Contact!

by Max Velocity

  Blog Post

  Combat Rifle: Solid Basics to Keep You Alive:

  I have always been a little wary of the term ‘gun fighting.’ I trawled YouTube and the internet in general before starting to run my training course to get an idea of what people were up to and therefore what may be in people’s heads when they showed up to my courses. There is a lot of ‘tacticool’ and a lot of ‘Hollywood’ out there. In my opinion, there is altogether too much standing on square ranges, engaging targets from a standing position, as if they are not shooting back and as if they are not potentially in depth or cover and able to take you out as you stand there. Some of it seems very impressive but in my mind much of it is almost in the category of ‘circus trickery’ carbine mastery - showing off. Although there is a lot to be said to being awesome with your carbine, most of this lacks tactical application and if you don’t have all day every day to practice, you will be missing out on good solid basics and putting yourself at great risk.

  Some of the instruction also appears to incorporate drills almost for their own sake that appear to have been invented as ‘something to do’ on what are otherwise very limited ranges.

  I see a lot of this training as an equivalent to boxing training by just punching a heavy bag. It’s not punching back, and I can stand there and hit it all day, looking good. When it starts to hit back, you need to think about moving, duck and covering….

  What you need to focus on are very good basics. I will attempt to explain some of this below:

  Reaction to Contact: This can be covered by RTR, which stands for:

  · Return fire

  · Take Cover

  · Return Appropriate Fire.

  What does this mean? It means that once you come under fire, or see the enemy, you immediately bring reactive fire onto the target in an attempt to kill, disable or at the very least distract the enemies aim at you (if you miss close!) You then take cover. You then adopt a fire position and bring accurate fire onto the enemy. This is the first part of your reaction to contact and will be followed up depending if you are alone, or with others, and whether you are in an offensive or break contact mode. So, basically, what you do next all follows from your initial reaction of RTR.

  When you train with me, I will drill into you not only the initial ‘R’, but also the ‘Take Cover’. This can simply be in the form of reaction drills where the target comes up (front. right, left or rear); you go from a ready to a fire position and engage with a controlled pair. But MOST IMPORTANTLY you then go into cover, which can be simulated on the basic range with a step to the left or right and taking a kneeling fire position, following up with a steady aimed shot from the kneeling, or prone position, to simulate the final ‘R’.

  It’s a 360 degree battlefield. In any situation you cannot afford, if you can avoid it, to be hit by a rifle round. That is penetrating trauma and particularly in a post-collapse situation your ability to either fight the resistance campaign, or protect your family/tribe, or both, will be severely curtailed or over. Done. So let’s get away from standing ‘gun fighting’, however fast you can run your gun.

  However the thing to note about the RTR procedure is that the initial ‘R’, the initial return fire, is also optional. In a close quarter engagement you will need to react fast and get accurate fire onto the enemy. That works in a situation where you both see the enemy and they are close enough for you to get a quick accurate shot or two off into them before taking cover. It’s a judgment call. Many times, either in a wooded or longer range or even desert environment, you will come under contact and not initially locate where the fire is coming from. In such a situation returning initial fire from the standing position may get you killed. You could fire into likely cover, but that is best done from the last ‘R’ i.e. Return Appropriate Fire after having taken cover.

  Therefore, if you come under contact from an unknown location and cannot effectively return initial fire, to try to do so will leave you standing there effectively frozen on the enemy’s ‘X’: Far better to skip the initial ‘R’ and just move straight to Take Cover. Once you have done that, either alone or with your tactical element, you can scan and attempt to locate the enemy before going into your follow on drill as appropriate.

  The most effective reaction I have seen of this unseen enemy situation is exemplified by a team coming under fire from a range of 100-200 meters where the enemy was not immediately obvious, the team immediately bomb-bursting and zigzagging into cover, followed by locating the enemy, communicating this, and bringing accurate rifle fire down upon them.

  If we go back to the initial ‘R’ then we will see that the reaction is a balance of speed and accuracy as ranges increase. You will train and know yourself what distance you are effective out to. At close ranges you will be best to use the point shooting method, looking over the sights, and immediately engage the guy before he hits you. As ranges increase, you will be moving to your sights with quick reactive controlled pairs, until you find that you need to hesitate and acquire the target for just that faction of a second longer. You will know where your skills are at and you can work to improve that. There will be a point, where you either don’t see the enemy after the first contact, or they are at a longer range, where you will know you are best to simply get into cover before returning fire.

  So, second in importance to being a good reactive shot is the overwhelming importance of TAKING COVER. Russian conscript troops train to assault by exiting their APCs and running towards the enemy positions firing their AKs on automatic from the hip. And that is supposed to happen after a massive bombardment designed to leave no one alive to assault. I have seen pretty much that level of skill on the internet videos out there, the difference being that the standard US Civilian is firing from the shoulder as he does the Hollywood line walking towards the targets.

