Training Video: Fieldcraft – camouflage & concealment

Old school.

If you are serious about adding vegetation to your equipment (head/shoulders/back) you should consider a couple of things:

1) Use cam netting/burlap strips or similar as a base level of camouflage to break up your shape. For example, add a bit of camouflage netting to your helmet (or hat) to break up the shape of it. 

2) Sew elastic strips to relevant parts of your gear, such as your hat/helmet, shoulders, back. This will allow you to add clumps of local vegetation as shown in the video.

This is not the same as a ghillie suit – but just as effective. A ghillie suit is mostly impractical unless you are a specialist sniper. Make it so that you can cam up your normal fighting gear to the standard shown in the video. 

Use of vegetation as camouflage is mostly a lost art in the modern army. Remember – when using vegetation you must change it and adapt it as you change the type of vegetation you are moving through. Also remember that if you use vegetation that will die (i.e. leaves), you will need to change  it out. 

Make sure you don’t add too much – for example, too much grass on a helmet will make it a huge object, and more easily seen when you move your head. Moderation is key here. Break up the shape and any shine, that is it.

If you don’t want to bother with adding vegetation, you can go half-way with the addition of the cam netting/burlap as mentioned above. Have it already on your helmet and gear, to break up shape. 

Why are things seen:

Shape

Shine

Shadow

Surface

Silhouette

Spacing

Movement

Aircraft (observation from)

Thermal

Live Hard, Die Free.

MV