Force on Force Training

I know this is a long post, but it is well worth your time to read it. I love the stuff Max puts out, and his training concepts. It is important that we "DO", and not just "TALK", just like Max talks about in this post. Please go to him for training if there is any way at all you can possibly do it. Training is vital like I have said so many times in the blog, we have to be ready. So, please go to his site, and check out the classes he offers, where they are, and when they are, and do everything you can to get to some of them.

So the following post comes from two different posts, the first one from the MVT Forums, and the second, or main post is from the MVT Blog, see link in the body.

In comments on the forum version of ‘Tactical Notes: Force on Force Team Tactics‘ Diz and Robert make some pertinent comments.

Diz: You know, this is the irony of the internet. This is probably one of the most important posts on this subject ever to be published on line. Yet I would wager that the vast majority of guys in the co-called tactical community, or even the patriot movement if you want to go there, are off in the weeds arguing over stupid things, or discussing the latest spring fashions.

I don’t know how you could get closer to an actual firefight than this. Theory and opinion are one thing. What actually works in realistic training is another. Regardless of all the pet theories on-line, or what your buddy told you, etc, it either works, or it doesn’t.

Kudos to Max for doing this. And to all the lab rats who went through the first class. You guys (and gals) all rock.

Robert: Can I get an amen!

I wrote that fiction story that comprised our first engagement Sunday at the class, with some embellishments added in (retreat, drone, FLIR) to make the material applicable to SHTF stuff. I posted it far and wide on the internet and got a lot of Monday morning QB’ing from people not there (of course) but my FAVORITE was one guy on a survival forum telling me that

“almost nobody has that level of training…”
Really? Well damn who knew???

I can hear the discussion in the PAW, “Frank, Ted, Bill, Ed, Jones and Smith got whacked out.” “Who killed them?”

“Almost nobody got them…”

These things illustrate the entrenchment of the patriot and survival community behind their walls of self delusion, bitterly defending their (false) pride and ego.

But alas, there is always a remnant!!! :good: And it’s those 5% or less that will learn the lessons ahead of time, that will keep their mouths shut and LEARN, that will be willing to risk their vanity and false pride to put their skills in the crucible.

THOSE are the ones we need to focus on, let the talkers keep talking- that’s all they ever do. Blah blah blah “I would have done this…” blah blah blah “almost nobody has that level of training…” blah blah blah “why do I need to know that…” blah blah blah. They will realize one day no one is both listening or caring a rip….

The ones that truly want to make it, WILL put in the work, will make the sacrifices necessary, those are the ones that attend training, that are constantly trying to better themselves, to prepare, etc.

So I ask you, please help to spread the word. Best to use the blog version of the post, which can be found HERE. Link: http://www.maxvelocitytactical.com/2016/03/tactical-notes-force-on-force-team-tactics/

You will also note that I have social media buttons at the bottom of the blog posts, which you are able to use.

There is something very relevant in those comments. Here at MVT we are running a unique thing, real combat proven well thought out tactical training. We have invested heavily in training equipment such as the electronic pop-up targets, the training facility, the steel target shields to take the show on the road, the UTM bolts. The real deal. The problem is getting the word out, and weaning people off of the ‘tacticool’ BS.

If you find this website/blog/forum/training helpful, then please help to spread the word. Put it out there on other sites.

We know that there is whole lot of ignorance out there, and worse than that, there is the deliberate desire by those we may call ‘mainstream’ ‘tacticool’ trainers to prevent the emergence of training such as MVT. I know, I have experienced it. These are the same law enforcement focused trainers who do not believe that civilians should be taught small unit tactics, or anything above buddy pairs. These are the same clowns who only allow ‘vetted’ civilians to join them to run through SWAT fantasy camp, where BS dangerous ‘tactics’ are taught.

I am absolutely convinced that MVT has it right, and is offering unique and real combat proven training, and the word needs to be spread, and the ignorance needs to be pushed back.

Thank you.

Max

Team Coyote

Max Velocity Tactical

Tactical Notes: Force on Force Team Tactics

Posted by Max in Small Unit Tactics, Tactical Comment, Training, Uncategorized on March 29, 2016

Combat Team Tactics (CTT) can be viewed as the MVT ‘basic training’ class, which acts as a gateway to the more advanced classes. CTT puts everyone on the same page with a solid view of ‘what right looks like’ and ensures that everyone has a good grasp of safety and TTPs moving forward. CTT is a prerequisite for both Combat Patrol (CP) and Force on Force Team Tactics (FoF). Both CP and FoF complement each other, with CP teaching TTPs that will help during FoF, and FoF giving immediate feedback on whether or not you are doing things right or not.

You may have noticed that I have reduced prices on the 3 day CTT class (from $600 to $500), and made an effort to promote the Rifle Skills (RS) day along with CTT as a 4 day training event, total price $600, which is the same as the previous 3 day CTT price. This is an effort to not only promote the idea of more and better training, but to get students in through the gateway of CTT in order to allow them to progress to the more advanced classes, such as CP and FoF. CP is a 4 day class at $650 and FoF is a 2 day class at $350 (plus the UTM ammo purchase).

Thus, I want students to see the RS/CTT class not as something that must be crammed in at the weekend, in order to ‘tick the box’ but as a significant training event that requires investment of time. With tactical training, you cannot simply ‘tick the box’ by showing up once. I suggest a professional class such as CTT, CP or FoF at least annually, with your own regular training thrown in. Otherwise, these skills will perish. Many students who return to CTT time after time will attest to how perishable these skills are, and how much more you understand and retain if you return. A single attendance equals a superficial grasp of the concepts, that will soon degrade if it is not reinforced by both home and return training classes. It is possible to reach a very high skill level at small unit tactics, but you have to put the time in on the ground to do so.

This leads me on to FoF Team Tactics. I am enthused by the class not only because of the value of the class itself to the training and readiness levels of the students, but also because of how well it progresses the student from CTT/CP, and illustrates many areas in which lip service can be paid during the live fire training. The live training such as CTT/CP has such value in terms of the basic understanding of TTP’s, of safety, of battle inoculation and operating in an immersive small unit tactics (SUT) environment. However, for the very reason that the CTT/CP class may be only the first, perhaps second exposure of a student to such things, it means that some of it escapes them, or lip service is paid, which is where FoF comes in and delivers the hammer blow, and really nails this down. In effect, there is so much going on in CTT/CP that is new to the student, that some of it will escape him; FoF illustrates the basics, and the importance of them.

Tactical Notes from FoF Team Tactics:

I found myself going over many of the same basic points again and again at FoF Team Tactics, which are the same points that I hammer at CTT and CP classes, and it took a lot of ‘dying’ on behalf of the students to really hoist these things in. At CTT, a mix of poor physical preparation on behalf of the student, plus the ‘firehose’ information dump of the class, often result in poor attention to some of the basic areas that will keep them alive in combat, such as taking effective cover, and moving rapidly from cover to cover, or no movement without effective suppressing fire. Ivan does not shoot back, but in FoF when the live enemy is putting UTM rounds at you, and they are striking you in the face, or zipping past your head, it really makes the point. Here are some notes:

Rehearsal of team SOPs is vital.

Make a plan, and have a leader. Follow the leader, and allow him to direct you to achieve the mission, which means paying attention.

Effective scanning is essential. Head out of your weapon! Situational awareness, which includes scanning to the flanks, or you will be rolled up. How many times do cadre tell the students “get your head out of your weapon” and “scan means scan” on a CTT class? Tunnel vision and staring at where Ivan last was seems to be the trend!

Ensure you look in often for hand signals, otherwise you will be in your own zone, and have no clue what is going on.

Hand signals are essential during silent patrolling. The leader needs to be able to signal intent. Some of the things that you will need to consider hand signals for, that you may not have considered before, are as follows (examples will be given at FoF classes):
•Axis of advance / on line.
•Enemy direction
•Hasty ambush
•Bounding overwatch – forwards and backwards
•Peeling
•Flanking
•Move up / get on line / change axis

None of these hand signals will work if team members are not paying attention, by regular scanning of their sectors and to their buddies. If you get a hand signal, react to it and make it happen.

When it goes noisy, you need to be able to yell. Team members must listen, and every man is a link man and must pass the direction on. You may still have use for hand signals at this time, particularly if units become separated on something like a flanking move. Ensure that if you see something, you also communicate it effectively to other team members and the team leader. No secrets!

