Blog

Thoughts on Camouflage Clothing

I’m going to throw this brief post up before heading up to the VTC  for class. I intend to expand on it as necessary later.

Camouflage Clothing: The Nuances:

  • I am a big fan of camouflage clothing and I have used my MTP/Multicam clothing as a ‘uniform’ of sorts for running my training classes.
  • I encourage camo clothing as appropriate, specifically for patrol classes and where the clothing is appropriate ‘in the woods,’ and let’s not forget that often it can be worn simply because it is hard wearing and suitable for the abuse of a training environment.
  • In a real ‘collapse’ scenario, I don’t actually intend on wearing camouflage clothing except as specifically appropriate, where I am going to operate exclusively in a rural environment and where having clothing that is suited to that is a factor.
  • Arguments about the effectiveness of types of camo are often very subjective, but do have merit where a pattern is entirely unsuited to the environment, mainly due to the overall color scheme of the pattern, rather then any pattern itself. You can have just as good a result with ‘earth tone’ clothing, some dirt and good fieldcraft, in reality.
  • In some situations, wearing camouflage clothing, perhaps with the exception of hunting patterns, will make ‘downdressing’ from a tactical posture, to return to a low profile, harder. Earth tones will serve you better, even simply work pants etc.
  • The demonification of ‘the militia’ (sadly in many cases justified, in other cases not) also put camo patterns such as woodland BDU in a bad light. I see that in many photos of ‘standoffs’ that have been going on, multicam ‘is the new’ woodland BDU. That is an issue for those of us running tactical/combat training schools.
  • Regarding my previous post on ‘Gear: Patrol Packs & Sustainment Loads‘ I make the point that it is not the training environment that matters, you are learning SUT for application in the real world. Thus, wear camo if you wish because it is great for training, but don’t lose sleep over the best pattern, because although you may be training in the woods of WV, or the ranges of Texas, you will be operating wherever you end up operating.
  • In many cases, if you as a tactical team end up operating in plain view in some sort of collapse situation, it may be a good idea to:
    • not wear camo because of the associations of camo in many peoples minds.
    • wear some sort of ‘uniform’ that makes you look a little professional, along with squared away gear that is in some way similar.
    • In other cases, any sort of ‘uniform’ approach my be inappropriate, but suitable earth tone clothing can have the uniformity broken up by leaving on the pants and wearing different color/styles of top.
  • The above also applies to anyone in the public eye in some sort of ‘standoff’ situation, although I will reiterate my strongly held opinion that any ‘standoff’ is not, or should not, be a tactical operation. It should be nothing more than a protest, which then makes the wearing of camo and open display of weapons and equipment even more inappropriate.

Because of this, and due to ‘PR’ and a desire for people to understand that MVT is not some ‘crazy militia backwoods training camp’ but instead is real professional tactical training, I am going to make a personal example. I am going to give up my MTP and replace it with coyote brown. Coyote brown is my choice of the best overall single color camouflage, and also has the benefit of being sufficiently smart to act as a ‘uniform.’ I will pull out the MTP for specific circumstances, where it is more appropriate for the training.

I will reiterate that I am NOT saying that you can’t show up to class in camo. Do so by all means. It is great clothing for running around training in. But also note that it is not required either. Make note that on the Texas class, there was a rash of guys who tore the crotches out of their camo pants. Maybe because they bought them 20 years ago? Or maybe it was the freedom boners they had? We will never know….;-)

Texas Class Student:

DSCF0114

SMART GEAR – MVT VERSA RIG

V_CB_Insert