THE COBRA HOOD

MY DIY "COBRA HOOD" AND ITS PURPOSE

Cobra Hood at work, can you find Waldo?

Last year I decided to add a “Poorman’s Cobra Hood” to my kit as watching video of me on patrol I noticed just how much the outline of my head and shoulders were giving me away.

I was not considering it a replacement for a Ghillie suit, nor did I have the intentions of its roll being that of a static camouflage. Sure, it helps in a static position (aka hide), but a simple veil will do more for you in that application as the shooter to gun exposure is negated with a veil where the hood cannot help you.

I think it’s important to consider the “mission” that we are asking the hood to undertake and not overestimate its abilities. It’s not going to allow you to become Carlos Hathcock and sneak up to a General in enemy territory with guards walking within feet of you for three days without being spotted.

It’s not a cloak of invisibility and inexperience in stalking or moving undetected is much more likely to give your position away than shortcomings in your camouflage.

The mission it does well though is to break that head/shoulder silhouette that is so easily distinguished in the woods as being out of place. We see it every day as a tell-tale sign of a person and in the woods, it stands out like the color black or straight lines as unnatural in that environment.

Along with the outline our legs make when standing squared up, this sign is what tells our brain a “predator” is before us, since man is man’s only true predator.

CAMOUFLAGE RARELY HAS TO BE PERFECT

It only has to be good enough to fool those looking for you and most are not looking for you or know what to look for.

1. Not being in the area that your OPFOR is expecting you to be in removes the greatest chance of discovery. When you look at an expanse and think “that looks like a good spot for a hide”, that’s the last place you want to put one. Don’t be predictable!

2. Not moving in jerky/fast motions eliminates another likely indicator to give your presence away, since our peripheral sight is geared towards motion and covers a lot more FOV than what we are directly looking at.

3. Blending in with your background via color and texture is the least important of the three. Motion and shortcuts usually give your position away to the OPFOR before anything else.

In my experience your camo precision is inversely related to your observer’s expectation that you are there or how hard they are looking for anything.

Testing you gear on Hunters during deer hunting season is a good but somewhat dangerous way to see if your skills are up to par, but not nearly as dangerous as never having tested your skills and then have the first time be when an OPFOR is looking for you.

Short of a skilled OPFOR actively searching for you, a Hunter looking for deer and glassing the terrain you are hidden in, is the best test IMO of your ability to blend in as they are searching intently for something they know has the given ability to hide well in the woods. Just remember sound discipline is crucial as some of those “hunters” shoot at it without knowing what’s making it. 😱

How many times have you just stood still when you saw someone coming and without motion to catch their eye, they didn’t see you when looking almost directly at you?

Try it, you would be amazed at how inattentive people are, if they don’t expect to see you, they will most likely not.

As long as your clothing color does not stand out (a good reason to always wear earth tones as EDC) you have half the battle won and likely will not be noticed, especially if there is no expectation of you being there.

IS THE JUICE WORTH THE SQUEEZE?

One thing about a full Ghillie is that they are hot, no matter how much venting you sew in, they are going to be hot. The Cobra hood reduces air flow around the neck and shoulders and gets pretty warm also if worn during movement under load.

I found myself taking it off halfway through my initial patrol with it as shown below.

The difference in hard lines is pretty evident in these two images. Both taken from the same patrol on a Fall Day within 1/2 mile of each other. Notice how much the terrain changes in such a short distance.

Shadows and hard lines betray you!

Looking at the two images, the top one has little shadows on the face in comparison to the Boonie hat in the bottom photo and the silhouette is less distinguished with the legs being closer together. There is nothing you can do about the leg signature while moving but consider placing a tree in front of back of you when you are doing SLLS to remove this betraying contrast.

If I was doing my SLLS, being close to the tree to the left would add significantly to blending in. In the second image, a SLLS would be better crouched down low, blending with the Ferns in the area.

These are subtle hints at improving your camo that you can only gather by getting out there and experimenting and videoing your patrols if possible or having an observer looking for you. Below is a compilation of patrolling to demonstrate the enhancement of camouflage while in the Cobra Hood.

SEEING IS BELIEVING

None of the footage is taken to show the hood in its best light, just documenting the differences and accepting the outcomes for what they are.

Static pictures of camo behind a bush do not reflect the ability of the hood, when it’s primary use is during movement to contact or avoidance in the case of a RECON.

I always try to imagine the likelihood of spotting someone moving like this when watching the clips, perfect camo is not the goal, effective camo is, movement and hard lines are what give you away most.

The ending point by the log is ~3YD away, the starting point is ~40 yards away from the camera.

WHAT IS THE MISSION AGAIN?

It’s important to be realistic on the needs that drove you to the Cobra Hood, it’s never going to be a full Ghillie, but it can be an excellent camouflage multiplier.

If you are going to have the time to setup a hide and shooting position, then natural veg and a veil is more important.

If you are patrolling and wearing the hood, less man-made veg allows you to have better airflow while breaking the definitive edges of your silhouette.

This is the approach of the British Snipers as seen in the sparsity of their Ghillies.

Just enough jute is added as a base layer to break hard edges, the real camo is natural veg added at the final position or changed out as they traverse to it to match the changing environment on the way.

This is my approach for two reasons…

1. I’m not using the hood as a Ghillie substitute.

2. I want it to be as light and breathable as possible so I CAN USE IT in as many weather conditions as possible while moving. Even with the sparseness of jute on my hood, it still gets hot.

Wearing a Boonie underneath and leaving the hood off the head resting on the shoulders does give you the best of both worlds IMO, as it allows a lot more air flow across the back of the neck while still providing breakup of the head/shoulder silhouette.

With the hood down, you get better sound direction detection as well as peripheral view which is the first line of seeing movement. The ability to slowing pull the hood up and enhance your camo if you spot someone is worth the trade-off in camo to me.

SO HOW DID I MAKE IT?

I went cheap and easy and bought an airsoft base layer off Amazon for $43.95

First thing was to remove all the buckles then added some dyed burlap. YouTube has tons of Ghillie making videos and will show you how.

I then added stripped 550 cord for tying Veg onto it, making sure to heat and pinch 2” above the ends to stop fraying above that point. The 550 adds a texture to the mix also.

All buckles removed, latched with cord lock loops

I then tested it against my AO and adjusted the burlap until it looked evenly applied to the base, then removed 30%. It’s very easy to add too much and end up with a nice Wookie Suit. Less is more here.

Then I buried it in dirt, washed, buried in 1/4” minus gravel, then dirt, then drug it on the ground, then shook it out and let it dry.

SPOILER ALERT: “You don’t have to be in the suit to age it”.

WEARING THE HOOD

The one complaint I have with the airsoft “base hood” is how small the hood itself is.

There is just enough space to keep from pulling the “drape” off the shoulders when wearing a skull cap, with a Boonie under it you can feel it rubbing on top a little instead of floating over, this becomes annoying when moving.

If I’m wearing it hood up for any amount of time, I’m changing out the Boonie for the skull cap because of this. If it’s hot out I wet the skull cap down to get evaporation going on for cooling.

Even with the hood down, it helps break the head/shoulder outline

IN CONCLUSION

I find the hood to be worth having and will continue to use it to break that head/shoulder silhouette up while patrolling whenever it does not present a heat casualty possibility, which if I’m packed withing my capabilities and moving at RECON speeds (<1/2 MPH) it should not be an issue.

Like having NODs in the night, remember it’s doesn’t cloak you in invisibility.

Next step is to get some garnish on the rifle to blend even better!