Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Russia's chic uniform 'sends soldiers to hospital'

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Russia's chic uniform 'sends soldiers to hospital'

    Russia's chic uniform 'sends soldiers to hospital'

    AFP: Russia's chic uniform 'sends soldiers to hospital'

    (AFP) – 13 hours ago

    MOSCOW — Russia's sharp new military uniforms, created by a top fashion designer, have landed hundreds in hospital after proving too thin to withstand ferocious winter cold, a state daily said Wednesday.

    Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that between 60 and 250 servicemen have been laid up with everything from flu to pneumonia as Arctic chills sweep through the country's northern reaches.

    "They literally felt naked outside," the paper quoted the mother of one solider as saying. "Many of them ended up in hospital. Ours developed pneumonia," she said of her son.

    The government daily said defence officials have admitted not receiving complaints about the uniforms in time to do anything ahead of the winter season.

    "It seems that all this happened because of slovenliness on our part," Joint Staff General Nikolai Makarov told the daily.

    Introduced in 2008, the parade uniforms designed by fashion celebrity Valentin Yudashkin are threaded with gold and more shapely and chic, in a throwback to the uniforms of the imperial Tsarist army.

    The field versions, meanwhile, are lighter and come with thinner but more mobile boots.

    Russia designed its first post-Soviet uniform in the 1990s, but it was unpopular with officers who complained that it made them look like they were serving in a Third World army.
    “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

  • #2
    Russia's too thin 'designer' uniform leads to pneumonia and flu
    The Russian army's expensive new "designer" uniform has been criticised for being too thin after hundreds of young conscripts in Siberia kitted out in it fell ill with pneumonia and flu.


    By Andrew Osborn, Moscow 7:30PM GMT 15 Dec 2010

    Parents of the sick conscripts blamed the army's new uniform which was created, amid much fanfare, by the flamboyant Moscow fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin.

    Mr Yudashkin, who is famous in Russia for dressing Kremlin wives, won a multi-million pound tender to give the Red Army's successor a fashion makeover in 2007 after soldiers complained that their old uniforms made them look like they were serving in a poor developing country's army.

    But parents said that the uniforms, which were debuted at a grand Red Square military parade in 2008, had put fashion before practicality.

    "On the street they (our boys) literally felt naked," a relative of one of the soldiers told the government daily newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta.

    "They gave our lads army boots made from fake leather with cardboard inner soles, socks, and light clothing clearly not suitable for winter."

    Parents said they had scoured the local area in Siberia close to their sons' barracks for traditional Russian fur coats and felt boots to complement the substandard uniforms. With the mercury often hovering around -40C (-40F) and the conscripts not let off outdoor guard duties, they quickly fell ill.

    The army confirmed that up to 250 servicemen in the same barracks had been struck down with pneumonia and flu since mid-October but claimed that the new uniforms were not to blame.

    "It seems that all this happened because of our slovenliness," conceded the army's Chief of the General Staff General Nikolai Makarov.

    But he and his subordinates suggested that the conscripts had fallen ill only because their commanding officers had behaved irresponsibly and made them stand guard and work in sub-zero temperatures that no uniform could withstand for long periods.

    The new uniforms had been tested and found fit for Russia's harsh winters, they added.

    Concerns have previously been raised about the fact that many Russian officers and soldiers are too fat to comfortably fit into the new uniforms
    “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

    Comment


    • #3
      .............
      Attached Files
      “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

      Comment


      • #4
        I guess it was designed with "global warming" in mind.:whome:
        "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

        Comment


        • #5
          that is what happens when designer of evning dresses sticks his nose where it doesn't belong.
          If it was in Stalin time, the whole design and testing team would be shot, or at least sent to siberia.
          "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin

          Comment


          • #6
            The uniform was introduced 2 years ago and now they are blaming it for people getting sick?

            Something doesn't seem right about that.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Gun Grape View Post
              Something doesn't seem right about that.
              Things were wrong right off the bat. The requirements were never given and a designer assumed the specs. Moscow wanted the soldiers to look good; not effective. Who the freak hires a fashion designer for battle dress?

              Comment


              • #8
                The key criteria RusMoD sent out was "practicality." Russian troops biggest complaints were how heavy their loads were, light clothing makes them more mobile... unless frozen like an ice-sickle. lol

                Comment

                Working...
                X