almost as much poor and working class cannon fodder as profits and glory for some corporations, brass, and bigwigs -- not to more than mention the psychopathic amusement of cowardly people such as Dick "I had better things to do" Cheney, and Rush "Butt Boil" Limbaugh.

I recently read a very similar article about the Armed Forces' new radio system. The original problem was that most of the US Armed Forces' radio systems were mutually incompatible, meaning that snipers in the field in Afghanistan couldn't get orders to fire without having the request go through several different layers of radio operators. Eight years ago (ain't that a coincidence), the Department of Defense called for a new compatible "smart radio" system. Technically, it's been released for use...and the field units only weigh 250 pounds and require ten minutes to boot up every time it's turned on.

Otherwise, in both cases, it's the same situation.You have a lot of profiteering going on, but you also have a lot of field-grade officers (the famed "perfumed princes") who are perfect examples of the Peter Principle in action. Give them a bright shiny object, and they'll chase it for hours. In the case of the smart radio, it was just like in the corporate arena: someone drops some viral catchphrase, and suddenly the radio HAD to have that feature, even if it was nothing but vaporware.

(Saying this as former Army, I also can't help but mention that it figures that the Marines were the ones who came up with the original improved pattern. Tell all the jokes about "sea-going bellhops" you want, because I'm not joining in. Every former and current Marine I've ever met has been sharp as hell, and they do things like these because they're sick to death of waiting for the Department of the Navy to get around to investigating their requests. Good on them for both doing the science and nailing down the perfect colors.)

Saying this as former Army, I also can't help but mention that it figures that the Marines were the ones who came up with the original improved pattern.

And sounds like the Marines in turn got the idea from the Canadians (the CADPAT). We should keep Canada around; they contribute some useful things once in awhile (Justin Bieber notwithstanding).

Take a look at the Navy BDU; another bad example of camouflage while at sea:
http://www.corpsman.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/navy-cammis.jpg

You'd think that if a seaman fell overboard you'd want him to be more visible.

There is not much of a need for cammo uniforms on ships.

There's not enough camo in the world to hide the idiocy of this country's defense buffoonery.

I wholeheartedly agree with you Mojo.
Let's not forget one of our local war profiteers:
http://wweek.com/portland/blog-28192-oregon_lawmaker_accu.html

Eric, ya got me. You're absolutely right. (Worse, I'm a Canadian anchor baby, so you'd think I'd get it right. The new camo make it that much easier to bomb the Baldwins again.)

Hmm..I thought this was going to be about the new interstate bridge.

Everybody complains about those pesky lazy shiftless unionized gubmint employees, but the military, the mother of waste, is never criticized.

Much of the fraud waste and abuse in the military budget is due to the "lazy shiftless unionized gubmint (civilian) employees" at DOD...