The real irony of this story is that while the Afghans were getting fancy new uniforms in an effective pattern, the US Army was using the UCP, 'Useless Camouflage Pattern". UCP only went out of service this year.
ross lundberg the us army hasn’t used UCP in country since 2011 or 12. When we deployed we were issued the OCP acu and began wearing it stateside as a transitional uniform until the new uniform was rolled out, which I ets’d before I received it.
@@Warriorbob-im5py OCP was only issued in 2015 my dude. You're thinking of OEF-CP, which was commercial MultiCam (compared to OCP which is Scorpion W2, a redesigned early trial version of MultiCam). OEF-CP was an urgent purchase for Afghanistan, only for deploying troops, the rest of the folks stateside continued to wear UCP until they were issued OEF-CP for deployment or until OCP was finally chosen to officially replace UCP. UCP was discontinued for wear in October 2019 but still remains in some specialist gear like extreme cold weather gear.
@@junyisang8672 Yeah, instead of the actual UCP they should've originally created something like UCP-Delta (with some green as well) for woodland/dark colored environments, while taking the actual UCP and making it more tan-dominant for arid regions. But i'm guessing they didn't follow up UCP-Delta because they figured Multicam/OCP would be more effective anyway so why bother putting in the R&D to make a new pattern when a better option already exists
MegaAlpakka Camouflage isn’t just used to conceal a soldier, but to also to make them stand out from their enemies soldiers. Friendly fire is a very real thing, and a uniforms camouflage doesn’t make you invisible. But a camouflage is one of the easiest things a soldier can identify another soldier from.
@@nickrollstuhlfahrerson8659 That's function of a uniform not a camouflage. People always mix-up these two since militarily recently both have been combined in one package.
I live in Arizona, half the state is literally Pine trees and the other half is grey bushes on a tan sandy landscape, no green. The only green in this area is trees way up north, or in the cities where we have five million lawns.
@@ReverendMeat51 Tucson doesn't count, it's an area with massive irrigation projects, plumbing, and plants that don't grow natively in the area, same as Phoenix. I've been to the outskirts for a quinceañera and I drive through the countryside twice a year to see Flagstaff or Prescott; nature of this whole half or 2/3rds of the state is just dust, dried up bushes, rocks, and tumbleweed.
@@Seth9809 So when we drive out to the desert to go shooting you're telling me all the trees and bushes aren't native and exist because of massive irrigation projects?
@@Seth9809 I lived in southern Arizona, San Tan Valley and in Mesa, there is PLENTY of greenery. Not in the form of grass but in shrubs or small trees. If you really think it's a product of irrigation then tell that to areas like San Tan.
I'd argue that there was a valid reasoning behind the NWU I pattern, whether it actually worked at hiding paint, dirt, and grease stains as advertised is another matter entirely. But, to me, idea was sound.
I’ve definitely been in some places in Afghanistan where I had wished my uniform looked closer to that one. Afghanistan would be a lot more forested if wood wasn’t the primary heat source and goats the primary meat source. There are also many pockets of irrigated and therefore vegetated land, even if the surrounding hills are a complete moonscape.
I always used to laugh when I would see videos of US Marines wearing their woodland uniforms in Afghanistan some times but then I realized that the country is surprised pretty green in some parts.
I remember in the early 2000s when I was a member of militaryphotos.net, we often commented on how cool the patterns were, but how mid-90s their website looked like. Try to imagine this: as outdated as it looks today, it was even worse back in the day!!
Is actually a decent pattern, is better than the woodland at least, and the afghans seem to like it. Non-specialized press making a storm in a glass of water as usual.
It's about the same as woodland tbh. I think the more cogent criticism of it is much like with UCP. Why not just stick with woodland if the replacement is more expensive and only provides marginal improvement? Especially if they still use woodland, like the ANA commandos still do?
Just a guess, but probably one of the reason they brought the Afghans a pattern that was not owned or used by the United States Military or the Taliban was to make identifying different factions quicker and easier.
They failed in that nature. By 2014, a lot of the manufacturing of the pattern shifted into China and Pakistan, and a lot of Taliban fighters wear the Afghan pattern alongside woodland. Not to mention the wholesale adoption essentially stopped after 2014... There's still a lot of ANA soldiers that wear woodland as a status thing.
A big factor to also realize is that the ANA has chronic friendly fire issues along side the aforementioned risk of Taliban soldiers blending in with ANA forces. A distinctive pattern that is produced in North America, thus practically impossible for the Taliban to access will also have the benefit of making friendly ID easier.
"We wasted $28 million of taxpayer's money in the name of fashion" said the government in their three new grey and blue uniforms that cost over five billion
You'll find most of the fighting (was) is in and around the green zones in Afghanistan. Where desert patterns (or UCP) can stand out, as the US and UK found out, and why Multicam and MTP were brought in. The mix of desert and temperate colours would clash with patterns made solely for use in desert or woodland type AO's. In the early days of UK forces in Afghanistan a mixture that was seen a lot, consisting of desert DPM trousers and DPM smocks.
Tank khaki colored camo would've worked best because of the infrastructures generally being all-around dirt colored. From the footages I've see, a lot of combat happens in green zones but tend to be around urban environments mixed with rural engagements.
Oh, that would be cool..but would probably have to be a multi part series, since the Chinese are second only to the Russians in a dizzying number of camos in service at one time.
I worked with troops wearing this Afghan camouflage pattern and it is effective and works great in the Afghan countryside. Arid doesn’t mean devoid of green, villages are normal located in areas that are fertile. The mountains look barren from the air but from the ground, there is a lot of vegetation.
