An M113A1 of the 1st Cavalry Regiment, sporting a Winter Verdant MERDC scheme, passes through the Belgium town of Visé after crossing the River Maas during Exercise Autumn Forge in September 1983. (US National Archives)
Throughout World War II until the mid 1970s, as every modeller knows, US Army military vehicles were painted Olive Drab. This simple statement obscures the rather complex history of Olive Drab. The Lusterless Olive Drab applied to the US vehicles during World War II (A/N 319 or US Army Ground Forces (AGF) QM Color 22) was standardised in March 1956 as Federal Standard (FS) 34087 (or FS24807 in semi-gloss and FS14807 in gloss). In 1960 a new shade of FS34087 was introduced which was lighter and more yellow than the previous one. In 1968