New Britches
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07 September 2011
Kandahar Province, Afghanistan
American troops have been losing their britches in combat. Until now, I’ve never seen so many troops exposing their hardware in battle. Many warriors go “commando” into the fighting, meaning that in the name of hygiene, comfort, or perhaps in honor of the skirted-Hoplites and the kilted-Scots, they wear no boxers or briefs. This creates a twist to the venerable question: Boxers, Briefs, or Commando? The previous question is difficult to answer without controversy or even a fistfight. However, in Afghanistan, what is known and supported by my own photographic evidence is that troopers have begun wearing knickers as backups for inconveniently breached stitches in their britches.
While the styles and fashions of war are eternally in flux and different everywhere, even within the same military and within the same conflict, war itself is always en vogue. Insofar as clothing, in this war it’s poor form to walk into a conservative village waving your gun without cause. In Afghanistan, a man merely going shirtless can be offensive to some ethnic groups. For example, Hazars and Tajiks don’t seem to take offense to shirtless men, while Pashtuns do. In general, pantless men seem to be offensive in nearly every culture wherein men don’t regularly carry spears to work. Yes, granted, somewhere deep in the Congo or the Amazon River Basin, someone is out there hunting with poison darts and climbing a tree wearing nothing but a nose ring, but that’s not here.
In this war of bombs, rockets, and bullets, suddenly finding yourself as a man with no pants can distract from combat effectiveness, especially while pushing through a briar patch on a dark night, or while sitting on scorching desert earth. After all, if you don’t include things like antibiotics and sunscreen, clothes are the first layer of body armor.
This Air Force TACP is giving new meaning to “commando.”
And so on 30 August I published, “We Need Better Pants.”
The popular blog Military.com also publishes my dispatches, and reprinted, “We Need Better Pants” within minutes of it going up on my website.
The response was immediate. On 01 September, two days after my original publication, new knickers were reportedly on their way. Military.com published: “Combat Pants Rushed to Afghanistan.”
According to Military.com, the “Line of Departure” blog reported on August 30 that problems with the durability of Army uniforms in Afghanistan are widespread. Photos show Soldiers loading mortars during firefights with pants torn “from crotch to knee."
And that’s it for now. Let’s see if the better britches really show up. Barring the unforeseen, I should be here as witness.
Reference:
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/we-need-better-pants.htm#comments
http://www.lineofdeparture.com/2011/08/30/we-need-better-pants/
http://www.military.com/news/article/combat-pants-rushed-to-afghanistan.html?ESRC=eb.nl
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Comments
I can't (nor do I need to) tell you how much of a problem this problem of quality trousers is. There never seemed to be a firefight or any other mission that required more than light movement wherein one of my Joes or myself routinely tore our ACUs. And this has been YEARS! Thanks for helping to bring some attention to this!
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=194913090560
I'm no rocket scientist or infantryman, but within weeks "behind the wire," I saw it. It mostly bothered me as a USAF Captain to see desk jockey's in uniforms that looked like garbage. If you wear them out, and rip them easily sitting on a chair 12+ hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 months, (as these Army guys/gals did) it's a no brainer what happens outside the wire.
-military.com
Sweeeeeeet.
Is it a little coincidental that you highlight poor logistics/supply about the troops needing pants and then the brass tries to spanking you over not violating OpSec... Is it just me.
Thank you for the note. A clarification on OPSEC: the military has never disembedded me for OPSEC. That rumor was perpetuated by the Blackfive blog. In fact, a Blackfive writer wrote, and said on a radio program, that I had been disembedded from Canadians for OPSEC violations. I have never embedded with Canadians. That same Blackfive writer makes himself out to be expert in warfare but has never been to Iraq, Afghanistan, or any war to my knowledge.
This post is the one that moved me the most with a troop with blown out britches. The photo of the medic with the crotch of his pants worn out makes me angry every time I look at it!
Maybe the USA could get theirs from the same company....
Cold weather is coming soon. We don't want to see soldiers coming back with frostbitten...well, you know....
He had previously told me about the lousy quality of their pants.
Thanks Michael for getting the word out and helping get these soldiers properly uniformed.
Hooah!
I wonder why our modern fighting uniforms don't have the same "diamond" gusset in the crotch like all my civilian outdoor pants? This would probably solve the problem with a very easy fix.
Keep up the good work!
Spoken like an awesome momma!!! Thank you ma'am for raising what I know has to be a great man.
"Oh jeepers! So this really is a problem then?"
Duh.
Sorry you have to deal with such disinformation Mike. It can make for so much friction in life..
Isn't the purpose of the Natick labs to field test military equipment to make sure it works the right way? Pants blowouts are inexcusable. Our fighting men and women deserve the very best.
Carhartt is a good idea, but to my recollection the company's clothing is made in Mexico now; which I believe cannot be done for MilSpec items, correct?
Stay safe Mike!
On a serious not the EOD team leader you covered back in August, throwing 40 mike mike rounds like baseballs, has been injured. As far as I know he has lost both his legs below the knee. I'd love to see more news about my EOD brothers out in the "Horn". Long story but I feel like they are taking on the burden of my work, and would love to hear more from them.
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