Am I the only one thinking that the amount of money that the congressman is having his hissy fit about is more or less what the US Army spends in coffee in a month? Any pork barrel project for key states is ten times that sum. It looks like cheap grandstanding to me.
It's one part of waste for a giant shit sandwich. Reading through SIGAR reports is like reading through how quickly someone can set millions of dollars on fire on a week-by-week basis.
Agreed. We spend billions to build a single fighter, and an Abrams cost about three million a piece, so we're able to totally reequip a critical ally with a new uniform pattern for less than what ten of those suckers cost
That money they spent on fancy useless camo that would make no difference at all for the afghan army until they actually fix the internal issues, could've been spent on giving more support to citizens back home due to the coronavirus
@@Jake4595 Lmao this was done before Covid pal stop your political bullshit. Even then, go cry about UCP and F35 project, both failures that costed billions.
Even in the more arid and desert-ey areas of Afghanistan, the majority of the combat takes place in the vegetated 'green zones' around water sources where farming takes place.
Is and isn't. Much of it is arid, but most population centres are in green, irrigated places. No one likes living in the desert. Using one pattern or another is a trade-off either which way. Personally, I've come to the conclusion that unless you're fighting in the sandiest desert you can find, a woodland pattern works pretty well regardless.
I heard about this story a while, ago. But I never thought it was actually much more complicated... Its a very interesting video, keep up the good work!
Hyperstealth is also the origin of my country's (Philippines) army uniform...which can be scene on the vid 3:31... but there was also an issue being almost similar to Cadpat
KiLDELTA honestly when you compare the Philippine camouflage to CADPAT, it’s more unique by quite a bit than say Estonien Pattern or Finnish MO5. But I can certainly see your point.
@@jaredpeabody894 yeah that would be correct, there are differences... the Estonian is much closer... there will always be issues. It would really depend if that camo suits the env where it is being deployed.
I actually want him to tackle the older patterns such as the Phil.Marine Corps' Malunggay pattern, different shades of ERDL and Woodland used by the Army and Constabulary before the Army adopted the DPM as well as older brushstroke looking patterns used by Scout Rangers and Special Forces in the 60s and 70s but sadly it will be very difficult as there are nearly no available references on its isage except for Camopedia. For uniqueness though, I believe the very short-lived blue DPM used by the air Force and Police might be given a mention if he tackles the DPM.
4 ปีที่แล้ว +6
Hyperstealth sued the Philippine government because the new PHILARPAT (Philippine Camo) is just a copy of their CADPAT camo. Sort of a messy situation they got themselves into.
It’s a nice pattern. Looks cool too. If we’re concerned about the clash between the pattern and the majority of Afghanistan being... well semi arid, then have this pattern be the standard uniform pattern and also adopt the desert dune pattern along side.
Over two deployments in Afghanistan, I remember the ANA and ANCOP uniforms well. Being Canadian, I felt a bit of pride knowing that they were designed and made by one of ours (Guy Kramer). It was also cool (to me, anyway) that I happened to live in the same town outside Vancouver where all this happened. I had no idea, however, of the controversy.
Haha when I was in Afghanistan, my platoon had to pick up a bunch of these and bring them back to our ANA guys. They were all super pumped and excited to have new uniforms! The pattern is pretty decent actually especially in the North and East of Afghanistan.
@احمد i believe you 100% the west tried to restructure something that should have been burned to the ground when they instead should've completely started over like russia started doing is syria with some success
And all of this controversy doesn't matter anymore as the Afghan military and govt are no more. What a waste of lives and time/money for such a corrupt govt.
There were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban but unfortunately were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul.
10:23 I laughed so hard, because that jumped to my mind a minute earlier. Because you actually could give those guys a pink uniform, they would't care, they just want a pretty uniform.
@S a p i e n 2 0 1 6 It's only popular because of some special forces using it not because of it's performance. It's a descent camo though just nothing special.
@@Punisher9419 Imo it's still more a desert pattern. In forest you have to make more of an effort to hide, and after a few washes it kinda just turns really tan anyway.
Great video. As a collector of Afghan National Army equipment and uniforms and leader of an ANA reenactment group, I was hoping you get more in detail with the various cuts, styles and makers of the uniform. But still a great video for a great camoflage.
Another point for camo (beyond authority and a kind of solidarity) is that, while it won’t do as much to give concealment like a gillie suit would. The patterns (apparently, especially the 6 color desert and “digital” camos according to my active duty and retired friends) are designed and implemented to break up the wearers outline. If you’re wearing a modern woodland variant with trees at your back, yes you’ll still be visible, but the pattern makes it difficult to see where the background ends and you begin. Without magnification at least. Seeing it in person really messes with your head. It can make people seem 10 feet tall or 3 feet tall. If a squad is layered a certain way, it can look like one person is 12 feet wide and holding 2 rifles. If they didn’t have a gun, you wouldn’t see them unless you knew where to look or you saw them move. That’s even from 50 yards. That’s a huge intimidation factor. You can see them right there, but the camis make it seem like you wouldn’t be able to hit them.
As usual, someone with friends at the MOD made a lot of money. And that is the same in every country. Of course the MOD can always back its decisions with scientific research. Even if the camo would be pink.
@Johnny Dong That's actually right, and it's one of the standout colors of MC if you look closer. And MC - now THAT is a waste of money, even if it's quite decent for what it does, with every client adopting it paying for R&D and a microscopic redesign again, over and over. Brilliantly masterminded grift (MultiScam).
