In my 2nd week of basic training they brought us out on a hill at night, surrounded by some forests. They showed us how easy it is to notice different lights and sounds especially at night and what NVGs and thermals can do. One instructor was smoking a cig about 1km away and we could see it. Through nightvision-scopes it looked like a second sun. Another one was just walking fast through the woods and you could hear it hundreds of meters away and you instantly knew where to look at with thermals to find movement. Another one hammered small nails into a tree with a folding spade, around 1km away aswell and it was easy as hell to tell where it came from. And suddenly a team of 3 snipers stood up 15 meters in front us who had been there the whole time without being noticed by us lol. They did that early so we could develop a sense for important things like that. Airborne infantry unit from Germany.
Cool to see you here, why don't you make some videos on NVG or thermals yourself? In most SHTF scenarios we preppers may find ourselves in this tech can be a force multiplier.
Not to mention so dang relevant as probably all of us viewers are now categorized as militant extremists by our current government. Elect Patriots to office and train train train.
@@GarandThumb You could charge a good amount of money for a set of videos like this and I bet a lot of us would pay pretty much whatever you decided to charge. But by doing it for free you've injected these concepts straight into the heart of the gun community's zeitgeist, and if things keep going their current course, that might be the difference between life or death for a ton of people.
I’ve had the chance to talk with some helicopter pilots of my local police department and they got to experience something pretty fascinating while they were looking for a suspect who was hiding in a residential neighborhood. They were orbiting the area the suspect was last seen at and combed the area using thermal cameras. They stayed on scene looking for the suspect long enough that they noticed the development of a faint white silhouette on the side of a shed. Turns out the suspect was hiding inside the shed with his back against one of the walls and his body heat was radiating onto the wall which could be seen through a thermal camera on the opposite side of the wall. Just a little information to keep in mind.
Few things to add, 10 years recon and did some cognition of camo for research paper; Movement towards a enemy should always be directly towards when you coming in close as the eye picks up horizontal movement very well. Your eye is built to only see detail in very narrow field and your movement detection is majority comprised outside that field. So don’t ever look directly at what you’re looking at. Research shows the two things (fully developed at birth in your brain) that brain can detect is a face and head and shoulders ratio. Contrast of the face, light up shadow parts and darken the peaks. And boonie cap is good but your eye still sees shoulders that’s why a viper hood or some kind of vail or break up in the void between your head and shoulders, fucking vital. Mind set: “if I were the enemy where would I be looking for me? What would I do if I was looking for me?” Thanks for coming to my TedTalk
Súper insightful. People don’t realize all the cool things that are wired into all humans. Even city slicker that’s never been outside could potentially spot you if you’re not careful.
My buddies and I used to set up situations where one of us would be hunted while playing airsoft, with emphasis on realism, you learn very quickly what you can and can’t get away with when someone is actively searching for you. Would recommend as a first baby step into this kind of training! Edit: I’m aware this does not even compare to military or any kind of legit training and it has been around way longer than when my friends and I did it. Just sharing a common experience with y’all.
Hell yea staying still while your 6 buddies is walking 6 feet from ya with aegs. Make ya question should you engage, run, or do nothing. Edit and you really started to wish you painted you orange slant brake on your ak.
The main purpose of red light is to not destroy you natural night vision. It IS less visible to the enemy but can still be seen easily by the enemy, especially when reflected off of background objects. We were taught in the Corps to cover up with a poncho as you said. Great video.
A channel called S2 Underground drives a little deeper into thermal evasion from the air. Drones are the standard in modern combat now. Overcoming their capabilities is crucial.
Great tip, thanks! Was wondering how to hide from fucking drones. Insane how many are used in Ukraine. Little scary aswell. I’m active duty in an airborne infantry unit, we use drones ourselves, but no one ever tought us how to escape them.
@@Nordheide It is curious the lack of sop on this subject. There was little to no literature on the subject when I was in, over 10 years ago now, and I'm surprised that there's seemingly no further tactic development as far as what is taught to the average infantryman.
Neurology student here. Your motion-focused neuron groups are most focused at about 18-20 degrees out of the centerline of your vision all the way around. Your color receptors are focused at the center, and your light receptors are thicker to the edges. I will mostly leave the application of this information to you, but if it is dark and you think see motion to the sides of your focus, trust your eyes.
God that makes so much sense. I've spent a lot of time in the woods at night and I noticed I have to go off periphery, if I focus it darkens the object.
Oh that's an old school Vietnam trick. They didn't have night vision in those days (and it's mostly useless in a jungle environment, even with an IR illuminator) so patrolling at night was wild. If they were setting up ambushes at night, beyond the claymores as a warning, they were mostly firing blind. That first shot had to count, so they aimed with their periphery vision. Imagine that... you're not even looking at the target you're shooting at? "Dude, sometimes I just close my eyes, squeeze the trigger, and hope for the best."
Cool to know. I noticed that when I look at the sky at night, something would catch my eye (like a star), then when I looked at it, it would go dim. I thought it was just my eyes failing.