  When you move from individual reaction drills to fire and movement, you are using a combination of cover and accurate fire to maneuver, either towards or away from the enemy. You may be crawling, moving in ‘dead ground’ out of sight of the enemy or conducting short rushes covered by your buddies. However, whenever you are not moving, you are in a fire position in cover. If you are not firing or moving, you are in cover. I always train from the very basic level that if you have any stoppage on your weapon, from an empty magazine to an actual stoppage/malfunction, you are at least getting down onto one knee to simulate taking cover. If you are on a movement lane then you will actually take cover.

  If you happen upon a chance contact, let’s say it’s out there in the woods, and you deal with the first guy or two with your well drilled carbine skills, you simply don’t know where the rest of them are. Don’t stay up on your feet going all Hollywood. Take Cover. If you are with a team, at least two of you, which I hope you are, then you will go into fire and movement either to assault forward and clear, or to break contact back out of there.

  This leads me onto a related topic, that of ‘bounding overwatch’. I take issue with how bounding overwatch is mistermed and also with some of the ‘tacticool’ madness that I see creeping in. Ok, so here it is:

  Fire and Movement: This is the principle where movement under enemy direct fire is achieved through the combined use of suppressive fire and cover. If there is no cover (think billiard table) then you rely solely on your suppressive fire to allow maneuver. The principle of fire and movement (or maneuver) can be summarized by the words “no movement without fire.” This applies at any element from a pair up to a battalion. It’s not the size of the elements that matters, it that fact that they are fire and maneuvering.

  Bounding Overwatch: This is where you are not actually firing at the enemy. There is no enemy seen but you believe the threat to be high. You are placing elements in position to provide potential fire support. So think of it like ‘dry’ fire and movement. Again, it does not matter what size elements you have, from two buddies up to two platoons. Think about having to move over some open ground and you think there may be enemy in the
area: you place an element down in cover on the hill to give potential fire support. You then move an element across the open ground, they take up fire positions, and the original cover element then moves up. If at any time it goes hot due to enemy contact, you are immediately going into fire and movement. In this sense, bounds taken in bounding overwatch can be further than the usual “I’m up, he sees me, I’m down” short bounds usually done during fire and movement.

  Ok, so now we have established the difference between fire and movement and bounding overwatch, we can now see the utility of being able to switch between the two and also use bounding overwatch as a way to conduct a high threat move or clearance through or towards an objective. Watching some of the prepper shows, I saw some tactical madness with buddy pairs ‘moving tactically’ in an exaggerated half crouch back to back. Front guy walking forwards, rear guy back to back walking backwards, moving slowly in the open. NO.

  This is where this kind of madness creeps in. Nobody is supervising this and it just spreads because people think it is the thing to do. Let’s go back to our solid basics. If you and a buddy had to move through an area where you had to clear, or move to an objective where there was a high threat of enemy contact, what would you do? Bounding overwatch right? Yep.

  But what about covering the rear, I hear you say? Well, you are moving through and over the ground so you are covering that ground and the rear is the ground you just covered. You check rear anyway as you are moving, but you don’t walk backwards. This was learned from years of experience on patrol: it used to be done, for example on endless long patrols by the British Army, but you just don’t walk backwards anymore. You will trip and fall. Turn and look, then resume. There is nothing wrong with coming together in your pair for a halt, and placing one covering front/flank, the other rear/flank. That is a basic security formation for a halt.

  So in summary, what has this article been about? It’s been about the need to build a good solid foundation of basic skills. I have said this before, and I chuckle to say it again, but that's all there really is: good solid basics, practiced until they become slick second nature drills. Don’t be misled by tacticool snake oil salesmen. Learn to run your gun in the standing, kneeling and prone positions, learn to use cover with your fire positions; learn the importance of taking cover.

  One final thing: PT. PT is crucial. Fire and movement under enemy direct fire is an anaerobic activity – you will not be able to suck in enough oxygen to make it comfortable. However we are all training to survive here and you may be older or in not such good physical condition. This does not disbar you from these techniques. Yes, when conducting rushes during fire and movement the faster you can cover that ground the less likely you are to be hit. But there is an important distinction between speed and momentum.

  Momentum is keeping up the pressure on the enemy by the use of accurate suppressive fire that is killing the enemy or making them keep their heads down in cover, allowing you to maneuver. If you can locate the enemy and generate such suppressive fire you will allow yourself to move. You may be able to move in a steadier fashion, talking account of your slower speed and utilizing adrenalin to spur you through it. On my ranges, if you are less physically capable, I will not exhort you to efforts beyond your capability. At the very least, this would compromise safety. You will do the techniques at a steadier pace, and take away the fact that you need to work harder on your PT.

  Navigation / Route Selection

  The ability to navigate on land is an important skill. If you are not competent at navigating then you will be unable to move around with any real confidence or purpose. If you are working in teams and relaying information to each other then you will need to record and relay the map coordinates of that location; if you can’t do it with any accuracy then it simply won’t happen.

