Having exhausted my information regarding the
development and relative effectiveness of the Temperate
CADPAT, I will shift gears and address the issue of
CADPAT versus MARPAT development. There has been some
discussion on this forum regarding which came first, and
whether one pattern is an off-shoot of the other. The
last message I read on this site suggested that the
two patterns were developed concurrently, but
independently. I now have 100% confirmation through the CADPAT
Project Manager that this suggestion is incorrect. The
truth of the matter is that MARPAT is indeed a direct
derivative of CADPAT. The USMC apparently expressed
considerable interest throughout the latter stages of CADPAT
development. This interest peaked when scientific findings
regarding the pattern’s efficacy indicated its superiority
over every other temperate pattern currently fielded.
The USMC was looking for a “distinctive” Corps
uniform, and the CADPAT fit the bill perfectly. At the
USMC’s request, the Canadian government “shared” CADPAT
with the Corps under a bilateral military “Exchange
Agreement”. Minor tweaking of the pattern (colours and
shapes) apparently allowed the USMC to avoid paying the
licensing fees associated with any use of the copy-righted
Canadian pattern. This was done with full Canadian
concurrence. It is difficult to say just how similar the two
patterns are without having an example of the MARPAT to
compare against my issued CADPAT, however I am led to
believe that they are virtually identical. Once again,
this information is not conjecture on my part. These
are the facts of the CADPAT versus MARPAT debate, as
explained to me by our national Project Manager.
<br><br>Well, that about wraps it up. Again, I apologize for
the lengthy message, but I hope that those who “stuck
with it”, found my contribution useful. The bottom
line is that anyone interested in the subject of
CADPAT/MARPAT development and comparative effectiveness, now
has access to just about all of the non-classified
information currently available regarding those uniforms.
Better yet, the information that I provided in these
posts came direct from the writings and mouths of those
responsible for the CADPAT project - it is "as good as it
gets". <br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Mark