From Insertion to Extraction: Advanced Milsim CQB Tactics, Techniques and Procedures [1 ed.]

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FROM INSERTION TO EXTRACTION ADVANCED MILSIM CQB TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES CRAIG R. WHITE

Copyright © by Craig R. White, 2019. All rights reserved. While every reasonable precaution has been taken to ensure the reliability and accuracy of this book and its contents, neither the author not the publisher assume any responsibility for the use or misuse of information contained herein. Suggestions and advice provided herein are only offered to provoke independent thought. In no event shall the author or publisher be held liable for any incidental, consequential and/or indirect damages (including but not limited to, damages based on loss of profits, business interruption, loss of information, etc.) caused by the use of this book. This book is for informational purposes only.

To my family and friends for all their support on “Alpha to Omega: A Tactical Primer and Training Manual”.

“IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A FAIR FIGHT, YOUR TACTICS SUCK.” JOHN STEINBECK “BE THE HUNTER, NOT THE HUNTED. NEVER ALLOW YOUR UNIT TO BE CAUGHT WITH ITS GUARD DOWN.” JAMES MATTIS

TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PART I – BASIC CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS AND FIELDCRAFT ALPHA: BASIC OVERRIDING CONCEPTS WHAT ARE TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES (TTPs)? EMPLOYMENT OF TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES DEFINITION OF CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE (CQB) BRAVO: FIELDCRAFT AND BASIC SKILLS FIELDCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS

PART II – MOUT TACTICS: HITTING THE BUILDING CHARLIE: THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN MOUT AND CQB TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES TEN BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MOVEMENT IN MOUT ENVIRONMENTS

ASSAULT, SUPPORT AND SECURITY ELEMENTS BASIC MOUT MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES HITTING THE TARGET BUILDING: APPROACH HITTING THE TARGET BUILDING: ESTABLISH FOOTHOLDS HITTING THE TARGET BUILDING: PUSH OUT

PART III – BASIC CONSIDERATIONS AND TYPES OF ROOM CLEARING TECHNIQUES DELTA: CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE – ENTRY TEAM SIZE AND COMPOSITION ENTRY TEAM SIZE AND COMPOSITION ECHO: TYPES OF ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY TRANSITIONING BETWEEN ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES

PART IV – DEFINING THE TARGET ROOM FOXTROT: DEFINING THE ROOM ROOM TYPES DESCRIBING THE INTERIOR OF TARGET ROOM OTHER METHODS OF DESCRIBING THE INTERIOR OF THE ROOM GOLF: DEFINING HALLWAYS DEFINING HALLWAYS

DESCRIBING ROOM LOCATION AND DOORWAY ORIENTATION IN HALLWAYS

PART V – DECISION MAKING AND TECHNIQUES/ PROCEDURES COMMON TO ALL ROOM CLEARING TACTICS HOTEL: CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE – DECISION MAKING AND TECHNIQUES/PROCEDURES COMMON TO ALL ROOM CLEARING TACTICS. BASIC ROOM CLEARING DECISION MAKING IMPACT OF OBSERVE-ORIENT-DECIDE-ACT (OODA) LOOP ON CQB TTPS SITUATIONAL AWARENESS INDIA: ROOM CLEARING DYNAMICS STACKING UP STACKING TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES HITTING THE ROOM: TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES COMMON TO ALL ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES BASIC BREACHING MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES

PART VI – DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY JULIET: THREE PRINCIPLES OF DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY IN CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE SPEED SURPRISE VIOLENCE OF ACTION KILO: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY READ/NO-READ METHODS OF ROOM ENTRY FREE FLOW METHOD OF ROOM ENTRY ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF READ, NO READ AND FREE FLOW ROOM CLEARING EXECUTE DECISIONS MOVEMENT DURING ENTRY TEAM BREACH POINT/REACTIONARY SHOOTING COMMUNICATE SLOW IS SMOOTH, SMOOTH IS FAST MOVEMENT TO FINAL POINTS OF DOMINATION AVOID CROSSING WINDOWS AND OTHER DOORS DURING BREACH AVOID SWEEPING TEAM MEMBERS WITH WEAPON MUZZLE AVOID CHANGING WEAPON POSITION DURING BREACH BE PRO-ACTIVE USE OF GRENADES LIMA: EIGHT ESSENTIAL STEPS OF DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY CLEAR THE DOORWAY AND IMMEDIATE AREA CLEAR THE CORNERS DOMINATE THE ROOM CONTROL OCCUPANTS SECURE THE ROOM REPORT STATUS

