Same thing happened to my buddy in Korea. He had created a comic series using a fictitious modern Nork military and he got grilled by some spooks for a few hours asking where he got the information. Bro was flabbergasted
@@Dakurar When he published Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy had the FBI crawling up his butt over how he knew so much about American nuclear subs. It was all open access.
My boss back in the 1980s bought up several pallets of the faux Soviet paratrooper smocks and pants that was worn by the extras on set. I worked for a surplus store from 1988 to 2003 and my boss brought in a lot of surplus military gear and uniforms that we resold to local production houses. We had the prop and costume people from the X files in on a regular basis shopping for new and used uniforms and equipment all the time. My best find was an East German gunz truppen jacket with a set of majors shoulder boards in the pocket . I was shopping off the clock for a Halloween costume at the time… score!
My uncle was the person that won the contract bid from Stembridge movie gun rental to supply the AKs to the Red Dawn set. The rifles were Maadi Egyptian made AKMs and they were converted by Marty Pearl, who was a very prominent SOT NFA gunsmith at the time. When my uncle made the delivery to the production set in New Mexico, he told me that he was also stopped and grilled by federal agents after leaving the set. Anyways, he said that converting those AK's to full auto was difficult at the time because back in the early 80's, they didn't have access to original FA conversion parts so everything was hand-made. Thanks for doing this video but I do want to add that Peter Kokalis and Robert K Brown of SOF stated to me and also they stated in their SOF magazine that they got souvenir original Soviet pattern uniforms from Afghan mujahideen fighters, and THEY CLAIM to have given a look-see to John Milius back then. If you can read SOF back in the early 80's, they were making regular trips to Afghanistan and they helped bring in lots of souvenirs including AK-74 rounds, magazines, and other setups and they also sold them to the CIA because they were paying people reward money to add to their reference collection. In one SOF article, they talked about the infamous KRINKOV AKS-74U submachine gun. But anyways, before late Peter Kokalis died, he claimed to me that they showed John Milius those captured Soviet uniforms but I don't think they gave it to him as they wanted ALOT of money. Now one must remember that this was the early 80's and original SKS's were going for nearly $2000 to $4000 USD because they were so ultra rare. And ammo for them was super duper expensive. Anyways, great video but I do believe that Col. Robert Brown and Peter Kokalis and the SOF crew is the ones that showed John Milius the Soviet uniforms and he just worked with it from memory or photos. Lt. Col. Robert K. Brown's memoirs is here. www.amazon.com/Am-Soldier-Fortune-Dancing-Devils/dp/1612003931
I was one of the Russian Paratroopers on this movie. I can factually say that personnel from the "Soldier of Fortune" magazine were present and were a few (five to my recollection) that were "hired" as paratroopers who ACTUALLY jumped in the movie verse the extra's that were hired to dress as paratroopers. These unethical poor excuses of human beings tried to "take over" the parachuting for the movie so that they could claim it was done with "Soldier of Fortune" magazine help. They also tried to sabotage the C-47 plains that were used for the parachutists. I was the one who drove those p.o.s.'s back to Albuquerque Airport that night and the whole way they were trying to influence me to abandon the company that I was hired for. Robert K. Brown was to my knowledge not involved, but I had to believe he knew of some details to include who sabotaged the airplanes making it entirely possible that they would crash with everyone aboard. That slime-balls last name was "DONOVAN" and was the only one with that size of a boot between the airport, parachute company (called Delta Productions, INC) and the parachuting staff. I personally don't trust those slime-balls in that magazine and I have had some other contact with the staff on a few occasions prior to that movie. I will not say anything further on RKB but the rest of the staff are fncking liars.
Concerning the Maadi AK-47 AKM used in the movie, they were among the very first pattern of AK rifles brought into the US, were identical to a Russian AKM only semiautomatic and were imported here by Steyr and so stamped on the receiver. Only 2000 were imported, and nearly flopped in sales as no ammo was ever imported with the rifles. All that was available was expensive Norma ammo. The days of cheap 7.62x39 was still a few years in the future. About 100 clunky side folders were among those imported. Its' the scarcest and probably the most expensive of the pre-ban AkMs so much so that there are quite a few fakes on the market, with a lot of post thumbhole stock crap having a laminated stock slapped on, markings scrubbed, and offered as the real deal. So...if you are offered one, do your research. As there were no RPKs imported at the time, the Finnish Valmet-78 stood in for it and made for a pretty convincing substitute at a glance. You can see it being used several times in the movie... Red Dawn has always been one of my favorite movies from the first time I seen it. I well remember SOF magazine, and their forays into Afghanistan... In 1990, a good friend that owned a pawn shop called me and said someone had just came in and sold him 2 AKMs NIB and did I want one of them. Of course I did...lol Turned out to be a pair of Maadis, both NIB, with all accessories. I've owned it over 30 years now, and still my favorite... WOLVERINES!!!
@marksasak25 I believe that, SOF was also running ads for random Americans to go to goddamn Rhodesia and fight for the white supremacist government there, not the most upstanding people I figure.
Why did the Soviets seem to come up with better camouflage patterns than the West? Flora vs. US Woodland? Flora any day of the week; Woodland is too dark and really doesn't work at any range or time of day. Modern Digital Flora can make you an absolute ghost in a dense pine forest. The problem the West seems to have is we lack specialty camos. Whereas the Soviets and now Russians have various camos tailored to different environments, the Western nations tend to go for a one-size-fits-all policy.
@@WardenWolf yeah US camo is very hit or miss, woodland would work better if it was lighter and the black was reduced, black almost doesnt exist in nature, having it to break the silhouette is ok. the grandma couch camo and similar stuff they came up with not even north korea could manage to fuck up that badly and its the most well funded military in the world we are talking about. duck hunter camo and to a lesser degree the multicam is good though. i wouldn't praise modern russian camo either tbh, the one that they use in ukraine blends into look like a solid color at most distances, its all micro patterns with no macro pattern. ironically the best russian camos are the ones that were copied from flectarn and german oakleaf
Because the camouflage patterns are for visual interest rather than made by the cheapest bidder or the company who pays the government the most kickback.
The Red Dawn copy-camo certainly did what it was meant to do very well, considering that the source materials were grainy B&W photos, mostly from newspapers. I'm reasonably certain that the dark borders were added in the copy-camo to make the white areas "pop" on film, sort of like an "unsharpen mask" effect printed right into the pattern, so it would look correct on film. Obviously in person, the pattern really doesn't look like Soviet KLMK camo.
Great video. Red Dawn was one of my favorite movies growing up. Even as a teenager, I could pick out the fake planes, helicopters and other equipment in movies like Top Gun and Iron Eagle but Red Dawn seemed to get it right.
I had purchased a one-piece coveralls from Middletown Army-Navy in NY around the same time, it had a green, mil-spec style tag on the inside (they show similar tags in the end of the video). I wonder if I got the same style you recall, might have been a northeast regional type of thing that hit the area markets.
South of the border, there are some truly incredible camouflages that I really think deserve a video, like the Colombian, Mexican, or Brazilian uniforms. By the way, great video!
