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1. Light Discipline
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| While a nice cozy thing, fires at night are BAD tactics |
A night around the camp fire is a great thing. I have more fun talking to my friends on these nights
than most anything else in my life. But it anyone was really looking for us this would be the biggest no-no I can imagine.
I like to think everyone realizes this, but after looking at the packing lists of some folks with the amount of fire starting
equipment, I’m not so sure. (Note: fire starting skills and equipment is a good idea for non tactical situations.)
The only light you should ever expect to use is a small blue or red LED light that you can hang around your neck.
Blue is actually better than red because it will allow you to see blood when administering first aid. You should only
do this when absolutely necessary such as for first aid or map reading, and then hopefully you can cover yourself with a poncho
or tarp.
One thing, we may have to depend on is heat to cook our food. For this you should have a small stove,
and in tactical situations this should only be used during the day. A good routine if you are moving by day is to be
up and out of your position by dawn and stop for one hot meal after a couple of hours. During the day the light and
thermal signature is much reduced. Of course, if possible it is best to not use it at all. But on a long patrol
it might be impossible to carry enough non dehydrated food that does not require cooking.
2. Noise discipline
Another poorly practiced area during training is noise
discipline. This is all well and good for the “friends hiking image.” But in reality you need to reduce
noise to the lowest amount possible. Citizen soldiers should practice moving through the woods, by night and day, while
making as little noise as possible. This varies in difficulty with the terrain. You also need to practice the
“patrol whisper,” where you speak without moving the back of your throat and simply using your diaphragm to force
air out.
Another area of concern is equipment. All hard surfaces should be covered by a layer or two of tape
to prevent clanking. These include the buckles of gear and sling swivels. You should also eliminate things sticking
out from your body, this is hard with all the stuff you might expect to carry, but a loose strap caught on a passing branch
can give away a patrol. Lastly, gear should be secured. Dropped gear makes a lot of noise in quiet woods.
3. Tactical use of white light
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| A rifle and pistol with combat lights |
One thing I’m seeing more and more on self-defense weapons are white lights. This is a
good thing, because in any self-defense situation it is critical that you identify a target. However, these have a very
limited set of uses. In your house, at night, a brief flash of a white light to identify a target or illuminate a shadow
is probably not a bad thing. In a large room or outdoors where there might be multiple targets this is suicidal.
Don’t believe me? Try an old fashioned game of “flashlight tag” in your back yard with the kids.
In a multiple target situation, using your light to illuminate one target will instantly give you away to another. One
of the desired effects of weapon lights is blinding your target, outside you are unlikely to hit their face right away and
if there is another target he is going to light up your position. The light on your firearm should be limited to fast
searches indoors. To this end I prefer smaller lights that are easily removed (i.e. no hard mounts, not remote pressure
switches etc.) If I was a SWAT door-kicker type it would be a different story. As with anything you should take some
time practicing the use of weapon lights around your house.
4.
Battle Drills
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| Toy soldiers can help illustrate tactical principles before practice |
Also known as “immediate actions drills,” a battle drill is a pre-planned
and rehearsed maneuver that a team performs under a certain situation. These are situations where reaction time is most
important to survival. For example, when caught under fire, but not in the kill zone of an ambush (far ambush), a team
might want to perform an “Australian peel,” where each team member, in order of march, fires and then withdraws
to the rear of the column. You should have a basic set of battle drills that cover likely situations and are within
the capabilities of your group. Basic ones to start might be; 1) near ambush (right left and front) 2) far ambush (you
aren’t in the killing zone) 3) hasty ambush (where you set up a hasty ambush when you see an enemy but they haven’t
seen you) 5) incoming fire (shout out a direction and run like hell) and 6) crossing a danger area. Refer to the reading
list for books that might give you an idea of where to begin. The most important element of battle drills is that they
are rehearsed and each member of a team understands their role so that it is instinctive.
