I still have a couple of unissued sets of BDU left over from my days w/USAF. Wondering if there’s any point to keeping them. Surplus store in Phoenix pays pretty good for these right now, and they’re just hanging around in the closet for “just in case.”
Just in case of what isn’t really clear in my noggin’…
Good to keep?
Or not such a great camo option?
The old woodland camo works very well in my rural area of VA. It still sees use by tons of outdoorsman, hunters, some LE units, etc.
M81 in PHX? That ain’t gonna blend well.
If you have family to pass them onto, sure. Otherwise, the pattern seems ill-suited to that environment.
I am impressed if you still fit in your BDUs. I do not rate a small or medium waist anymore.
Like and use a great deal in the woods, and I’m glad to see companies are still making gear and tech clothing in the pattern. Has the added benefit of not evoking the same milsim/poser/wannabe vibe that multicam can.
Actually I’m in central AZ, but woodland doesn’t work so well here, either.
It does do well further up, around Flagstaff and Williams. Now you have me wondering if I should keep the DCU, that might do ok, here.
I appreciate the kind words, btw - I do indeed, still fit: Large Regular BDU trousers, Large Long BDU shirt.
Excellent points, all - last sentence in particular is a gem. 
I’ve never been a huge fan of M81. It’s far too dark for anything after early fall here in Kansas, and the BDU cut isn’t my favorite. I wish they had stuck with the Jungle Fatigue-style pockets. Oh well. I’ve got a set, but that’s more of a part of the collection than anything else. Not sure what else you have, so it’s hard to say get rid of it, but it does sound like it doesn’t really serve a role as a camouflage uniform for your area, so it’s likely not the best option.
For a modern take on woodland pattern, Beyond Clothing has several styles, fabrics, and weights for both mil/gov type work and daily wear. Link to the pro line:
https://beyondclothing.com/collections/mission. Other stuff is on the menu tabs. Axios is berry compliant, Kyros the import line (and GTG).
I’m a big fan of the Prima Lochi reversible layer: https://beyondclothing.com/collections/active-insulation/products/k3-prima-lochi-jacket?variant=31037427449918
Their “rustic green” color works well with several camo patterns and under patterned LBE and packs. In denser woods and rocky terrain, same for the mantee grey.
I’m seeing more and more used multicam and ocp in the local surplus stores, and it’s getting much cheaper. so more and more is going to move into broader wear just like woodland did.
Over time I think that’s going to change, just like it did for woodland. Used to be are you could get cheap was OG jungle fatigues and later, ERDL, and only the Tactical Timmy’s of the day had woodland.
I have a bunch of 3 color desert that I bought cheap that I use as work jackets on the property to avoid looking like I’m tactical dress up. Then again sometimes I’m in DPN, a-tacs, and used multicam/OCP if I’m trying to sneak up on the beavers or other critters.
Much of Yavapai County is ideally suited for MC - well, vice-versa. Different light and dark shades of brown, with green popping out. I have a Crye khaki G3 field shirt I use a lot, with a pair of heavy canvas, faded OD trousers I got in Japan.
MC Arid would work well here, no doubt.
For the reasons ST911 pointed out, I’m reluctant to use MC (though I do have trousers in that color), owing to the LARP/CosPlay factor …
The A9-E Equatorial Pant is quite compelling (sold out, of course).
I wonder why they posted “can’t sell to CA” in the product page 
Weird …
I agree with that.
I have a bunch of 3 color desert that I bought cheap that I use as work jackets on the property to avoid looking like I’m tactical dress up. Then again sometimes I’m in DPN, a-tacs, and used multicam/OCP if I’m trying to sneak up on the beavers or other critters.
3 color desert and the old chocolate chips are great prairie and dry prairie grasses, and some marshes.
Use what’s best for you, and to hell what others think. Personally, I’ve got a ton of MC. I bought my first set of it back in '07, well before it was associated with the military beyond Land Warrior/Future Force Soldier and the like. I like it because it works, and don’t have any interest in discarding it to avoid looking like a cosplayer or Tactical Timmy. It’s hard to find a pattern that’s as effective and avaiable, not just in terms of uniforms and clothing items, but gear and the like as well.
I used to use the old chocolate chip duck hunting in salt marshes in Florida. And in late-season would deer hunt with ASAT which is not too different from the three color desert. Leaves of the trees in GA and the colors are pretty close.
FWIW, Multicam is pretty amazing. I have seen it work well in broken snow conditions all the way to very green deciduous forests. It is also pretty effective in any transitional environments. It is the equivalent of the 1940s olive drab - never perfect, but good enough across a large variety of environments.
A pair of khaki pants and an olive green jacket have made me nearly disappear across most of Arizona. Carharrts color scheme is very effective civvy camo that works out well too.
Yeah MC lives up to the hype. You won’t doubt it after someone has maneuvered on you in it.
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Originally I was going to opine about some additional thoughts about the wonders of Multicam, then I saw a picture today titled “Demonstrators stand outside a security zone before Monday’s pro-gun rally in Richmond, Va.”. A man and an erstwhile female were holding hands, one in what looked to a Waffen SS custom camo and the other in Multicam. Both had helmets, plat carriers, backpacks and black rifles.
I have been refreshed on why a fellow might not want to be associated with Multicam. It looks like a parody of the German-American Bund to me.
Me? I think Multicam is effective. As noted, watch a small unit approach you in Multicam and you get religion. I also expect Waffen SS pea camo was pretty effective in the forests of East Prussia too, but since my family bled trying to stop the Nazis, I’m not going to embrace that trope.
Multicam is the uniform of the Long War and has been the “fighting Army” uniform for nearly a decade. The Air Force Special Operations, then Security Forces and then the entire branch went Scorpion (spice brown nametapes and all).
Same here in Kentucky. My first attempt at tarp camping(before popping for silnylon) was with a woodland USGI poncho pitched as a lean to during a December muzzle loading. Walking back in to camp, and basically knowing where it was at, I was well within 100’ of it before the top and sides started becoming apparent as edges.
Googled it. Found the image. Looks like some derivative of SS dot patterns/Flecktarn. Which is used by probably the better part of a dozen US allies. The “uniform” itself appears to be a Russian Gorka suit.
The “erstwhile female,” also has M81 on, too, so I guess you better stay away from that.
Plus there’s the fact that M81 is associated with Marine Raiders and Crye’s unobtainium Combat trousers made in M81, which are highly sought after in the “clone”, airsoft, and “LARPer”/“cosplay” communities, and M81, to me, is more LARPer than MultiCam. Like, if you’re wearing M81, you’re either LARPing as a Marine Raider or you’re LARPing as OGA in Afghanistan, circa 2002.
The guys who wore M65 field jackets a decade ago in M81 (and in OD green a decade before that) who I see on a regular basis are all wearing UCP M65 field jackets today.
If you’re going to wear camouflage, wear camouflage. (M81 is fine.) If you’re worried that other people might see you and judge you for wearing camouflage, then don’t wear camouflage.
Amen.