Battle Dress Uniform - BDU Derivatives

BDU Derivatives

The U.S. military has run trials of many camouflage patterns (some being used by foreign militaries), and issued environment-specific uniforms, notably the six-color "chocolate-chip camouflage" or Desert Battle Dress BDU designed in 1962, and the "nighttime desert grid" (NCDBDU). Both uniforms were used in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War. During that war, after initiatives by General Norman Schwarzkopf, the six-color Desert Battle Dress uniform was produced in 100% cotton poplin without reinforcement panels in order to improve comfort in hot desert conditions. All of these Desert BDUs were discontinued after the war.

The Desert Combat Uniform (DCU) in three-color desert camouflage were introduced in 1992, and was utilized in operations in Somalia (1993); it was in service in Afghanistan and Iraq from the start of hostilities, but the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps have both replaced the DCU with newer uniforms (ACU and MCCUU, respectively). The DCU is colloquially called "coffee stains" by the soldiers wearing it.

In testing, U.S. Army researchers found that, as in other environments, the color of desert terrain varies, and can range from pink to blue, depending on the minerals in the soil and the time of the day. Since patches of uniform color in the desert are usually 10 times larger than those in wooded areas, it was decided to alter the existing six-color Desert BDU pattern. This led to the development of a three-color pattern DCU, which was adopted.

Three-color DCUs replaced the six-color Desert BDU pattern of the 1990s, although six-color desert camouflage helmet covers have continued in use with some U.S. troops since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Interestingly, the New Iraqi Army (trained by U.S. and multinational forces), wear surplus six-color Desert BDU uniforms; likely because much New Iraqi Army materiel is donated U.S. and Coalition equipment.