Do not be too hasty to rush to your death – do not attempt fire and movement if the enemy is not effectively suppressed. Rounds whacking into your team members every time they get up to run forward means the enemy is not suppressed, and in fact you are under effective enemy fire.

Ensure you identify cover before you move to it – and do not be hasty to rush to your death.

Ensure that if you have any type of stoppage, you improve your position of cover. Kneeling in the open to take care of a malfunction is not the recipe for a long life. This is taught all the way from the square range.

Suppressing the enemy means exactly that – effective accurate fire that will change the behavior of the enemy to where he can no longer suppress you.

To suppress the enemy you have to ensure team members have located him/them – use target indication ( 3 D’s) and ensure the information is communicated along the line. If team members are having their own individual fights with ‘their’ enemy, it means as one group gets up to bound forwards, ‘their’ enemy is not suppressed, and will kill them. SCAN! Do not get tunnel vision.

You must suppress the entirety of the enemy facing your team if you are to move without casualties. Due to inherent safety angles of moving groups (target obscuration), this will entail breaking the F&M down into smaller groups along the line as you get closer (i.e. breaking down from pairs to buddy fire and movement as the team gets closer – now taught on both the CTT and FoF classes).

Ensure that you are actually doing ‘short bounds’ and not ‘hero bounds.’ Move fast and low from cover to cover. ‘Keep low, move fast.’

Never underestimate the actual and psychological effect of a flanking move. BUT: ensure you are watching your flank so it does not happen to you, and ensure that separating groups does not lead to blue on blue situations.

Positively Identify (PID) your target before you engage. Not everything out there is the enemy, and just because it is moving, it may well be an injured team member that you just lit up.

Untrained armed teams will be responsible for a large amount of fracticide, both due to incompetence when first encountering the enemy and attempting to effectively return fire, and also due to indiscriminate target engagement. A large focus of MVT training is on buddy awareness, and breaking the tunnel vision of your ‘relationship’ with ‘Ivan’ so that you do not kill your buddies. This is something that is not understood in the ‘tacticool’ world of the square range, and is applicable to real combat.

Training, or ‘operant conditioning’ will reduce freezing, something that was also apparent on the FoF class. Yes, you should not be too hasty to rush to your death and you should suppress the enemy as best you can before you move, and you should identify your next piece of cover before you move to it, but at the same time, if you are doing a maneuver, such as a peel, then do it, don’t freeze and become unresponsive to the team. That will likely lead to the team’s death in place.

If you have a competent leader with a plan, then you as a team member should allow him to ‘use you’ as a ‘tool’ to accomplish that plan. If you are a follower, be a follower. That still allows you, as a ‘battlefield sensor’ to input information on newly located enemy, or flanking moves, or whatever, but you should do that and remain as a responsive weapon that the team leader can use to accomplish the mission. In team tactics, the leaders are using the ‘resources’ to put effective fire on the enemy and maneuver to accomplish the mission. Team members must be an active and useful part of that scheme, or the maneuver will stall, and you will start to die.

You can only develop the competence stated in the paragraph above, where everyone is a useful and active/attentive member of a team, alert to the situation, if you have trained and moved past the tendency to be an unresponsive blob, locked in tunnel vision.

That’s all that comes to mind right now, but I will update as appropriate if/when I realize that I have missed something.

You may note that most of what I have mentioned here is to do with the actual practical application of fire and movement, and SUT. This is not the sort of thing that will be grasped by reading manuals or watching videos. It needs to be trained, and it needs to be trained enough, through a mixture of live firing and FoF training, so that students will grasp this at a deep and unconscious level, thus significantly enhancing their chances of survival in a combat situation.

I cannot stress enough how I urge you, if you are a one-time or some-time-ago alumni or simply a blog or forum reader, to invest the time to get to a training class. It should be at least an annual event, with home based training for the rest of the year. If you can get CTT, CP and FoF done in the first year, you are hitting the jackpot and will be making significant advances not only towards the survivability of your tribe, but also in becoming dangerous to your enemies.

‘Team Coyote’

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Practice, Practice, Practice!

When was the last time you actually performed good quality training on weapon manipulation drills? Reloads (under stress), clearing weapon malfunctions, re-checked your zero? Has it been a long time? I hope your answer is no longer than a month ago for most of the items I listed above, and more like a week on the rest of them.

Just because you have taken a class or two, or have trained with your buddies, and long ago learned how to perform these actions does not mean that you are done and you will be able to react correctly in a stressful encounter.

These are perishable skills guys and gals, if you do not perform them on a regular basis you will become less and less effective at these skills. What you really want to do is to get to the point of “Unconscious Competence”. This is when you will just react and perform the action correctly in a timely manner without thinking about it.

Sometimes you will need to go back and cover the basics, professionals do it all the time. They practice the basics until they can not get it wrong (well very rarely anyway). That is what makes them the best at what they do. Even the most highly trained operator will continuously train on the basics as well as the more exciting stuff. They train each way, each action so many times that it becomes second nature. Most people do not have the time and money to train this often, but we need to be doing what we can, we need to be training as often as possible. Train on the basics by yourself, practice employing your weapon systems in various conditions, and reloads at home, this can be done anywhere anytime, so there is no excuse guys and gals.

I highly encourage you to get effective tactical training, but to also take the knowledge from there and train your team/group/family/friends in those skills. Become the "force multiplier" for your group by getting this higher end training, then going back and training them on the things you learned.

Check out a past post here on The Tactical Patriot about training, and links to training sites and schools here in the United States.

Training link post

Here is a little motivational video for you Patriots out there, keep in the fight! We need you to be ready!


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Guerrilla Warfare Information

I found these sites, and had to share them with you. These sites have tons of great information, and reference material that will help you improve your training, and give you some vital information you will need. Gain as much information from these sites as you can, take full advantage of what is available. Print everything you can so you can have a hard copy for when/if we no longer have access to electronic information.

Rural vs Urban Guerrilla

CIA Guerilla Warfare Manual

Guerilla Warfare Manual

Guerrilla

Guerrilla Warfare
By Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Here is a HOOYAA video for you guys. This is the attitude we all should have!


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Dogs and Tracking Part 2

Here is part 2 of the Tracking Dogs article. Please read, and take into account when working on your preparedness plans.

Cross a River

I specifically brought this one up. They laughed at this as a common misconception. They will have maps, and if they think you ran in the direction of a river, there is probably someone working their way up already without a dog. They will just run a dog up and down both sides of the river until they regain the trail. If they are close on your trail, they will send runners up and down both sides to see where you exited by finding the water trail and will actually gain time on you. Moving through water on foot slows you down, as well. Not even a swamp was a serious hindrance to the dogs’ ability to track.

Tarzan (tree top to tree top)

This didn’t work, because even in the jungle it couldn’t be kept up for long. The dogs would come to the tree and stop. At that point the handlers would fan out and start over, as they did when the dog originally found the trail. There were few options on which tree to go to, so it was obvious where they’d take the dog to start first. Hiding in a tree didn’t work for this same reason.

Climb or Descend

This didn’t work because they would just go around and start looking for a trail once at the bottom. They would run the dog along both the top and the bottom of the cliff, until they regained the trail. Looking at a rock face will tell them a likely climbing route.

Shedding Clothes

Many are of the mind that if you drop clothes, the dog will “find” the target, as in training, and give up. The handler will immediately set the dog on the new trail or use a different dog.

In the case of a bite dog, most dogs are trained to grab meat not clothing. They are trained to bite firm, solid, and to reacquire if they don’t have a good bite. If you think you are going to drop a jacket or shoes and the dog is going to focus on that while you get away, you are probably wrong.

Covering the Scent

A dog’s nose is sensitive to the range of parts per million. They WILL smell you through anything, including large amounts of bleach or ammonia. If the fumes are too strong, the handlers will skirt the area and have the dog regain the trail. They will swing as wide as possible to relocate you. Even changing clothes completely doesn’t help.

Outrun the Dog

This isn’t going to happen. The dogs have four legs and conditioning. Their diet is specific, and they live for the purpose they were trained for and are eager to please. You will tire out long before a dog will, even in the heat of a jungle. If for some reason the dog goes down, they will replace it with another.

Doubling Back

The dog will just follow the double back and eventually find the trail again. Once again, the handlers will see this coming and fan out to find where you eventually broke off. They may use multiple dogs to follow multiple trails.

Bait the Dog (including poison)

Most dogs are trained not to take food from anyone other than a handler. Dogs are usually not rewarded with food. Working dogs get a minute or so to play with a favorite toy or ball, as a reward for doing so well. Tracking dogs are almost always on a leash and the handler is right there to prevent it from eating anything.

