Good afternoon, Gentlemen …
I’m a big fan of MERDC camouflage and I’ve come across a lot of pictures over the years, but as far as I remember, I’ve never seen a single (!) pic of a vehicle in MERDC red desert. There are two or three that could be that ominous RED desert, but they’re not clear enough and could also be GREY desert. Therefore, could someone enlighten me ? Is there any evidence that MERDC red desert really has been used / applied ?
Thanks in advance !
Roger
What about these ?
From
H.P.
NZ M113
H.P.
I need to specify: U.S. American vehicles in MERDC red desert
Thank you gtdeath13. Number two seems to be “grey” again, but the first one is great. Where did you get this from ? Looks like a scan from a magazine or a book ?
You are correct, number 2 is not red desert.
The photo is pretty famous, since it is one of the few photos of USMC M48A3 tanks somewhere else than Vietnam. The year it was taken was 1975 or later.
I also found this photo of a M60 slick, looks like red desert, although it is black and white
I touch on some of it on my “M60A3” Frankenbuild thread. I’m painting mine in Winter Verdant MERDC, which was standard for USAEUR units.
Red Desert MERDC pattern on an M60A1.
You can check here for further reference on the MERDC camo patterns.
M60 Tank Reference - Reference by Subject - KitMaker Network
Hello Von Haller. I think that you will find that both of those M48’s are in the Gray Desert colors. The first images look like the art work on the back cover from the Squadron book. These Vehicles are shown in natural light in a post below that one.
I have only seen one American vehicle painted Red Desert during my career.
I am thinking that you might find something of interest if you do a search relating to the Arizona National Guard and Fort Bliss during the 70’s-80’s.
My crew and I have painted two M60’s, an M113 and an M151. The unit SOP was for the winter green without sand in Europe. In Texas, we painted our tank in the Summer green using all four colors.
Please, let us know what you learn.
Respectfully,
Allen
I was stationed at Fort Bliss '83 and '84 is the 3rd ACR. Everything on post was either desert grey merdc, tan, or OD.
The text for your pic show early M109’s but their caption says M48 A2C Magach 3, which they are not
Thanks a lot ! So (correct me, if I’m wrong) one could, with a certain conviction, say, that MERDC red desert has never (if at all) been in widespread use.
Your second comment (MERDC summer verdant) brings me to my next project: a M2 Bradly in this camo. Not a very common colour for a Bradley, but there are at least a few such pictures around …
Do you remember the type of vehicles painted tan ?
Forgive me the tangent, but is this colour-scheme on the ancient Esci box meant to be the Red desert scheme or the Grey one?
I’m aware of the imperfections of the kit but I bought it just because the box-art colour scheme was interesting.
Base colour is “sand” = MERDC grey desert
Roger that; thanks very much.
The new M1s were all tan at Fort Bliss in 1983-84, but they were rare. MERDC grey was on all the 3rd ACRs equipment, except the AVLBs (tan) and M60A2s (OD). The typical troop in the 3rd had M60A1s (later TTS upgrade), ITVs, Command tracks, M88s, M113A1s, and various mortar tracks. The marines on post used OD, but they were a very small contingent. It was not uncommon to see 2 1/2 tons in OD. I think our tool truck may have even been OD. Jeeps were MERDC. The 1/2 ton pickups (I think dodge) were OD. Fort Bliss is the air defense center, and the army was testing the Sergeant York at the time. At one time I had a picture of one in MERDC grey, but lost it. I seem to remember seeing Vulcans in OD, too.
Notice the picture of the two M48s on the book cover Patton Tanks posted above. With MERDC all AFVs should look very similar to others of like kind. Looking at the two tanks in the picture you can see variations, almost certainly caused by crew chalking error. This equipment is typically painted once per year using this process…
Back to the book cover. You can see someone forgot a black stripe on the lead tank. Refurbished and new AFVs from the factory will have patterns that are almost exactly right. One time I got a refurbished M113A2, and boy did that thing look pretty. I had a decent 35mm SLR when I was in, and took pictures. Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Here’s one fresh from the factory. This is MERDC Grey.
That would be M60A3 (TTS) tanks, then 
