Procurement: July 2, 2003

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Many of the troops sent to Iraq had to wait until they got desert pattern (shades of brown) camouflage field uniforms ("cammies") to replace their woodland (shades of green) ones. This raised a long standing suggestion, especially from troops like the airborne divisions and rangers, that new, reversible, cammies, with woodland on one side and desert on the other be issued. Common pockets would be used, with only the pocket flaps duplicated on each side. The troops would want these made of  something like ripstop poplin fabric (which resists tearing) used and permapress treated to reduce the workload and expense of keeping the uniforms looking neat in peacetime. The Army developed a reversible uniform in the 1990s, taking advantage of advances in cloth manufacturing to overcome the "bleed-through" problem in past attempts at reversible uniforms. So far, the army has held back on issuing reversible uniforms.