I love some of the new camo patterns that are coming out these days. I was quite taken with Multicam but as of late I’m starting to take a real shine to A-tacs patterns as well. Obviously, the best camo, for whatever reason you think you need something camouflaged, is the pattern that blends into as much of your anticipated AO as possible, right? So, obviously some patterns are going to be more conducive to some environments than others.
A buddy of mine emailed me a link to a very interesting camouflage used in Norway. The pattern seems ideal for places with lotsa rocks and moss. Not exactly a great choice here in my dry mountains but elsewhere it might be just the ticket.
In a related note, from the same source, comes a link to the new snow camo now being available.
As the US military starts moving away from the failed digital patterns, expect to see a lot of manufacturers dumping their now-outdated products on the clearance racks.
A post like this kinda-sorta opens the door to the question of why the need for camouflage at all? Am I planning on creeping around undetected after the apocalypse, sniping at invading UN troops and hordes of cannibal bikers? Well, certainly, thats not ‘Plan A’..
No, simple truth is that sometimes you don’t want folks finding your stuff. If, for whatever reason, I have to ditch my pack and hide it under a log or some such it would be nice if that gear blended in enough so that when I came back to retrieve it it was still there.
Have to disagree with one small portion of your post. The only “failed” digital pattern is the Army’s Arpat. The Marine Corps digital brown for desert and green for everything else is a pretty good system (more for the Military than for the indivdual). In fact the Army considered using the Marine Corps Pattern. But as you can see from my username, I might just be biased
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One of the fringe bennies of my job is having a ton (well 2-3 duffels anyway) of the stuff. I wear ACU’s to work and kept BDU’s and Multicam around intentionally and have some old DCU’s too.
Guess I am cammo rich.
Care to elaborate on the failed digital camo? By what yardstick are they failing? Links?
The military digtal patterns aren’t “failed”.
Both green and desert MARPAT work rather well, and vastly better than 1980s woodland camo.
In point of fact, it’s only the abysmally horrible Army ACUPAT that blows. The Army wanted to use MARPAT, but the Marines went to the trouble of getting a patent, and a heady combination of pride, stinginess, and contempt for the Marine Corps in the higher army echelons prevented them from licensing MARPAT.
Personally, given the worthless shadings of ACUPAT, I doubt anyone’ll be able to *give* obsolete gear in those shades away.
I leave the concept of the Navy and Air Force blue speckled “camo” to those who can figure out how you hide while attached to a multi-acre airbase or 200-1000 feet of grey shipping.
-Aesop
ARPAT, the best camouflage you can get if your AO is a gravel pit!