BACK CLEAR (SECONDARY SWEEP) COVER AND EVACUATE MIKE: DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY PROCEDURES ENTRY TEAM SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY HITTING THE ROOM: BASIC DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES HITTING THE CENTER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES HITTING THE CORNER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY - POST ENTRY PROCEDURES MARKING PROCEDURES BACK CLEARING THROUGH BUILDING VARIATIONS ON BASIC DYNAMIC ENTRY TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES

PART VII – DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY NOVEMBER: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY OSCAR: DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY PROCEDURES ENTRY TEAM SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY HITTING THE ROOM: BASIC DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES

HITTING THE CENTER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES HITTING THE CORNER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES POST ENTRY PROCEDURES MARKING PROCEDURES BACK CLEARING THROUGH BUILDING

PART VIII – LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY PAPA: LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY PROCEDURES ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY ENTRY TEAM SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY HITTING THE CENTER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES HITTING THE CORNER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES POST ENTRY PROCEDURES MARKING PROCEDURES BACK CLEARING THROUGH BUILDING VARIATIONS ON LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY POTENTIAL MISTAKES OF ENTRY TEAMS UTILIZING THE LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY METHOD

PART IX – HALLWAY TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES QUEBEC: HALLWAY TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES HALLWAY TACTICAL FORMATIONS/MOVEMENT TACTICS FOR CLEARING HALLWAY INTERSECTIONS

PART X – STAIRWAY TACTICS TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES ROMEO: STAIRWAY TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES BASIC CONSIDERATIONS STRAIGHT STAIRWAY CLEARING COMMERICAL STAIRWAY CLEARING POST STAIRWAY CLEARING PROCEDURES/FOLLOW-THROUGH

PART XI – ADVANCED CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE TECHNIQUES SIERRA: ADVANCED CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE TECHNIQUES SET – SNAP PLATING FLOOD ROOM PUSH-OUT/COVERMAN

CLEARING OBSTACLES IN TARGET ROOM PUSH UP SECURITY TWO MAN ROOM CLEARING TECHNIQUES

PART XII – TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES FOR CLEARING MULTIPLE ROOMS TANGO: MULTIPLE ROOM CLEARING TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES MOVING FROM TARGET ROOM DIRECTLY TO NEXT TARGET ROOM SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES APPLICABLE TO MULTIPLE ROOM CLEARING HOLDING COVER CLEAR AND HOLD CLEAR ON THE MOVE MOVING FROM TARGET ROOM INTO HALLWAY MOVING FROM TARGET ROOM TO NEXT TARGET ROOM WITH INTERVENING HALLWAY

PART XIII –TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES FOR USE WITH MULTIPLE ENTRY TEAMS UNIFORM: BUILDING CLEARING WITH MULTIPLE ENTRY TEAMS USE OF ADDITIONAL SQUAD AS TRAIL/SUPPORT FOR PRIMARY ENTRY TEAM INTER-ROOM COMMUNICATIONS MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES OTHER METHODS OF EMPLOYING MULTIPLE ENTRY TEAMS

PART XIV –DEFENDING OBJECTIVES IN A MOUT ENVIRONMENT

VICTOR: DEFENDING OBJECTIVES IN MOUT ENVIRONMENT DEFENSIVE OPERATIONS IN BUILT UP AREAS (DOBUA) DEFENSE IN DEPTH CONTROL CHOKE POINTS IN BUILDINGS SUCH AS STAIRWAYS, ELEVATORS AND HALLWAY JUNCTIONS DEFENSE OF TARGET ROOMS POSITIONING OF AUTOMATIC WEAPONS FOR BETTER DEFENSE OF TARGET ROOMS BE OBSERVANT

PART XV –THE IMPORTANCE OF 360 DEGREE SECURITY WHISKEY: A NOTE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF 360 DEGREE SECURITY

PART XVI –TESTING TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES FOR EFFECTIVENESS AND SIMPLICITY ZULU: TESTING TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES THROUGH TRAINING EVALUATING THE TTPS FOR THEIR IMPACT ON SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, INITIATIVE, EFFECTIVENESS AND SIMPLICITY

XVII - APPENDICES ABBREVIATIONS

SUMMARY OF CQB BASIC PROCEDURES/TENANTS TOP CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE MISTAKES (DYNAMIC AND DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY) USE OF SUPPORT WEAPONS AND SUBMACHINE GUNS IN CQB ENVIROMENTS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OVERLAPPING AND INTERSECTING FIELDS OF FIRE CHECKLIST FOR CORDONING AND ISOLATING TARGET BUILDING EXAMPLES OF ENTRY TEAM COMMUNICATIONS OBSOLETE ROOM CLEARING TECHNIQUES/METHODS A NOTE ON MILSIM EVENT ORGANIZERS

