Specifics of war journalism: the problem of camouflage... 103

ность отражают разные уровни одного выска- Список литературы зывания и, соответственно, имеют идентичные средства выражения, имеют общую интен- 1. Печагина, Т. В. Категориальные концеп- цию – скрыть негативное отношение, добиться ты добро и зло в детской фэнтези : дис. … канд. от адресата необходимой реакции [1]. филол. наук. Челябинск, 2011. 206 с. Таким образом, динамичную толерантность 2. Южакова, Ю. В. Толерантность массово- можно рассматривать как весьма эффективный информационного дискурса идеологической способ создания англоязычного фэнтезийного направленности : автореф. дис. … канд. филол. дискурса. наук. Челябинск, 2007. 24 с.

Вестник Челябинского государственного университета. 2013. № 22 (313). Филология. Искусствоведение. Вып. 81. С. 103–106. D. N. Polyakova

SPECIFICS OF WAR JOURNALISM: THE PROBLEM OF CAMOUFLAGE AND THE LANGUAGE SPECIFICS OF USING COLOR NAMES FOR DENOTING CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORMS

Рассматриваются некоторые особенности работы журналистов в условиях военных и социальных конфликтов, в частности, проблема безопасности военных корреспондентов и вопрос использования камуфляжной формы в процессе журналистской работы, а также особенности профессионального языка российских и американских военнослужащих, связанные с использованием цветовых наименований для обозначения номенклатуры камуфляжной формы.

Ключевые слова: камуфляж, военный корреспондент, камуфляжные имена, названия цветов.