I bought one of the one-piece Red Dawn uniforms shortly after the movie came out and still have it somewhere. If I recall it was made by a contractor with the original fabric (or maybe not). I do remember purchasing a few items by companies mentioned in this segement of Uniform History.
Great video! I was 14 when Red Dawn was released. The use of Egyptian AKs, the mocking up of French Helicopters as Hinds. Finding out that the Soviets had copied the French Helicopter design for the Hinds. Then the faux uniforms. John Milius is one of my favorite Directors/Writers...
The Hind is mostly developed from the Mi-8, which isn’t a copy of anything and predates the French Puma that played the role of the Hind in many films. I will say though that Red Dawn tries as hard as possible to replicate Soviet or similar equipment as best they could. I particularly like the mockups of AK-74s at a time when a lot of films just gave everyone AKM copies.
@@KrisHandsome AKMs were near-impossible to acquire back then as well. AK imports into the US were extremely limited. It's why the Russian paratroopers and Jed had Finnish Valmet M78 LMGs instead of actual RPKs.
@@KrisHandsome The mockups we used as the real paratroopers in the movie were rubber coated Styrofoam. I was one of the actual paratroopers in the movie and I still have mine.
I watched this movie constantly as a kid. Still watch it atleast 2x a year now at 41 lol. I had it growing up on VHS, and watched it so many times the tape started to wear out. Great movie. Way better than the remake in 2012 or whatever it came out.
As a Russian I gotta say that the designer did a pretty good job, especially taking into account the quality of reference. More than a sensible idea: take a bit of Flectarn (which you may or may not know, one of Flectarn's variants called Flectarn-D either was in use up until fairly recently, or is still being used, also by paratroopers, if memory serves me), combined it with the birch (that's what "Berezka" means; there's also no `i` sound between z and k btw 😸), and made a pretty cool combination of the two which does look authentic.
@@Bergmann.Alaska Following your logic, AKs, PRGs and other Soviet standards weapon and ammo are being produced in Europe and in the USA is another example of the West coping from Russia. Fleck D isn't copied 'by Russia', it's produced by a couple of private companies located in Russia.
I think Red Dawn's camo is even more effective than the original Soviet Berezka. It has darker green color, 3rd color (dark green) bordering the white pattern, and there is little element of "rain camo" Strichtarn also.
@@sullathehutt7720 Make it off-white instead of stark white and it becomes surprisingly effective (source: this very video, the Rambo III scenes, where the thing is slightly stained and has become an actually working cammo). Not saying "best cammo ever", just an actually effective cammo.There are better ones, but also worse ones.
@@notfeedynotlazy I don't deny that Berezka White List can be a good camouflage scheme in certain settings, but that pattern is made with a lighter green base tone, and a slightly darker, grayish off-white tone for the spots. Even then, I would argue that the KLMK suit is less effective than other suits like the KZS suit and other commercial Berezka pattern offerings, specifically because of how bright that off-white tone is. I own several Russian & Soviet uniforms and camouflage items, originals, reproductions, issued and commercial items. I have an ANA "Krot" suit in Berezka White List that I think is one of the best versions of that pattern because of how much less bright/more subdued the off-white spots are. It makes a pretty good deep forest camouflage in the greener months, and performs very well in the near-IR spectrum against even modern night vision. But it's still generally not as effective as Berezka Yellow List, which uses more tan & yellow tones that don't stand out as much when the vegetation is more sparse.
@@sullathehutt7720 dude, are you arguing "there are better cammo patterns" to the guy who LITERALLY stated "there _are_ better cammo patterns"? _Seriously?_
Forgot about Adidas Originals made their own copy of the camo. Pattern was basically a 1:1 however was put on items such as a Down Feather ski jacket, shirt, trousers etc
I bought a two piece C.O.R.P Inc uniform that was advertised as being from Red Dawn. I always suspected it was a reproduction and I’m glad I know for certain that’s the case. Thanks for the great video.
I bought a “TOP” (tactical operators pullover) in the Red Dawn pattern from 0241 (highly recommended btw) two years ago. I had the jacket for less than a week when an accident with an old ink jet printer destroyed most of the jacket. Luckily though, I found the same fabric from Ricraynor you showed in the video on spoonflower and rebuilt the jacket (pretty roughly) so it’s still alive to this day. I’ve used the fabric to make a plate carrier as well. I also have an example of the adidas version as well. If you want photos of any of them to share on IG I’ll happily send them your way!
Also, give “USV Gear” a googs. They have created some great products in this pattern, from Gen 3 cut trousers to items closer to the screen used garments
Great Vid, after seeing RED DAWN on VHS in the 80's I saw what the camo looked like up close when the KY national Guard had an OPFOR mannequin display with Egyptian helmet and AK .This one had brush loops sewn on and noticed the printing was actually tri color and had the raindrop pattern. Later in SOLDIER OF FORTUNE magazine there was a classified ad for a catalog where you could buy The RD camo. I sent off and got a pamphlet like photocopied catalog with drawings but no photos of it and sizing, think it was about 40.00 for a coverall.I ordered it. It took forever to come in the mail but I eventually received it.
I really want to watch Red Dawn now hah. That other movie, Fourth War, I never heard of and sounds really good. Great job with the video. Keep up the awesome work!
Excellent video! We used a similar Soviet type winter camouflage uniform during our OP4 exercises at Hahn AB W Germany 🇩🇪 1987-1989. We used W. German Army uniforms when we could trade for them.
Very thankful to own a set I picked up a few months back! C.O.R.P production with a 2 piece cut. Very comfy and definitely up there with my most valuable and rare pieces.
the KMLK wasnt only made in just the jumpsuit style, i had an authentic two piece set in the actual KMLK pattern back in the 90s, i always assumed the two piece style was issued to officers, as the pants were only long enough to fit inside the tall leather boots officers would wear as standard.
Even if it wasn't perfect, gotta give credit to Milius for trying to be as accurate to real life as possible, at least when it came to Soviet equipment and uniforms. Wish more people in Hollywood approach war films with that kind of attitude.
I have one of the original Red Dawn copy's of this one piece smock. I got it when the movie was filmed since I was one of the "Russian" paratroopers (in fact, I believe that I was the paratrooper coming down in your video around the 20:50 since I landed in roughly the same spot in both the successful drops that was shot) in the movie. The camo is effective though since I was in the Air Force at that time and I found it very effective in the pine trees and snow while stationed in Alaska after the movie came out. I still have the smock today but while the smock was effective, it is not very durable like military gear usually is. It is single ply and appears to rip easily. My smock is in still like new condition and I will pass it on to my kids and grandkids after I am gone.
What was the background of the parachutists they used for the drop scenes? Did they film using freefall or static lines? I've never heard this described.