  There are various aids to navigation, the most important being GPS receivers. They are wonderful, buy them and use them. Have an in-car system that you use for normal day-to day navigation – there is no reason why this same system could not have your BOL registered in it for your evacuation (but recorded under an innocuous name, so anyone acquiring it can’t put two and two together and find your BOL).

  Have a hand held GPS for dismounted movement and for in and around your BOL. Use it regularly for hiking and buy and download the mapping software so you can actually see, and view your position, on an electronic map on your handheld GPS. Be intelligent when using routes suggested by your GPS, particularly road selections made on your vehicle GPS. Don’t be a slave to the machine. Consult the paper map beforehand and apply some reason to the process – make sure that the GPS selected route is sensible and practical and where you actually want to go.

  However, be prepared to operate without your GPS. Batteries could run out, you could lose it, forget it or have it stolen. EMP attack could wipe out the geospatial satellites that allow you to fix your position. The system can be turned off. Cyber-attack could destroy the system. How long would it operate for post-event?

  Be prepared to get back to basics. Always carry a map and compass. In your car, have paper road maps or atlas for your state. For your home/BOL/likely foraging areas have suitable paper maps. Either get the waterproof ones or use a good map case. Get used to map reading by going hiking using the maps – have the GPS as a back-up, but simply have it running in a pocket to record the track, but use the map to navigate.

  You ideally want maps somewhere in the scale 1:25,000, 1:50,000, 1:75,000 and worst case 1:100,000. Learn and understand the basic map symbols and features and how contour lines work. You should train yourself so that when you look at a map the features pop out at you and you can relate map to ground. Understand what contour shapes on the map will look like on the ground.

  You should purchase the ‘Silva’ type combination compass/protractor type compass that allows you to instantly take a bearing straight off the map. The military prismatic type compasses are ideal for taking azimuth/bearing of objects but to interface them to the map you need a protractor. The Silva type compass allows you to do away with this step; they are the type of compasses used for orienteering. Detailed instruction on map reading is a topic that is out of the scope of this manual. A theoretical followed by a practical course of instruction would be ideal. Learn to do the following:

   Know your map symbols

   Know your main map features: hill, valley, spur, draw, saddle, and ridge. Cut, Embankment, cliff.

   Know contour lines and the interval. Contour lines are lines of continuous height drawn to represent the shape of the terrain on a map. The build-up of contour lines of various heights shows the shape of the ground and the terrain features mentioned above.

   Use water features such as streams to help the terrain ‘pop’ out of the map – streams will be running in low ground and in draws rather than on spurs and high ground, so the network of streams will highlight the lie of the terrain.

   Know how to use grid references: 4, 6 and 8 figure. Read the horizontal scale then the vertical scale ‘along the corridor and then up the stairs’. Grid squares are usually 1 km across. This is the same as the military MGRS system.

   Know how to take an azimuth or bearing from the map from a point to a point so that you can walk it on the ground.

   Know how to use your compass.

   Know how to compensate for magnetic variation and where to find it on the map key.

   Know how to measure distance.

   Know your pacing over various terrain for 100 meter distances.

  Basic military map reading teaches taking an azimuth between two points, measuring the distance between the two, and then walking on that bearing while pacing for distance until you reach that second point. If you reach an obstacle, box around it by pacing out, beyond and back in to resume your original line. This technique is not what is primarily used for more advanced map reading, such as orienteering. It is too easy to deviate from the azimuth and miss the end point. This should be u
sed when there is no alternative.

  To make following an azimuth easier, you should sight your azimuth, sight along your compass, and pick a terrain feature on the horizon to head to, while pacing. Once you reach that point, take your azimuth again. In poor visibility, send out one of your team to the limit of visibility, talk them on to the right azimuth, then walk to them and repeat.

  More advanced techniques focus on a better understanding of terrain association i.e. what is the shape of the ground and how does that relate to me. Am I walking up or down hill? How can I orient the map to the ground by locating that saddle feature on the map, identify it on the ground, and relate the two? Some techniques to use in addition to the basics of azimuth & distance:

  Hand railing: use a linear terrain feature to lead you to your destination. This also has a tactical application: you would handrail a feature such as a road by not being on it, in case of ambush, but by following it to a flank.

  Check off features: know that as you head on an azimuth you will, for example, cross a stream, then a ridge, another stream and then a trail. Check these features off as you move.

  Aim off. If you are forced to follow an azimuth across country to a point on a linear feature, when you arrive at the linear feature unless you arrive exactly, you won’t know which way to turn. Aim off to one side deliberately so that once you hit the linear feature you can turn and walk in to the point.

  Contouring: following a specific height around a feature. This is also a useful method of travel, saving energy by minimizing altitude gain and loss.

  Terrain features: follow terrain features, such as ridges or valleys. This makes navigation easier, but if you are following natural lines then you may be making yourself more prone to ambush. Think hand railing and maybe follow a ridge or valley by contouring somewhere half-way up or down the slope, not in or on the actual feature itself.