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This unusual photo shows both the Woodland Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform and the Desert Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform. An urban version of the pattern was trialled, but not accepted. [Image: Official Website for the United States Marine Corps.]

Desert MARPAT
United States of America

The origin of MARPAT has been a bone of contention since its public appearance in 2002. While many insisted that it was nothing more than a copy of Canada's digital CADPAT camouflage pattern, others avowed that it was not.

In 2003, an article titled 'MARPAT — A Personal Tale — From one of the designers of the Marine Pattern camouflage' appeared on the Military Morons Web site. The article describes a lengthy process, by which MARPAT allegedly was produced. Specifically, it claimed that:

We arrived at the design of the pattern by having the girl create a 'snow' screen on her computer to simulate that of a TV with no reception. She then went in and sectioned out areas of the pattern to which our colors were then added. It took a good bit of refining and pattern modification, but by the second day it came out good. We tweaked the colors just a bit more, printed out a sample, and were done.

A postscript to the article elaborates: 'I will officially dispel the current circulating rumor that the Canadians helped "advise" the Marine Corps on the design of MARPAT. At no point in time in any shape, form or fashion did we consult, solicit or even ask a modest opinion from the Canadians.' This assertion notwithstanding, a different story has been revealed through declassified information, which is now publicly available. Moreover, the newer tale has been corroborated by CADPAT Project Manager, Major D. Palmer.

According to Major Palmer, the USMC was aware of CADPAT and expressed a great deal of interest during the latter stages of its development.

This interest peaked when tests and field trials demonstrated the superiority of CADPAT over every other temperate pattern that was being fielded at the time. So, the Canadian government shared CADPAT with the USMC under a bilateral military 'exchange agreement'. In other words, MARPAT is derived directly from CADPAT — as Guy Cramer, CEO of Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp. has conclusively demonstrated in his online article, 'Who did it first: Canada or the U.S.?'.

In this same article, Cramer also demonstrates that the Desert MARPAT is all but identical to an early desert version of CADPAT, which was not adopted.

kamouflage.net is grateful to Premier Defence Agencies, Military Morons, Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp., and Strike — Hold!, for their invaluable contributions to this article.

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