Frog skin, also known as duck hunter, is a

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 b ...

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 on ...

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 hardware with a strongly contrasting pattern. It is often com ...

to blend into the environment. It is named for its similarity to a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

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

skin. The frog skin pattern was the United States military's first attempt at

camouflage.

History

The US Army began experiments with camouflage in 1940–1941. The frog skin pattern was designed 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. 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 warfare, amphibious light infantry warfare. Despite the original intent for Raiders to serve ...

were the first issued a frog skin pattern uniform, which was reversible with a five-color

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

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 (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

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 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 on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, and Am ...

. In the

European theatre of operations The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II, taking place from September 1939 to May 1945. The Allied powers (including the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union and Franc ...

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. Surplus uniforms became popular among hunters, which led to the common alternate nickname ''duck hunter'' camo.

Later use

The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

used the pattern in limited use in the Korean War for Marines for helmets as helmet covers. The frog skin pattern was issued to France's

1st Foreign Parachute Regiment The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment () 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 the three-time reconstituted 1st Foreign Parachute Battali ...

and

2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment () is the only airborne regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. It is one of the four infantry regiments of the 11th Parachute Brigade and part of the spearhead of the French rapid reaction force. Si ...

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, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

. In 1961, the

Cuban exile A Cuban exile is a person who has been exiled from Cuba. Many Cuban exiles have various differing experiences as emigrants depending on when they emigrated from Cuba, and why they emigrated. The exile of Cubans has been a dominating factor in C ...

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 ...

were issued the frog skin pattern by the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA) for the

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...

. During the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, the

United States Special Forces United States special operations forces (SOF) are the active and reserve component forces of the United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force within the US military, as designated by the Secretary of Defense and specifically organized, ...

issued frog skin to the Montagnard for their

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

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

tiger stripe camouflage Tiger stripe is the name of a group of camouflage patterns developed for close-range use in dense jungle during jungle warfare by the South Vietnamese Armed Forces and adopted in late 1962 to early 1963 by US Special Forces during the Vietnam W ...

uniforms were issued. File:Marine-raiders.jpg, Marine Raiders in frog skin pattern uniforms File:SAF adviser briefing Montagnard strike force before moving out against nearby Viet Cong guerrillas.png, SAF adviser briefing a Montagnard strike force wearing frog skin File:Vietnam....Staff Sergeant Howard Stevens, a Special Forces advisor to a Montagnard strike force, gets a chance to... - NARA - 531440.tif, SF advisor to Montagnards relaxing

Similar patterns

The German-created

Flecktarn ''Flecktarn'' (; "mottled camouflage"; also known as ''Flecktarnmuster'' or ''Fleckentarn'') is a family of three-, four-, five- or six-color disruptive camouflage patterns, the most common being the five-color pattern, consisting of dark gree ...

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 Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...

Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform (DPCU), also nicknamed Auscam, jelly bean camo, or hearts and bunnies is a five-colour military camouflage pattern used by the Australian Defence Force. Replacing the Jungle Greens, jungle greens used fr ...

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 Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

s outline with a strongly contrasting design.

Users

* : Acquired frog skin uniforms in 1968 for Biafran soldiers. Pro-Biafran mercenaries recruited also use the same camos. * : Called ''camuflagem bolinhas'' * : Wore camouflage patterns based on frog skin. * :

and

in First Indochina War. * : ** Brimob forces wore copies based on the US from 1965. ** Pasukan Gerak Tjepat and Resimen Para Komando Angkatan Darat commandos wore copies based on the M1942 pattern. Original 1942 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, called Panther, were worn by the Iranian military and Revolutionary Guard especially during the Iran-Iraq War. * : Copies worn by the Mexican military. * * : **

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

***

* : Three-color pattern used in 1970 and was mostly used for ponchos, helmet covers, field equipment and some on clothes. * : Formerly used frog skin clones; first examples seen in the 1970s.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

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