Dogs also shouldn’t be allowed to contaminate evidence, so they are trained not to touch things. In the case of bombs or drugs, you can see why they wouldn’t want the dogs to come in contact with what they have found, possibly causing an explosion or poisoning themselves. Therefore the dog, once it finds what it is looking for, will give a sign, usually sitting down. Most signs are not verbal (from the dog). This is especially the case with bomb dogs, or when they are sneaking up on someone. If the dog encounters something it will probably just sit down next to it until the handler gets there to reward the dog for doing a good job and then continue on.

The dog may stop at each item and await directions from the handler. It would take more items than you can reasonably carry to make a difference in slowing them down. Also, you would be leaving a serious trail to follow.

Kill The Dog

To get close enough to kill a dog, you are going to have to get close to the handler and anyone else with him (see Kill the Handler). This might buy you some time, but the only thing it is going to do is harden their will to find you. In many states attacking a police or military dog is considered the same as attacking an actual officer. Even if it isn’t, once you show your willingness to use lethal force you have probably guaranteed a much harder or lethal response if they do catch you. Now you have royally pissed off a handler, done thousands of dollars in damage to government equipment, and may have shown them you are armed and willing to kill.

After you have gone and done that, they will bring in another dog and the game will start over, except now the ending is much more grim.

Kill The Handler

I’ll let you guess the serious consequences of doing this. Attacking someone, regardless of whether you kill them, is going to get you a lethal response. If the dog is bite trained, it will defend the handler, especially if the handler gets a command off. It is to be noted that there will never be just one handler or a handler by himself with the dog. The handler works the dog and is usually followed by several armed people who will do the apprehending. These people are almost always in radio contact with many other people. If they get a call out, your location will be pinpointed. If you somehow eliminate everyone with a radio, the fact that a team is not reporting in will be an indicator, too. Now that you have ensured your capture, you have murder on your list of offenses, as well.

Booby Traps

This has the same effect as attacking the dog or handler. You have to have the materials, knowledge, and time to set things like this up. Once a tracking team encounters something like this, it will slow them down as they anticipate more of the same. Even if your trap doesn’t kill or injure someone, you will suffer the same effects as if you had actually used lethal force on an officer.

Factors That May Help You

I’ve listed some things that really don’t help your situation. Here are some that may:

•Time- This is by far the biggest concern of the handlers I spoke with. The older the trail, the harder it is to follow. A day makes a big difference. A week makes it all but impossible. The fresher the trail, the easier it is to follow.
•Heavy Rain- This destroys scent trails. It’s not fool proof, but it is a big inhibitor. It spreads things out, and if you have heavy cover (like a forest or jungle), it will mix things up and bring other things down.
•Heavy Wind- This can disperse scent or give the dog trouble holding the trail.
•Open Areas- You might not think so, but this kind of terrain can be helpful. There just isn’t as much to rub up against or “hold” the scent. Rain and wind have a greater effect in this terrain. The down side to these areas is that you can be spotted easier.

Factors That May Hinder You

There are some factors that make things worse, and these include:

•Not having a place to go- Hauling butt into the deep woods at high speed for days is going to get you what? Yes, they didn’t catch you, but you got yourself killed from exposure.
•Heavy/unique scent- The stronger the odor of whatever you have, the more of a trail you’ll lay down and the harder it is for time or mother nature to get rid of it.
•Regularly Traveled Trails- Not only are these visible to the eye, they are often scented by you multiple times.
•Lack of Physical Fitness- If you aren’t up for a run, then you aren’t up for a chase.
•Carrying Weight- The more you carry, the more you’re going to have to rest and the slower you’re going to be. If you are shedding things, like water bottles, food wrappers, et cetera, it will only aid in finding you.
•Lack of Supplies- Two days without water, especially if you are on the run, and you’re done. They will be looking for you for more than two days. They will stake out the places you can get something to eat or drink.

Understanding the Chase

What most people think of, when considering being tracked by dogs, is a hillbilly in overalls leading a pack of baying blood hounds. The runner is fearfully trying to catch a few minutes of rest while listening to the dogs get closer and closer. That’s not going to happen.

First of all, all the tracking dogs I worked with never made a sound. The closer the team thinks they are getting, the less sounds they’ll try to make, unless they are trying to flush you. The exception is when tracking dogs are let off the leash, which can bay and howl in pursuit.

Most chases are not long drawn out affairs. It takes a day or two. What will happen is that someone will have decided a man-hunt is called for. A command post will be established. They will seal down a large area and start patrolling roads, streets, and intersections. They will look at maps and decide where to focus their searches. They will understand how fast a person on foot moves. They will start flushing out hiding spots. Imagine a commander looking down at a map. He knows about what time you started running. He’ll pinpoint the starting position and then, calculating how fast he figures you can run in that amount of time, he’ll draw a circle on the map and inform everyone of the main search area. Other assets from helicopters to neighboring state law enforcement will be close in on that area. When (and if) they decide to use dogs, it will be to initially get a bearing and direction. The dog will locate the trail, and this will cut down the search area significantly.

The dog team will then proceed to track, while all of those other assets close in on you from above and other directions. Depending on the terrain and direction, they may sprint forward and start hitting those hiding spots and choke points. Sending people forward can sometimes mess up a scent trail, but they’ll know this and avoid the most likely routes. Everyone will be in contact with each other via radio. That previously mentioned map will get updated constantly. Searchers will be rotated in and out to keep them fresh, though you get no such break. As time wears on, they know you will have to eat and drink. You may just give up. Eventually they’ll catch you crossing a road, river, lake, or hiding in an abandoned house, cave, bush, et cetera. If it is actually the tracking team that has cornered you or caught up enough to identify you, the escorts accompanying them will move in. This will be handled much like the chases you see on TV. The officers will call it in and everyone will converge while they run you down or hold you in position until you’re surrounded. Maybe a bite dog will be sent in to pin you. The rest is history.

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Dogs and Tracking

Here is some good information I found about tracking dogs over on the Survival Blog. I am posting it because I think it is good information that the American Patriot should know about, and to have knowledge of.

I had read an article some time ago about tracking dogs, and I didn’t get to respond to it then. However, here is my experience. It’s not the dog you are trying to beat; it is the handler.

I have a lot of experience with tracking dogs. I used to guard the copper pipeline in Indonesia. The copper mine (also containing some gold) was on top of a mountain. Once the material was taken from the ground, it was mixed into a slurry and pumped miles through the jungle to the port. This pipeline was under constant attack. People would cut into the pipe, fill some buckets, and run off into the jungle. We would have to track them with dogs, in the hopes of arresting them. Usually it was the military or police doing the cutting, so there was plenty of incentive to get away.

I spoke to most of the dog handlers about how to get away if a person were being tracked. They were adamant that there was very little a person could do to cover their tracks or fool the dogs. We had people climbing trees and jumping from tree to tree in order to break the trail. Some would run through rivers, ponds, and swamps or even climb and descend cliff faces.

You also have to understand that when the authorities decide to put on a manhunt, you are not coming up against just dogs and handlers; you are coming up against entire departments. They won’t send a couple of guys and a dog into the woods after you. They will set up a command post that sends and receives constants updates, as professionals coordinate the search for you. They can put up helicopters with heat cameras. They will drive along roads or get ahead of you and/or send other teams from another direction. They can seal off huge areas and blanket it with searchers or just wait you out. Even if you could take off at high speed into an endless woods, you would eventually run out of supplies.

Many times when someone is on the run, they don’t even use dogs to find them. Almost all of them are caught and caught quickly. The dog tracking team is gravy. If they see that you have only one way to go or few options, they’ll just high-tail to those spots and send fast chase teams after you without a dog.

Understanding Dogs

These dogs are multi-thousand dollar pieces of equipment. All professionally-trained dogs are certified regularly on their ability to do what they are trained to do. All handlers are certified and trained on not only their ability to handle a dog but to handle specific dogs. Both the dog and the handler have training requirements, records, and certifications. Any department worth mentioning is going to have a well-maintained team. Just like any other equipment, these dogs will be regularly evaluated for serviceability.

Some are good at some things, and some are good at others. For instance, drug dogs range widely on their ability to find certain drugs. Some will be good at finding cocaine, while others excel at finding marijuana. If the authorities know what they are looking for or suspect something specific, they will pull out their heavy hitter for that specific thing. If a dog fails, they will use another.

