MARPAT Camouflage Of The United States Marines Corps

Marines don’t like to be called soldiers — because they are “Marines” first, last, and always — and these days it would be hard to confuse the two. On the battlefield, U.S. Marines don’t look like those serving in the U.S. Army because for nearly 20 years, the United States Marine Corps has been wearing a unique pattern of camouflage – MARPAT, or MARine PATtern.

By Peter Suciu for Breach-Bang-Clear

MARPAT: The Digital Breakout

MARPAT is a digital camouflage pattern that was introduced in 2002 with the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform (MCCUU). The MCCUU replaced the prior Combat Utility Uniform (CUU), which included the multi-service woodland camouflage Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) and Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCU) “cammies.”

The institutional break was driven by a dual mandate, only one of which was actually “tactical” (though the other was arguably strategic). First, to develop a pattern that was quantifiably superior both to legacy designs and to anything worn by potential enemies. Second (and this quickly became a point of contention) was to establish a clear, distinct, proprietary distinction from all other U.S. military services. Granted, their eight-point cover was (mostly) different than what was worn by other branches, and they also rolled their sleeves in a markedly different fashion; those identifiers were deemed insufficient to truly set a Marine apart from other service members.

In the context of the painstaking, unnecessarily dragged-out slog of typical military decision-making, MARPAT fairly blazed through the approval process. Championed by then-Commandant General James L. Jones (which is about as high a benefactor as you can get), the pattern went from concept to Corps adoption in just 18 months.

While it is “digital,” it should not be confused with the Army’s now-retired Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), and any Marine will quickly tell you their version is vastly superior in a number of ways.

The Marines quickly locked the design down with patents and trademarking. This created more than a little friction in the Pentagon, not least because it was completely counter to the spirit of the Goldwater-Nichols Act (GNA), which was aimed at cross-service standardization. Advantages of standardization aside, the Marines prioritized institutional distinction (even sovereignty). As a result, their nascent camo pattern became an extraordinarily successful example of service branch distinctiveness.

Though many people wondered how a governmental organization subject to the authority of the Department of Defense was allowed to do so, they quickly and successfully utilized individual property law to create a series of uniforms that were completely unique to the Corps. They flatly refused to share patented design. This didn’t sit particularly well with other branches, particularly the Army, and was the catalyst for a sudden (largely unsuccessful) rush by every other branch of service to develop its own unique camouflage pattern uniform.

Among the many negative consequences of this was the expenditure of obscene amounts of money and a massive logistical effort to equip service members with the uniforms (and matching equipment) in the midst of two wars. Worst of all, it led to the Army’s ultimate decision to select the Uniform Camouflage Pattern (UCP), which was widely criticized for failing to blend into any operational environment beyond grandma’s couch or a gravel driveway.

How much money this cost, and more importantly, how many casualties it led to, is anyone’s guess.

The Air Force and Navy subsequently issued camouflage patterns that were equally useless (at least as “camouflage”), with their own negative results. Still, the extent of those would not match the abominable performance of UCP.

Fraud, waste, and abuse, anyone?

Brief History of USMC Camouflage

From the very beginning, the Corps has arguably proven itself to be at the forefront of early camouflage development, even if it it was rather basic and not particularly good at concealment. Along with the U.S. Army, the USMC adopted khaki uniforms as its universal “summer” field uniform in the early 20th century.

They undertook this effort because the clothing was comfortable, and also because it didn’t stand out like the dark blue uniforms that had been worn throughout the 19th century.

However, khaki was not wholly an American innovation, as the British had been wearing khaki, which comes from the Persian word for “dust,” in India since the 1840s. By the turn of the century, the U.S. military had imported English/Indian khaki, first for officers and later for all ranks.

During the Second World War, the USMC used its olive green P41 Herringbone Twill (HBT) uniform in the early campaigns in the Pacific. However, by the mid-point of the war, some marines began to wear a camouflage pattern designed by Norvell Gillespie, a horticulturist and garden editor of Better Homes and Gardens. It consisted of a spot design of greens and browns, and was notable for being reversible to a tan/brown variation that could be used in fall and early spring conditions. It featured five colors in total, and its spotty pattern earned it the nickname “frogskin.”

The first large-scale combat usage of that camouflage pattern by the Marine Corps during WWII took place during the Solomon Islands Operations, specifically on Bougainville in November 1943. The uniforms proved extremely well-suited for the dense jungle and foliage on the island. However, in contrast, several weeks later, during the invasion of the island of Tarawa, which was a small sandy island with little vegetation other than palm trees, the camouflage was far less effective.

