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Army Camouflage That Failed to Hide Its Soldiers
- mikece 8y agoWhile there's the easy joke about "army intelligence" it's also true that camouflage is hard to get right. Not only do you need to blend in/be non-obvious to the naked eye but also infrared, thermal, and other aspects. This is why JSOC has "Camouflage Scientists" for outfitting their Tier 1 units, sometimes on a mission-by-mission basis. URL: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/27/photo_camo/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/27/photo_camo/
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago>While there's the easy joke about "army intelligence" They did the best they could given that the only colors available were the crayons that nobody had eaten. The Marines are picky eaters, that's why they got better camo.
- all2 8y agoThe US Army got awful uniforms because someone (or multiple someones) were making money from the deal. Never-mind the only thing an ACU pattern blends in with is grandma's couch [0]. [0] https://www.funker530.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ACU-couch-web.jpg https://www.funker530.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ACU-cou...
- elliekelly 8y agoI'm sure you're right that it's not an easy problem to solve but it also doesn't sound like they put a whole lot of effort in: > With these problems, the pattern should never have been chosen. However, there was no testing of the design before it was implemented. Research found that there were no studies done on the effectiveness of the camouflage in combat zones. I'd be willing to bet their users could have quickly pointed them in the right direction if anyone had bothered to ask but the military has a strong preference for information to flow top-down rather than bottom-up.
- dragonwriter 8y agoThe actual problem is covered in the article: they planned something else, tested that, made a last minute change to adopt a pixelated pattern because the Marines did it (without the Army testing the particular choices made in adopting their specific pixelated pattern), and got a poor design.
- ZanyProgrammer 8y agoThe ACU itself was an improvement over BDUs, despite the UCP being not good for anything other than hiding in gravel roads. For example, getting rid of the absurdity of boot shining and pressing the same uniform you’re supposed to wear in the field (and EVERYONE starched their BDUs to cardboard consistency for garrison use).
- Wohlf 8y agoStarching was truly idiotic, it turns your uniform in to kindling, makes it less breathable, and prevents it from absorbing bug repellents. Completely defeated the purpose of having a utility uniform, looking good is what the service uniform was for. We Marines got the same benefits with better camouflage by adopting the MCCUU. Making all our gear coyote was smart too, it takes on the color of the soil around you once you spend some time on the ground. Although that is true for all gear, it works particularly well with coyote.
- gumby 8y agoI have always found starching clothes hilarious: cloth was soaked in starch to make it easier to cut and sew; you want to wash it out before use to make it comfortable. The conceit of adding starch back in later to make something look new is already funny; to do it routinely is absurd. Of course anyone who has been in the military of any country knows "absurd" is a pretty frequent factor.
- logfromblammo 8y agoThe effect is more pronounced for someone who has never been in the military, but has had occasion to observe military personnel going about their daily tasks, for the purpose of partially automating their jobs with custom-built software. I'm not certain that "absurd" is a strong enough word for it. I was frequently reminded of Tevye the milkman singing "TRADITION!" at the top of his lungs. The only thing worse than participating in absurd and obsolete traditions as an insider is to be forced as an outsider to completely ruin an otherwise rational workflow in order to accommodate them. If you have ever taken calipers to a software-generated printout, in order to compare it to a paper form that was last revised in 1980, and printed in bulk ever since, you deserve to wear starched underwear.
- umvi 8y agoMost military personnel are working in offices anyway, and this new uniform probably saved $5B worth of repetitive uniform maintenance in man-hours (ironing, shining, etc). I would hope spec-ops in the field aren't just wearing standard issue ACUs but rather are highly adapted to the specific terrain they are working in.
- koala_man 8y agoThe pop-up video ads after every single paragraph effectively camouflaged the contents for me...
- everdev 8y agoTry an ad blocker: https://github.com/ghostery/ghostery-extension https://github.com/ghostery/ghostery-extension
- koala_man 8y agoWhat are my options on Android? Switching browsers and side loaded apks?
- bootlooped 8y agoI use ad-away. It requires root, but it can block ads in any browser or app. I think Firefox Focus has ad blocking built-in.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoRegular Firefox Mobile can have uBlock Origin added.
- computerphage 8y agoJust use Firefox, they allow extensions on mobile and you can download Firefox from the regular app store.
- parliament32 8y agoIf you use Firefox as your browser app you can install all the same add-ons as the desktop version. uBlock Origin is great.
- fybe 8y agoIf you are on android 9 you can set a Private DNS that will stop loading of most ads on the whole system. the one I use is dns.adguard.com
- encypruon 8y agoThis article got me thinking. Would it make sense to train a GAN to generate camouflage? With the generator generating textures for the objects you want to hide and the discriminator trying to spot them in scenes rendered with a differentiable renderer like "neural renderer" [1]? The 2D-to-3D style transfer examples almost look like camouflage already. [1] http://hiroharu-kato.com/projects_en/neural_renderer.html http://hiroharu-kato.com/projects_en/neural_renderer.html
- all2 8y agoHow good would this be for a 'general' solution to the problem? Specifically, a good uniform must function across a wide variety of environments; see the USMC uniforms for a good example. If we had 'active' camouflage that was updated on the fly, this might make some sense?
- arethuza 8y agoYou do get what are effectively very large inkjet printers that can print patterns on materials - might be easier to "print" custom camouflage for a particular environment?
