Desert Shield and Desert Storm are synonymous with two of the most iconic camouflage patterns in recent history. The 6-Color Desert Camo, and the somewhat more rare Desert Night Camo (DNC).
The 6-color “Chocolate Chip” camo pattern was not new in 1990. It had been developed in 1970 and finally put into service in 1981. Some of the troops deployed to Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm may have even had these DBDU’s before due to participation in various Bright Star training exercises or 1990’s Internal Look exercise. For the 82nd Airborne, these were not an issued uniform and had to be drawn with their other supplies just before leaving Bragg. They received 2 sets initially with a boonie hat, helmet cover, and possibly an ALICE pack cover. Some US Army soldiers would also later receive a cover for their M81 camo PASGT fragmentation vest, but there almost no pictures of an 82nd Airborne soldier with one, and many soldiers didn’t get them at all. The boonies would also prove almost useless as the 82nd were instructed to always have their kevlar helmet on instead. They also weren’t permitted to wear the iconic “floppy hat”; the red beret.
The DBDU’s were not issued with any sort of desert color insignia, so the 82nd had to remove name tags, rank, division, and other (green) patches from their BDU’s and sew them onto the new uniforms.
By the end of 1990 after months of use in the desert, these original uniforms were falling apart and had to be replaced. Based on photos I have found, the 82nd received the original cut uniforms with the elbow reinforcements but may have also had the 2nd “simplified” and somewhat less durable version later on as replacements as well.
The DNC items issued to the 82nd were a fishtail style parka and a pair of over pants, both with pass through pockets. The parka could also accommodate a cold weather liner like the M-1965 field jacket. These were meant to be overgarments to supplement the DBDU’s. This pattern was originally developed to fool early gen Soviet night vision devices but had really outlived it’s usefulness by 1990. And while the combo worked for adding layers on cold desert nights, it was determined it’s usefulness against night vision was almost nil. One famous account from a Marine scout/sniper section who put the DNC items to the test under US NVD’s found they were not only less effective than the 6-Color camo at night, they were also less effective than the plain white articles of clothing used in winter warfare.
Despite that, the DNC items became iconic for their use in Desert Storm and Desert Shield and were a welcome bit of kit when temperatures dipped and the hot days gave way to chilly nights.
DNC has also seen something of a resurgence recently as a fashionable sort of camo and can be had on uniforms, shirts, plate carriers, hats, bags, and anything else capitalism can come up with to print it on. The original pieces have also become very pricey, especially in certain sizes.