From what I understand the new AF ABU or what ever are a single weight unlike the light weight and heavies which I fully agree with the low life span and durability on the summers lucky for me one of my tech school instructors told our class about the shiftiness and some of us took heed and bought more heavy weights.
The issue with the ABU is not so much durability it is that it is too heavy and not very breathable which is bad if an airman is not staying cool very well he wont be able to wear out his uniform.
The Velcro is mainly used on your unit patches and the like which you either take of or leave on full time seems like the Army is going back to the buttons though the main gripe with the Velcro was it getting fouled up with dirt. The Air Force seems to love the velcro and metal zippers on the ABU though but that is typical Air Force oh and they still make you wear that stupid reflective belt
even in areas of know enemy activity.Not as bad as my friend a 27 year E-9 USAF back in Nam at Tong Sun Nut(near Saigon) a couple weeks before Tet some AF general did not like all the sandbags around the base buildings(which where there to provide cover from VC rocket attacks that occurred a few times a week) so they had to take them down while he was there.After he left they started setting them back up too late for my friends unit though on the night of Tet a 155 rocket hit his barracks and killed 10 airmen and wounded many more but hey it looked great without the sandbags.
