I'm thinking about getting some BDU's for SHTF/WROL. I live in a downtown area in a small town and while INDY isn't too far a drive the surrounding area is pretty rural. I'm thinking Woodland would work best, but I also like MARPAT. What are your thoughts on the best camo?
What's your plan? Are you stocked up and want to stick around town to protect it? Or are you heading to the woods to live off the land? Most of my hunting clothing is RealtreeAP so I bought all MultiCam gear since the color palates are very similar and blend well. I would have bought all my gear in RealtreeAP if that were an option. I personally can't justify buying more apparel when I have so much money in a well developed hunting system just to have it in a more military style camo pattern.
Jeans and a T-shirt... blend right in with everyone else. No reason to look all G.I. Joe. Camouflage isn't made to look cool, it's to blend in to your environment when your life actually depends on it. Like in a war zone, aka, the military.
If something does happen, God forbid, running around in a military style uniform with an AR strapped to you is only going to get you shot. If you plan on taking out an entire Army by yourself because you got some BDU's you're going to find out the hard way that lack of a trained team = your death bed.
I am a MARPAT fan myself for being in the woods, but I have to agree with ^^^ your best bet in SHTF in the city is plain clothes. You won't want to draw attention to yourself by military or the mob, so keep your camo in a bag til you're in the weeds.
Are you in town? Are you in the brush? Are you in a cornfield? Is it the green of spring or the brown of early winter?
I say stick with hunting patterns for woodland/upland cammo. A guy wearing MarPat would stick out like a sore thumb where I live, but realtree or mossy oak would not even raise an eyebrow.
From my years of playing & working at a paintball field and actually seeing people using mant different kinds of camo in a wooded environment, my choice goes with German Flectar.
It worked well in spring thru till the snow started to fly.
It blended well in light & shade conditions.
The one year I wore it, I was able to sneak up or crawl up on more people who when talking with them afterwards would tell me that they did not notice me till I started shooting.
Only problem is finding it and then finding it in a size that fits.
If you are a big boy, forget it.
The sizes didn't get that big.
My second choice would be Multicam right now.
It works well, but to me, it is a bit lighter than I like.
Unless you purchase your clothing and then NEVER wash them in conventional laundry again, you will never make it. The laundry detergent will cause you to light up like a Christmas tree under infrared.
My ex-father in-law gave me some good advice nearly 20 years ago. Don't wear the same pattern for your whole body, as it once again defines your outline. Wear different patterns top and bottom, so as to break up the outline of your body. It truly makes sense.
In Indiana? OD green or Woodland for summer, Carhart brown or Multicam for everything else, except snow, then any white-ish bedsheet would work. Ghillies are the ultimate if you know how to make and use one.
Seriously, normal clothing would carry you far. Don't look threatening and no honest folks would initiate force, but always be armed enough to defend yourself against the riff-raff.
The best camoflague in my option is the one you make when you get to an area. I know that kind of sounds like the movie Shooter, i think that line was in the movie, but from my days of paintball of what not, I'd wear a greenish or brownish base clothing and then use 550 cord to make a temp ghillie suit out of surrounding brush and grasses, leaves etc, works well, the down side is long term use.
However, if crap gets bad enough where I need to bug out into the woods or whatever, I'm hiding by day, moving by night, reason being, camo works great if your sitting still or moving extremely slowly, but trust me, no amount of camo is going to hide someone walking through the woods a normal pace. Maybe at a far distance, hints the move by night, less chance of detection, practice this without flashlights btw as for IR, IR cameras are tough to get around, but there's ways to limit your detection by them as well.