16:00 There's a greater lesson here. In order to become an expert woodsman you need to be in the woods often. Find hobbies other than LARPing (still LARP), go hunting, tracking (animals and human), hiking, practice bushcraft, run a trap line, camp often etc. Case Study: Carlos Hathcock is renowned as one of the most proficient snipers in US history. He certainly learned a lot from his time in the Marines, but his woodsmanship comes from his childhood, where he had to hunt to feed his family. He spent his entire youth in the woods, so he was no stranger to it when he was in the Marines.
Thanks man, I’m from a liberal state and never had a strong male role model in my life. Thanks to GarandThumb and many others I have found what was missing in my life. I am a lot happier.
This is such a great video and really hammers down on the training aspect. I grew up in the Appalachian mountains in WV and have hunted since I was around 7-8. There really is a difference between people who grew up in the woods compared to others. People who grew up going into the woods are very careful where and how they step in order to make the least amount of noise possible and move deliberately. To be honest the hunting example you gave was incredibly accurate. Not only could the deer hear you if you step wrong, they can also smell you as well, and the same is true for people. An interesting way you can tell if you're not alone where you are is if everything is silent. Animals often view people as predators and go completely silent unless their used to you being there and you don't smell like deodorant, cologne, etc. Either that or there is an actual big predator around like a bear, mountain lion, etc. depending on where you live. Either way if it goes silent pay attention to what could be around you. If it is a predator though like a bear it's smell should tell you what it is, bears for the most part smell like a stinky wet dog, while mountain lions have a sour musky like smell at least in my experiences with them. Hope this helps.
I never met a bear, but the same is valid for wild boar, and other animals, even me, as a heavy smoker, can sense a smell often (depends if the wind also)...
I grew up in the woods and I'll point out something that I noticed. When I was 16 or 17 I could run through the woods as described this mountain-dude. We'd race through the woods. I never realized what a learned skill that was until I went to college and then went back to the woods and attempted it with friends. A couple years away from that kind of thing and I was NOT as good at it as I had been before. And it's not just memory of being better than I was because it turns out that this is a skill that comes back pretty fast. In that regard it's a bit like riding a bike. If you haven't done it in a long time your first few yards are a bit wobbly until you remember what you're doing but this doesn't really take long. Being quiet in the woods is no different. My junior year in college a bunch of us went out in the woods to go shooting and I was actually annoyed with how loud everyone else was just walking at one point and then even MORE annoyed with how loud I was. Sure, I was better than them but I wasn't really stealthy by any stretch of the imagination. Not like I was growing up. Again, something that comes back pretty fast. The point being; the skills are perishable and if you're playing dangerous games your opponents are not going to give you a do-over. You need to practice this and do so regularly if you want to maintain the skill levels required to use such a skillset in a dangerous environment.
@@TheFIoridaMan Amen. I train in wilderness survival, past year I've been slowly teaching my friend survival skills, but it's incredible how some people won't budge on their ways. He has to have his phone on loud when in the forest or wild camping. Because he has "kids" his gf is at home. But somehow he needs to have his phone on loud still. Worst of all, his gf calls him up half the time for no reason at all when he's out in the forest. Insanity
One thing to keep in mind when you’re evading in mountainous terrain is to maintain position at the military crest of a hill. The military crest is 2/3 up the hill, and it provides you with an advantage over anyone that may be hunting you because you won’t be silhouetted when they’re observing you from the bottom of the mountain or the top of the mountain. Also if they’re running at you from the bottom of the hill it’s easy to move over the crest of a hill and run downhill. Likewise, if they’re coming at you from the top of the hill you already have a 1/3 advantage to run down the hill.
That's not really what the military crest is. The military crest is basically just the highest you can walk on the hill without any part of your body creating a silhouette above the top, as seen from the direction of the enemy. It's not necessarily ⅔ of the way up. In fact, if it ever is, it's likely a coincidence. Basically, just make sure you can't see over the top of the hill yourself, and that if you draw a line from any potential enemy observer to your position, and then keep on going, that the line hits dirt, and not just sky. You can eyeball it, or you can plan it in advance on a map. It also doesn't really have anything to do with maneuvering; just observation and concealment. The fact that the enemy needs to move up hill to get to you doesn't matter when he can just toss mortars and such at you. Hell, within 1 click on the map, they can probably just shoot you with direct fire (slant range doesn't really matter for aiming a rifle or machine gun; you just set your sights for the horizontal distance).
@@ethanmayo399 who said anything about SERE? Beginning of the video, he said pretty explicitly that we're talking about a militia/asymmetric warfare situation here. The example was Ukraine, not downed aircrew.
@@MitchCarroll I’m with you kind of . Your kind of being obnoxious making your point so it makes people just want to disagree lol. And no it’s not that you can’t see over the hill . 2/3 is the general measurement because you might be way lower than being able to see over the hill but off the moon is beaming from the other side and it’s high enough it will still tag you . That’s why they say 2/3 . Because in general that’s an always safe spot . They use a general measurement so that every one in your unit isn’t using different points as well . Also it’s known so that maybe friendly see you that’s a point of figuring out who you are if there is no radio contact . If they are all at 2/3 up the hill moving as we move then that helps them not fire . But I agree with a lot of the rest of what you said especially your response to this other genius saying they would rather capture you then Kill you lol 100% not true they will definitely lob mortars at anything . Luckily the soldiers we fought were really not great at lobbing mortars but I mean you don’t have to be great for them to be deadly .
