At the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, U.S. troops faced extreme cold weather conditions and poor quality clothing systems. This is where PCU came into the picture.
In 2002, U.S. Army Major Tony “Bucket” Pryor, later awarded the Silver Star, made a satellite call from the Hindu Kush Mountains to Rick Elder of the Special Projects Group at Natick's Soldier Systems Center. Pryor demanded that Natick develop a better way to keep soldiers warm in these conditions.
Elder put together a team to tackle the problem, including Chief Master Chief Scott Williams, a former OIC (Officer in Charge) at the U.S. Navy's Kodiak Detachment in Kodiak, Alaska, where newly minted Navy SEALs were recently sent to train in cold conditions. Elder also tapped into the expertise of civilians with extensive cold-weather experience, such as Mark Twite, and within a year they developed and produced a PCU, or Protective Combat Unit, clothing system that provided comprehensive cold-weather options for our military.
The PCU is divided into seven “layers” which, to be clear, are not seven mandatory layers that must necessarily be worn on top of each other, but rather a variety of different “layers” that can be combined with each other for different atmospheric and environmental conditions. It consists of sixteen different garments, each of which provides different additional functionality to the overall system.
PREVIOUS HISTORY OF PCU - ECWCS AND NATICK
In 1949, what later became the Natick Soldier Systems Center (often known as “Natick Army Labs”) was authorized by Congress. Through 1952, construction began on the facilities that would become the primary center for research and development of technologies that the U.S. Army would deploy over the next decades.
A step in the development of ECWCS was the creation of the PCU system in the 1980s. Initially developed in Natick, the ECWCS (Extended Cold Weather Clothing System) began issuing to soldiers around 1986. Even though the ECWCS continued to evolve over the years, its changes did not reflect the pace of development of civilian cold weather clothing. And that's where Pryor's phone call from the mountains of Afghanistan comes into play.
The development of the PCU system was a radical rethinking of both the basic principles of such a clothing system and an opportunity to introduce a revolutionary new textile that, following the example of mountain climbers, would radically change their field.
MARK TWIGHT IS THE GODFATHER OF PCU
At the time he joined the PCU project, Mark Twite already had twenty years of experience working on several continents as a mountain climber. He had also provided technical consultancy for outdoor clothing manufacturers such as Patagonia, where he helped develop their now world-renowned regulator system.
Twite was highly recognized. He used this opportunity to try to give back to the military, which he believes allowed him to continue living doing what he loved and utilizing the knowledge his experience gave him.
The above video was taken from a wider PCU training video that was released many years ago, featuring Mark Twite and his team walking the viewer through the system.
PROTECTIVE COMBAT UNIFORM
Natika's PCU project is a multi-level system that helps protect the soldier from cold and humidity from +7 degrees to -45 Celsius. The system is lightweight and highly compressible, reducing the amount of space required for transportation and also reducing the overall weight carried by the soldier.
The fundamental premise of the PCU system is adaptability. Mission planning is not perfect because situations change rapidly and weather forecasting is an inexact science.
Expected atmospheric conditions may turn out to be completely wrong. The ability to adapt to changes in external or mission conditions can potentially make the difference between life and death or mission success and failure.
DO NOT STAY DRY, DRY YOURSELF QUICKLY.
The PCU system consists of synthetic materials that do not retain water. Although they can become wet from external moisture or from moisture generated by activity (sweat), they are designed to dry quickly. The use of these materials arose from the experience of Scottish climbers who came to the conclusion that it was impossible to stay completely dry. As a result, they came up with a great strategy - wearing materials that quickly wick away water.
This way of thinking led to the introduction of soft shell materials, which were first offered by companies such as Snugpak. Unlike the earlier ECWCS system, which relied on insulation under a hard shell of Gore-Tex, the PCU system is based on the use of a more breathable, though less “waterproof” soft shell outer layer.
Gore-Tex is a porous material with a Teflon film that is based on a tight weave that prevents water from being in a liquid state, but allows water to escape as vapor. In addition to the soft shell layer, insulating layers are also used that cannot retain water, resulting in a more efficient “absorption” of moisture into the wearable outer layer.
