Original US issue Trousers, Desert Camouflage Pattern, Combat, in the six color print, on contract DLA100-83-C-0692 to Winfield Mfg. Co., Inc. X-Large Short, 50 percent cotton and 50 percent nylon. Instruction and size labels both intact and fully legible.

A 1983 contract puts this pair near the front of the line. The six color went into issue in 1981, and in those first years it did not go to the Army at large. It went to the Rapid Deployment Force, the standing contingency formation created to put American troops into the Persian Gulf on short notice, and to the units that flew to Egypt for the Bright Star exercises. This is a garment from the years when the American desert army was still an idea being rehearsed rather than a force at war.

The design is older than that by a long way. The pattern was drawn in 1960 by John H. Hopkins at MERADCOM and formalized in 1970, modeled on the rocky deserts of the American southwest, at a time when planners were thinking about American involvement in an Arab-Israeli war. When that prospect cooled the pattern was shelved, and it sat unused until the late 1970s brought the Middle East back to the top of the list.

Look closely at what the print is doing. A light tan ground carries broad sweeps of pale green and two tone bands of brown, and scattered over all of it are clusters of black and white spots meant to read as pebbles and the shadows they cast. It is a literal painting of desert floor, rocks included, which is where the chocolate chip and cookie dough nicknames come from.

Then it went to war and the theory failed. In August 1990 the United States deployed to Saudi Arabia in six color, and this print became the uniform of Desert Shield and Desert Storm, in every photograph and every broadcast of that war. Soldiers found it contrasted too hard against the flat open ground they were actually fighting over, terrain with none of the rock clusters the pattern was built to mimic, and the dark areas pulled heat in a place that needed no help. The three color replacement had been standardized in 1990 but could not be produced fast enough. The six color was discontinued after 1991.

For a collector, an early 1983 contract pair carries the whole arc. It was made for a war that had not happened yet, in a pattern designed for a war that never came, by an Army preparing for the Gulf a decade before it got there. It anchors a Desert Storm display and pairs naturally with the desert night camouflage overgarments cut to go over it.

CONDITION AND DETAILS

Size X-Large Short per the label
Waist over 39 inches, adjustable by tabs on the waistband
Inseam 26 1/2 to 29 1/2 inches
NSN 8415-01-102-6808, NATO size 6775/9909
Contract DLA100-83-C-0692, Winfield Mfg. Co., Inc.
50 percent cotton, 50 percent nylon
Fabric sound throughout with strong color and a crisp print
Light overall wear consistent with service use and laundering
Waist adjustment tabs and buckles present and functional
Both leg bottom drawcords present with tips intact
Button fly complete, all buttons present
Cargo pockets, hip pockets, watch pocket and all flaps present and sound
Instruction and size labels both present and fully legible, with a period blue ink mark to the size label
No insignia, markings or name to the garment
No holes, tears or repairs noted

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