Contact!

by Max Velocity

  But with that exception, it has to be said, many times these Pashtun fighters would overmatch McDonalds fed overburdened Coalition infantry operating at close ranges in close country.

  Basic battle drills for a hasty attack are as follows:

  1) Reaction to enemy fire

  2) Locate the enemy

  3) Win the firefight - suppress and fix the enemy

  4) The assault

  5) The reorganization (on the objective, after assaulting and clearing it)

  Often what happens in the situation as described are that the troops are not getting past numbers 2 & 3. They are either unable to effectively locate the firing points of these small groups of scattered enemy, who will be arrayed in clever tactical positions around the patrol. Or, they are not effectively suppressing and fixing the enemy to allow maneuver. If you can’t get that done, you can’t maneuver. So, they end up behind the wall engaged in an inconclusive firefight. Don’t forget that they may also be using support assets like artillery or CAS to take away the need to conduct an infantry assault, to remove the need to close with and destroy the enemy. Or they may be calling in fire support in preparation to move forward and, perhaps, clear compounds or enemy positions. If you have fire support available, then you would be a fool not to use it.

  There are in fact plenty of examples of Coalition infantry bravely and effectively maneuvering onto enemy positions. It is just that the helmet cam guy may not have been there.

  Another thing to note is that the quality of training of the troops in these ‘behind the wall’ firefight movies may be poor. They are ‘spraying and praying’ and not generating accurate effective fire to suppress the enemy. It may be that they have not correctly located the enemy and are just suppressing an area. That also may be because they have not effectively communicated enemy location along the line. Sometimes it just comes back to training and quality of the troops. Sometimes, circumstances make it hard to locate and fix the enemy. People don’t want to hear this, but just because you are a soldier and got deployed neither makes you a ‘hero’ nor does it necessarily make you good at it. It’s a profession where you know the deal when you sign up, and you are either well trained and effective, or you are not.

  If you find yourself operating tactically as a small unit and you don’t have fire support, then your answer is in accurate effective application of the firepower that you do have. A squad sized element will not be able to engage in squad attacks beyond 300 meters with standard small arms. If you want to harass enemy at longer ranges than you would need accurate marksmen to engage with scoped rifles. You don’t want to be trying to engage in squad small unit tactics in the open desert. Pick your ground. You need to utilize terrain to maneuver on the enemy. Also, open ground is tank country: armored/aircraft country. You need suitable terrain – broken ground, terrain features, woods, swamps, cluttered urban terrain etc.

  Also, if your enemy is equipped with fire support assets then if you engage you want to be close so that they cannot bring them to bear on you – be within 'danger close' ranges. Most firefights take place around 100 meters anyway. However if you are to do this then you need to do it right. Your battle drills must be trained, rehearsed and slick. Your fire must be accurate and effective in order to kill or suppress the enemy in order to allow you to maneuver and close with the enemy. You need to be able to concentrate force and apply firepower to gain temporary local superiority and overwhelm the enemy, destroy them and then move away using suitable ground/terrain masking to avoid follow up by indirect fire or drone/CAS assets.

  Blog Post

  Reality Check: All the Gear, No Idea

  I'm fresh back from my latest training weekend. It was a good and enjoyable class, meeting good people as usual. A little more challenging for me with a wider ability gap among attendees than previously, making me work to tailor the lanes to individual abilities. Cookie-cutter training simply would not have worked. The additional target pits that I have put in, extending the ranges, allowed me to challenge returning students while giving new ones the right level of initial training.

  That being said, there has been a recurring theme that has been ticking away in my mind over the last several months. I have been running my training school since May and of course most of the students are civilians. Some have military experience; a couple have been active duty or reserves. My training is adapted to the student body. However, it has also been an educational experience for me - I am no longer training recruits, professional SOF troops or experienced operators. This post is by no means directed at anyone in particular from either this weekend or any previously, but it is a general comment from observation; if you are easily offended just stop reading now:

  There are a couple of themes that I have noticed, and taken all together they add up to the perfect storm that will get you killed. I touched on this in this previous post: 'Gear Philosophy Update' but today I intend to rip the band-aid right off:

  The two themes adding up to your death are:

  1) Lack of fitness and obesity

  2) Too much gear

  Fitness: On the fitness side, let's be realistic. When you are doing tactical training, you are doing light infantry training. Let's forget all that 'groupie' stuff about SOF/SF/elite forces and all that. SHTF, it does not matter, you are conducting light infantry operations. If you are intending to do that, you need to be fit enough to 'shoot, move and communicate'. There is a basic level of gear (i.e. weight) that you need to be able to lug about in order to function as a light infantry fighter. You need to be able to move with that load without being too exhausted. The more exhausted you get, the sloppier you will get, the more shortcuts you will take.

  "Keep Low, Move Fast" evolves into an exhausted flop down on your ass, sucking water out of your Camelbak, while failing to pull security.

