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Friday, February 02, 2007

To Camo, or Not to Camo?



According to my sources (which I wouldn't dare make up), over 90% of Americans have owned at least one article of camouflage clothing during their lifetime. And most of them still have that pair of camo pants or that camo t-shirt tucked away in their closets, collecting dust. I'm calling on any and all Americans with camo in the closet to throw it out, TODAY!

Why? What's wrong with camouflage?

Inherently, nothing. But that's only if it's being used for its inherent purpose - to disguise the wearer. See, the reason camouflage was invented dates all the way back to Rambo - First Blood (1982). Sylvester Stallone needed a way to disguise himself while HIDING from Sherriff Teasle in the FOREST (please note the 2 key words here are HIDING and FOREST).

In fact, according to self-proclaimed camouflage expert Roy R. Behrens, in his eye-opening paper titled A Chronology of Camouflage: A Pastiche in a Bouillabaisse, he brings to light the true purpose of camouflage - "camouflage could be described as disguising..two things as one, ..it causes confusion between an object and its background." Ok, so camouflage is confusing.

Let me clear up the confusion.

Are most people wearing their camo clothing to actually disguise themselves? NO. I don't care what you're hiding from, who you're hiding from, or if the other team knows you are out of paintballs... if you are wearing camouflage, you had better be HIDING from something. If you are not hiding from something and actively trying to blend in with your background, then please do us all a favor and GET RID OF THE CAMO.

Just today, I was at work (inside of Gold's Gym) and during one 5-minute period, four people walked through the front door wearing camouflage (two shirts and two pairs of pants). I began to wonder if N. Korea had decided to invade... so I looked outside to see if there had been a military attack on little old Phoenix. Nope. It was just a nice sunny 65 degree Friday in February. So what was going on? Do people really think it's ok to be wearing camouflage, or are all these people trying to hide? They definitely were not hiding, because each of the four people were wearing GREEN, FOREST camouflage - not the desert camo. Had they been wearing desert camo, I could use the excuse for each of them that they were in hiding. However, that not being the case, I'm left to believe they must have another excuse.

(Then I looked up on the Gold's TV and the music video that was playing at that very instant was Avril Lavigne's "Losing Grip" (YES, I had to look that up...). It's the video where she's looking angry and jumping around the stage in a camouflage shirt. [For all I know, that could be what all her videos look like..] but my point is, she was wearing camo. And this, to me, was a sign of the times. That's why I feel the need to comment today on camouflage. Someone has to do it. The madness must be stopped.)

So there has got to be another reason for all of this camo today. What could it be?

Is today, February 2nd, National Camo Day?

After checking all the calendars I could find, I've come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as National Camo Day. So there had better be a really good excuse for all this camo. Since I love to give people the benefit of the doubt, here is my short list of excuses for wearing camo that make it ok:

Camo Excuses
-YOU are an Army veteran and you are wearing your camo fatigues, which have your last name on them.
-Your brother or sister (who was/is in the Army) sent you camo fatigues, and they have your last name on them.
-You are Rambo (in fact, Rambo never actually wore camo... but Rambo can do whatever he wants).
-You live in a forest and you hunt elk/deer/moose for your subsistence.
-You live in a desert and you hunt coyotes/snakes for your subsistence (requires Desert-colored camo).
-You live in the tundra and you hunt polar bears for your subsistence (requires Snow camo).
-You are Arnold Schwarzeneger and you hunt Predator for a living.
-You are trying to blend in with your background for any reason at all. (HOWEVER, if this is the case, the camo MUST match the background, as this is the whole reason you are wearing camo to begin with). Two perfect examples are shown below:





For the good of the world, let's hope that everyone wearing camo has at least one of these excuses...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You stepped over the line Pete. I own a pair of camo shorts. Granted I haven't worn them in over 8 months but it's not because I don't want to. The opportunity just hasn't presented itself. I feel that camo is like corduroy and hyper-color. They will NEVER go out of style!

Anonymous said...

Truth by Pete? More like Lies by Pete! Camo rules! National Camo day is March 18th by the way. Lucky for you this year it falls on a Sunday... you know what to do.

Anonymous said...

I own nil camo... camo is misleading and deceiptful... it has no place in everyday life... LIES and more LIES... I see so much camo that I sometimes believe martial law is in effect!

Anonymous said...

Pete, You are absolutely right.

I'm pretty sure that you're an oracle.

Anonymous said...

Just last weekend I was sitting on a chairlift at Telluride Colorado and I noticed snowboard carving down the slopes all by itself, Then I looked closer and realized that there was actually an entire snowboarder attached to it, but he was in fact wearing a full camo snowboarding outfit. That could be very hazardous to everyone else on the mountain, I usually "want" to be seen by other skiers/boarders on the mountain as to avoid a collision, he was asking for disaster and if I were him I would expect -no- I would be upset if I didn't get beat up on a daily basis for committing such a heinous act of lunacy.

Marc said...

If hot chicks want to wear skimpy camo bikinis I don't think they need any excuses.

smootheP said...

will - give up the shorts, man! trust me, you'll thank me for it.

pimp j - while i normally disapprove of your "martial law is in effect!" warnings, this time it seems warranted. ;)

chococat - can we start the ORACLE chant? OR-A-CLE!! OR-A-CLE!!

snoop - i really hope you got a chance to beat up camo dude before coming back to AZ...

marc - you always find loopholes to EVERYTHING! and this time i want to thank you;)

redneckbuck said...

Your a moron camo is the best color it represents who you are and some wear it to support the troops camo is American I wear camo every day and any body who's got a problem with it can kiss my country ass why would you wear something else are you trying to look cool or blend with a red brick wall or stop sign with your red shirt or maybe you think it's cool cause it's all about being cool who gives a shit as long as you have good highgene who cares

smootheP said...

Thanks for the comment, redneckbuck. You're right... it's not about the camo, it's about the highgene.

Yours may be the best comment yet.