- all2 8y agoRepaint / reprint when deployment orders are received? How durable is the print, though? The current paint used on most vehicles is incredible stuff. You can't even mar it with a super-high pressure water cannon. As for uniforms; I'm not sure any military regular with clout would be willing to do something as practical as custom uniforms based on deployment environment. Too much change, too much innovation.
- arethuza 8y agoWell, I wasn't being entirely serious - but did visit a place where they were printing cloth for use in furniture so it looked pretty heavyweight material.
- 8y ago
- larrik 8y ago> it was decided that the design should work in all terrains to be more cost-effective. I'm not sure they know what "camouflage" means, because that sounds like it should be impossible.
- elliekelly 8y agoI also to have to wonder about the cost difference in dollars of specialized camouflage vs all terrain. Saving (what I would I guess is) at most a few dollars per uniform in production is hardly justified when the trade-off is a risk to human life.
- C1sc0cat 8y agoEspecially when compared to the cost of a full set of body armour
- chrisseaton 8y ago> Saving (what I would I guess is) at most a few dollars per uniform It really doesn't make a material difference to your point, but just to note that it isn't just a few dollars per uniform. A soldier's webbing, bergen and day sacks (all their battle load carrying equipment) is highly personalised, takes a lot of time to break-in, and takes up a lot of space. Maintaining three or four sets of that in different patterns for different environments would be a huge hassle. A single pattern effective almost everywhere makes more sense than in just simple money.
- sgt101 8y agoHow many soldiers are deployed to three or four different environments? I guess that the ones that are (based on my extensive knowledge of TV) will be looking for the extra advantage that a slight improvement gives.
- chrisseaton 8y ago> How many soldiers are deployed to three or four different environments? A pretty normal year for a regular, non special-forces, soldier could be an exercise in the bush in Kenya, in the artic circle in Norway, in the jungle in Belize, in European temperate mountains, in the desert in Oman...
- presidentender 8y agoUCP looked great as the background of recruiting ads. That was its greatest utility until people realized how stupid it was in practice.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 8y agoI bet after fiascos such as this, if we had some of the contractors and their Pentagon collaborators executed for treason for endangering our soldiers, the situation with procurement would rapidly improve.
- panzagl 8y agoIf by 'rapidly improve' you mean 'become even more mired in regulation, over-analysis and responsibility-shedding behavior' then sure, I guess.
- Rebelgecko 8y agoIf we executed every developer that committed code that introduced new bugs, do you think software quality would be better or worse in the long run? Would there be any tradeoffs?
- ben509 8y agoFucking up is not treason, though. But demotions and loss of benefits would dispell the air of untouchability and lack of accountability that pervades the military bureaucracy.
- pnw_hazor 8y agoThe article doesn't mention that USMC included their logo in their new and effective camo so other services couldn't/wouldn't use it. Otherwise, the Army could have used the same patterns developed by the Marine Corp.
- mi100hael 8y agoUCP camo blends in well in some areas... https://i.redd.it/68lxwxjrbe001.jpg https://i.redd.it/68lxwxjrbe001.jpg
- pmarreck 8y agoWhy is using United States citizens as live test subjects with their lives at stake, "cost-effective"? I often complain about a lack of test coverage in code, but I cannot fathom how testing was COMPLETELY skipped on a $5 BILLION dollar project that directly impacts lives. Disclaimer: 4 year USAF veteran
- MisterTea 8y agoI called it internet camo and told my friends who were in the military at the time that the USA was preparing to invade cyberspace.
- chriselles 8y agoUCP/ACU is the definition of a horrible compromise. The only environment where it possesses some applicability is complex urban terrain. We face exactly the same problem in NZ with our MCU pattern. Jack of all trade, master of none. Seeing US ACP/ACU and NZ MCU in forestry/jungle, especially in low light, is like seeing a person wearing a white sheet over their head. Ineffective. Multicam is the most flexible cam pattern I’ve seen as a one size fits all. US Marine Corps’ and Canadian Army’s two types(each) of digital cam for desert and temperate climates are pretty effective. Blue navy camouflage I’ve seen worn by US and Australian Navy personnel make no sense. You don’t want to be camouflaged if you’re ships crew, you want to be seen/found. Should be hi-viz.
- huffmsa 8y ago> Military dumps billions into magic multirole capability. > It falls and billions need to be dumped into it's single function replacements You can almost replace UCP with F-35 and have an accurate article.
- jsiepkes 8y agoSo me andere my friends went airsofting ons time, just for fun. Everyone got issued woodland camouflage and I got the "cool" US camouflage (ie. The camouflage of the article). Wooohooo! ....or so I thought. The refs came to me mid game and told me to get a normal woodland camouflage because everyone could see me from a mile away...
- stvswn 8y agoI wore this everyday for 5 years, including in Iraq, and I always felt that it was horrible at actually camoflauging anything. One main reason was that it would get brighter and brighter over time, as the colors tended to fade -- a well worn was incredbily light-looking that Soldiers would pop out at you against a darker background. We were told eventually that you can't use regular detergent on it because it has brighteners, that you should use Woolite. It was also supposed to be a benefit to have velcro for nametapes, rank, and unit insignia so that soldiers didn't need to pay to get things sewn on, but it made for very noisy and inconvenient examples of people sticking to each other in close quarters.
- mimixco 8y agoAn episode of Shark Tank recently featured a camo design made out of real photographs of natural backgrounds. Does the military not know about this option?
- dingaling 8y agoOnly a small percentage of camouflaged deployments are about blending in with the background; observation, snipers and static roles like that. Infantry and vehicles move too much to make background-matching practical, so the primary purpose of their camouflage is to break up identifiable outlines.