Solids for Military?

[insanelupus]

Is it Time for the Marines to Ditch the Digi's?

Author Robert Billard argues that the Marine Corps should replace its MARPAT digital camouflage with a single-color coyote brown or olive drab uniform—simpler, cheaper, and adaptable across environments. Tracing MARPAT’s costly influence on other services, he urges the Corps to again lead by...

www.military.com

No dog in the fight for me personally, but the editorial suggestion of the Marines going to solids surprised me.

Thought it an interesting concept.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I mean my grandfather and his generation wore OD green in WW2 and it worked pretty well for them. I think it’s not a bad idea. Although as a former army infantryman I like my multicam, which is really just a rip off of woodland. I think camo can have a place for foot soldiers, but a solid color isn’t a bad idea.

 

[2531usmc]

Other than a journalism degree, the author seemingly has no technical or operational qualifications or experience. Why would anyone take him seriously?

 

[Poser]

Camo actually does work fairly well against the human eye so I'm unsure whay you would change this approach for the military.

Now, if you want to ditch camo for all aspects of police: local, state and federal, who like to cos play special forces and call themselves "operators", then that's a step in the right direction IMO.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

MARPAT works against the human eye. It costed practically nothing to develop ($300k, iirc). The fact that the other services felt compelled to try to copy it and came up with stupid designs that had to be replaced is not a strike against it.

The Navy is perhaps the most egregious example. “Let’s come up with camouflage that only works when our sailors fall overboard.”

At this point, uniform changes won’t save money.

I wonder whether a defense contractor seeking a new uniform contract is behind this article? Or maybe it’s a sergeant major who wants a spit-and-polish uniform that has to be starched?

Thankfully, this is a NOTMA problem. Not my problem.

 

[amassi]

I’d imagine with the advancement and cheap cost of drones/ thermal/ flir et el- patterned camouflage will be much less important in the wars to come.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ThorM465]

This idea is retarded and I mean that technically. I can tell you first hand that the woodland digis work incredibly well in the Southeast. I don't have first hand experience with it in other wooded areas such as the west or rain forest, but it would be my first choice for combat operations in those areas. The desert digis are flawed only because it has zero green in the pattern. If I remember correctly, the German's had a similar pattern, but with green that worked really well. The biggest surprise for me in the middle east landscape was how much green vegetation existed. It wasn't much, but it was enough that camo needed some green.

 

[Dave0317]

Solids would work, but if part of the goal is to not keep spending, just stick with what they have now for another decade or so. Changing every few years is the expensive part. Going to a “cheaper” color option now would still be an unnecessary expense.