Frag Out! Magazine

blobs (matching the "rocky" parts from the six-color desert camou- flage) were disrupting the image in the device. In 1981 US Armed Forces started to field (in very lim- ited numbers and only for the rapid deployment forces sent to the Mid- dle East), six-color day desert cam- ouflage uniforms and desert night camouflage parkas and overpants (with liners for cold desert nights). It changed dramatically when Iraq in- vaded Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm began. Massive numbers of US soldiers were issued with day and night camouflage uniforms. But it appeared that DNC is no longer effective against night vision as the advancements made in NVD tech- nology for 15 years were essentially a leap. The dyes used in DNC par- kas were… glowing in the more modern night vision devices from the 1980s and at the same time, daytime camouflage pattern was printed with near-infrared compli- ant dyes making it effective in night vision devices too. The DNC parkas became obsolete and were mostly used for non-com- bat rear echelon duties like guards, insulation layer or as… bathrobes. They were useless on the modern battlefield of the 1990 era. But they were loved for their thermal com- fort when used with liners. After the Gulf War DNC items were sur- plused. Desert Night Camo returned for a while when US Special Forces operators were issued with reversible Gore-Tex par- kas and pants. Quite common were Woodland/Desert 3-color or Woodland/Tan but there was also a Desert 3-color/Desert Night variant. These could be spotted on the photos from the very early stage of Operation Enduring Freedom. In meantime, this grid camo pattern, as something abso- lutely non-tactical/non-military looking, quickly gained some popularity in fashion. Well, it wasn't a mainstream pattern but some of the companies were making their soft goods in DNC-ish patterns (for ex- ample, The North Face). DNC had to wait couple years more. Somewhere around 2019, more and more people are buying old DNC parkas and are modifying them or cutting into complete- ly new garments. Skip forward to 2020 and the DNC is "the thing" same as M81 Woodland god's plaid three years earlier. Someone founds the minty roll of fabric and replicates the pat- tern to print it on 50/50 NYCO fabric and 500D nylon. Every company has something in the DNC. In 2021 we already had nylons, stretch fabrics and hook and loops manufactured on full scale in Asia. 2021 is not only another year of pandemic but also the year of the DNC. In the same year, the Helikon-Tex jumped on the bandwagon. DNC @ HTX The Polish Helikon-Tex brand couldn't allow itself to miss such an opportunity and de- cided to add the Desert Night Camouflage to its already huge offering of camouflage patterns 66 www.fragoutmag.com

• Cover