Night Ops

I've decided to scrap my old opping wardrobe and start completely fresh with some new stuff. Some of the older clothing i currently have for opping is over 8 years old, and looking pretty beat. i'm going to begin by getting rid of my old "unserviceable" stuff, and hopefully get two or three outfits suitable for opping in my usual locations - suburban, rural, and industrial. i do very little "urban" opping, so i'm not likely to end up in a city type setting.

Right now, i'm thinking about something like this: a set of dark(ish) camo BDUs for rural ops, and a black setup to act as "general purpose opping gear". I've always used woodland camo BDUs, but perhaps it's time to upgrade to something a little more modern? any suggestions? I had a friend who used mossy oak camo to good effect in rural settings, but i'd prefer something a little darker personally, as my opping frequently brings me through forested areas. The black outfit will probably just be a black version of whatever the camo outfit is, because i like having my pockets in familiar places.

Also, i'd like to keep this focused on the clothing, as that will be the only thing i'll be replacing. i've got near to a decade's worth of opping gear stashed away, so that's not a concern for me.

I've had success with Propper BDU trousers. I don't recommend the blouse though because the pockets are cumbersome.

Try purchasing second-hand BDUs from surplus stores if at all possible, as they're generally cheaper, quieter and more comfortable. Pick whichever pattern best suits your environment and if they're too bright you can always darken the shade with some black dye.

For some reason, secondhand BDUs are pretty difficult to find around here. It's much easier to get new stuff, and since i don't mind spending the money to upgrade right now that's not really an issue either.

I definitely do like BDU style the best though, any suggestions for a camo pattern that would work well for both wooded and suburban areas? Perhaps MarPat?

A darkened multicam pattern should do the trick. Anything that's dark & earthy. I've seen some German grey & brown patterns but can't recall the name. If you can't find the right shade you're looking for then get whatever pattern you like best and darken it yourself. I did that with my Auscam trousers and they blend in better than my multicam, for the most part.

It's probably to late to reply to this. By now Therin probably has his pants and much more. But who cares about that? lol

Anyone interested in camouflage to use at night should take a look at dark Navy Digital and Tiger Stripes. Primarily the pants. I personally don't normally wear matching tops and bottoms
They are both dark while the patterns break up your silhouette when standing against something. I personally find them to blend in better than other camos I have.

Unfortunately i'm still pantless, unless i wanted to run around wearing ABUs.

Propper's digital subdued urban looks pretty good, so these are looking like a good bet. Half the time i just wear black on top, so these look like they'll work well there too.

http://www.opticsplanet.net/propper-gen ... pstop.html

On the topic of multicam, I have a pair, And Neuro says there the best. But I'm doubtful. It seems (to me) to bright to hide in tall grass. I prefer to use Forest Pattern Camo BDU's. I have 2 pair, My good thicker ones are "Propper" Forest BDU's. And they cost me around $35-$45. I'm not sure if this helps you or not......But you get my opinon anyway.

In my experience, multicam is better for arid regions like deserts, badlands, plains, or even some types of mountainous terrain. It's way to bright to be suitable for sneaking around suburban or rural areas at night, and while it does work somewhat well in forests, there are better patterns available IMO.

I'm sort of leaning towards either digital woodland, or that subdued digital urban.

That's about what my thinking on it was. Anything like desert terrain would be great. But for a forested area (Like around my location) and around cities, I don't see how it's as effective.

Given your two options, I would definitely go Subdued Urban. The only real woodland digital is marine digital, which is also one of my favorites.

I favor digital because it's ability to break up a silhouette is almost unprecedented by other patterns or schemes. One of my opping partners has a pair of dark navy digital BDUs:

http://airsoft-club.com/shop/tactical-g ... -blue-camo

As far as concealment, these are some of the best I've seen. But once again, digital is usually the best. Except for army ACUs. I hate those. lol

Digital subdued urban it is then. Let's hope that the 60/40 cotton/poly ripstop fabric is at least semi quiet.

When you get em, can you post a review on them? It's one thing to hear it from a "Business" site, and another thing to hear it directly from the users, un-biased

Therin the Hand wrote:Unfortunately i'm still pantless,

That brought up a hilarious image about the importance of stealth on ops.

Xanatos wrote:

Therin the Hand wrote:Unfortunately i'm still pantless,

That brought up a hilarious image about the importance of stealth on ops.

Keep your eyes open for my "in the nude" dare ops challenge this spring

Dare: Nude Ninja/Stealth Streak/Going Commando (perform an op in the nude)

Difficulty:

About time more people starting using digital subdued urban. That shit rocks, I've been using it for years. Best all around night camo there is in my experience. Some terrains favor other pattens, but there's really no situation where the subdued urban doesn't work at least a little bit.

So it's everything the ACU isn't.

Everyone's talking about the nude op idea! I was going over plans to do that very thing not to long ago.

Damnit I need to start posting these ideas when I come up with them...

MIB wrote:So it's everything the ACU isn't.

I will never understand the big push to get everyone changed over to ACU/ABU... there were several choices that were clearly better which were either in development or already out at the time. Both multicam and ATACS wold have been a thousand times better for what we're doing over in the middle east right now. Although i have heard some rumors floating around that we will be switching everyone over to multicam within the next few years...

Wasn't multicam the original replacement choice? Why in the name of Mother Nature did they choose ACU? Probably because it's cheaper methinks, like how the US military chose the Beretta M9 over the SIG Sauer P226 (far superior) as their standard sidearm because it was cheaper to buy in bulk.

Xanatos wrote:Wasn't multicam the original replacement choice? Why in the name of Mother Nature did they choose ACU? Probably because it's cheaper methinks, like how the US military chose the Beretta M9 over the SIG Sauer P226 (far superior) as their standard sidearm because it was cheaper to buy in bulk.

mmm - If it's anything like defence procurement over in the UK; it's because they're bloody stubborn.

Take our service weapon - the SA80. It was truly dreadful - to the point they sent it to H&K for work; end result was H&K basically rebuilt all the internals and modified most of the externals. All together the price was probably more than taking another 5.56 (tried and tested) weapon off the shelf, and the money that would've been spent with the UK Industry was shipped out to Germany anyway in the end. Awesome, eh? Oh, and it was the adaptation of an older Lee Enfield weapon that wasn't even intended to be chambered for 5.56, so from the very begining they were stubborn. Adament that it just had to be this design - regardless of the effectiveness or technicalities; purely because it was a design that they had already invested time in.

Pfft, they should just chill out and throw some bombs.

Shit, over in the Middle East, you should save your bombs and just drop pork.

MIB wrote:So it's everything the ACU isn't.

At least at night. All you need to do is look around on a moonlit night and see that the colors, which are basically just shades of blue and monochrome, match up perfectly with the pattern. With artificial lighting, generally there won't be enough to reveal color to the point that the camo stands out either. Would the appropriate daytime pattern be better in a given area at night? Sure. But the subdued urban still works in any location unless you are absolutely soaked in lights. It's what basic black or navy blue wishes it could be.

It sounds good but I wish I had a visual chart or something.