by Max Velocity
Reaction to Contact Drills
The following are some standard vehicle mounted reaction drills to contact:
Simple Contact, Route Open: “CONTACT, DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE!” In this simple contact situation, no vehicles are immobilized and the convoy is able to continue to make progress and drive through the killing area (The X). Vehicles should speed up to exit the area rapidly. Fire can be returned if Positive Identification (PID) can be made of the enemy at a firing point or firing at the convoy. It is possible that there may be casualties. If possible, care under fire will be performed by CLS without stopping any vehicles. Once the convoy is clear of the area, a plan can be made to further treat and evacuate the casualty(s). Steps:
1) “CONTACT, DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE”
2) Return fire if possible, PID enemy.
3) Initial Contact Report: voice radio.
4) Reports from vehicles: “Vehicle 1 OK, Vehicle 2 OK….” or “Vehicle 1 mobile, 1 casualty…” etc.
5) CLS treat casualties on the move: tourniquet ‘high & tight’.
6) Rally if necessary in secured location.
7) Continue mission or make a casualty extraction plan.
Note: this drill could include an obstacle to the front, but the convoy continues forward because they can either knock it out of the way or drive around it. The road is therefore not totally blocked to egress forwards. It is always easier to continue forwards in vehicles rather than try to turn around.
Contact, Route Blocked: “CONTACT, REVERSE, REVERSE, REVERSE!” In this situation, the contact may come from the front, or from any direction, but the egress route to the front is blocked either physically, by weight of enemy contact, or both. In this situation, the way out is the way the convoy came in. Fire will be returned as appropriate and according to enemy PID. All vehicles will reverse until out of contact, or when the rear vehicle finds a spot to turn around in, whichever is better under the tactical situation and the ground.
The best way to turn around is to do a ‘K turn’ – this can be done simply on the road if it is wide enough, or into a suitable turn point. Turning around can be difficult, depending on the size of the roads and any banks or cliffs on each side. The K-Turn is simple: turn the wheel to reverse the vehicle to the verge of the road, and then drive out in the opposite direction. If you are super ‘high-speed’, and have been trained, you could do a ‘J’ or ‘handbrake turn’, but considering that most people don’t know how to do this, it is best to stick with a K turn. Steps:
1) “CONTACT, REVERSE, REVERSE, REVERSE!”
2) Return fire if possible, PID enemy.
3) Initial Contact Report: voice radio.
4) “K-TURN, K-TURN, K-TURN”
5) Reports from vehicles: “Vehicle 1 OK, Vehicle 2 OK….etc” or “Vehicle 1 mobile, 1 casualty…” etc.
6) CLS treat casualties on the move: tourniquet ‘high & tight’.
7) Rally if necessary in secured location.
8) Continue mission or make casualty extraction plan.
Figure 7 - Route Blocked – REVERSE
Note: The depiction in Figure 7 of the Counter Attack (CAT) or rear chase vehicle dismounting and providing fire support for the extraction is an option not described in the outline above. It is an option which you may decide to employ depending on the drills you develop.
Vehicle Immobilized: In this situation a vehicle in the convoy has sustained damage in a contact and becomes immobilized in the killing area. For the purposes of this drill the assumption is the worst case: complex ambush. It would be ideal in a post-event situation to have run-flat tires so that if your tires get shot out, you can keep going. With run flat tires, it is possible for a vehicle to sustain significant damage while remaining mobile: in this case, if the vehicle can limp out of the killing area, it should keep going so that ideally the convoy can rally at a safer location ‘off the X’ rather than stopping within the potential complex ambush.
A sense of urgency and fast action is the key to this drill. Ideally, when a vehicle is immobilized, the vehicle to the rear of it becomes a rescue vehicle. This is faster. If the rear vehicle is immobilized, then the vehicle in front will have to reverse back to it. Because you will likely not be in armored vehicles, and therefore your rescue vehicle is not effectively shielded from enemy fire and is very vulnerable, then there are two variants to this drill. One involves a rescue vehicle and the other involves those in the immobilized vehicle fighting out under covering fire. If one of your protected vehicles is immobilized, then the crew will largely be non-combatants and thus you will be limited to using the rescue vehicle approach to go in and get them out.
Steps using a rescue vehicle:
1) “CONTACT, DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE!”
2) Return fire if possible, PID enemy.
3) Initial Contact Report: voice radio.
4) Reports from vehicles. Example:
“Vehicle 2 immobilized”
“Roger, vehicle 3 assist”
“Vehicle 3 assisting”
5) Evacuation vehicle pulls up next to the immobilized vehicle. If contact is initiated mainly to one side, then pull up on the opposite side to gain maximum protection from the immobilized vehicle.
6) Other vehicles take up cover positions and return fire to PID enemy, as necessary. Throw smoke as appropriate.
7) Evacuation vehicle leaves a space between the two vehicles wide enough for both vehicles to be able to open their doors.
8) Evacuation vehicle crew takes up cover positions. Driver remains in the vehicle. One person assists the crew of the immobilized vehicle (can call for more assistance if there are serious casualties).
