Broll: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/843435/13-esc-paints-vehicles-signals-end-desert-era
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By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Christian A. Nevitt
13th Sustainment Command Expeditionary Public Affairs

FORT HOOD (Now designated Fort Cavazos), Texas — For the first time since 2009 the 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command is repainting their tactical vehicles from desert tan to olive drab green. This signals a switch in readiness from fighting in arid places like the Middle East to fighting in more verdant regions. The 13th ESC is the first unit on Fort Hood (Now designated Fort Cavazos) to do so.

“We’ve got a detail with approximately 10 soldiers,” said Gary W. Pasley, the lead in the 407th Army Field Support Battalion paint shop. “We’re going to train them up, get these vehicles washed, mask them, tape them, prep them, paint them, unmask them, un-prep them, and get them sent back out.”

Pasley said that usually this hue, called “Woodland Green,” is the primer for the camouflage pattern that is most common with military vehicles.  Military painters normally base the pattern on a standardized diagram made for individual vehicle types. But those aren’t his instructions this time. No camouflage will be applied, similar to the vehicles that had the “Sand Color” applied to them for the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Soldiers and civilian contractors were given nineteen days for painting close to 40 vehicles. “Work hours are from 0630-1600,” said Staff Sergeant Madea Roberts, one of the noncommissioned officers in charge of the detail. She plans to compensate soldiers should they have to work through the weekends to finish the task.

“Their morale is amazing!” said Roberts. “They are high-speed soldiers, and they’re ready to work!” She said she knew some of them before the detail but all of them are working well together.

This is one of the few times where detergent is used to wash an Army vehicle. Many soldiers are familiar with the rinse-only technique after returning from the field. But Pasley says to ensure a complete coat all oil, dirt, and residue must be removed.

U.S Army vehicles are painted with chemical-agent resistant coating.