History
The name was derived from gille, the Scottish Gaelic for "servant" or a "lad". In English, this term was especially used to refer to those assisting in deer hunting, deer stalking or fly fishing expeditions in the Scottish Highlands.
The ghillie suit was developed by Scottish gamekeepers as a portable hunting blind. Lovat Scouts, a Scottish Highland regiment formed by the British Army during the Second Boer War, is the first known military unit to use ghillie suits. In 1916, Lovat Scouts went on to become the British Army's first sniper unit.
The Australian Army sniper's outfits are nicknamed "yowies", named for their resemblance to the Yowie, an unidentified hominid similar to the Yeti and Bigfoot which is reputed to live in the Australian wilderness.
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