A new challenge is an urban camouflage uniform - which will be increasingly important if troops have to fight future wars in cities such as Baghdad.
Planners have been calling for urban cammies since 1993, when an Army firefight with Somali militia in Mogadishu left 18 Americans dead.
But designers say making a generic urban uniform is almost impossible because cities themselves aren't uniform.
"Think of Miami, with its pinks and bright blues, and think of cities like Chicago and New York that have more gray to them," said Townes. "We're trying to get the urban mission better defined to know where to go with the colors."
The Marines' new cammies will be phased in until every Marine has them in 2006. A spokesman said there's no way to know how many Marines in Iraq have the new uniforms. About 86,000 sets of woodland fatigues and 33,000 sets of desert fatigues have been issued.
The new cammies cost about $60 a set. They're made of a cotton-nylon (permanent press to save dry cleaning costs), and are expected to last about a year.
Grunts are issued a clothing allowance to cover the cost. Officers must buy them out of their salaries.
