Yep. Based on CADPAT and MARPAT which actually do work when in the intended environment and improved by the Mexican green digicam a few years later which also works in the jungle and forest environment. Those examples work because they aren't trying to be "universal", they have a specific job for specific terrain be it desert or forest.
@@teru797 exactly...personally i belive there was a lot of "brown envelopes" involved in gettiing this approved for service....how would anyone with even 1 working brain cell think this colour scheme would work in a desert or woodland envoirnment.
This, Marpat and Cadpat work just fine, but clearly someone or a group of people higher up wanted the digital for branding reasons and chose the colours based on looking futuristic rather than choosing a winning pattern. The new multi terrain Cadpat is what UCP could have been if the Army had some sense.
well, at the very least, those high brasses sensible enough not to dyed UCP in crimson red and marching in it with British Grenadiers march blasts on... otoh, UCP dyed with British's grenadier red could be look terrific..
@@assclapper2231 The blue digital was meant to hide paint & grease stains so the sailors could wear their uniforms longer between washings and can a single drop of paint or grease won't completely run the uniform by creating a permanent visible stain. As for visibility in the water, you do realize that dungarees the NWU I replaced were blue and the standard shipboard work uniform is a dark blue coverall? Not a whole lot more visible in the water than the NWU I if you ask me. The only uniform that a sailor would be highly visible in if they fell overboard would be their white Cracker Jack uniform.
I’ve been waiting over two years for this video, I cannot explain how much this means to me. Messing with my kit rewatching you’re playlists has got me through so much, from getting out of the military, to losing both my parents. You have no idea. My wife knows I’m feeling particularly lonely when the tv plays you’re videos and my gear comes out of their cases. Much love fr. ( acu especially means a lot to me, it started my camo collecting as a teenager)
It will get better over time bro, trust me. If you can, really lean on her, my wife has been a godsend and without her support I would be in a very bad place.
3:30 I worked as "supply" at an ROTC detachment, we got browed died UCP rucks, backpacks, and FLC. They all had the exact same hue so likely done in bulk and professionally (as opposed to someone doing it themselves)
I still have plenty of UCP-ACUs, including a few brand-new sets. That pattern was one of the indicators that the Military Industrial Complex (MIC), with its paid-for "senior military leaders" was in full swing as the wars progressed. I went to Kuwait in February 2003 wearing the 3-color DCUs that my unit had worn in Afghanistan in 2002 (I missed out on that one). We had Woodland Interceptor Body Armor and MOLLE and, while not perfect, the DCU was a comfortable and serviceable uniform. When I reported to The Old Guard (TOG), I thought it humorous because we were effectively in reverse mode: being Stateside we wore BDUs but being TOG--"The Army's Official Ceremonial Unit and Escort to the President"--we got the newest gear, that being Desert pattern Interceptors and MOLLE. The Marines adapted CADPAT to create their MARPAT, which they subsequently (somehow) copyrighted and refused even to their parent branch. What had previously been a US military wearing identical uniforms with some minor variations became a "look at me, I'm the coolest" competition. The Army decided that Sage Green would become Foliage Green, then the Air Force took it back with a vengeance, creating their tiger stripe ABU. Tiger stripe, aka the coolest camo ever and almost synonymous with Vietnam LRRPS and Special Forces. Back to the MIC: no one who's spent any appreciable amount of time in or near DC, or working in Acquistions or adjacent positions, can deny that there's a very odd connection between decisions the military makes, politicians controlling the funding, and contractors developing and producing everything from uniforms to the latest fighter jets. Generals age out of service (ahem...Milley) and become members of advisory panels and corporate boards making high six--figure salaries. Politicians become millionaires after a few years of collecting a sub-$200k annual salary. Contractors design, redesign, and redesign again to ensure that our military is the "World's Most Powerful", despite billions of taxpayers' dollars getting flushed away for the "latest and greatest". So, finally, the UCP-ACU... it set up some "Army Senior Leaders" for life. It was nice lucrative contract for the companies producing it, and perhaps most importantly, it solidified the need for every piece of military gear to be camo-coordinated. Previously, the old standby of Olive Drab was used for both Woodland and Desert, though MOLLE introduced the dedicated camo pattern for individual equipment. By the time UCP came out, every piece of equipment had to match, with the exception of a few Sage...I mean, Foliage...Green accessories like gloves and fleece caps. UCP was almost like a signifier of things to come, as the Army has become as wacky as the camo it replaced M81 Woodland with.
