The Shadow

by Guru Bruce Ogle

About forty years ago when I started studying Ninjitsu with Stephen K. Hays and some of his senior students. I was deaf, so as you might guess, my stalking skills were the basis for many of our groups jokes. Sentry stalking was something I really enjoyed, because of the outdoors environmental aspect of it. I learned many things that I was totally unaware of because of being deaf. I never realized that stepping on dry leaves, small twigs and even grass made audible noises. There were many birds sending out alarms as I moved, and I was entirely unaware.

Other small animals knew I was approaching and, of course, the sentry I was stalking always knew I was coming long before I even got close. When practicing hiding invisibly in an outdoor environment, the others could find me easily because of the noise I made while locating a hiding place.

Learning how to camouflage myself to blend in with any environment was amazingly simple and very interesting. Most things in nature are vertical, so blending in with a vertical environment is relatively easy as long as you remain vertical. Humans are a species of animal, and animals see movement and can often spot solid colors that might stand out but broken patterns of color are extremely difficult for animals and humans to notice. That's one of the main reasons that military attire are often colored in broken patterns to match the environment, but effective camouflage can be accomplished in many diversified and often unexpected ways.

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