Finding you is a game to the dog. They work for rewards, and that reward is usually a few minutes with a favorite toy. Just like any other trick, the dog is taught and rewarded for doing well. The dog is eager to please and is fairly simple minded in its pursuit of you.

It is not a relentless machine hunting you down. Think of a dog that enjoys playing fetch rather than the “Terminator”.

There are generally four kinds of law enforcement dogs: Attack (Bite), Drug, Bomb, and Tracking. Of course, there are many more specialties, such as agricultural, cadaver, money, et cetera. All of these dogs specialize in finding something.

Most dogs are single purpose, but you will occasionally find one that is cross trained. When dogs are cross trained, they are usually primarily trained in one of the nose-oriented jobs and then taught to be a bite dog. Cross-training is more likely to happen in departments with smaller budgets or K9 facilities.

Tracking dogs are very similar. Some dogs excel at finding people under different conditions. Some do better at finding people in the forest or jungle. Some are used to locating a scent, and others follow it. Some are slower and more reliable, while others are runners and will bolt in the direction of the scent trail and then reacquire it. You may come up against more than one kind of dog. For instance, they may use their sure-fire slow and steady dogs to negotiate difficult terrain or an area they think a runner is using counter-measures. They then may switch to fast dogs over terrain where there is limited choice of direction or to finally run someone down when they see him. You may get tracked by a tracking dog, and then upon seeing you they may release the bite dogs.

Tracking dogs can be of any breed. I’ve seen mixed-breed mutts taken from shelters and trained to sniff out one thing or another.

Bite Dogs

These are the dogs you will most likely encounter at the end of the chase. They are the ones most likely not to be on a leash when you do. They can be used to flush you out of a bush, attic, or any other hiding place. If the tracking dogs come to a stop and are going nuts barking at a bush, cave, et cetera, it’s the bite dog coming in after you. A bite dog is normally released when a target is in site and distinguishable to the dog by the handler.

Almost always the dog will latch onto you and hold you until the handler arrives. Bite dogs are trained to grab you in a specific way, usually by an arm or a leg. I saw one dog that was trained to grab a person by the ankle and rotate in circles until the handler got there. This caused the victim to fall down and be spun around. This is so that the victim cannot kick at the dog.

If available, or if they think there will be trouble, or if a dog is having a hard time, or you are attacking the dog, they will release another one or just shoot you (with a bullet or taser). No matter what you do, once a dog has been told to stop you, you are going to be seriously hindered as far as escaping any further. The handler and the rest of the team will be right on top of you, either way.

Bite Dog Training

There are several things that make up a good bite dog.
1.Its ability to bite you, when commanded to do so, and where/how trained to do so.
2.Its ability to firmly hold that bite as long as necessary.
3.Its ability to reacquire a bite, if it loses it.
4.Its ability to let go and back off when commanded to do so.

The following problems may occur:

Problems with #1– The dog bites without command. It may bite other officers, or the handler, or you. It may bite you in an “unauthorized” place, such as the crotch or throat.

Problems with #2– The dog bites but does not grip. This may cause the dog to repeatedly bite you over and over again, causing injury.

Problems with #3– Sometimes once a dog loses the bite, it will not bite again, which is bad for the officers.

Problems with #4– The biggest and most common failure (in my experience) is #4. With an aggressive breed and after a chase, the dog just will not let go. The handler constantly yells commands at the dog, and the dog doesn’t listen. This causes a rush of officers on the victim to pin him while the handler physically removes the dog from the person, sometimes injuring him at the same time. I’ve seen dogs bite officers at this point or rush back and bite the victim once he’s in handcuffs.

Most bite dogs are larger, aggressive breeds that have the body weight to seriously challenge a full-grown man. Once it has you by a leg or an arm, you are not lifting 150+ lbs and dragging it around, especially when it doesn’t want you to and is actively fighting you. Even if you could do this, you’re not going to be able to move fast enough to avoid the tracking team.

The Bloodhound

This dog is better at smelling things out, because of the shape of its head, ears, and posture. The of the way the dog is built, it has its head low to the ground and level. Its ears are out and actually catch and keep the scent in its face, keeping a kind of pocket around the face and nose of the dog. On top of this, it has a very powerful nose. In my experience an actual bloodhound is rare. They excel at smelling things, and any department that put money into a bloodhound will always train it to locate something. I’ve never seen a bite trained or cross trained blood hound.

Tracking Dogs

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Four Stages of Competence

This is an important concept to know about, the ideas of having the four stages of competence makes total sense. Read this and you will understand, that this is a very important concept to know about, and to shoot for Unconscious Competence since it is the highest level, and the level at which you just react correctly in situations. This post came from the Max Velocity Blog, see link at end of article

The Four Stages of Competence:

Unconscious incompetence

The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.
Comment: Sound familiar? All those across the internet heaping scorn on those who would tactically train, not recognizing their own incompetence or even the need to train? This is the bulk of ‘the internet.’ The reference to the ‘stimulus to learn’ is also very interesting, if taken in the light of the many comments you see along the lines of “things are still too comfortable right now.” For most of these people when they finally wake up, it will be too late.

Because why? Because PT is a basis for being able to conduct small unit tactics (SUT) and if neglected cannot be gained at short notice. Also, whether or not you can, or think you can shoot, anyone who trains at MVT knows that it is not a shooting class, but a team class about how to ‘shoot, move, and communicate.’ See those linked posts at the top of this page for more information on why that is not as easy at it reads on the internet.

Conscious incompetence

Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.
Comment: This is the stage that many MVT students will come from. They recognize the need for the skill, and the value in gaining it. That value being the increased survival chances of themselves and their family. MVT offers an environment where mistakes can be made and learned from, where the price is not your life, or that of your kids.

The flip side to that is those that recognize the need, but will not train due to ego, or fear of failure at class in front of others. These are the types who try and eke out the knowledge solely from the internet, or who will only ‘train’ when surrounded by people they trust will not embarrass them: and thus, they avoid effective training due to false belief built on ego, and do not recognize that a training environment is designed to tolerate mistakes on the way to success. Perhaps they heard that in the middle of a simulated gunfight on the live ranges at MVT, a cadre would perhaps yell once or twice? Wow. They should have trained in Idaho, where the mobility training area was covered in numerous ‘Big Holes’ created by badgers (class joke – watch out for the ‘Big Hole’).

Conscious competence

The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.
Comment: This is where many alumni are, who have trained and built the basic skills, yet need to conduct continuation training back home in a competence environment, and would benefit from returning for more advanced classes and repetition of the basic classes. These are perishable skills and you cannot just train once and ‘be done.’ Those military or retired military who train may be here also, because they may have skill fade due to not operating any longer, or for some time, in an infantry role.

One of the reasons the 6 day combined CTT/CP class went away at the VTC (with the exception of remote classes) was due to this mindset where people could come in and ‘get it done.’ Yes, it was economical for flights from California etc, but so many times students would show up and then immediately realize that, for example, their PT sucked, but at that time they were locked into the class. It’s not that I don’t bang on about the need for at least a basic level of PT for these classes, but it seems many people are not listening. Oh, wait: Unconscious incompetence in the PT realm! I find it better for people to come and do CTT, go away and fix their PT and gear etc, then come back for either another CTT, or Combat Patrol, or Force On Force etc. If you are doing a combined class as part of remote training in Texas or Idaho, then please listen and go out and do some PT, even if it’s just hiking with some gear on. Please do same for CTT also!

Unconscious competence

The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become “second nature” and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.
Comment: if you show up to class with this level of skill, then you are in danger of being snapped up as cadre, so long as you show an ability to translate that skill into an ability to teach others. You have to be able to look inside yourself at what you are doing, and break it down into teachable parts.

To conclude, the D-K effect, and the Four Stages of Competence, are an interesting way to asses your own level of competence, and also that of those you come across on the internet. However, at the end of the day, always remember that despite your best efforts, “you can’t fix stupid!”

Max Velocity

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Your Team

I have not been able to put much time into writing a new post myself, but I wanted to keep up on posting, so that you guys would have information and training to read and learn. Below is a post from Max Velocity, I know, I know, he is the MAN! I love posting up his stuff because I agree with him on most things, and he is very good at articulating himself.

Here is the article on tactical teams/groups that would be very good for you guys to read and heed:

Max Velocity,

Regardless of the SHTF scenario, anyone can appreciate that having a tactical team/group that is trained, equipped, and ready can be invaluable to one’s survival. So how do you get it started?