@@michaelconrad7301 If you are aware of skydiving, and you knew the guy who created the company to provide the parachutists, you were in. I had only three jumps to my credit and was one of the least experienced. I know that there were former green berets from Vietnam, some Canadians and at least one Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) parachutist. I spoke with him and that guy was taught to skydive by our boss who was a professional soldier and taught the RLI as well as the Selous Scouts (Rhodesian Special Forces) and was a Green Beret with 16 Jumpmaster wings from different countries. At that time, our boss was one of only a few human beings who had over 5000 parachute jumps to his credit. Anything from HALO to LALO jumps. If I remember correctly, we were paid $225 for three days of jumping and partying on MGM's dime. One jump went bad and five people were hurt. One was one of the Heir apparent to the Fisher Price Toy company and he shattered both ankles by slamming them into the cast iron fence. I was about 30 ft above him when he hit and the cast iron fence had points on top. I heard he could never jump again. I was the only one of the five to return to make the third and last jump.
I collected camo in the 70's and 80's and recall that the story going around was that a two color pattern was tried but, did not show up well on film so the dark outline color was added for more contrast.
3:57 looks so much like Czechoslovak raindrop. On the real one it is hard to see the pattern, the colors are very similar because (allegedly) they camouflage you mostly in IR. The designer might have acquired some good quality Czechoslovak pictures as reference too.
Got to meet John Milius at a Great Western Gun Show at the LA Co fairgrounds, he was an NRA board member at the time and I was working the NRA grassroots booth. I sold a Winchester 97 pump to his armorer for use in the Rough Riders. Great man. PS, the camo was close but not the digitized one they were trying to copy. Я бы знал...
5:16 I had one of those klmk suits back in the mid\late 90s. I remember it being super thin material. It had a hood, foot stirrups, a string that went around your middle finger, and a mask with an elastic band that only covered your face when the hood was up. The "white"was actually a really light pink color. The place I bought it from claimed they were Soviet summer sniper suits.
I recall Brent0331 doing a camo effectiveness video on a camo pattern that appeared in the film that has recently re-entered production, this time for the civilian tactical market
The copy camo strongly resembles the Soviet Partizan family of camos in pattern if not color. It may not be legit, but it's entirely believable because they actually used camo very similar to this. The Soviets also had a lot of specialty camo patterns. It fits Soviet style, it's something they genuinely could have used, and that's why it looks so good.
You keep making stuff up. "Partizan" is not a "Soviet pattern". It's a commercial pattern essentially copied from one of the German ones from WWII initially by a small company "SSO" in the nineties.
Hello Uniform History, congratulations for a really good video. I have a sugestion for the next year: the russian gear and cammos from the videogame Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 (2009). I think it would make a great topic for a video, because there is not much info on the web about it. I hope you give it some thought, merry xmas and happy new year!!!
+1 and not only MW2, but also MW1 and MW3. Talking about MW2, the regular Russian army has three types of uniforms: 1) The “Gorka” suit, I could be wrong, but it seems to be of the “Gorka-1” (or “Gorka-3”) type. 2) A suit in the infamous "red-brown" camouflage pattern. By the way, in reality there was a similar camouflage in Russia - in the late 1990s an experimental batch of uniforms for the Ministry of Emergency Situations was released, but it was ultimately rejected, and the released batch eventually ended its days either in a landfill or as rags for washing floors 3) A combination of “gorka” pants and a “red-brown” camouflage jacket. Alsol, their emblems and stripes are interesting, but that’s a separate topic.
I used KLMK during my airsoft period, and much to my surprise, despite looking kinda goofy and unnatural, it was very effective in sunny summer environment.
Interesting and informative. Fun fact, The Fourth War was filmed near Calgary, Alberta and made use of some Canadian military vehicles (along with their drivers). I have friends who appear in it. I have to mention, however, that early in the vid, you talk about 'rain drops' pattern on the camo and mention it is horizontal. Clearly, it is vertical. Nit picky, I know. But I believe the exact same error is made in another of your vids discussing German WW2 cam.
One of the current Finnish variants has a similar color scheme, although the white spots are much smaller. It's supposed to emulate snow accumulated on branches.
I was military police/MPI throughout the 1980’s and 90’s and so much stuff walked out of warehouses and arm’s rooms. Not firearms but bayonets, NVG’s, gas masks, compasses, blankets (especially blankets) kevlars when they first came out, ERDL when it was turned in when BDU’s came out. There were so many uniform changes that some went missing. When berets came back in vogue boxes went missing. Then alot of stuff that went to ODS/DS “was left behind” not to mention all the non-US stuff that came back. I once read somewhere that the Army itself had “lost control” over at least a BILLION dollars worth of equipment. I can only imagine what walked away during the never ending WOT.
To be honest, as a person who speaks Russian, I think it would be fairer to feed the actual Russian text to any text-to-speech app or service (e.g. Google Translate) - I just tried that and it worked perfectly. It's too ironic when someone is talking about loose visual interpretation of the Soviet camo patterns and immediately does the same with the names of it. Anyone can try and compare: "protective (concealing) suit, mesh (net)" (KZS) = костюм защитный сетчатый .
To me the "OG multicam" is still the Italian Vegetata. Even the color palette is almost similar, arid. Or if one insists it must be from a vintage era, then it would be Erbsenmuster from WW2.
When the wall came down lots of stuff came out of Russia. I picked up a dozen or so sets of the sniper coveralls and about that number in the burlap style two piece. It was cheap …sold some kept most of it.
I am out of town for Christmas and I will be going to a local surplus store tomorrow morning at 10 when they open. I’m super jacked up about it. This is like getting to do Christmas again for me. There are a few things I need. Now Im gonna geek out in the camo section.
The 1960s/70s pattern KLMK had a splatter pattern where the edges were rounded and not squared off. I have a suit and helmet cover for this earlier style. The colors are medium grass green and white.
I went to the CORP surplus store in Chico many times as a kid in the 90s. Probably the reason I showed everyone in boot camp how to put there gear together lol. Miss that place.
Great video answering a lot of questions I've had about the camo over the years. I had purchased a set of hooded coveralls from my local surplus store back in the late 1980's, sold it a few years ago and regret selling it. IMO the pattern was accurate to the movie, the coveralls had a mil-spec style green tag on the inside.
The white pixel (aka "silver leaf" or "bereyozka") on a green background is the camouflage of the USSR border service troops, which were part of the KGB structure. So, therefore, this camouflage would hardly be used en mass. Which, however, does not exclude the widespread use of this pattern in military reconnaissance (overalls KLMK or KZS) and special forces. As for the soviet airborne, in the era of the film they wore their own camouflage "Butan". The infantry units most likely wore protective clothing, which you could see in the Chernobyl series
Can you do the camo pattern from the Soviet Movie " In the Zone of Special Attention"? It's very similar to these camo patterns and I believe it was just made for that movie. If you can find more information about the cut and material that would be awesome. It's my all time favorite uniform.