  If you are not as fit as you can be, then you are deluding yourself. No one really knows what SHTF will look like. You all have your preconceived notions, most of which will be wrong come the hour. One thing that can be said is that you need to be as generally prepared as possible. SHTF will be a huge dislocation of expectations. Most of the stuff that you have now, and that you think defines you as an American, such as your big truck, or whatever, will not be part of the picture post-SHTF. Once the collapse happens, the only thing that will define you as an American is your character and how you perform.

  As the political philosopher John Hobbes said, in the 'state of nature' the life of man is "solitary, nasty, brutish and short." Welcome to the collapse. Prepping is one thing, and if you prep well then you have a good chance of increasing your overall chances of survival. But you have to be prepared for massive dislocation of expectations. If your whole survival plan revolves around an unfit family sitting tight at a 'retreat property' then when the bad guys come over the hill, or whatever, and that retreat is no longer secure, you may be hauling your ass over the hill, and trying to bug out and survive in the woods. When you are trying to haul ass with a ruck, maybe pushing/pulling kids, elderly relatives, or sick/wounded family members out on a jog stroller or deer cart, which is when being overweight/unfit is really going to suck.

  A huge part of physical fitness is mental fitness. When you are doing light infantry work, a lot of what you do, in particular when you get down to doing fire and movement, comes down to anaerobic exercise where you are breathing out of your ass and the only thing that is going to get you through is iron determination and HEART. Well, have the heart to drag your ass away from the keyboard and start doing some effective fitness now.

  I don't mean 'useless' gym fitness, or 'show muscles'. I mean real cardio and strength training. A good thing to add to that is manual labor. By which I mean actually digging holes and moving dirt with a pick and shovel. That takes heart and determination and will go a long way to prepare you for the rigors of a life of manual labor and infantry work which may well be your lot post-SHTF.

  You need to test yourself and push your limits. Unless you hav
e been out on extended operations with large amounts of physical exertion and reduced calorific intake, you won't really know what I am taking about. Extended patrols over harsh terrain. Leaden legs as you set off again up another hill, feeling the tiredness to the core but still moving with a steely determination. Getting out your entrenching tool and digging in. Constantly wearing your gear, even your boots at night in your bag even though you will have swapped out socks and powdered your feet. Getting out of your bag on a freezing night to go out on patrol, or go on watch, or getting up and packing away all your gear prior to a dawn stand-to. That is when your mettle and professionalism will be tested, weighed and counted.

  My tactical courses are not even that hard, and there is plenty of rest built in between iterations. However, even given that people find it hard, because fire and movement is hard work. I see a lot of heart on my ranges, but I also see a lot of resolutions to go away, lose weight and get fitter, and come back to do a better job. If you find it hard going up and down the ranges in your vest and tactical set-up, and that is with frequent rest back at the school house, then it's time to lighten the load and up the fitness.

  Gear: One of the big problems for preppers, in particular wealthy preppers, is a mindset where gear can solve all your problems. It all becomes about gear and gadgets. Now, I love a good bit of gear myself, and I agree that having it can seriously increase your chances of survival, but there is a limit. You have to be able to survive with minimal gear; to make things work without that latest gadget. It is about what you know and your determination rather than having the latest widget.

  This gear-centric attitude, together with an often lack of effective fitness, leads to this perfect storm. Granted, a lot of wealthy preppers are older, and thus not as fit, and that is a challenge. However, this attitude is really a form of denial - it's an "I can fix it with gear" attitude, when what is really needed is more PT and a good dose of aggression and determination to kill anyone that comes near your family posing a threat.

  The gear thing, tied in with the fitness thing, leads to people carrying far too much gear. As discussed in the previous linked post, it is all a balance between firepower, mobility and protection. If you get all that latest gear, load it onto a vest carrying full plates plus a full ammo load, and you can't move, then you just failed. If you can't move, then you just lost the mobility thing. You will tire easily, move too slowly under contact, get sloppy and lose the will to continue. If necessary strip weight, including plates, in order to be able to regain the ability to move. If you want to carry more gear, then you have to get fitter and stronger so you can move with the gear.

  SHTF will be ongoing. You don't know when the enemy will appear. To protect your base location you will need an ongoing and endless process of LP/OP, watches, ground domination patrols and the like. You will need to wear your gear most of the time, or at least a basic emergency load so you have your rifle and some magazines with you in case you are caught short while tending the tomatoes. You need to rig your gear so you have a squared away load that you are willing to actually wear and carry while walking around the hills and hollers of your property location, without becoming an exhausted whale in the woods. If you are struggling, and you will be struggling with limited calories as your body fights the loss of weight, you will start taking shortcuts. Your legs will be too tired to make it up that hill. It'll be all right, yea? No bad guys will come up here will they? Welcome to denial and defeat.

