Voodoo Tactical Ghillie Suit
- Details
- Written by JT McAvoy
I am the kind of person that is in search for the perfect camouflage. What I have come to realize over the years is that there is no such thing. There is only the perfect camouflage for whatever type of environment that you are in. So to some, myself included, this makes the search for camouflage that much harder. So if done right you have different camouflage for every environment that you operate in and now it has to be light and portable. On today’s ever changing and dynamic battlefield you can change total environments and regions in just a matter of hours.
This can present many problems. So the trick becomes finding a system that blends into as many environments as possible, is light enough to carry, and can be modified to fit and environment as need be. I sat down and asked myself what type of environment do I spend most of my operational time in and what my mission there is. For me it was and outside, semi to full wilderness area. While not performing duties as a medic it is usually hiding for observation purposes or tracking something that does not wish to be found. Stealth and the ability to move quickly and hide in plain sight become key in choosing any camouflage system.
Other things to consider are patterns, dimensional cammo, color and texture. The user has to consider are you going to use a 3-D cammo system or just a standard BDU pattern. Once that is decided the next question becomes the color. Color is one of the most if not the most important component when choosing cammo. A person can have the best ghillie suit ever made and if it is the wrong color, for example green in a brown environment, then that person will not blend in at all. This raises an interesting question what is more prominent in nature green or brown. The answer is simple brown; there are more shades of brown (visible to the human eye) in nature than there are green. This applies even in the summer time and jungle environments.
Major Surplus and Survival was kind enough to provide me with a desert cammo sniper suit made by Voodoo Tactical to illustrate this point as well as prove that this suit is superior to others on the market. The first thing that caught my eye about the suit was the colors. There are many shades of brown ranging from light to dark. There was more light brown than dark brown in the suit, if necessary this can be changed. The suit comes in three pieces a bottom part that is pants and a top part that is like a jacket, and hat/face piece.
The pants are made out of a mesh/nylon type material. Over that there are rows of fabric strands or hairs (as I call them). There are multiple rows in multiple positions from the top to the bottom. This provides more than adequate coverage and camouflage for the lower part of your body. There is elastic at the base of the legs and around the waist. The waist portion can be adjusted to fit you loose or tight, whatever your preference may be. They are easy to get on and off in a hurry. Also included with this Voodoo Tactical suit is a pair of straps. This allows you to slip off the pants roll them up, cinch them down and store them or strap them to a pack. With a little bit of practice I found that this could be done in only a matter of minutes.
The top jacket is made out of the same material and with the same color pattern. Again there is more than enough material on the jacket for camouflage. The front has snaps instead of a zipper, and at the end of the sleeves is elastic. This helps keep it in place on your arms and I found that when pushed up my arm it stayed in place with no problem. Again the jacket has straps to help stow and carry it.
The hat/face cover’s construction is a little different than the rest of the suit. The boonie hat portion is made of plastic covered with the same fabric as the rest of the ghillie. Unfortunately the plastic has a tendency to shine in the sunlight and could give your position away if noticed by an observer. The face is covered with a mesh material that is circumferential. It also stretches from the forehead to the base of the neck, again there is elastic at the base. It provides excellent face cover and concealment without compromising much vision to include your peripheral vision.
There seems to be one universal truth to any ghillie suit, they are hot no matter how cold it is. This is where the snaps in my opinion are a better choice for the front. It allows for better ventilation. The suit as a whole is extremely easy to move around in. I was able to walk, stalk, and run from one position to another with ease. For the suits size and shape is it remarkably light. This scores major points with me. I have a green “wood land” ghillie suit made by a different company. It is four times as heavy, is not easy to walk, and move in. The construction is also not near as tough and tends to rip easily. The ghillie provided by Major surplus and supply has superb construction and will stand up to most conditions that you can put it through.
Voodoo Tactical seems to have designed and made a superior ghillie suit. So how do you test what seems to be a superior product before you even get it into the field. I decided to test this suit in two phases. Phase one consists of the basic evaluation of the suit, also to have untrained observers in a fixed point to try and find me in a hiding position from distances of 10-100 yards.