I've got 8 years in the Marine Corps (6 Infantry, 2 years as an Engineer Equipment Operator). A lot of the stuff that you're going into is really helpful as a refresher. It is also scary how relevant it is becoming.
@@gullyactual1898 Apparently relevant to fringe pseudo-militia incels spit-polishing their "guns" to reruns of Red Dawn from their basement bunker, who think everyone else is a Fed out to get them. You stay frosty, Cletus. There's several legitimate possible answers to the question "relevant to what", maybe Garand will share them. I'll just have to hope they aren't the "cuz muh civil war!" that Gully here was implying.
I've grown up in the boonies of Oregon and from my experience I can tell you that home turf advantage is powerful. Both for day and normal camo techniques and even going against thermal. When I was a kid one of my veteran relatives had a thermal optic (old tech so that does place a role) but was able to sneak up on him anyway. Move slow and use the bushes. Also a simple way to help break up your presence is cloaks wool one are good for this time of year but even lighter cloths will help too. One added benefit of cloaks is concealing a weapon, what gets spotted more often than not is not the lump in the underbrush but the metal rod sticking out of it
Home turf knowledge is such an underrated thing. When you know an understand your local environment, knowing the colors an veg, the way the land looks. It's not hard to melt into the background, besides if the world does go pear shaped your local area is where you'll be surviving and fighting anyway
I love the gear and gun reviews, but I'm really liking this new trend of practical advice. In a weird way, it's making me want to buy thermal more then just a review would.
For THERMAL I've found it helpful to also consider Constant, Conduction, Convection, Radiation, . For example, burlap has a thermal constant similar to grass (heats and cools at the same rate), is good at blocking conduction, allows some heat to blow off via convection, is poor at blocking radiation (in one layer). A survival blanket 2.0 on the other hand has an unnatural thermal constant and doesn't warm up like grass or rock. It'll heat up quickly on contact, hold in hot air, but it's amazing at blocking thermal radiation. Burlap-mylar-burlab works decent when larping on a budget.
Has anyone every actually tested it? I see people talking about umbrellas and burlap and Mylar and I just think “have they actually tested this under thermal”?
@@brownsmock739 Theres a channel on YT that has and mylar is garbage. He tests with multiple thermal devices from super cheap to high end and mylar doesnt work without a lot of extra stuff. Ideally, you want a material that never touches you and has emissivity similar to the ground. Stuff like mylar looks like a black hole under thermal if its not touching anything so its as noticeable as a hot body against a cool backround, just in reverse.
Just a quick note: you cannot see more detail in the periphery of your vision, as most of your ability to see fine details comes from the center of your gaze (the favea). However, you CAN see better in low lighting with your periphery due to the number of rods vs. cones in your eyes as you get farther from the center of your gaze. So, better low light vision = periphery, better detail = center of gaze/favea.
One thing to note on that is movement is more noticeable in our peripheral vision, as maybe a hunter instinct we lock on to movement in the corner of our eye. Example working in a warehouse and you are casually talking with a co worker when suddenly you spot a flash, you couldn't ID what it was, but you know from experience, it's a mouse or rat. So maybe that's what he was trying to get at.
Duuuuuuuuuude. I noticed years ago that I could only see the light bellow a closed door if I used my peripheral vision, I though I had damaged my binocular vision for staring too much at the sun or something lol, thanks for pointing that out. Also only this week I got the feeling that my desk lamp was dying, but as I stared at it I couldn't notice anything; instead only when using my peripheral vision I can easily make up it flashing slightly as in a dying mercury vapor light-bulb. I set up a simple arduino LED that I can control the ON-OFF frequency with a potentiometer, and I can clearly see the flashing much earlier with the peripheral vision as opposed to the central vision. Crazy stuff.
@@kiq4767 yep, peripheral vision also has a lower persistence so you can see flickering better. Back in the old days with tube CRT monitors mostly running at 60 hz, if you looked off to the side you could notice the flickering a lot more. It took much higher refresh rates before the flickering wasn't apparent even to peripheral vision.
@@snorman1911 You're right on. Peripheral vision has a lower threshold for response than central, but resolution is worse. Also has a separate neuro pathway. Magnocellular vs. parvocellular. Your periphery is the "where" or alert system and your central is the "what" or identification system. Faster signal, low threshold for trigger, but poor resolution.
Took your advice, found a good place to train and have blended in with my environment using proper cover, concealment, and noise discipline. No one realized I was in the ball pit for the whole day. (jokes aside this is a great video)
Consistently educating. In 38 minutes you managed to hit all the high points. Your current and up to date on equipment. Excellent verbal skills with great visual aids. Great advice all around. No bullshitting around. The comments are golden. Best I've seen around. High speed low drag. Train train train! The story about the man taking your food was boss. Thanks for sharing that bit. It is very humbling to run across those men living way out there, if you ever see them. Your passing on valuable info.
