The scientific dimension of camouflage

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Camouflage is half of life. The other half is understanding how it works. In the UF-PRO blog, Eli from Project Gecko has published a very good summary on the topic of camouflaging, which we are also presenting here:

“Victorious is the one who is well prepared, waiting to attack the unprepared enemy” – Chinese war theorist Sun Tzu once wrote.

Honestly, that's exactly what camouflage is about. It's not about colors, patterns, or ninja stuff. It's about knowledge, patience, and manipulation from anyone and anywhere.

And all of that, to achieve a goal - to become part of the environment. In this article I will give you a taste of the bitter art of camouflage.

During my time in the Special Forces of the Israeli Airborne Brigade, I served in one of the SR-teams (Special Reconnaissance = Special Intelligence). My second function on my team was what we call in the Israel Defense Force (IDF) "Builder" - basically someone who can hide everything in any environment - be it a single man, be it a complete team, or be it even vehicles.

WHAT IS CAMOUFLAGE?

During that time, when I was supporting the next Builder-generation as an instructor, one of my first questions to the young soldiers in the basic training was always: “What does the word camouflage mean to you?” The majority of answers could be divided into “to hide” or “to disappear.”

While those may sound correct, both words describe an old misconception that one faces when tasked with the job of mission-focused camouflage work.

Long story short: most of the time (except for evasion or SR work), camouflage is the first phase of observation.

The purpose is not only to hide or disappear, but to become part of the environment in order to safely observe, document, and possibly react.

This can reach extremely high skill levels - allowing you to live off Mother Nature's hand for 72 hours (and more), being 100 - 200 meters away from the target and having a 180-degree view of the point of interest.

Let's put it this way: camouflage is the art of manipulation, controlling reality.

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