An effective tactical team will by nature be made up of fighting men. but what kind of fighting man? He should be a warrior. Notice I did not say soldier and this is an important distinction. What is a warrior? Where do I find them? Or better yet, how do I create them from those I trust and care for?

From Wikipedia:
“A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior class or caste.”

Conversely, soldier is defined as an occupation.

A separate warrior class or caste. In class or caste based societies one’s “class” often is the biggest factor in defining who that person is and their lifestyle. This is the key to the whole thing. Warrior skills, training, and social functions are at the heart of who that person is. It is not a job, it is a lifestyle. Indeed, some soldiers may be warrior’s but not all warrior’s are soldiers. For our purposes, we don’t necessarily want soldiers, we want warriors.

Warriors are defined as such through their activities, and they do these things because that is who they are. Sometimes simply being of the male persuasion will put you in the warrior class, such as in many North American Indian Tribes. Being a warrior, was a defining part of being a man.

Soldiers do many of the same things and serve the same function, but they do it because that is how they earn a living. A soldier without pay quickly takes on another occupation and ceases to be a “fighting man”. Unlike warriors who are usually associated with tribal or clan based societies, soldiers are the typical fighting men of nation states.

So how do we distinguish ourselves as warriors, from the Soldiers, the Airmen, the Marines, Sailors, Police Officers, etc. etc. from other “fighting men” in this nation state society?

Unlike them, we don’t get paid for training. In fact we pay for it. We buy our own ammo, we equip ourselves, we hone our craft on our own time. We feed ourselves through other means and use our precious free time to maintain and advance our warrior skills.

This means daily training. The day you stop training is the day you cease to be part of the warrior class. It’s the day you are no longer a warrior.

We PT everyday right? Or often enough that we continuously improve without causing ourselves injury. (some PT regimens will cause injury if done daily) But PT in of itself is not a warrior skill. Plenty of athlete’s PT. PT does not place them in the vaunted warrior class.

In addition to PT which “people” should be doing, warrior’s should maintain skill at arms. One of the most inexpensive, effective, and quickest ways to do this is through dry fire. I dry fire daily, both fighting rifle and handgun for about 5 minutes each. Did you get paid? No. Did you improve your martial skill set? Yes. Are you doing this everyday? Yes. Welcome to the warrior class.

If you are unfamiliar with dry fire, check out andersonshooting.com and pick up “Refinement and Repetition.” So it’s geared to competition. So what? If your reloading at IPSC grandmaster speed, no one can argue that is not an advantage in combat. Just do it behind cover…

So now you found your first warrior. It is you. Daily you are “drilling” yourself in weapon manipulation. And hopefully this is in addition to the PT you are doing since you are a well rounded human being. Now for the team aspect.

You need another warrior besides yourself. Look for that one person who is committed as you are. The one who will spend 10 minutes every day, on his/her own improving their martial skills. Would it be that crazy if… maybe… on Tuesdays the two of you got together at the range and did a few fire and movement bounds? Maybe set up a drill for accuracy and time and compete against each other? You know, just for 2 hours after work on Tuesdays? Great. Not a big deal. Easy.

Then a third, maybe a fourth warrior? Those who are committed on their own to a warrior lifestyle on a daily basis to just a couple hours once a week for team based training? Any warrior’s worthy of the title can do this.

Say you have expanded at this point. 7 warrior’s are showing up on Tuesdays. Perhaps it is time to break into two for coordination’s sake. Wednesday works better for three of you. So another team forms. One trains weekly on Tuesdays, the other on Wednesdays. Great.

Hmmm how about squad training? Well team TYR trains every Tuesday, and Team Woden trains every Wednesday. Maybe… once a month we can get together for Squad level training? That’s not to hard is it?

Holy shit you have carnation instant fucking CUTT.

If you have had trouble forming a real CUTT, the key ingredient is warrior’s. You need true, defined by action and not words, warrior’s. It starts with you. Leadership begins with example. Don’t waste time on talker’s. Look for the everyday warrior.

It all just falls together. All because of 10 minutes of dry fire every day.

Soldiers don’t impress me. They show up for the cash. Anybody can be a soldier. Who are you? Are you a warrior? Can you then identify other warrior’s, and lead them? As I have shown above, it is really not that hard.

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Flanking

This post is from one of my favorite sources who I make sure gets credit for the information. This is from Max Velocity's forum where he describes in very good detail about the use of the flank in maneuvering and attacking your adversary. This is more of the kind of information that I hope you guys start adding to your training and becoming more proficient at.

Max Velocity Source


In this post I am going to look at the use of the flank.

Small Unit Tactics (SUT) is in fact a skilled art that is largely overlooked due to lack of knowledge and training. One of the ways in which you can focus the effectiveness of your team when utilizing SUT is to use the flank.

Attacking from the flank is a highly effective technique that:

– Should keep you from fighting forwards straight across the main enemy kill zone, by use of a covered approach to a flank.

– Can give you an element of tactical surprise, if you can get to the flank undetected.

– Puts the enemy in a cross fire and allows the support by fire element to shift their fires away from you, but still firing and suppressing the enemy across your front, as you move through the enemy position.

– Never underestimate the psychological effect on the enemy of you assaulting from the flank. They may surrender or flee once they think you might be behind them. You can choose to kill them in place or allow them an escape route depending on your objective: kill the enemy personnel, or capture the location. If you are trying to kill or capture the enemy personnel, consider use of cut-off groups for any squirters.

‘Using the flank’ is a simple thing to state, and to pay lip service to, but there are a lot of tasks and skills that need to be mastered on the way to understanding how it may be used practically. If your training progression stops, like it does for so many, at cool guy stuff on the ‘square range’ you will never understand the use of the flank, however ‘tacticool’ it is to rush from barricade to barricade:

– Fire and movement, at its most basic form of ‘buddy rushes’ is a team movement technique that is in fact a basic drill. That is not a squad attack. Basic fire and movement is used to move about on the battlefield, and is is used to fight through enemy positions, or break contact. A squad attack should not be ‘bags of smoke and straight up the middle’ simply utilizing basic fire and movement. That is not to even mention the madness of the latest ‘squad attack’ fad I have seen on YouTube, where everyone advances stood up on line, shooting. Way too Hollywood!

Even if you think you are at very close range, you should try and get an element to the flank to suppress from there. It may seem a short distance, but rushing into the enemy guns is a long way however far it is. Eternally long! This applies to the ‘hasty attack’ which is an option when coming under enemy contact. My thoughts on breaking the contact into ‘near and far ambush’ are written here. If you can get an element to a flank, even if that is the support by fire element, then do so.

– This does not just apply to a squad hasty attack, depending on your numbers. You can go to a flank even if there are just two of you. Using the flank is a drill that is not automatic, but requires command input and leadership. You must understand the ground (terrain). It is still fire and movement, but you have an element providing support by fire while the other element moves to the flank, via a covered or concealed route.

– When we talk about flanking the enemy, we are mostly concerned with doing so as part of a squad hasty attack. A deliberate attack, or raid, is planned in advance based on recce. As such you will dispose your groups, your support by fire and assault groups, in such as way that you are already at that ninety degree angle and attacking from the flank of your support by fire element. That is part of your planning and rehearsal process.

– A squad hasty attack happens when you patrol into an enemy kill zone and are engaged. The idea is to place an element into a support by fire position and have them win the firefight to suppress the enemy, allowing maneuver. Your assault element(s) will use a covered approach to move to a flank, and assault from there, preferably at a ninety degree angle to your support by fire element. As a battle drill, the squad hasty attack follows these steps:

1) React to effective enemy fire. (Return Fire – Take Cover- Return Appropriate Fire).

2) Locate the enemy. Often the big challenge. Target indications are given: Distance, Direction, Description.

3) Win the firefight: regain the initiative and suppress the enemy. Commanders use fire control orders to achieve this, combined with utilizing rapid and sustained rates of fire. Ammunition = Time under enemy fire.

4) The attack. Broken down into:

– The approach: move to a flank using a covered approach. Move to a forming up point (FUP) before crossing the Line of Departure (LD).

– The assault: fight onto the forward edge of the enemy position (FEEP) from the LD. Fire and movement.

– The fight through: fight through and clear the enemy position to the limit of exploitation (LOE).

5) Reorganization: consolidate on the enemy position. Pay attention to sectors and depth/mutually supporting enemy positions.

– LACE: Liquids, Ammunition, Casualties, Equipment.

Utilizing the assault cycle will help you visualize how to cycle your elements through the various roles in the attack. This is why a 12/13 man squad, divided into 3 teams, is ideal.