"Don't stare at your enemy." Yes! I have heard this before. I have anecdotally experienced this with deer and think there's some truth to it. Completely unexplainable, but there just seems to be something to it.
@@GarandThumb this is getting into some crazy "woo woo" stuff as Joe Rogan would say, but it's like there's some connection between human/animal psyche that science has yet to understand, but will probably prove one day.
I've tested this on people that didn't know I was watching them, and yeah the chances are good you'll get a short stare in your direction. Sometimes with a slight puzzled look. What seems to affect it most is whether the person is alone or with others. With others, they'll be distracted and oblivious. Solo people have their spidey senses out. Sorry if it sounds a little serial killer lmao, but even the government has tested this stuff, no meme. Men That Stare At Goats was based on actual experiments.
One of the things I learned in my military training was how to scan for something at night with your bare eyes. Look at something like a tree and just stare straight at it. You're not looking AT something, you defocus your eyes and you're paying close attention for any movement. Your eyes are excellent at catching movement, especially in your periphery. If you see something move, resist the reflex to look straight at it, because it will disappear and you won't be able to see it. Look about 10-15 degrees ahead or behind of it and track it in your periphery. Low-light threat detection is a completely different ballgame from broad daylight. You may have seen those pieces of paper where if you look at a certain spot on the paper, the black dots disappear. That's because of the way the rods and cones are set up in your eyes, you have actual blindspots where small amounts of visual data are just lost. So they trained us to be able to cycle our eyes and use lateral holds on our vision to keep potential threats in sight. Avoiding those blind spots in your vision is critical in low-light spotting without any optics. And yeah, I guess I just dated myself, because that was back before we had thermals and NVG readily available. Reminds me I'm an old dog.
@@John-cp6uc Well, yes, we would scan, but if your eyes are constantly moving it's harder to detect motion. If you look at a spot and freeze, you'll see the tiniest movement. If you see nothing, move to a different spot. Freeze. Wait. Just keep doing that. Was actually a Green Beret that taught me that. I was fortunate and unfortunate enough to have him as my Senior Drill.
It's called off-center viewing and it takes advantage of the relative concentration of rod cells in the periphery around the highly concentrated cone cells at the optic disc and fovea centralis.
When i did my patrole and DMR man’s cours, i was taught to use a nylon stocking cut off’s over the optik lens. It dosen’t take up much space in your pack, it dosen’t get foggy or afected by rain, if it breaks, you have more that you can use, and you can cut it and reuse it as “camo”. We would just tape it to the optic or use ranger bands. The same for flashlights, we would cut and tape Coca-Cola / Sprite caps to our white lights. Just use what you have and what works, even if it’s simple. The best tool we had, was black elektrical tape, ranger bands and simple garbage.
Hunting has taught me more about camouflage than my 8 years of service in the Army did. Thank you for addressing the IR and Thermal elements that many of us are not as familiar with.
The army developed it from hunters, especially Scottish game hunters. The green army only gives you an introduction to camouflage but it won't compare to a regular hunter.
Camouflage is all about becoming the environment around you. Shape, silhouette and shadow are the most important things outside of IR vision. Clothing detergents/lint from washers and dryers can make you stick out like a sore thumb in IR in night vision devices. Color isn’t even as important if you blend in with the environment to the one you are concealing yourself from. Some animals are color blind to certain colors/being in the shade of a sunrise/sunsets o that you don’t stand out as much. It becomes about shading, silhouette and movement. Smell is another thing. Even soap/detergents stand out to an animal or a human who has been in the wild long enough. I’m not sure about the newer G.I. utilities but the Cold War era rip-stop utilities, brand new, before they are washed used to be designed to mask your IR signature. Light/noise discipline is CRITICAL!!!
I used FLIR cameras in the oil field so I can promise you: not only does IR work during the day, but can function in a surprising range of temperatures if you have the right equipment!
We used the thermal/IR fusion NODs before I got out of the Army at Bragg. Those things were straight up cheat codes for fighting at night. Also use RIT dye to dye your old UCP uniforms you may have. I know for a fact the dark brown one does not increase your IR glow under NODs 😊
This is a terrific video, one of his best to date. When I went through SERE for aircrew (wasn't called that back then) at Ft Lewis, none of this was even a thing (I was still wearing issued fatigues). Even us old dogs need to learn new tricks.
SERE has evolved a lot. But also SERE specialists go through a year and change long pipeline and all the additional years after of upgrade training as opposed to just a few weeks of SERE for unrelated things at the time.
I will admit full stop. I am not in shape at the time of typing this, it both feels weird and not weird still watching topics like this despite not being in “ warrior shape” I would rather learn this as I get fit and mess up now. Idk just a random 11:30 pm thought. Love how well you break stuff down like this!
