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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Gunfighting Safetly

Here is another great post by Max Velocity about an important topic we should all know about, and train on. None of us want to hit our friends, or family while in a tactical engagement. So we all need to keep these ideas and concepts in mind while training.

I left in the parts where Max talks about his tactical training because I highly recommend as many of you as can, attend his training. Unfortunately I have not been able to, up to this point, but I am trying to find time to attend, and recommend you do also.

Max Velocity Blog

I wrote the post ‘Buddy Position Awareness‘ on July 28 2015. I’m going to revisit that topic here, particularly in light of the comments I made on a student review yesterday:

If you have been reading the blog lately, you will have seen my post on the development of the Rifle Skills and Combat Team Tactics Classes (‘Adjustments to the Rifle Skills / Combat Team Tactics Lineup‘). We have also scheduled a number of the Combat Rifle Skills classes for those who want a shallower learning curve. We have moved zeroing entirely to the optional Rifle Skills day prior to Combat Team Tactics. This has freed up training time on the Friday of CTT. We have made some adjustments to that square range day to introduce some of the visual concepts early, so that they are not first encountered on the Saturday morning, as part of the introduction to fire and movement. This is done in a somewhat ‘monkey see, monkey do’ format on the square range, to put visuals of safe distances, angles, spacing and such into the mind of the student, so that when they are taken through explanations and rehearsal on the tactical ranges the following day, they have a better reference point. This is working very well so far. We had limited time this past class for this pre-concept training, because we still had to do some check zero, but for future classes the absence of zeroing has been made clear (unless you show up for RS) and we will have more time available.

If you haven’t been paying attention, the CTT class has been dropped from $600 to $500 (3 days), and RS from $200 to $100 (1 day), to allow students to complete the full 4 days of training for the same price as the previous 3 day CTT class. Don’t tell me I never give you incentives to train!

I am going to partially re-post the ‘Buddy Position Awareness‘ post below. Before I do, here is some additional comment:

We have been developing and improving the Combat Team Tactics class over the last three years. It went from a 2 day ‘CRCD” class, to a 3 day CTT class, to the option of making it a 4 day RS/CTT class. We often have to deal with the tendency of students to have past training scars from other ‘tactical’ training classes, and a general theme is the need to move people on from square range focused training to realistic combat training. This is something that we are working hard to achieve with the most effect possible. Does this mean I don’t like square ranges? Of course not, I have two! The point is that the square range should properly be viewed as a part of the progression to live field firing. Much training, in particular the stuff that can be viewed all over YouTube, is both unrealistic and dives into a rabbit hole because it has nowhere to go beyond the square range itself.

This amuses me, along the same lines of dealing with the obvious ‘You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know’ (DKWYDK) comments that I see. It amuses me because the training progression and focus that we work so hard on at MVT actually makes things safer for you to operate in a live fire / combat environment, whereas the focus on the pure (usually close range) target shooting of a square range environment makes it more dangerous. In fact, if this country does ever go to a full collapse shooting war, I’m going to get into a low crawl and simply crawl the hell out of it! It beggars belief the amount of friendly and not so friendly fire casualties that will likely be generated, and people shooting their own families and teams, as everyone is running aimlessly round in a panic.

I’m pulling a video out of the original post and putting it here, by way of an example of this chaos even among trained soldiers on deployment. This is the best example I could find on YouTube. Watch the video below for the first few seconds, and realize how close it came to a friendly fire incident, as the soldier runs across from right to left. After that, there is no safety angle as the helmet cam guy fires over the top of his buddies taking cover behind the low wall. Be prepared for random acts in combat! Unless you have effectively trained in a realistic live fire training environment, which develops an understanding of real world safety angles, you will make mistakes like this. This training should also be backed by solid rehearsal and drills in react to contact.

There a various things we tell students at MVT training. Among them:

•Scan, all the time. Scan means actually scan.
•Get your head out of your weapon.
•It’s not about you, it’s about your buddies.
•It’s not about your personal relationship with Ivan, but knowing where your buddies are first.
•Break that tunnel vision.

What does this even mean? Well if you focus only on square range training, including competition style training, or shot timers, or whatever, then it is all about you, and your target. It is about that personal relationship between you and Ivan (the target). I’ve even heard of training so naval gazing that it is all about filming the shooter and reviewing second by second technique.

