wargame_insomniac wrote:
Legion 4 wrote:
Here's a link with US camo patterns for uniforms, scroll down to the latter examples -
http://camopedia.org/index.php?title=USANice one. Thanks L4.
So have got:
U.S. Air Force Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) in either a green or black variant
Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform (MCCUU)
Army Combat Uniform (ACU)
So, I've got a couple of uniform observations for you to take or leave as you see fit:
While in Afghanistan as a dirt sailor I noticed that the predominant uniform was OCPs, or "operation enduring freedom camouflage pattern" (gotta love the acronym within an acronym!
), with most services wearing it. I was embedded with a US Army brigade, and the only things that distinguished me from the soldiers were my patches. Besides being easier to paint at 28mm, IMO they're much better than the current ACUs, which are meant for blending into many environments but blend into none. With a lot of brown/tan in them, OCPs blend into a desert background quite well despite having a lot of green. The navy is moving away from aquaflage (good riddance. Not fire retardant?!? What were they thinking?). The NWU type 2 is reserved for SEALs and Seabees, as it looks identical to the USMC digital desert pattern. The Air Force guys I encountered all wore the OCPs as well, as their "battle" uniform is not suitable for field use. The navy has moved to the type 3, which is a digital swampy-green pattern. They're meant to replace BDUs for the Seabees and small boat guys. The BDUs were still visible around bases a couple years ago. I've even seen state police swat teams in OCPs.
The upshot of all this is that you can justify whatever pattern suits the fictional environment best. Most of the services end up in the same uniform near the front lines. As far as weapons are concerned, most had M4s, but some were issued an m16 "musket". The army NCOs and officers were the ones that had m9s, but Air Force and Navy of all ranks were more likely to have both m4s and '9s. That may be a good way to distinguish members of a joint team. Most of the m4s issued had some sort of optics on them as well. I was surprised by the numbers of army guys with "muskets" (that term still brings a smile to my face), but I guess the reserves/guard still use them.
Yes, the US military went thru a number of iterations of camo uniforms from Gulf War I, GW II and the 'stan to now ... go figure ! Too much money to spend ! Calling the M16 a musket is amusing. The M4 is basically a modifed M16 ... Back in my day when the US ARMY was going to the original pattern BDU, it came to a point where I could wear the BDU, my old camo jungle fatigues or green jungle fatigues that I had in the 101.
