Concealing your presence isn’t just a skill needed for military operators or backcountry hunters. Knowing how to defeat observational efforts is a lifesaving skill that can be applied in downtown Manhattan just as easily as the jungles of Panama. Predators, both man and beast, seek out their prey on a daily basis, and being able to disappear as a target has wide-reaching implications. Freddy Osuna, expert tracker and former U.S. Marine Sniper met up with a small group of students interested in the art of hiding in plain sight at a Michigan Defensive Firearms Institute (MDFI) training site in the middle of a remote forest to do just that. Our group was diverse, with a wide range of experience and skills, including a former IT engineer, a retired cop, a few bushcrafters, and even a bladesmith. None of us had any formal training in camo craft beyond wearing some forest-patterned attire. Each of us, armed with our own optics and a bag of camouflage materials, eagerly settled in to learn the art of sensory defeat.
Whether it’s an animal with heightened senses beyond that of a human, or a person seeking to do harm, the number-one goal of this course is to learn how to defeat an observer. In our case, we had to learn how to stealthily maneuver to a target near trained observer Jerry Saunders, another former U.S. Marine sniper. Right off the bat, in the presence of two formidable instructors, it seemed like a daunting task. However, Osuna and Saunders remind us that we’re starting from square one, and they’re confident we’ll develop the skills needed to accomplish our objective. To kick off the training, we’re given our first nugget of wisdom:
