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Better, lighter ABU blouse is on the way

Sweaty airmen rejoice. Your complaints have been heard.

Responding to criticism that the airman battle uniform is too hot — its fabric stiff and stuffy when worn in sweltering climates — the Air Force has revealed plans to switch to a lighter, more breathable fabric.

The current ABU is built to last. A cotton-nylon blend, it’s nearly as thick as cardboard.

But airmen from Baghdad to Biloxi have complained it’s just too hot in summer. So the Air Force’s top uniform lab, based at San Antonio’s Brooks City-Base, is designing a lighter ABU blouse.

The new uniform top will be indistinguishable from the current design, said Lt. Col. Gary Salmans, commander of the 648th Aeronautical Systems Squadron, which transforms Pentagon uniform directives into tangible items.

There are no plans to alter the ABU pants, he said, which wear out quicker and must remain durable.

It’s “not going to take long” before airmen see the lighter ABU top on shelves, Salmans said. “A year at the most.”

Though no official decision has been made, the lighter ABU tops will almost certainly go first to airmen stationed to the Middle East or those preparing to deploy.

Air Force leaders have heard complaints about the ABU, particularly from airmen deployed to the war zones, since the utility uniform was introduced. In addition to being uncomfortably hot, it also does not have enough pockets and is difficult to wear with body armor, many airmen say.

Airmen serving at domestic bases throughout warmer U.S. states also have said it is uncomfortably hot.

On the other hand, they like that it’s wash-and-wear permanent press and therefore easy to maintain. Many airmen say they think they look good in the uniform — when they’re not sweating.

Uniform designers always face a tradeoff between thinner, more comfortable fabrics and heavier, more durable fabrics, Salmans said.

“You’ve got to have a little bulk to keep the permanent press quality. It keeps us from going super light,” he said. “But there’s a good happy medium.”

Senior Airman Justin Coyle, an AC-130 gunship maintainer stationed at Hurlburt Field, Fla., said he’d often wear his Desert Combat Uniform during his four-month Iraq deployment that ended in March. That uniform, made from the same material as the outdated but still ubiquitous battle dress uniform, made working under the Iraq sun much more bearable.

“I alternated between the uniforms,” Coyle said. “I felt the ABU was good in the winter. But it would be great to have a lighter uniform.” That, he said, “would be a great improvement to our unit.”

For airmen in the market for a new uniform, which includes a sizeable portion of the force, the forthcoming lightweight ABU could present a dilemma: Buy now or try to hold out until the lighter version hits shelves?

“I would buy the lightweight ABU,” said a Hurlburt Field-based captain who recently returned from a six-month deployment. “But I didn’t know about it and I’m not about to go drop $400 for another four sets of ABUs. I wish I would have known about it.”

Airmen aren’t required to wear the ABU until 2011, meaning many desert-deployed service members have taken Coyle’s approach and donned the thinner BDU or DCU uniforms to keep as cool as possible. Though being phased out, both those uniforms are made of thinner fabric than even the lighter-weight ABU still in development.

For airmen who have yet to buy their ABUs, a decision may hinge on the climate where they’re stationed, the likelihood they’ll deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan, the condition of their uniforms, and how badly they want to sport new ABUs.

And though airmen still have several more years to switch to the ABU, some commanders exert subtle pressure to have all airmen under their command look the same.

But airmen tempted to postpone an ABU purchase until the lightweight ABU top is released may want to think twice, said Maj. Brian Schooley, an Air Force military clothing program manager.

There were delays and shortages during the original rollout of the ABU, and that could happen again. The lightweight blouse “will probably not be in [all] military clothing stores for another year and a half,” Schooley said.

Last year, the Air Force offered a makeshift solution to airmen overheating in their ABUs: Cut out the interior pockets lining the blouse. For many others who weren’t deployed to the Middle East, ABUs were scarce and hard to find at stateside Army and Air Force Exchange Services stores.

Now stores are “adequately supplied” and only certain sizes — particularly shorter-length trouser sizes — are generally pushed to back order, Schooley said.

Some women who prefer the men’s version, which has buttons on the right instead of the left, also report difficulty finding uniforms small enough.

Though officers receive a one-time $400 clothing allowance after commissioning, enlisted airmen receive a yearly uniform allowance.

For enlisted airmen buying their first uniforms, the Air Force currently offers $1,292 for men and $1,499 for women, with the expectation each airman will buy four ABUs. Annually, enlisted airmen with three years of service are offered a standard replacement allowance of $453 for men and $496 for women — with roughly 15 percent of that money accounting for ABU expenses — two sets every other year.

“The current ABU, I’ve found, is very comfortable,” Schooley said. “If you’re in the habit of taking BDUs to the cleaners to be pressed, you’d get a better [cost] turnaround on getting the permanent press ABU” instead of waiting around for the lighter version.

Besides, Schooley said, no uniform will make airmen feel cool in 100-degree heat.

“If you’re standing in an oven,” he said, “it’s going to feel hot.”