Coolest Camo

[Raellus]

I'm in the mood for a poll. I've been thinking about and researching the appearance of soldiers of the various nationalities involved in combat in the Twilight War's ETO and I've definitely developed my own preferences and opinions. I thought it might be fun to discuss this topic here.

*CADPAT was rolled out in '95 or '96 (RW), so it would probably be somewhat rare and a lot of Canadian troops would probably be wearing their old, plain green fatigues. On the other hand, the prewar Canadian military was relatively small so maybe a larger proportion of them would have CADPAT by late '97.

**From photos of Russian Federation troops in Chechnya (and Georgia), it looks like at least a dozen different camo uniforms were in use in the mid-'90s to early 2000s. I've seen coveralls, smocks, fatigues, etc. Not sure what to do for the Soviet poll choice.

NOTE: The poll is set so that you can pick more than one but please don't post more than two favorites.

BTW, my fav is the Bundeswher Flecktarn pattern.

[Rainbow Six]

Originally Posted by Raellus

BTW, my fav is the Bundeswher Flecktarn pattern.

Flecktarn gets my vote also.

[pmulcahy11b]

Coolest? My vote would be the Vietnam-Era Tiger pattern. Not the best pattern, but it does look cool.

Best? As much as it pains my Army soul to say so, I think its the US Marine digital camo. (Yes, I know they stole the idea from the Canadians, but they improved it.) The Army ACUs -- I simply don't believe in "One camo pattern fits all."

[waiting4something]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Coolest? My vote would be the Vietnam-Era Tiger pattern. Not the best pattern, but it does look cool.

Best? As much as it pains my Army soul to say so, I think its the US Marine digital camo. (Yes, I know they stole the idea from the Canadians, but they improved it.) The Army ACUs -- I simply don't believe in "One camo pattern fits all."

Everything he said. I also thought that "sky camo" the urban camo with blue in it looked cool. Very Nintendo Contra looking. I don't think anyone ever used it of course. I see the Russians use blue in one of there camo patterns(Gorod). Personally I think Blue stands out to much, but it does look cool.

[natehale1971]

Has anyone seen the new Chinese Digital Camo?

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by natehale1971

Has anyone seen the new Chinese Digital Camo?

I may be wrong, but blue camo can't provide much camouflage.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by natehale1971

Has anyone seen the new Chinese Digital Camo?

Digital camo? Does that mean it has pictures of fingers all over it?

[B.T.]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Coolest? My vote would be the Vietnam-Era Tiger pattern. Not the best pattern, but it does look cool.

..."

Kryptek and Multicam are cool, too, as Tyg and Raellus mentioned. Problem: Not available in the original or even the 2.n timeline.

My choice was not mentioned in the poll. It would be the Italian M1929 telo mimetico. First version fielded in 1929, still in use with certain units in the early 90ies.

Does it work? Hm, not shure. It's been in the field for such a long time, it has to have something. And: You can see a coverall in this scheme in the beginning scenes in the first (pilot-) show of Firefly. If it is still around 500 years in the future, it certainly has to be cool

[StainlessSteelCynic]

So I'm not unhappy to be revisiting this thread and as an Aussie I'm going to wave the flag for the first piece of camo gear officially issued to Australian forces in the Cold War era - the Smock, Tropical.
Aside from using the same material on the hootchie holder **, there were no other items of camo clothing officially issued to Australian forces (the SASR were allowed to get cam but they're special so I'm not including them).

** For those of you not familiar with US & Australian military slang, the word Hootchie refers to a groundsheet that can be used as a single person tent or when clipped to another such groundsheet can form a larger tent. Hootchie is I believe, derived from the American term "Hootch" AKA "Hooch" meaning a hut or simple/crude dwelling and used during the Vietnam War to describe the places soldiers in the field had to live in (the term may have even been used by US troops in the Korean War but I'm unsure of that).
So to get to the point, the Hootchie Holder is just a simple bag that clips onto your web gear to carry your groundsheet.

You can see an example of the pattern here, courtesy of Camopedia http://camopedia.org/index.php?title=Australia



HOWEVER...
Despite what Camopedia says, this rain smock was never designated the "psychological smock", it was the "Smock, Tropical". But Aussies troops being like their counterparts in allied armies, soon came up with a different name for it based on the fact that it was the only item of issued clothing that was camouflaged but it wasn't for general use as it was only for tropical regions.
They mockingly nicknamed it the "Smock, Psychological" because they figured the cam pattern wasn't actually useful unless you were in jungle terrain, anywhere else in Australia it didn't really do anything to hide you, so any perceived benefit of wearing it was all in your head, i.e. psychological.

There were no other items of clothing officially issued in a cam pattern but I am not 100% certain that a rainproof cap in the same cam pattern was not issued. I've never seen one or even photos of one and I don't recall anyone ever talking about them. If there were some floating about, they may have actually been soldier made rather than official issue.
A number of soldiers did modify the tropical smock into other garments - one corporal I knew had a rifle bag made out of the material and I also personally saw a tropical smock that had been cut down and tailored to look more like the US BDU smock.

I vaguely recall in another life that I emailed Camopedia to update the info about the Smock, Tropical but I could be confusing it with another site, it was about 7 or 8 years ago or so.
But anyway, while I don't contend that the Australia tropical smock camo was particularly "cool", it's a nearly forgotten piece of Aussie military gear and an example of Aussie military humour so I thought it was worth mentioning.

[Raellus]

It's not used very much these days, but back in the 1990's, here in the States, "hoochie" was a commonly-used slang term for a woman of loose morals.

