The documentation for that patent includes the statement, ‘Camouflage is an art in the process of becoming a science’, but the story of camouflage actually starts not with art, but with nature. MARPAT (for Marine Pattern) is the intellectual property of the US Navy, the first camo pattern ever to be patented by a branch of the US military. The US Army had originally wanted to use the US Marine Corps’ camouflage pattern, but was denied permission. From the initial invasion in 2001 until about 2009, many US Army soldiers were sent into the country wearing a ‘protective’ camouflage pattern so ineffective that it actually seems to have attracted enemy fire. For nearly a decade, the American occupation of Afghanistan suffered from a grave case of the emperor’s new clothes. ‘This happened three times, on two different patrols.’ This soldier was not alone. ‘In 2010, in trash-canistan, I got shot at, while walking next to guys in (who were never targeted)!’ reads an anonymous comment at a military news site.
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