You've been helping millions LARP properly for so many years now that I feel youtube certified. But seriously thank you for keeping this up. 110k views a day is amazing
Hey guys! I’m a former Cavalry Scout and while this tip doesn’t necessarily correlate to the video above, it does apply to mountain recce and knowing it might just save your life and the life of anyone with you. When you in the mountains, not a lot of things are going to stand out as they almost all blend together at a distance. When you are moving through the mountains, the terrain will be very difficult, regardless of where you’re operating. When you’re moving in the mountains through the trees, brush, and vegetation, you are going to instinctually want to take the path of least resistance, i.e small trails, river and water sources, or light vegetation. Doing this will be your undoing and a almost guaranteed death sentence. These paths and trails are known as Natural Lines Of Drift (NLOD) and are what most humans identify as the “easiest” or “quickest” routes. You may think these NLOD can be more comfortable and easier to navigate, so does your enemy. You want to avoid these NLOD because they can make you easier to track, spot, and kill. A simple rule to follow is that if you are comfortable where you are, you’re probably in the wrong place. Everything I’ve said is very situational and will take time to learn and practice, but I hope this helped some of you. Best of luck!
These are my favorite videos as I’m a hunting guide, PI, Private Security, tracker, and we’ve had to hunt for fugitives that hid on our ranch. We use thermals ALL THE TIME and they are a GAME CHANGER, but I’ve always wondered how to beat thermal detection. Thank you I’ll have another! More please🙋♂️
@@ronbunn1349 crazy right, makes you wonder how they lost since every other invading force in history has had no trouble whatsoever when it came to taking Afghanistan.
A good habit to take is walk into the area of operation and have a RV point where you sit and listen, let your eyes adjust and “feel” your environment. Once accustomed, you will detect noise, movement and your “spidey” sense will kick in. It’s important to listen to the wildlife. If you walk into an area and all is silent, something is there.
Note: Brent0331 has a good camo review. Add to this video, these guys have been doing this stuff for a living. Your channels are priceless knowledge, thank you guys, both him and you
I wish the German ww2 camo would be revisted under night vision. After seeing Brent use it I decided to try it out because why not. Turns out "dot 44" is pretty much the perfect all season camo around here.
I was in the 3rd ACR (Reagan Era) and camo for your vehicle is a little bit different, but the basics are you don't silhouette your vehicle and when you're stationary you break up the outline. My West Point 2nd Lt in my FISTV ordered me to drive over something at NTC and I said, I couldn't do that. Just point me in a general direction or a waypoint and I'd used the terrain to get there as the driver and he pulled rank and all that BS and I asked him if he brought a good book and seconds later after following his stupid orders we were killed. We spent a few hours waiting to start the next exercise. I had a Robert Ludlum 1000 page novel with me.
So, what Mike said, that if you stare at someone and they look back at you, I had that happen to me a few times while playing airsoft. To give a bit of context, I used to play airsoft in the woods and the camo I used was german flecktarn. There were situations were I would sneak up on others, but due to the camo and me using the enviroment, they didn't see me. Or so I thought, because a couple of times while looking at enemy players planning my next move, some just looked straight at me. That was SOOO creepy, because after looking they would just turn around and get back to whatver they were doing.
I also use Flektarn. It's good stuff esspecially in the shadows and low light. Less so in the summer int he open but you shouldn't be in the open anyway.
I have tested this a few times (not in this kind of scenario) where I'll pick someone at distance in public and just stare holes in the back of their head. Sometimes through a window or in the open. Some people will do a 180 and make eye contact, and it's pretty interesting because I would be totally out of their sight range yet they could still seemingly sense my gaze. I don't believe in paranormal things without proof, and this is one of those unproven things, but my personal results make me think it's good advice to avoid looking at someone you don't want to look at you.
23:30 the reason we used a red light at night while patrolling in the ranger battalion is because red light does not destroy your own night vision (your eyes). not to prevent people from seeing us.
yup when i was in light armored recon in the marines that's why we used it other wise over seas its not very "tactically" advantageous when westerners are the only ones that use that light in those environments we saw other units using red light thinking it was a life saver we used it for small pauses and to keep our eyes adjusted to the night
So beta carotene is metabolized to create a chemical in your eyes that make them more sensitive to light. It chemically decomposes at orange-yellow wavelengths and higher. It decomposes fairly quickly but takes a long time for your eyes to produce. If you expect to be operating in dark environments often, having a lot of beta carotene in your diet will help your eyes adjust to dark faster. While beta carotene is a Vitamin A compound, don't just take any Vitamin A supplement, other Vitamin A compounds will destroy your kidneys if you ingest large amounts (part of why you can't eat livers and kidneys out of certain animals).
About night vision, you can read notes etc with them on but some inks are basically invisible while others work. So you might want to see if your pen is IR compliant.