XVIII – REFERENCES AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR MILITARY REFERENCES VIDEO REFERENCES AFTERWORD AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION “From Insertion to Extraction: Advanced MILSIM CQB Tactics, Techniques and Procedures” is a follow-on training manual that builds on the lessons taught in “Alpha to Omega: A Tactical Primer and Training Manual”. Whereas “Alpha to Omega” laid the basic ground-work for Close Quarters Battle (CQB), “From Insertion to Extraction” focuses more on advanced CQB tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs). Like my prior work, it utilizes various open sources mixed in with lessons I have learned through research, training and experiences garnered over eight years of playing MILSIM and other airsoft events. Although many of the concepts contained herein are similar to those used by the military and/or law enforcement, they are condensed down for use in MILSIM environments. Since MILSIM is a non-lethal environment, the techniques and procedures contained herein place less of an emphasis on force protection and more emphasis on completing the mission. Unlike in the real world, tactical/entry teams can experiment with various techniques and procedures in a non-lethal MILSIM environment without dire repercussions. Similarly, TTPs that are considered high risk in the real world where lives are at stake are highly effective at MILSIM events. Although many of the concepts contained herein are similar to those used by law enforcement and/or the military, the TTPs in this manual are not intended for use outside of an airsoft environment. The intent of this work is to provide MILSIM players and teams with information necessary develop the specific techniques and procedures that will make their CQB tactics more efficient and effective. Please note that the techniques and procedures contained herein are designed to be implemented primarily by one or more four man entry teams. These four-man entry teams are the basic tactical elements for close quarters battle. Although these techniques and

procedures can be utilized by larger tactical/entry teams, it is my experience that multiple four man teams can more efficiently clear a series of rooms and/or larger rooms than one larger entry team. CQB is a thinking man’s game. As such, CQB is an exercise in using available firing angles to position the entry team in a more advantageous position over the enemy. Depending on the room entry method utilized, surprise, speed and violence of action work to amplify the effects of CQB tactics and to prevent the enemy from gaining initiative during the breach of the target room. Once the entry team breaches the entry point/doorway, clearing a target room is quick and fluid. Typically, an entry team should clear a medium sized room in five or six seconds. As such, it is critical that entry teams train with the TTPs they adopt until they are second nature and have been committed to muscle memory. With the possible exception of limited room penetration entry techniques, entry teams are not going to have much time to think while they are hitting a target room. This is especially true where the enemy is simultaneously working toward eliminating the entry team. As such, entry teams should commit as much of CQB TTPs to muscle memory as possible. Although this work is intended to act as a means of developing techniques and procedures that underpin CQB tactics, they should not be used separately or in a vacuum. Instead they are intended to work together to allow entry teams to move more smoothly, to discriminate targets more efficiently, to shoot more accurately and to use available cover more effectively while clearing a target room. In addition, nothing can substitute for active and effective team training. Train with SOPs and TTPs that you adopt to see what works for your team and what does not. Feel free to utilize techniques and procedures in various combinations to fit the needs of the team in various situations. If a technique or procedure needs to be modified to better fit your team’s needs, do it. Discard it altogether if it doesn’t work well. That being said, test and train with each modification to see if it is simple and effective. Please also note that each chapter in this manual builds on principles taught in the chapters that precede it

as well as those contained in “Alpha to Omega: A Tactical Primer and Training Manual”. You must master the basics of CQB tactics before moving on to more advanced topics. This manual is intended to provoke thought and to provide suggestions and ideas for formulating and implementing CQB TTPs. Each tactical team should establish its own customized tactics, techniques and standard operating procedures. I highly recommend that the tactical team “write-out” the TTPs they adopt and record same in a binder that can be continually updated to reflect changes over time. I also recommend that training sessions be recorded from multiple vantage points. You would be surprised how often “hidden” errors are revealed in these recordings. Instead of being a point of embarrassment, entry teams should work to correct errors in TTPs revealed by such video. Although I have learned quite a bit about airsoft and MILSIM over the years, I do not profess to know everything about the sport and I am sure there are others out there that are more versed in the application of advanced CQB techniques and procedures than me. Much of this has to do with the experiences of these other individuals compared to my own. That being said, this work is intended to provide techniques and procedures to further enhance your team’s CQB tactics. The better your entry team understands the complexities of CQB, anticipates issues that arise in urban and indoor environments and implements effective techniques and procedures to combat same, the more effective the entry team will be in clearing buildings and securing objectives. Tactics do not remain static. By their nature, tactics evolve over time to address new issues as they arise. As such, individual players and teams should constantly learn and address issues within their own SOPs and TTPs as they evolve over time. Developing and effectively implementing a superior and efficient tactic, technique and/or procedure in a MILSIM CQB environment can make the difference between success and failure. Toward that end, tactical teams need to frequently evaluate and practice their TTPs under

