I’ve always wondered about the early choices that came after the pointed hats and festooned garb militaries around the world sported. What color? What pattern?
The Germans (whom I’ve always respected for their expertise and innovation) chose that grey color. Our side chose OD and variations thereof. The US marines were the first on our side to ‘localize’ to uniforms suited to the surrounding prevalent environment in the pacific in my book.
But the Germans......grey? Then I came to the answer looking out to the surrounding scape on one island I was stationed at through at least two winters. Between the local land visage and the scene out in the ocean on a lot of days on a shitty winter day, a grey-masked soldier wouldn’t be all that visible even if there was lush green on land around him. Why? because the grey murky, cloudy winter sky gave him a balance factor to force personal scrutiny of color to what is the most prevalent - and that would be the other brightly colored things around him. That’s must my crazy idea, but that’s what it is nonetheless.
Late on, the experts coloring out fighters and aircraft settled on sky blue, or international orange or whatever variation. Then it all got back to that same color grey - first on the bottom but soon became all over.
I served (1968-76). I remember OD and Khaki, fatigues, bus-driver shirts and pants and those caps we couldn’t tell ladies what they’re referred to amongst men.
I got finished with 8 years before the uni’s got all cool with digi-camo and velcro and made everybody look like a musket combat badge soldier (even my Air Force alma mater).
They have gone many routes in this “human factor/human recognition” maze to no end; gulf war BRD-birdshit speckled, digicamo, micro-digicamo with USMC or whatever micro embellished and a host of other human factors horseshit.
NONE of that makes a difference. NONE of that makes sense. And NONE of that will be effective UNLESS we ARM these troops to protect themselves, cause damage to the enemy and the ABILITY of them to protect those among around them.
The design and color of the uniform isn’t the problem. Giving them the tools and authority to engage is the crux of the matter.
Now, the funniest “camo-impression” is the USNavy’s stupid attempts to camouflage their shipboard sailors below decks, on-deck, and in the depots and shore bases as some kind of camo’ed SEAL.
It is damn near as stupid as decking the officers and chiefs out in meltable polyester snag-ensuring plastic open weave shirts and pants!
the Germans ran smocks mostly, reversible summer/fall and winter parkas reversible to white the top palm pattern is quite rare where the second one is oak leaf and the most common
there were Leopard and rain patterns and a couple more
all were the same as their shelter halves
to me, the smaller the print the worse it is at a distance since then it simply becomes a blob
You make way too much sense. You’re not cut out for government work.