A rather more niche product from Crye and probably not one with an extensive lifespan in use due to its’ construction, but a product that is impressive none-the-less and can certainly fulfil a role of visual concealment in a highly efficient manner.
The CAG is made up of two main sections; the yoke and the double-layered cape, which are joined together at the shoulder blade level with a set of American standard style 4-hole buttons.
The yoke includes the hood, shoulders and sleeves so it will only cover the head, upper back, collar bones and about 60-70% of the arms. With the cape section attached the majority of the body will be covered when prone, with the concealment running roughly down to the backs of the knees if both layers are used on the body. The second layer of the cape can be lifted up and over the head to cover the wearer’s face and most of their weapon or spotting device, if used, which will also expose slightly more of the legs.
Above is displayed one of the joining buttons for the yoke and cape as well as the interior polyester mesh fabric. While the outer nylon shell is already very thin and extremely light, the inner poly material is even more so. Probably one of the lightest fabrics I have ever seen on a piece of personal military apparel.
A small note that may be of interest so some is that the hanging loop is made from the same Crye branded edging tape as is seen set at 45 degrees on the corner of the cargo pocket flaps of G3 combat trousers.
Main front closure is a set of ITW GT Toggles going through traditional button holes. The mounting points for the toggles and the holes for the button holes are surrounded by small pieces of webbing to reinforce the very thin fabrics that make up the rest of the CAG. There is also a small hook (shown here on the hanging loop) that is attached elastic cord, this can attach to any part of the wearer’s shirt or LBE and aids in anchoring the whole ghillie in to the desired position.
Rather than using multiple layers of fabric to create the three dimensional effect that, the outer nylon shell is simply laser cut with a myriad of these M (or W) shaped patterns, which will never lay flat or evenly as soon as the wearer moves even the smallest amount. It is a smart design that breaks-up shape and outline to a fairly good extent by only using the absolute bare minimum of fabric.
Sizing of the hood is very generous, which is of course necessary in this sort of a product. Given that concealment of the upper body in particular is the name of the game the hood needs to fit over a wide variety of potential head gear.
You can adjust the size of the front opening of the hood in a similar way to most jackets, using a barrel lock and a length of bungee cord that runs around the inner front edge of the entire assembly.
One of the nicest features of the CAG is actually this storage bag, which allows the entire cloak to be compressed down to a size not much larger than a tennis ball. The sack is mostly made of Durestrach with a mesh base to allow drying and a standard cinch closure. There’s also a webbing strap with a snap to quickly attach the bag to any sort of anchor point inside a pouch/pocket, or anywhere else that makes sense to store it. Unlike some sleeping bags it also isn’t a total nightmare to get the ghillie in to the compression bag, though it still takes a couple of minutes to get all that loose material in there.
While I would never expect one of these ghillies to last for an extended period of use in any environment where it can ever snag on anything at all, where it does excel is in providing just enough concealment from the human eye at realistic distances. It does so at almost zero impediment in terms of carried weight and retention of body heat.
At the time of publishing the war in Ukraine has been raging for just over 3 years and the extensive trench warfare and usage of drones has got everyone talking about thermal almost incessantly. Since the Crye CAG is very much designed with heat dispersion in mind, it definitely won’t do a thing against thermal optics when worn conventionally and the cape section might not do much even if hung up as a mesh screen. However despite becoming cheaper and more common, thermals still aren’t as commonplace as night vision and they’re far rarer than conventional binoculars and all other standard day optics. So if you just need a boost to your camouflage while only sacrificing a comparatively tiny amount of bag space and extra weight, this ghillie might well be a great option.
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