operation enduring freedom camouflage pattern

As a result, while the eye still sees the camouflaged warfighter, the brain – which processes images by filling in for the small area of color the eye actually sees – is tricked into accepting the pattern as part of the background and not as a person. The two may come back together if they see success in recent efforts to develop a new universal pattern, enabling warfighters to wear the same combat fatigues into almost any environment (snow being a primary exception).Ĭamouflage does not make the wearer “invisible,” but tricks an observer’s eye and brain into failing to see a clear separation of the edges of the wearer’s profile from the colors and shapes around him. Army and Marine Corps designs during the past decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some variations may be on the road to reversal, such as the divergence of U.S. Most nations now employ a variety of camouflage patterns, for use in different environments (snow, jungle, desert, urban, etc.) by different groups (army, navy, air force, special forces, police, etc.). An advancement on the basic effort to confuse an observer’s brain, variations on that theme were quickly adopted by other nations, especially for post- 9/11 operations in Southwest Asia. JacksonĪ major shift in camouflage design was developed in the late 1990s for the Canadian military: employing a computer-generated blending of pixels – essentially, square spots of varying size – that formed no specific pattern. The Army UCP uniform was found to be less effective in Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain. Army soldiers of 1-102 Infantry, 86th Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Iron Gray provide over watch security in Masamute Valley as they prepare to cordon and search the village of Bala in Laghman province, Afghanistan. That variety indicates not only local, regional, and allied influences, but demonstrates the seemingly endless search for the perfect way to achieve visual “invisibility” during military operations. The online database Wikipedia offers a comprehensive, albeit unofficial, list of some 150 military, police, and related camouflage patterns used by nearly as many nations, most current or during the past two decades, but a few going back as far as World War II. Combining the three, along with studies of the concealment methods of hunters, American Indians, and other non-European cultures, led to a far different style of battle uniform during World War II. Three of the most influential – and diverse – factors in this effort were American author Gerald Handerson Thayer’s 1909 book, Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, insights into how humans perceive what they see from early 20th century German Gestalt psychology, and the avant-garde work of cubist and impressionist painters. In the years between the two great wars, military leaders finally began shedding the millennia-old concept that concealment in combat was “shameful” and started looking for ways to increase warfighter survivability through combat uniforms that did not stand out from their background.Ī major shift in camouflage design was developed in the late 1990s for the Canadian military: employing a computer-generated blending of pixels – essentially, square spots of varying size – that formed no specific pattern. But even limited camouflage did not become a semi-regular part of military dress until World War I. It was not until the 1800s that national armies, initially troops of the British Empire in India and South Africa, began to shed brightly colored battle dress for neutral colors that would make them more difficult targets. But, as with all other elements of warfare, camouflage also has been and will be heavily affected by new materials and science. The earliest forms – such as covering a combatant with dirt, mud, or bits of foliage – are still in use, even by the most technologically advanced militaries. Camouflage has been used in ground combat throughout history, but primarily by hunters called to temporary military duty rather than formalized armies, against whom they often were pitted.

Operation enduring freedom camouflage pattern