The Armys camouflage researchers say the story of the universal patterns origins begins when they helped develop a similarly pixilated camouflage now worn by the Marine Corps. That pattern, known as MARPAT, first appeared in 2002 after being selected from among dozens of candidates and receiving plenty of input from Marines on the ground at the sniper school in Quantico, Va. The Marines even found one of the baseline colors themselves, an earth tone now called Coyote Brown.
The problem, the researchers said, was an oddly named branch of the Army in charge of equipping soldiers with gear Program Executive Office Soldier had suddenly ordered Naticks camouflage team to pick a pattern long before trials were finished.
They jumped the gun, said James Fairneny, an electrical engineer on Naticks camouflage team. Researchers said they received a puzzling order: Take the winning colors and create a pixilated pattern. Researchers were ordered to basically put it in the Marine Corps pattern, Fairneny said.
The consensus among the researchers was the Army brass had watched the Marine Corps don their new uniforms and caught a case of pixilated camouflage envy.
It was trendy, Stewardson said. If its good enough for the Marines, why shouldnt the Army have that same cool new look?
Brand identity trumped camouflage utility, Graves said. Thats what this really comes down to: We cant allow the Marine Corps to look more cool than the Army.
The problem, the researchers said, was an oddly named branch of the Army in charge of equipping soldiers with gear Program Executive Office Soldier had suddenly ordered Naticks camouflage team to pick a pattern long before trials were finished.
They jumped the gun,
Not the first time I’ve been made aware of substandard outfitting. No doubt the consequence of poor contracting and production planning; not to ignore the spontaneous nature of war.