Edited sentence: By placing the majority of the soldier's body mass beneath ground, it reduces the IR signature of the soldier and therefore reduces his or her visibility to thermal imagers.Due to the fact that a properly prepared shell scrape should allow for the entirity of the soldier's body to be beneath the level of the surrounding ground, thereby offering protection from both direct- and indirect-fire weapons.However, shell scrapes provide little protection against air- or tree- burst indirect fire, as they are shallow and wide.Shell scrapes offer superior concealment compared to traditional trap bivouacs