Yeah, sounds like you read the Michael Yon piece yesterday, too. It was very educational.
michael piece yesterday?
Not sure if I did or not, but have experience being “lit up” by others IR and it will scare the crap out of you and make you drop to the ground. Will blind you if you are using bino NVG, so I only use monos.
Worked down South with CBP with helos using strobes. The CBP all used friend or foe beacons on their caps so that the helo could id them from the wets. The smugglers started using cheap NV vid cams to locate the helos and boots and evade in the brush. You see on the Border War crud, where the helo is shining his IR in one spot and his spot in another and the boots go to the IR. Works fine if the group does not have a savvy smuggler.
Easy to evade the techno crap.