US military camouflage through history - in pictures

Matthew Hernandez looks down the Korengal Valley from a mountaintop outpost in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan in 2008 Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

Soldiers march to the ramp of the Chinook helicopter that will return them to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2003 Photograph: Reuters

Soldiers prepare to make their way over an snowy mountain pass in Paktia province, Afghanistan, in 2006 Photograph: John D Mchugh/AFP/Getty Images

Marines patrol through a marijuana field in a village near Kajaki, Afghanistan in 2010 Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

US and Afghan fighters load onto a Chinook helicopter in the Derezda Valley in Khost province, along the Afghan-Pakistani border Photograph: David Furst/AFP/Getty Images

Soldiers prepare to head out on a mission in the Korengal valley in eastern Afghanistan in 2008 Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

Soldiers stand in the sand while a helicopter lands behind them in Tikrit, Iraq in 2005 Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters

Troops gather their bags as they prepare to fly home after being one of the last American combat units to leave Iraq in 2011 Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Soldiers relax following a search in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003 Photograph: John Moore/AP

Soldiers in Texas at a ceremony honouring their forthcoming mission in Iraq in 2010 Photograph: Tamir Kalifa/AP

Marines participate in exercises to protect themselves in nuclear, biological and chemical warfare Photograph: Kim Kulish/Corbis SABA/Network

A soldier wears his face paint as he participates in a patrol at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba in 2004 Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Marines hold individually issued blue cards stating the "rules of engagement" issued to all soldiers serving as international peacekeepers in Kosovo Photograph: Jim Hollander/Reuters

American soldiers landing on the beaches of Cape Batangan during the Vietnam war Photograph: Paul Schutzer/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Marines on a reconnaissance mission crouch as they move through low foliage in the demilitarized zone during the Vietnam war Photograph: Bettmann/CORBIS

US troops ride in an open truck while a landing craft sits on the shore in the background on a beach in Normandy, France, during the second world war Photograph: Anthony Potter Collection/Getty Images