Nostalgia about the color "Foliage Green"

[LuckyDuck]

I reckon that the market for "tactical" colors is fickle but I can't help but notice that there's a lasting nostalgia for "Olive Drab Green" that spans decades and is still a primary color offering from most manufacturers. For the early OIF/OEF veterans, is there any opinions on "foliage green" covering the same ground? When I served- the ACU's became a 'thing' and the camo pattern was UCP which (in my opinion at least was god awful) and the current "OCP" is a far better pattern for our servicemen. So with that said- is there any other vets out there that seem to have a connection to the foliage green color? I was swapping emails with MDT the past 2 or 3 weeks on this topic and I had to mention the wild variance I noticed in what was called "foliage green" and they graciously responded back to me about manufacturing processes and why certain manufacturers had the variance in colors.

-LD

​

 

[hlee]

I reckon that the market for "tactical" colors is fickle but I can't help but notice that there's a lasting nostalgia for "Olive Drab Green" that spans decades and is still a primary color offering from most manufacturers. For the early OIF/OEF veterans, is there any opinions on "foliage green" covering the same ground? When I served- the ACU's became a 'thing' and the camo pattern was UCP which (in my opinion at least was god awful) and the current "OCP" is a far better pattern for our servicemen. So with that said- is there any other vets out there that seem to have a connection to the foliage green color? I was swapping emails with MDT the past 2 or 3 weeks on this topic and I had to mention the wild variance I noticed in what was called "foliage green" and they graciously responded back to me about manufacturing processes and why certain manufacturers had the variance in colors.

-LD

​

Can you be a bit more specific on what color constitutes foliage green? I mean olive drab #3 and olive drab #7 are both “OD green.” And, there is an entire spectrum of variation within each, documented in original unissued service items.

 

[LuckyDuck]

hlee- that's a fair question/observation. I'm more of an 8-pack of Crayola Crayons type of person when it comes to describing colors/hues than someone capable of describing all the colors contained in the 96-count box (i.e. what I call "purple" someone more capable than me might call "periwinkle") but I can certainly try to illustrate what I consider to be the "correct" foliage green. Looking at the cerakote color chart, I'd baseline what they have listed as 'H-231' but as to what I'm referring to but using some images I found online that don't contain watermarks to better describe what I'm getting at...

Something along the lines of the above but not what what's represented in the picture below as I think it's far too... bright(?) although they both are listed as foliage green. I know 'ranger green' is the new hotness these days and admittedly it's close but with the vast majority of companies abandoning foliage green for ranger green, I can't help but have a twinge of nostalgia for FG with it disappearing from the marketplace.

-LD

 

[hlee]

I’ll admit to being a bit colorblind, and colors rarely come out “true” over the internet. I’d describe the backpack as grey with a hint of greenish, and the furniture on the rifle as “mint…”

 

[Wallaback]

I reckon that the market for "tactical" colors is fickle but I can't help but notice that there's a lasting nostalgia for "Olive Drab Green" that spans decades and is still a primary color offering from most manufacturers. For the early OIF/OEF veterans, is there any opinions on "foliage green" covering the same ground? When I served- the ACU's became a 'thing' and the camo pattern was UCP which (in my opinion at least was god awful) and the current "OCP" is a far better pattern for our servicemen. So with that said- is there any other vets out there that seem to have a connection to the foliage green color? I was swapping emails with MDT the past 2 or 3 weeks on this topic and I had to mention the wild variance I noticed in what was called "foliage green" and they graciously responded back to me about manufacturing processes and why certain manufacturers had the variance in colors.

-LD

​

So... what was MDT's explanation for the different variants of the same "Foliage Green"?

 

[hlee]

For perspective, everyone (not colorblind) in my house calls this bag grey. It is decidedly green to my eyes…

 

[roostercogburn98]

So now we officially have a “50 shades of foliage green” thread





Awesome

 

[stanley_white]

Foliage Green is made of people!

-Stan

 

[LuckyDuck]

So... what was MDT's explanation for the different variants of the same "Foliage Green"?

