Ok, I'm not a sniper, but after spending time in a ghillie in the taint sucking swamps of Ft Stewart, I appreciate the suck involved in wearing and moving in a ghilie.

So, apart from the tradition of new snipers making and breaking in a full suit, are there any real operational reasons to employ a full suit as opposed to a viper hood type setup.

Some key reasons,
Big one being weight, a ghillie adds 20 pounds? Or so to an already heavy ruck.
Heat, yeah, suck it up butter cup but at some point you have to take into account the increased water consumption  and possibilities of stroking out while in a suit.
Ghillie compatablity with armor, gawd that would suck to have to wear armor AND a ghillie, but you have either protection or camoflauge, typically not both.

So let's get some real user level thoughts on the subject.

Yes there are some good reasons to use just a partial ghille. We did it in the scouts all the time. The guys that were snipers including myself had full ghille suits. I prefer a two piece for the reason I'm about to state. If I wasn't actually on the gun and we were out doing our recon mission as a scout team we all had the top half of a ghille to use for observation. It isn't always necessary to use an entire ghille suit and I know what you're talking about at Ft Stewart. It is nasty, humid, hot as hell. A ghille suit isn't really meant for long movements either, as you probably already know. We didn't wear our tops either, until we got into our ORP and moved to our hide site. It's mainly meant for getting into and out of position in your hide and wearing while you're in your hide, while not moving.

My ghille is more around 10 or 15 pounds. It's really not heavy, more bulky than anything. To carry it, I like to roll it up, with all the jute on the inside so it's just cloth on the outside then use bungees or 550 to keep it rolled up and stored in my ruck or sometimes on the outside.

As far as the body armor. I'm going to tell you that I didn't always wear it overseas if I was behind my gun on a purely sniper mission. When using one, I'd strip it bare but there were times where it was not conducive to wear and use body armor. I won't try to pretend we were over there stalking everyday, we weren't. It was more of a, drop us off somewhere at night, we'd walk to a position we had picked days before and had eyes on. Then we'd move into a building or if we were able, outside of the village or town to cover our target area. We'd also have a security team or two in the area with us. Most of the missions were looking for IED teams and that would normally have us in an urban environment, but not always. The other popular mission was to sit out on the edge of crop fields and wait for guys hiding weapons or setting them up to fire onto FOBs.

That's awesome Recon! Do you have any pictures of your ghillie you can share?

nm, I just saw the next topic you started. This new section is rad! So much to absorb!

I need to pick up some netting to sew onto one of my caps.



I've been using burlap for years, but that shit SUCKS in the summer.

Cammy and a ghillie won't make you invisible -- they're to break up silhouette, shape, and shine, and help your colors blend.

If you can garnish your cobra hood, weapon, and gear with light synthetics that both blend and dry quickly you're halfway there.

I think those are probably the only remaining pictures I have of me in my original ghille suit. I took a lot of black and white photos of it to find discrepancies but I don't have those anymore. If you're wondering, an older sniper back in the day taught us that taking black and white photos of your ghille in the field will show spots that need to be improved. It works relatively well.

That's a cool trick.

 
















 

Yes, we did that too. You should try the black and white pictures though. You can really see parts that stick out and make adjustments either with jute, veg or paint. It really works well.

There's also another neat trick for your scope. I always used a killflash anyway, but I saw a trick for the first time by ghurkas, IIRC. Use netting over the front of the scope and stretched at an angle and connected to the rifle. I wish I had a picture. It is an awesome way to get rid of the non-natural circle of the scope. Of course you could just throw part of your hood over it, if you made it long enough but I was never a fan of that.

That right there is the reason partials are so dang nice.  I have a very full one I made years ago and it's a damn oven.

I guess it all depends on what you're using it for. For me, I gotta have jute/burlap for the most part. I'll put a few pieces of camo net here and there but I'll also have places to tie in veg. If you're trying to avoid human eyes, camo netting alone won't cut it.

Yeah you definitely find your balance point where materials and construction give you acceptable results while not being too hot.  After that first overbuilt ghillie I made another full one and it was way lighter on the jute.  I have a partial in progress modeled after a friends and his is really nice.

For a grab and go bag I bought one of those really light leaf ghillies.  Pretty nice concealment match in my area with minimal space taken in my bag and its light and airy.   Got it at academy for $45 after the season on clearance.  It's just another tool in the box, not a ghillie replacement in most aspects.

I mostly use a viper hood style ghilie (mines a bit longer and more cape like ending at my belt line)unless the terrain is more open then I'll grab my full suit.

Pics or it didn't happen

Is there another option other than the viper hood?



I have to buy my own equipment for work.



I tried to find some decent mesh/netting, but it's all burlap.



 

Gonna have to wait another 6 months....On a tax payer vacation

 

What is it that you do for work? I can help you do this. There is nothing better than burlap to use to hide from human eyes. You just can't "cheap out" per se. Let's see what we can figure out. PM me or we can go over it right here in this thread. It's up to you and dependent on what work is.

ETA wait, you know how to do this already. lol You already know how to build a ghille and have.

Depending on what you're hiding in (i.e. a site with both vertical and horizontal cover) a sheet of plain ole' burlap might be enough.  Won't really work to well out in the open most of the time but it'll break up your silhouette some, and sometimes that's enough.  

Anyone know a good source on a Viper hood or something of that style? I think part of ARC is making a G-suit, I prefer the partial to a ful suit.

Tactical Concealment makes the Viper Hood.

I'm rather new to this game, excuse my mistakes.

I understand the concept behind the hood/suit foundation, my question is what goes on to it. Burlap? Cloth? Vegetation? Mesh? How do you ensure your suit is breaking up your silhouette and not creating the "tree-top on the mountain" effect?

I understand the different environment will require a completely different camouflage setup but can one use a foundation for different environments?

Thanks any and all for your replies.

Mine is built from spray painted fishing net and yarn.



I'm not sure if it qualifies as a hood, but that's what I use it for.



You also need to add local vegetation in conjunction with your setup, no matter what it is, on the stalk in.