10:27 Pink camo is actually excellent in deserts so if the Afghan MOD chose a pink camo pattern, or even a solid light pink color, with most of the country being arid, it would've been a better choice than the SPEC4CE pattern
Norwegian desert camo is kinda pink, and it works like a dream on the sand. It does show up in the video too, in the picture with a bunch of guys wearing vaious camouflages.
In the Afghan National Army's defense, there were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban. Unfortunately, they were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul. Nowadays, the remnants of these former elite units have either fled to the West or are in hiding with anti-Taliban groups such as the National Resistance Front or Afghanistan Freedom Front in northeastern Afghanistan.
That's actually a really good looking cammoflage that looks like it would work pretty good! Especially having the option to have the desert variant! I'm impressed! It's like a mix between MARPAT Woodland and the Navy's NWU type three!!
This was a very interesting video, it's also interesting that we have an ally camouflage uniforms that look and blend in better than what we were using at the time🤦🏻♂️.
Your videos are really informative, as a South African, I would like to hear about the development of the soldier 2000 pattern which is specifically designed for South Africa. It is an indigenous design that works well throughout the country and rest of Africa. It would be interesting to hear what you information you can find?
I'm an Afghan born and was an interpreter for ISAF as well as American military for 6 years. There's nothing wrong with this camo. If you drive from the capital of Kabul to Helmand you will come across desert, forest, mountains, and valleys. There's no pattern that works well with all terrains. The Afghan military is not even aware that there's a controversy about this camo in America. I understand the cost, but the camo itself is fine as far as I know.
Regardless of the camo, the effectiveness of the soldier probably counts more. IDF soldiers have been wearing plain OG for years in an arid environment, and they are still among the world's best.
I mean if it works for them I don't really see the issue. Espirt De Corps is important. If soldiers feel pride in they're uniform and themselves, it helps a decent amount.
Hi can you please do videos on French LIZARD STRIPE and its variants also Italian VEGATATO has been my favourite autumn pattern for years cheers great videos keep the up pal
Honestly i think it is a little to dark/saturated for a multi environment use (in the pictures but not the background interestingly) but all of this just proves that most think its more fun to point fingers than to research
Interesting, thanks for the well research video, I wore multicam (deployed) and I now use W2. In my area their camo was pretty good but I know it was not great everywhere. That said Congress, like many civilians don't understand AF is different than Iraq.
0:16 - 0:26 Can't help but think that'll be the case with multicam now that everyone and their grandma is using it in some form or another. Would also like to request a video on the Serbian police blue/purple tiger stripe pattern.
They should of did a certain amount of woodland depending on how many estimated soldiers would be in the woodland areas and so on with the estimated soldiers in the arid areas.
only southern Afghanistan is super arid. like, everything south of Kandahar. but north of that, this is a pretty effective pattern. Northern Afghanistan has a lot of trees and lush vegetation in valleys.
In the Afghan National Army's defense, there were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban. Unfortunately, they were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul. Nowadays, the remnants of these former elite units have either fled to the West or are in hiding with anti-Taliban groups such as the National Resistance Front or Afghanistan Freedom Front in northeastern Afghanistan.
Agreed, and it definitely works a lot better than UCP, even when UCP's colour blends OK it still lacks enough contrast and macro pattern in it to properly work.
Yep, and meanwhile we got dudes going around in fresh concrete colored cammies. Or the Navy in their awful dark blue uniforms. Sure it didn't really matter for them as much, but if the big "US NAVY" on the ship didn't give them away, the blueberries walking around on it did.
This is actually a really good camo in the forests of the PNW... Maybe not so much the dense green of the costal forest but the forest inland most definitely.
Personally, as long as camouflage can break patterns in shadows and seaming on a uniform, it's a fine camouflage. Blending into the environment just depends on where the soldiers will hide, not necessarily the general look of the environment - will they hide behind a sandy, yellow rock, or behind a bush or treeline most of the time?
At least it blends with forested areas like Tangi Valley, Afghanistan wasn’t all desert meanwhile we have UCP which does not blend with anything (except rocks and snow)
It is probably outside your perview but how about a review/history of the ConCamo Ghost Hood? I know it's extremely modern and not much history behind it but it's quite different in its approach to camouflage.
Not a dumb decision at all, such a unique and proprietary uniform makes it far more difficult for enemy forces to imitate and blend for inside attacks, also makes it easier to ID friendly ANA troops
I would probably take away the really dark brown and put some type of deeper green than the lighter green already in the camo, make it just a bit lighter overall but apart from that I think the pattern is actually quite good
In the Afghan National Army's defense, there were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban. Unfortunately, they were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul. Nowadays, the remnants of these former elite units have either fled to the West or are in hiding with anti-Taliban groups such as the National Resistance Front or Afghanistan Freedom Front in northeastern Afghanistan.
If what Sopko said about the showing of the patterns, in that only patterns owned by HyperStealth were shown to the Afghan government to make a choice, and no pattern by other companies, is true, then that could show some sort of foul play. Imagine if a government said that it was going to give everyone in a city a new free car, any car they wanted from a booklet, but every single car in that booklet was a car made by Ford. Sure, you wouldn't question it because you got a new car. But from the outside, it does seem that whoever that government official that was in charge of giving the new cars must have had some interest in you choosing a car made by Ford and not one made by General Motors.