Here’s the thing – you only have to shoot SO WELL. There is a limit of accuracy, a balance of speed and effect on target versus perfect technique. Yes, don’t conflate this with an argument about poor shooting being better, because it is not. It is about practical accuracy balanced with the need for relevant training, building situational awareness. If I get rounds on target to protect my team, that accuracy is good enough. If I have no awareness of where my buddies are as this firefight commences, and I put rounds into them instead of the target, as everyone runs around in a disorganized panic, then that is a fail. So it is a balance between individual proficiency and the awareness and ability to operate within and with a team. I’m not making these comments in an unlimited theoretical training time vacuum: Most people have limited training time, and thus the focus on training to become the ultimate-AR-driving-wizard is probably not as useful as spending your time learning how to get rounds effectively on target, take cover, and not kill your buddies while doing so – because if you put rounds into your friends or family, there is no undoing that. That is why you can learn good skills on the square range, but you must progress beyond it to learn the team tactics. Or, your ‘team’ will die, either by enemy or friendly fire, probably both.

This is the reason, precisely, that I harp on about this, and many who have not progressed beyond the square range simply do not understand it. I am trying to explain it here, in this post.

Consider these conceptual points, which may help you understand this:

On a square range, you are already on a firing line. Other firers are to the left and right of you, and the targets are downrange. It is safe. No other firer is within an acceptable safety angle from the muzzle of any other firer’s rifle.

When we teach you team tactics, and we have a 4 man team reacting to effective enemy fire (i.e. an Ivan target exposure) , we are teaching you drills to move from whatever formation you were walking in, to create an immediate firing line, just like on the square range. Thus, as you react, no one firer is within an unsafe angle from any other firers muzzle. Whatever direction the contact comes from, front, left, right, rear, you are adapting into a safe firing line to engage the target(s). This happens when you conduct individual and team RTR drills.

Other safety training, such as active muzzle awareness, how to move with the weapon, “Don’t go faster than you can go,” “Don’t be in a hurry to rush to your death,” “identify cover before you move to it,” head-body-weapon, and other team drills that are taught, are all to reinforce the awareness of what is safe and what is not safe: until you are sure where your buddies are (scan-head-body-weapon) you are not bringing your rifle up to engage the target. This is why we need to break that square range indoctrination of me-target-me-target.

If we are going to maneuver in the face of the enemy, either towards, away (break contact) or to the flank, then we now have to move that firing line. For this, we teach fire and movement (maneuver). Think about this as simply moving segments of the firing line, whether those segments are individuals or buddy pairs, in such as way that we maneuver to where we want to go, while suppressing the enemy, and while never moving into an unsafe position relative to the safety angle of other firer’s muzzles.

Now imagine this: 4 firers lined up on a square range, facing the targets. Maybe quite close, perhaps the firing line is 10 yards from the targets. Imagine there are 10 targets lined up in front of them, running from #1 on the left, thru #10 to the right. The shooters are only 10 yards from the targets and 5 yards from each other, so #1 is off to the left, #10 off to the right, and #5 is directly front in the center of the 4 man line. It’s safe to say that the 4 man line can probably engage #5, and targets to the left and right of #5, without causing any safety angle problems. Those targets are pretty much directly front. Now, if we call target #1, we have a problem. The left shooter can engage, by swiveling (head-body-weapon) to the left and engaging #1. When the other firers do their scan-head, before they even move their body, they will realize that the angle to the left, for them to shoot at #1, is too steep, and that they will be unsafely muzzling firers to their left (i.e. those firers would be at an unsafe angle to their muzzle if they engaged the target). In this case, the only solution is for the line to angle to the left, to create a new firing line aligned on Target #1. If target #10 were called, you get the opposite.

If a buddy engages a target and has not immediately called distance-direction-description, and you are trying to identify it, then you can easily see how he is oriented by looking at the direction of his barrel, and the angle of his shoulders, and thus know what position is safe relative to him before you can even think about bringing your weapon up towards a target you have not even seen yet. Whether you immediately see the target or not, and you want to bring your weapon up, but a buddy is in the way, you have to push left/right/up in order to move him out of your safety angle, and thus allow your weapon to come up.

All of the above seems very obvious, but it is not for those who have been conditioned to the me-target-me-target mindset of much of the shooting sports world. You have to also consider that on a tactical range there is much going on, stress inoculation is part of the objective, and the formation is moving relative to the targets and the ground, and thus it is easy for new shooters to become sucked into the target, tunnel vision, and lose the ability to scan. That what the safety cadre are there for!

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Buddy Awareness & Scanning

There is plenty of talk out there about ‘training,’ but unless you are incorporating professional live fire training into your overall training plan, you will probably not understand, in a practical sense, what I am discussing here. In the same way that it is easy to talk about ‘shoot, move and communicate’ on the internet, but harder to actually conduct it for real. You need to be building real ‘operant conditioning’ via the right training.

Buddy awareness and scanning, seems so simple. However, on training classes we spend a deal of time drilling this into people, and first drilling bad habits out of them. Unfortunately some of these bad habits come from individual focused training on basic shooting and weapons manipulation on the square range. When it’s all about ‘driving your AR’ and your INDIVIDUAL shooting skills, scans can become notional, robotic. This is one of the chief problems with training when it never makes it off the square range: it is an individual sport, not a team activity. This causes big problems when trying to operate as a team in a live fire environment.