There are many variations to the real 2 camos shown in the vid, the one you talk about just seems to be cut as a standard issue soviet, afghanistan-era field jacket
That movie has some curious mistakes/exaggerations. The main characters are with VDV (paratroopers, a branch under the Ministry of Defense). But since the very beginning (the operation briefing scene) they wear field uniforms (not to be confused with coveralls) in the KZM camo pattern that looks like something used later by the Border Guards (a branch under the KGB, State Security). However, in some scenes with better lighting, it's possible to see that white spots aren't quite a solid color, have some staining around, and appear to be printed with a stencil and white paint on top of the solid-color uniform of the late seventies. There's a lot of confusion caused by the existence of the two-piece variant of the KMLK coveralls. But that two-piece suit was made of much thinner fabric, was baggy, had elastic cuffs, etc. So, prop masters somehow predicted the Border Guard uniform of 1981 almost exactly (except for the yellow-green spot color, look up "форма ПВ КГБ СССР 1981") while they missed the mark with the VDV camo uniform that was created in 1983 and was later designated as VSR-84 "Oak" (Cyr. Дубок).
4:05 This similar style looking like Russian “Kikimora” or “Berezeka” is actually much closer to the style used by Ukraine Paratroopers (post USSR), which is a KLM pattern with the raindrops, but it has some faint leaf overlay. Source; former soldiers I served with in Iraq/Afghanistan are now in Ukraine fighting and sending me back “war trophies”, I’m literally looking at it as I type this. I have no idea what it’s called, and given that “Red Dawn” came out before the breakup of the USSR, this is strictly a happy coincidence.
Not specifically camo related, but the helicopters used to portray the Mil Mi-24A Hind in the movie were actually Aerospatiale SA-330 Puma. They had two flyable aircraft equipped with wings, weapons pylons and falsework around the cockpit to mimic the distinctive Mi-24A greenhouse cockpit. The third was non-flyable and was only used for the ground shots. That was a salvaged wrecked airframe that had originally been the VIP transport helicopter for the president of Mexico. The two flying aircraft were stored at Long Beach Municipal Airport in California for several years. They were later used in Rambo II & III.
It's wild story considering original KLMK is the cheapest literally garbage surplus suit you can buy for $10 dollars and sometimes used as work clothes beater
My grandpa was good friends with Rich Lamotte and my dad has some pretty good stories of all of them going to gun shows looking around. Never knew he actually worked on Red Dawn, I was just told that he worked on Tora Tora Tora and another ww2 movie that got its set destroyed by a storm. Sounds like an interesting dude for sure, would love to meet him someday
btw one of the highest grossing films of 1977 in the USSR was about the airborne and they wear a similar camo there. The people responsible for the american movies might have seen it actually and taken notes...
The Soviet overall was issued to all types of motorised troops as it goes on top of the field uniform, comes with a little face cover. The two piece net camo was issued to paratroopers as field gear. The Soviets started camo just short time before ww2, issued only for motorised infantry, with two different colour patterns to put over field uniforms, but never saw real usage during wartime.
As someone who grew up watching Red Dawn, I always thought it was because they were invading part of the Rocky Mountains and had to outfit airborne troops with a camouflage that would better suit that environment. Finding out it’s just a copy from what they saw in newspapers is a little underwhelming, but it’s a cool camo nonetheless.
In New Orleans I have SEEN three of those tank spot lights ... from Op rip stock... my boss at the time wanted to know how to change the plugs 🔌 as the required military specific twist lock pin 📌 type plugs... thought they looked out of place in 2016 😂😅 ( IYKWIS ) ... there junk now however some found there way to a warehouse in the bayou...
First Blood Part 3 had the most realistic Soviet equipment to date in an 80s movie due to the fact it was filmed in Israel and they had access to real Soviet weapons and tanks captured by the IDF.
CIA: Where did you get this stuff?
Red Dawn production crew: We made it up based on public photos
CIA: Damn you’re good
Lol the tanks and vehicles aswell :)
Same thing happened to my buddy in Korea. He had created a comic series using a fictitious modern Nork military and he got grilled by some spooks for a few hours asking where he got the information. Bro was flabbergasted
@@Dakurar what's the title of the comic series?
@@Dakurar When he published Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy had the FBI crawling up his butt over how he knew so much about American nuclear subs. It was all open access.
@@Dakurar "My source is I made it the fuck up!"
My boss back in the 1980s bought up several pallets of the faux Soviet paratrooper smocks and pants that was worn by the extras on set. I worked for a surplus store from 1988 to 2003 and my boss brought in a lot of surplus military gear and uniforms that we resold to local production houses. We had the prop and costume people from the X files in on a regular basis shopping for new and used uniforms and equipment all the time. My best find was an East German gunz truppen jacket with a set of majors shoulder boards in the pocket . I was shopping off the clock for a Halloween costume at the time… score!
gunz truppen lol
wow
I wish the ISW thing was easier to find
@@toasty_7233 yup
awesome
My uncle was the person that won the contract bid from Stembridge movie gun rental to supply the AKs to the Red Dawn set. The rifles were Maadi Egyptian made AKMs and they were converted by Marty Pearl, who was a very prominent SOT NFA gunsmith at the time. When my uncle made the delivery to the production set in New Mexico, he told me that he was also stopped and grilled by federal agents after leaving the set. Anyways, he said that converting those AK's to full auto was difficult at the time because back in the early 80's, they didn't have access to original FA conversion parts so everything was hand-made. Thanks for doing this video but I do want to add that Peter Kokalis and Robert K Brown of SOF stated to me and also they stated in their SOF magazine that they got souvenir original Soviet pattern uniforms from Afghan mujahideen fighters, and THEY CLAIM to have given a look-see to John Milius back then. If you can read SOF back in the early 80's, they were making regular trips to Afghanistan and they helped bring in lots of souvenirs including AK-74 rounds, magazines, and other setups and they also sold them to the CIA because they were paying people reward money to add to their reference collection. In one SOF article, they talked about the infamous KRINKOV AKS-74U submachine gun. But anyways, before late Peter Kokalis died, he claimed to me that they showed John Milius those captured Soviet uniforms but I don't think they gave it to him as they wanted ALOT of money. Now one must remember that this was the early 80's and original SKS's were going for nearly $2000 to $4000 USD because they were so ultra rare. And ammo for them was super duper expensive. Anyways, great video but I do believe that Col. Robert Brown and Peter Kokalis and the SOF crew is the ones that showed John Milius the Soviet uniforms and he just worked with it from memory or photos. Lt. Col. Robert K. Brown's memoirs is here. www.amazon.com/Am-Soldier-Fortune-Dancing-Devils/dp/1612003931
I was one of the Russian Paratroopers on this movie. I can factually say that personnel from the "Soldier of Fortune" magazine were present and were a few (five to my recollection) that were "hired" as paratroopers who ACTUALLY jumped in the movie verse the extra's that were hired to dress as paratroopers. These unethical poor excuses of human beings tried to "take over" the parachuting for the movie so that they could claim it was done with "Soldier of Fortune" magazine help. They also tried to sabotage the C-47 plains that were used for the parachutists. I was the one who drove those p.o.s.'s back to Albuquerque Airport that night and the whole way they were trying to influence me to abandon the company that I was hired for. Robert K. Brown was to my knowledge not involved, but I had to believe he knew of some details to include who sabotaged the airplanes making it entirely possible that they would crash with everyone aboard. That slime-balls last name was "DONOVAN" and was the only one with that size of a boot between the airport, parachute company (called Delta Productions, INC) and the parachuting staff. I personally don't trust those slime-balls in that magazine and I have had some other contact with the staff on a few occasions prior to that movie. I will not say anything further on RKB but the rest of the staff are fncking liars.
