This adoption of superior, or simply cheaper,  civilian equipment by the troops has been one of the major features of the all-volunteers army. Since volunteer troops are paid more, and are in a year or more longer than draftees were, they were quicker to improve their government issued equipment by purchasing superior civilian gear with their own money. It's another aspect of the professionalism that has greatly increased the effectiveness of the American armed forces in the last quarter century.

 

The new logo and testing process will help eliminate shoddy gear, passing for the real deal, showing up on web sites. The army hopes that the troops will avoid sites that don't carry any certified stuff, and appear to depend overly much on hype. For years, troops have been asking for some kind of certification process.