In the Afghan National Army's defense, there were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban. Unfortunately, they were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul. Nowadays, the remnants of these former elite units have either fled to the West or are in hiding with anti-Taliban groups such as the National Resistance Front or Afghanistan Freedom Front in northeastern Afghanistan.
They would have been better to adopt a transitional pattern, like multicam or pencott badlands. Especially the fact that the Afghan war is the reason why many troops started to wear multicam!
Afghan Special Forces have Ghostex Kilo-1 which is a micro brushstroke in multicam colors. After that the dominant pattern for conventional Afghans and Commandos is the U.S. Woodland. It's rare to see this digital pattern, at least in my experience.
But I still wondering why did the DOD & ANA choose BDU color green instead of desert color. As might as well you create Multicam color but in a digital way.
Can you make a video on the military uniform of Pakistan and evolution of its uniform since 1947 to now? Also discussing uniforms of its paramilitary forces as well.
It doesn't matter what color of camouflage the ANA wears... the color or pattern of their uniform is never going to make them brave, dependable, professional or honorable. Everyone who has done any ops involving the ANA knows how unreliable and cowardly most of them are when it comes to battle against the Taliban or Al Qaeda, they are deadly afraid of them and many are just inserted spies informing the Taliban about American and ANA installations and ops. I worked with the ANA in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006 and they were pretty worthless as military forces go. On the other hand, the ASF were actually pretty legit troops, I enjoyed working with them. I did meet and befriend a couple of really good, solid guys serving in the ANA, but they were an exception to the rule.
The real irony of this story is that while the Afghans were getting fancy new uniforms in an effective pattern, the US Army was using the UCP, 'Useless Camouflage Pattern". UCP only went out of service this year.
ross lundberg the us army hasn’t used UCP in country since 2011 or 12. When we deployed we were issued the OCP acu and began wearing it stateside as a transitional uniform until the new uniform was rolled out, which I ets’d before I received it.
@@Warriorbob-im5py OCP was only issued in 2015 my dude. You're thinking of OEF-CP, which was commercial MultiCam (compared to OCP which is Scorpion W2, a redesigned early trial version of MultiCam). OEF-CP was an urgent purchase for Afghanistan, only for deploying troops, the rest of the folks stateside continued to wear UCP until they were issued OEF-CP for deployment or until OCP was finally chosen to officially replace UCP.
UCP was discontinued for wear in October 2019 but still remains in some specialist gear like extreme cold weather gear.
Aye who remembers the UCP-Deltas that were floating around 2006-2009?
@@junyisang8672 Yeah, instead of the actual UCP they should've originally created something like UCP-Delta (with some green as well) for woodland/dark colored environments, while taking the actual UCP and making it more tan-dominant for arid regions.
But i'm guessing they didn't follow up UCP-Delta because they figured Multicam/OCP would be more effective anyway so why bother putting in the R&D to make a new pattern when a better option already exists
And I’m over here getting issued UCP gear in the current year
If you actually look at the video, the camo blends in fine. Afghanistan is not just one big desert.
Kinda why US uses OCP and MARPAT
Trevak D'hal it’s kinda moot if you ask me. The whole point of camouflage is to blend in with your surrounding.
.
MegaAlpakka Camouflage isn’t just used to conceal a soldier, but to also to make them stand out from their enemies soldiers. Friendly fire is a very real thing, and a uniforms camouflage doesn’t make you invisible. But a camouflage is one of the easiest things a soldier can identify another soldier from.
@@nickrollstuhlfahrerson8659 That's function of a uniform not a camouflage. People always mix-up these two since militarily recently both have been combined in one package.
People who don't live in the desert I think don't realize that most deserts don't look like the sahara and in fact have quite a shit ton of green.
I live in Arizona, half the state is literally Pine trees and the other half is grey bushes on a tan sandy landscape, no green.
The only green in this area is trees way up north, or in the cities where we have five million lawns.
@@Seth9809 I live in Tucson. There's a lot of green.
@@ReverendMeat51 Tucson doesn't count, it's an area with massive irrigation projects, plumbing, and plants that don't grow natively in the area, same as Phoenix.
I've been to the outskirts for a quinceañera and I drive through the countryside twice a year to see Flagstaff or Prescott; nature of this whole half or 2/3rds of the state is just dust, dried up bushes, rocks, and tumbleweed.
@@Seth9809 So when we drive out to the desert to go shooting you're telling me all the trees and bushes aren't native and exist because of massive irrigation projects?
@@Seth9809 I lived in southern Arizona, San Tan Valley and in Mesa, there is PLENTY of greenery. Not in the form of grass but in shrubs or small trees. If you really think it's a product of irrigation then tell that to areas like San Tan.
The possibility that the ANA could have been wearing All Over Brush while the US Army was in UCP is painfully ironic.
Us government wasting money to determin if they wasted money 10 years ago?
Someone has to make someone else look bad no matter how long ago it happened.
@@s0nnyburnett there is a reason why we have trillions for the military lmfao
spending billions idling all our humvees 24/7 among other shit, but man 90 mil on uniforms in order to distinguish talib and gov forces is the problem
@@moistjohn they dont armor up them to, if you can weld then you are a god
@jeremy Lyons yeah, then you ask how much is in legal fees 😂
10:32 "we wasted 28 million of taxpayers' money in the name of fashion"
ABU tigerstripe and NWU: Allow us to introduce ourselves
I'd argue that there was a valid reasoning behind the NWU I pattern, whether it actually worked at hiding paint, dirt, and grease stains as advertised is another matter entirely. But, to me, idea was sound.
