Camouflage; to disguise; to conceal under
false semblance; also to create a false appearance of.
If you are like me, you probably have at
least one set of "cammies" hanging in your closet or crammed into your bug
out kit. More than likely they are factory dyed with a variety of greens,
browns, blacks and grays, which is good, as most foliage and terrain are
composed of these colors. There is one terrain for which they are totally
unsuited however.
Whether your "boonie suit" is GI Woodland,
Tigerstripe, ASAT, or Desert Storm, depending on them to conceal you in a
snowy winter landscape could have tragic consequences. Simply put, most
camouflage clothing reveals rather than conceals when it comes to snow! I
saw a dramatic example of this last season, when a heavily camouflaged
bowhunter carefully stalked past me. This fellow knew his stuff, he moved
slow, low and silent, sticking to the shadows, using terrain and vegetation
for cover. He should have been as invisible as a ghost in his fall foliage
camo and face paint, but he stuck out like a sore thumb, and I had seen him
from 150 yards away! Why? Eight inches of snow had whitened the landscape,
knocking the last leaves to the ground and creating a white backdrop, the
camo and tactics that worked so well before snow fell were completely
defeated. I too was improperly dressed for my snowy surroundings and I
determined to research the subject of snow camo and find out what did and
didn't work.
In Human and animal vision the eye and brain
work together to interpret the visible environment. The eye records the
scene and the brain sorts out the information received. One of the major
tasks is the identification and separation of individual objects in a given
scene. This separation is done in many ways using different portions of the
brain. Factors such as Outline, shape, texture, reflectance, relative size,
movement, contrast and color are the basic factors in this procedure. In
other words, the more you clash with your background, the easier you are to
spot! This was the bowhunter's problem, while in a brush pile that matched
his camo he was invisible, but once "backlit" by a little snow he instantly
clashed and was identified.
Fortunately, for those of us who wish to
remain unseen, snow is also one of the best environments to "get lost" in.
Snow has several qualities that make it easy to blend with; it has a fairly
uniform texture, color and brightness. Snow also alters the terrain and
vegetation reducing contrasting shapes to a more uniform series of rounded
humps. This raises a question though. What does one wear in an area with
partial snow cover? Partial white? The U.S. Army thought so when I was in
the service, but I wasn't convinced. I wanted a camo system that would work
up close and personal.
I enlisted my friend, Chuck, to model a
variety of camouflage clothing set against the winter backdrop of a local
pine forest. The snow had long fallen from the tree limbs and the
underbrush, creating ideal conditions to test the "partial white" theory.
Since pine forests feature lighter shades of green and brown than your
average fir forest, I thought one of the marsh cattail patterns used by
waterfowl hunters would blend with the tree trunks and underbrush. This
proved not to be the case, the shade of the camo colors were lighter than
the vegetation and darker than the snow, the worst possible combination!
Even with Chuck hunkered down, the pattern proved to be the least effective
we tested.
Chuck next donned and old USMC camo fatigue
blouse and white pants, this was a successful color match with the
vegetation, but the tree branches were many feet above his head. If as
little as 10 percent of Chuck's upper torso was visible, it was outlined by
the snow, I had no trouble spotting him, but I noted that the lower portion
of his body (dressed in snow camo) was invisible.
Shelving the "partial white" phase we moved
on to the final portion of our experiment. Fully suited up in former West
German snow camo and wearing a field expedient face veil, Chuck melted into
the background. At distances of 15 feet, parts of Chuck seemed to disappear.
At a distance of 150 feet, with Chuck standing in an exposed area, I
repeatedly lost his position, when Chuck hunkered down he became just
another snow drift in the forest.
WHY IT IS EFFECTIVE
There are several principles at work that
explain why snow camo is so effective. One principle tells how a subject
which reflects an equal amount of light as it's background "disappears" to
the viewer's eye. Another relates that, when a field of snow is illuminated
from above, the light is reflected back by every snow crystal in multiple
directions effectively eliminating shadows which define the terrain and give
the viewer a sense of scale and depth. A third principle observes that when
a viewer sees two unrelated objects, that share characteristics (such as
texture, color and brightness), in very near proximity of each other, the
viewer's mind assumes that the two objects are a single larger object. I
believe this is what Chuck just melted away, even when partially outlined
against dark brush, my mind just dismissed Chuck as part of the snow.
