The Mammoth Book of Secrets of the SAS & Elite Forces

by Jon E. Lewis

  If the target discovers that he is being trailed, he may take evasive action such as walking down roads, rock hopping or walking down the course of a stream. This should not pose too great a problem; cut for sign along both sides of the obstacle and beware of possible ambush.

  Ageing

  Determining the age of a set of tracks is a skill which is often neglected even by good trackers. With practice and dedication you should be able to determine the age of a fresh track to within 15 minutes.

  Tracks can last for years under the right circumstances. There are parts of the world where dinosaur tracks can be seen, perfectly preserved by fossilisation. But in general terms, a track begins to deteriorate as soon as it has been formed. The wind and other climatic factors gradually cause the prominent features to collapse until no fine details remains; in fact, a track with very defined features, such as a heavily-soled boot will collapse and disappear faster than the track of a smooth-soled shoe.

  Tracks with well defined features always appear to be fresher than smooth tracks. Make an impression with your thumb in the ground alongside the track so that you can see how the soil behaves.

  Each soil type behaves in its own individual way, so you will need to experiment with the local soil before “following up” a trail. Also some soils can give a false impression of the size of the track; for example tracks appear larger than life in sand and smaller than life in heavy clay.

  Practice

  Putting all this information together is actually much easier than it appears. The secret is constant practice; once you have used and learned a technique, you will never forget it.

  The next stage in your training programme is to go back to the beginning and practise the skills we have shown you again, but paying much greater attention to detail and constantly estimating the tracks’ age.

  SUCCESSFUL TRACKING

  It is not enough just to follow the clues left behind by the target. You must interpret those signs to gain an understanding of the target’s movements so that you can predict his movements or his aim.

  If the target is expecting to be tracked, he may be planning to ambush you or lay a booby trap. Only your tracking skill can help you here. Caution, careful interpretation and a steady tracking pace are your allies; tiredness, carelessly taking signs at face value and undue haste along the trail can be fatal enemies.

  As you follow the trail, pay attention to all types of sign, not just the tracks. Stop to look around and listen every few paces; trackers are frequently shot because they spend too long looking at the ground! By looking up and studying the direction in which the target is moving you will gain a better appreciation of why the tracks are being made they way they are.

  Try to pay equal attention to the ground on each side of the trail; you may detect sign that indicates the target is aware of your presence. Suspect everything. If you come across evidence such as dropped or discarded equipment, treat it as a probable booby trap.

  Try to avoid destroying the “sign” you have just followed, and never pass beyond a sign until you can see the next sign. If you cannot find the next track, pay careful attention to the last visible sign; the lines of force should indicate where a track lies. Use your tracking stick to help you, and make sure that the track has not been obliterated because of freak conditions. If you still cannot find the next sign check left or right of the trail. If that doesn’t work, read the pattern of the last few tracks; do they indicate any change in pace or direction?

  The last resort before “cutting ahead” is to check near and far from the last sign. If you are using a tracking stick and are positioned to make the best use of available light, you will not often lose the trail. Remember the key to successful tracking is practice.

  COMBAT TRACKING

  The rotor blades clatter above imposing an unnatural silence on your team mates and giving you the chance for mental preparation. As tracker, the success or failure of the operation will be on your shoulders. You think through the devious ploys you have encountered and remember the many mistakes you made in training.

  After what seems like an eternity the chopper banks. The side door slides back, revealing the perfect tracking light of dawn.

  The “point of last contact”

  On arrival at the PLC you will be under pressure to begin the follow-up immediately. But without the correct preparation this can prove disastrous. If the track is “very hot” (fresh), it may be feasible to follow up straight away; if there are several tracking teams: while one team follows up, the other teams can gather the relevant intelligence. But solo tracking without preparation is suicidal: do so only under what you judge to be exceptional circumstances.

  Basic pre-follow up preparations

  Time spent gathering information is never wasted. But remember that the weather will not wait for you; it is already smoothing away the “sign”.

  1 Secure the vicinity of PLC

  The greatest technical problem you are likely to face is finding the trail. Normally by the time you arrive, the area has been flattened by the feet of “friendly forces”! As soon as you get there the PLC area and its surroundings should be made off-limits to all but the trackers and their cover groups.

  2 Set up an operational HQ

  Commanders using tracking teams should establish a forward support HQ near the area of operation to reduce transportation delays. Apart from normal military considerations the HQ must provide the following tracker support:

  • Radio communications.

  • Transportation, capable of inserting tracker teams, ahead of the target, ideally helicopters.

  • Photocopiers or Polaroid cameras, to distribute photos or drawings of target tracks.

  3 Gather intelligence

  The usual difficulty is not in finding sign, but in distinguishing your target’s sign from normal disturbances. Even in remote areas paths are used regularly by the local population. The more you know about the target, the easier this task will be.

  ASKING QUESTIONS

  You can gain valuable information about your target from the locals and from your own troops. Here are some useful questions to help you build up a picture of the enemy.

