Military Clothing

Here we will be looking at the various types of military clothing, camouflage patterns, and what all the names mean. I have lost count of the number of customers who have asked us exactly what DPM means, or what BDUs are.

So hopefully these pages will answer those questions for you.

The difficulty is, knowing where to start!

So, let's start with camouflage patterns. The problem here is that it keeps changing! Research is being done all the time to find the perfect camouflage pattern.

Camouflage Patterns

When talking about camouflage, most people mean the modern, multi-coloured camouflage patterns you see in military clothing today, and that is what I am going to discuss here.

The khaki uniform, first adopted in India, was an early attempt to camouflage military clothing. Casualties forced the British to dye their red tunics a sort of muddy tan colour. This was called khaki, meaning dusty in Urdu. Khaki, however, was a camouflage colour, rather than a camouflage pattern.

In 1966 Britain became the first country to universally adopt a camouflage pattern when the British Army issued a DPM smock and trousers.

Even in the First World War, camouflage patterns were being tried, but these had to be hand-painted and so were restricted to very exposed troops and snipers.

The Italians were the first to mass-produce a camouflage pattern material. Indeed, they were the first to issue camouflage military clothing and used it during WW2. The British used the Denison Smock, but this was hand-painted so mainly restricted to paratroopers, scouts and snipers.

Today the number of camouflage patterns in military use is extensive. The following are the more commonly known ones.

British DPM - In use by British Forces since 1966 and still in use today

Flecktarn - Adopted by the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) in 1976

Choc-Chip - Used by the US Army during the Gulf war

MARPAT - Used by the US Marine Corps

CADPAT - Current issue for the Canadian Forces

AUSCAM - Current issue for the Australian Forces

Tigerstripe - Developed for close-range use in dense jungles

Recently, digital camouflage patterns have been introduced, such as the new ACU being introduced to the US Army. MARPAT and CADPAT are both digital camouflage patterns.

Battle Uniforms

Military uniforms have been around a long time, and have changed extensively.

A military uniform is basically a standardised dress worn by the armed forces of a particular nation. An early example would be the Hannibal's infantry unit. They wore a white tunic edged with crimson.

Military uniforms tended to be very colourful. Also the more senior you were, the more colourful and ornate your uniform would be. This trend towards ever more colourful uniforms reached it's peak in Europe at about the time of the Napoleonic wars.

By the start of the 20th century, armies had started to adopt more drab uniforms for active service and were only using the colourful uniforms for ceremonial occasions.

Now, most armies will have several uniforms.