The U.S. Army has given a green light to the 75th Ranger Regiment to retire its Universal Camouflage Patterned uniforms and wear the Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern, or MultiCam, in garrison.
The change-over became official today as the elite unit celebrated its 30th anniversary.
"The Army has authorized the Ranger Regiment to wear in garrison the Flame Resistant Army Combat Uniform (FRACU) in the Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern (OEF CP) that our soldiers have been wearing in Operation Enduring Freedom since 2010,” according to an Oct. 3 Army statement.
“This uniform is indicative of the operational success overseas of one of the most deployed units in the U. S. Army, and authorizing its wear in garrison by the Rangers symbolizes the first step in the Army's phased transition from the Universal Camouflage Pattern to a more operationally relevant uniform.”
That uniform will be printed in the Army’s new Operational Camouflage Pattern. The service adopted OCP after an exhaustive, four-year camouflage-improvement effort the service completed a year ago.
OCP is also known as Scorpion W2, a revised version of the original Scorpion pattern that Crye Precision LLC developed for the Army’s Future Force Warrior in 2002. Crye later made small adjustments to the pattern for better performance and trademark purposes and called it MultiCam.
The Army plans to print Army Combat Uniforms in the new pattern and make them available at Military Clothing Sales Stores next year.
“The Army remains on track to field uniforms and equipment bearing the Operational Camouflage Pattern in the summer of 2015,” according the statement.