Not specific to FG but more of a generic explanation for color variations. They mentioned that "When coloring textiles, plastics, and metal with coatings, paint, dies, and anodizing, these are very different approaches to coloring different materials, and none of them take color the same way." So makes sense and that's probably fairly obvious to anyone with a background in manufacturing but as someone without that experience, I appreciated MDT taking the time to share that with me.

-LD

 

[LuckyDuck]

I’ll admit to being a bit colorblind, and colors rarely come out “true” over the internet. I’d describe the backpack as grey with a hint of greenish, and the furniture on the rifle as “mint…”

That's actually a rather apt description of FG as being a greyish-green. And spot on with the "mint" moniker with the 2nd picture, much more fitting than my poor attempt to describe it as being 'brighter'.

-LD

 

[ma smith]

50 shades of FDE ... but in different color spectrums

 

[LuckyDuck]

So now we officially have a “50 shades of foliage green” thread





Awesome

Eh- I reckon that there are worse topics to start a thread on and believe it was relevant to the gear discussion forum as manufacturers routinely update their product lines to the colors de rigueur. While I was reminiscing of FG being replaced by RG, during the same timeframe, I recall other prominent colors changing such as Wolf Gray transitioning to Stealth/Sniper Gray, Coyote Tan to Flat Dark Earth, etc. In my 8-count box of crayon description I find it somewhat interesting that the core colors- in this example gray, brown, and green remains the same but subtle variations made every so many years as the colors/patterns of "yesterday" fall out of favor. I've noticed that the woodland came pattern seems to be making a resurgence after a bit of a hiatus in product lines and was curious if we'll see something similar occur with FG was all.

-LD

 

[ma smith]

Didn't ACU used color/tones similar to foliage green, and weren't they horrible? Maybe that's the source of the problems ...

 

[LuckyDuck]

Didn't ACU used color/tones similar to foliage green, and weren't they horrible? Maybe that's the source of the problems ...

Yes sir, it did and they were. Just minor point of correction though, I don't intend for this to come across as rude or as a slight against you personally by any means, but technically the uniform cut/style is the ACU and the pattern itself is what was labeled as the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP). IMHO, the only environment I've ever seen it camouflage well in was a god awful ugly couch and the only part I'm aware as being universal was how unpopular it was by anyone who used it. But to your point, when they dropped that turd sandwich of a pattern and switched to the OCP- that essentially was the nail in the coffin for a decline in FG products being offered. My feelings about UCP aside though- I do still have a soft spot for the FG color itself, likely because of how distinctive it is. I'd suspect folks that wore the OD uniforms before the switch to Woodland likely have a similar appreciation of the OD color.

I suspect that Military Historians will spend lots of time discussing how during the reign of the UCP being fielded the services were experiencing some kind of mass hysteria with changing their uniforms. I remember when the USMC switched to the MARPAT and frankly I think they're the only ones that did things right. The Army responded with the UCP after spending a reported $5 Billion on it (I had to look), the Navy came up with some kind of weird blue digital "aquaflage" thing, and the Air Force came up with a blue tiger stripe pattern of their own. Of course these patterns were all scrapped shortly afterwards while the USMC trucks on with their MARPAT. Such a strange time but I digress.

But back to FG- putting wildly unpopular patterns aside, I still like the FG color (at least certain shades of what is called FG) by itself.

-LD

 

[ma smith]

My honest opinion here--I think somebody designed UCP on a computer--- and forgot to correct the color temperature...

(or they proofed fabric tone sample under fluorescent light, or something, equally bone-headed)

 

[roostercogburn98]

My honest opinion here--I think somebody designed ACP on a computer--- and forgot to correct the color temperature...

(or they proofed fabric tone sample under fluorescent light, or something, equally bone-headed)

That was a known issue with the UCP when it came out. The first batches were actually wildly pink looking. They did a reset and came out with a more grey tone.

To be honest, you could have worn a clown suit and stayed just as hidden in the urban environment that uniform was released/intended for. Kinda hard to hide when your blasting off rounds in the street door to door.

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

Ranger green is the only acceptable answer.

 

[Bkultra]

Ranger green is the only acceptable answer.

RAL 7013 if ordering from over seas (UF Pro etc) is a very close match.

 

[ma smith]

various colors vs blue light (sensitivity)