Soldiers already have uniforms that blend them into their surroundings. Now there's instructions on how to have a weapon that blends in too.In April, the Army released instructions on how Soldiers can apply spray paint to their M4 or M16 rifle, without decreasing the effectiveness of either the weapon or the installed optics.
"The Army has always had techniques to camouflage the Soldier ... we have techniques for the Soldier and the equipment," said Col. Douglas A. Tamilio, project manager for Soldier Weapons, Program Executive Office Soldier. "We found in Iraq and Afghanistan that Soldiers were starting to paint their weapons. It wasn't really approved or disapproved for them to do that."
The resulting document, "Maintenance Information Message 10-040," is titled "Camouflaging Specific Small Arms." It focuses on where to apply tape to protect sensitive areas, what areas should not be painted, and what kind of paint to use.
"It just shows Soldiers how you tape your weapon up before you go to spray it," Tamilio said. "We are just trying to make sure the Soldiers don't do the wrong things with their weapons. So we make sure we don't reduce the reliability of our weapons system."
There's the right way, the wrong way, and the Army way.
The new MIM explains the rationale behind why Soldiers would paint their rifles.
"Warfighters must be able to conduct tactical operations while reducing/limiting detection by the threat," the message reads. "Camouflage paints provide for reduced visual detection and enhanced warfighter survivability via neutral, non-reflective, and predominantly non-black colors."
Additionally, the message explains, the color black is "highly infrared reflective" and it can also "provide a high degree of visual contrast when carried by camouflaged uniformed warfighters."
It took until 2010 for the brass to figure this out?
On actually applying a camouflage pattern to the weapon, the message suggests Soldiers have a plan in place beforehand, and that their design focus on effectiveness rather than beauty.
Awww...no Hello Kitty M16?
"Remember, most great camouflage is not pretty," the instruction reads. "The goal is to blend your weapon in with the environment in which you are operating. If you are operating in an environment that just has light tan sand, then just paint your weapon tan with limited black breakup ... This procedure's purpose is not to impress. Its purpose is to provide safety and another tool in defeating the enemy."
Links:
Maintenance Information Message 10-040, Camouflaging Specific Small Arms (AKO login required)
Notes for Soldiers - Weapons Painting 101