ABU tigerstripe is rad, fight me
Don’t forget UCP too
@@randycheow4268 Heck, ABU and NWU are saintly compared to UCP.
@@ReverendMeat51The Army should have used the tigerstripe. It has more of a historical connection than the Air Force.
Spec4ce sounds like a Roblox username created by an 8 year old
The entire HyperStealth company sounds like a username made by an 8 yo
True lol, gives off the same vibes as L0RD_SQUISHY
Not rly
imo it sounds like a name by either someone who is trying to be cool, or an actually cool person who is a roblox veteran
I’ve definitely been in some places in Afghanistan where I had wished my uniform looked closer to that one. Afghanistan would be a lot more forested if wood wasn’t the primary heat source and goats the primary meat source. There are also many pockets of irrigated and therefore vegetated land, even if the surrounding hills are a complete moonscape.
I always used to laugh when I would see videos of US Marines wearing their woodland uniforms in Afghanistan some times but then I realized that the country is surprised pretty green in some parts.
The Russians also dropped a lot of WP to burn down forests.
HyperStealth's marketing was so extra for a website that looked like it was made in 2001.
I remember in the early 2000s when I was a member of militaryphotos.net, we often commented on how cool the patterns were, but how mid-90s their website looked like. Try to imagine this: as outdated as it looks today, it was even worse back in the day!!
yeah, well its Canadian lol
Depending on Afgan internet speed, it might have been a plus.
That's true. When I first saw their website. I thought they were part of Tigerstripe Products.
Is actually a decent pattern, is better than the woodland at least, and the afghans seem to like it. Non-specialized press making a storm in a glass of water as usual.
alhesiad it’s actually and it’s better than btw but I agree
It's a waste of money.
It's about the same as woodland tbh. I think the more cogent criticism of it is much like with UCP. Why not just stick with woodland if the replacement is more expensive and only provides marginal improvement? Especially if they still use woodland, like the ANA commandos still do?
Same thing happened with the F-35.
alhesiad “better than woodland” LoL
Just a guess, but probably one of the reason they brought the Afghans a pattern that was not owned or used by the United States Military or the Taliban was to make identifying different factions quicker and easier.
Seems like friendly identification maybe the bigger issue. I haven't seen too many Taliban in desert patterns.
This exactly. Dressing INDFOR and BLUFOR in the same camouflage is just silly, especially if OPFOR also has access to that pattern.
They failed in that nature. By 2014, a lot of the manufacturing of the pattern shifted into China and Pakistan, and a lot of Taliban fighters wear the Afghan pattern alongside woodland. Not to mention the wholesale adoption essentially stopped after 2014... There's still a lot of ANA soldiers that wear woodland as a status thing.
@@johnkonrad5040 Big oops there.
@@s0nnyburnett Quite
Cool username btw
It seems to me that a funky uniform is the least pressing problem of the ANA.
Oh you can say that again
This has aged well.
This has aged VERY well
I would laugh but I can’t
Well, you were right, it wasnt
A big factor to also realize is that the ANA has chronic friendly fire issues along side the aforementioned risk of Taliban soldiers blending in with ANA forces. A distinctive pattern that is produced in North America, thus practically impossible for the Taliban to access will also have the benefit of making friendly ID easier.
"We wasted $28 million of taxpayer's money in the name of fashion" said the government in their three new grey and blue uniforms that cost over five billion
holy cow! those red Xs starting at 7:40 are disorienting
I thought I was having a stroke lol
I thought it was timed identification test. Wrong, wrong, wrong!!!!!
I didn't even notice it lol
You'll find most of the fighting (was) is in and around the green zones in Afghanistan. Where desert patterns (or UCP) can stand out, as the US and UK found out, and why Multicam and MTP were brought in. The mix of desert and temperate colours would clash with patterns made solely for use in desert or woodland type AO's. In the early days of UK forces in Afghanistan a mixture that was seen a lot, consisting of desert DPM trousers and DPM smocks.
Tank khaki colored camo would've worked best because of the infrastructures generally being all-around dirt colored. From the footages I've see, a lot of combat happens in green zones but tend to be around urban environments mixed with rural engagements.
YES !! I'm so happy you are back with another video.
A video about Chinese camouflages would be nice.
Oh, that would be cool..but would probably have to be a multi part series, since the Chinese are second only to the Russians in a dizzying number of camos in service at one time.
You trying to kill the guy?
I worked with troops wearing this Afghan camouflage pattern and it is effective and works great in the Afghan countryside. Arid doesn’t mean devoid of green, villages are normal located in areas that are fertile. The mountains look barren from the air but from the ground, there is a lot of vegetation.
At 2:04, the 4th man from the left in the rear row is wearing a Norwegian desert uniform.
That he is. Probably a commercial imitation.
Am I the only one thinking that the amount of money that the congressman is having his hissy fit about is more or less what the US Army spends in coffee in a month? Any pork barrel project for key states is ten times that sum. It looks like cheap grandstanding to me.
It's one part of waste for a giant shit sandwich. Reading through SIGAR reports is like reading through how quickly someone can set millions of dollars on fire on a week-by-week basis.
Agreed. We spend billions to build a single fighter, and an Abrams cost about three million a piece, so we're able to totally reequip a critical ally with a new uniform pattern for less than what ten of those suckers cost
That money they spent on fancy useless camo that would make no difference at all for the afghan army until they actually fix the internal issues, could've been spent on giving more support to citizens back home due to the coronavirus
@@Jake4595 Lmao this was done before Covid pal stop your political bullshit. Even then, go cry about UCP and F35 project, both failures that costed billions.