During the Cold War, the Marine Corps adopted various other camouflage patterns, but generally followed the same basic woodland pattern as the Army. While the military sought standardized camouflage in the 1980s, by the 21st century things went another direction.

Blame the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Even decades before the recent U.S. involvement in the Middle East, military planners had found that its woodland pattern camouflage wouldn’t be ideal for use in a desert environment. As a result, the Army developed its Desert Battle Dress Uniform (DBDU) camouflage in 1977, utilizing a six-color scheme that became known as the “chocolate chip” pattern due to its resemblance to cookie dough. The pattern was tested in the American southwest, where it performed adequately, but was far less successful in the 1991 Gulf War.

As a result, the U.S. military developed a new pattern specifically for the Middle East, using desert soil samples from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to create a pattern that better blended into the region’s terrain. This three-color pattern camouflage was officially known as Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCU). It was reportedly nicknamed “coffee stain” by some U.S. personnel due to its large splotches of browns on the otherwise khaki fabric. This pattern was used in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Once again, the pattern seemed to miss the mark.

Both the Army and the Marines sought to develop a new camouflage. One was successful and is among the best camo patterns in use today, while the other is simply best forgotten.

Don’t Confuse MARPAT With UCP

The Architects of Digital Concealment: MARPAT Development and Arcana

While the aforementioned Army UCP and MARPAT may seem similar and were introduced around the same time, these are two distinct and largely unrelated patterns.

MARPAT, which was developed in conjunction with the aforementioned MCCUU to replace the Camouflage Utility Uniform, was based on the Canadian CADPAT pattern. However, it must be stressed that the Canadian military, which began development in 1998, had absolutely nothing to do with this pattern.

While the USMC does acknowledge utilizing Canadian science, it insists that MARPAT is legally and empirically distinct. Like CADPAT, it was also formed by small rectangular pixels of color, and as with the UCP, the thinking was that this would be a more effective camouflage because it could mimic the dappled textures and rough boundaries found in natural settings. The idea is simple: small “blobs” or pixilated fractals would blend into nature better than big “blobs” of colors. The idea was that fractal (multi-scale) design would provide superior visual disruption at both close (textural) and long (outline-breaking) ranges.

While the Marines didn’t completely start from scratch as the CADPAT served as a basis, the USMC design team – initially with the assistance of Marine Scout Snipers Kenneth G. Henley and John Joseph Heisterman, Jr. – conducted research into more than 150 different camo patterns in use by militaries around the world. Their testing of the effectiveness of past camouflages included Rhodesian Brushstroke and even Vietnam War-era “Tiger Stripe.” Both of those patterns provided an influence on the direction the designers took.

Henly and Heisterman Jr. were active-duty Marine Scout-Snipers with the extensive “visual experience” required by the best of their MOS. They provided real-world, heuristic input to the initial computer model designs. Interestingly, Heisterman, Jr. selected the crucial functional color, “Coyote,” from a commercial paint section (Ralph Lauren/Home Depot) after evaluating soil samples.

Preliminary development for MARPAT began in April 2000, and field testing began in 2002 – with the Marines filing for a patent for the pattern in June 2001.

The USMC conducted rigorous field-testing, which included different environments in both day and night operations and with night vision and various optics. MARPAT was found to be far more effective than the splotches woodland pattern in use at the time. It was also found to be effective in wet conditions – an important consideration given the Marines involvement in amphibious operations. The pattern proved effective when wet, even when viewed with night vision illuminated with infrared scopes, where other patterns would reflect the light in a way that would seem solid.

The reasons were due to the fact that the fractal patterns did a better job of breaking up the light, even when seen via IR scopes.

One factor in its success is that the patterns were actually produced by a highly complex equation that randomly placed the pixels of color in a way that would match the visual texture of a typical background.

However, the fact that it looked like pixels on a computer screen or TV was not without controversy, as it was quite a striking change for such a conservative institution. It was also noted that MARPAT does stand out when seen against a white background, but it was quickly found that the pattern was highly effective in an operational environment. This is because its textured appearance, along with the lack of hard edges, made it far more effective than traditional patterns.