The basic evaluation went extremely well as you can tell. There are two minor changes that I would make to the suit. The first one is the hat. While I liked the basic design and construction the material for the hat is plastic. As I stated earlier this in the sunlight had a tendency to shine if at all exposed. There is not enough material on the hat to keep this from happening all the time especially when moving. Plastic does not breath at all, this makes the ghillie that much hotter to wear. Even though there are four holes in the plastic for ventilation it is not enough. I don’t think you could put enough holes in the plastic without compromising the construction. I would change the material that the hat is made out of. The second change I would make is to the suit as a whole. Even though it is listed as a Desert Camo suit as I talked about in the beginning different browns work better in 90% of earth’s environments. Makers need to realize this and make two different versions of this suit. One for the desert with the light browns like the one Voodoo Tactical let me test, and a second with the same color browns with just an increase of some of the darker and more subdued browns. I think this would increase the blending ability in the woods, but as you can see (see pictures) in certain environments it the current colors were perfect.
I positioned 5 untrained observers, ages 19-32 years of age in an observation position. This position was elevated and had a commanding view of the environment around them. A point of roughly 100 yards was marked off. I then stepped into the field and stood there, from the point that I stood to their position is where I had to hide. I gave myself a two minute time limit to hide in and was not allowed to do a modified hide using brush or advanced cammo techniques. During this time my distance from them would change but I had to stay within 100yards. While I was hiding they were had their backs turned and could not see me. The observers did have an advantage though; I had a second person in the field with me. This person was never more than 20ft from me and was taking pictures of me once I was found or they gave up. Even with this advantage the observers did not find me 80% of the time. It also seemed that as I got closer to the observers they had a harder time finding me. After an hour of hiding I managed to get within 20 yards of the observers without it becoming blatant on where my location was.
Then it was time for the debriefing. My observers were amazed as was I on how well the suit preformed. They were also impressed by the weight or lack of it, as well as how quickly it could be donned and I could disappear. The ghillie seemed to blend perfect with the environment. Several of my observers were amazed that the colors blended so well and made the comment that they did not realize a seemingly simple and funny looking suit could allow someone to disappear in the middle of an open field just by laying down flat. They also said that with slow movement toward their position that they could not see me until I stood up even though they could hear meat times. My observers stated too that had it not been for my photographer, approximately 50% of the times I was found I would not have been spotted.
Three things seemed to give my position away. The first was obviously my photographer. In real life or even practice this would not be a problem. I have no doubt that had it not been for him my position would have been revealed much less than it was. The second give away was my boots. I was wearing black boots with no type of cover, black blends with nothing except the dark. There were times that my observers saw my boots and one part of my body such as an arm or leg but never my whole body. This stresses the need for proper footwear or foot coverings for the environment that you are in. The bottom line is a little detail like your feet not being covered could kill you. The third and final thing that was a dead giveaway was rapid movement. As long as I stayed slow and subtle with my movements they could hear me but not see me. Two of my observers said that this gave them and “eerie” feeling, which gave me a sense of dominance over the situation.
My conclusion on the basic evaluation of the ghillie and Phase one testing is simple. I feel that Voodoo Tactical has designed a great ghillie suit. It is light, and portable, this allows for it to be carried over long distances without much fatigue to the wearer. With a little bit of practice this ghillie can be easily donned and you hidden within a matter of minutes. The colors while they may work great in the desert are superb for most environments on the planet. There are more browns in nature than greens and this allows this suit in particular to blend in to most environments with no modifications to the suit or the environment around you. All of these things combined allowed me to “hide in plain sight” in front of untrained observers with little effort and be successful. While the success rate is a little off because of other factors such as the photographer I have no doubt it would be much higher without these factors. I was impressed enough buy the initial tests that I feel very comfortable using and recommending this ghillie that Voodoo Tactical makes and can be purchased at Major Surplus and Supply. This is one of the pre-manufactured ghillies that I would be comfortable using in situations where my life may depend on my ability to hide.
