Bud considers camouflage a staple of his wardrobe for all occasions

I remember as a young boy, I always wanted to be invisible. I guess it might have been because I was oftentimes mischievous, and I needed to hide from my parents when I got in trouble. Well, I never developed those disappearing skills, and I must admit the seat of my pants was getting special attention.

My “attitude adjustment” years made me consider other options for fun. That transformation involved outdoor activities. I developed a fascination for fishing, hunting, walking in the woods and watching animals, taking pictures of those animals, and trying to approach them without being detected.

I quickly developed an attraction to camouflage. Back in those days, there wasn’t a wide selection of camo patterns available. It was normally whatever was available at the local army surplus store, and it was pretty much just splotches of black, brown, green, and tan; often referred to as “Military G.I. Joe.”

One of my uncles who had been in the Army gave me some shirts and pants that were camo, and I felt like I was I was “Big Time.” I was proud to wear it, and my mother often complained because everywhere I went, I wanted to wear it.

That certainly has not changed as I got older. Camouflage is still a huge part of my every day, casual apparel, and my wife tells me, “You look like you just came in from the outdoors!”

Well, that is often the truth.

Fast forward to today, and I am still wearing camo. I am either wearing a camo baseball cap, camo T-shirt, camo sweatshirt, camo jeans, or a combination of all listed. When my daughter was a little girl, I used to tease her. I told her, “Staci, when you get married, I am wearing camouflage when I walk you down the aisle!”

I repeated that statement several times, and when that day arrived, I was wearing my ivory tuxedo with tangerine tie and cummerbund. When we got down in front of the minister, she gave me a kiss and said, “Dad, you let me down!”

I smiled and asked her, “What do you mean I let you down? I am paying for this wedding, and now I have to wait to buy a new bass boat!”

She said, “You always said you were going to wear camouflage when you walked me down the aisle at my wedding!”

I looked at her and smiled. I opened the front of my jacket. I had a fountain pen in my chest pocket that had a camouflaged cover on it. She smiled and started laughing. She and I were the only people in the church that knew why.

After the wedding she asked me why I didn’t wear camouflage, and I told her, “Your mom wouldn’t let me!”

Through the many years I have noticed more and more people, including younger kids, wearing camouflage. It used to be military and hunters that wore it, but it appears camouflage is now cool! I see kids having all types of camouflage jackets, backpacks, hats, shirts, shorts, shoes, socks, head bands, glasses frames, book covers, and I even witnessed a couple wearing matching camouflage tuxedos and formals headed for their high school prom.

(Where were those when I wanted one for my daughter’s wedding?)

You can’t even go to the store, movie, ball game or hardly any place without noticing camouflage, and I am all for that. It is about time other people realized how stylish camouflage is.

You now have a gazillion different patterns to choose from. There is Mossy Oak, Realtree, Tiger Stripe, Hidden Forest, and so many patterns that years ago were unheard of. I have to admit, I like most of them. The only exception is I can’t get accustomed to the pink camo!

Now, I have nothing against the pink color being associated with the dreaded breast cancer cause, but I cannot help but wonder what would happen if I showed up in deer camp wearing pink! I would imagine the fellas in the group would insist that I sleep in a separate tent or in my truck.

Speaking for myself, I enjoy receiving camouflage items for any occasion. Golly, I have a collection of camouflage knives, boots, caps, shirts, pants, sleep pants, jackets, and you name it. If it is available in camouflage, I probably own it. Or I just haven’t seen it yet.

I can honestly say camouflage does have advantages. You can wear camouflage with brown, black, green, or tan and not worry about getting a new pair of shoes for every occasion. And I can honestly say I have never seen two hunters hold up a pair of camouflage pants and say, “Does this make my butt look big?”

The only disadvantage I ever had was when getting ready to go deer hunting. I was wearing full camouflage, and my dog thought I was a tree. He raised his leg and marked his territory, but that assured me my camouflage was indeed effective.

Yes, I take pleasure in saying I was camo when camo wasn’t cool. If you are ever in the woods wanting to cut down a tree, please make sure it isn’t me. And don’t tell me you will see me later!