At MVT, we run live fire training with movement. This means that shooters are not always ‘on line’ – something that is alien to many who have grown up on solely on ranges with no movement. We have specific safety procedures that will not translate well if I try and describe them here in writing. Suffice to say, there are safety angles and procedures that include mantras such as ‘head-body-weapon,’ ways to move (absolutely no pirouetting, ever), safety angles off your muzzle, and active muzzle awareness. The way weapons are carried and movement is conducted is operational safety, i.e. it translates to real situations when you are on patrol, or moving with weapons. Not ‘over safe’ procedures such as seen on many ranges, which actually end up being less safe (such as moving backwards with weapons). Patrol ready, active muzzle awareness, finger outside trigger guard, safety on at all times except when not engaging the enemy.

Buddy awareness:

This is vital. If a target pops up, the important thing is not to engage the target, but to know where your buddies are before engaging the target. You are always scanning and conducting a version of ‘head-body-weapon.’ The weapon part of the mantra applies equally to ‘ready ups’ when bringing the weapon on to target prior to firing, such as with an RTR drill, or equally to active muzzle awareness if you are conducting the manta as part of a move from one piece of cover to another.

When running training and safety, we are always fighting tunnel vision and students being glued to their sights. It is important to pull your head away from the sights every couple of rounds, to locate your buddies and maintain spacial awareness. This is a hard thing for new shooters to grasp. You need to turn your head towards your buddies and yell in their direction when yelling is needed (i.e. MOVE!) otherwise your yell will be lost into the stock of your weapon. Is your buddy moving to the next cover? Is he beating at his weapon because he has not yet grasped the muscle memory to conduct weapon manipulation under stress? Is he writhing on the ground, bleeding? Is he laying there silent?

Imagine you are lined up with your buddies on the firing line on a square range. Weapons will all be aligned facing down the range to the targets. Shoulders will be roughly aligned, assuming we are adapting dynamic shooting positions, and not ‘blading off’ to the targets. You are now ‘on line.’ Now, in a realistic combat environment it would not matter if you and your buddies were a little misaligned, perhaps due to the positions of cover, and the line was not exactly straight. So long as no one was inside the muzzle safety angle of each others weapons, we are good to go. That’s what happens in fire and movement.

Now, take that target away straight down the range and put one up half-left to the firing line. Because the enemy gets a vote, and will try and flank you. Now, everyone’s weapons and shoulders swing (although they wouldn’t swing, like a turret, they would scan and acquire the target and then go ‘head-body-weapon’) to the left by 45 degrees. This may have an impact on the safety angle. If there are two of you, and you are the right hand guy, then when you acquire the target with ‘head’ and scan, then you will also need to note the location of your buddy. As the angle of the target moves more to the flank, it may be that you cannot bring your weapon up to engage, because your buddy would be within the safety angle of your muzzle. This would mean you would have to ‘push right’ or ‘push up’ depending, in order to clear that safety angle and safely acquire the target. In a dynamic situation, it is always important to note your buddies as you acquire a target, keep both eyes open, and also be ready for when they may make an unpredictable movement, perhaps to adjust their position of cover. If they do this, be ready to drop your muzzle. The key is simply to avoid the herd mentality and keep spread out from your buddies, in order to open up the safety angle. Do not, and we do not allow, people to be firing past each others ears!

It is vital to always maintain awareness of where your buddies are, and to keep the scan going throughout the engagement as positions move and the team fires and moves. If you do not have a shot angle that is not going to potentially kill your buddy, then you need to move.

Scanning:

As alluded to above, scanning is a constant activity. You are looking for cover, for the enemy, for your buddies. It is more important to know where your buddies are than it is to get that shot off. We struggle with ‘square-range-isms’ at MVT, otherwise known as re-training the training scars out of people, acquired from tacticool training. We notice the tendency to try and scan with the weapon glued to the eyeball, or to perform that fake-robotic-square-range-scan. Or to not scan at all, or to just take quick tunnel glances, like to the left, to the center, to the right, down a ‘tunnel’ in the trees.

To Scan:

•Lower the weapon out of your face.
•Get your eye out of the optic.
•If you have a magnified optic, it is OK to use it as a monocular to check out an item of interest, but don’t be glued to it.
•Scan by looking THROUGH the vegetation.
•Scan in a ‘S’ near-middle-far left-center-right.
•Cover your sector!
•Look from your buddy on one side to your buddy on the other side, particularly after an engagement. What is their position and are they OK? Does anyone need to move, including you?

As you move towards the enemy position, or away from it in a break contact drill, you are always looking for your next position of cover. You are always running ‘head-body-weapon’ and practicing active muzzle awareness. You are scanning for your buddies and moving your position as necessary in order to engage the target safely. As you locate your next cover, locate your buddies so that you don’t run the wrong way, into their safety angle. Communicate if necessary – “I’m on your left!”

