I am looking at all the photos from the Russian School Tragady. My question is - why are they so many variations of uniforms? There are 2-3 different woodland type camo patterns ( some times the tops and bottoms  dont match). I saw 2 types of urban camo (blue and grey). They didnt seem to have consistant dress codes. Some where in t-shirts, some in BDUs, some with thier shirts untucked or not. They didnt have a the same pack or helmet configurations. Their AKs some times looked old and busted, with thier mags all taped up.

Sooo.. what gives? I figured some might be military, and some police - but what is with the rag-tag look. When you see our boys in Iraq, or even say the israelis, you can see who is who quickly, as they all have a simliar look and configuration.

Is the Russian gov that screwed up that they no longer have matching uniforms and gear etc? Or is it so lax they dont care? I would think this would hinder any sort of move on the terroriest. I mean if you look like a US marine you have that look. I would think a rag tag look would result in shots not made when they should be, and more cases of friendly fire.

They're BROKE.

No $$$$$

There were a variety of agencies responding from local police to regular army to paramilitary security services. And, I think internal discipline has probably suffered since the collapse. This isn't the same Red Army we faced in Europe 20 years ago.

Some were civilians

All of the replies so far seem relevant.  Russia is broke, so my guess is they wear old things out before replacing them.  Also, there were local LEO's involved, so their dress code is going to vary a lot.  Not to mention the local residents who grabbed their deer rifles.  Another factor is the fact that they were caught flat footed.  These guys basicly showed up in what they could grab in a moment's notice.

85 years of communism .....

All of the above. It wasn't like they sent unit "X" to respond. Whomever was close enough did.

I remember at the start of our invasion of Iraq last year there where lots of pictures of our marines with desert camo pants with woodland camo tops or complete desert camo bdu's with woodland incerceptor vests.

Many buy their own uniforms from private companys because of better quality and fit.

As you can probably tell, Russians are camo crazy.

Quoted: I remember at the start of our invasion of Iraq last year there where lots of pictures of our marines with desert camo pants with woodland camo tops or complete desert camo bdu's with woodland incerceptor vests.

Thats true they may not all match - but if you saw 5 guys in the same platoon they were all similarly equipped. The russians look like paintballers with AKs