Generation 3 Cryes in an AOR pattern and combat cut once went through a period where they flooded eBay so extensively that they were selling for a good bit less than any commercially available G3 camos and colours (regular MC, RG etc), but the same never happened with Gen 3s in AOR patterns and field cut.
Chest pockets on this shirt differ significantly from any other G3 field shirt and are essentially direct copies of the chest pockets on the Gen 2 Navy Custom field shirts. No side opening, large diagonal pleats and a mixture of button closure with just a minimally-sized velcro field.
For some strange reason the upper arm pockets are much closer to standard G3 pattern, with the recognisable split loop fields on the outside and velcro only for the closure. A difference here however is that there is no internal divider, just one compartment, presumably for lighter weight and less water retention. Personally I have always been of the opinion that this makes more sense overall.
The heat-transfer type label inside the collar is along similar lines to a later style of commercial G3 production, lacking the white box outline.
My best guess is that some time early-mid 2010s Crye attempted to win a contract to supply US NSW (amongst other SOCOM units) with Gen 3 uniforms to follow on from the contract they had for the NC/Gen 2s, but it would certainly seem that Patagonia won out in that competition. Whether the large quantity of G3 AOR Combats that were sold off and ended up on the civilian market were just made for trials/competition, were actually ordered then cancelled or produced or in expectation of winning a contract there is no way of knowing. Whatever the case might be, it would seem there were comparatively hardly any G3 AOR Field cuts manufactured, as tracking down this one example took me some time and I have seen extremely few other NC Field 2.0 pieces for sale anywhere.
Leave a Reply