realistic conditions. Force on force training will often reveal flaws in TTPs that other training does not. Fortunately, the non-lethal aspect of MILSIM lends itself to realistic force on force training. The intensity of CQB is unlike any other engagement in the MILSIM environment. Doing it well is its own reward. Craig R. White a/k/a “Bulldog”

PA R T I – B A S I C C O N C E P T S , D E F IN IT IO N S AN D F IE L D C R AF T

ALPHA: BASIC OVERRIDING CONCEPTS To me, the best place to start explaining tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) is to illustrate the basic building blocks and concepts that underlie all of them. You must have an intrinsic “gut” understanding of the following concepts to develop and apply techniques and procedures to basic Close Quarters Battle (CQB) tactics effectively. All tactics, techniques and procedures are essentially based on four interlinked concepts. Successful techniques, tactics and procedures will often have considerable overlap of the following four criteria: SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: The TTP must assist the entry team to create and/or maintain situational awareness. In other words, each tactic, technique or procedure must promote or enhance their ability to sense and understand what is going on around them on the battlefield so as to allow them to identify and exploit enemy weaknesses. In the alternative, the TTP must diminish the enemy’s situational awareness and hamper his ability to react properly to actions taken against him. MAINTAINING INITIATIVE: The TTP must allow the player or entry team to create and/or maintain initiative. In other words, the tactic, technique or procedure should make the enemy react to the entry team’s actions and largely prevent the enemy from implementing their own strategy or tactics. Maintaining initiative will likely keep the enemy unbalanced and unable to execute their own battle plan.

EFFECTIVENESS: The TTP should quickly and efficiently cause the effect that it is designed to produce on the enemy. These effects can range from eliminating enemy players to preventing the enemy from seizing objectives…and everything in between. SIMPLICITY: The TTP should be simple enough that it can be easily taught and, with practice, fairly easy to implement. The more you introduce complexity to a tactic, technique or procedure the more you are introducing points of failure into it. This is especially true with communications and close quarters battle tactics.

WHAT ARE TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES (TTPs)? DEFINITION OF TACTICS TACTICS are defined as the practical means of employing units in combat to achieve battlefield objectives. An example of a tactic is the manner in which a squad assaults and seizes an objective. DEFINITION OF TECHNIQUES TECHNIQUES are the general and detailed methods used by troops or their commanders to perform their mission and function. It is the manner in which troops and their commanders perform their tactics. An example of a technique is the manner in which a player performs the function of point man during room clearing operations. DEFINITION OF PROCEDURES PROCEDURES are the standard methods used by troops or their commanders to perform or complete a task. An example of a procedure would be the checklist by which a squad leader calls in artillery fire or close air support (CAS).

EMPLOYMENT OF TACTICS,

TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES Tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPS), as a whole, are generally accepted practices used to conduct military operations. “Generally accepted” means that the described TTPs are applicable to most operations, most of the time and are generally accepted as effective. TTPs are used to gain advantage over the enemy through psychology, position and/or timing. Each TTP must be vetted for effectiveness in force on force testing according to the following principles: PSYCHOLOGY: Does the TTP adversely affect enemy’s ability to attack/counter-attack including surprise, fear, etc.? (i.e. create or maintain initiative). POSITION: Does the TTP tend to place team members in a more advantageous position in relation to the enemy including better cover, better firing position, flanking, etc.? (i.e. promote situational awareness). TIMING: Does the TTP effect an advantage in timing over that of the enemy including the ability to put effective, aimed fire on the enemy while denying or delaying the enemy from doing same? (i.e. effectiveness and simplicity). Each TTP needs to incorporate as many of these principles as possible while maintaining simplicity of action to maximize its effectiveness.