The pattern was adopted and made its official debut at Camp Lejuene, North Carolina in January 2002. The first MARPAT-pattern helmet covers were produced a year later. The Marine Corps’ replacement of the BDU and DCUT was completed in early October 2004, a year ahead of the original requirement date of October 1, 2005, making this the fastest time for a U.S. military-developed camouflage pattern to go from concept to full adoption. The initial issue of the MARPAT uniform as standard gear began in late 2002 for the officer candidates of OCC-181 at MCB Quantico and the recruits of 3rd BN Mike Company at MCRD San Diego.

The “pixel” look of the uniform may be its most distinguishing feature, the MCCUU also changed the general “cut” of the uniform – and this includes new shoulder pockets along with VELCRO fasteners on the chest pockets. The sleeve cuffs fastened with inboard buttons instead of outboard buttons as a way to prevent snagging. The MCCUU is also made with a half-and-half blend of nylon and cotton, and the shirts have an angled chest pocket and angled name/service tapes.

While the goal was to make a marine blend into any background, and it proved effective, the pattern did catch the eye of the U.S. Army, which soon developed the Universal Camouflage Pattern. UCP blended tan, gray and green so as to work equally well in desert, woodland, and even urban environments. What is unique about the UCP is that black was omitted from the uniform as it was found that black is highly visible not only to the naked eye but also to modern optics. Instead, several shades of gray are incorporated.

This pattern is also sometimes known as a “digital camouflage” as the colors also resemble computer pixels. The goal for the Army was to have a single combat uniform that could work in woodland, desert and even urban environments. However, its detractors found that the only universal aspect was that it failed to blend into any surroundings.

In a case where inter-service rivalry may have (read, almost certainly) played a role, the Army didn’t consult with the Marines when developing UCP. At the same time, they failed to consider the effectiveness of other coalition forces in Afghanistan or Iraq. Instead, the Army proceeded with a camouflage that performed poorly in almost every field test used to evaluate it.

If anything, the one selected did universally badly in all environments. In designing a uniform for wear in every environment, it designed a uniform that was effective in none, which is why the Army ultimately gave it the boot.

The Marine Corps’ successful, proprietary lockdown of MARPAT is widely considered to be the single greatest causative factor in the Army’s inexcusable rush to select UCP, which led to an improbably ineffective design and fielding…not just without adequate testing, mind you; it was done despite testing that showed its glaring inadequacies.

By contrast, the MARPAT wasn’t meant to be perfect in every situation. Instead, it was developed much like older patterns that varied based on the terrain. As such, there is a black, dark green and brown woodland variant as well as a desert variant. In addition, the Corps also developed a simple white and grey smock and trousers that can be worn over standard battle dress for snow conditions.

The main MARPAT variant is one of the most effective woodland camouflage patterns in service today. At the same time, the desert-specific MARPAT is also considered highly effective for visual camouflage in both desert and urban environments. The Army’s UCP, which attempted to use a single color scheme across multiple environments, proved largely ineffective.

It wasn’t just a matter of not being seen, or Marine vs Army patterns. For instance, the MARPAT pattern reportedly had a lower infrared signature than standard Navy-pattern camouflage.

Marine Corps Patented

Trademarking the Uniform

One notable point about MARPAT is that it was patented by the Marine Corps, something not generally done with camouflage patterns. Today, authentic MARPAT materials can be distinguished by a miniature USMC EGA (“Eagle, Globe, Anchor”) emblem that appears above the letters USMC. This can be seen in both the woodland and desert pattern variants of the camouflage.

The inclusion of the micro-printed EGA insignia was a deliberate design choice, reportedly suggested by the Scout Snipers, to ensure that another service branch could universally adopt the pattern without that service literally wearing the Marine Corps’ institutional symbol.

MARPAT isn’t just patented. It has also been legally defended as a distinctive element of military “trade dress,” which gives the Corps camo a de facto “corporate identity” that is litigiously defensible. As a result, only authorized manufacturers can produce this pattern and it is not available for commercial sales. However, there are already “knock-off” versions such as “Digital Woodland Camo” and “Digital Desert Camo.”

One interesting side effect of the MARPAT pattern is that when it is seen, such as in training exercises with allied forces, it is almost instantly recognizable. Some sources have also suggested that, almost paradoxically, the MARPAT further leverages the fierce reputation of the Marine Corps and can even damage an enemy’s morale as the pattern so readily identifies the wearer as a U.S. Marine.

In that regard, it serves as a reminder that when it comes to the Marines, there is “no better friend, no worse enemy!”

Find the original article in its entirety on Breach-Bang-Clear.

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