It is always better to run the lanes slower and under control, than faster and out of control/unsafe. It is better to maintain a steady momentum of fire and movement on the enemy, as you press closer and closer to his position, that it is to run about the woods like headless chickens, causing a safety STOP.

And here is the kicker: those students who train at MVT learn this all under controlled conditions. It is vital that you learn these things at a reputable school that conducts actual live fire movement training. Otherwise you really don’t know what you don’t know. We have an expression at MVT which is students ‘going bluescreen.’ By attending battle inoculation live fire training with movement, under controlled and safe conditions, you are pushing back the point at which you will become exhausted and ‘go bluescreen.’

“Shoot, move and communicate” sounds good on the internet. It’s not so easy to practice in the real world.

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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 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.

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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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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Team Tactics

Here is some great information and lessons learned from Max Velocity from the training he gives. He is a very knowledgeable guy and I love the way he is able to articulate himself. This article has some great information, and ideas. Use this information and add it to, or modify your current training to reflect ideas that you can incorporate into your training. I hope you are training!

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.

Article from Max Velocity Blog

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More on why we need to be trained

I wanted to write more on this topic because I feel that it is the single most important thing we can do as patriots to be there in our nation's time of need. This is the entire point of this blog; to better prepare it's readers for what is coming. Tough times are coming, that is a fact; things are getting worse by the day. Economically we are hurting, our debt is at unsustainable levels, our morals are degrading as a nation, and it will all come to a head at some point. I feel that it will be sooner rather than later.

With that said, I want to provide at least some good information for my readers so that you might be just that much more ready for what is coming, and have a better ability to stand up for what is right, and be there to restore our once great nation to the Constitutional Republic that it was intended to be.

I encourage everyone to get some form of tactical training, if you have or know of a combat veteran, then if they are willing, get them to train you. If you do not know anyone, and you are not trained yourself and you wish to become trained, then here is a list (not comprehensive) of some of the tactical training schools/academies, that you might be able to attend. I know that the cost of some of them seems high, but how much is your life worth? How much are your family members lives worth? Bite the bullet and get the training, it will save your life some day soon.

Here are some of the tactical training places in the United States:

Max Velocity Tactical

Active Response Training

Mountain Guerrilla (John Mosby)

Firearms Academy of Seattle

Insights Training

Spartan Tactical

Texas Tactical

Tactical Response

On Point Tactical

Tactical U

Northern Virginia Tactical

Fulcrum Tactical

Rattlesnake Ridge

Marauders Tactical

Gunsite

Defensive Concepts

Ohio Valley Tactical

Warrior School

I know there are tons more out there, but hopefully these will help you out.

Please take this seriously, and get out there and train with your group, yourself, your family, whatever, just train!


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Unconventional Warfare

This is a very good article that the readers of this blog and any involved in the patriot movement need to learn. We need to be ready to do our part, and to do so means we need to learn/train/practice things that will increase our survivability and our ability to perform the role we will be called on for.

Understanding Unconventional Warfare As It Applies to Conservative Families, by Swamp Fox

Before reading a book, watching a YouTube video, or obtaining any form of information from any source, a wise consumer will ask a few questions. What is the worldview of the individual imparting the information? Is the individual, who is imparting that information, qualified to do so? Is this person sufficiently capable of relaying this information through his or her chosen means of communication? It is said that one “cannot judge a book by its cover”. I disagree. As a man who has, from a very young age, frequented used book sales in search of hidden treasures among tattered covers, I firmly believe in judging a “book by its cover” or, if not purely by the cover, the summary on the inside flap, the biography of the author, and a quick skim of parts of the book, its illustrations, and the author’s writing style. Is this book worth my time? To preface this article I will give you my cover story, which is basically why I believe that my worldview is valuable, worth my time to put on paper, and therefore worth your time to read. As stated in the book of Proverbs, “Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.”

I am the oldest of nine children: eight boys and one girl. We were homeschooled from kindergarten through high school. I was raised on the words of Ralph Moody, Paul Hutchens, Jack London, Jack O’Brien, and G.A. Henty to name a few. I have spent time in two of America’s armed forces– the Navy and currently the Army, where I remain employed as a Special Forces Engineer Sergeant. I am married and have five children: four boys and one girl. We live on five acres with goats, chickens, and one awesome Boerboel. A few of my childhood heroes were John Mosby, Francis Marion, and the Apostle Peter, who struck off the ear of a high priest. Honorable mention goes to Sampson for the unconventional fighting award, tying 300 foxes together by their tails, lighting said tails on fire, and driving them into his enemy’s camp.

