Dutch Army troops assigned to the NATO Response Force during Exercise NOBLE JUMP 2023 wore the new M19 Netherlands Fractal Pattern, writes Bob Morrison.
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As both my colleague Carl Schulze (see New M19 Netherlands Fractal Patterns) and our mutual friend Gerard van Oosbree (see New Dutch M19 NFP Camo Kit In The Field) have previously covered the Dutch M19 NFP camo in some detail for JOINT-FORCES, I will not bore readers by going over the same ground again. However when I was given the chance to quickly pose a member of a Dutch recce team deployed on NOJU23 for a four-view photo set I naturally grabbed the chance.
The uniform worn here is tailored from NFP-Green fabric while the load carriage equipment was manufactured from NFP-Multitone material; the composite palette of the second camo allows equipment to be worn with either the green temperate theatre uniform or the more sandy NFP-Tan arid theatre uniform. The bulk of the Dutch Army contingent on the NOBLE JUMP 2023 NATO DEPLOYEX in Sardinia were drawn from the Princess Irene Fusiliers Guards Regiment (Garderegiment Fuseliers Prinses Irene) and I reckon the close-up photo below of one of the Guards, taken a couple of days later in bright sunlight, illustrates how the NFP-Green and NFP-Multitone are clearly different but still compatible.
Incidentally, during rehearsals a couple of days before the JAPDD I snapped a Dutch sniper team who were wearing MultiCam uniform with NFP-Multitone load vests and the equipment on their G-wagen was also manufactured from this composite palette pattern. Although the Crye Precision and Dutch Army patterns are not fully compatible, they still work reasonably well together. In my opinion, NFP-Multitone appeared to blend in well with the foliage on the Teulada training area. One last point of interest, the boots worn in the four-view are a HAIX model and although all-leather they look quite similar to the Nepal Pro type but have no textile panels.
[images © Bob Morrison unless noted]
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