A Period of Firsts

At Quantico, a period of firsts unfolded across the nineteen forties and beyond. In 1941, the First Marine Aircraft Wing was organized there, and Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. In 1942, U.S. General McArthur requested 150,000 jungle camouflage uniforms, and the splotchy pattern known as frogskin became the first camouflage pattern put into widespread use by the U.S. military. In 1943, Women Marines reported to Quantico for the first time. In 1946, TBS opened on Barnett Avenue on mainside Quantico. In 1947, The Basic School headquarters moved to Brown Field south of the Marine Air Station near the Potomac River, where it became responsible for the Platoon Leaders Class, the Naval Reserve Officers Training Class, and the Women Officers Class, while basic classes lasted nine months. Construction also continued on Camps Upshur, Goettge, and Onville, and before Onville was finished in 1947 it was renamed Camp Barrett in honor of Major General Charles Dodson Barrett. In 1948, the first African-American, 2nd Lt. John Earl Rudder, began training at Quantico, and in 1949 the first class of women Marine officers arrived there. Camouflage later advanced again when digitized camo was first introduced to the U.S. Armed Forces in 1996 by the Marine Corps in an effort to field a more effective camouflage; the Marine Corps Pattern, or MARPAT, came in woodland, desert, and winter varieties. The basic principle of combat camouflaging had been practiced since ancient times, and nature had developed it long before man, as wildlife depended on blending into their environment for survival, including the white-tail deer fawn, whose spotted reddish coat enabled it to camouflage itself at birth.

Camp Barrett, Virginia · United States