Today I have a guest post from my buddy Todd on patrolling. Patrolling is a topic I’m looking into. It’s not one I see getting much coverage. I found one on ItsTactical that helped a lot. I wanted to give you guys with one so I went looking for a guest post on patrolling. Todd stepped up immediately. In fact I would have had it out sooner if he wasn’t in the field at the time.
Patrolling
Patrolling in an apocalyptic area will and should be the same as patrolling in any other environment. There are five core principles that need to be followed regardless of the situation and conditions that may be present. Those principles are:
Planning – Recon – Security – Control – Common Sense
- Planning, you cannot begin any patrol simply by walking out and wandering around. Planning is essential, you must know first off what the hell you are leaving for and be damn sure that it’s a good enough reason. So why are you leaving? Gathering food? Looking for the enemy? Looking for other people? Are you escorting someone? This is what you need to know. Plan! Plan! Plan! The basics of the five W’s, all of them. Who is going, what is your mission, when are you going/returning, where are you going (destination/route), and why.
- Recon, you need to take into consideration as much info about where you are going and the route that you are going to use to get there as possible. Are there enemy in the area? This will affect the assets that you bring with you as far as weapons. How about the terrain that you’ll be going across? You’ll prepare differently for dry ground as opposed to a swamp. What is the weather going to be like during the patrol? Raincoats or wifebeaters. What friendly considerations are along the way? Like friendly encampments that you could use for overnight. Recon can be obtained in various ways such as SIGINT (Radio/TV), HUMINT (talk to people), Weather Reports, and Map Recon. That is just to name a few.
- Security, that is to say how many people will you bring with you on the patrol and how many will you leave at the base? How well armed should you be based off the recon? The same goes for your base as well. You don’t want to take all the guns and leave them unarmed.
- Control, there must be a LEADER!!!!! You can’t head out without everyone in the group leaving and the group staying knowing exactly who is in charge. If there is any doubt of this fact then you must fix it before you leave. If a patrol leader is not decided then if you take fire you will have 5 people shouting orders to each other and then everyone dies. If the leader says ‘duck’ and someone asks why, they might get hit by that sniper.
- Common Sense, unfortunately this can’t be taught or readily explained. This is your wild card factor. If you have a member of your group that will jump right when you say left, you should leave him at base. Got a guy that will wipe his ass with poison ivy? Leave him back.
The last nugget I have for you is the GOTWA. This is the five point contingency plan that you will give those that you leave back, as an informational tool.
G- Where are you Going
O-Others going with you
T- Time you’ll be away
W-What to do if we don’t come back
A- Actions on contact, What the patrol will do and what the base will do
Todd has been in the US Army 9 years and has served on three continents. He holds the rank of Sergeant. He has served 2 tours in combat, 18 months in Iraq Mamudiya, and 11 months in Afghanistan Kunduz Province. He holds the Army Commendation Medal x2, Army Achievement Medal, Gold Combat Spurs (though he is Infantry not Cavalry), and Letters of Commendation from both the German Government and the US Army NonCommisioned Officers Academy 7th Army. You can contact him at Cureator at yahoo dot com.
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