Even in the more arid and desert-ey areas of Afghanistan, the majority of the combat takes place in the vegetated 'green zones' around water sources where farming takes place.
Afghanistan is pretty green on average
Is and isn't. Much of it is arid, but most population centres are in green, irrigated places. No one likes living in the desert.
Using one pattern or another is a trade-off either which way. Personally, I've come to the conclusion that unless you're fighting in the sandiest desert you can find, a woodland pattern works pretty well regardless.
I heard about this story a while, ago. But I never thought it was actually much more complicated...
Its a very interesting video, keep up the good work!
Been waiting on this one.
I actually like the Afghan's cammies tbh.
Strangely enough, a similar camo pattern, US4CES, was also considered to replace UCP before the Army decided to switch to OCP
His Dudeness Interesting
Heresy
@@HisDudeness1986 is that suppose to read "US Forces" or "US Aces"?
@@thesturm8686 it reads as “US Forces”. If you haven’t already, check out their stuff. It looks legit!
Since the ANA dropped the ball so badly they’re lucky the US didn’t make them wear duck hunter orange.
Hyperstealth is also the origin of my country's (Philippines) army uniform...which can be scene on the vid 3:31... but there was also an issue being almost similar to Cadpat
KiLDELTA honestly when you compare the Philippine camouflage to CADPAT, it’s more unique by quite a bit than say Estonien Pattern or Finnish MO5. But I can certainly see your point.
@@jaredpeabody894 yeah that would be correct, there are differences... the Estonian is much closer... there will always be issues. It would really depend if that camo suits the env where it is being deployed.
Wow i did not know hyper stealth desined the philippine army pattern...ehem mind making an episode out of it?...... :)
I actually want him to tackle the older patterns such as the Phil.Marine Corps' Malunggay pattern, different shades of ERDL and Woodland used by the Army and Constabulary before the Army adopted the DPM as well as older brushstroke looking patterns used by Scout Rangers and Special Forces in the 60s and 70s but sadly it will be very difficult as there are nearly no available references on its isage except for Camopedia. For uniqueness though, I believe the very short-lived blue DPM used by the air Force and Police might be given a mention if he tackles the DPM.
Hyperstealth sued the Philippine government because the new PHILARPAT (Philippine Camo) is just a copy of their CADPAT camo. Sort of a messy situation they got themselves into.
@ CADPAT is owned by the Canadian government, not Hyperstealth.
It’s a nice pattern. Looks cool too. If we’re concerned about the clash between the pattern and the majority of Afghanistan being... well semi arid, then have this pattern be the standard uniform pattern and also adopt the desert dune pattern along side.
Since we already seen the mujihadeen's uniforms can you make a Soviet Afghanka Uniform pattern (as well its camouflage) please?
Over two deployments in Afghanistan, I remember the ANA and ANCOP uniforms well. Being Canadian, I felt a bit of pride knowing that they were designed and made by one of ours (Guy Kramer). It was also cool (to me, anyway) that I happened to live in the same town outside Vancouver where all this happened. I had no idea, however, of the controversy.
Nice video on the new Taliban uniforms!
Good job Biden
Haha when I was in Afghanistan, my platoon had to pick up a bunch of these and bring them back to our ANA guys. They were all super pumped and excited to have new uniforms! The pattern is pretty decent actually especially in the North and East of Afghanistan.
Always surprised you don’t have more subs, well done as always.
it's almost like one of the main reasons that war dragged on so long w/ no strategic goal or plan was to be a feeding frenzy for logistics contractors
It actually looks pretty good to me it seems fairly effective and it seems to greatly enhance the feeling of outwards unity and professionalism
@احمد for sure but even small things like uniforms and cammouflage can have a good effect on morale and cohesion the ANA just failed in the rest
@احمد i believe you 100% the west tried to restructure something that should have been burned to the ground when they instead should've completely started over like russia started doing is syria with some success
And all of this controversy doesn't matter anymore as the Afghan military and govt are no more. What a waste of lives and time/money for such a corrupt govt.
There were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban but unfortunately were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul.
"skimming through the internet and finding a pattern he found 'cool'"
LMFAO
10:23 I laughed so hard, because that jumped to my mind a minute earlier. Because you actually could give those guys a pink uniform, they would't care, they just want a pretty uniform.
C De V helps with esprit de corps, which the ANA desperately needs
Pink is actually used in some patterns, with varying degrees of success. They're mostly desert patterns even.
@@AshleyBlackwater Back in the early days, the SAS enjoyed geat success with their pink jeeps xD
@@AshleyBlackwater Some US marpat desert variations actually use a slight pink shade.
During Desert Storm, we had a number of vehicles painted in desert pink.
Fascinating! Another well researched and informative presentation!
I brought back a full set and its probably the coolest thing I got over there.
0:19 Like multicam and high cuts right now...
Maybe...
@S a p i e n 2 0 1 6 It's only popular because of some special forces using it not because of it's performance. It's a descent camo though just nothing special.
Luke L. Any camouflage pattern is like a godsent compared to UCP
@@Punisher9419 Imo it's still more a desert pattern. In forest you have to make more of an effort to hide, and after a few washes it kinda just turns really tan anyway.
13:08 can we stop for a moment and appreciate how cool this guy looks?
@RogerwilcoFoxtrot I would like to get a chocolate chip someday, altough I'm still waiting for an occasion to use a desert tri tone bdu for softair.
