A good baseline, for SUT.

[panzer0170]

Section Battle Drills



The 6 Section Battle Drills (PREWAR)

1. Preparation for battle

2. Reaction To Effective Enemy Fire

3. Enemy Location

4. Winning the Firefight/Suppressing the Enemy

5. Assault

6. Reorganisation



1. Preparation Battle (PAWPERSO)





P Protection (Sentries – Prepare as buddies)

A Ammunition (Who needs what? Who is carrying what? Sp Weapons?)

W Weapons (Cleaned, oiled, zeroed, nothing hanging off, accessories work)

P Personal Camouflage (Local foliage, appropriate to AO)

E Equipment (YOURS. Role specific.)

R Radio (Frequencies, batteries, test)

S Specialist Equipment (Mission specific. Odd stuff like ladders, bolt croppers...)

O Orders (QBOs)



2. Reaction to effective Enemy Fire



Effective Enemy fire is considered to be rounds falling in or around your location that could or have caused injuries.

Return fire

Take cover

Return appropriate fire



Assuming you have comms to someone else? ‘Contact. Wait. Out.’ Pointless trying to give any more information at this point. Get on top of the contact, then get comms.



3. Enemy Location



As part of the reaction to effective enemy fire the section will all be observing the ground in an attempt locate the enemy position. There are various methods of doing this but some of them are fucking dubious, so I’ve left them out altogether.



4. Winning the Firefight/Suppressing the Enemy



Once the enemy have been located the section commander instructs the section 2i/c to carry on whilst he asses the situation (PLAN TIME!). The 2i/c will instruct the section using fire control orders to fire upon the enemy position. The idea is to stop the enemy firing whilst the assault is carried out.



There are three rates of fire that can be used. They are: -

Deliberate 10 Rounds per minute.

Rapid 30 Rounds per minute.

Snap 3 – 5 Rounds per minute.

Alternatively the section can fire ripple effect which is to start from one end of the section with each soldier firing one round at a time. Rather like a Mexican wave. Deliberate is ‘GP fire’ Rapid is for winning a firefight or just prior to the assault. Ripple fire is because you’re trying to conserve ammo, but you have a solid idea of where the enemy are, and you can pin them with minimal ammo.



5. Assault/fight Through



The section commander will have made his appreciation whilst the section is suppressing the enemy. The assault can take the form of a left/right flanking manoeuvre. (Apparently you can just do a frontal assault… If you don’t care for the lives of your mates, or you’re otherwise fucked and the only option is to fight through…)



A typical assault is carried out in the following manner: -



Assuming 8 blokes leave 4 as a base of fire, 4 flank. Halfway you drop 2 off as another base of fire at an angle. Last 2 blokes assault the position. As the last 2 blokes approach you up the rate of suppressive fire and then switch fire left/right (opposite to flank of approach) and stop firing) Remembering all this is done with the concept of 3:1 minimum odds, so a section is going to assault 2, maybe 3 blokes maximum.



Assaulters call reorg.



6. Reorganisation



The mnemonic GASCARD is used.

G Groups (are they all in) They must travel in using the proven route (MINES!)

A All round defence – You don’t know you’ve won, yet. Make sure you don’t lose!

S Searchers (Are they all dead? Who are they? Intel? Gear scrounge? Food? ANYTHING?

C Casualties (Numbers, What’s wrong?)

A Ammunition states (Total full mags give in a circle – Use the opportunity to re-bomb mags IN PAIRS > Maintain all round defence)

R Redistribute (eg. take specialist equipment off casualties, ammo, anything else you can think of)

D Dig/Deploy (dig if remaining in the position. Deploy if directed to carry on with task)[OK, so this assumes artillery threat. Digging in is NEVER a bad choice, even if it’s just a few inches...]


Feel free to comment and adapt. This is designed for an 8 man team, but wouldn't be out of place with a 4 man team. Add to, take away, please highlight things you think WONT work and why, but if you do... try and replace it with something helpful!

[winter]

I was hoping the British had avoided the damn acronym word games. It's degrading.

Interesting to see how you fellas worded what is essentially the same info as ours. Our acronyms are just as dumb if not dumber.

[panzer0170]

We've always played to the lowest common denominator.


The red sash that you get when you become a colour sergeant/serjeant over here? The tassles on it number the number of people expected to be in your (infantry) unit. Because colour sergeants back then weren't expected to be able to count. They would check who was there, take a tassle for every man they passed, and when they'd confirmed they'd go show the rest of their tassles to an officer, who'd then count the buggers.

It's all about being able to work 2 up from where you are, and if shitty acronyms works to get that into blokes heads, till someone comes up with something better we're stuck with it.

[johnlangdon]

panzer0170 This is exactly how Max V trained us in WV. The majority of us in the class had no prior mil experience and it just made sense.

[panzer0170]

Excellent. I now have a baseline for what I can expect people to know assuming they've gone and done this course I wonder if he has any jobs going...

[winter]

I'll agree that the silly acronyms are useful at first.

We had, in another thread, a discussion on the "thinking" citizen soldier. When the concepts and the why's, when's are understood, people forget the acronyms.

With our chain of command being voluntary with no real authority, 'assaulting' would be the last thing to train IMO.

All the troop leading procedures (prep for battle and reorg) become the sole responsibility of the individual when leadership lacks real authority. The rest of the team, of course, can assess another persons readiness for an operation or patrol, but still, they can't force a guy to change his shit, You can just kick him off the op, replace him, or cancel the op.

Am I the only guy concerned with this leadership issue in UW?

Maybe that's for another thread...

[Dave R]

This seems like its a good foundation. It would have to be adjusted slightly for U/W (hit and run) ops which will likely be our bread and butter.

[johnlangdon]

When I trained with Max V, the assault was literally the last thing we did. We focused on individual movements first, then buddy movements, then 4 man team movements. We finished the last day with running the assault with all 12 students on a bunker. It was mainly for fun but we practiced it because it has a ton of value.

[panzer0170]

I joined at sixteen and roundabout my seventeenth Birthday I spent a week in Scotland live firing. We did everything from individual 'lanes' with basic load through to full CBRN gear (Unless you ever have to, never do CBRN training...). We did day and night live firing, culminating in a full 3 section (24 blokes + training staff) assault on multiple positions. Best and worst week of my life

It has to be said that PREWAR is, really, quite specifically for a PREPARED assault on a position. It isn't something that works for all scenarios, and perhaps I didn't frame that well.

[Diz]

Hey thanks for sharing that. It sheds some light and confirms what Max is teaching over there.

On acronyms, yeah they're stupid but they work. As long as you all agree on one set. The only problem I've had with Max is learning a new set of the fuckers. But it's well worth the effort because he has one of the best, if not the best COI around.

Expound a little more if you would, between the "prewar" procedures, and what you might use in a UW setting? Did things change after the GWOT?

[panzer0170]

Honestly, I think PREWAR just WORKS. The equipment lists in PAWPERSO will change, you might use different methods to locate the enemy etc... But I think I'd keep it as is. Things did change, but at the same time they didn't. The Bn going OUT would train Counter Ins type fighting, with gear that they'd use out there. Rapid readiness types would train 'proper' warfighting like we have done since forever. Some stuff has bled (quite literally; medical procedures!) over into how we fight conventional wars, but the basics are the same, really. It's kinda why it's taught how it is. Flair and individual interpretation can be added to PREWAR, but it's still PREWAR under the hood.