ABU Notes

Official wear out date for ABUs: 31 OCT 2028

• The ABU is a completely viable uniform until the date above, shop around, if you can source the ABU for cheaper then there is nothing wrong with wearing it right up to the last day!

• Official color for ABUs (and also UCP) belts and tee shirts is: [Desert] Sand 500 which is lighter than Tan 499 which goes with OCPs.

• One huge word of caution when looking for ABUs -- know the difference between the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) in the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) and the digital tiger stripe pattern of the Airman Battle Uniform, as they are not the same. The biggest difference between the two uniforms right off the bat -- no where on the ABUs will you find Velcro. On ACUs there's Velcro for the nametapes, rank square, the shoulder pockets and the shoulder pocket flap, the thigh trouser pockets (some later ones did get button closures), and there's Velcro closures for the calf pockets. It's all over the place

Note: the ABU blouse has four pockets (much like BDU blouses before them) and has a two pen holder "pocket" on the left forearm. If you pick up something which you think is ABU but it has two slanted chest pockets and two shoulder pockets on the sleeves, both with Velcro flaps then you have an Army Combat Uniform blouse in UCP. 

For ABU outerwear, the foliage green Polartec fleece jacket and beanie, be they listed as "Army" or "Air Force" they're the same exact thing, both branches of service wore the exact same color at one time.