5. Camouflage
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| Burlap and spray paint are helpful in camouflaging gear |
Camouflage is the guerilla soldier’s best friend. Since any potential enemy will likely outclass
you in terms of manpower, firepower and technology, your best bet is to not be seen. A lot of people seem to think this
involves things like ghillie suits, full sets of cammies and face paint. This might be a good idea if you live in a
very rural area, but if there is any chance you can blend in to the civil population it is a better idea. This has been
the best camouflage of the guerilla fighter since the beginning of time. To this goal you should concentrate on a “low
key” look. I like Earth tone clothing, if you mix a couple of Earth tone colors between shirt and pants you can
move from decent camouflage in a wooded environment to blending in at Wal-Mart by simply dropping your field gear. What
is important is that you can make this switch quickly.
If necessary, Earth tone civilian clothing and equipment
can be rapidly camouflaged with cans of camouflage spray paint, or better yet- the addition of frayed strips of burlap or
similar material. But as a general rule, tactical gear (things that would keep you from blending with the civilian environment
anyway) should be pre camouflaged with color and you should keep some burlap around to add to it. For example, I like
two tone weapons, with a flat black finish and green furniture. The change in color makes it hard for the human eye
to recognize the shape of the rifle at a distance against a variable background. Some people take this further and fully
cammo their rifles, this is even better. Another trick that is easy to achieve is to have some cammo netting with you.
This can be draped over your body or hung to create a hide position.
6.
Gear Readiness
The old time “minuteman” concept is a hard point to maintain.
Think about it… how long would it take you to go from dead asleep to ready for combat? I’ve actually timed
myself and it’s about twenty minutes to be in “full battle rattle.” But how long should it take?
A lot of people seem to put stock in to things like maintaining loaded magazines and having all of there gear ready.
I don’t like to keep a bunch of magazines loaded, mostly because I like to load them with different amounts of ammo
for shooting drills, and I don’t shoot the same ammo in training as I would if I was heading to a fight. What I think
is a good idea, is if you can keep your line gear together and packed with a go box of ammo, that is enough. I keep
my chest rig, belt rig, a set of old clothes + boots and a basic load of ammo (in stripper clips not magazines) in a nondescript
gym bag. I can grab that, my rucksack and my rifle out of my safe and I’m ready to drive away.
7. Standardization
When I was in the Army, when my
battalion was in the field, you could walk up and pull the same thing out of every outside rucksack pocket. Ever piece
of gear was arranged the same way (where possible) so that people and parts were near interchangeable. It was a very
“one size fits all” system. This gives you a huge advantage, for the most part it doesn’t matter what
rucksack you grab when you’re jumping up after an air assault, and when a man goes down his gear and supplies can easily
be used to replenish the others.
This level of standardization is next to impossible among citizen soldiers.
We buy our gear at different times and from different places, we have our own preferences for weapons and budgets. I
guess this is an area where you should simply do the best you can. The first concern is that ammunition is interchangeable.
If everyone in a group sticks with an AR type rifle or an AK/SKS then you are doing a lot better than many militia types I
see on the net. Magazine interchangeability would be even better. Next would be to make sure those expendable
items like batteries, filters etc would be interchangeable. The last truly possible thing would to make sure that important
rapid access items such as the first aid kit are similar and in roughly the same place.
8. Combat Communications
I am referring here to the non-electronic communication
that happens prior to, during and immediately after contact. Radio communications are discussed in the “skills”
section.
One thing that any group of citizen soldiers needs is a system of hand and arm signals. There
are good starting points in several of the manuals listed on the reading list page. These need to be modified to meet
your needs and should be practiced. Hand and arm signals are (of course) a non verbal method of communication that allows
you to maintain noise discipline when telling someone something over a distance. After seeing most hand signals each
person should immediately duplicate it as the person originating it will probably not be visible to everyone. This insures
that the information is disseminated quickly.
While in contact noise discipline becomes moot and all the people
that may need to know information might not see the person giving the signal. There are “in contact” hand
signals such as “move out” and “cease fire.” This is not to maintain noise discipline but because
the noise can be so great in a firefight that people won’t be able to hear you. Another trick is to shout things
at the top of your lungs. Every member of the force should immediately repeat the command loudly. Shouted commands
should be pre planned and brief, “code words” are a good idea.