So if you have two enemy positions/buildings that you need to assault, you will suppress them both and then move to a flank with your assault element. Your third element will likely be reserve/flank protection at this time. Once your assault element has fought to the LOE on the first position (or cleared the first building), they will most likely now move to a support by fire role to suppress the second position. It depends on the ground/spatial relationships. You then have the option of pulling in your reserve element as your next assault element. If the initial support by fire element is now out of sector and of no more use, move them to reserve/flank protection.

Note: with green/partially trained troops make an effort, if possible, to move them up to their assault launching point (LD) without moving them through the already cleared initial enemy position(s). Battle inoculation is good, but if it hasn’t happened up to that point, don’t let them see the results before it is too late and they are in it with no choice but to fight through. Seeing weapons effects up close and personal before they are expected to ‘go over the top’ themselves is not a good idea. Other than that, you ‘gotta be in it to win it,’ right?

Using the flank is primarily a concern when assaulting (attacking) an enemy but you must also understand how the enemy may use a flank attack against you, and guard against it with your defensive dispositions. Remember: all round security and mutually supporting positions. Flank Protection! This is important for the prepper crowd who may not have a real defensive plan in place. I talk about this at class: those winking muzzle flashes in the tree line above your log cabin may not be the totality of the ‘gun fight.’ They may in fact be the support by fire element, and if you don’t keep eyes out, the next thing you may know is the side of your building being breached by an assaulting force.

In order to be able to use the flank, you need to train yourself to think like an infantryman. You need to be able to conduct a rapid combat estimate and then implement it under fire.

In order to be able to think like an infantryman, you should train to understand the following elements:

– Understand ground/terrain with a ‘soldiers eye.’ You are looking at the shape of the ground and how it positionally relates.

– ‘Dead ground’ – what cannot be seen from potential enemy positions.

– Covered and concealed approaches. Relates to dead ground.

– Micro terrain: folds in the ground will provide cover. Running, crawling, low crawl?

– Spatial relationships between where the enemy is, where you are, and what options you have for covered approaches. It’s never going to be a 100% solution!

– Effects of direct fire and fire angles.

– Divide the potential approaches up: far left, near left, center, near right, far right.

– Once you have looked at potential approaches, overlay that with where the enemy position(s) are, where you are, what are your potential support by fire locations, what impact does that have on the assault angle, and what impact does that have on the next part of the assault cycle i.e. sequencing?

You are looking to get that ninety degree angle between your support by fire and assaulting elements. But you also have to consider where the enemy position(s) are and what effect that has. If there are two offset mutually supporting enemy positions, and the ground is ideal to go left flanking, but that means that the support by fire element cannot suppress the depth because it would effectively be positioned behind the assaulting element, then the assaulting element would get cut down by the depth enemy position. So does that mean we need to go right flanking? Or do we have a third team, the reserve/flank protection team, who we can send up with the assault element to suppress the depth enemy position while the initial assault goes in? Then maybe they assault the depth, with support by fire from the first assaulting team?

If when you are doing your estimate you realize that the enemy is too much to bite off, then this is where you consider breaking contact. You give orders to that effect and sequence your teams out using fire and movement. Similarly, if you are moving to a flank and run into the enemy mother lode, then you will need to break contact.

Make a decision. Yes. Do not dither and prevaricate.

But no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Do not be afraid to be flexible if that is the sensible course of action. New information!

But if you are going to be able to change the direction of the juggernaut, you need to be able to communicate that, and you need element team leaders who you can reach out to and signal your intent. Otherwise a sudden decision to break contact could leave an element swinging in the breeze. If you can’t communicate a change, you will have to go through with the plan.

As the squad leader, you will position yourself at the point of main effort. This will change. This is why it is ideal to be able to operate like a platoon leader, where you can move independently from team to team rather than being stuck as a part of one team. It is not your job to fire your weapon. You are there to influence and direct the battle. You will only fire your weapon, and get directly stuck in, if things start to go wrong and direct leadership is required. Heroes are only needed when it starts to go wrong! The squad leader will normally lead the assault element to the flank and direct the assault. Let the team leader run his assault, commanding in his own sphere. The squad leader will then direct the next phase, perhaps the reserve team now going to assault the next position.

As a squad leader, if you have the resources, it is useful to have an element that you can use to directly influence the battle. If you had a machine gun you could keep a machine gun group with you. This may mean in this context having a designated marksman (DM) under your direct control. You will then deploy this asset to influence the battle, perhaps to a flank. You could send the DM to bolster the support by fire element, or to watch a flank, or to suppress a newly discovered enemy position that is harassing the assault element, for example.

Movement under enemy fire is not about speed, it is about momentum. It may at times be about individual speed, such a running across an open area, but overall it is about momentum, Momentum is keeping the pressure of your suppressive fire on the enemy as you steadily maneuver to close with and destroy him. If you have a ‘shoot and scoot’ type enemy, you will never be able to close with and destroy him. Multiple enemy from multiple firing points at longer ranges is a problem. Just look at Helmand, where heavily laden troops find it hard to maneuver on the enemy, who is running around in sandals and scooting about on motorbikes. You need to balance your fighting load and your tactical fitness levels in order to remain mobile. If you are going to close with and destroy the enemy, you need to suppress him in place (Fix) in order to allow you to do so (Strike). By the time your assault element gets up there, you want the enemy to be dead or suppressed in cover. He may surrender as the assault team closes, or try to run. If he stays to fight and makes the assault team fight through, it’s big boys rules. Did you give him a chance to take a course of action other than fighting to the death? No live enemy left behind you as you fight through.

This is also one of the reasons that fire must be effective. It is not about volume/noise of fire. It is about accurate fire. Fire discipline. If you are shooting at positively identified enemy (PID) then your round count will be lower than in training anyway. Support by fire commanders will control fire to lessen the amount of ammunition used while effectively suppressing what needs to be suppressed. It is like being the conductor of an orchestra. Under enemy contact, ammunition is time. No-one is pushing a pallet of ammunition out of a C-130 over your position. You have your first line scales and any resupply you arrange for. Do you have a guy on a ATV with trailer, loaded with ammo cans, following your squad? Maybe you should think about it?

The skill is making your ammunition last by the use of accurate fire. Go to rapid fire when needed but then scale it back. Make your hits. Fire discipline and over-excitement is something I notice in training. It’s almost a cultural thing. Yahoooo!!! I call it having a ‘militia moment’ because it is undisciplined and if you let it get out of control, it will, with nothing to show for it but a ‘tactical yard sale’ of empty magazines.

The art and skill of SUT seems to have been largely lost throughout the years of the GWOT. I believe it is maintained in certain professional infantry units. Hosing the enemy down on a mountainside from your position on line behind a wall, and “calling for fire’ is not SUT. In fact, in these conflicts in the middle east, coalition armies are consistently out maneuvered by lightly equipped enemy forces. Now, I know there is a reluctance to take risks. Because why? BFYTW. But this is where there is a certain misunderstanding about SUT, due to ignorance:

Doing these techniques is not simply ‘running about’ in the face of the enemy. It should be done professionally with cold aggression. Use momentum to suppress and steadily maneuver on the enemy. You won’t be able to ‘call for fire’ anyway, because you don’t have the assets. So the answer is well executed SUT. Trading fire in a ‘gun fight’ from your wall to their wall is an exercise in futility and potential high casualties (or none) anyway. This is also why SUT needs to be divested from the training virus of ‘Law Enforcement’ style training. That sort of ‘gun fighting’ LEO based training is individual shooting skills. It is not SUT. It is some criminals in a car that you just stopped, or some drug dealers ‘in the hood.’ SUT is not a Clint Eastwood Western movie! Mostly in a collapse situation you can avoid that type of situation by effective patrolling/movement, defensive measures, and having security in place. Threat mitigation and avoidance. Team skills, even at buddy pair level.

Now, in a simple squad attack drill, the team that comes under effective enemy fire will locate the enemy, win the firefight, and remain for the first assault as the support by fire element of the assault cycle. Think of them as the leading left hand jab while you prepare the big right hand swinging in from the flank. However, the enemy has the initiative at first, because you didn’t spot them and the first you knew about it was your team coming under fire in the enemy kill zone. You may have casualties. As you gain proficiency, the squad leader will consider what is effectively a limited break contact drill to get the team in contact off the X. Bring a second team up to suppress while that first team maneuvers either forward, to the rear, or to the flank, depending on the lie of the land. Once they are in a safer location, they can either now remain as the support by fire element or you can replace them by maneuvering a second team to a better support by fire position, before then planning the assault.

