It seems the rugged terrain of the Afghan mountains is taking it’s toll not only on our soldiers, but on their uniforms. In response, the army is rolling out newly designed pants made of heavier material and with built in knee and seat pads. Certainly not high tech stuff, but it does sound pretty useful to the guys in the field.

What’s really amazing though is that the development of these new pants was started over a year ago, and deployment of the improved trousers is not expected until this time next year. Maybe this is more complicated than I’m thinking, but it seems incredible that it takes 2 years to get new and improved pants on our soldiers. I’m betting the army could have worked with Levi’s and had these pants on the shelves at Sears by the start of school in the fall. Government efficiency at its finest.