Everyone knows what camouflage is, but fewer people have seen a ghillie suit. And unless you are looking very hard, you might never see it at all. Barons would pay guys to patrol their lands and hunt poachers in the beginnings of the ghillie suit. They were called ghillies and would craft suits from old cloth and shredded materials to camouflage themselves in the brush and wait for poachers.

Nowadays ghillie suits are implemented for a number of activities from the lethal art of sniping to the much less deadly game of paint ball. The technology remains the same even though the textiles have changed over the years. The modern day ghillie suit wearer looks like a pile of sticks when they are being still and can remain undetected even when the enemy or mark comes within a very close range to them.

Ghillie suits have been associated with sniping because of their simple design and high efficiency. About the time of the conclusion of the eighteenth century the art of sharp shooting started. Rebels would shoot at the opposition from far-away locations to destroy and break the spirits of the enemy. Sharpshooters came about when rifles got more accurate and a shooter could be more than 100 meters from their mark.

The technique in which battles were carried out was changed because of the implementation of sharpshooters. Officers would stand with battalions and give commands during battle before the deployment of sharpshooters. Infantry combat went from face-to-face engagements to sheltered, flanking techniques as more commanders were killed. To keep from being assassinated, officers had to try and blend in with the common troops. These tactics took wars from an open field to locations that had more cover for both forces such as forests or hills. As more ferocious and far-away techniques were implemented in combat, the code of conduct that military men in the past held onto was abandoned.

Every side had ghillie suits during World War I to pick off high-ranking officers and break the spirits of opposing troops. The ability to remain unseen for snipers lies within the ghillie suit; materials hang down and give the shooter incredible camouflage protection. No matter what environment they are in, there are so many different kinds of the suit that the sniper can blend in with their terrain anywhere. A desert ghillie suit, for example, will appear a lot different than a woodlands ghillie suit.

On important operations the ghillie suit is still used for safety and security by the modern-day sniper. A sharpshooter's skill to stay hidden is critical for their security and life since the majority of the time a sniper works alone or with one other person as the look-out. A well-made ghillie suit to hide the sniper is the most important asset besides the gun. A shooter's life would be severely compromised if they didn't have the ability to remain unseen until it was time to take the shot. To an shooter, the getaway is just as crucial as the actual shot. The suit adorned by the sniper is often used many times during a retreat.