You may not be aware of this, after all, it is somewhat of an insignificant matter in the larger scheme of things. But our Pentagon has spent an inordinate amount time, effort, and money for camouflage uniforms! Most of this effort and spending appears to have been for naught, since Pentagon is now going to go for another camouflage pattern uniform! So, I believe a short history of camouflage or camo uniforms in the U.S. military is in order.
Camouflage uniforms in our military really didn't come about until the latter part of the 20th Century. Yes, there have been periodic attempts at some camo uniforms in the past, but nothing stuck, and it really wasn't considered all that important, until the camo uniform craze hit the scene in the early 21st Century.
It appears that the U.S. military, as well as the rest of the world, was quite satisfied with brightly colored uniforms for centuries. After all, our U.S. Cavalry fought the Indian Wars in the Southwest wearing blue uniforms with gold strips on trousers! But the Spanish American War brought about a change when we discovered that blue uniformed soldiers were easy targets for Spanish snipers armed with accurate, long range German Mauser rifles. So, we copied the British uniforms which were worn in the colonies, especially in India, and the sand colored khaki became the standard. World War One further proved that dull colored uniforms were better for concealment in the trenches, so the dull mustard and olive drab came into being. Germany, however, was already experimenting with camouflage pattern uniforms. Germany was always ahead of the game when it came to equipment for fighting wars!
World War Two saw us wearing at first khakis in the Pacific but later olive drab all around the Pacific and Europe, combat uniforms which later took on the name of fatigues for the Army and Air Force and utilities for Navy and Marines. Marines, particularly the elite Raider and Paramarine unites used the so-called "frog pattern" camouflage in the Pacific in 1943. However, some Marine Corps "brass" decided that it didn't look "professional" so it was dropped and only retained for helmet covers. In 1944 Army paratroopers discovered that their khaki colored paratrooper suites did not provide sufficient concealment so they painted black splotches using brushes (this was before spray paint cans!). This worked just fine, but of course once again some Army "brass" said it looked "unprofessional" so the practice was forbidden.
In 1950, during the Korean War, the so called "leaf and twig" camo pattern was developed. But it was short lived and was retained for helmet covers only, like the Marines "frog pattern" camo. In the 1960's the Engineering Research and Development Laboratory (ERDL) came up with the early "Woodland" pattern for Vietnam, borrowing some from the Vietnamese "Tiger Strip" pattern. However, for the most part Vietnam War was fought by all wearing just olive drab, which seemed perfectly adequate. Some special units "borrowed" the Vietnamese "tiger strip" camo, but it was never official and not widespread in use. The highly secretive SOG units used dull black spray paint to paint splotches on their OD jungle uniforms and it proved to be excellent for camouflage. They preferred that over any fancy camo pattern.
In 1970 the M81 Woodland pattern became the official U.S. camo pattern, for all services. However, OD green was still the standard fatigue and utilities uniform, perfectly adequate. In the 1980's Pentagon foresaw a need for desert camo pattern and developed the six color ("chocolate chip") pattern just in time. But in 1992, during the Gulf War, it was discovered that the "chocolate chip" pattern did not work well so a three color pattern as well as a special night time desert pattern were developed and used. All branches of service used the same camouflage pattern uniforms. Navy and Air Force rarely used camo, except for their special units like SEALs.
We entered the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars with "woodland" and 3 color desert camo but soon things sort of went crazy. The Marines decided to develop their own camo pattern and spent almost a half a billion dollars on developing the digital (pixelated) MARPAT or Marine Pattern camo in desert and green shades. The Marines wanted to make sure no one else would use this pattern so the pattern includes tiny little Marine Corps emblem! This pattern was chosen because it was "modern" and "sexy" looking, and the brass felt it would help attract recruits! Not to be outdone, the Army abandoned the perfectly good woodland and 3 color desert patterns and developed their own pixilated, digitized pattern, the ACU camo pattern that is currently worn by the Army. This of course, started what appeared to be a "keeping up with the Jones's" competition war within the military community. The Air Force had to have its own camo pattern so it developed a gray shade tiger stripe version for another half a billion dollars. Navy, not to be outdone, came up with its own blue pattern, and later green and also desert color (for SEALs and "other" sailors!). This was basically the same pattern as the Marines with slight variations and with a tiny Navy symbol inserted into the pattern like the Marines, so no one else could use this! This cost the Navy a good half a billion! This business of inserting tiny insignias so no one else could use the pattern is so childish that it is laughable! Whatever happened to the famous inter-service cooperation that Pentagon is always talking about?
In all, the Pentagon had spent around 5 Billion Dollars since around 2004 for development of all these camo patterns! To make things worse, the Army discovered that their ACU, the new digitized pattern camo uniform didn't work in the high desert environment of Afghanistan, it stood out like a sore thumb! So Army had to scramble and purchase new camo uniforms using civilian camo pattern that is used by hunters! So the "multicam" came into being for troops deployed to combat zones. In rear echelon areas the troops still wear the ACUs.
Finally, someone in the Armed Services Committee discovered that Pentagon was spending all this enormous amount of money for camouflage uniforms for different branches of service. The latest word is that there will be one camouflage pattern for all services. However, chances are that the Marines will not give up their camo, and even Navy might try to hang on to theirs. Why Air Force and Navy needs camo uniforms is really a mystery! In fact, it is highly questionable as to why even all Army and Marine units need camo! I can see combat units wearing camo, those that are exposed to enemy fire. But troops in rear areas and working in Quartermaster, Medical, etc., have no need for camo!
Like the Marines, the Army decided on the current useless ACU camo pattern because the "brass" felt that the pattern looked "sexy" and would attract recruits! Give me a break! I know that big time college football schools develop fancy uniforms to attract recruits. Apparently the younger generation is attracted to eye catching clothing, sort of like animals during mating season, more fluff than substance! Why would the military want recruits who join up because they liked the uniform! I give up!
The latest camo pattern that has been developed is called the "operational camo pattern." It is very similar to the "multicam" now in use in Afghanistan. The Pentagon chose the new pattern after extensive study and experimentation. It was learned that the best camo pattern, both for desert environment and for woodland or jungle type terrain was what is known as "Syrian" pattern. Ironically, it is not worn by Syrian Army! This particular pattern was first developed by Germans in 1943 and was called the sumpfmuster (marsh pattern). It was used by Bundesgrenschutz (Border Protection Police) in the 1950s. The French borrowed the pattern for their involvement in Algeria and apparently the Syrian Army used a version of it at one time, therefor, the name "Syrian" pattern. So, what's old is new! All the fancy digitized patterns notwithstanding, the old splotchy patterns work best!
We, of course, cannot use the "Syrian" pattern, so we modified it a bit, made it look more like our "multicam" and announced that all services will use this camo pattern. We will see. In the meantime, Pentagon will have spent close to 10 Billion Dollars developing, manufacturing, then abandoning, all these different camouflage patterns.
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