Battle Dress Uniform - Criticism of The BDU

Criticism of The BDU

General purpose lacking suitability

One continuing criticism of the BDU was that as a general-purpose battledress designed to save costs and promote durability, it lacked suitability for a number of specialized extreme environments and conditions. Uniform weight, along with heat and perspiration retention have been especially criticized. The extensive incorporation of uniform reinforcement panels and the large number of oversized pockets, utilized primarily for reasons of durability and convenience, tend to increase heat retention in hot-weather environments, mitigate the beneficial effect of the open-weave cloth, and increase the risk of skin diseases and inflammations in humid environments, especially in the thigh and groin areas, where double and even triple thicknesses of cloth are used. In jungle and tropical regions, the carrying of large amount of gear in trouser and shirt pockets is generally unknown among other uniformed military forces, as the practice retains excessive body heat and promotes corrosion of carried items through perspiration.

Open weave

The open-weave cloth construction of the BDU is also easily penetrated by insect bites in tropical, jungle, and other malarial environments, causing an increased risk of transmitted diseases such as malaria, even when pretreated with permethrin or other repellent. Since World War II, the U.S. Military has been aware of the problem of insect penetration of loosely-woven fabrics in tropical and jungle environments, issuing a tightly-woven Byrd Cloth (in Britain, Grenfell Cloth) tropical uniform of single-layer Egyptian cotton for jungle troops in 1943.