Camo Question

[Wayland]

i wear dpm because it hides the dirt, not because it hides me
if i don't want to be seen, i keep still
it's worked up to now!

That just about says it for me too.

On an exercise during my TA basic, many years ago, I got caught in the open by a patrol that stepped out of the bushes in front of me.

I was wearing plain olive greens. My DPM kit hadn't been issued to me yet (go figure).

It was full daylight, I stopped and just stood still, rifle in hand, as 7 men walked past me less than 10 feet in front of me.

No one saw me.

 

[In Wood]

First off, Shewei great link, love it and how true.
Camoflauge is what ever you want it to be, if you want to blend in you need to adapt to your surroundings simple as that. You can wear what ever you want within reason. If you wear DPM in town you stand out like a beacon, wear grey plain colours and you just blend in, look at the film "The Hunted" this shows you various ways of dissapearing in various environments from woods, fields, towns etc.
Whilst in the MOD on a cam & concelement training course we experienced cam at its best we were taken to a small wood and told to spot the four guys hiding within 50' 2 we spotted after a few mins the other 2 had to move for us to spot them, one was stood upright in bush about 15 - 20' away, the other was led down not 4' from our feet and non of us had seen him at all.
I have been out watching wild life and had people and dogs walk straight past without seeing me, simply because I sat still and they were not looking for anyone.
Once when I was a young lad we were caught scrumping (nicking pears & apples) we ran off but the farmer followed, I slid down a ditch and into some brambles he stopped not a foot from me I just froze and held my breath thinking of the beating I would get from him & my dad if caught. He did not see me.
So the question of cam, DPM, etc it totally depends on from whom or what you want to be hidden and where you want to hide.
When out and about in the bush I tend to wear earthy colours, and if I want to disapear I use the surounding natural cam to blend in.

 

[demographic]

As a general thing I couldn't care less about camo, who am I supposed to be hiding from anyway?

 

[OzaawaaMigiziNini]

As a general thing I couldn't care less about camo, who am I supposed to be hiding from anyway?

...I dunno... Sasquatch... Chavs... Freddy Krueger.. I can think of others

 

[Jedadiah]

I tend to wear US BDU trousers in varying patterns when out 'Scrafting for a number of reasons. They are comfortable and hard wearing, they are cheap and easily available and they are not British DPM. I have nothing against British DPM, it's just that i feel i'm in work when i wear it! These Craghoppers and Fjallraven trousers and all that type are fine if you can afford them, but i think apart from boot's, trousers are the one item of clothing that get's the most abuse. Sitting, kneeling, whatever, they are in contact with ground more than anything else. The fire spit's at them, they get food, ash, dirt, everything, and i don't think i would be prepared to pay out over 50 sov's for a pair of Keck's and then roll around in the mud.

And before you say that Craghoppers and the like are available from certain outlets at less than that, they never have them in my size!

use Nikwax Cotton proof on them and they protect you from a lot of water. You get lots of use out of a decent pair of trousers and only pay a tenner for them, so when they wear out, chuck 'em and get a new pair. Infact, don't chuck 'em, save them and use them as patches for your next pair!

 

[John Fenna]

BDUs make me look short and fat - oh, sorry, no that is not the trousers - it is the mirror!
I used to have to review a lot of camo gear and frankly got fed up with it and now wear olive /brown/fawn/ beige solid colour clothing and still can blend in with the scenery...but camo does hide the dirt better!

 

[cug69]

On the camo front I've spent a bit of time (too much if you ask the wife!) looking at the colours of nature with a view to making a pair of ghillie suits (mk1 and then mk11) It took a couple of years, but that's a whole other thead me thinks!

Anyway the thing that I genrally noticed was that most of natures year round colours were shades of browns and greys and the only time you really got greens was evergreens and stuff in summer!

Also on the mil camo front one of the moves to the digi patters (other than to help confuse users of didital images in NV gear) is that the human eye can at best resolve a 1/4 inch spot at 25yrds and hence a 1 inck spot at 100yrds, So the modern trend for small sopts (Marpat, Cadpat, Danish M85, Flectarn etc) also helps with confusing the human eye at closer ranges than the traditionally large woodland/DPM patterns.

Again that said I was once called to the sceen of a scout who had knockked her self out when the swing she was on snapped. She was wearing a plain green tankers coverall and had long brown hair covering her face. We litterally tripped over her as she lay unconcious on a mixed woodland floor trying to get to her! So you don't really need patterned camo to be inconspicuous just keep very still and quite!

If you do want to go ex-mil, there's a lot of grd 1 and new flectarn on the market these days at cheap prices (its also made to german specs so's relatievly hard wearing if my three colours of moleskins are to be beleived).

So really wear what you want (with a hat to take the shine off your face), keep still and quite and you'll melt into the back ground!

Happy dissapearings......

 

[Spacemonkey]

As a general thing I couldn't care less about camo, who am I supposed to be hiding from anyway?

You're missing the point- it's not about hiding, it's about blending with the environment and cutting down on visual pollution. There's nothing worse in my opinion than sitting in the wilds looking at a natural landscape feeling like you're the only one there, and then to have three bright red bobble hats walking in the distance.