Actual Urban Camouflage

Actual urban camouflage isn’t about blending into the physical city around you but to appear as if you’re from and or belong there like a local or resident.

In the wilderness and combat, camouflage (crypsis) is used to be visually concealed by matching the patterns of the immediate background. For urban camouflage as a foreigner, mimesis is the way.

Instead of remaining hidden from view, the purpose is to mimic a lifestyle.

Urban camouflage is about blending in with the people and culture. Wilderness camouflage is about blending into the nature and physical surroundings.

So it’s not about being unseen but to be seen yet go unnoticed within a collective of a city. The secondary objective is to not stick out in a crowd.

The primary objective is to be like the local people of a foreign country – to look and act like them.

The concept of urban camouflage is effective regardless of how culturally or genetically different (with exceptions) you may be from a host country.

It’s a matter of observing then imitating.

Most humans do this anyways as part of our on-going development, but in a subtle and unconscious way. Taking in bits of interesting or fitting aspects of the people around us and utilizing it to our own character.

Doing this on an active and instantly adaptive way while in a new country is how to master urban camouflage.

I rarely blend in on a superficial level (clothing), but do so deeply on a cultural level.

With the exception of when I’m in certain parts of the Middle East or other regions that could be dangerous to an American or most other foreigners.

Urban camouflage is more than a means to be a more efficient and effective operator, it gives us a unique and profound perspective into peoples.

[OPTICS : New York, New York, USA]