Click on the small images at the bottom of the page to enlarge them. EACH of the images has at least one person wearing MultiCam in it. (Click on the arrows at the ends < & > to see more pictures.) Sometimes they are so nearly invisible you'll swear there's no one there, but there is, you just have to stare at the picture for a few minutes to see them, but they're there. Also note the contrast when the MultiCam wearer is near a person wearing Woodland camouflage.
Being Seen
If ya' want'a be seen use Movement and Contrast.
For Contrast try Black on white, white on a black (or any dark color) background or white, orange, red or yellow against a green background. Ayup, flowering plants figured out how to attract pollinators and seed spreaders a long time ago.
Movement of just about anything against a contrasting background multiplies the chances of being noticed by the human eye.
Being UNseen
If ya' want'a disappear? Combine camouflage patterns (and/or dark dull colored clothing) with the elimination of outline, movement & contrast. Then blend in with the background shape and color.
Eliminate movement. Stand still! The human eye/mind is really attuned to noticing movement, particularly with peripheral vision. Turning your head, bringing your hand/arm up to take a toke on a cigarette will draw the attention of people to whom you were invisible. If you have to move walk within tree lines or next to large objects that will mask your movement and your hide your shape.
Contrast Wear clothing that approximates (i.e. does not contrast with) the colors of the background you expect to inhabit.
Back when I was running the surplus store a group of Border Patrol agents, wanting to order some MARPAT, came to me shortly after the USMC MARPAT camouflage pattern came out. They showed me a full color photo of some Border Patrol agents from a different district standing in front of some large mesquite bushes while wearing Woodland MARPET except for their hands and faces the agents were very hard to see. If they'd been wearing gloves and a little camo grease paint on their smiling faces they would have been virtually invisible!
In my humble opinion, in of all its versions MARPAT is superior to the ACU's Universal Camouflage Pattern.
Shape Wear clothing that blends in with your background so that your human shape isn't easily discernible. The human mind looks for remembered shapes. That's why it easily picks out the double-popsicle on sticks shape of a human's torso and legs or the "vehicleness" of a car or truck.
Never stand out in the open. Always stand in the shade and as close to large natural terrain objects (bushes, trees, boulders and buildings) as possible.
Outline Wear something that breaks up your outline. Ghillie suits and some modern 3D civilian camouflage like the Leafy 3D camo pants, jackets, hoods and hats sold at stores like Cabela's, Bass Pro or your local sporting goods store.
Not having your shape outlined (or silhouetted) against the sky is one of the reasons military units take up positions on the military crests of hills.
I was moved to begin this revisit to the subject of personal camouflage when I stumbled onto the MultiCam web site the other day. MultiCam is, in my never so humble opinion, such a strong improvement over the US Army's current camouflage uniform that it's blasted its way through the layers of Pentagon inertia and bureaucracy to force its adoption for troops on the ground in Afghanistan. "However, it has been newly commissioned in 2010 and will be replacing the UCP pattern over time for use by US Army Units serving in Afghanistan."
MultiCam is such an improvement over the Universal Camouflage Pattern (Ayup it's the same ACU) that, if the bean counters can see their way clear to stop diverting millions of taxpayer dollars to the manufacturers of ACU's we could/would/should see MultiCam on our military here in the states soon.
It'll be a big improvement since the so called "Universal Camouflage Pattern" which is supposed to blend in with everything in general in fact blends in with nothing in particular which is why MultiCam is replacing the ACU's in the theater of operations where bullets are actually flying.
I'm planning to buy a set of cammies in MultiCam soon.
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