9) Personnel, weapons and equipment rapidly ‘cross decked’ into the evacuation vehicle. Personnel accounted for.
10) All vehicles “DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE!” An option is to blow vehicle horns as a signal that cross decking is complete, to recall all cover personnel and get everyone mounted up and mobile.
11) Evacuation vehicle sends update.
12) CLS treat casualties on the move: tourniquet ‘high & tight’.
13) Rally if necessary in a secured location. Redistribute casualties and equipment.
14) Team Leader decides on course of action; makes casualty extraction plan.
Figure 8 - Vehicle Immobilized - Cross Deck
Steps utilizing fire and movement:
1) “CONTACT, DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE!”
2) Return fire if possible, PID enemy.
3) Initial Contact Report: voice radio.
4) Reports from vehicles. Example:
“Vehicle 2 immobilized”
“Roger, all vehicles go firm, provide covering fire”
5) Immobilized vehicle crew get out of the vehicle on the side opposite of the ambush. They take up initial fire positions at the vehicle wheel wells while assisting other team members. Throw smoke as appropriate. Casualties, weapons and equipment ‘grab bags’ are dragged out of the vehicle. Move into better cover on the road verge. The only treatment for casualties at this point is tourniquet high and tight as appropriate.
6) Other vehicles take up cover positions and return fire to PID enemy, as necessary. Throw smoke as appropriate. Protected vehicles will be moved out of the way to a safe rally point while the fire fight continues.
7) Immobilized vehicle crew begins to fight out along the road verge, forward or back depending on where the convoy moved to. Utilize fire and movement techniques and peel out. If you have casualties, you will either have to drag them each time you make a bound, or if there are more of you a team can be designated to carry the casualties and others can provide cover.
8) Upon fighting off the X, the immobilized vehicle crew will mount up in the other vehicles, supporting fire positions will begin to be collapsed, and the convoy will begin to move out by bounding over-watch/fire and movement.
9) All vehicles “DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE!”
10) Evacuation vehicle sends update.
11) CLS treat ca
sualties on the move: tourniquet ‘high & tight’.
12) Rally if necessary in secured location. Redistribute casualties and equipment.
13) Team Leader decides on course of action; makes casualty extraction plan.
For an immobilized vehicle, there can be any number of reasons why it is stuck on the X. Maybe the engine was shot out, or the tires, maybe an IED knocked it out. It is likely that if an unarmored vehicle is immobilized, there is a high chance of casualties. One of the potential reasons that a vehicle is immobilized is that the driver becomes wounded or killed. In this case, the vehicle is not truly immobilized and can be driven out. You will need to think about how to do that with the vehicles you have.
Figure 9 - Vehicle Immobilized - Fire & Movement
If the driver is wounded, you can drop the seat back and drag him into the back of the vehicle and take his place. It may be that with an automatic transmission you can simply put your foot on the accelerator pedal and drive from the passenger seat or similar. It will be harder to get off the X in a manual transmission, and you will have to move the driver to take his place. If you take too long doing all this on the X facing heavy fire, then you are better getting out of the vehicle and taking cover, because the longer you mess about, the more likely you will be shot because the vehicle will become a magnet for enemy fire.
All Vehicles Immobilized: In this situation the convoy sustains significant damage and all vehicles are immobilized, or alternately the situation is such that even though not all vehicles are immobilized, the team has to leave the vehicles and extract on foot. As for ‘vehicle immobilized’ above, the worst case will be trained for. It may be that the convoy limps out of contact and becomes immobilized outside of the killing area. However, the assumption here will be for a complex ambush with the vehicles stuck on the X. It is important to remember the principles of fire and movement, over-watch and 360 degree security that are described above. Steps:
1) “CONTACT, DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE!”
2) Return fire if possible, PID enemy.
3) Initial Contact Report: voice radio.
4) Reports from vehicles. Vehicles are immobilized.
5) Take up cover positions as best as possible and return fire to PID enemy, as necessary.
6) Team Leader makes the decision to extract on foot. Sends direction to move i.e. “RALLY LEFT 200 METERS” or “RALLY REAR 300 METERS”
7) Vehicle crews dismount and take up fire positions around or close to the vehicles. Return fire as necessary. Throw smoke as necessary.
8) Casualties, equipment and weapons taken from vehicles: ‘grab bags’. Care under fire for casualties only - tourniquet ‘high and tight’ as required.
9) Crews begin fire and movement away from vehicles to the designated rally point. Shoot, move and communicate. Team leader and crew leaders keep the teams in touch and ensure no team or individual becomes isolated. Casualty extraction will be a challenge and command and control will have to be established between teams to designate personnel to carry casualties while others provide fire support. Physical fitness and the ability to aggress the enemy with rapid accurate fire are valuable commodities at this point.
10) At a suitable covered location, preferably once contact is broken: “RALLY, RALLY, RALLY!”
11) Teams establish 360 degree security and conduct rapid tactical field care on casualties as necessary.