I learned some about how camo uniforms work recently when I bought BDU clothes. It's really interesting to learn about the IR aspect when I was learning how to wash them. The woodland camo of BDU also blends in basically everywhere in the area I live in
The "6th Sense" is real for sure. It is hypothesized to be an instinctual method of detecting predators without your eyesight. This is why people will randomly get a shiver down their spine ("I feel like I'm being watched..."), turn around 180 degrees and stare striaght back at you, despite not knowing you were there before you started looking at them. In my personal experience testing this out, I have found that not only averting your eyes when watching/approaching someone, but consciously not thinking about the fact that you don't want to be detected by them makes a noticable difference in the probability of the person detecting you. Try sneaking up on a roommate or family member in the kitchen with their back turned while looking at them and concentratring on not being detected/consciously hoping they don't see you vs not looking but still thinking about them vs not looking AND consciously not thinking about the fact that you are approaching, rather, think about something completely random and unrelated, and you will get three very different sets of consistent results. One hypothosis for this capability among various animals (humanity isn't the only species to exhibit this capability in nature) is the nervous system utilizing the magnetic field surrounding the earth, similar to how oceanic fish have an innate GPS using this same field. No matter where they are in the ocean, they know their precise location, which greatly aids them during migration and mating (some species lay their eggs in specific places very far from where they spend most of their lives and they need to be able to find their way instinctively to places they sometimes have never been, yet know they must go to for reproduction, migration, etc.). Long story short, this is a very real phenomenon and if ignored, can easily result in your detection and get you killed. It isn't just the aversion of your gaze and thoughts. If your intentions are hostile (this relates to trying to not consciously think about stalking/observing/approaching the target), the chances of being sensed or detected are greatly increase, so beware, be smart, and don't overthink it too much. There's only so much you can do without sacrificing practicality in this regard.
I definitely acknowledge the "stare phenomenon" appears to have some validly to it. I have seen scientific tests whee they end up claiming that it is not real and a basically a confirmation bias; however, their studies were in controlled settings where they had zero chance of being a victim of something so I think they were missing some realism. Anyways, I def agree with the staring however the "control your thoughts" thing seems a little tin foil hat like. I mean maybe people stress themselves out and unknowingly do something that gives them away i.e. loud heartbeat, breathing, etc... but you comment seemed to imply some sort of telepathy or something. Could you elaborate please? Because if that is the case, I have my doubts. Matter of fact, legendary marine sniper Carlos "White Feather" Hathcock seemed to imply he did just that, zero in and focus exclusively on the target he was stalking. Some more research in this area would be nice.
Humans are still animals. People seem to forget that. We have some base line instinctual functions that get glossed over by the noise of modern life. A lot of this stuff is beyond my understanding but there is some validity to it. Pay attention to your body. Trust your instincts. Be aware of your surroundings. What does the forest sound like? Can you tell when predators are moving through? Can you locate the position sound is coming from? We get so good at ignoring the basic signals that our ancestors were in tune with.
Its a interesting phenomen that humans have that greed to spot patterns and relations. But correlation does not imply causation. Its a human thing to believe in magic and feel smart knowing about it but that doesnt make it correct. Just think logically.
@@fracapolligummala3548 I agree and disagree, my disagreement is when you used the word ' magic ' . This is not a troll response so just hear me out and check the video out at the bottom. But I completely agree with correlation does not always imply causation. The feeling of being watched is a universal one I think we could all agree on feeling at one point or another, yet this does not imply that each time we turn to face our observer - one is present. This may be a stretch but in an attempt to replace the word ' magic ' let us entertain some quantum theory. If you would like to, you may use 'quantum magic' . This is something completely esoteric, but it is also logical. Be it that this has been acknowledged in combat environments to the point it is implemented in this training video ( thanks GT ), advice from vets, mutual experiences of veterans who all share this same exact sentiment, it is hard to dismiss something like this as ' magic ' in such a serious environment, with very serious men when it comes to staying alive. What came to mind once hearing this come up in the video was something called Wave Partical Duality, more commonly visualized as " The Double Slit Experiment ". A brief summary, the mere observation or measurement of the experiment itself resulted in a different outcome altogether. As if the atoms themselves were aware they were under observation, prompting them to respond in a way that we have observed them behave in classical physics. So with that being said, be it that we are made of these atoms - be it a wave, matter, both, neither, or a combination of all - I would not be so quick to dismiss what could be a real phenomena we simply do not fully know or understand how to describe as ' magic '. In the quantum world, the mere observation of something can alter the outcome of any experiment leaving you left with only probabilities to base your reality on. But don't overthink it, just think logically. Here is an easy video of the Double Slit Experiment for those who read this whole thing and are actually interested in basic ass quantum shit. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q1YqgPAtzho.html
@@mako.. "Magic" was on purpose chosen to show my thoughts about it. To your argument: "hard to dismiss something like this as ' magic ' in such a serious environment". This is simply an argument of authority and should not guide our decision of right or wrong. Its just an indicator that there could be something. Doesnt have to. The "Quantum Theory" in your video makes a important key error: It let it look like observation in the realm of particles is a passive process which it isnt. To "observe" a particle, you have to send something to interact with it and measure what comes back. So, if eyes take in the light that interacted with a person anyway then there is no difference for that person.
"Its better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war" Thanks for that. Along with everything knowledgeable yall share. As well as your service 💪
i may not be at the point where i use these videos to prepare for such events, but i love watching them because they are interesting and fascinating, as well as i’m trying to get even better at airsoft and when i play out at my local field it’s all woods so this is giving me a good idea on how to improve
You arent to that point? Like financially or mentally? If you arent also mentally into it yet, let me ask you this, if i were to tell you about Covid 3 years ago, would you think i was a crazy conspiracy theorist? It doesnt sound crazy now because we are passed it. But it really was crazy. And with finances, just save even if its something small.