Balaclava and goggles are always an good combo
I usually don’t like digital cami but this is really cool. Also keep up the good work
Great video.
As a collector of Afghan National Army equipment and uniforms and leader of an ANA reenactment group, I was hoping you get more in detail with the various cuts, styles and makers of the uniform.
But still a great video for a great camoflage.
Another point for camo (beyond authority and a kind of solidarity) is that, while it won’t do as much to give concealment like a gillie suit would. The patterns (apparently, especially the 6 color desert and “digital” camos according to my active duty and retired friends) are designed and implemented to break up the wearers outline. If you’re wearing a modern woodland variant with trees at your back, yes you’ll still be visible, but the pattern makes it difficult to see where the background ends and you begin. Without magnification at least.
Seeing it in person really messes with your head. It can make people seem 10 feet tall or 3 feet tall. If a squad is layered a certain way, it can look like one person is 12 feet wide and holding 2 rifles. If they didn’t have a gun, you wouldn’t see them unless you knew where to look or you saw them move. That’s even from 50 yards. That’s a huge intimidation factor. You can see them right there, but the camis make it seem like you wouldn’t be able to hit them.
Nice video over all. Gratz.
As usual, someone with friends at the MOD made a lot of money. And that is the same in every country. Of course the MOD can always back its decisions with scientific research. Even if the camo would be pink.
@Johnny Dong That's actually right, and it's one of the standout colors of MC if you look closer. And MC - now THAT is a waste of money, even if it's quite decent for what it does, with every client adopting it paying for R&D and a microscopic redesign again, over and over. Brilliantly masterminded grift (MultiScam).
10:27
Pink camo is actually excellent in deserts so if the Afghan MOD chose a pink camo pattern, or even a solid light pink color, with most of the country being arid, it would've been a better choice than the SPEC4CE pattern
Norwegian desert camo is kinda pink, and it works like a dream on the sand. It does show up in the video too, in the picture with a bunch of guys wearing vaious camouflages.
Not THAT pink though. I know Russians actually deployed with slight pink solid color uniforms in Syria and it worked surprisingly well.
Can we get more videos about hyperstealth and who uses their camo patterns?
3:37 based on the flags, Afghanistan, USA, Philippines, Mexico, Jordan
Great videos man! I'd love to see a video about the finnish M05 camouflage, since it have a pretty cool development! Keep up with the good work!
Videos like this aged like fine wine
aged more like milk
In the Afghan National Army's defense, there were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban. Unfortunately, they were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul. Nowadays, the remnants of these former elite units have either fled to the West or are in hiding with anti-Taliban groups such as the National Resistance Front or Afghanistan Freedom Front in northeastern Afghanistan.
That's actually a really good looking cammoflage that looks like it would work pretty good! Especially having the option to have the desert variant! I'm impressed! It's like a mix between MARPAT Woodland and the Navy's NWU type three!!
This was a very interesting video, it's also interesting that we have an ally camouflage uniforms that look and blend in better than what we were using at the time🤦🏻♂️.
Your videos are really informative, as a South African, I would like to hear about the development of the soldier 2000 pattern which is specifically designed for South Africa. It is an indigenous design that works well throughout the country and rest of Africa. It would be interesting to hear what you information you can find?
11:57 love the old skool DPM tropics 😀
SAS fella, prime Allyness :D
I'm an Afghan born and was an interpreter for ISAF as well as American military for 6 years. There's nothing wrong with this camo. If you drive from the capital of Kabul to Helmand you will come across desert, forest, mountains, and valleys. There's no pattern that works well with all terrains. The Afghan military is not even aware that there's a controversy about this camo in America. I understand the cost, but the camo itself is fine as far as I know.
Are you saying all of Central Asia isn’t one giant dune-swept Saharan desert teeming with oases of oil and Arabs?
Regardless of the camo, the effectiveness of the soldier probably counts more. IDF soldiers have been wearing plain OG for years in an arid environment, and they are still among the world's best.
I mean if it works for them I don't really see the issue. Espirt De Corps is important. If soldiers feel pride in they're uniform and themselves, it helps a decent amount.
Great video. Very interesting stuff!
14:07 "Tickle Tickle!" xD
You should overlay a map of contact locations throughout the country and then compare the camouflage pattern
This isn't the ANA's camo anymore. This is the official Taliban camo now.
thanks to ANA cowardice.. unlike Ukrainians, Georgians, and Armenians who fought for their land (lost or not)
Hi can you please do videos on French LIZARD STRIPE and its variants also Italian VEGATATO has been my favourite autumn pattern for years cheers great videos keep the up pal
Honestly i think it is a little to dark/saturated for a multi environment use (in the pictures but not the background interestingly) but all of this just proves that most think its more fun to point fingers than to research
ACU worked in Afghan mountains as well this camo works as well.
10:19 pink was used for desert camo by multiple groups such as the sas... *Mr. Sopko* "
Interesting, thanks for the well research video, I wore multicam (deployed) and I now use W2. In my area their camo was pretty good but I know it was not great everywhere. That said Congress, like many civilians don't understand AF is different than Iraq.
0:16 - 0:26
Can't help but think that'll be the case with multicam now that everyone and their grandma is using it in some form or another.
Would also like to request a video on the Serbian police blue/purple tiger stripe pattern.
I have a friend who served and he told me he barely saw sand. He told me is was just hills and farmland so idk what the problem is
You gotta admit it, this camo is pretty badass
They should of did a certain amount of woodland depending on how many estimated soldiers would be in the woodland areas and so on with the estimated soldiers in the arid areas.
only southern Afghanistan is super arid. like, everything south of Kandahar. but north of that, this is a pretty effective pattern. Northern Afghanistan has a lot of trees and lush vegetation in valleys.
