If you’re playing paintball then you’re trying to eliminate other players on an opposing team. This means you have to find them first, which logically means that if you want to give yourself an advantage on the playing field, then you’re going to start thinking about using some kind of personal camouflage.
It doesn’t matter if you’re playing tournament paintball, speedball, or scenario paintball in an urban environment, or out in the bush. Regardless of what location you’re playing in the principles of personal camouflage remain the same.
If you’re wanting to be very thorough and cover all angles of your camouflage on the field, then you can remember this acronym. 5xS and 1xM (Or five S, and one M). These letters give us an easy way to remember every aspect of how to make yourself difficult to see on the field.
Shape
The human eye is naturally able to easily recognise human shapes regardless if it’s your head, arms and legs, or hands etc. This means that if you can do anything which disguises the natural shape of your body, it will make it harder to identify from a distance. Try experimenting with hats, facial decorations, or coverings for your arms or torso so they are more difficult to recognise.
Shadow / Silhouette
If you’re playing under lights at an indoor field, or outside when the sun is shining brightly, you need to be aware of where your shadow is at all times. You may think you’re sneaking up on some opponents only to find that your shadow has betrayed your position before you even arrive at your destination. Try to avoid brightly lit areas as you’ll be more likely to cast a shadow, and you’ll obviously be harder to see in the dark too.
Shine
Pretty much the flip side to the previous point. If you have to be in a bright area, make sure that nothing on you or your equipment is shiny or will reflect light unnecessarily. The human eye is naturally attracted to bright shiny things (think about why signal mirrors are so effective for rescue aircraft), so if some sunlight glints off your shiny new paintball gun, anyone in direct line of sight will spot it immediately from miles away!
Sound
Pretty obvious. Don’t make any noise. If they can hear you coming, they’ll also have a pretty good idea as to your position. human ears are incredibly good at telling your brain not only that there is a sound, but an approximate direction and distance too. The key to stealth is being silent.
Spacing
If you’re in a group of people, try to ensure that you are NOT evenly spaced across the ground. Your eye can spot patterns very easily, so if you are all exactly 5 meters apart, you’ll be spotted much easier than if it’s some other kind of more natural irregular formation. There are very few precise patterns that occur naturally in nature, so if you look like an unnatural pattern, you’ll be discovered.
Movement
Much in the same way that you eye is drawn to shiny things, it is also drawn to moving things. And the fast it moves the more your eyes naturally want to look at it. Keep your movement to a minimum and if you absolutely must move, endeavour to make it slow and smooth. Remember the saying “slow is smooth, smooth is fast”.
