Place to discuss small unit tactics (Individual to Platoon level) Its widely disregarded even though in some circles seen as the final nexus for gun owners, after guns, gear, ammo, and training have all been satiated. Personally Im not the biggest fan of the Ranger Handbook but for someone who knows nothing of tactics its a good primer.
First up for discussion will always be the preparation for the small unit patrol. This means squaring away your equipment, be it making sure you make a packing list and check it twice, to subduing anything shiny on your loadbearing. If you dont have load bearing equipment, you should get some for whatever your primary weapon system is.
Some considerations for a basic packing list: -Clothing: make sure clothing is adequate fro the season, ideally have some clothing for inclement weather. Remember patrols can span days so day and night temperatures fluctuate. -Ammunition: smaller patrols, when compromised, will need to use violence of action to break contact with their pursuers. More ammo per person is almost always a good thing. -Sustainment: More water than food. 2L of water can last about a day of light patrolling. Ideally you want more water. Camelbaks and canteens. Food should be ready to eat or easy to prepare, ideally without a fire. Think camping foods or MREs. -Mission Essentials: If a presence patrol, a notebook, map, and compass will help in plotting information and points of interest. For a reconnaissance patrol, long range observation equipment like binoculars and spotting scopes are good, along with good cameras because a picture speaks 1000 words. -Comms: be in a phone (worst case) or a set of HAM radios with preplotted frequencies, you should always bring some sort of comms. Always bring emergency comms too, in case of injury or danger. usually this is a frequency on your radio, but phones and GPS locators work also.
What are the recommended resources for a pleb to start with, those articles? I want to be able to lead squads better in games like Arma and Squad, I know some basics but I'd like to educate myself further so I actually know what I'm doing and why.
Jacob Richardson
A good thing to remember when setting up patrol equipment is whether or not it can give you away. Using the senses, we can look at how equipment needs to me managed in order to limit discovery.
Sight: equipment and self should be camouflaged. Wear camo for your environment and ensure equipment is in muted tones. Tire covers make good camo ruck covers. Anything that has shine to it can be darkened with charcoal or a sharpie. Buckles, watches, glasses, etc all shine. Long range optical equipment also can give glints. Use facepaint or have all skin covered and dont forget the backs of hands, neck, amd ears.
Sounds: when wearing patrol equipment make sure to jump around and walk administratively around before stepping off to recognize any noises the gear might make. Loose buckles should be secured and tapped over if not in use. Turn off alarms and phone.
Smell: keep gear clean and use unscented deodorants and soaps. Dont smoke or use tobacco while on patrol. Even toothaste and shaving cream should be unscented. All foods should be in airtight bags.
Ranger handbook requires you to already have a solid 11b level of understanding to make it any more than incomprehensible shit and graphs with the occasional nugget, so it's shit for most of you guys.
Learn the Army's first 8 battle drills and you're golden as far as conventional light infantry goes.
I'm glad this thread came up. Tactics and strategy in combat has always gone over my head.
Carson Evans
I hope to make it pick up. Bad day to do it desu but hey got to start somewhere.
Leo Richardson
The final step of preparation is running your gear through a simulated patrol. You dont want your first combt patrol to be the first time you are testing new equipment or methods.
The simulated patrol could just be a wlak through the woodswith your gear on. However dont take this as meaning it should be a breeze. You should place yourself in situations that may happen on the combat patrol. For example: -wallk up and down terrain features at a decent pace (3.5 to 4 mph). This way youll get used to the way your gear sits on you and youll condition your body for the patrol. -conduct training patrols at distances similar to those which you think youll encounter. If you live in a rural area practice longer range patrols. -walk during the day and during the night. Learn where everything you packed is located so you can do it in low light conditions. -practice navigation with gps, then just with map compass and protractor. -practice aiming and shooting with your gear on -hide in a small area and try to have a friend find you
Andrew Powell
Is there any advantages to putting a red dot up that far?
Jason Butler
Hypothetically its faster to acquire the dot. But you really dont want to put an optic there because any rail inconsistencies and you get off zero with each shot.
Brandon Hill
So based on what I could assume is a fair amount of knowledge about small unit to platoon level tactics, what are some various maneuvers you can perform, and if you had the ability to select any bundle of maneuvers to make your own fighting force, what would they be? Or is it better to train in the most broad assortment of knowledge when it comes to tactics? Let's say we're talking about open-area tactics and leave MOUT for a separate discussion, since that has less maneuvering involved and more don't-get-caught-open to it.
John Bell
To me its good to know a little bit abiut everything. In HJ Poole's book "The Last 100 Yards" he talks about how its good to have a few ways to do things like an ambush so that you dont try to shoehorn a style of ambush where it woild be detrimental to the operation.
It always serves the most to train each battle drill under different conditions so your unit can perform on the fly amd it takes less ingenuity in the field and more muscle memory.
For MOUT its an entirely different ball game but desu I feel like MOUT is overdone in the current training cycles.
Jacob Jackson
Maneuver wise youre best off mastering the basic battle drills for squad react to contact and squad attack.
Conceptually in Western doctrine once you understand that everything revolves around a support element giving cover to an assault element, battle drills become more predictable.
Past the squad attack, Id focus on ambushes and breaking contact as skills to be needed.
Anthony Murphy
MOUT is ridiculously overdone right now, partially because of Iraq, there's definitely been a weakening on field tactics training. It's not necessarily bad that it's overdone but it's not the only factor when it comes to warfare, especially conventional. If we wanted to learn how to pull of maneuvers at a section to platoon level, where would we find decent instructional material? Most classes we can take these days will cover everything from firearms proficiency to maritime operations, but not a whole lot of baseline through advanced 11B material.
Connor Peterson
There are no resources for that right now. Instructional material is sparse. I would look into Hj Poole and lessons from WW2 like stuff Rommel has written. In field small unit tactics just arent sexy enough to people.
Zachary Robinson
The Tiger's Way: A U.S. Private's Best Chance for Survival by HJ Poole also has some good info
Nolan Edwards
Any one got any good resources for 1 to 2 man room clearing? Always trying to learn more, also getting the wife into it.
Nathaniel Anderson
I have some pages from a memey book that deals with small group room clearing but its at home. I can try to upload some pages tomorrow I did a huge page dump months ago.
Michael Baker
That'll be amazing if you could. Funny how things turn out, first my SO was kinda anti gun when we first got together. Got her into guns, now getting her into tactics.
Zachary Adams
Going to expand on this by asking for resources for anyone 1-2 man stuff, not just room clearing.
Lucas Anderson
Nope, no thanks. I know enough already. Zig-zag, crouch, run, shoot and scoot. Go prone. Yell for backup. Yell for more ammo. Yell that I can't see them. Hide behind dirt. Surprise pocket pistol quick draw shot to IIIA vest then do the zig. Let's just say it's all quite elementary. Maybe later I'll tell you about slicing the pie as someone once called it.
