Coffman votes against saving money; for ineffective camo

6 Comments

by: Phoenix Rising

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

As reported by military.com, the House Armed Services Committee today voted to approve an amendment to the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act (the bill that funds the military for the year); the amendment would end the practice of allowing each branch of the Armed Services to contract for branch-specific camoflage uniforms, forcing the branches to share camoflage patterns and uniform cuts.

The amendment comes after a debacle in the Army with the proven-ineffective "Universal Camoflage Pattern" and a proliferation of patterns – there are currently three universal patterns, three woodland patterns and two desert patterns. For each pattern, the military has to buy corresponding battle armor, backpacks, and other gear camo covers, costing millons and perhaps billions of extra dollars.

Mike Coffman (CO-06) has the unfortunate distinction of being against the amendment, saying that savings would be miniscule and the "morale-boosting" effects outweighed the savings.

Really, Rep. Coffman? How significant is the morale boosting effect of wearing Army camo vs. Marine camo? I'm guessing most of our military would rather not get shot because they have the most effective camo rather than having that extra stylish flair from their service-specific version.

6 thoughts on “Coffman votes against saving money; for ineffective camo”

Phoenix Rising says:

June 13, 2013 at 3:51 pm

Unforced errors like this and his renewed ultra-conservative responses on other issues will probably be the extra something that gets Romanoff into the CO-06 seat.

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davebarnes says:

June 14, 2013 at 6:36 am

"How significant is the morale boosting effect of wearing Army camo vs. Marine camo?"

On the Army? Zero.

On the Marines? A lot.

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MADCO says:

June 14, 2013 at 9:15 am

This is so annoying …if I wasn't already so annoyed with Coffman that I was voting for the ~~viable primary challenger~~ ~~ideologically pure~~ ~~third party opponent~~ other guy, this would just chap my registered ass.

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ClubTwitty says:

June 14, 2013 at 9:20 am

I thought that USMC were tough. Last year I learned how scared some might be if openly gay soldiers were allowed in; now I am told that having to have a similar uniform as the US Army might make them sad…

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Gray in Mountains says:

June 14, 2013 at 11:08 am

Coffman wants Marines recognized as better than other services. Of course they aren't.Some are. But, as a corps they are, largely, the same young people that either make a choice or have no choice in what they might do. The "morale" he cites is hardly justification for spending much more money than is necessary if we use same camo for Army and USMC

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Harley says:

June 14, 2013 at 11:57 am

Several years ago, the DOD did an experiment with camo uni's—-took all the various styles out into the areas that they were to be used, brought in a person who was color-blind. That color-blind person picked out the camos alomost every time.

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