When the Marine Corps decided it needed updated utilities, none of the other services wanted to bear the R&D costs, but of course wanted to use the developed pattern. Bear in mind that most things the Marine Corps gets is second hand. So the Marine Corps developed MARPAT utilities.....the other services are welcome to use them; it ll just say USMC all over it.
But, if the Army ever decides to invade a gravel parking lot, their ACUs will blend right in.
How could you get it so wrong.
The Army was working with digital camo since the early 1980s.
It was the Marines who came to the Army for help, and this was admitted by the two Marine scout-snipers who started the USMC MARPAT program. The Army designed the uniform and pattern for the USMC. But, when it came time to select The Army’s uniform, all the research was ignored by a single NCO on the project.
Please look around the USMC and find the second-hand equipment. Osprey’s, new M1A2 tanks, new rifles, gear, commo. The days of the USMC getting Army castoffs are long past.