There are also a few inexpensive
ideas you might want to explore to improve communications while in contact. One, and the cheapest, is whistles.
It is a good idea for every member of a patrol to have a safety whistle. The meaning of one blast, two blasts etc should
be preplanned and discussed during warning orders. Other areas you need to consider are flares and smoke devices.
Either can be used (during night and day respectively) to signal one event during a contact, such as “withdraw”
or “flank left.” Again, the meaning of a particular signal needs to be understood before contact.
9. Night Operations
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| NVDs and luminous tape are two tools that will help you at night |
Traditionally, nighttime is the friend of the guerilla soldier. This is not true for us, for several
reasons. First, operating at night, sneaking through the suburbs or woods and land navigating, is a completely different
world. It is a world that most of us are completely unfamiliar with. And practicing for it can get you in a lot
of trouble if caught. Like so many things that I have discussed, the best thing to do is to get out at night and give
it a try. You might need to do this during a camping trip, or perhaps just in your own yard with a fiend. But
you need to do it.
Second, if you don’t understand the capabilities of modern nigh vision equipment it can
be deadly. A few minutes watching videos from Iraq on youtube can show you what the capabilities of modern technology
are. First, let’s hope we never have to face modern technology. But you need to study what they can do.
Against a less technologically advanced enemy, with practice, the night can still be your friend. There is a strong
psychological advantage to being able to operate at night when your enemy can’t.
That being said there are
a few tricks that will help you survive at night. 1) Understand your terrain. Some terrain is impossible to move
through at night, the close vegetation of the Southeastern US comes to mind. Give it a shot and see if you can.
Sometimes it is better to hunker down at night. 2) Get a night vision device. Even the low cost 1st generation
stuff can give you some advantages. (See the other gear page.) 3) Get luminous “cat’s eyes” and sew
them to the backs of equipment such hats and packs. 4) Tighten up the movement intervals. It’s always good
to be spread out, but a team should never be so spread out where they don’t know where each other are. On dark
nights you might have to travel with your hand on the rucksack of your friend.
10. Booby Traps
Booby traps are traditionally another huge friend to the guerilla fighter.
Here I mean traps that can be command detonated, and things that can be detonated by accident by the enemy. Booby traps
can be very low tech (like a pungi-stick) or extremely sophisticated (like a cell phone activated IED.)
Booby
traps can be used as a force multiplier in both defensive and offensive roles. In the defense: 1) they are useful for
slowing the speed of an enemy along likely avenues of approach; 2) used to warn against an approaching enemy supplementary
to, or replacing sentries; and 3) used as mass casualty creators to blunt the assault of an enemy. In the offense:
1) they are useful for “area denial” to slow the progress of enemy troops; 2) as an element of an ambush, perhaps
to initiate an ambush or 3) as a moral weapon. However the employment of booby traps should be confined to instances
where civilians will not be harmed. Remember, we are most likely to be fighting on our own turf, and any time innocents
are hurt it would work against us.
Of course actual training in the manufacture of most of these things is illegal;
therefore your training needs to be mostly theoretical. I would suggest reading the relevant military field manuals
on improvised explosive devices and booby traps discussed on the reading list page. A good review of Vietnam era history
books will offer insight to how these things were used by both sides and there is information on their use in Iraq.
The tactical use of booby traps can be explored by using noisemakers and trip flairs.
11. Tactical Intelligence/Counter Intelligence
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| Various leadership and intelligence tools |
A small guerilla force does not have the ability to disseminate information and usually will not be able
to pass intelligence to higher echelons nearly as well as a conventional force. Yet traditionally accurate and timely
intelligence is a hallmark of successful guerilla campaigns. This is due, in a large part, to a friendly noncombatant
auxiliary. There is not much advice I can offer about this as skills in developing such a network are unique to each
situation and there is very little real world experience available. I would point you in the direction of the classic
works of guerilla literature in the reading list. The Swiss book Total Resistance also has a practical outline for developing
an auxiliary intelligence network. One thing stated universally by people who have done such things is that it is critical
to keep a cordial two way relationship with other locals. Another point to add here; the availability of such a network
is a primary difference between what I would call a legitimate insurgency or guerilla force and a group of terrorist thugs
(I don’t expect I’m giving advice to terrorists.) If the bulk of the populace is actually for the occupiers/government
then you are doomed to failure in the long term.