Concerning the Maadi AK-47 AKM used in the movie, they were among the very first pattern of AK rifles brought into the US, were identical to a Russian AKM only semiautomatic and were imported here by Steyr and so stamped on the receiver. Only 2000 were imported, and nearly flopped in sales as no ammo was ever imported with the rifles. All that was available was expensive Norma ammo. The days of cheap 7.62x39 was still a few years in the future. About 100 clunky side folders were among those imported. Its' the scarcest and probably the most expensive of the pre-ban AkMs so much so that there are quite a few fakes on the market, with a lot of post thumbhole stock crap having a laminated stock slapped on, markings scrubbed, and offered as the real deal. So...if you are offered one, do your research. As there were no RPKs imported at the time, the Finnish Valmet-78 stood in for it and made for a pretty convincing substitute at a glance. You can see it being used several times in the movie...
Red Dawn has always been one of my favorite movies from the first time I seen it. I well remember SOF magazine, and their forays into Afghanistan...
In 1990, a good friend that owned a pawn shop called me and said someone had just came in and sold him 2 AKMs NIB and did I want one of them. Of course I did...lol Turned out to be a pair of Maadis, both NIB, with all accessories. I've owned it over 30 years now, and still my favorite...
WOLVERINES!!!
As a conventioneer I met Peter Kokalis at the 1991 SOF Convention in Las Vegas (Sands Hotel) and later at the tactical 3-gun match.
Impressive person.
That guy was John Donavon and he was kinda larger than life.@@marksasak25
@marksasak25 I believe that, SOF was also running ads for random Americans to go to goddamn Rhodesia and fight for the white supremacist government there, not the most upstanding people I figure.
Why do games and movies always seem to come up with some better camouflage patterns than we have now
Better? You mean look cooler or perform better in their intended environments?
Why did the Soviets seem to come up with better camouflage patterns than the West? Flora vs. US Woodland? Flora any day of the week; Woodland is too dark and really doesn't work at any range or time of day. Modern Digital Flora can make you an absolute ghost in a dense pine forest. The problem the West seems to have is we lack specialty camos. Whereas the Soviets and now Russians have various camos tailored to different environments, the Western nations tend to go for a one-size-fits-all policy.
@@WardenWolfif woodland wasn’t effective, it wouldn’t be the worlds most popular camouflage ever made. Even used by Russians sometimes
@@WardenWolf yeah US camo is very hit or miss, woodland would work better if it was lighter and the black was reduced, black almost doesnt exist in nature, having it to break the silhouette is ok. the grandma couch camo and similar stuff they came up with not even north korea could manage to fuck up that badly and its the most well funded military in the world we are talking about. duck hunter camo and to a lesser degree the multicam is good though.
i wouldn't praise modern russian camo either tbh, the one that they use in ukraine blends into look like a solid color at most distances, its all micro patterns with no macro pattern. ironically the best russian camos are the ones that were copied from flectarn and german oakleaf
Because the camouflage patterns are for visual interest rather than made by the cheapest bidder or the company who pays the government the most kickback.
The Red Dawn copy-camo certainly did what it was meant to do very well, considering that the source materials were grainy B&W photos, mostly from newspapers.
I'm reasonably certain that the dark borders were added in the copy-camo to make the white areas "pop" on film, sort of like an "unsharpen mask" effect printed right into the pattern, so it would look correct on film. Obviously in person, the pattern really doesn't look like Soviet KLMK camo.
I’ve never seen this in HD and I thought it looked WAY closer to actual KLMK than it actually does until now
tube tvs distort details in a interesting way. Try to rewatch on original CRT tv from 1980/90s
Same here , I thought it was KLMK
Great video. Red Dawn was one of my favorite movies growing up. Even as a teenager, I could pick out the fake planes, helicopters and other equipment in movies like Top Gun and Iron Eagle but Red Dawn seemed to get it right.
I remember seeing these jumpsuits (advertised as being from the movie) being sold at Linden War Surplus in NJ back in the mid-late 80’s.
I had purchased a one-piece coveralls from Middletown Army-Navy in NY around the same time, it had a green, mil-spec style tag on the inside (they show similar tags in the end of the video). I wonder if I got the same style you recall, might have been a northeast regional type of thing that hit the area markets.
Never even thought this was a made up camo pattern, and ive watched most of the movies listed here
South of the border, there are some truly incredible camouflages that I really think deserve a video, like the Colombian, Mexican, or Brazilian uniforms.
By the way, great video!
I want one of those Mexican marine uniforms so bad! Us4ces transitional my beloved, talk about unobtainium
Mexican camo 🤢
this is the first time ive heard about Operation Rip-Stop, would love to find more info about it, also great video my dude
The Cuban/Niguragian general seen at 3.11 is actually wearing a Portuguese camuflage uniform.
This video is fantastic: filled with information and very nicely made! Good job! Respects from a Brazilian surplus collector.
Theres one even more obscure piece of fake soviet camo, the fake KZS suits from The Living Daylights!
I bought one of the one-piece Red Dawn uniforms shortly after the movie came out and still have it somewhere. If I recall it was made by a contractor with the original fabric (or maybe not). I do remember purchasing a few items by companies mentioned in this segement of Uniform History.
Great video! I was 14 when Red Dawn was released. The use of Egyptian AKs, the mocking up of French Helicopters as Hinds. Finding out that the Soviets had copied the French Helicopter design for the Hinds. Then the faux uniforms.
John Milius is one of my favorite Directors/Writers...
They used Finnish ( valmet )RPKs too
And a Finnish Jatimatik 9mm SMG for the train tracks scene in the end.
The Hind is mostly developed from the Mi-8, which isn’t a copy of anything and predates the French Puma that played the role of the Hind in many films.
I will say though that Red Dawn tries as hard as possible to replicate Soviet or similar equipment as best they could. I particularly like the mockups of AK-74s at a time when a lot of films just gave everyone AKM copies.
@@KrisHandsome AKMs were near-impossible to acquire back then as well. AK imports into the US were extremely limited. It's why the Russian paratroopers and Jed had Finnish Valmet M78 LMGs instead of actual RPKs.
@@KrisHandsome The mockups we used as the real paratroopers in the movie were rubber coated Styrofoam. I was one of the actual paratroopers in the movie and I still have mine.
I watched this movie constantly as a kid. Still watch it atleast 2x a year now at 41 lol. I had it growing up on VHS, and watched it so many times the tape started to wear out. Great movie. Way better than the remake in 2012 or whatever it came out.
In Russia this movie is considered a comedy. Very funny.
