Ringers Carbon Tactical Glove

For durable and affordable gloves, you can't go wrong with Ringers. From the basic mechanic style, to a hybrid impact to the carbon fiber hard knuckle glove, there is a style for every misison. Find all of our Ringers gloves here.

"MultiCam was the clear winner"

Photo courtesy of Staff Sgt. Gary A. Witte, U.S. Army.

So it is official now. Secretary of the Army John McHugh announced that Soldiers deploying to Afghanistan will get MultiCam uniforms.

According to Col. Bill Cole, project manager for Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment, MultiCam was “21 percent less detectable than UCP,” the pattern used in ACUs.

Army to Adopt MULTICAM for Afghanistan Mission

If you were left scratching your head over the decision to field the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP). You weren't alone.

Heck, everybody knows there is no such thing as a universal camo. Right? Is there really a pattern that can work in all environments?

Umm...not really, but with our current level of technology, MultiCam is perhaps the best. And by all indications that the Army is actually going to field it... sort of.

After a recent round of tests, the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. George Casey has recommended that the Army adopt MultiCam. For the time being, only for those serving in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and only after the Secretary of the Army gives final approval, which is expected soon.

So how did this happen? What is MultiCam? How is it so good?

Well dear reader, follow along and we'll give you the overview, pointing you to some great folks that have already done a lot reporting on this subject.

What is MultiCam? Back when the Army was developing the next generation uniform, the successor to the BDU, the army was also trying to come up with a solution to a huge logistical problem: fielding different sets of uniforms every time our forces deployed to a combat zone. Now in the field of new camo, our neighbors to the north were actually leading the pack. Through research the Canadian military had discovered several key things: Black in a camo was bad (it attracts the eye) and digital was good (it helps break up the human figure). So combine a digital camo pattern with some colors that individually work in the desert, woodland and urban areas, throw in some angled pockets and you've got the new ACU.

So wait, what about MultiCam? Oh yeah. The Army actually conducted tests pitting their UCP pattern against a new design by Crye Associates. These guys did their homework, they did all these photographic measurements of environments in different lighting, the whole nine yards. Basically Crye used Photoshop to build a color palette that worked with the majority of their environments and MultiCam was born.

After the tests, the Crye pattern along with along with two others (Desert All Over Brush and Woodland Track Mod) came out ahead of UCP in the Army tests.

So how come the Army went with UCP? No freaking idea. Guess it was the home team advantage. Money. Family ties. Who knows.

So fast forward to 2009. The recently departed Rep. John Murtha actually had a hand in all of this because he pressured the Army to conduct another camo trial based on the feedback coming from Afghanistan. The ACU sucked in Iraq and it really sucks here!

Late last year, the Army took samples of the available camo patterns and actually sent a team to Afghanistan to the do the light test thing again. After that, MultiCam and UCP, now with a fourth color (Coyote) would battle one more round. This time the two camo patterns would actually be fielded by two battalions, each with a different pattern.

Not much was known about this part of the test. Those following along would come across photos on the web, but no details have come out. One can only guess that MultiCam is finally getting the credit it's due and it's creators, hopefully, some measure of accomplishment.

So what makes MultiCam so good? Check this out.

U.S. Cavalry proudly announces our company blog!

Hello there.

It's been two years since we jumped on the social media bandwagon. We first experimented with product videos on YouTube. Then in quick succession we dipped our toes into the waters of twitter and facebook. Even though we are still trying to figure out the Mafia War thing, we felt it necessary to complete the next component of our social brand: the company blog.

We have tons of ideas on blog content and hope to use this medium to share with you a lot of great things.

But this isn't a one way street either.

We hope to solicit feedback from you (both the good and the bad) to help fine tune the gear we carry, improve on the places we fall short and provide the best possible experience for those on the front lines.

We hope you'll join us.

U.S. Cavalry

P.S. A big THANK YOU to all of the men and women who have supported our business for over 35 years. 2009 was a bit rough, but because of your loyalty, we are still here. Ready to serve.