Journalists have to work in various conditions, the use of camouflage at the beginning of her ca- including extreme situations of war and social reer was a mistake. During the so-called Batken conflicts. In such cases their work and life isat events in Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan, she had her risk the same way as everyone else’s. Moreover, first experience of working with the military. Lei- the profession specifics create particular risks for la decided to visit the camp wearing camouflage, military correspondents. and, in her mind, it was not only dangerous, but Whether there are some universal rules that also caused some problems, as locals were reluc- guide journalists in war zones remains a question. tant to talk to a person in uniform, and she often In each case, reporters have to rely on their ex- had to explain that she was a journalist, but not a perience and intuition and thoroughly analyze the soldier [3]. environment to decide whether they should use the There is quite a common viewpoint that in no camouflage to mingle with the crowd. In this ar- case should journalists wear a military uniform, ticle we consider the problem of camouflage in the because it makes them a vulnerable target. It is work of journalists, along with the language pecu- not recommended to approach soldiers in the dark liarities of using color names to describe the range wearing dark monochromatic clothes that can be of camouflage uniforms in professional language taken for camouflage. In addition, problems may of Russian and American military. occur if a reporter was seen in uniform on either Should journalists use camouflage in combat side of the conflict. conditions or not? On the one hand, there are re- According to the opposite point of view it is porters who stand quite against it. For example, believed that uniformed journalists will gain more Leila Saralaeva in her feature Specifics of Journal- trust among the military, as they will be perceived ism in Extreme Conditions in Kyrgyzstan: Per- as insiders. In his handbook Journalism on the sonal Experience [hereinafter the references and Conflict, Alexander A. Knyazev writes that cam- quotations are translated by the author] writes that ouflage can be in fact more protective against snip- 104 D. N. Polyakova ers, as any person outstanding in the crowd shall Urban Camouflage Pattern Combat, the latter be- instinctively attract more attention [2]. ing an experimental camouflage, a combination However, it must be remembered that in many of dark gray and blue-black geometric spots on a countries, such as Afghanistan, camouflage is of- gray background. ten available only to commanders, so a civilian 2) The forest area requires the use of Woodland wearing a uniform may be an attractive target for camouflage, which is a pattern of light green, dark snipers. There are countries where local police are green, brown and black spots. It has four options, ordered to ensure no civilian uses military cam- such as General, Temperate, Lowland, featuring ouflage items. At the same time, in Russia and lots of green hues; Highland, with a predominance in many CIS countries civilians are often seen of brown spots; Transitional, also known as Delta, wearing camouflage without military insignia. masking soldiers both in the optical and in the in- Thus, according to Alexander A. Knyazev, a re- frared range. porter shall be guided by practical considerations. Modern American army started using experi- ‘Sometimes it is advisable to mix with the crowd, mental camouflage, for example, Multicam, or yet sometimes it helps to stand out. You shouldn’t Scorpion Camo Pattern, which has amoeboid play by the book, but be creative and evaluate the patches of dark green, light and dark brown, black situation...’ [2]. and beige on a light green background. It is well The issue of military camouflage and other pro- suited for woodland, but still remains a commer- fessional features of military service may also rise cial version produced by Crye Precision Company. in everyday communication. In such case, report- 3) For the flat, semi-desert terrain Khaki and ers have to be familiar with the military slang. Leila Olive camouflages are often used. Khaki (from Saralaeva, describing her experience, admits, ‘At Persian word ‘khak’ meaning ‘dirt, dust’) is a cult the beginning I had no idea of the army, so I had color for uniforms, which is still used in some to memorize the meaning of such commonly used modern armies and law enforcement agencies, de- words as squadron, troop, AK Rifle and so on’ [3]. spite the variety of camouflage patterns. It is be- Now let us consider the concept of camouflage lieved that the color was introduced by Sir Harry and the language specifics of denoting the color Burnett Lumsden, who in 1847 raised the Corps of range of camouflage uniforms. This information Guides (intelligence and vanguard), acting within presents both scientific and practical interest, as it the framework of the British desert tactics. How- may be useful in the work of military correspon- ever, khaki was not officially introduced in the dents. Camouflage (French word meaning ‘mask- British forces until 1898. Even during the Anglo- ing’) is the use of any combination of materials, Boer War of 1899-1902 the British army refused coloration or illumination for concealment, either to use khaki uniforms on a wide scale and suffered by making animals or objects hard to see, or by heavy losses. One curious historical fact of that disguising them as something else [4]. time is worth mentioning: people from the Nether- Camouflage is based on a clear system of dif- lands, who made up most of the population of the ferent colors and color patterns adopted for vari- Transvaal Republic, nicknamed British soldiers as ous environments of combat and reconnaissance ‘lobsters’ for their red uniform used in the Anglo- operations. Camouflage used by the U.S., NATO, Boer Wars. After the British khaki color started Russian troops and armies of other countries de- to be used by the Russian and other troops, and pends on the landscape. For example, armies in it was widely spread during World War II. Olive the North use more winter camouflage, whereas in camouflage, which is a combination of green and countries with hot climate they tend to focus on drab colors, darker than khaki, was popular during summer options. In some countries they even wear the Korean and Vietnam wars. camouflage shorts. Each type of camouflage has 4) The desert terrain requires the use of Desert a range of particular patterns, colors and nomen- camouflage, which comes in two options: 3-Color clature names (nomens) respectively. The most Desert (sand, light green, and brown), widely used popular is Woodland which has long been used in after the Gulf War, and 6-Color Desert, which got many countries. a slang name chocolate chips among American English color nomens used to identify camou- soldiers. The latter, used during Operation Desert flage can be divided into groups depending on the Storm in Iraq, looked similar to the 3-Color Desert area where uniforms are used: camouflage, but had six colors (the base is wavy pale 1) In the urban area American troops use vari- green, light brown, dark brown, and beige patches ous Urban Patterns, such as Urban Tracks and coated with a white spots with a black outline). Specifics of war journalism: the problem of camouflage... 105