You may not be able to get that perfect right angle between the fire support and assault elements. If they only get out to 45 degrees to your support by fire, then visualize what it will look like as they advance on the enemy: they are gradually going to mask to fire of the support by fire element. The support by fire will have to shift fire earlier. Thus the assault team will be more reliant on their integral fire generation as they maneuver on the enemy. In the same way, if they get too far in depth of the enemy, as they advance they are heading at an angle towards the support by fire element, who will in the same way have to shift fire away from them earlier. Also, if people talk about attacking the enemy from the rear, then in a micro-SUT situation such as this, it is a no-go. You will be attacking into your own support fires. You may attack the enemy in their rear, such as their supply lines, but not with your elements facing at each other. Don’t be on opposite sides of the enemy position, is what I am saying.

This is why that 90 degree angle is perfect. As the assault element sweeps in, for example from the right flank, the support by fire element is shifting fire away from them to the left. The assault element can be ‘fired in’ to the last minute. In order to prevent fratricide, you will need to have an agreed signal for shifting fire. At a very basic level, the support by fire leader can see the assault force moving in. You can use radio, flag, light stick, strobe, whistle or whatever to signal phase/report lines and shifting fire. Note that in thick bush/jungle, visibility through the thick vegetation may preclude a flanking attack simply due to the risk of fratricide. In these circumstances, it is often the case where we default to an on line ‘fight through’ style attack. In this way, all the friendly fire is going in one direction away from your skirmish line. This is normal for a FIWAF (fighting in woods and forests) situation. However, if you are skirmishing forwards on line, make sure you have flank protection elements looking out to the left and right, on the ends of the skirmish line.

If you find the ground and spatial relationship with the enemy/friendly forces does not allow you to get out to that 90 degree angle, then there are other options. Moving the team that initially comes under enemy fire has already been discussed. Perhaps you can only get a good covered approach and find a suitable FUP/LD out at a 45 degree angle, for arguments sake. So you move an element out to 45 degrees on the right, supported by an initial fire support element in the center. Perhaps now you move that fire support element out to the left at 45 degrees? You now have a ninety degree angle and what is called a double envelopment. Once you have those two elements in place, you can revert to the classic drill of one being fire support and the other being assault. You have an option as to which is which. Or, you can maneuver both of them, alternately, closing with the enemy before deciding which will conduct the final assault. If you had three elements, you can even leave one in the center to provide support, but if you do so keep an eye on the safety angles and have them cease fire at the appropriate time – they may not be able to shift fire left or right, due to the presence of the two enveloping elements.

There are any number of sequencing movements that you may do, with the intent of suppressing the enemy positions in order to allow you to maneuver onto them. Clearly, at squad level, at a certain point, beyond two small enemy positions, perhaps a couple of foxholes, it gets beyond a squad and you will have to bring in additional elements to suppress depth/mutual support while you maneuver. It becomes an operation for maybe two large squads, or a platoon. As part of the combat estimate, you have to train yourself to rapidly weigh the options and make a decision as to a course of action. Only you will know the enemy you face. If they are an untrained rabble, then a disciplined squad who knows how to shoot and use cover/concealment to maneuver, could cut through any number of them.

There are different considerations on the fight through for different types of objectives. A scattered enemy ‘in the open’ in temporary fighting positions can be dealt with by a simple fight through. If you get foxholes or bunkers, there are slightly different considerations but effectively you are breaking down your teams into 2 man groups so that one group can cover while another grenades the foxhole. It’s just a little more of a considered approach to the fight through, with coordination to blow each foxhole/bunker in sequence. Everything needs to be suppressed, in order for you to close with each bunker. If it’s a mutually supporting defensive line in depth, then I’ll see you in Valhalla, as you clutch your Medal of Honor!

Now, if you think about it, if the enemy is in a building, then you need to do this flanking squad attack maneuver in order to get up to the building. You can then breach and enter. It then becomes a clearance operation, and there are different considerations for MOUT. However, in simple terms you need to suppress the enemy in each building of whatever cluster of buildings it is, while you close with and breach/enter the first one. When that is clear, you sequence through the assault cycle to one building after another, attacking in echelon from one building to another.

In modern infantry parlance, we like to talk about attacking ‘in echelon’ which refers to the assault cycle and using an element to attack the first objective and another element ‘in echelon’ to attack the second and so on. ‘Back in the day’ of the NATO ‘T’ style FUP etc, we would move in elements side by side and attack on line with large group fire and movement. That’s not cool any more. Now we will put the ‘spare’ element as a reserve/flank protection while we assault the first part of the objective.

Now, having read all this, you may tell me that you are simply an armed civilian and that you have no intention of ever, under any circumstances of collapse and absence of the rule of law, carrying out an attack. You are only interested in tactical self defense. Fine. Even if you are conducting a break contact drill at larger than team level, you can use the flank. Simply bring up a team that is not in contact, while the team(s) in contact conduct their break contact drill, and move them to a flank to bring the enemy under fire. This will help the teams in contact break clean.

Any questions?

OK, let’s go….

Max

I hope you guys enjoyed that article. If you have a chance, visit Max's site, and attend his training if you can, it would be well worth your time and money!

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More on Training Concepts

Some things I have thought about recently and will be adding or expounding upon in training are the use of camouflage, micro terrain, and stealthy movements. These topics seem simple and easy, but how many of you can say that you have mastered the techniques? How many can say that they can move miles through difficult terrain undetected by all methods of detection?

With that said, I think we should be concentrating, and practicing/training on movements while totally concealed. Patience is needed, as well as attention to detail and knowledge of how to move properly. The use of camouflage clothing as well as "gille" type suits/ponchos and light weight gear that is situated on your sides not on your front is desired. If you have a bunch of crap on your front, you will never be able to low crawl effectively. Take a look at how the Viet Cong were equipped, and see that they did not have a ton of crap all over them. They were lightly equipped, and highly trained, which makes sense for a fighter that is technologically inferior than his adversary.

We will be in the same boat as the Viet Cong, and will need to equip ourselves similarly, but with the help of much more modern and effective equipment than they had. We will not be effective at the style of fighting we will have to do to be effective if we equip ourselves like we are in the Army, or Marine Corps. We will not (under most scenarios) be able to have plate carriers with plates, mags, packs, and all the crap that modern soldiers carry with them. We need to give up that idea, we are not the Army! We need to be a highly trained, lightly equipped, fast moving, clandestine, and mobile guerilla force.

I recommend everyone get good quality camouflage clothing in an effective pattern (my favorites are A-Tacs FG, and Kryptek Highlander/Mandrake for my AO in Washington State), also a gille type suit, like the one on the right side of this page second from the top. I know it is not perfect, but it is a good suit, I have one, and it works well. When performing non CQB tactical training I wear one very often, and would wear one for actual situations.

All the normal stuff applies to covert movement, such as not silhouetting yourself, following the terrain lines, use of military crest, or the very bottom of deep crevasses.

This video is old, but does an excellent job showing a lot of these concepts.





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More Training Videos

Here are some more good videos I found. Like I said before, I do not agree with everything in every video, but there is a lot of good stuff in them. Please watch them, and glean the useful information for use in your training for you, your family, or your group. This is good stuff, please take your training seriously, we do not have a ton of time left to prepare ourselves.

Advanced Training Vids

I am posting more videos lately because I want you guys to watch these, pick up on some of the points, see the differences in them, and then we will be building upon that during further posts on Advanced Training Tactics. So please watch, think about what they are saying, compare them against each other, see how they might fit together, then think about how you could incorporate these ideas into your training.


This one is old, but makes some very valid points:


Sorry, out of time today, more to follow. Lot more.

Also I wanted to say thank you for you guys that visit my blog, and especially those who come back! If you like what you read here, please pass it on to your friends and acquaintances.

Training Videos

I found some useful videos on YouTube for those of you that are more visual. I did not make any of these, and I do not agree with everything in them, but they have some good ideas, and some good points that you can add to your training plan.







I hope you enjoy these videos. There will of course be more to follow on these advanced topics we need to be training on to be really effective Resistance fighters.

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More Advanced Training Concepts

In the upcoming fight to restore our once great nation we will be faced with the role of being a Guerrilla Fighter, engaged in Asymmetrical Warfare. With that said, stealth of movement, communications, patrol, attack and existing will be our bread and butter. We need to be including training on clandestine movement and infiltration techniques. We need to take a page out of the "Eastern" way of fighting, and use a lot of the tactics used by the North Koreans, the Viet Cong in the Viet Nam conflict, and the Russians of WWII.

