when did the army switch from bdu to acu
Army Combat Uniform First unveiled in June 2004,[1] it is the successor to the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) and Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCU) worn from the 1980s and 1990s through the early 2000s, respectively.[2] The ACU and its component materials are manufactured by the existing industrial infrastructure which produced the now-obsolete BDU. Official military-grade ACUs are made of 50% nylon and 50% cotton. All other blends are not official issue.[3]
Air Force Officer Training School Total Force Officer Training (TFOT) is the more traditional 8-week pre-commissioning program. Previously a 13-week program later reduced to 10 weeks, the re-named TFOT track transitioned to a 9-week program in 2014 and the legacy system of Officer Trainees (OT) being designated as lower classmen in the early part of the program and upper classmen in the latter part, similar to their USAFA and AFROTC counterparts, was eliminated. This was further reduced to the current 8-week program in 2017 by removing the Total Force Indoctrination Training (TFIT) from the first week of the course in which Military Training Instructors (MTIs) would teach the customs and standards of the Air Force as well as the basics of marching and drill and ceremonies. Officer Trainees were also re-designated as Cadets in 2015, again on par with USAFA and AFROTC and reminiscent of the Aviation Cadet program in operation in USAF and its predecessor incarnations (e.g., USAAS, USAAC, USAAF, etc.) from 1907 until 1965. TFOT is for 4-year university and college graduates without prior military service (commonly known as non-prior service), as well as Active Component enlisted, Air Force Reserve enlisted, Air National Guard enlisted and former enlisted personnel from any of the five U.S. armed services with college degrees at the baccalaureate level degree or higher who wish to become Air Force officers. TFOT serves all Active Component and Reserve Component line officers except judge advocates.