  1 Who were they?

  2 What were they wearing?

  3 What unit did they belong to?

  4 How did they look?

  5 Where they armed? If so what with?

  6 What have the local weather conditions been like since they were seen?

  7 What were they doing when you saw them?

  8 Where might they have been going?

  9 What was their average size?

  10 What sex were they?

  11 How tall were they?

  12 How heavy were they?

  13 What sort of build were they?

  14 What was their hair colour/length/type?

  15 Where were they last seen?

  Develop close liaison with the Intelligence Officer. He will be able to give you valuable information, such as what the enemy ration wrappers look like, what footwear they use, and so on. When the operation is over you will hold a debrief to enhance the picture of the enemy.

  The IO’s information is invaluable, but more up to date information can be obtained by interviewing the troops or civilians who have had the most recent contact with the target(s).

  Take care: if you ask a leading questions you run the risk of influencing the subject’s reply. If you ask a village about jungle terrorists, for example, you should ask: “What was their footwear?” You are likely to receive an accurate answer ranging from “none” to “jungle boots”. But if you ask “What boots were they wearing?” you are influencing the answer, and if they cannot remember you may even fool yourself into believing they are wearing boots.

  The fast “follow up”

  As soon as possible, organize a search for the trail. If you are the only tracker, you will have to follow the trail faster than it was made. Most teams begin by dividing the tasks: one or two teams may cut for sign in a
circle around the PLC while others might cut along the edges of paths, roads or rivers in the area.

  Once the trail has been found, the clock really begins to tick. With the general direction of the target’s movement identified, the search teams can concentrate their effort in a narrow corridor. The team that has the trail “tapes” their start point and begins following up.

  Meanwhile, the other teams begin to cut across the search corridor some distance ahead of the follow-up team. If one of these teams discovers the trail they begin follow-up, and the first follow-up team leap-frogs past them to “cut-ahead”. In this way the distance between trackers and target is reduced very rapidly.

  Live tracking

  As you round the bend in the track something catches your eye; there is some darkness around the base of a rock, perhaps showing that it has been moved. Carefully examining the surrounding area, you find the trail. There is no room for mistakes now. First of all, radio in your position and the details of the trail as you see it, number the targets, speed of travel, etc. HQ will be able to tell you whether your information corresponds to previous info. It may be that the enemy group has split up or joined a larger force.

  Next mark the trail using coloured tape so that another tracker team will know the trail has been discovered, or so that you can easily resume tracking the next day.

  Estimate the age of the trail and keep an eye on this factor; it will enable you to judge whether or not you are gaining ground. Your life may well hang on this thin thread of data.

  From now on you must be alert to all that is going on around you. Make sure the cover group understand that they are your eyes and ears while you are concentrating on the trail. Be as silent as possible, use hand signals to communicate and at all costs keep the radio from bursting out or crackling. Tracking is tiring, so it’s not a bad idea to take a rest every 10 minutes or better still, rotate point duty with another tracker.

  As you close the distance, make sure to keep your cover group informed, otherwise they may not be alert, which will put all your lives at risk. Tracking is like reeling in a fish: you have to be careful not to move too fast. Gradually close in on the target until you establish visual contact (binoculars can be useful here), and radio in their exact location. It is here that your task will normally end, with the deployment of a fire force.

  When the operation is over there will be a debrief. You may be able to shed some light on the enemy’s SOP, and the tracking team will hopefully be allowed some rest. Expect no glory for tracking!

  Chapter 11

  SURVIVAL

  SHELTER

  Finding shelter from sun in the desert, or from the freezing cold of the Arctic, is even more important in such places than looking for food or water. Exposure to extremes of heat or cold can kill you in hours, and not just in exotic latitudes.

  Even “soft” climates like that of the south of England can be deadly on a bad winter’s night. You’ll discover in this section how to protect yourself from extreme conditions, and how to make yourself comfortable and secure in more friendly environments too.

  CHOOSING A SHELTER SITE

  You must start to look for somewhere to hide or spend the night at least two hours before it gets dark. This will give you time to find the spot, clear away enough undergrowth or rocks to make a sleeping area, and time to get the material together to make your shelter as well.

  There’s one more thing you may have to look for in a survival site: protection from enemy forces. Where this is important you have to consider these factors:

  1 Concealment from the enemy

  2 Camouflaged escape routes

  3 Ability to signal to friendly forces

  And don’t forget ordinary things like protection from the elements, insects, rock falls, and wild animals.

  A survivor will always look out for certain types of ground, and avoid them by instinct. Flash floods can be upon you in seconds as a result of heavy rain falling miles away. So you must avoid apparently dry gullies in and around the foothills of a mountain range. Avalanches and landslides don’t give you a lot of warning, either, so if you’re forced to sleep in country that might produce either one, make sure your shelter site will give you protection from anything that might come down from above.

  Be wary of river banks, in case the water level rises suddenly. The same applies to the sea shore; make certain you’re above the high water mark.

