This is an interesting book, studying as it does what used to be a novelty: U.S. desert uniforms. All that changed during Desert Storm, although a specialized desert uniform design has been around since the early 1970s. Mr. Born discusses the development of desert uniforms for U.S. military use and has lavishly illustrated his book with many examples, based on the camo pattern and the service in which it was used. He even has photos of the variety of name tapes and patches which were used with the uniforms.
I found it of particular interest because of my own experiences. When Desert Shield began my unit was sent to a nearby warehouse where it turned out there were tons of DCUs in storage (we were part of the Rapid Deployment Force). Most of us didn't even know the Army HAD desert uniforms (I had only seen an illustration of paratroopers wearing them on peacekeeping duties in the Sinai). Now that we had the uniforms, we realized that we didn't have desert-style patches to sew on to them, nor could anyone tell us where to get any. So, we wound up sewing the green BDU patches onto the DCUs, since they were all we had.
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