Army To Retire BDUs

The Army’s venerable battle dress uniform (BDU), which has been around since 1981, will soon fade into history. Under the directive of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, soldiers must stop wearing either the BDU and its paler cousin, the Desert Battle Dress Uniform, on April 30. By then, all soldiers will be wearing the Army Combat Uniform (ACU), which debuted in June 2004. Other clothing and gear affected by the April 30 wear-out date include brown T-shirts, black combat boots, green and black jungle boots, woodland and desert-camouflage caps, olive-drab-and-green name and U.S. Army tapes, subdued-olive green shoulder-sleeve insignias and the black rigger belt and web belt with the open-faced black buckle. Like the BDU, all are out as of that date. For ROTC students, the wear-out date is April 9. Active-duty, reserve and National Guard soldiers can wear the black-knit cap and black micro-fleece knit cap with their cold weather woodland-camouflage field jackets until Sept. 30.