The best day of the week!
Today we are giving you all a sneak peek at one of our newest additions to the museum collection.
This comes from an Arkansas Air Force veteran, and he generously donated his items which will be featured in an exhibit in the future!
This is what is known as tiger stripe jungle fatigue.
The tiger stripes were a camouflage pattern developed in the early 1960s. While it isn’t clear who first developed the tiger stripe pattern, it was used heavily by the South Vietnamese Forces.
The 64-stripe pattern could help better disguise the soldier wearing it in the dense Vietnam jungles.
Because of this, a lot of U.S. soldiers, Marines, and airmen also decided to adopt the
Tiger stripe fatigues; however, only particular units of our forces such as the Green Berets, SEALs, and certain reconnaissance groups.
The pattern was also not U.S.-issued. Ever. So, the uniforms were made in Vietnam specifically for the soldier, airman, or Marine wearing them.
While they continued to be worn by South Vietnamese Forces during the war, eventually, they were cycled out of the U.S. military and replaced by the ERDL camouflage pattern, the predecessor to the BDU woodland pattern.
While the tiger stripe is now a thing of the past for us, versions of it are still used by several foreign militaries including France and Australia.
AAMM staff are so excited to have this unique piece of military history in our collection!
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