And why they belong in the bin. Plus a few concepts around the idea of ghillies and mobility for all Airsoft players.

Assault ghillies in the Airsoft arena tend to be used by non-snipers as a means of extra concealment, and in itself that isn’t a bad idea. If you’re a support gunner for example, the idea of some kind of viper hood or cobra hood (head and shoulders only) seems like a good idea to help break up your outline a bit. It’s marketed as a “lightweight” solution, not that suits are heavy, and there are a lot of manufacturers out there jumping on the idea and making these quarter-sized suits. There are a few problems with them though.

• We can still see the rest of you. The gun is visible. The load bearing is visible. Your boots are visible. Quite often when I see players using them, they’ve not covered their face so the face area is visible. As an extreme example, let’s say you own a bright blue car and want to make it more stealthy, so you paint the roof dark green and think “that’ll do it”. Some is better than none, but it’s not a complete solution. The forearms, gloves and rifle are the furthest forward parts of your body, the most easily detected, and they’re not covered by the viper hood.
• Unless you don’t move. At all. And if you’re a support gunner, don’t fire because that noise will give you away. In fact, just be a sniper.
• The hood will give you away. After a lot of time working with snipers on ghillie suits, hoods are the enemy because the shadow around that face area gives you away. Even with otherwise flawless ghillies, the shadow is enough to say “there’s a sniper there”. Unfortunately these cobras are basically just a hood with sleeves. The hood also inhibits your vision and hearing. Even the mesh ones. You can do better.
• Most of them are made with shiny polyester, and some have those awful polyester sheet printed leaves on. It’s not going to fool anyone.
• It doesn’t hide your movement

(I’d list some positives, but I can’t think of any)

And that last point is something that affects all ghillies, and many people get it wrong. In terms of an “assault ghillie”, a ghillie is only going to work if you don’t move, which is contrary to the action of assaulting. You ain’t assaulting jack shit in a ghillie, and if you are, you didn’t need one in the first place. If your game is to constantly push and attack the enemy, going looking for trouble as it were, then your playstyle isn’t sitting patiently and hiding. It’s like watching videos from indoor sites of players wearing camouflage. Yeah, it adds to the “look” but in terms of functionality it isn’t doing anything at all.

I’ve seen some recce guys on milsims who use them to lay in a position and have it break up the head and shoulders as they observe the enemy, but as above it’s not a great solution and if they’re laid still and using cover correctly then that’s what is stopping them being seen, not the tacticool viper hood. The more advanced argument would be that the lightweight leaves will blow in a breeze and draw the eye, and most are printed in really weird colours and patterns that lack the macro pattern to break up the shape and make the whole system viable at a distance. You’d do better in a DPM shirt and a cut down boonie. Add a bit of 3D if it makes you feel better, but if you’re going all out on staying hidden do your full kit and not just the head and shoulders. Check out The 7 S’s of Camouflage and learn the basics as well. It’s not all about your attire.

“I design my suits for advancing, not lying down”

This is a quote I clocked this week and there are two interpretations of it. Advancing probably isn’t the intended word here, I understand that some ghillie makers will build ghillies differently for players who stand vs players who go prone. That’s different, although presenting yourself as a large, upright, human-shaped target at eye level isn’t a great tactic for stealth. The second interpretation is that you’re making camouflage that works while you’re on the move.

No ghillie will work on the move.

You’ll know if you play any kind of first person shooter games (Call of Duty, or BAttlefield for the more refined player), that if you’re in a nice position waiting for the enemy, you’re watching for moving pixels, nothing more. The camouflage on these characters is irrelevant – the second your eye spots movement, your hands bring the crosshairs onto it and you hit the trigger. Going old school, it’s like that “whack a mole” game, you’re just waiting on some movement before reacting to it. I’ve seen normal, non-ghillie players sit still in a game and avoid detection; it wasn’t their outfit giving them away but the lack of noise and movement that didn’t attract any attention. Airsofters will assume that if there’s nobody around shooting them, and there’s no noise or movement, that they’re safe and let their guard down.

The snipers’ game in Airsoft is split into being in a shooting position, and moving from one shooting position to the next, even if it’s for observation rather than shooting. In the shooting or hide position, the ghillie will be doing its thing but any time you move between these positions, you’re going to get spotted. This is often where newer snipers struggle with the whole construction of their ghillie. It does need to allow you to be mobile in between hide positions, so that you can move easily and unhindered by a huge mass of string or leaves, but it’s not going to camouflage you as you move – the technology just isn’t there yet. If you’ve seen the film Predator, the thing is invisible but you can see it when it moves.

Ideally, the ghillie wants to work in your hide position, and if you get caught upright in between hides, just stop moving and pray that nobody is looking in your general direction and you might get away with it.

It’s also a counterargument for sites that are banning non-snipers from wearing ghillies – it doesn’t make a difference because the contrasting style of play is going to flag them anyway; it isn’t the advantage they think it is when their little HPA SMG is chattering away as they dart towards an enemy position. But cosplay, photos and “content” lap it up like a dog slurping up vomit.

This is why we say you need to know how to use a ghillie – it’s not just an item of clothing.