Ghillie suit - wikipedia Ghillie suit For the traditional Scottish clothing, see Ghillie shirt. For the dance, see Ghillies ( dance ). French and British snipers wearing ghillie suits in 2010 A ghillie suit is a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble the background environment such as foliage, snow or sand. Typically, it is a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of burlap, cloth or twine, sometimes made to look like leaves and twigs, and optionally augmented with scraps of foliage from the area. Military personnel, police, hunters, and nature photographers may wear a ghillie suit to blend into their surroundings and conceal themselves from enemies or targets. The suit gives the wearer 's outline a three - dimensional breakup, rather than a linear one. When manufactured correctly, the suit will move in the wind in the same way as surrounding foliage. Some ghillie suits are made with light and breathable material that allows a person to wear a shirt underneath. Ghillie suits are also made as a yarn version which make the suit very hot. Contents 1 History 2 Manufacture 3 Safety considerations 4 References History A German infantryman in WWII armed with an StG 44 assault rifle, wearing `` splinter '' camouflage and a `` ghillie cap '' in 1944. The ghillie suit was developed by Scottish gamekeepers as a portable hunting blind. Lovat Scouts, a Scottish Highland regiment formed by the British Army during the Second Boer War, is the first known military unit to use ghillie suits. In 1916, Lovat Scouts went on to become the British Army 's first sniper unit. The term ghillie references Ghillie Dhu, derived from gille, the Scottish Gaelic for `` servant '' or a `` lad ''. In English, this term was especially used to refer to those assisting in deer hunting, deer stalking or fly fishing expeditions in the Scottish Highlands. The Australian Army sniper 's outfits are nicknamed `` yowies '', named for their resemblance to the Yowie, a mythical hominid similar to the Yeti and Bigfoot which is said to live in the Australian wilderness. Manufacture This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( August 2012 ) A hunter wearing a commercially manufactured ghillie suit in 2007 High - quality ghillie suits are made by hand ; most military snipers generally construct their own unique suits. Manufactured ghillie suits can be assembled from up to six pieces. Proper camouflage requires the use of natural materials present in the environment in which a sniper will operate. Making a ghillie suit from scratch is time - consuming, and a detailed, high - quality suit can take weeks or even months to manufacture and season. Ghillie suits can be constructed in several different ways. Some military services make them of rough burlap flaps or jute twine attached to a poncho. Hunting ghillie suits can be made of nylon and other artificial materials as well as the ones listed before. United States military ghillie suits are often built using either a battle dress uniform ( BDU ), or a pilot 's flight suit or some other one - piece coverall as the base. On the base, rough webbing made of durable, stainable fabric like burlap is attached. A nearly invisible material like fishing line can be used to sew each knot of net to the fabric ( often with a drop of glue for strength ). The jute is applied to the netting by tying groups of 5 to 10 strands of a color to the netting with simple knots, skipping sections to be filled in with other colors. The webbing is then seasoned by dragging it behind a vehicle, leaving it to soak in mud, or even applying manure to make it smell `` earthy. '' Once on location, the ghillie suit is customized with twigs, leaves, and other elements of the local foliage as much as possible, although these local additions must be changed every few hours, due to wilting of green grasses or branches. Safety considerations British snipers from 34 Squadron training in ghillie suits in 2015 Although highly effective, ghillie suits are impractical for many situations where camouflage is useful. They tend to be very heavy and hot. Even in moderate climates, the temperature inside the ghillie suit can reach over 50 ° C ( 120 ° F ). The burlap is also flammable, unless treated with fire retardant, so the wearer may be at increased risk from ignition sources such as smoke grenades or white phosphorus. To enhance safety, the US Army Soldier Systems Center has developed an inherently fire resistant, self extinguishing fabric to replace the jute or burlap. This material was field tested in late 2007 at the Sniper School at Fort Benning and has been standard issue since June 2008. Civilians have purchased ghillie suits to commit crimes. Police arrested an Australian man after they found that he had assaulted women while wearing the suit. References Jump up ^ Foley, David ( July 31, 2003 ). `` Sniper students make the grade ''. The Bayonet. Fort Benning, Georgia : TRADOC News Service. Archived from the original on November 9, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2011. Jump up ^ Pegler, Martin ( 2004 ). Out of Nowhere : A History of the Military Sniper. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0 - 87364 - 704 - 1. Jump up ^ Plaster, John ( 2006 ). The Ultimate Sniper : An Advanced Training Manual For Military And Police Snipers. Paladin Press. p. 5. ISBN 0 - 87364 - 704 - 1. Jump up ^ Dwelly, Edward. Dwelly 's Gaelic Dictionary. Jump up ^ Hogben, Bruce ( 17 June 1989 ). `` Aussie ingenuity keeps our soldiers safely out of sight ''. The Advertiser. Adelaide, Australia. Jump up ^ https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/36853767/central-coast-father-to-face-court-over-schoolgirls-assault/ Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ghillie suits. Camouflage Methods Camouflage Countershading Active camouflage Counter-illumination Disruptive coloration Distractive markings Motion camouflage Multi-scale camouflage Multi-spectral camouflage Snow camouflage Pioneers Peacetime Edward Bagnall Poulton The Colours of Animals Abbott Handerson Thayer Concealing - Coloration in the Animal Kingdom Camoufleurs Lucien - Victor Guirand de Scévola John Graham Kerr Norman Wilkinson Everett Warner Johann Georg Otto Schick Hugh Cott Adaptive Coloration in Animals Geoffrey Barkas Timothy O'Neill Animal As evidence for natural selection Crypsis Decorator crabs Flower mantises Mimicry Batesian Müllerian Aggressive Underwater camouflage Military Topics Military camouflage Aircraft camouflage Dazzle camouflage Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate Ship camouflage USN WWII camouflage measures Prototypes Adaptiv Diffused lighting camouflage Yehudi lights Systems Berberys - R Nakidka Patterns Up to WWII German WWII Splittertarnmuster ( 1931 ) Platanenmuster ( 1937 ) Rauchtarnmuster ( 1939 ) Palmenmuster ( c 1941 ) Eichenlaubmuster ( 1942 ) Sumpfmuster ( 1943 ) Erbsenmuster ( 1944 ) Leibermuster ( 1945 ) Other Lozenge ( 1917 aircraft ) Telo mimetico ( 1929 tent ) Denison smock ( 1941 ) Frog Skin ( 1942 ) Post-war Lizard ( 1947 ) Flecktarn ( 1956 ) Rain pattern ( 1960 ) Late 20th Century Rhodesian Brushstroke ( 1965 ) ERDL ( 1967 ) Disruptive Pattern Material ( 1969 ) wz. 68 Moro ( 1969 ) Tigerstripe M84 M90 Six - Color Desert Pattern ( Chocolate Chip ) U.S. `` M81 '' Woodland ( 1981 ) wz. 89 Puma Jigsaw TAZ 83 TAZ 90 Camouflage Europe Centrale Desert Night Camouflage wz. 93 Pantera Soldier 2000 Type 99 ( China ) 21st Century Australian Multicam Bundeswehr Wüstentarn CADPAT ( 2002 ) M05 MARPAT MultiCam Multi-Terrain Pattern Operational Camouflage Pattern Tactical Assault Camouflage Type 07 Universal Camouflage Pattern Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ghillie_suit&oldid=814404964 '' Categories : Military camouflage Sniper warfare tactics Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from August 2012 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from July 2014 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Čeština Deutsch Español فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano עברית Lietuvių Magyar 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 8 December 2017, at 16 : 47. 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Question: where did the name ghillie suit come from
Answer: references Ghillie Dhu, derived from gille, the Scottish Gaelic for "servant" or a "lad"