I will not offer advice on subjects for which I am not a subject matter expert. So this essay will be on how conservative families can wage unconventional warfare; specifically, it’s on raising boys, both from my experience as a homeschooled boy as well as my experience as a homeschooling father. It will define the current war we are engaged in and our role in winning that war. For OPSEC, any military-related items covered will be open source; Wikipedia will be my manual.

When we hear the phrase Unconventional Warfare (UW), it may drum up ideas of ninja clad warriors stalking through dark, murky swamps, armed with knives, seeking to kill the Vietcong. We think of Mosby’s Rangers and the Swamp Fox. What might not come to mind is the Civil Rights movement, the Socialist invasion of our education system, or the degrading of Christianity in America’s worldview. In fact, if you pay attention, there are UW campaigns, with their accompanying propaganda, going on all over our country and the world. The battle is being fought. Do we even recognize that we are at war? Wikipedia states that “Unconventional Warfare consists of activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt or overthrow an occupying power or government by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary and guerrilla force in a denied area.” My challenge is to convey to you the following facts:
1.A war for the hearts and minds of our children is being waged by covert, and, at times, overt means.
2.We, ourselves, posses the tools of UW to fight back.

Growing up as a sheltered homeschooler, I was indoctrinated from a young age as to the evils of the government. The evil Democrats, the church down the street, or that music that has too much beat are all “tools of the devil” to lure our hearts and minds away from God, or so I was led to believe. Escaping home, I traveled, read, watched, and learned. I noticed that everyone had pet peeves. Historians and wealthy homeschoolers on a tour of old battlefields in the northeast United States waxed eloquent on our loss of freedoms as Americans. Libertarians and Conservatives cried “taxation without representation”. The list of fractured political protests goes on and on. What I didn’t see were answers. At a well known Christian conference, I cornered the keynote speaker. At 19 years of age, I was young and full of venom. Since he considered himself such an orator on the evils of our society and our rights as Americans, I asked what his plans were to fix those problems; if he were elected POTUS tomorrow, what would he do? After hours of getting a whole lot of nothing, I realized he was “clouds and wind with no rain”. A light bulb went off, and I realized that nobody had a plan. It was all talk, negative talk, with no solution and best left to gossips and drunks. Young men have work to do. Then I learned about American Redoubt.

I Kings 19:10 says, “And He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” Verse 18 of the same chapter says, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which not bowed to Ba’al, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”

Elijah was a great warrior for God. He did not have access to do a Google search on men who had not bowed the knee to Ba’al. He believed himself alone, the last servant of God in the world, and he believed his enemies surrounded him to kill him and that their victory was assured. Today we face a world in which our families are encompassed on all sides by the enemies of God, but unlike Elijah the prophet, we have the tools to find like-minded people through the Internet.

I was led to survivalblog.com, through the guidance of a friend from church. We were discussing some of our common beliefs and he told me to Google the American Redoubt, which I in turn did. For the first time in my life I was looking at action. Make no mistake, moving like-minded people to areas where they can affect elections through peaceful means and engaging in recruiting such freedom-oriented individuals to join the fight is UW. It is brilliant, engaging, and practical. Before reading about the American Redoubt, my individual opinion was that the world was doomed and the best I could do was train my children in critical thinking and survival skills to weather the storm. The idea behind peaceful utilization of our right to vote and voting with our feet is beautiful. So I firmly believe the long-range goal for all conservative families should be to consider voting with their feet.

Practical Preparations

My worldview is pretty simple– we are at war. The war is already won and the outcome secured, but in the meantime we fight. The TV blasts propaganda at us and our families. Modern literature, newspapers, and other types of media are all tools to dull our minds and lure us into complacency in order to slowly take away our freedom to raise our children as we see fit. So how can we fight? The battle begins with examining every thing that enters into our home. We must filter all information through the worldview of what is good and right and return it to our children clean and sanitized. What follows are practical things I have done with my boys to prepare their minds for battle.

Structure and Detail

First, structure and attention to detail are absolute imperatives. In a world full of excuses and weakness, boys need to know that blaming others and government for personal problems is unacceptable. One of the first talks I had with my wife when we married was far from politically correct. I explained that in our household we do not use excuses like being tired, hungry, or “that time of month” for weakness. Do we follow this to a T? No, but the premise is there, and we attempt to transform our excuses into victory. Soldiers are expected to perform at high levels whether or not they are tired or cold, whatever the weather, bugs, or other distractions. Soldiers must accomplish the mission no matter what. We are all soldiers in one way or another, and I teach my boys that when they demonstrate toughness and are able to accomplish difficult things when under duress, they have done a great thing. As a second-generation homeschooler, I would say one of the worst flaws of homeschooling is that it is easy to become lazy and allow children to escape accountability. We teach them to be self-taught, but we don’t follow up and insure that they are abiding by standards of excellence. Boys need the discipline of fathers or they will run circles around their mother, manipulating her, and doing what they please. Fathers must be a part of the process of homeschooling boys; they must lead by example.

