A scarf is a piece of fabric worn around the neck for warmth, sun protection, cleanliness, fashion, or religious reasons. It is a common type of neckwear. They can also at times be used for camouflage purposes, similar to balaclavas.
Usage[]
Sandinistas and South American guerillas[]
Kazuhira Miller during the Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes incidents wore a yellow scarf around his neck due to his formerly commanding a guerilla unit in Colombia before joining the Militaires Sans Frontières.
Sandinistas such as Amanda Valenciano Libre wore yellow scarves as part of their uniform.
The Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara was mentioned to keep a scarf from his second wife Aleida as a keepsake after she fell in battle.
Venom Snake[]
During his activities in 1984 shortly after his escape from the Hospital at Cyprus, Venom Snake took to wearing a scarf during operations within Afghanistan, due to the arid environment of the region and the presence of sandstorms, and to a lesser extent Central Africa due to the heat of the area.
40th Army[]
The Soviet 40th Army during their activities in Afghanistan sometimes adopted scarves covering all but their eyes, for the reason why Venom Snake wore a scarf during his activities there.
Middle Eastern militiamen[]
The militias in the Middle East during 2014 wore shemagh scarves due to both their holding to the Muslim religion, the arid nature of the environment, and as a form of camouflage similar to balaclavas.
South American rebel soldiers[]
The South American rebel soldiers during 2014 at times wore scarves during their operations in South America, which were generally colored black. These only served to mask their identity.
Behind the scenes[]
Scarves made an appearance in the series starting with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database erroneously refers to the Handkerchief item from Metal Gear Solid as being Sniper Wolf's scarf.
In Metal Gear Online, the player could purchase scarves modeled after those worn by the Middle Eastern militiamen or the South American rebel soldiers.
The player can technically wear a scarf when wearing either the Miller or Amanda outfits in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Scarves have a formal debut as a gameplay element in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, where the player can equip Venom Snake with a scarf for missions, provided that he is wearing camo fatigues as his uniform. They also appeared to a certain extent in Metal Gear Online 3 via the Tactical Scarf equipment. They made a return in Metal Gear Survive for similar purposes to in The Phantom Pain, with four of them acting as pre-order bonus DLC.