The opening says it all. Thank you for your message. So many folks claim that we’re looking for a fight when it’s quite the opposite. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of THE PEOPLE to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Speaking on thermals, I just recently came back from overseas and we had a FLIR system that I’d keep surveillance on. It was easy for me to see at least 8k out at night depending on terrain and weather and I’d spot people walking out that far all the time.
“Don’t go in front of drop that will highlight you.” Guy in woodland camo in front of hay field. On a real note I appreciate the info definitely got me interested in modding some of my gear
Regarding NVGs, I've found that waxed cotton canvas is shockingly IR neutral as long as the oil/wax mixture is properly absorbed into the cotton fibers. I don't know how well it works with thermals, but there's a million videos on how to wax canvas on RU-vid and cotton fabric/clothing is available everywhere. So it's a relatively cheap and old fashioned answer to a modern problem The downside is that it's hot and heavy AF. So it's more of a winter solution.
I worked on thermal night vision outline for a project that we did involving a robot a few years ago for university research. We wrote the program ourselves and were able to overlay it with a variety of different cameras and sensors. The autonomous robot was able to track a path, go to gps waypoints, communicate with other robots, and had a 99.7% success on facial and body recognition. It was able to successfully drive around a crowd of people, identify an individual from 1000's of images, then follow them. It was successful about 60% of the time. Mind you this was only a team of 6 undergraduate engineering students. Ironically the program was sponsored by a specific entity the year after I left the project. This was in 2017 and done on a budget of about $10,000 because we made our own tubes and everything. It was bulky and looked awful but did it's job, the damn thing was an electric wheel chair that got chopped and supercharged traveling 40mph on flat smooth surface. I can't imagine what you could do with a bottomless budget and experienced team.
imagine what generative algorithms could do with that stuff. the "AI" boom won't bring sentient intelligence to machines, but it will make discerning A from B instantaneous and within gradients of millions of variables. an advanced algorithm can read a hundred frames of images a second and differentiate every meticulous detail and tell an operator or a computer what that is and what to do about it. that kind of stuff doesn't even require a computer, just a camera and an Internet connection, were already fusing every optical camera and scope into hybrids for convenience, how long until our scopes rangefinder uses it's data to convey things we can't see, movement we can't detect, disturbances in grass or broken twigs we overlook. computers don't need to put two and two together, they just work, and algorithms and language models bridge the gap between computers and operators leagues farther than we though and faster every day.
Holy hell. The amount of info in these videos is insane. Please keep them coming. Maybe you could get the CBRNE Art guys to team up and make a field manual of sorts?
I've always been interested in "camo" that would be effective against thermal/IR, especially since it seems that on modern battlefields, ground vehicles and aircraft/drones using thermal and IR technology are probably the largest threats to infantry especially at night.
Beez combat systems spectraflauge hide. Hands down best I've seen in all 3 spectrums that's commercially available. Even within like 10 meters it's basically invisible thin line defense did a video over it and it blew my mind how well it works.
@@jasongillette3119 how long did they wear it. The thing I see is they put it on and it works great but they never show what it looks like after an hour where your body heat starts leaking out, or after a march with 100 pounds of gear. If it works then, without overheating the individual wearing it, I'd be really impressed.
@@wolfpack4128 it's a hide cover meant to go over a fighting position or a window ect. I'm blanking on how long it can before body heat starts bleeding through and I'm waiting a dm back from someone who's spent a good amount of time testing one. Thin line defense on here reviewed it if you want to see it in action
@@wolfpack4128 so per the designer of the beez hide it'll only spot through with very minimal heat transfer overall with direct contact to you wearing it like a cloak. But keep in mind it's not meant to be worn as a garment it's meant to conceal a fighting position
Great video. I would only add that when camouflaging yourself, make sure your natural veg is "height appropriate." That is, if the light, straight grass is 4-6' high or so, then put that above your waist. Don't grab a bunch of dark green veg from the ground and put it up top. Match the height of your camo to the height of your surroundings.
Maybe more expensive but it's just a glorified thermal sensor with laser range finder and other goodies. I couldn't find anything on it's capability to enhance movement. In that respect, more insane would be an aircraft's ISAR.
I am an engineer who has worked extensively on the detection problem. I have said for many years that the chief issue with the scenario you described is detection evasion. Not from people, but from sensors. It would take a tremendous amount of technical enablement on top of well executed field/tradecraft. Great video, but I hate to say that it wouldn't be enough.
watching this on my ultrawide 21:9 monitor and I love it hahaha. Great information too! Love the IR footage that is invaluable to know what you look like under IR even with the cloak
Super informative video. I know most of this stuff from being in the infantry. You delivering this to us is a reminder to keep our skill set high speed! or die. Thank you, Mike! Please keep these videos coming, I am forwarding them to my brother who is not prior service but if shit hits the fan he will be my battle buddy & he needs to know this shit! I can only explain it to him so much ya know. Thanks again!!