Even when very young, boys must be taught that for every action there is a reaction. For example, if you leave a terrible mess with your toys and refuse to diligently clean them up in a reasonable amount of time, then you have too many toys. Obviously, you are not prepared for the great responsibility of owning so many great things, and therefore, until you learn to properly steward what is yours, five toys a day will be thrown away or something to that effect. Boys need to be weaned or driven off of electronics, movies, and other forms of indoctrination. Don’t get me wrong, the iPad is a great learning tool, but structure must be observed and laws established. Let’s talk about movies. Remember the hero? Yea, he was rather pathetic, weak, and uninspiring, but have you noticed the trend in children’s movies for the anti-hero? Young children are supposed to empathize with this character. He isn’t big or strong or particularly good looking. He is passive aggressive and hip. This disgusting role model mocks his parents and always has a wiser way of doing everything, inevitably leading his family and friends to his or her way of thinking. Young soldiers should not be subjected to watching this filth. In our house, we watch our share of movies, but if you actually listen to the propaganda being fed our children, you will perhaps agree that there are better forms of entertainment, such as books, projects, and shooting. Open the world of literature to boys, and steer them towards what is good and right. Give them room to re-enact what they read. Give them space to run and get dirty, make bows, and wrestle. Monitor their behavior and watch for teachable moments to drive home important life lessons about character and manhood. Bullying and weakness are never acceptable.

Guidance

Secondly, let us abolish this lie that we must not steer our boys towards liking anything, that we have to let them choose their own path. Children would wallow in their own fecal matter, eat nothing but sugar, and participate in a myriad of other ridiculously barbarous acts, if we did not teach them otherwise. There is nothing wrong with teaching a boy the skills of his father. There is nothing wrong with understanding that every boy should have a foundation of skills to enter the halls of manhood. Perhaps they don’t like to shoot or do wood projects or change the oil in their car. Big deal. Like the Nike commercial says, “Just do it.” If we equip them with critical thinking skills and a philosophical view of the world through literature, then, with our aid, we can steer them toward whatever vocation they please, but they will have basic, practical skills before they leave the house.

Reading

Another benefit to survivalblog.com is that it has a great reading list. I have read a few on the list, and one that stands out is Boston’s Gun Bible by “Boston T. Party” or Kenneth W. Royce. With American Sniper setting so many records in the box office, it would appear that America recognizes our need for riflemen. On second thought, maybe not. Still, America needs shooters, America needs Minutemen, and America needs boys trained by their father’s to become riflemen. The best illustration of the grave necessity for rifleman is watching Europe cringing and hiding in fear from Sharia militias. The Charlie Hebdo shooting in France further illustrates the point. Ask yourself if this could happen in America, where many of our citizens are armed? Could terrorists waltz around with apparent impunity stating, “What up, St. Louis Taliban says hi?” I would hope not. Even our criminal elements would shoot back, because they can’t have the Taliban on “their” turf. Will history remember our generation as those who allowed themselves to be herded into cattle cars by evil forces? You can say God would not let that happen, until you are blue in the face. Tell that to Christians in Iraq or North Korea. Train your boys to shoot and shoot straight. Train your girls to shoot, train your wife to shoot, and train your neighbors to shoot.

Battle the Dragons

When I was on my first trip, in Special Forces, to a mountainous region in Asia, I left my wife and two small boys in Japan, where we were stationed. I returned during the day and knocked on the door. My oldest son opened it and calmly asked me, “Are they all dead?” Slightly confused, I played it out. “Are who all dead, buddy?” He replied, “The dragons. Mommy said you were overseas killing dragons, so are they all dead? Is that why you came home?” What could I say? Honestly, what a great illustration of a little boy’s mind that is. A boy’s mind is full of dragons, of princesses and castles, of good and evil. From the time my boys were very young, we have fought “dragons”; the vile things show up at the worst times. In Japan we didn’t have guns, and we didn’t have much land, but we had those dragons. We would stalk them in a wedge formation, using only hand signals in the dark, where the boys were scared. I taught them to face their fears. One of the coolest things I’ve heard was on another military sponsored “vacation”. My wife emailed me to tell me about my boys. A tropical storm was brewing and the wind howled around our house in Okinawa. My wife walked into the living room to see a triad of small Spartans, clad in an odd assortment of my military gear and swimming goggles and carrying spear guns without tips that I had let them play with. With the wind howling and darkness falling, they were terrified. However, when my wife asked them what they were doing, they responded that they were scared of the dragons outside and that their dad had taught them to face their fears, so they had no choice but to do battle and engage the dragons. She of course let them out to face their fears.

I’ll leave you all with this. Teach your boys to turn the light on, to clear under the bed, the closet, or wherever the bogie man is hiding. We know him for what he is– weak and cowardly. The enemy is scared of all that is good and true. All we have to do is stand like a man, face his shenanigans, and send him to hell, where he belongs.