5) For tropical forests and jungles American grey pattern being the basic. ACUPAT is based on troops use different types of camouflage, such as the digital MARPAT camouflage, without black the following: color (it was excluded due to its non-existence in – Tiger stripe, which is a combination of black, real-life environment). green and brown stripes on a beige background. Now let us have a look at the camouflage of This pattern was used by different countries, for the Russian Army. Throughout the history of the example, the military of the U.S. Army in Viet- Soviet Union and modern Russia, various types of nam, and the British troops in Burma. Until now, camouflage ammunition were used. this pattern is found in variations in many armies, The first camouflage clothing appeared in the including the Russian Armed Forces; Soviet Army in 1927. In 1935 a camouflage pattern – Brown ERDL (pattern of green, beige, brown was given an semiofficial name of Амёба (Eng. and black leave-shaped spots) and Lime ERDL ‘amoeba’), the 1942 model was called Листвен- (pattern of green, light green, brown and black ный лес (Eng. ‘deciduous forest’), in 1944 Пальма leave-shaped spots), developed in one of the Elec- (Eng. ‘palm tree’) deforming pattern in 4 variations tronics Research and Development Laboratories (depending on season) was introduced. The print (ERDL) and used by the U.S. Army during the sample elaborated in 1957 was nicknamed as Се- Vietnam War. ребряный лист (Eng. ‘silver leaf’), Солнечные 6) The water area requires the use of vari- зайчики (Eng. ‘sunbeams’), Березка (Eng. ‘birch ous camouflage types, for example, NWU (short tree’) or Камуфляж пограничника (Eng. ‘fron- for Navy Working Uniform), Digital Blue / Gray tiersman’s camouflage’) for its deforming pattern Camouflage Pattern and other digital-type pat- of light gray spots on a dark green background. terns of light gray, gray, blue and black pixels. The specifics of modern Russian camouflage 7) For the darkness hours Night Camouflage nomenclature is that the official nomes (consist- was designed (a dark gray mesh pattern with dark ing of abbreviated names and figures denoting the gray spots on a gray background), enabling sol- year the sample was issued), for example, ВСР-93 diers to hide from the night vision equipment. It (Eng. VSR-93), ВСР-84 (Eng. VSR-94), ВСР-98 was used by the U.S. Army mostly during the first (Eng. VSR-98), etc., also have their slang names: Gulf War. • ВСР-84 (Eng. VSR-84) (mil. colloq. Бутан, The type of camouflage is also determined by Eng. ‘butane’, otherwise called Дубок, Eng. ‘oak- a combatant branch. For example, the U.S. Ma- let’), developed in 1984 in two options for the for- rines use MARPAT (Marine Pattern) camouflage, est area and for the desert and steppe country; the which has replaced the legendary Woodland. It is pattern is good at disguising the silhouette in the a so-called ‘digital’ pattern combining light green, vegetation area at various distances; dark green, light brown and black colors, which in • ВСР-93 (Eng. VSR-93) (mil. colloq. Флора, theory is more effective in breaking the symmetry Eng. ‘flora’, otherwise called Вертикалка, Eng. of a soldier’s silhouette due to the specific percep- ‘vertical’), with brown and dark green spots on tion of the pattern, as MARPAT is split into rect- a light green background. The pattern resembles angular parts and it has no obvious joints between the leaves of young birch trees from some dis- the colors. The camouflage comes in three color tance and has good masking properties, especially options, such as Digital Woodland, Digital Desert against meadow and steppe backgrounds. ВСР-93 (a desert Woodland pattern without green hues), is different from ВСР-98 (described below) in that and Digital Urban. here the camouflage lines are arranged vertically It is believed that such an innovative solution (hence the slang name Вертикалка). This pattern improves the masking properties, however, it is became famous as Schofield in the European and still debated. It seems that some successful PR American armies, on honor of Carey Schofield, a campaign has played an important part in promo- correspondent for The Times and author of Inside tion of MARPAT, speculating on the popular ‘digi- the Soviet Army and The Russian Elite; tal’ word, while, in fact, this camouflage can only • ВСР-95 (Eng. VSR-95) (mil. colloq. Берез- slightly surpass its counterparts [1]. ка, Eng. ‘birch’), which is basically a horizontally Modern U.S. ground forces use Army Combat oriented ВСР-93; comes in two options of light Uniform Pattern, or ACUPAT, which is an experi- green Березка желтая (Eng. ‘white birch’) and mental ‘digital’ camouflage pattern of beige, gray- dark green Березка белая (Eng. ‘yellow birch), green and green pixels. It comes in three options, yet there is also a dark brown variant designed for such as Desert, Urban and Woodland, with Urban the use in the mountains; 106 D. N. Polyakova

