U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Becky Vanshur
- To carry out their mission, snipers must be masters of concealment and be able to disappear in any environment, be it desert, woodland, sand, or snow.
- The ghillie suit, a kind of artificial camouflage, is key to concealment. The US Army recently released photos of a sniper school instructor showing off the various pieces of a sniper’s ghillie suit.
- To effectively conceal themselves on the battlefield, snipers must also have an understanding of their environment and the tactics of concealment.
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Snipers have to be able to disappear on the battlefield in a way that other troops do not, and the ghillie suit is a key part of what makes these elite warfighters masters of concealment.
"A sniper’s mission dictates that he remains concealed in order to be successful," Staff Sgt. Ricky Labistre, a sniper with 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment of the California National Guard, previously explained.
Read more: Army snipers played hide-and-seek to test new camouflaged ghillie suits for next-level combat
"Ghillie suits provide snipers that edge and flexibility to maintain a concealed position,"he added.
A ghillie suit is a kind of camouflaged uniform that snipers use to disappear in any environment, be it desert, woodland, sand, or snow. US Army Staff Sgt. David Smith, an instructor at the service’s sniper school, recently showed off a ghillie suit that he put together from scratch using jute twine and other materials.
There are many different types of ghillie suit. This particular suit is designed for woodland or grassland environments, Fort Benning told Insider.
US Army photo by Staff Sgt. Edwin Pierce
Concealing yourself from from the watchful eyes of the enemy is about putting "anything you can between you and whatever might be observing you," Smith previously told Insider. "The main things we use to conceal ourselves would be the clothing we wear, our ghillie suits, and the hides we construct."
US Army photo by Staff Sgt. Edwin Pierce
Read more: America’s deadliest sharpshooters reveal how they disappear in plain sight
To design a ghillie suit for a mission, Army snipers "start with a base layer of artificial camouflage," Smith said, explaining that this allows them to "be a little more expedient in the field" because "it gives us a base we can change from a little bit more rapidly."
US Army photo by Staff Sgt. Edwin Pierce
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – rpickrell@businessinsider.com (Ryan Pickrell)