The Marines have gone above and beyond you with their camo techniques. By eating crayons similar in color to their environment they found it will also camo their teeth.
I'm a veteran, and since the first time I ever shot with a weapon mounted thermal sight I've always been scared of them. They seem inescapable. I could see a boar like a mile out in pitch black night. If we ever have to fight tyranny, just blend in with society. It's the best camo.
Sure, until society starts ripping itself apart while simultaneously the gustapo starts going door to door confiscating weapons/ detaining known dissidents... haven't read much history have ya?
There’s actually some pretty solid thermal camo out there. You’re going to pay out the ass for it, like $900+, but it is out there. There are cons though. Some of it is heavily insulated in order to defeat thermal, so covering your body with it in warm/summer months can lead to heat exhaustion/stroke pretty easily. I believe a couple of companies have come out with lighter-weight variants, but they’re even more expensive. While thermal capabilities are rapidly evolving, so are the camo capabilities to hide from it.
Carlos Hathcock did indeed become part of his environment. He's exactly what we need to study for the absolute best example of camo and concealment. Semper Fi
Don’t forget to walk around your yard with your new gear on. The first time I went out on a zero moon light with night vision I got disoriented. I didn’t get lost per se but, I did need to use white light to confirm my location. This was on my own 8 acres so, running around an unknown area willy nilly would be a fools errand.
People don't believe. Everyone thinks "Oh, I doubt that would be me." And then they are lost and confused, until they take them off. The first time or three anyhow.
For me with a family of hunting background and military etc (I’ve shot a bit) we love mountain terrain because it’s often quiet and are really challenging due to oxygen levels which I find interesting (a good tip for mountain trips is chewing on bubblegum so your ears don’t get stuffy)
Here in South East Texas we have piney woods and thick jungle like vegetation and it's hot and himid. Here it's lightweight easy drying but durable. Very hard to do with kit. I can understand how hard it can be to breathe when it's foggy at 2 pm in the humid forest.
24:30 Someone suggested using Rothco lum tape when you want to read something at night. He said you should avoid using lights of any sort at all cost, red light only as a last resort and mostly so that you don't completely destroy night adapted vision. But I think it's important to consider all the methods that can reduce your signature at night.
Thank you so much! I have very little experience with NVS and Thermal, but I have been going out and practicing as much as I can over the last few months. There is so much to learn...but I'm a firm believer in getting out and trying.
This whole recce series is definitely my favorite on youtube. And each day it is becoming more relevant to learn with our increasingly tyrannical government.
The biggest lesson however is to not fight in the wilderness to begin with. You have a much bigger advantage as a civilian fighting in the city than in the wilderness where you can be starved out, or simply carpet bombed. The only real wilderness application is for militias that are currently fighting drug cartels in the forests. Many of the cartels have government supplied night vision systems. But it's a double edged sword. The fact they have those night vision also means big profit for militias who can take them down and use the equipment for their own use. Because local LE bounties are nothing, and take forever to process.
Sadly I think this info will be relevant and needed within our lifetime in America. The coasts have basically fallen already and the cities are garbage. The holdouts once again will be in the mountains,hills,hollers and swamps. I hope there is a video on how to defend a structure from a group outside who are intent on breaching because that will be very useful soon.
Mousetraps and shotgun shells work wonders for would be breachers, be inventive in your Application of placement...wounded attacker's group together, making more potential Target's...
love the series man, unfortunately here in Brazil we dont have much access to gear like you guys do, and its very expensive. it would be really awesome if you could make a video on some tips to some guys like me that doesnt have access to gear like you do, clothes and bags are easy to find, but weapons and sights, not so much
Honestly, as much as having the best gear would help, you can make do with little as long as you put the money in the right places. Don't know much about things in Brazil so I can't give too many tips, but what I can say is stay motivated, as guerillas have fought wars with bolt actions against super powers.
Loved the vid. One question? I was waiting for the story of the mountain man and the thermal! Not only would it be entertaining but I bet very informative. I grew up and have lived in the mountains. It’s hilarious that you brought up how city people walk vs those who grew up in the mountains. Too many stories. But as you spoke of, even the mountain man can’t evade thermal if they never understood it or how obvious you are when you think you are being smooth and stealthy. I would love to hear the story.
@@408lurks Most likely. But this hairy mountain man sounds like a beast that deserves respect. Badly want to hear the legendary tale. “The mountains are calling and I must go.” I’m telling you a guy off the grid who had been stealing from a unit’ supply and first time caught. Pretty amazing. My guys and I would have missed I bet. But hopefully not.
My gosh this was an awesome video. So informative. The one tip - never look directly at your enemy as humans have a 6th sense for knowing when they're looked at. These are things we often don't think about but I guarantee it makes a different. Great video.
“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace; and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.” ― Thomas Paine
For some odd reason, when I was doing a Land Nav course (both day and night). During the day portion, hearing somebody else's business was kind hard, I'd say there is more active sounds on the surroundings during the day. But at night, it was pretty easy to spot other soldiers walking around and you can also see who is actively aware of their surroundings. I saw 5 soldiers walk past me and they didn't even know I was there lol