I like to call it "I.C.U." for 2 reasons. 1) when you turn up on a battlefield your enemy says "i see you". 2) after you get shot you end up in the actual I.C.U.....the Intensive Care Unit.
It's gonna take a while before they fully phase it all out. There's pictures of mid-2000s guys running fresh UCPs with the DCU vest and woodland pouches.
@olliegoria sure but those DCU vests came out in 2004, and the woodland pouches were no older than 1998. We are talking about UCP gear with manufacturer dates between 2008-2010
Nowadays in Peru 🇵🇪, UCP is worn by Navy Police. Also there are some press photos of SUAT (tactical urban police) using it, although I’m not sure if it got to be implemented.
Actually, it works great in urban areas, okay for snow, and terrible for realistically everything else due to its color scheme. UCP-D, which contains brown, would've been great in urban environments with improved performance outside of urban environments. At least if you dye UCP dark green or coyote brown/tan, it works great then. I wish the military adopted Hyperstealth US4CES camo, but that didn't happen. =(
One thing I liked about UCP, it makes it super easy to ID each other. I had a few sets that were significantly more tan, though the FRACUs could sometimes be straight up pink. I was super happy when the Army authorized OEFCP FRACUs for garrison use during the OCP transition though. Any time there was a ceremony where the uniform was ACUs, I'd show up in UCPs, since command teams couldn't force soldiers to wear one pattern over the other.
Despite the failure and controversy of UCP, the Singapore Armed Forces just adopted a new dark grey digital camouflage pattern for the new branch of service, the Digital Intelligence Service which aptley only blends in with their keyboards and computers
@@PrograError in that case it would've made much more economical sense to just issue the standard digital woodland pattern rather than waste resources creating a new impractical pattern and manufacturing uniforms in said pattern in the name of "Branch Identity"
UCP is great when dyed/colored, maybe the Army just thought purchasing dyes to meet the color pallette of the theater just wasn't worthwhile, when grunts just get their BDUs dirty anyway 😂😂
I mean... the NWU was REALLY bad. Yeah the Army looked like mints, but in the fleet we were wearing a flammable material that blended into the ocean... Not good for a man overboard situation.
i will never understand those blue/blueish camos that some navys and marines like chinese marines use. like for real what are you trying to blend with. the water?
@@jussi8111 Mostly it's just so they can have a unified armed forces branding when groups of the Army, Air Force, and Navy are together for photo ops, like Australia's new camo and their blue air force variant and grey navy variant, rather than actually being pratical camo to blend in.
@@jussi8111 In the case of the NWU, the idea behind the color pallet was to help hide paint and grease stains so that sailors wouldn't have to change uniforms as often or worry about a pain or grease stain ruining their uniform and making it unwearable because of a visible stain. However, people, including sailors didn't seem to understand this and thought that the pattern was ugly/stupid. Then on top of that, the uniform itself was made from a highly flammable material and would go up like a torch if it caught on fire.
Friend of mine from my unit told me that during 2022 guys with heavy Eastern European accents would come to all the local surplus stores and buy up all the surplus gear, was a mix of all recent camos a large percentage being UCP
I remember the transition from UCP to W2 and how every senior NCO with a 3rd grade reading level felt smart saying “ UCP is the old camo pattern, ACU (W2 scorpion) is the current uniform being used” or “it’s not W2 scorpion or MULTICAM it’s ACU” that shit spread like an STD and they felt smart saying that. 🙄
I have encountered the Indian Navy wearing these in person. Their version is completely gray. I will say it does camouflage quite well on a ship. Outside of that, it's trash.
Actually no, and the US already had DCUs for desert operations. It was common to interchange DCUs with BDUs in combat operations depending on weather, time, and other conditions.
@@anthonyoer4778We developed DCUs after Desert Storm with soil samples from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait just in case we went back. When we did, we replaced the camo specifically designed for that environment with this grey pixel shit.
UCP was successful because it was divined as a way to embezzle taxpayer money into a retiring general's private account. so what if it probably cost more than a few lives in the gwot?
