The military has
been looking for a suitable replacement for its current Universal Camouflage
Pattern (UCP) and while the front runner seemed to be Crye Precision's MultiCam,
it’s been announced that the Army will be going with the Scorpion
Camouflage Pattern. Scorpion is a close cousin to the MultiCam pattern that was being issued in Afghanistan but the United States Army owns the Scorpion pattern, which
was developed by Crye for the Army’s “Objective Force Warrior” program. Interestingly, the new scorpion pattern looks a lot like Rothco's Total Terrain Camo which we currently have as a T-Shirt but will be producing as a BDU coming this fall.
So as we say goodbye to the current UCP and usher in the era
of the scorpion, my inner historian compels me to look back at some other
retired camouflage patterns. Many of the past patterns are carried by Rothco,
such as, my personal favorite, the Tiger Stripe Camo which was introduced during
the Vietnam War. Currently, the tiger stripe has gone beyond the Call of Duty and has become very popular in the fashion arena.
The most recognizable and well known camouflage pattern is
Woodland Camo, which was first introduced in 1981 with the issue of the Battle
Dress Uniform. The classic woodland camouflage consists of simple sand, brown, black, and green colors. A desert version of the BDU was also made in six color desert camo and, later,
three color desert camo.
The classic camo patterns were replaced by the coming of digital
camouflage; ACU Digital Camo (see above as UCP) became the new standard for the Army while other branches of
the military used desert digital and woodland digital camo. This is now, of course, being replaced by the Scorpion Camo; while the next innovation in camouflage may be some time away (or maybe not) one can only image what the next wave of camouflage will look like.
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