Lmfao
As a Russian I gotta say that the designer did a pretty good job, especially taking into account the quality of reference. More than a sensible idea: take a bit of Flectarn (which you may or may not know, one of Flectarn's variants called Flectarn-D either was in use up until fairly recently, or is still being used, also by paratroopers, if memory serves me), combined it with the birch (that's what "Berezka" means; there's also no `i` sound between z and k btw 😸), and made a pretty cool combination of the two which does look authentic.
I think the "rain" drops were most likely wood bark mimic.
Fleck D is yet another example of Russia copying from others. In this case Danish Flekcktarn.
@@Bergmann.Alaska what are you, a woman? "They're wearing the same dress as me, this party is ruined!"
As if nobody else does this 🤡
@@Bergmann.Alaska Following your logic, AKs, PRGs and other Soviet standards weapon and ammo are being produced in Europe and in the USA is another example of the West coping from Russia. Fleck D isn't copied 'by Russia', it's produced by a couple of private companies located in Russia.
Its a copy.. learn to cope, kid.@@domino051970
I think Red Dawn's camo is even more effective than the original Soviet Berezka. It has darker green color, 3rd color (dark green) bordering the white pattern, and there is little element of "rain camo" Strichtarn also.
Too much contrast. The white bits are too bright and the base tone is too dark. It catches the eye too easily in most settings.
@@sullathehutt7720 Make it off-white instead of stark white and it becomes surprisingly effective (source: this very video, the Rambo III scenes, where the thing is slightly stained and has become an actually working cammo). Not saying "best cammo ever", just an actually effective cammo.There are better ones, but also worse ones.
@@notfeedynotlazy
I don't deny that Berezka White List can be a good camouflage scheme in certain settings, but that pattern is made with a lighter green base tone, and a slightly darker, grayish off-white tone for the spots. Even then, I would argue that the KLMK suit is less effective than other suits like the KZS suit and other commercial Berezka pattern offerings, specifically because of how bright that off-white tone is.
I own several Russian & Soviet uniforms and camouflage items, originals, reproductions, issued and commercial items. I have an ANA "Krot" suit in Berezka White List that I think is one of the best versions of that pattern because of how much less bright/more subdued the off-white spots are. It makes a pretty good deep forest camouflage in the greener months, and performs very well in the near-IR spectrum against even modern night vision. But it's still generally not as effective as Berezka Yellow List, which uses more tan & yellow tones that don't stand out as much when the vegetation is more sparse.
@@sullathehutt7720 dude, are you arguing "there are better cammo patterns" to the guy who LITERALLY stated "there _are_ better cammo patterns"? _Seriously?_
@@notfeedynotlazy
The Red Dawn copy of Berezka White List is not good camouflage. That is my point.
super fascinating video, did not expect it to turn into a true crime story in the middle.
Forgot about Adidas Originals made their own copy of the camo. Pattern was basically a 1:1 however was put on items such as a Down Feather ski jacket, shirt, trousers etc
I bought a two piece C.O.R.P Inc uniform that was advertised as being from Red Dawn.
I always suspected it was a reproduction and I’m glad I know for certain that’s the case.
Thanks for the great video.
Excellent and informative video!!!
I bought a “TOP” (tactical operators pullover) in the Red Dawn pattern from 0241 (highly recommended btw) two years ago. I had the jacket for less than a week when an accident with an old ink jet printer destroyed most of the jacket. Luckily though, I found the same fabric from Ricraynor you showed in the video on spoonflower and rebuilt the jacket (pretty roughly) so it’s still alive to this day. I’ve used the fabric to make a plate carrier as well. I also have an example of the adidas version as well. If you want photos of any of them to share on IG I’ll happily send them your way!
Also, give “USV Gear” a googs. They have created some great products in this pattern, from Gen 3 cut trousers to items closer to the screen used garments
MOE guns tactical make items in the "red dawn" kmlk inspired camo as well as kmlk. Hoodies, beanies, wind jackets, and fanny packs.
Great Vid, after seeing RED DAWN on VHS in the 80's I saw what the camo looked like up close when the KY national Guard had an OPFOR mannequin display with Egyptian helmet and AK .This one had brush loops sewn on and noticed the printing was actually tri color and had the raindrop pattern. Later in SOLDIER OF FORTUNE magazine there was a classified ad for a catalog where you could buy The RD camo. I sent off and got a pamphlet like photocopied catalog with drawings but no photos of it and sizing, think it was about 40.00 for a coverall.I ordered it. It took forever to come in the mail but I eventually received it.
now I know more niche things to annoy my family with while watching movies
like how wrong the Foreign Armies qoute is.
I really want to watch Red Dawn now hah. That other movie, Fourth War, I never heard of and sounds really good. Great job with the video. Keep up the awesome work!
WOLVERIIIIIIIIIINES!
Excellent video! We used a similar Soviet type winter camouflage uniform during our OP4 exercises at Hahn AB W Germany 🇩🇪 1987-1989. We used W. German Army uniforms when we could trade for them.
Very thankful to own a set I picked up a few months back! C.O.R.P production with a 2 piece cut. Very comfy and definitely up there with my most valuable and rare pieces.
the KMLK wasnt only made in just the jumpsuit style, i had an authentic two piece set in the actual KMLK pattern back in the 90s, i always assumed the two piece style was issued to officers, as the pants were only long enough to fit inside the tall leather boots officers would wear as standard.
Yeah, there's a two piece that has the same pattern but a darker colour.
That was very educational. I look forward to more.
Even if it wasn't perfect, gotta give credit to Milius for trying to be as accurate to real life as possible, at least when it came to Soviet equipment and uniforms. Wish more people in Hollywood approach war films with that kind of attitude.
Great video - nice work!
I have one of the original Red Dawn copy's of this one piece smock. I got it when the movie was filmed since I was one of the "Russian" paratroopers (in fact, I believe that I was the paratrooper coming down in your video around the 20:50 since I landed in roughly the same spot in both the successful drops that was shot) in the movie. The camo is effective though since I was in the Air Force at that time and I found it very effective in the pine trees and snow while stationed in Alaska after the movie came out. I still have the smock today but while the smock was effective, it is not very durable like military gear usually is. It is single ply and appears to rip easily. My smock is in still like new condition and I will pass it on to my kids and grandkids after I am gone.
What was the background of the parachutists they used for the drop scenes? Did they film using freefall or static lines? I've never heard this described.
@@michaelconrad7301 If you are aware of skydiving, and you knew the guy who created the company to provide the parachutists, you were in. I had only three jumps to my credit and was one of the least experienced. I know that there were former green berets from Vietnam, some Canadians and at least one Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) parachutist. I spoke with him and that guy was taught to skydive by our boss who was a professional soldier and taught the RLI as well as the Selous Scouts (Rhodesian Special Forces) and was a Green Beret with 16 Jumpmaster wings from different countries. At that time, our boss was one of only a few human beings who had over 5000 parachute jumps to his credit. Anything from HALO to LALO jumps. If I remember correctly, we were paid $225 for three days of jumping and partying on MGM's dime.