Small units trained in clandestine movements and infiltration combined with ambush tactics and hit and run techniques will become vital to our fight. We need to be forming and training small units that are lightly equipped with the ability and physical prowess to move quickly over long distances, hit a target, then disappear into the woods/mountains, etc...

Please add stealthy movement techniques and training to your training schedules, as well as night fighting, night movement, camouflage, how to use terrain features to move without being seen, as well as the proper use of shadows, and noise avoidance. Add in training on movement under observation without being seen, using every method and tool possible. Spend time outdoors with your group/team, become used to the sounds of nature, and become familiar with how shadows work, where they naturally appear, and how the areas in your AO (Area of Operation) look, feel, sound and smell. This is so when you need to operate in these areas you will be familiar with things that are out of place, giving you a edge that may just save your life.

It is a really good idea to cover topics such as how to move properly through mud (ball/front of foot down first at an angle, then up out of the mud in the reverse), movement through dry leaves (on all fours, use hands to move leaves out of way, then bring feet up under your palms, then repeat), through water (keep feet in water, do not pick up and out with each step), and through any other types of terrain and features that exist in your AO.

Training in how to properly use ground terrain to travel covertly is a vital skill also. The use of water ways to keep down tracks, and to move among the heavy vegetation. Another way to confuse your enemy is to travel using these methods, but in a single file with each member walking in the footprints of the person in front of them, with the last person sweeping the signs away. This will enable you to move without being noticed, or at least your adversary will not know your true numbers.

The ability to defeat thermal detection is also an area you and your groups/teams need to train in, and have equipment to assist them in being able to defeat thermal technology. Thermal tarps/blankets are a great idea. In a future post I will discuss how to make your own thermal tarp/blanket that will give you a major edge against thermal detection. Finding ways to mitigate the superior technology that will be employed against us is vital. Every form of technology has its own weaknesses, and there are ways to defeat any of them, we just need to figure out how to.

With that comment about technology and our need to be able to operate in defiance of their superior technology, we must be able to go "low tech", with that said, communications will be a challenge. This challenge is not insurmountable, it will just make things more difficult, and take more time. One method will be to use old style military field telephones with actual wires connecting stations. Another way is to use various forms of visual signals and sounds to convey a message to members of your unit, or other units/friendlies.

Of the utmost importance is that we learn to adapt, and to be flexible and not resistant to change when it is needed. Keep up the good fight, we will be victorious in the end!


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Army Field Manuals

The link below takes you to a great source of manuals to use to train your group, or to increase your own knowledge. Print them off and keep them in your "Prepper Library" for when they will be needed. This is an invaluable source of tons of information, please take the time to read the most relevant of these, and spread the knowledge to your buddies/group.

Army Field Manuals

I know there is so much to learn and not enough time to learn it all, but please take some time and read/print/study these manuals. We will need the skills in these manuals soon enough guys!

Here is another thing I just thought of, it is the FEMA site for a ton of online trainings that they offer. Yes, I know... should we be going to "THEM" for training? I say, hey use what you can, and if it is available then take advantage of it.

FEMA Emergency Management Institute

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Tactical Training plan ideas

Training Outline

A training ladder that takes someone up from untrained, to being competent to be a member of a team, to being competent to be a fire-team leader, and then a squad leader.

Three levels for infantry/security: I, II, III

1. Basic skills all team members need to know. Consider these "common tasks" or skills. Regardless of specialty, every group member needs to be trained to a basic level of competency in these core skills.

2. What a fire-team leader needs to know and/or a member of a more skilled team such as a "Minuteman" or QRF type force. More advanced infantry skills, which become more specialized, more CQB (including weapon retention, use of weapon as impact weapon, hand-to hand, etc.) building and room clearing, fixed position defense, intelligence, planning operations, and leadership in combat. Focus is on cultivating strong fire-team leaders capable of independent decision making and training their own group.

3. Squad leader or above knowledge. Focus on leadership, planning, and logistics, as well as being able to effectively train others. At this level, being able to organize, instruct, lead small units and coordinate their use in an AOR (area of responsibility). This person should be able to go into an area and organize/train up a local resistance force.

All group members should learn the same skills for each level, but the more capable will be considered "infantry" who will go out in the field on a fire team. The less fit/capable will be the "home guard" and security for the larger group.

INFANTRY/SECURITY LEVEL I

Weapons safety

The four rules of gun safety are a great standard:

1. Guns are always loaded.

2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target.

4. Identify your target, and what is behind it.

Weapons handling (how it works, disassembly, cleaning, maintenance, loading, unloading, carry methods, mag changes, clearing malfunctions, etc).

Marksmanship

Rife and handgun. (Rifle is priority).

Carbine I. One day

Familiarization. Loading/unloading.

Mag changes, malfunction drills. Field shooting positions. Snap shooting.

Group members need to be able to run their rifle as an effective fighting weapon in the field. Groups need a well-developed practice program as well as minimal standards for shooting in a dynamic environment.

SMALL TEAM TACTICS

THREE DAY CLASS 1. (Three to four man teams).

a. Communications. How to use radios properly.
b. Basic formations, includes hand signals.
c. Defensive positions. Shell scrapes, and two man positions.
d. Patrolling. Tactical movement, listening halts, reaction to contact, crossing danger areas, hasty ambush, etc.
e.Patrol base. How to set one up, and the routine to be followed in one.
f. Sentry duty. Challenge and Pass words. Sectors of fire.
g. React to contact, (fire, dash, down, crawl, identify target, suppressive fire). Break contact. Bounding/Peeling backward/sideways/forward.

SALUTE REPORT

Three Day class 2.

Movement to contact and fight through. Raids and ambushes. React to ambush. Hasty ambush.

Fighting through - Bounding forward

Fixed position defense and perimeter security.

MEDICAL . Combat lifesaver. All group members should be trained to combat lifesaver standard.

Introduction to building/room entry and clearing.

Vehicle movement and convoy defense/offense. React to contact in and around vehicles.

LAWFUL USE OF FORCE

Instruction on law and liability, lawful use of force for self-defense and defense of others under the "reasonable man" standard, the force continuum, and liability considerations.

COMBAT MINDSET AND AWARENESS

Thoughts on Skill Level I:

The group needs to be competent as a fire-team. That includes a great deal of skills, ranging from firearms safety and proficiency , to small unit tactics and battle drills , basic communications, land nav, Combat Lifesaver, to performing a SALUTE report, and standing watch, etc.

Figure on answering the question "what would you want a guy to know how to do before you went through a door with him while responding to an active shooter incident, or out on patrol in the woods, or on a vehicle patrol/convoy? What minimal level of training do you want him to have if you are going to be in a fire-fight together? What does he need to know how to do to be a decent team member? What level of basic firearms safety and competency must he have before you trust him with live fire team tactics drills?

The group needs to be fundamentally solid, and they also need to start learning the correct way to fight as individuals/buddy teams/fire-teams, and squads. This needs to happen as soon as possible, so they work on small unit tactics at the same time they continue to work on their own weapons handling and marksmanship.

A good thing for group members would be to attend an NRA class or two, as well as Appleseed, or equivalent, so they can benefit from those other programs that are held all over.

CPT INFANTRY/SECURITY LEVEL II

Fighting in built up areas. Entering buildings, fighting inside, and defending. Vehicle patrols and react to contact. Convoys. VIP protection. INTEL. gather, process and disseminate.

NIGHT MOVEMENT AND LAND NAVIGATION.

Hand to hand, boxing, grappling, weapon retention, basic disarming drills.

Stalking in. (essentially a "sniper" stalk, but without concern for shooting standards - teaching infiltration and exfiltration and appreciation of micro-terrain and camouflage).

MED II. sutures, splints, wilderness medicine, "grid down" medicine.

Contact report. FLASH CARDS and vehicle and equipment recognition.

Ruck march. Give the group a personal training track.

MAN TRACKING: An often overlooked, but critical skill. Has been invaluable in irregular warfare and counterinsurgency worldwide. At Level II, the group members need to learn at least the basics. Helps with countering trackers too.

Radio skills, HAM, FRS/GMRS, CB, etc…

LEVEL III

More advanced hand to hand, CQB, Force on force, E&E, & wilderness survival, more difficult scenarios for ambush, reaction to contact, and tactical maneuvers.

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