In practical terms this means that bright sun
offers excellent concealment as well as cloudy days. The only way to betray
your location is to silhouette yourself or to maneuver when the sun is low
on the horizon, in which case the shadows cast by you and your tracks are
easily spotted. If you must move, do so when the sun is low on the horizon,
keep the sun at your back, losing yourself in the sun's glare.
The advantages that such a level of
concealment offers are obvious to the readers of ASG, but to make snow camo
really work it is important to camo your hands, head and face. Rifles web
gear and packs need white camo as well. In our test, the face veil and rifle
sock was made of an old piece of muslin, but a wool or polar fleece face
mask would have provided better protection from the cold. Paint, tape or a
white zipped cover would have been and improvement on the rifle.
Snow suits can be made at home from white
sheets or coveralls, those of you who wish to make their own should make
their suits several sizes larger than their normal clothes to accommodate
the layered cold weather clothing worn underneath, be sure to include white
hoods. Commercially made snow camo is also available, or you can go with
surplus items like mine.
My West German suit was new surplus, it
features excellent materials, design and construction while selling at very
reasonable cost. Though only a cotton shell, I prefer these surplus suits as
they are designed to keep snow out even while crawling on your belly, a
feature most other suits lack!
I believe that the results of my experiment
can be applied to most snow conditions, whether deep in a hemlock forest or
in patchy snow on the great plains you are better off with full snow camo.
One final thought: Playing in the snow on a
bright sunny day is not the same as spending days and nights in a bitter
cold environment. You need winter survival skills, high quality boots and
excellent protective clothing.
Good camouflage is almost as important as
good marksmanship. A well camouflaged man who is a poor shot will probably
survive longer than the poorly concealed expert sniper.
How to Make a Ghillie Suit
A "Ghillie" is a Scottish game-keeper.
Pronounce the word "Gee' lee", starting with the glottal gee (guh), not a
jay sound (jee). These guys found that they could sew strips of burlap to
their clothes, then wait patiently for poachers to come by and, as long as
they remained still, their game would nearly step on them.
The real professionals at making Ghillie
Suits are military snipers. Making a suit and using it to stalk your
instructors is part of the graduation from sniper school. I was once stalked
by a special forces sniper from 500 meters across a field of grass, bushes,
and general scrub -- at the end of 4 hours, he stood up TEN METERS BEHIND
ME! -- I never saw him -- even though I knew he was out there somewhere.
Good, professional-looking Ghillies can be
seen in the movies "Sniper" and "Clear and Present Danger".
In most lighting conditions, detection is a
result of both brightness and shape contrasts with the background. Most
camouflage fatigues do a pretty good job of matching the general brightness
level of foliage, desert, etc. The camouflage pattern printed onto the
material attempts to match the shapes inherent in the background as well.
Unfortunately, all camouflage fatigues follow the human form pretty closely
-- resulting in an overall shape that looks like a human, not natural
background. The problem lies in the fact that the fatigues are trying to
duplicate a three-dimensional pattern of shapes (foliage, usually) with a
two-dimensional camouflage pattern applied to a sheet of fabric. In most
lighting conditions, it don't work very well. Now, camouflage fatigues and
jackets and such certainly blend in much better than blue jeans and
T-shirts, but they aren't totally effective -- and cannot be without adding
three-dimensional noise to the essentially two-dimensional form of a human.
A Ghillie Suit is a very effective camouflage
technique that uses strips of material to break up the outline of the
wearer. This fools the eye of the enemy -- the brain sees no recognizable
shapes. By adding strips of burlap, or camouflage netting, or branches off
bushes to your clothing, you create the three-dimensional pattern disruption
I was talking about above. The advantage comes from creating patches that
are nearly the same color as the environment, while simultaneously creating
ultra-dark shadows alongside. Printed fabric cannot create black patches as
dark as real shadows the shadow is about 2 orders of magnitude darker than
the darkest printed black fabric.