One jump went bad and five people were hurt. One was one of the Heir apparent to the Fisher Price Toy company and he shattered both ankles by slamming them into the cast iron fence. I was about 30 ft above him when he hit and the cast iron fence had points on top. I heard he could never jump again. I was the only one of the five to return to make the third and last jump.
@@michaelconrad7301 There was one paratrooper that jumped that had only one jump prior to jumping in this movie.
I collected camo in the 70's and 80's and recall that the story going around was that a two color pattern was tried but, did not show up well on film so the dark outline color was added for more contrast.
3:57 looks so much like Czechoslovak raindrop. On the real one it is hard to see the pattern, the colors are very similar because (allegedly) they camouflage you mostly in IR.
The designer might have acquired some good quality Czechoslovak pictures as reference too.
That is based on German Sumpftarn from 1931 afaik. The GDR adapted the pattern later as Strichtarn in the 60s as well.
Got to meet John Milius at a Great Western Gun Show at the LA Co fairgrounds, he was an NRA board member at the time and I was working the NRA grassroots booth. I sold a Winchester 97 pump to his armorer for use in the Rough Riders. Great man. PS, the camo was close but not the digitized one they were trying to copy. Я бы знал...
5:16 I had one of those klmk suits back in the mid\late 90s. I remember it being super thin material. It had a hood, foot stirrups, a string that went around your middle finger, and a mask with an elastic band that only covered your face when the hood was up. The "white"was actually a really light pink color. The place I bought it from claimed they were Soviet summer sniper suits.
Love your work! Just a comment about the Russian word "Berezka" for the original Soviet camouflage. In English it would be "birch".
Your research is amazing
I recall Brent0331 doing a camo effectiveness video on a camo pattern that appeared in the film that has recently re-entered production, this time for the civilian tactical market
The copy camo strongly resembles the Soviet Partizan family of camos in pattern if not color. It may not be legit, but it's entirely believable because they actually used camo very similar to this. The Soviets also had a lot of specialty camo patterns. It fits Soviet style, it's something they genuinely could have used, and that's why it looks so good.
It looks very much like the "one stripe, no stripe" pattern of the GDR with some coloured dots printed over it.
It looks nothing like DDR/NVA splinter...@@senfdazu2230
You keep making stuff up. "Partizan" is not a "Soviet pattern". It's a commercial pattern essentially copied from one of the German ones from WWII initially by a small company "SSO" in the nineties.
The Russian Ameba camo of WW2, is a very interesting pattern. There’s a guy on UA-cam who did a test of the camo, and it worked surprisingly well.
I found the Izlom/Skol (Russian copy of Flecktarn, with altered color & smaller dots) even more effective & underrated than that amoeba pattern.
Hello Uniform History, congratulations for a really good video. I have a sugestion for the next year: the russian gear and cammos from the videogame Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 (2009). I think it would make a great topic for a video, because there is not much info on the web about it.
I hope you give it some thought, merry xmas and happy new year!!!
+1 and not only MW2, but also MW1 and MW3.
Talking about MW2, the regular Russian army has three types of uniforms:
1) The “Gorka” suit, I could be wrong, but it seems to be of the “Gorka-1” (or “Gorka-3”) type.
2) A suit in the infamous "red-brown" camouflage pattern. By the way, in reality there was a similar camouflage in Russia - in the late 1990s an experimental batch of uniforms for the Ministry of Emergency Situations was released, but it was ultimately rejected, and the released batch eventually ended its days either in a landfill or as rags for washing floors
3) A combination of “gorka” pants and a “red-brown” camouflage jacket.
Alsol, their emblems and stripes are interesting, but that’s a separate topic.
I used KLMK during my airsoft period, and much to my surprise, despite looking kinda goofy and unnatural, it was very effective in sunny summer environment.
Apparently a nickname for it was “sun bunnies.”
@@utahraptor4729874 your nickname made me LOL, I used to watch Prager :P
Interesting and informative. Fun fact, The Fourth War was filmed near Calgary, Alberta and made use of some Canadian military vehicles (along with their drivers). I have friends who appear in it.
I have to mention, however, that early in the vid, you talk about 'rain drops' pattern on the camo and mention it is horizontal. Clearly, it is vertical. Nit picky, I know. But I believe the exact same error is made in another of your vids discussing German WW2 cam.
That camouflage pattern, "fake" as it is would work well in the forests near me during wintertime. It has the right blend of greens and white.
One of the current Finnish variants has a similar color scheme, although the white spots are much smaller. It's supposed to emulate snow accumulated on branches.
I was military police/MPI throughout the 1980’s and 90’s and so much stuff walked out of warehouses and arm’s rooms. Not firearms but bayonets, NVG’s, gas masks, compasses, blankets (especially blankets) kevlars when they first came out, ERDL when it was turned in when BDU’s came out. There were so many uniform changes that some went missing. When berets came back in vogue boxes went missing. Then alot of stuff that went to ODS/DS “was left behind” not to mention all the non-US stuff that came back. I once read somewhere that the Army itself had “lost control” over at least a BILLION dollars worth of equipment. I can only imagine what walked away during the never ending WOT.
To be honest, as a person who speaks Russian, I think it would be fairer to feed the actual Russian text to any text-to-speech app or service (e.g. Google Translate) - I just tried that and it worked perfectly. It's too ironic when someone is talking about loose visual interpretation of the Soviet camo patterns and immediately does the same with the names of it. Anyone can try and compare:
"protective (concealing) suit, mesh (net)" (KZS) = костюм защитный сетчатый .
In a way it is the og multicam. It's used in desert, woodland, and snow environments and does decently lol.
To me the "OG multicam" is still the Italian Vegetata. Even the color palette is almost similar, arid. Or if one insists it must be from a vintage era, then it would be Erbsenmuster from WW2.
When the wall came down lots of stuff came out of Russia. I picked up a dozen or so sets of the sniper coveralls and about that number in the burlap style two piece. It was cheap …sold some kept most of it.
Had some East German rain pattern stuff, and let it go.😮 U.S. Cavalry store.
Not, berezyka, but beryozka - a birch tree pattern. Берёзка. But the idea to mix Soviet Beryozka and DDR Strichtarn in one design was pretty cool.
Good content! The background of these uniforms is really cool! I'll throw my request for the Battle Royale 2 number camo!
I have one smock made from the fabric bolt for the Red Dawn set.
wow.. that really fascinating info, keep on rolling Uniform History channel.. 😘🤲👍
I always heard the original reference as "sun bunny"
I am out of town for Christmas and I will be going to a local surplus store tomorrow morning at 10 when they open. I’m super jacked up about it. This is like getting to do Christmas again for me. There are a few things I need. Now Im gonna geek out in the camo section.
Awesome Michael! 😊
My wife has, or had, a rain jacket in a very similar pattern. It isn't the copy camo exactly, but it always reminds me of it.
The 1960s/70s pattern KLMK had a splatter pattern where the edges were rounded and not squared off. I have a suit and helmet cover for this earlier style. The colors are medium grass green and white.
I’ve got a real KLMK jumpsuit I had turned into a front zip hoodie, love it
I don't know what you're talking about, there has never been a Red Dawn remake, especially not in 2012.
