Reversible camouflage uniforms

So, it appears that the US Army’s PEO Soldier office is still working on trying to nail down their requirements and specifications for the “Family of Camouflage” research programme…

Meanwhile, over on Kit-Up!, Christian Lowe has been musing on how the US Marines (and their Royal Marine cousins from the UK) have been mixing-and-matching their woodland and desert MARPAT kit in order to better blend in with the mix of terrain and vegetation in that area.  It appears that somebody in the chain of command realised that the Marines have reversible camouflage helmet covers, so why not let them make use of that feature?

Well, if they can make the helmet cover reversible, then why not go one step further and make the whole uniform reversible?  After all, they managed to do it back in WWII!  See the pictures of reproduction WWII era USMC HBT fatigues below – one side for beaches/deserts, one side for jungle/woodland.  Simples!

 

So, maybe the US Army should borrow a page from the USMC’s history and think about designing the new Family of Camo as 2 sets of reversible uniforms – one for woodland/transitional and one for desert/transitional.  Or even simpler, one reversible uniform with a “green” multi-terrain side and a “brown” multi-terrain side.

UPDATE:

For a further comparison, check out the reversible “Chimera” smock and trousers from Russian firm Modox.  Ironically, it features a modern copy of the W-SS “oakleaf” camo pattern from WWII.