How DPM Ended Up On P83

Over the years we've collected a lot of images and samples of rare and one-off kit from the Border War. 

Like the forbidden "Oops! ALL 40mm grenade!" P83 Chest Rig, or rare high-speed-low-drag versions of the Battle Jacket designed just for paratroopers.

But some of our favorite kit falls into the 'deniable op' category. That's where we started running into DPM.

 

For obvious reasons, there aren't a whole lot of photos of this stuff. You'd be utterly shocked how good of a resource pinterest is for finding obscure images like this. Who knew!

The Battalion 32 rig pictured above was likely used during clandestine operations in Angola. The fabric is meant to mimic the 'Tanzanian DPM' camouflage popular among FNLA fighters, but is not an exact copy.
 
Why did the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) have DPM in the first place? Well, they got it from Julius Nyerere, the dictatorial separatist leader of Tanzania who saw strategic advantage in weakening Portuguese influence in Angola.

Julius Nyerere center, flanked by TPDF leaders (Tanzania People's Defense Forces)

But the rabbit hole goes even deeper. There was a rumor that the origin of the DPM uniforms was actually Canada, who had sent them to Angola as part of a humanitarian aid package. 

Another source alleges that the uniforms were merely made by the same supplier, and simply purchased by Nyerere.

Muddying the waters even further, BAT 32 was also involved in the SADF's covert war in Mozambique, where they trained and supported  South African aligned Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO).

And you guessed it, during these operations everyone was also wearing South African produced DPM for 'deniability' reasons.*

*DPM was also used during this period by Kenyan armed forces, and several counterterrorism police units in various South African states, and Namibia.

We've even come into contact with yet another prominent figure in South African gear design (like Johann Niemoller) who also noted that "Quite often you would run out of fabric to complete an order so we would use whatever was available to complete it. This was common with military orders as the quantities were big and not all the items went through quality control."

So obviously when it was time to pick our first camouflage for a true-to-form reboot of P83, there was only one logical choice...