How to make a Ghillie Suit:
1. Obtain an old pair of coveralls -- this is called the foundation of the suit. In a pinch a fatigue blouse and pants will suffice.
2. Get some burlap from your local fabric store (about 4 yards). The more burlap you use the more effective (up to a point) will be the Ghillie Suit -- however, it will rapidly become heavy (Army and Marine sniper suits weigh up to 20 pounds or more).
3. Dye the burlap some dark to medium green (Rit dye -- try to match foliage greens). Instructions are on the dye package), Dye a little (half a yard) brown (use sparingly).
4. Cut the burlap into strips 2-3" wide and anywhere from 6" to 12" long (mix up the widths and lengths)
5. Sew one end of each strip to the outside of your foundation -- all over it. Space them so that the ends of the upper strips will overlap the attachment points of strips lower down. The sides do not need to overlap. Fill in by tying vines, small foliated branches, grass, etc. to the suit by knotting the strips around it, or sew strings or cord at random over the suit to tie these material in.
6. Crawl and enjoy!
TACTICS:
Ghillie Suits are used for stealth -- move as
slowly as possible, if at all. If one hides in bushes, and uses single
shots, the enemy won't be able to find you unless they are looking almost
directly at you when you fire. Be careful that muzzle blast doesn't disturb
foliage or raise dust.
An effective technique is to hide in the base
of bushes near a path, let the enemy go past, then pick them off with single
shots from the rear. A gun cover can be made using the same techniques and
should be used to disrupt the shape of the weapon.
From INFANTRY magazine, March-April, 1995.
SWAP SHOP: OPTICAL CAMOUFLAGE
By Mike Sparks, USARNG,
Redford, NC
The shine from binoculars, scopes, infrared
viewers, night vision goggles, and even individual sun, wind, dust goggles
(SWDGs) can give away your presence, especially in the open expanse of the
desert, and draw enemy fire. Glint from an officer's binoculars gave away
the Confederate attack at Gettysburg, killed the German Army's top sniper in
WWII, cost an Israeli general an eye, and allowed a Marine gunnery sergeant
to take out the Viet Cong's top sniper.
Visiting paratroopers from the former Soviet
Union said recently that looking for reflections from our optics was a major
scouting tactic in the Cold War. And during major U.S. Army exercises, at
least one scout helicopter is usually assigned the sole mission of looking
for optic reflections from ground forces.
You can shield binoculars by cupping your
fingers around the outer lenses. But you can't cup your fingers around a
weapon scope or around the SWDGs you're wearing or resting on your helmet.
A field expedient solution is to make lens
covers from a pair of women's brown nylon pantyhose, preferably a pair with
the thicker nylon in the upper part. this technique will give you immediate
camouflage for your optics while preserving their normal use.
FOR BINOCULARS AND SCOPES:
1. Cut off the ends (toes).
2. Stretch fabric over the lenses.
3. Secure with a rubber band and tape.
FOR THE SWDG LENS:
1. Lay the lens on the thicker nylon.
2. Outline shape with a pen and cut out.
3. Stretch fabric over the lens as you return it to the frame, leaving a little overhang.
4. When lens is back in place, trim excess nylon from inside the goggles.
Industry has developed special lens covers
that can be retrofitted to issue binoculars, vehicle headlights, sunglasses,
sniper scopes, and infrared thermal sights such as those used on the Dragon
and Javelin missiles. Hopefully, similar covers will also be developed for
use on SWDGs and prescription eyeglasses.
It's unlikely that the enemy goes out in
dreadful weather at night. This is the time you can move well. Roads are
risky. You walk, but they drive and a car can appear suddenly, before you
can hide. Caves and pits are good in hiding from the heat detecting camera.
There is an anti-heat detector suit commercially available.
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