DEFINITION OF CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE (CQB) CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE (CQB) is combat characterized as short-duration, extremely violent action at close range. Although CQB is normally associated with clearing rooms and buildings, CQB TTPs can be used anywhere. The environment where CQB takes place

does not define it. Instead it is the violence of the short range engagement that separates CQB from other combat. CQB is about using angles to place yourself in a more advantageous position than the enemy. As such, each member of the entry team needs to constantly calculate angles of attack to insure that at any given moment, he/she will have a better angle of attack and line of fire on a potential enemy than a potential enemy will have on him/her. Combining multiple, advantageous angles of attack with speed, surprise and violence of action will interfere with the enemy’s decision making process and increase the likelihood of success in clearing the target room. Along those lines, many of the CQB TTPs contained in this manual take advantage of separation of shooters and points of domination. You may ask yourself, what is meant by these two concepts? Separation of shooters means that each member of the entry team act to increase lateral distance between each other so that the enemy has to contend with multiple threats that are not grouped together within his field of fire. This separation often disrupts the enemy’s decision making process while also creating stress for him. The enemy has only a moment to decide which team member to engage while under stress. The combination of these two factors often results in hesitation that can used as an advantage to eliminate the enemy. In contrast, if the entry team is bunched up in the enemy’s field of fire or is lined up in front of his weapon’s muzzle, he is under less stress and can engage most of the entry team at the same time. In addition, the enemy’s decision making process is eased by the fact that he can eliminate most of the entry team by simply firing his weapon without having to move much to engage each of them. Moving quickly to points of domination increases the effects of target separation on the enemy. Not only does the enemy have to decide on which entry team member to engage but he is also presented with a more difficult shot based on the separation of entry team members. In contrast, entry team members that have reached

their points of domination are in advantageous position with overlapping fields of fire and two or more muzzles on each target.

BRAVO: FIELDCRAFT AND BASIC SKILLS FIELDCRAFT Although basic field craft skills have been addressed extensively in “Alpha to Omega: A Tactical Primer and Training Manual”, the following is a brief recap of basic skills that more particularly apply to CQB tactics, techniques and procedures. For a more complete discussion of basic field craft skills, please refer to “Alpha to Omega: A Tactical Primer and Training Manual”. NOISE DISCIPLINE: Noise discipline is essential to stealthy movement. The sound of loud talking and the hissing from hurried whispers carry far ahead of you and can reveal your approach to the enemy before they actually see you. This is especially true in the enclosed spaces common to CQB environments. The sound of loose BBs and/or gear rubbing against clothing will also likely notify the enemy of your approach. The enemy will likely use this advance notice to set up an ambush. To avoid this possibility, secure your gear to prevent it from making noise (consider using rubber bands and sections of bicycle inner tube for this purpose) and use hand signals or quiet use of radios to communicate with your team. If necessary, all spoken commands made prior to actual contact with the enemy must be done in a low voice but not a whisper. The higher pitched hissing noise associated with whispering carries further and is easier to locate that speaking in lowered voices. However, once contact is made and the shooting starts, noise discipline is clearly no longer at issue. At that point, exchanging information regarding the location of enemy threats is far more important that stealth. Once you “go loud”, stay loud until the engagement is over. LIGHT DISCIPLINE: The effects of light and shadow can also affect the enemy’s ability to detect you. Be careful to avoid using

light that will project a shadow and reveal your position to the enemy. Light discipline applies to sunlight, flashlights and infrared illumination. Indiscriminate use of flashlights in indoors environments, especially in darkened hallways and rooms, will provide the enemy with advance notice of your approach and serve as an aiming point for their weapons. It may also silhouette entry team members ahead of you. Little is worse than compromising your entry team’s position just before it hits the target room. A prepared enemy is going to exact more casualties on the entry team than a complacent enemy that is unaware of the entry team’s presence. Also remember, that infrared illumination is very visible to Night Optical Devices (NODs) and Night Vision Goggles (NVGs). Type 1 NODs/NVGs utilize an infrared light that is clearly visible to more advanced versions of NODs/NVGs (Ver. 2+) which rely primarily on passive light gathering. Whenever possible, use passive light detection to avoid this issue. MUZZLE AND TRIGGER DISCIPLINE: Avoid sweeping the muzzle of your weapon across any body part of friendly players. (i.e. Muzzle Flashing). Similarly, keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire on the enemy. In CQB, muzzle flashing most often occurs when the Second and Third man crosses the entry point threshold. When it happens, Second Man typically sweeps across Point Man’s head as he breaches the room. Third Man typically sweeps the legs or head of Second Man. Because of this risk, entry team members must use appropriate muzzle discipline while clearing rooms. Entry team member should naturally lower/raise his weapon muzzle when other friendly team members cross in front of him. Once friendly forces have passed, the team member must immediately return his weapon to cover his sector. STAY OUT OF THE FATAL FUNNEL: Avoid remaining in entryways and open doorways. They are called fatal funnels for a reason. The enemy will likely train most of its weapons on the doorway in an effort to take down as much of the entry team as possible as it assaults the room. It is not the entry point itself that is hazardous. Instead, it is the positioning of the entry team as it

