Technological developments lead to uniforms and gear that perform double duty: protect the soldier while withstanding harsh environments.
When David Accetta entered Army basic training in 1983, the U.S. was still in the throes of the Cold War. Soldiers’ uniforms featured a Woodland camouflage pattern made of dark brown, dark green, black and a bit of tan. “It was designed for an environment that was similar to the U.S. and specifically to Europe,” recalls Accetta, now chief of public affairs at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) in Natick, Mass., which is responsible for developing clothing for the Army. “At the time we were expecting another fight on the Korean Peninsula and an invasion of Western Europe by the Soviet bloc.”
Two decades later, the U.S. was involved in a different kind of conflict—this one in the blazing deserts of the Middle East, with very different threats to soldiers than conflicts 20 years earlier. In his multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, Accetta and his fellow soldiers wore the Advanced Combat Uniform (ACU), which displayed a digitized universal camouflage pattern designed to better blend with the environment.
There was more than just a new appearance behind the new uniforms. “We needed to be able to protect our troops from the flame or high heat that goes along with the blast and shrapnel that is an IED [improvised explosive device],” Accetta explains.
To ensure the safety of its men and women fighting overseas, the U.S. military partners with researchers, material manufacturers and other industry leaders to test, develop and deploy personal protective equipment (PPE) utilizing the newest textile technologies.
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