In the Afghan National Army's defense, there were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban. Unfortunately, they were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul. Nowadays, the remnants of these former elite units have either fled to the West or are in hiding with anti-Taliban groups such as the National Resistance Front or Afghanistan Freedom Front in northeastern Afghanistan.
Is there an episode on the Australian Defence Force patterns? If not, is it a possibility that one will be made in the near-future?
3:13 That's probably the ugliest official seal I'll ever see.
This is a report i reallywanted to see.
And again media talking about something they know nothing about. I'm not a specialist on camos but I think the camo blends in pretty well
Agreed, and it definitely works a lot better than UCP, even when UCP's colour blends OK it still lacks enough contrast and macro pattern in it to properly work.
Yep, and meanwhile we got dudes going around in fresh concrete colored cammies. Or the Navy in their awful dark blue uniforms. Sure it didn't really matter for them as much, but if the big "US NAVY" on the ship didn't give them away, the blueberries walking around on it did.
This is actually a really good camo in the forests of the PNW... Maybe not so much the dense green of the costal forest but the forest inland most definitely.
Personally, as long as camouflage can break patterns in shadows and seaming on a uniform, it's a fine camouflage. Blending into the environment just depends on where the soldiers will hide, not necessarily the general look of the environment - will they hide behind a sandy, yellow rock, or behind a bush or treeline most of the time?
At least it blends with forested areas like Tangi Valley, Afghanistan wasn’t all desert meanwhile we have UCP which does not blend with anything (except rocks and snow)
It is probably outside your perview but how about a review/history of the ConCamo Ghost Hood? I know it's extremely modern and not much history behind it but it's quite different in its approach to camouflage.
Nice vid! Wondered why their camo appeared so green & brown, like it belonged in a forest area.
Not a dumb decision at all, such a unique and proprietary uniform makes it far more difficult for enemy forces to imitate and blend for inside attacks, also makes it easier to ID friendly ANA troops
I would probably take away the really dark brown and put some type of deeper green than the lighter green already in the camo, make it just a bit lighter overall but apart from that I think the pattern is actually quite good
Been eyeing Hyperstealth's patterns for a long time. Just wish I could get them.
Good job
10:26
"erm...should we tell him that pink was found to be very effective in desert climates?.."
All those soldiers marching with their Barrett .50’s is a perfect representation of Modern Warfare 2019 right now
shame it never saw combat...the ANA folded quicker than superman on laundry day.
In the Afghan National Army's defense, there were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban. Unfortunately, they were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul. Nowadays, the remnants of these former elite units have either fled to the West or are in hiding with anti-Taliban groups such as the National Resistance Front or Afghanistan Freedom Front in northeastern Afghanistan.
If what Sopko said about the showing of the patterns, in that only patterns owned by HyperStealth were shown to the Afghan government to make a choice, and no pattern by other companies, is true, then that could show some sort of foul play. Imagine if a government said that it was going to give everyone in a city a new free car, any car they wanted from a booklet, but every single car in that booklet was a car made by Ford. Sure, you wouldn't question it because you got a new car. But from the outside, it does seem that whoever that government official that was in charge of giving the new cars must have had some interest in you choosing a car made by Ford and not one made by General Motors.
They should of just Dyed the US ACU’s and given them that pattern uniform
Are those Kurdish YPG regulars in Syria sporting a similar pattern to this one? Was wondering where they got ‘em from.
There’s nothing wrong with that camo in my opinion and it’s a damn good looking uniform, far better looking than most countries’ gear.
Probably the least controversial thing about the Afghan National Army
In the Afghan National Army's defense, there were some units such as the ANA Commando Corps which fought valiantly against the Taliban. Unfortunately, they were let down by corrupt and incompetent leadership in Kabul. Nowadays, the remnants of these former elite units have either fled to the West or are in hiding with anti-Taliban groups such as the National Resistance Front or Afghanistan Freedom Front in northeastern Afghanistan.
11:46
so I'm guessing it was good for the Canadian Army to wear CADPAT TW on their first year deployment to Afghanistan
Procurement system is a joke.
They would have been better to adopt a transitional pattern, like multicam or pencott badlands. Especially the fact that the Afghan war is the reason why many troops started to wear multicam!
Afghan Special Forces have Ghostex Kilo-1 which is a micro brushstroke in multicam colors. After that the dominant pattern for conventional Afghans and Commandos is the U.S. Woodland. It's rare to see this digital pattern, at least in my experience.
But I still wondering why did the DOD & ANA choose BDU color green instead of desert color. As might as well you create Multicam color but in a digital way.
Can you make a video on the military uniform of Pakistan and evolution of its uniform since 1947 to now? Also discussing uniforms of its paramilitary forces as well.
It doesn't matter what color of camouflage the ANA wears... the color or pattern of their uniform is never going to make them brave, dependable, professional or honorable. Everyone who has done any ops involving the ANA knows how unreliable and cowardly most of them are when it comes to battle against the Taliban or Al Qaeda, they are deadly afraid of them and many are just inserted spies informing the Taliban about American and ANA installations and ops. I worked with the ANA in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006 and they were pretty worthless as military forces go. On the other hand, the ASF were actually pretty legit troops, I enjoyed working with them. I did meet and befriend a couple of really good, solid guys serving in the ANA, but they were an exception to the rule.