June 18,2008: The U.S. Army will now test civilian gear and, if it meets army standards, allow the manufacturer to use a new logo that features the text; "Team Soldier Certified Gear", and a black and gold star atop the text "U.S. Army". This lets the solider know that the equipment meets army standards for similar official issue gear. Any claims beyond that are up to the manufacturer, and word of mouth by the troops.

This adoption of superior, or simply cheaper, civilian equipment by the troops has been one of the major features of the all-volunteers army. Since volunteer troops are paid more, and are in a year or more longer than draftees were, they were quicker to improve their government issued equipment by purchasing superior civilian gear with their own money. It's another aspect of the professionalism that has greatly increased the effectiveness of the American armed forces in the last quarter century.

The new logo and testing process will help eliminate shoddy gear, passing for the real deal, showing up on web sites. The army hopes that the troops will avoid sites that don't carry any certified stuff, and appear to depend overly much on hype. For years, troops have been asking for some kind of certification process.