crosses the entry point threshold that is at issue. Because entry team members are positioned closely together as they move through the entry point, enemy fire massed on that entry point is far more likely to eliminate the entry team. The entry team loses dispersion at it moves through the entry point. Instead of forcing the enemy to decide which of multiple targets to engage, it can focus fire on a much smaller area and hope that the entry team will move into it. (See “Fatal Funnel, Partial View and Blind Zones”, Infra). THIRD EYE: Point your weapon in the same direction as you are looking so that you can more quickly and effectively engage the enemy with a minimum of additional movement. You should not move only your head in CQB. That extra fraction of a second that you use to re-align your head with your weapon can make the difference between eliminating the enemy or being eliminated yourself. EYES ON SECTOR (EOS): All entry team members need to continuously scan their sectors/areas of responsibility and danger areas. Do not watch a sector/area of responsibility that is not yours. That area will be covered by another teammate. Distracting yourself from your sector/area of responsibility can allow enemy to potentially gain the advantage by moving in to surprise the team. TARGET DISCRIMINATION: While assaulting a room, engage immediate threats first. Don’t get bogged down scanning for potential threats in the corners when a clearly visible threat is present right in front of you. Eliminate the immediate threat first then return to clearing your assigned sectors/areas of responsibility of other potential threats. Also positively identify the target as enemy before firing on it. CORNERING: Corners are extremely dangerous terrain. The enemy has often had time to set up a static defense that will place the squad at a disadvantage. As referenced below, the Diminishing Sectors/Pie Slicing method is the best manner of clearing corners. (See “Diminishing Sectors/Slicing the Pie”, Infra). When an entry

team member has cleared as much of the area beyond a corner as possible, he will commit to “taking the corner”. In that instance, the entry team member will turn the corner while leading with his weapon to neutralize any remaining threats. Entry team members should take the corner as low as possible in an effort to stay below the enemy’s line of fire. If enemy is known to be around a particular corner, consider going prone (while being covered by another teammate) and using a sidearm to neutralize an enemy from the low side of the corner. Grenades are also useful for this task. FIND WORK TO DO: As a general rule, if you are not shooting, moving and/or communicating, you are not helping the entry team’s mission. If you are standing around, find something productive to do. In a CQB environment, there are multiple threat axes that need to be covered. If you see a hole in the entry team’s security coverage, fill it.

COMMUNICATIONS Although basic communication procedures (including use of radios and hand signals) were addressed extensively in “Alpha to Omega: A Tactical Primer and Training Manual”, the following Commands/Prowords are frequently used by entry teams in a CQB environment. For a more complete discussion of communications skills, please refer to “Alpha to Omega: A Tactical Primer and Training Manual”. CQB COMMUNICATIONS PROWORDS: The following is a list of communication commands/ Prowords typically used by entry teams: STATUS = Command from entry team leader for team members to declare their physical status and/or whether their sectors/areas of responsibility are clear. CLEAR = Response given by entry team members that their sector/area of responsibility is clear.

ALL CLEAR or ROOM CLEAR = Entry team leader's report that room area is clear. # UP/# CLEAR = Response to STATUS command that entry team member is uninjured and ready to proceed with the mission. (# represents the team member's position in the stack. Example: “One Up” or “One Clear” means that the First/Point Man of the stack us up, his sector is clear and he is ready to move). DOMINATE = Command from entry team leader for Point and/or Second Men (depending on entry team TTPs) to move along side walls to positions of dominance in the room. This command can be used to order individual team member to move to position of dominance. Example. “Point Man Dominate” or “Two Dominate”. COMING OUT = Friendlies coming out of room. LAST MAN OUT = Announcement made by last friendly team member leaving the room. This announcement is made so that other friendly forces will know that anyone exiting the room behind the last friendly team member is an enemy combatant. COME OUT = Response to COMING OUT that it is safe to exit room. COMING IN = Friendlies coming into room. COME IN = Response to COMING IN that it is safe to enter room. MOVE or SET = I am in covering position. Move to your next position. MOVE can also be used as a response to the command MOVING given by another entry team member depending on entry team SOPs. MOVING = Cover me while I am moving to my next cover position. It is response to MOVE or SET.

