The Frog Skin is a

battledress A combat uniform, also called field uniform, battledress or military fatigues, is a casual type of uniform used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for everyday fieldwork and combat duty purposes, as opposed to dress ...

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

patternEastman: Frog Skin pattern
with

mottle Mottle is a pattern of irregular marks, spots, streaks, blotches or patches of different shades or colours. It is commonly used to describe the surface of plants or the skin of animals. In plants, mottling usually consists of yellowish spots o ...

and

disruptive coloration Disruptive coloration (also known as disruptive camouflage or disruptive patterning) is a form of camouflage that works by breaking up the outlines of an animal, soldier or military vehicle with a strongly contrasting pattern. It is often comb ...

to blend into the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

similar to a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

crypsis In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an animal or a plant to avoid observation or detection by other animals. It may be a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation. Methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean lifestyle and ...

skin. The M1942 Frog Skin pattern was the United States military's first attempt at

camouflage.

History

In 1942, the

Marine Raiders The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare. " Edson's" Raiders of 1st Marine Raider Battalion and " Carlson's" Ra ...

were the first issued the Frog Skin uniform, which was reversible with a five-color

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

pattern on a green background on one side and a three-color

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

pattern with a tan background on the other side.The Complex Guide to Camo
/ref> The pattern was made for the M1942 Reversible Spot Pattern and P42 Camo utility uniform based on the herringbone twill (HBT) cotton fabric. The

Paramarines The Paramarines (also known as Marine paratroopers) was a short-lived specialized combat unit of the United States Marine Corps, trained to be dropped from planes by parachute. Marine parachute training which began in New Jersey in October 19 ...

had their own pattern uniform in the same camouflage pattern in the

Bougainville campaign The Bougainville campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan, named after the island of Bougainville. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied ...

. The uniform was worn by the Marines in other campaigns, notably the

Battle of Tarawa The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, an ...

. In the ETO certain US Infantry divisions wore the uniform in France, but the uniform was withdrawn for resembling German camouflaged uniforms. By January 1944, production of the pattern was stopped with the uniforms being sold as surplus. It found its way to civilians, including duck hunters. This led to the adoption of the name ''Duck Hunter'' camo.

Combat Use

The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

used the pattern in limited use in the Korean War for Marines for helmets as helmet covers. The Frog Skin pattern to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

who issued it to their

1st Foreign Parachute Regiment The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (french: 1er Régiment Etranger de Parachutistes, 1er REP) was an airborne regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army which dated its origins to 1948. The regiment fought in the First Indochina War as th ...

and 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment during the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

.Toronto Standard: A Short History of Camouflage
/ref> In 1961, the

Cuban exile A Cuban exile is a person who emigrated from Cuba in the Cuban exodus. Exiles have various differing experiences as emigrants depending on when they migrated during the exodus. Demographics Social class Cuban exiles would come from various eco ...

Brigade 2506 Brigade 2506 (Brigada Asalto 2506) was a CIA-sponsored group of Cuban exiles formed in 1960 to attempt the military overthrow of the Cuban government headed by Fidel Castro. It carried out the abortive Bay of Pigs Invasion landings in Cuba on 17 ...

were issued the Frog Skin pattern by the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) for the

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fina ...

. During the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, the

United States Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal ...

issued Frog Skin to the Montagnard for their

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

activities. Navy SEALs and Rangers resorted to using the camo due to a lack of a standard camouflage. Army Special Forces advisers, sailors and Marines attached to the Military Assistance Command Vietnam — Naval Advisory Group and the CIDG also used it before Tigerstripe uniforms were issued.

Design

The design was done by Norvell Gillespie, a civilian horticulturist and the gardening editor for Better Homes & Gardens magazine, at the request of the US military. 150,000 uniforms in the pattern were ordered. Feedback from American soldiers who used it said that the lighter color base stood out when moving in the dark jungle.

Similar patterns

The

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

created

Flecktarn ''Flecktarn'' (; "mottled camouflage"; also known as ''Flecktarnmuster'' or ''Fleckentarn'') is a family of 3-, 4-, 5- or 6-color disruptive camouflage patterns, the most common being the five-color pattern, consisting of dark green, light green ...

is a multi-colored mottled pattern, which creates a

dithering Dither is an intentionally applied form of noise used to randomize quantization error, preventing large-scale patterns such as color banding in images. Dither is routinely used in processing of both digital audio and video data, and is often ...

effect by eliminating hard color boundaries and has been adopted by many countries. The

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...

Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform is a five-color mottle pattern, which utilizes

to break up a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

s outline with a strongly contrasting design. The duck hunter camouflage pattern was first seen with some American units fighting in Vietnam, based on the frog skin pattern.

Users

* : Acquired M1942 camos in 1968 for Biafran soldiers. Pro-Biafran mercenaries recruited also use the same camos. * : Wore camouflage patterns based on the M1942. * :

and 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment in First Indochina War. * : ** Brimob forces wore copies based on the US M1942 from 1965. ** Pasukan Gerak Tjepat and Resimen Para Komando Angkatan Dara commandos wore copies based on the M1942 pattern. Original M1942 camo uniforms were used back in the 1950s by PGT/RPKAD and airborne troops from 1954 to 1960, worn with the green pattern visible. * : Copies worn by the Mexican military. * * : **

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Camouflage Camouflage patterns Military camouflage Military equipment introduced from 1940 to 1944