In the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

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Bounding Over-Watch

The Bounding Over-Watch reinforces teamwork while moving toward an objective with limited cover. Essentially it is firing on the move and providing cover fire to help the team advance on the objective. To conduct it successfully a wide shooting range is needed of at least 100 yards. Ideally it is conducted with a four man fire team broken down into two groups, although this can be modified to suit your team or department's needs.

Initially, one of the teams will provide cover fire as the other team moves down range. It is important to maintain muzzle discipline at all times when conducting this drill. That means fingers off the trigger with safeties on, as the shooters on the other team may end up in front of you at times.

One two man team will shoot as the other team moves. Initially this can be done in increments of ten yards to develop a feel for it and to institute a level of safety. When the team moving reaches their destination, they alert the shooters that they are “Clear” and take up the task of providing cover until the other team passes them by ten yards.

The roles then switch back and forth until both teams are within 5 feet of the targets.

There is no firing across the range at any time in the interest of safety. Shooters should only engage targets directly in front of them.

It is equally important to vary range conditions with each session, so as not to build or train for complacency. Improvised pieces of cover can be used, such as pallets turned on their sides. In a real world situation, as officers are moving to a position of cover, the suppression fire is to provide them protection while on the move.

In military situations, this drill is conducted in the reverse as well by moving backward from the 10-yard line to the 100-yard line. This has limited use in police situations as the turning and traveling rapidly to the rear of the range is to simulate an egress or an escape.

If you conduct the rearward drill it is best to peel off to the outside. When moving, turn away from the team providing cover so that you never muzzle them with your weapon. Index your trigger finger, keep the muzzle down and safety on; at all times you want to keep as close to 180 degrees from them as possible.

This drill is the most effective way to practice moving over open ground while seeking the next piece of cover at all times. The Bounding Over-Watch is an essential drill to learn how to fight through an ambush and advance rapidly on an objective with one or more active shooters.

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Covert Movement

I just read this article by Max Velocity and thought you guys and gals might find it of use also. So here it is from his site:

http://maxvelocitytactical.blogspot.com/2013/08/comment-on-covert-movement.html


Comment on Covert Movement

I'll try and keep this post short. That usually turns out to be harder than you think, as I start getting into the topic. I saw an interesting post on the American Mercenary blog: 'Moving Groups'. I am moved to comment.


So yes, a lot of this depends on the exact scenario you find yourself in. We are not soldiers on a foreign battlefield. It really just depends on how the situation pans out when you end up fighting those 'enemies foreign and domestic'. A few good points have been made out there in the blogosphere lately. Mosby with his 'Underground Tradecraft' post (part 1), and other comments about the likelihood of taking off into the woods in camo and a boonie hat (I'm game....).


It may be SHTF and you are able to wear your best camo.


It may be that you are an active member of the Resistance and you are operating out of camps in the forests and deserts.


It may be that you are a member of the auxiliary, still living in the suburbs and aiding and abetting the active resistance members out there freezing/sweating in the forests.


It may be that we have not yet reached a time of full camo-clad SHTF and you are fighting those pesky 'enemies foreign or domestic' in a more covert way.


In a situation where you are operating as an unconventional fighting force, you will most likely be adopting light infantry tactics. If that is the situation, and you are a classic resistance force out there in the boonies, then you have choices over how you will tactically move those forces around. A classic decision here would involve a platoon sized force, that you perhaps want to move out on an ambush patrol. To do so, you have the choice of moving the whole platoon together, on a route using the best terrain masking available. Or, you break the platoon down into smaller squads or teams and send them via different routes, to rally up at the ORP (objective rally point).


Each approach has advantages and disadvantages (don't they all): the platoon moving together is a larger force, better able to look after itself if discovered and bumped by the enemy, but harder to conceal. On the other hand, the smaller teams are easier to conceal, but using multiple routes may increase the likelihood of discovery, depending on the terrain available to you. You make your own decision based on METT-TC, which in plain language means depending on the circumstances.


In the AmMerc article the approach was discussed, if you are utilizing highly competent personnel, of infiltrating in a covert way as per prior instructions so that individuals would coalesce at a target and conduct an operation, without actually meeting up at something like a rally point beforehand. Well, again it depends on the circumstances but I would be very circumspect of conducting an operation without full orders/briefing plus rehearsals preceding it. It may be that you can then disperse and move to the target by a series of covert individual means, moving either via an ORP or perhaps straight into individual support by fire and assault positions, depending on what you are doing.