All that money the US spends on there military and all the goofy terrible dress uniforms. You'd think they'd just have multiple dedicated camps for different environments like the french do, and the british did. Yk like a woodland uniform, and a desert uniform.
@ad_astra5 wrong Multicam(aka MultiShit) is actually inferior with UCP, CADPAT, MARPAT, LATPAT and other digital camouflages of the world are truly superior. Checkmate OCPnites!
Really works great on tank roads, I mean if you want to lie down on a tank road an get squished. Dyed mine olive green, it's not perfect but decent enough, one could try brown or tan also, concidering that most UCP stuff is (was?) dirt cheap.
I wonder how cost effective tulsi gabbards proposal is. It would be hilarious if we dyed the ucp gear a useful color and gave it to Ukraine. Though there are plenty of people in the US active army/guard/reserve that still have UCP gear, if cheaper then new OCP stuff then why not give the reserve finance guy some crudely dyed rucksack.
Why does everyone hate this camouflage so much??? It looks great in urban areas, concrete, rocky terrain, against dead/dying foliage or rocks with lichens on them. Also, the primary function of the digital pattern is to fool night vision devices, but it actually looks GORGEOUS in an evergreen forest amongst falling snow. (I forget if it was US Cavalry or Brigade Quartermaster that had that on the catalog cover)
Because wasn't fit for afghan terrain. Cool < Effectiveness Also no, just because is a digital camo in pixel pattern doesn't mean you'll be undetectable or operating only at night. UV Rays in clothes, textile materials and good displine for night ops is key to not been seen.
@@ALL_OUT_OF_BUBBLEGUM All you have to understand is that UCP wasn't fit for afghan terrain, that's why was hated. And that pixel patterns doesn't make you undetectable to nvg, (or for you to understand, "digital camos" with pixel patterns by itself does not "fool" night vision) 1. There's no thing as fooling a nvg. (Explained before in first comment) 2. Pixel patterns aren't exclusive for digital camouflages, multicam and OCP are digital. 3. In terrain you'll want the best option of camo available and best fit for terrain, you know for? To be undetected. Because yep, you were wrong again. Camos are for concealment, and good discipline with tactics make you undetectable.
@@ricardot729 🤦 internet people..... You did an excellent job of explaining something someone else has trouble understanding and had about 5% to do with what I was asking about. Cutting and pasting sources doesn't make someone a proficient educator.
12:13 using the folding buttstock of a AK as selfie-stick 😂 Half-badass, Half-moronic. I certainly hope that the weapon was cleared, seeing the magazine is still attached.
Something I would have probably included (my opinion) is the utilization of the pattern across Ukraine. Given the similarities between it and the official Ukrainian pattern there have been large amounts of the pattern proliferating the conflict due to donations. You however might have covered this already in your Ukraine video i just can’t remember.
Some people bring up its similarities to UCP in a negative way but it's basically UCP done right as the coloring works perfectly in the steppe and could work fine just about anywhere
It still baffles my mind, how can these countries just rip off the US's designs and get away with it copyright-wise. Its kinda understandable why Iran would, having nothing to lose as they're already hostile with the US,, but then you have NATO allies doing this like Bulgaria ripping off US' patterns aswell.
I'm in Oklahoma, and I keep seeing lots of UCP equipment at SERIOUSLY LOW prices at my Army surplus stores. I'm guessing where 'dyeing equipment' is concerned, the various governments involved have pretty much stopped kicking that dead horse... 😏
They are just recolored version of the Philippine Army Pattern (PHIlARPAT). Thr only difference is that thr Navy is more on whitish-grey while the Coast Guard have shades of blue on the navy camo. @KiLDELTA
Gotta address the elephant in the room, who the hell decided Operational Camouflage Pattern aka OCP was a good name? OCP is widely recognized as the evil paramilitary conglomerate from RoboCop franchise! Good job Pentagon!
The logo on the Yemeni uniform is pretty clever, it says “Sam” in both latin and arabic writing, the top of the “S” looking like the arabic “M” (Arabic is read right to left)
What is the purpose of prison guards using UCP uniforms? Other than it being cheaper surplus and a possible psychological shock factor, I would think a uniform in a solid color such as khaki or OD would be cheaper to procure, repair, and replace in the long run.
