Camouflage

=C a m o u f l a g e =

= Camouflage- = = The act, means, or result of obscuring things to deceive an enemy, as by painting or screening objects so that they are lost to view in the background, or by making up objects that from a distance have the appearance of fortifications, guns, roads or other military assets. =


 * During the Vietnam War many things were concealed using the concept of camouflage. The American troops really didn't cover more than just troops and vehicles. The American soldiers occasionally had a set of tiger stripe fatigues but usually they remained in woodland fatigues. Most of the vehicles used, that were capable of being deployed in terrains as harsh as Vietnam's, were painted olive drab because it allowed a solid base colour that allows a decent breakup of the outline in the forest. Most of the American artillery positions were covered by woodland camouflage nets. But in comparison to the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong our camouflage was nothing.
 * The jungle of North Vietnam was riddled with traps, enemy combatants, pathways, and storage depots. Yet we had a hard time seeing any of it... The reason why is because it was all camouflaged into the background and even hidden below the ground. The clip below shows how wellmedia type="custom" key="17496634" align="right" the holes were used to hide soldiers and how well the traps work.
 * There was a significant amount of disturbances within the US ranks due to the psychological factors of a enemy who knew how to properly use camouflage to their advantage. Due to the fact the VC were experts at hiding themselves in plain sight some soldiers gave them the name of the VC ghosts.
 * In his book Tim O'Brien covered this topic:"Ghosts wiping out a whole marine platoon in 20 seconds flat. Ghosts rising from the dead.Ghosts behind you and in front of you and inside you" (O' Brien 205). The enemy could quite literally show up, wipe out a whole squad of soldiers and then disappear right back into the forest without so much as footprints and casings.

en.bestpicturesof.com

Back to the Home Page