Shortage of woodland camouflage uniforms leads to temporary relaxation of Marine rules

Units of the Marine Corps will be allowed to relax uniform rules in light of a shortage of the standard woodland camouflage uniforms normally required for Marines.

In lieu of the woodland camouflage uniforms, Marine commanders will have the option to allow the wearing of flame-resistant organizational gear or desert-colored camouflage combat uniforms.

The shortage of the standard woodland uniforms will last another year, Marine officials said.

“That problem is going to stay with us until the fall of 2024, when the manufacturer can fill the backlog that has been created after COVID. Until that time, local commanders, battalions and squadrons are authorized to use FROG gear or desert cammies to mitigate,” said Gen. Eric Smith, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, in a recent video message to the force on Instagram.

However, desert uniforms are also in short supply, according to the Navy Exchange Service Command’s sales platform, which is also used by the Marine Corps Exchange. That shortage will also last until fall 2024.

“Based on the current USMC course of action, the USMC desert camouflage uniforms are unavailable at this time on myNavyExchange.com,” Navy Exchange Service Command spokesperson Courtney Williams told the Marine Corps Times.

During the shortage, Marines had been issued two woodland uniforms and one desert uniform, as opposed to the usual three woodland uniforms and two desert uniforms.

The fixed price of uniforms assigned by the Defense Logistics Agency has restricted the latitude that American Apparel Inc. has to raise wages and attract more labor to help overcome the backlog.

“McDonald’s and a lot of the fast food guys are paying $2 and $3 more an hour than we could afford to pay. Where they could go up on the price of the hamburger, we can’t go up on the price of a uniform,” American Apparel CEO Chuck Lambert told the Marine Corps Times.

In the interim, the Defense Logistics Agency has awarded uniform contracts to two other firms in the hopes of tackling the shortage, Mr. Lambert said.