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While 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 t

by mikece 8y ago

While 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 ago
  The 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 ago
I'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 ago
  The 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.

by mikece 8y ago

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 ago
The 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 ago

I'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 ago
The 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.