SHORT or SHORT ROOM = Announcement by Point Man that room being entered is small and that there is not enough space for entire entry team to enter same. With this signal/command, only Point and Second Man should enter room. Third and Fourth men provide security against threats located outside of the room. GRENADE = Command by Point Man for Fourth Man to throw grenade into room before team entry. When stated twice (GRENADE, GRENADE), it is the command to throw a "Dummy" or "Dead" grenade into room. All entry team members should be ready to immediately enter room upon "dead" grenade being thrown in room to maximize initiative and surprise. This command can also be made via hand signals. Point Man holds is arm above his shoulder while forming his hand into a “C” shape as if holding a grenade and make a squeezing motion. After giving the signal, the Point Man will hold up either one or two fingers to indicate how many grenades need to be thrown into the room. If the GRENADE hand signal is given followed by thumbs down signal, it indicates that a “dummy grenade” will be thrown into the room. With use of “live” grenades, the entry team breaches the target room immediately after it detonates. STACK UP or ON ME = Get in position to enter the next room. When made, this call is often accompanied by the location of entry point and identifying on which side the team should stack. Example: “Open Door Front, Stack Right”. STACK, STACK, STACK = Combined with pointing motion at the entry point for the next room to be cleared means stack on that entry point and prepare to breach. This command can also be made via hand signals. Entry team leaders faces the entry point of the next room to be cleared and points at it with a chopping motion with his non-firing hand (i.e. knife hand).

BREACHER = Order for entry team Breacher (usually the Third or Fourth man) to move into position to open a closed door. This command can also be made via hand signal. Point Man raises a closed fist above his head and swings it back and forth like it is a hammer. SHOT, SHOT, SHOT = Entry team member makes this call when he takes an unexpected shot at enemy in the target room before the team actually breaches the room. Once this occurs, the entry team member that made the call takes temporary control over the entry team and directs what actions should be taken, including whether to continue the breach or transition to limited penetration room entry. GOING DEEP/MOVING DEEP = Entry team member (usually Point or Second Man) makes this call before he moves beyond his point of domination in order to clear dead space deeper into the room (such as behind furniture). OPEN DOOR (FRONT, LEFT, RIGHT, REAR) = Entry team member makes this call to indicate the location of an open door or entry point (in relation to the target room’s entry point) as part of reporting his status. Example: “Four Up, Open Door Left”. CLOSED DOOR (FRONT, LEFT, RIGHT, REAR) = Entry team member make this call to indicate the location of a closed door (in relation to the room’s entry point) as part of reporting his status. Example: “Two Clear, Closed Door Front”. DRY HOLE = Entry team leader makes this call when a building or structure does not contain an enemy high value target or objective. LAST ROOM CLEAR = Entry team leader makes this call when last room on the floor is clear. This signal also serves

as the command for the entry team to back clear to the access point to the next floor to be cleared. BUILDING CLEAR = Entry team leader makes this call when the entry team has cleared the entire building. STOPPAGE = Entry team member makes this call when his/her weapon is malfunctioning or down. WINCHESTER or OUT = Entry team member makes this call when his weapon has run dry on ammunition. CHECK = Entry team member makes this call when he wishes to reload his weapon. Other entry team members need to respond to this command with “Go” or “OK” to confirm the announcing entry team member can reload. BACK IN = Entry team makes this call once he has cleared a weapon malfunction and/or reloads his weapon. HOLD = Command given by entry team member for formation to stop movement for any reason (i.e. entry team member is reloading, medic is reviving a team member, etc.). NON-VERBAL SIGNALS TTPS: Entry teams should formulate and incorporate a limited number of non-verbal signal TTPs into their standard operating procedures. Unlike simple hand signals, many non-verbal signals in CQB environments must work even when the recipient cannot see the team member giving them. This is especially true where an entry team is using the “free flow” technique to clear rooms. (See “Free Flow Method of Room Clearing” Infra). An example of such a non-verbal signal includes giving a shoulder squeeze to the Point Man to initiate a target room breach. COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN MULTIPLE ENTRY TEAMS: To avoid friendly fire, friendly entry teams need to remain in communication with each other. This can be achieved through various methods including radio contact between entry team leaders, direct physical or eye contact between link-men positioned at room entry

points or stationed just inside the target room once cleared, and verbal contact between entry teams including the use of Prowords.

PA R T I I – M O U T T A C T I C S : H IT T IN G T H E B U IL D IN G

CHARLIE: THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN MOUT AND CQB TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES Because CQB is the tactical set used to clear buildings in urban terrain, there is an obvious interplay between it and Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) tactics. MOUT tactics are used to get entry team(s) to the target building. Once the entry team breaches the “door” of the target building to gain entry, it transitions to CQB TTPs to clear the inside of it.