  The next factor is that of casualties and casualty evacuation. Moving a casualty is one of the hardest things you will do, particularly if you are trying to break contact. If you are unfit/overweight, then you can't move yourself and your gear with much efficiency. You also can't move your team member when he is hit and becomes a casualty. If your team member is large/overweight, then it makes it even harder for you to move him, and he is definitely not going to be able to move you if you are hit.

  What you need is a balance of cardiovascular fitness and strength to weight ratio where you can move and lift your own body. Above all, endurance and determination will to win.

  If you can't be bothered to go out right now and work on your weight and fitness, how well does that attitude bode for what you will do and how you will perform SHTF? I'm not talking about '6-pack' abs here, that sort of thing is simply not important and actually speaks to a body fat ratio that is too low and will lead to faster starvation. Be healthy fit, not vanity fit.

  As far as tactical training goes, the procedure goes something like this: learning how to handle a rifle and the marksmanship principles; grouping and zeroing; application of fire; transition to field firing; field firing.

  All up to transition to field firing, if taught correctly with a knowledgeable military trainer, can be achieved on the 'square range'. It is important to develop good shooting competence, achieving good consistent groups, as you develop the fundamentals before moving to the 'cool stuff'. For the transition to field firing and the field firing itself, which equates to realistic tactical training, then you need to train with a suitably qualified military trainer at a suitable facility. If you are worried about your level of PT right now, I can tell you that if you train with me I will tailor it so that you achieve the training, even though you may convince yourself to do more PT, lose some weight, and come back to train again.

  You should also, if possible, train at a suitable facility which is set up to do live firing tactical movement. There is no substitute for actual live firing, particularly if used with electronic pop-up targets for realism and reaction.

  Something like my CRCD class is not something you should do once and then consider yourself 'good to go' - these drills need practice, and each time you come back you will achieve a higher level of competence and awareness of the different layers of what is going on during the drills. My repeat students can attest to that.

  Enjoy your training.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  BASIC PRINCIPLES

  Introduction

  “It’s not the critic that counts, but the man in the arena with blood on his face.”

  The following forms the beginning of the main tactical instructional part of this manual that will cover basic principles through dismounted and vehicle mounted movement, tactics, offensive and defensive operations.

  Some of this will be in the form of generic instruction that can be taken and applied to whatever operations you may be conducting post-event, and is more geared to a team of individuals of military age and capability conducting operations as a tactical team. Some of it is more specific, such as to moving your family to the BOL, and will therefore be more concerned with the protection of children and non-combatants.

  The idea behind the more generic stuff, which is closer to infantry and close protection tactics, is not only to provide the principles, but also allow you the freedom to train for operations that we may not envisage now, but may be necessary some time post-event. For example, once the initial survival event is over, in time we may see a restoration of normality. Or we may not, or normality may come after several or many years of chaos. We must therefore survive during these times and adapt to the circumstances.

  It is under these sorts of conditions that we can envisage conducting operations closer to infantry soldiering, such as patrolling, raids, ambush, which may be necessary if your secure location is threatened by hostile forces.

  Thus, the inclusion of offensive operations is not intended to pave the way for a family group to head off and conduct a camp attack, but to allow a formed tactical group of survivors to conduct such operations. It is important to note that tactics, beyond the basic principles, are a matter of opinion and should be tailored to your situation, capabilities and the threat. There is no right or wrong answer to a tactical decision, beyond what works and what does not, so long as you adhere to the basic principles. In after action reviews during tactical field training, you cannot tell someone that going left, or right, was wrong, you can simply point out the pros and cons
of that decision balanced against the combat estimate and the factors present.

  Basic Fieldcraft

  In any kind of tactical environment you need to constantly remain alert and consider security and the protection of your team. You will always remain mindful of where you may be positioned relative to potential threats. You will be concerned about ground, the positioning of weapon systems and the tactical formation and positioning of your team. If you stop somewhere to rest, you will establish security and always maintain a watch.

  It is only possible to rest in a tactical environment, which includes sleeping, cooking, washing, cleaning weapons and any number of other tasks, when there is security in place and a watch rotation established. Try and position yourselves well so that wherever you are, you use the ground to conceal and protect you.

  When moving in a tactical environment, do so in a tactical way. Keep appropriate spacing, perhaps five to ten meters depending on the cover, and don’t bunch up. Don’t stand about in a gaggle. Think about being a tactical bound from other groups in your formation. Individuals should spread out appropriate to the ground and cover. If you stop, take a fire position. This is one of the areas where personal discipline is very apparent and should be hit hard in training.

  If you have to do some form of administration, do it as buddies with one facing out and providing security while the other tactically does his thing. If you are stopped, take a fire position on a knee or in the prone position, whatever is appropriate to the ground. Don’t just stand there. Cover your sectors of fire, which should add up as a group to a full 360 degrees around the team. Watch out, not in. Practice discipline: noise and light at night – stop talking. Don’t drop trash. Don’t smoke in a tactical environment.