Of course, if it is some kind of covert hit onto an enemy target, then it may be able to be conducted more in this manner, with team members either recognizing each other or having recognition signals. It may be that you have an individual or team surveiling the target. Once the conditions are met, they somehow communicate the 'GO' to the kinetic team or individual (sniper perhaps) to move into position, to attack if they are already tin position, or whatever. The target is hit and the sniper team or individual moves out on a predesignated route. At this point, he may have a drop point or perhaps an individual to leave the rifle with (or dump it, clean of forensics, if you can afford to lose it). He then moves, covertly in nondescript civilian clothes, to outside the *** store on *** street, where he meets up with the extraction team/individual in a covert builders van, or whatever. He either knows the guy or the van description, or has some other signal that it is the right van. He gets in and is driven off.


You get the picture. The above description is a way that you could organize, even using a cell system perhaps with guys that did not know each other, to accomplish a mission. It still needs to be planned and coordinated. This would assume a more normal times scenario where people are still out and about in the streets unarmed and where vehicles can move in the streets. Hmmmm....perhaps after full gun confiscation laws are enacted, comes to mind....???


It's not so far fetched; both sides used to get up to stuff like this in Northern Ireland, before everyone hugged and became friends. Let's look at some techniques:


CMV: this is a 'civilian military vehicle'. It describes what is basically a civvy van, all decked out to be no different from a builders truck, delivery van or whatever. These can be used for the covert infil or exfil of troops onto a mission, such as a patrol. Sometimes they were used when the weather was too bad to get a chopper in or out, or when the RAF was watching the game back at their cosy base and could not be bothered to come out and get you. The vans are driven by guys in civilian clothes complete with concealed weapons. In the back, you could have anything up to a full uniformed patrol of twelve guys fully decked out in uniform, or you could have some more covertly attired guys perhaps in earth tone clothing or street clothes.


Because these CMV's were used by security forces rather than resistance fighters, it therefore allowed them freedom to do various things. Pick up and drop off would be done at some covert place. However, one way to do it would be to wait until the CMV was imminent at the pick up point, throw in a quick fake Vehicle Checkpoint on the road, the CMV would roll up and be stopped, and then the patrol would all pile into the van and drive off when no-one was watching. Obviously a tactic for night time use on deserted country roads. A Resistance team could use these vehicles in a similar way to covertly move personnel around, to infil and exfil them from drop-off points where they could continue the mission either in a 'uniformed' or plain clothes manner. Once dropped off, a camo-clad resistance team would then continue to use terrain masking to patrol on foot towards the objective.


In Northern Ireland, the rule of law was very much in evidence. It meant that known 'players' could be stopped at a temporary vehicle checkpoint, searched for weapons, and sent on their way. They did not go about armed for this very reason. They may have been let on their way because to continue to surveil them was a clever plan, or simply because without weapons or direct evidence they could not be arrested. It got complicated. However, I do wonder whether in our increasing police/surveillance state there would even be the freedom of movement accorded to known terrorist players in Northern Ireland? I suspect that in a tyrannical United States, merely being recognized as a suspect would result in a beating and arrest or execution. Its just how we are getting ready to roll right now....


If it's just mass arrests and murders, then that points to a camo-clad resistance based deep in the forests. And, most importantly, hiding families deep in the forests with you, which is going to be the subject of that post on family safety that I need to write. Simply because of reprisals against resistance fighters, you will have to move your families to a hidden and protected location. If that becomes the situation, then all this talk of covert stuff becomes a little irrelevant. It would become camo-clad resistance fighters hiding out in the boonies, supported by an auxiliary who would have to remain 'clean' in order for the Regime to continue to allow them freedom of movement. If movement is stopped due to a lock-down by martial law, then it's just up to the camo-clad guys in the woods to prosecute the campaign.


Back to the Northern Ireland thing: in that situation, the terrorists would not carry weapons except at the specific time that they were going to conduct an attack. That may be different here - you would still likely need to carry a concealed handgun even if you did not pick up your long rifle until just prior to moving into position. Not carrying weapons meant that they could transit on the roads and not get arrested at a traffic stop/search. They would be able to move into the vicinity of the target and be provided the weapon at the last minute, which would then be handed off or dropped as they made their escape.


In Northern Ireland, there was a 'quartermaster' logistics chain that would move weapons and equipment into position. Smuggling it across the border etc. For the next courier in the chain to pick up the item, such as a rifle, it would be left in a cache, often PVC pipes dug into the side of a ditch, and a description would be given. Like a pirate treasure map if you like. Example: "Go to the lay-by two miles north of the *** bridge. Walk north to the broken fence post. Cache in the ditch...etc." It would need a series of recognizable features like a chain to find the cache. The item would be picked up, moved on and eventually be used in an attack.


So, really what is my point? It is to point out a few methods that could be utilized to increase tactical and covert freedom of movement. With a little bit of imagination you can move covertly or you can transport 'uniformed' resistance fighters around the place in a covert manner. If you do so, then you need to have a series of SOPs and contact drills for if the CMV runs into a checkpoint.

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