PLA Uniforms
I thought maybe we could discuss the aesthetic aspect to the People's Liberation Army. The classical Greeks believed your soul is only as beautiful as your looks. The Roman military was renowned for both its professionalism as well as the extravagant legionnaire uniform. The Red Coats during the height of the British Empire also looked fashionable to its time. So were the uniforms of Qin, Han, Tung/Tang (depends on which regional spelling), and Ming dynasties of ancient China. It is the same story when we look at modern military, both WWII and current German uniforms (maybe not powerful, but definitely still the most elite), current US uniforms, and many others. Perhaps we can say that all powerful and elite military should have a great looking uniform. Similar to what the Greeks have said, the looks of a military reflects the degree of attention and dedication from its government and organiser.
Looking at today's PLA uniforms, we have to admit they no longer look extremely ugly as compared to the old puffy jackets styled similar to the Michelin logo, but we still can't say that it looks great when compared to many Western counterparts.
A military's uniform also builds an image into the citizens that see it. When we look the American uniform or even South Korean uniform, even for a child or housewife that doesn't know a thing about war, he/she would at least knows the uniform looks super nice, and that it is modern and well designed. This would create a positive image in peoples' minds. On the contrary, when we see the old uniforms of the USSR, it would give us the feel of swarm of evil yellow-coated Red Army soldiers running towards you, each armed with a Kalashnikov in their hands. Perhaps even PLA's uniform was like that just short ten years ago and today's DPRK still dresses its troops like that. No wonder people in the West still think they are evil.
I know that I greatly exaggerated the uniform factor, but we cannot doubt the fact that it is very important to a nation's image, both domestically and internally abroad. Since today's PRC tries very hard to improve its international image, especially in trying hard to counteract against the China-Threat rumor, I believe updating and revising the current uniforms is a cheap and quick alternative to donate billions of dollars abroad. On the other hand, it would be much cheaper than advertising and creating posters to draft young talents. Many young men would simply join just because the uniforms look nice. Believe it or not, I have heard of many cases of young men joining the navy because the white uniforms look nice.
It's not just the uniforms are outdated, but also those small unnoticeable gears, such as helmets, magazines vests/all in one combat vests, drinking apparatus, small gun holster, watches, radio, protective eye wear, night vision, backpacks, gloves, bullet proff vest, and etc. If look at those equipments the typical PLA soldiers are using, they either simply don't have it, or it is just not well designed, or not even designed properly.
Here's some PLA and other military uniforms.
This is a very recent picture. This amount of small pouches on you would make you want to throw everything off, after just 5 minutes of running.
If you guys look closely, you can see the WWII style gun holster. Not saying its bad or anything, but it just look outdated and anti-fashion.
This picture tell a thousand words. Supposedly this is one of the most elite division in the PLA, yet there is still no gloves, knee pads, the helmets don't fit properly (I can even still see metal helmets), no protective eye wear (those of you ever done anything cross country probably agree with me on the importance of protective eye wear), no radio, no ballistic vest. There's no camelbak, instead, old school kettles are used. There are at least 5 pouches that I count per soldier, they should really put some effort into designing a better all-in-one backpack that can integrate with the magazine vest and the rest of the gears.
Here's some typical Uncle Sam equipements;
Not trying to downplay the PLA, but it is a true that even SOF soldiers in the PLA are not as well equipped as this. Yet, this is STANDARD combat equipment that you find on every soldier.
And some Heer pictures from Deutschland
borrowed from BDpopeye
Everything is there, but well integrated. Looks nice too.
