Army Sets Out To Buy Three New Camouflage Patterns -- CNN
(CNN) -- Eight years after troops in Afghanistan were outfitted with new uniforms, the Army is shopping for a different camouflage for its fatigues and equipment.
The move to a different uniform comes after soldiers, many of them redeploying to Afghanistan, began voicing their criticism in the summer of 2009 of the "universal" camouflage pattern, introduced in 2004 and meant to be used in all types of battle environments.
"They were saying that they didn't think the color selection was very effective for the terrain in Afghanistan," says Col. Bill Cole, the project manager for Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment. "Afghanistan's a really diverse country in geographical terms. There are lots of sandy desert areas, but it also has mountainous areas that you would see up in the Alps. It has green irrigated fields that look like Iowa in the summer. It's a very diverse environment and soldiers would often traverse these different areas in one patrol."
The one-size-fits-all approach of the universal pattern wasn't working.
Read more ....
My Comment: The Atlantic has an excellent and must read report on the importance of camouflage for our military. That link is here.