Figure 10 - All Vehicles Immobilized
12) The Team Leader decides on an egress route and moves the unit away from the ambush site to an ERV (Emergency Rendezvous), prior to establishing security again and making a rapid plan for further movement or action. At this point the team should move to a defensible location and establish security planning for further movement.
Figure 11 - All Vehicles Immobilized - Peel Out
Actions on Halts
The actions on halts will be largely determined by the nature of the task and the team SOPs developed. There are some basic principles that should be adhered to:
360 degree security: All round defense should be achieved. This will include allocated sectors for weapons to ensure continuous coverage and mutual support around the perimeter.
Vehicle positioning: Tied in closely with weapon sectors, vehicles must be positioned to provide cover, allow any mounted weapons to cover the perimeter, and allow rapid egress as necessary. Vehicles should be positioned, space dependent, to allow them to physically protect the interior of the position. This could mean circling the vehicles, or making a box formation. Thus, when the team is conducting tasks or giving orders within the halt position, the vehicles themselves provide cover from attack.
Vehicles can also be used (see cross decking, above) to provide temporary cover in a contact situation. Consideration should be given to using vehicles to move out and physically cover & recover casualties: a vehicle, even to some extent an unarmored one, will provide some cover from fire if a team member has been hit by a sniper and cannot be recovered without sustaining further casualties.
Use of Ground: A halt could be a quick stop, a tire change, or an overnight LUP. Best use of ground should be made and consideration be given to achieving a dominant position, cover & concealment, coverage of avenues of approach and fields of fire.
CHAPTER EIGHT
DISMOUNTED TACTICS
“If you’re gonna be a bear, be a grizzly.”
Introduction
Dismounted drills are important in the following situations within the scope of this manual:
1) When conducting break contact drills, such as in the ‘all vehicles immobilized’ scenario described above.
2) When conducting dismounted movement to and from the vehicles and a location to be visited, such as a site for barter, forage or whatever other kind of meeting may be envisaged.
3) When conducting infantry tactics as part of a tactical team.
Dismounted drills cover normal movement and also contact situations. It is likely that for a dismounted site visit drivers (and possibly gunners if you have it set up that way) will remain in the vehicles. This has the advantage of allowing mobile extraction (and fire support by gunners) in the event of a contact, but the disadvantage of reducing boots on the ground moving onto the site. In a situation such as a dismounted site visit, this is not altogether dissimilar from a close protection task; it is possible that the team will have with it key personnel for the site visit, such as some of the teams protected or non-combatant personnel, who are along to contribute their own specialty or skill to the completion of the task.
We are concerned with the integral capability that you can muster within your team. As in a close protection task, it is likely that the team will be responsible for escorting personnel onto the site, or simply protecting yourselves as a tactical team. In the case of protected personnel, they should be assigned an individual who will be responsible for these personnel, to be known as the Principle Protection Officer (PPO) and will not be the Team Leader; the Team Leader will be in a position to be able to command the formation in a contact situation.
The drills remain the same whether or not protected personnel and a PPO are present or utilized; simply, the PPO keeps the protected personnel in the center of the formation and in the event of a contact independently moves them within and behind the protection provided by the team, in order to move them back to the vehicles and get them away from the scene. For the example here, we will initially assume a team of four moving from the vehicles onto the site, with or without a PPO present in addition to those four.
Formations: With a four man team it would be possible to use any of the number of infantry formations, such as the squad wedge. It is more useful in these circumstances to use formations such as the diamond or box, simply because these provide all-round protection and are readily adapted to contact from any direction.
Figure 12 - Formations - Box & Diamond
Action on Contact: Using the diamond formation as an example, the drill is that once the contact is initiated t
he team will take immediate action by reacting to contact and returning fire to PID enemy. They will get ‘on line’ facing the direction of enemy threat and fight back to the vehicles using fire and movement. Usually, if the contact is from the front, the drill is for the diamond to split into two buddy pairs, and each pair will provide cover for the other pair as they bound back using fire and movement.
The PPO, if one is used because protected personnel are present, will remain central and to the rear of the formation, covering the move of the protected personnel back. If the contact comes from the right or left, the team will again react to contact and get on line. They will then peel back towards the vehicles.
If the situation is more complex than simply fighting back to the vehicles, such as contact on the way out of the site and the way is blocked, then the team will take up a covered position and have the vehicles come to them or to an alternate egress point. Of course, fire support will be provided at all times by the gunners in/on the vehicles, if present, and if the ground allows it the vehicles will move up to pick up the team and reduce the distance over which they have to fight.
Figure 13 - Contact Drills
In a situation where your vehicle is immobilized and you have to fight out of the killing area, you will do so in the vehicle crew team based on who was in the vehicle. This is probably not more than four and may be only two. The same principles apply and you will fight out with fire and movement bounds. If there is a casualty then someone needs to be carrying or dragging that casualty out; if you have more people available then you can designate a casualty extraction person or team and leave others to cover the move with fire and movement. If it is two of you dragging out a third, then you will have to drag that casualty with each bound that you make, covering them physically as you give fire support for your other buddy to move.