It was definitely that terrible lol. I was all pumped up when I heard and went to see it on opening night. 30 minutes in and I was ready to leave lol
@@jweezy8645opening night for what? There's never been a Red Dawn remake, especially not one with Thor's brother and Josh from Drake & Josh.
Great video!
I went to the CORP surplus store in Chico many times as a kid in the 90s. Probably the reason I showed everyone in boot camp how to put there gear together lol.
Miss that place.
Great video answering a lot of questions I've had about the camo over the years. I had purchased a set of hooded coveralls from my local surplus store back in the late 1980's, sold it a few years ago and regret selling it. IMO the pattern was accurate to the movie, the coveralls had a mil-spec style green tag on the inside.
Great work. Thank you very much.
The white pixel (aka "silver leaf" or "bereyozka") on a green background is the camouflage of the USSR border service troops, which were part of the KGB structure. So, therefore, this camouflage would hardly be used en mass. Which, however, does not exclude the widespread use of this pattern in military reconnaissance (overalls KLMK or KZS) and special forces. As for the soviet airborne, in the era of the film they wore their own camouflage "Butan". The infantry units most likely wore protective clothing, which you could see in the Chernobyl series
Can you do the camo pattern from the Soviet Movie " In the Zone of Special Attention"? It's very similar to these camo patterns and I believe it was just made for that movie. If you can find more information about the cut and material that would be awesome. It's my all time favorite uniform.
There are many variations to the real 2 camos shown in the vid, the one you talk about just seems to be cut as a standard issue soviet, afghanistan-era field jacket
That movie has some curious mistakes/exaggerations. The main characters are with VDV (paratroopers, a branch under the Ministry of Defense). But since the very beginning (the operation briefing scene) they wear field uniforms (not to be confused with coveralls) in the KZM camo pattern that looks like something used later by the Border Guards (a branch under the KGB, State Security).
However, in some scenes with better lighting, it's possible to see that white spots aren't quite a solid color, have some staining around, and appear to be printed with a stencil and white paint on top of the solid-color uniform of the late seventies. There's a lot of confusion caused by the existence of the two-piece variant of the KMLK coveralls. But that two-piece suit was made of much thinner fabric, was baggy, had elastic cuffs, etc.
So, prop masters somehow predicted the Border Guard uniform of 1981 almost exactly (except for the yellow-green spot color, look up "форма ПВ КГБ СССР 1981") while they missed the mark with the VDV camo uniform that was created in 1983 and was later designated as VSR-84 "Oak" (Cyr. Дубок).
I had no idea I needed to know this information.
Love this camo but I always loved seeing the Portuguese lizard uniforms being used as a stand in for the grey Cuban lizard
Old Portuguese stock Cuban soldiers captured in Angola and figured they could be used in the invasion of the USA?
can you do the rock 1996 film marine force recon uniforms please
Yes! Those were something
4:05 This similar style looking like Russian “Kikimora” or “Berezeka” is actually much closer to the style used by Ukraine Paratroopers (post USSR), which is a KLM pattern with the raindrops, but it has some faint leaf overlay. Source; former soldiers I served with in Iraq/Afghanistan are now in Ukraine fighting and sending me back “war trophies”, I’m literally looking at it as I type this. I have no idea what it’s called, and given that “Red Dawn” came out before the breakup of the USSR, this is strictly a happy coincidence.
Great research on the history.
does CAMO HQ have this one?
I have a 0241 Tactical shirt in their interpretation of the Red Dawn camo. It actually does a fair job in the high desert in winter.
I have one of the jump smocks from the film, plus a yard or so bolt of cloth. I bought these soon after the film came out, so they are "authentic"
Not specifically camo related, but the helicopters used to portray the Mil Mi-24A Hind in the movie were actually Aerospatiale SA-330 Puma. They had two flyable aircraft equipped with wings, weapons pylons and falsework around the cockpit to mimic the distinctive Mi-24A greenhouse cockpit. The third was non-flyable and was only used for the ground shots. That was a salvaged wrecked airframe that had originally been the VIP transport helicopter for the president of Mexico. The two flying aircraft were stored at Long Beach Municipal Airport in California for several years. They were later used in Rambo II & III.
There is decent copy copy fabric in AliExpress too (500d Cordura). Quite tempting.
It's wild story considering original KLMK is the cheapest literally garbage surplus suit you can buy for $10 dollars and sometimes used as work clothes beater
Can we get the Mountain Division winter parkas from the 1940s?
My grandpa was good friends with Rich Lamotte and my dad has some pretty good stories of all of them going to gun shows looking around. Never knew he actually worked on Red Dawn, I was just told that he worked on Tora Tora Tora and another ww2 movie that got its set destroyed by a storm. Sounds like an interesting dude for sure, would love to meet him someday
Background music?
I bought the two piece in Bath, England i had it until i turned to shreds of everyday use.. love it.
btw one of the highest grossing films of 1977 in the USSR was about the airborne and they wear a similar camo there. The people responsible for the american movies might have seen it actually and taken notes...
A guy that worked for a paintball field in New Hampshire in the early 90s had the only Red Dawn camo I ever saw in real life.
Nice, now i have some more movies to watch.
Loved this
I owned a set of the Red Dawn camo back in the 1990s. Bought it as a movie prop, sold as a movie prop.
Great video, I've always loved this camo. I have a few of the MOE Guns items as well as a button up shirt from Adidas.
The Soviet overall was issued to all types of motorised troops as it goes on top of the field uniform, comes with a little face cover. The two piece net camo was issued to paratroopers as field gear. The Soviets started camo just short time before ww2, issued only for motorised infantry, with two different colour patterns to put over field uniforms, but never saw real usage during wartime.
As someone who grew up watching Red Dawn, I always thought it was because they were invading part of the Rocky Mountains and had to outfit airborne troops with a camouflage that would better suit that environment. Finding out it’s just a copy from what they saw in newspapers is a little underwhelming, but it’s a cool camo nonetheless.
That Red Dawn pattern looks like it would be pretty effective in snowy woods.
It is very interesting how it seems to be a half way between the soviet camo and the east german strichtarn camo, which I have a field shirt in
In New Orleans I have SEEN three of those tank spot lights ... from Op rip stock... my boss at the time wanted to know how to change the plugs 🔌 as the required military specific twist lock pin 📌 type plugs... thought they looked out of place in 2016 😂😅 ( IYKWIS ) ... there junk now however some found there way to a warehouse in the bayou...
5:47
When you say "airborne" are you referring to aviation? In U.S. nomenclature, Airborne usually denotes paratroopers (e.g. 82nd Airborne DIV).
Paratroopers
I had a set of those back in the late 80's!
First Blood Part 3 had the most realistic Soviet equipment to date in an 80s movie due to the fact it was filmed in Israel and they had access to real Soviet weapons and tanks captured by the IDF.
The Beast also had such a tank.
Octopussy, while it didn't have heavy weapons, did have good uniforms.
All the stuff stolen from Fort Riley ends up at my Pawnshop 40 minutes away from the base lol.