• ВСР-98 (Eng. VSR-98) (mil. colloq. Флора, ert, Digital Urban, Пикселька, Русская цифра), Eng. ‘flora’, otherwise called Арбуз, Eng. ‘water- abbreviations (MTP, MARPAT, Сплав M21 Лес) melon’), with green and brown stripes on a light and constitute multi-word combinations (Army green background; comes in four options depend- Combat Uniform Pattern, Защита до упора). ing on the dominant color. This is a standard cam- Among the specific features of the Russian mili- ouflage introduced in 1998 and illegal to be worn tary jargon one can name the use of diminutive by civilians; lexical forms (Дубок, Березка, Пикселька). • modern pixel ВСР-98 (Eng. VSR-98)cam- In this lexical group we can observe a process, ouflage, or Тёмный pattern (Eng. ‘dark’) (mil. when the name of a camouflage pattern, which is colloq. Цифровая флора, Eng. ‘digital flora’, a military nomen, may become a borrowing into otherwise called Космос, Eng. ‘outer space’; За- the spoken language in the form of coloronym щита до упора, Eng. ‘as-far-as-it-will-go protec- (color name). For example, we can distinguish a tion’; Цифра, Eng. ‘digit’; Пикcелька, Eng. ‘little group of professionally-marked coloronyms in the pixel’; and Русская цифра, Eng. ‘Russian digit’). English language, which can be divided into two It was designed as a universal pattern and can be subgroups: adapted to different types of terrain depending on 1) coloronyms derived from the camouflage the color pattern. nomens, such as camouflage green, dark khaki; Many varieties of camouflage are used outside 2) coloronyms derived from the names of col- the army troops, namely in the internal troops, or names traditionally associated with a specific security services, by first responders, etc. For ex- combatant branch, Air Force Blue, Army green, ample, Тигр (Eng. ‘tiger’), otherwise called Ка- Navy Blue. мыш (Eng. ‘reed’), which is a pattern of green In Russian we can also observe a group of color and brown stripes on a beige background, is the names borrowed from the military language, such uniform of the special operations group of Vytyaz. защитный������������������������������������ �����������������������������������зеленый����������������������������, ��������������������������хаки,���������������������� ��������������������защитный������������ �����������синий,������ ����вин- Сплав M21 Город-1 (Eng. ‘Splav M21 Gorod-1’), товочный зеленый, серый хаки, темный хаки. which is an urban camouflage pattern of light, dark Natural landscapes and conditions of combat gray, blue and black spots, and Сплав M21 Лес operations are very diverse, so the army units use (Eng. ‘Splav M21 Les’), a forest pattern of light, a fairly wide range of camouflage patterns, which dark gray, brown and black spots, were designed over time may change and get updated. As a re- by Splav company on the basis of Woodland pat- sult, new nomens denoting camouflage patterns tern and are used in the internal armed forces. and their slang variants appear, which gives lin- Another popular pattern used in the first half of guists a new material for research. Currently, there 1990-s by special divisions of interior troops and is a general tendency for each army to develop one special purpose police unit was Орех (Eng. ‘nut’), universal camouflage pattern, modifying its color with a blue-gray version of this pattern called Та- options according to the terrain type. лый снег (Eng. ‘snow slush’) for winter urban conditions and a demi-season version with various Список литературы khaki shades. Later the above mentioned troops switched to Подлесок pattern (Eng. ‘underwood’). 1. Домингес, А. Камуфляж // Лучшие ком- As we see, official nomens and professional пьютерные игры. 2011. № 2 (111). С. 23–26. jargon denoting camouflage coloring in the Eng- 2. Князев, А. А. Журналистика конфликта : lish and Russian languages are often associated пособие [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://ev- with the names of plants (Olive, Chocolate Chips, artist.narod.ru/text3/10.html Флора, Камыш, Березка, Арбуз, Орех), natural 3. Саралаева, Л. Особенности работы кыр- objects and phenomena (Woodland, Digital Des- гызстанского журналиста в экстремальных ert, Хаки, Солнечные зайчики, Талый снег), ani- условиях. Личный опыт [Электронный ре- mals (Tiger Stripe, Scropion, Тигр, Амёба), which сурс]. URL: http://www.internews.kg/news/blog- is explained by the major role of camouflage to news/2076-lejla-saralaeva-losobennosti-raboty- adapt to the environment and provide the mimicry kyrgyzstanskogo-zhurnalista-v-jekstremalnyh-us- of color and shape. lovijah-lichnyj-opytr In addition, nomens may constitute or contain 4. Camouflage. From Wikipedia, the free proper names (Brown ERDL, Lime ERDL, Scho- encyclopedia [Online resource]. URL: http:// field), refer to modern technologies (Digital Des- en.wikipedia.org