The expectation of a civilian auxiliary does not mean that we
do not need practice traditional military skills in intelligence gathering. There are two of these areas available to
us. 1) Is traditional reconnaissance and observation skills. You need to read up on and discuss things like the
SALUTE(R) report and work to develop skills in clandestine observation. 2) Is the condition of enemy captures and dead,
as well as any artifacts (maps and documents that they may have.) Enemy captures should be immediately searched for
such things and should be collected by the group leader for examination.
One good reason to understand combat
intelligence gathering techniques is limit the effectiveness they might have against you. You should strive to reduce
the things you carry that might give away your intents or disposition. These include maps of permanent positions on
maps and GPS. You should also remain concealed from observation to whatever degree possible (taking in to account the
technologies that an enemy may have.) Signals intelligence is another major concern when facing a technologically advanced
enemy.
Lastly, regarding combat intelligence, it is useless unless it is disseminated. On gaining
intelligence it should be spread to all members of a team in case the leader/intelligence specialist does not return from
the operation. If you are operating with other groups intelligence should be spread as soon as possible.
12. Movement
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| We need to practice tactical movement on foot and with vehicles |
I don’t want to get into discussing a lot of different patrol formations or the like. These
are written in other places better than I can here. I would point you towards the US Army Ranger Manual and Light Infantry Tactics: For Small Teams,
both discussed in the reading list section. However, I do want to mention some critical aspects of training that apply
mostly to citizen soldiers. We, to include me, have a tendency to train in the woods. I think it more likely that,
if we ever have to fight, it would be in an urban or suburban terrain. Also, most citizen soldiers rarely train using
vehicles (at least not that I have seen.) These are two things that need to be considered in your planning. The
US military Field Manuals on Urban Operations and Convoy operations are good places to start looking for info.
13. Leadership Skills
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| Two critical books for every militia leader to understand |
I do not believe that there should be designated leaders among groups of modern citizen soldiers.
There are five primary reasons for this 1) Groups should be small and very used to working with one another, leadership will
fall naturally. 2) Leadership roles should be rotated. If the militia is ever needed in mass there would probably be
an influx of unprepared persons. Every competent person should be prepared to take a leadership role. 3) Groups
should be friendly, self-appointed leaders tend to make this hard. 4) Giving one another titles or ranks is silly, it
looks silly and anyone you discuss the militia with will think you are silly. 5) Lastly, and most importantly, the decisions
of such a group should be democratic wherever possible. In the training and mission planning this is easy. In
contact decisions must be quick and accurate. Hopefully before these skills are ever necessary the most effective leaders
will have been identified.
It is good for each person be familiar with the leadership process. What
makes a good combat leader? Leadership should not be a popularity contest, but good leaders are often popular.
A combat leader needs to be able to prioritize objectives and bring the skills of their group to bear. A leader needs to be
able to overcome personal considerations in order to achieve mission success and unit survival. A leader needs to be
at least familiar with all the skills I have discussed and an expert at as many as possible. A leader needs to be an
example of what a citizen warrior should be.
How can you develop leadership skills outside the conventional
military practice? One, you should explore jobs that require these skills. A good store manager or foreman would
have the management aspect of combat leadership down. People that are not successful in the civilian world are rarely
successful in combat leadership roles. Second, you should take time organizing and conducting training opportunities.
This can be as diverse as varied as the training opportunities I have discussed. For example, each outing a group goes
on one person should be “head camper.” They should be responsible for organization and coordination as well
as disseminating pertinent information to the other members of the group.
For further study on leadership I would
suggest the US Army Ranger Handbook, especially the sections on mission planning,
warning and patrol orders and small unit leadership. Another excellent book is Paul Howe’s Leadership and Training for the Fight.
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