  The season of the year has to be considered, too. In winter, you need protection from winds coming out of the north, and a source of fuel for your fire; in the summer, what you need most is a water supply and protection from biting, stinging insects. The ideal shelter in one season might be a completely different spot at another time of year.

  TYPES OF SHELTER

  The type of shelter you’ll build depends very much on the kind of material you have available. If you have a poncho, a groundsheet or a parachute, or even a plain sheet of plastic, you’re at a very big advantage.

  In general, don’t make shelters bigger than you need to. This is especially important in winter. A one-man parachute tent, for instance, can be kept just about bearable by the heat from a single candle. If you use it in a snow-fall, though, you’ll have to keep the weight of snow off it constantly, so that it doesn’t all cave in on top of you. The smaller your shelter, the easier this job will be.

  The simplest form of shelter is a lean-to made from a poncho, a length of rope and two trees. First of all, make sure that the back of the lean-to will be into the wind. Tie support ropes to two corners of one of the long sides of the poncho. Tie off the neck opening. Secure the two support ropes to two trees at about waist height (lower if concealment is important), and peg out the free side with three short sticks. If there are no trees around, you’ll have to cut poles to use instead.

  “BIVVY” SHELTER

  A poncho can be used to make a two-man shelter known to British soldiers as a “bivvy”. In a wooded area, lay the poncho out on the ground to ensure that you have enough room, then clear the ground area of cones, roots, stones etc. Attach the poncho to four trees by its corners and make sure that it is stretched taut.

  In a tactical situation it should be no more than 50 cm (20 in) above the ground. Tie the hood off and tie it to a branch to raise the centre of the poncho so that the rain can run off.

  MAKING A PONCHO SHELTER

  If you are in an unfamiliar environment, begin looking for your shelter site at least two hours before sunset. It is important to know how to construct a variety of different shelters so that you can use whatever is to hand.

  Improvised lean-to

  Making the maximum use of available cover, this lean-to is built against a wall on a simple framework of branches.

  Poncho lean-to

  A poncho tied between two tree makes a quick and easy shelter. Tie a short (10 cm) stick to each rope, about 1 cm from the poncho: this will stop rain water running down the rope into the shelter.

  Poncho tent

  This is lower than a lean-to and gives protection from the weather on both sides. On the other hand, it has less space and restricts your field of view.

  Low silhouette shelter

  Positioned no more than 50 cm above the ground, a poncho can make a good shelter. The diagram shows a one-man shelter made with a parachute and three logs.

  In a desolate area where there are no trees, lay the poncho on the ground and, using it as a template, trace out its outline. Deturf the area 15 cm (6 in) or so inside the cut line, and build a low turf wall around the shape of the poncho, leaving one end open. This will be the entrance to the poncho/tent and should be positioned facing the direction of any enemy threat.

  Place one 60 cm (2 ft) tent pole at each end and peg down the corners and sides to make the poncho into a tent. The sides should overlap the layers of turf and the poncho is again pulled taut and the hood tied off. Do not rest anything against the poncho or it will let in the rain.

  If you have a parachute, you can
make a very spacious teepee-type tent by lashing three poles – between three and four metres (10 to 12 ft) long – together into a tripod, and then spreading the material over this frame. Extra poles will give more support, but you can just lean these against the first three; there’s no need to lash them.

  You can tie the top of the parachute to the branch of a tree, and then keep the lower edge spread out with pegs. This type of tent doesn’t work well if you need to conceal yourself – it’s height and sharp lines make it very easy to see.

  Even if you’re on the move all the time, you can still use your parachute to make a rough and ready shelter. Fold the canopy into a triangle and run a line, something over head height, from a tree to the ground, five or six metres (17 ft) away. Drape the parachute over the line and peg out the sides.

  If you have a little more time, cut a pole about five metres long and use that instead of rope to make the ridge. Cut two shorter poles and use these instead of pegs to keep the sides out. Tuck the canopy sides around the side poles until the fabric is taut, and then use the extra fabric as a groundsheet. Wedge another pole between the two lower ones to keep the mouth of the bivouac open.

  The Basha

  If you have no man-made materials, you can still make a very effective shelter, a basha, although it will take a great deal longer. Don’t be too ambitious to start with. Just make a simple lean-to at first; you can always make another side to it later on, if you don’t have to keep on the move.

  Find two trees that are close together and face in the right direction – the line between them should be at right angles to the prevailing wind. Cut a straight pole, about 2½ cm (1 in) in diameter, and long enough for you to lash to the two trees, one or two metres off the ground. Cut six or eight three-metre poles and lean them against the first one. Weave saplings, vines and twigs through and around the sloping poles. Then cover these with leaves, grass, pine needles or anything else that’s to hand, starting at the bottom and working up. Put more of this same material inside to make your bed. A similar basha can be built by supporting the end of the ridge-pole on an A frame, the other being driven into a bank or hillside.