Also, saw this a couple of weeks ago. Old meets new. It's a cool-looking combo, IMHO.

http://soldiersystems.net/2019/09/02...ning-exercise/

-

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Aside from using the same material on the hootchie holder **, there were no other items of camo clothing officially issued to Australian forces (the SASR were allowed to get cam but they're special so I'm not including them).

Hmm, I was issued one of those in 91. Never bothered actually using it though.
There's also at least one other item using that pattern - a two litre water bladder carrier which I still have!
Pattern's a bit worn, but I don't think that actually detracts from it's effectiveness (if any). Has a an attached shoulder strap as well (which I've taped up out of the way) as well as a belt loop. Printed on the inside is the year of manufacture (1972), a serial number and manufacturer (Cantas Pty Ltd). Damn thing's as old as I am, if not older by a few months!

Attachment 4366 Attachment 4367

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I too like the Tiger Stripe pattern but as for what I think is the coolest, I'm not entirely sure but I'm going with the crowd and picking Flecktarn.
I kind of like this Brazilian version of the French lizard pattern so it would be my second choice.
http://camo.henrikc.dk/details.asp?autono=289

For the "What the hell where they thinking?" I would have to pick the Libyan 'Africa Corps' pattern
http://camo.henrikc.dk/details.asp?autono=176
For the one I want to wear if I'm going to take drugs, this one from Indonesia has to be one of the best, besides, nobody will be able to tell if you spill any drinks on it
http://camo.henrikc.dk/details.asp?autono=226
and last, for kind of cool but not quite cool enough
http://camo.henrikc.dk/details.asp?autono=192

[Raellus]

Thanks for the cool link SSC. When I lived in Ecuador in '87-'89, the army down there wore a lizard/tiger-stripe style camo kind of like that Brazilian AF. They had a cool mongrel mix of almost obsolete weapons from all over the place- Uzis and FN FALs, Puma and Gazelle helis, Sepecat Jaguars, Kfirs, and Mirage F-1 fighters... Independence Day was usually awesome.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

For the "What the hell where they thinking?" I would have to pick the Libyan 'Africa Corps' pattern
http://camo.henrikc.dk/details.asp?autono=176

Don't worry, it's not an enemy troop -- it's just a map of Africa---

For the one I want to wear if I'm going to take drugs, this one from Indonesia has to be one of the best, besides, nobody will be able to tell if you spill any drinks on it
http://camo.henrikc.dk/details.asp?autono=226

For some reason, the song Hendrix's "Purple Haze" came immediately to mind when I saw that one...

[Muti]

Soviet camo for me!

[Legbreaker]

How can anyone go past the love hearts and bunny rabbits on the Australian DPC?

http://www.kamouflage.net/camouflage/00001.php

Hmm, after a quick look through, I'm really liking this site!
http://www.kamouflage.net/

[kato13]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

How can anyone go past the love hearts and bunny rabbits on the Australian DPC?

http://www.kamouflage.net/resource/gif/showthru.gif

Apparently they don't want people stealing images. There is a blank gif over the image. That is actually kinda common nowadays

I think this page will work.
http://www.kamouflage.net/camouflage/00001.php

[General Pain]

http://camo.henrikc.dk/details.asp?autono=157

But on the other hand a picture with each alternative answer would be great in future polls...

and maybe even seperate polls for
winter
urban
desert
woodland
night
...other

[Canadian Army]

*CADPAT was rolled out in '95 or '96 (RW), so it would probably be somewhat rare and a lot of Canadian troops would probably be wearing their old, plain green fatigues. On the other hand, the prewar Canadian military was relatively small so maybe a larger proportion of them would have CADPAT by late '97.

The CAnadian Disruptive PATtern (CADPAT) became the standard issue for the Army in 2002, with the Air Force following suit in 2004. Uniforms and equipment in CADPAT material replaced the olive green material in use since the early 1960s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CADPAT

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by Canadian Army

The CAnadian Disruptive PATtern (CADPAT) became the standard issue for the Army in 2002

But much of that reason is due to delays with product quality difficulties. I first saw sets during the late 90s with T&E. That said, it'd still be very rare and probably only for units deployed in Canada in small numbers in localized places. Perhaps to distinguish certain units from pro-Quebec or other rebellious forces.

[Canadian Army]

I will ask my brother about CADPAT, he would know; but he is probable busy, he became a father again yesterday afternoon for the second time. So I guess I will have to wait.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I had come to believe from a few things I had read that CADPAT was developed in the early 1990s and was taken on as the official uniform in 1997. Seems I was only partly correct.
This site mentions that initial trials were done in 1998 with another lot of trials done in 2001 so it looks as though there was a fair bit of time between intitial development and large scale issue
http://www.hyperstealth.com/CADPAT-MARPAT.htm
I think it would be believable that development could have been sped up due to the war between Soviets and Chinese and so while it would be rare, it could have found its way to Europe when NATO and WTO clashed.

[LT. Ox]

But where is the "tiger stripe"?
er and yes I did have some.

[.45cultist]

Originally Posted by LT. Ox

But where is the "tiger stripe"?
er and yes I did have some.

Tiger Stripe with the lighter green is good with brush and young leafy trees, the darker stuff is good around cedar. I like the older two early woodland stuff depending on the area. Found out from Viet era friends Woodland had three generations of patterns.

[Rockwolf66]

Ive found a Youtube channel that demonstrates various camouflage patterns It's actually rather interesting how well or badly some of the patterns work.


Camouflage videos

[unkated]

Remember, you asked fro coolest, not what we thought was the most effective...

Polish Black Morro; I'll take a medium weight jacket of that any time...

Polish Puma isn't bad either, but it would be better on a leather jacket... (IMHO).

US 1970s Tiger Stripe patters, too.

(And I am very happy that the link to the Campopedia was repeated.)

Uncle Ted