Original US issue Trousers, Night Camouflage, Desert, in the two color grid pattern, on contract DLA100-84-C-0616 to Glenn Berry Mfrs., Inc. Small Regular, 50 percent cotton and 50 percent nylon. Instruction label intact and fully legible.

Very few American uniforms were built to defeat a specific enemy sensor. This one was. Research into the grid began in 1972 and went to field trial in 1976, and the requirement was concealment from Soviet built night vision devices. The result pairs a light green ground with a dark green grid and rubble print, the idea being that cross hatching and irregular blotches would scatter a man’s outline under image intensification rather than to the naked eye. Issue began in limited quantity from 1981 and expanded through the mid 1980s contracts, of which this is one.

It was never meant to be worn on its own. The parka and overpants went over the six color chocolate chip Desert Battle Dress Uniform for night work, and the label spells out the drill: wear as outer garment in desert areas for night camouflage, adjust waist by drawcord, wear leg bottoms outside footgear and secure drawcords. Do not starch.

The reckoning came in the Gulf. Issue expanded sharply for Desert Shield and Desert Storm and the sets went to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in quantity. A Marine Corps scout sniper section put the pattern up against an AN/PVS-5 and found it performed worse than the standard day desert uniform and worse than winter overwhites. Troops found the overgarments hot and bulky in a theater that was already both, and a great many went to the bottom of a duffel bag and stayed there. Within a decade the whole idea was obsolete. Foreign night vision capability outran the grid, and infrared reflective treatment built directly into uniform cloth removed any reason for a separate night garment at all.

That short unhappy service life is exactly what makes the pattern collectable. It is a documented case of the American military identifying a technological threat, designing cloth against it, buying that cloth at scale, sending it to a real war, testing it under fire, and concluding it did not work. It belongs in a Gulf War display beside the chocolate chip DBDU it was cut to cover, and in any collection following the long contest between concealment and the sensors built to defeat it. The pattern’s second life as a streetwear curiosity and a reproduction staple has steadily thinned the supply of honest 1980s contract originals.

CONDITION AND DETAILS

Size Small Regular per the label
Waist 27 to 31 inches, adjustable by internal drawcord
Inseam 29 1/2 to 32 1/2 inches
NSN 8415-01-102-6289
Contract DLA100-84-C-0616, Glenn Berry Mfrs., Inc.
50 percent cotton, 50 percent nylon
Exterior fabric sound throughout with strong color and a crisp print
Heavier discoloration and staining inside the waistband, fly and seat area, largely hidden when worn or displayed
Light staining to the outside of the seat and lower legs
Waist drawcord present and functional
Both leg bottom drawcords present with tips intact
Hook and loop fly closure present and functional
Cargo pockets, hip pockets and all flaps present and sound
Instruction and size label present and fully legible
No insignia, markings or name to the garment
No holes, tears or repairs noted

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