There's a new CADPAT pattern that Canada just adopted, CADPAT-MT (Multi Terrain), It's pretty much what you're describing. It was only officially selected in 2021 so it hasn't reached any wide scale adoption yet.
@@kutter_ttl6786 The problem is that it doesn't have the exact same colors as multicam does, this one has black in it which is stupid as fuck. Black is super outdated in camo patterns, is too dark for anything.
Prisons and companies who hire handicapped people are a huge supplier of DOD products. It’s cost effective and gives REAL work to those who otherwise may not be able to work.
Having not been in the military, the only exposure to camouflage designs were in media. UCP really stood out from everything else and it was distinctly American. I hate it when people reference videogames in comments about real life military matters but since this is pattern recognition and blending of objects into backgrounds it may be acceptable. When I was playing the first call of duty modern warfare 2 and the Russians were invading America. I could always tell who not to shoot in the distance because if I could easily see them then they were the Americans. Hearing your comment about the uniform being used to stand out brought that old memory out.
I hate that this abomination of a pattern is kind of nostalgic to look at. It brings to mind the era of Army Strong commercials, the first Transformers movie, and the OG MW2.
0:52 It took WAAAYYY too long to replace that abortion of a pattern that was UCP! Once we were authorized to wear Multicam or Scorpion in late 2015, I gladly switched to some surplus Multicam acquired in an off post surplus store. I was scheduled to med out in Jan of 2016. I was so much happier in the pattern that didn't resemble a random pattern my grandma would have worn in the '70's. My Sgt. Airborne at jump school, when pointing out where the assembly area was, told us we would be forming up in the graveled area. The only one where our ACU's wold blend in. 2:23 THAT was dyed and darkened already? Looks the same to me... 14:38 Bagram was attacked while I was in Afghanistan. Assaulting troops wore stolen ACU's and even Multicam. One of the officers from my unit was there when it was attacked and helped repel it. He looked at one of the dead guys in Multicam and said, "How'd HE get Multicam?! I don't have Multicam!"
Mexican National Guard have a few UCPs pieces but those don't come from US. They been done in FAVE (Arms and Gear fabric of the Army). AMLO and his Secretary of Defense said that the white digital camo uniform from the Mexican National Guard was from US, but that they only bought the textile.
Just seeing those corrections officers in shitty outdoor camo wielding even shittier basic ass Tippmann model 98s with $5 gravity hoppers against presumably violent prisoners made me giggle. They look like brand new walk on players in rental equipment lol.
The pixels pattern looks like they would work, it just looks like a more broken up tiger stripe which is GREAT! But the fact is… sand isn’t gray, leaves and grasses aren’t gray, dirt usually doesn’t look gray, most of the houses aren’t gray, and water isn’t gray.
they would always try to convince us our camouflage was actually good, but we all knew it was bad I bet its pretty good in lots of urban concrete environments though
I think MM14 is at least inspired by the ACU as the pattern, while different, is pretty close as are some of the colors, but it is not intended to be universal and is more specialized for the steppe areas of Ukraine
idk MM14 seems, from combat footges iv seen, prty uneffective as UCP, i dont understand why modern armies are making Tan, grey, blue patterns in woodland areas, i dont have problem with the pixels bcs, on the other hands pixeld patterns work better than classic patrns, the problem is with the color picking
@@User-cv2xn Ukrainian army unfortunately relies very much on volunteers, funding, donations, and even the stuff MoD buys often comes from multiple retailers, so there is a lot of variation - but the actual pattern is tan and khaki dominated, much closer to multicam than ucp, which is what you need in the dry, sometimes semi-arid steppes in the southeast of Ukraine. It does work poorly in summer when the windbreaks (where most infantry combat occurs) bloom like a jungle, but it holds up very well for the rest of the year.
@@DonetskiLetsplayshik And thats a another problem when the soldiers are wearing dif kinds of equpment, like solid tan helmet, mm14 pants, multi vest, etc then person cant use the full potentional of the original pattern, yea and the color bands are a another thing
13:08 because believe it or not, Iran looks up to the US when it comes to how their military should be equipped. In the years after revolution Iran wanted to get rid of American weaponry they've got during Shah era, but then Saddam attacked them and we all know how US made weaponry in Iranian arsenal performed. Since then they would look to get American weapons through any means necessary. Same with uniform patterns.
