Since I retired back in the prehistoric days of BDUs, the US Military has gone through several different forms of camo: OCP ACU, OEF CP ACU, UCP ACU + MAR PAT, ABU and the ever popular Navy aqua flage suitable for battles in an aquarium. I'm sure I missed a few.
Where I'm going with this is I need to paint some modern US infantry to go with my Stryker company and I'm trying to figure out how to paint a version of ACU which is very small pattern not visible when using the three foot rule.
It appears to be very close to Vallejo 886 green grey when viewed at a distance. Being OCD, i've been experimenting with different base colors and then dabbing the other two colors, being 894 camo olive green and 821 German camo beige. The boots and LBE are 880 khaki grey.
The guy on the left has a beige base with green grey and then camo olive dabbed on. The guy in the middle has a green grey base with olive and then beige dabbed on and the guy on the right has an olive base with beige and then green grey debs. I used a cheap #1 brush for this process. Other than the guy on the left having a slightly more beige appearance, they all look pretty much the same and will work. All in favor of just going with green grey say aye!
Tactics are the opinion of the senior officer present.
BDUs are prehistoric? Ouch! LOL I too was a BDU soldier. That might explain why my back and knees hurt so much.
As to your infantry - they look great! I think the dude on the right has a little more defined pattern, but I am really diggin the guy on the left. To me he looks dirty and dusty, as any grunt would look in the field. And it seems dusty enough to pass for DCUs if you want to send The Boys to the desert.
Jeez, I remember when we SWITCHED to BDUs. Most of my time was spent in OD fatigues. Point your foot down, grasp trousers on either side, and listen to the ripping sound as you BREAK STARCH! Ok, now the sleeves. Roll 'em up BEFORE you put the shirt on, because you can't after. Clip your pen in the shirt opening just above the second button from the top, cuz it's NOT gonna get in your shirt pocket!
I didn't find BDUs all that comfortable. They seemed to fit wrong. And you weren't even supposed to iron them. Just pull 'em out of the dryer and put 'em on, then look router step all day long. You looked like a moukdy, under I inflated Pillsbury doughboy. Other countries' battledresslooked sharp and competent. We looked lumpy and dumpy. And MY GOD! The DAMNED HAT!
Last edited by panzergator on Wed Mar 13, 2024 5:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
All blessings flow from a good mission statement.
Pogo was right. So was Ike.
"A Gentleman is a man who is only rude intentionally." (Churchill)
Give credit. Take responsibility.
I joined in exactly when the switch was being made from OD, and so we were initially issued BDU's but OD field jackets.
Now changing the pattern is an annual event, I see.
Ah well. Still can't figure out why the space force needs camoflauge at all.
And the Navy is just stupid. The Army and Marines use camoflauge for a very good reason: NOT DYING
For the Navy, the only time their blue camoflauge might ever actually work is when you are in the water.
But then, NOT DYING means getting out of the water. For that, you want the exact opposite of camouflage!!
So our sailors, when exposed to any risk of their camouflage actually being effective, will wear vests that are as highly visible as possible.
Sure, the Army has the infamous reflective belts for PT, but they don't appear when deployed. The Navy on the other hand, must deliberately counter the effect of its uniform by issuing mutually contradictory uniform items. "Wear this so we can't see you, and this so we can!"
I like connecting with you guys on here. I don't feel quite so old anymore! LOL You should have seen me trying to describe carbon paper to my 14-year-old daughter the other day!
Sorry - don't mean to hijack the thread, but this is pretty funny, and apparently relevant to a lot of us!
My first reaction to this meme (other than the grammar error) was Why does this guy have pyro in his quarters? Maybe it's not his quarters, I really don't know for sure. I've definitely cleaned my weapon in my quarters, but I don't think I ever took live smoke grenades up there, and that looks like an artillery simulator strapped to the ruck. The claymore appears to be of the training variety, so that's not too scary.
As far as using the gear goes, I have always been in heavy units, so never wore the light fighter helmet cover and I have never used the mess kit, though I was issued one once (it sat in a foot locker until time to clear CIF). I also never used an M7 bayonet. I found a box of them in our arms room once, but I was always issued an M9.
I am sad to say that I am intimately familiar with the rest of this old-timer stuff!
Maybe I should start a "What uniform did you wear thread?" I was issued the perm press OG 107s fatigues in basic but we transitioned to BDUs early in my career. Not that I wore them all that often, being a line pilot, I wore a flight suit most days. Right before I retired, the Army decided that no matter what your jobs was, we all had to look alike so they rolled out the aviation battle dress uniform. if you thought BDUs looked sloppy... They were made of a flame retardant fabric which was very lightweight and held no shape at all. Joe Sh-X-t the ragman indeed. By reg you couldn't press it or starch it. Pressing it was a waste of time and starch would ruin the flame retardancy. At least the old one piece flight suits draped cleanly.
Now they have the Army Aircrew combat uniform which is reasonably cut, yet still flame retardant and functional and has the OCP digital camo pattern which will prevent you from seeing the crew in the cockpit! Sorry crew station...
Tactics are the opinion of the senior officer present.
Those Strykers look great Cav Dog! The dry brushing really makes all the detail pop!
As for the sapper squads, I have FKSM 71-8 from 2005 that shows 8 dudes in a squad, each with an ESV Stryker. Not sure if it has changed since then, but that's the most recent reference I have.
INcorRECT! Stryker MGS is withdrawn. Find some Bookers...
If Infantry Branch can figure out what it wants to do with it, how it wants to organize them, who they want to crew it... But they GOT it!
Which is more than Armor Branch could do for M8, which, by the way, was better.
All blessings flow from a good mission statement.
Pogo was right. So was Ike.
"A Gentleman is a man who is only rude intentionally." (Churchill)
Give credit. Take responsibility.
Redleg, I can tell the pic of your gear was taken in Germany...
All blessings flow from a good mission statement.
Pogo was right. So was Ike.
"A Gentleman is a man who is only rude intentionally." (Churchill)
Give credit. Take responsibility.
PG, is it the floor that gives it away? That was what my floor in Germany looked like, but I can't take credit for the photo - I found it on a veterans group on FaceBook.
The floordoes, indeed, give it away. Lived in US Government stairwell apartment two of four tours, but that herring one pattern is generally popular in civilian buildings, too. The window, the curtain, the floor, all scream location.
I actually liked the stairwell apartments. They were very well designed for the small space. We moved from a 4900-square-foot place built in 1889 at Fort Riley to a 1200-sq-ft place in Wurzburg. We were a little compressed, but it was quite comfortable.
All blessings flow from a good mission statement.
Pogo was right. So was Ike.
"A Gentleman is a man who is only rude intentionally." (Churchill)
Give credit. Take responsibility.
