The Camouflage the Army Wouldn't Issue in Vietnam, So Grunts Bought Their Own

The Army sent its infantry into the jungle in solid olive green. The men who went out quiet, advisors, Special Forces, recon teams and SEALs, wore tiger stripe, a pattern born from French lizard camouflage and the South Vietnamese Marines. Ordinary grunts paid local tailors to make their own sets, and many of those stripes are still folded in closets today. Sources: - Shelby L. Stanton, U.S. Army Uniforms of the Vietnam War (Stackpole Books, 1989) - Francis J. Kelly, U.S. Army Special Forces 1961-1971, Vietnam Studies (Department of the Army, 1973) - Accounts from Army and Marine veterans of the Vietnam War, including comments left on this channel (used without names)