TEN BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MOVEMENT IN MOUT ENVIRONMENTS The following basic principles apply to movement in MOUT environments: 1.

THE THREAT CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME: Do not become complacent in urban environments. Constantly scan potential danger areas in your sector/area of responsibility for threats. In doing so, be aware of potential danger areas both above and/or below you.

2.

BEFORE MOVING, HAVE A PLAN: Before moving, friendly tactical elements need to determine not only to where they are moving but also the route to be taken to get there. Leaders need to insure that troops under their command follow the movement plan.

3.

WHEN MOVING, STAY OUT OF THE OPEN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE: If friendly tactical elements must move outside, they need stay out of the middle of the road and remain close to buildings. In addition, friendly forces should remain dispersed while moving to present less of a target for enemy forces to engage.

4.

BE AWARE OF DANGER AREAS: Tactical elements need to be aware of danger areas such as street intersections, open doorways and open windows that can serve as ambush points. Also be aware of other danger areas such as upper floor windows, rooftops and storm sewer entry points.

5.

USE NOISE DISCIPLINE WHILE MOVING: Tactical elements need to move as quietly as possible. Use of hand signals for communication within the element is mandatory. In urban environments, noise travels far and reflects off of buildings in multiple directions. As such, any noise you make may end up alerting the enemy to your position even though they do not have a line of sight to you.

6.

STAY DISPERSED WHILE MOVING: Tactical elements need to maintain five to ten feet of dispersion between each of its members. A dispersed tactical element presents less of a desirable target. It is also less likely to be eliminated by one attack.

7.

CONSTANTLY SCAN SECTORS: Members of tactical elements need to constantly scan their sectors/areas of responsibility for threats.

8.

AVOID HESITATION IN CROSSING DANGER AREAS: Each member of the tactical element should move quickly through danger areas without hesitation.

9.

BE AWARE OF POTENTIAL THREATS BOTH ABOVE AND BELOW THE STREET: Members of tactical elements should be careful to scan both above and below their position to detect potential threats.

10.

NEVER MOVE ANYWHERE ALONE: Follow the “Buddy System”. Do not leave the formation except in buddy pairs or larger groups.

ASSAULT, SUPPORT AND SECURITY ELEMENTS Prior to breaching the target building, attacking forces need to be task-organized into one or more assault, support and security elements. ASSAULT ELEMENT: The assault element is tasked with establishing a foothold within the target building, to capture or eliminate enemy located in the target building, to otherwise clear the target building of enemy and to secure objectives contained therein. The assault element will typically consist of two or more squads or platoons. That being said, extremely large buildings may require a larger assault element to properly clear it. Once the initial foothold in the target building is secured, clearing actual rooms and hallways is normally conducted at the Platoon or Squad level (broken down into several entry teams). SUPPORT ELEMENT: The purpose of the support element is to provide over-watch and support for the assault element. Much of the attacking force’s support weapons and heavy weapons are tasked to the support element. Although it can be tasked to isolate and cordon off the target building, the support element is typically used as “organic” support for the assault element and moves into the target building with it. Once inside, the support element can be used to eliminate enemy strongpoints, to secure objectives and provide

resupply of ammunition and personnel as the assault element requires them. SECURITY ELEMENT: The purpose of the Security Element is to isolate and cordon off the target building, to prevent enemy reinforcement and/or withdrawal, and to provide the assault element with freedom of movement while conducting breaching operations of the target building. Once the assault element establishes its initial foothold, security elements will often move to the target building to provide security both within and around it.

BASIC MOUT MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES STREET MOVEMENT: A squad should divide into two fire teams. The two fire teams should move in a staggered column near buildings/structures on each side of the street. If there are vehicles parked in the street, fire teams need to move in the area between the parked cars and the adjacent buildings. This provides tactical elements with more covered positions to return fire if attacked. Do not move down the middle of the road. While moving in an urban environment, tactical elements should be no more than 10 yards from available cover. Urban combat is very unforgiving to tactical elements caught in the open. As such, squad and fire team urban movement should focus on the fundamentals of the offense: speed, cover, concentration, audacity and tempo. URBAN: Use the elements of URBAN while operating in MOUT environments. URBAN is an acronym that stands for the following: U = USE COVER WHEN POSSIBLE. Squad and fire team leaders should use covered routes, including moving through buildings, to the objective. Such routes should not mask (i.e. block or obscure) friendly suppressive fires. Open spaces such as streets, alleyways, parks, etc. should be crossed quickly while concealed by smoke and only after enemy positions have been suppressed.

Consider using technicals or other vehicles as cover while moving in the open. R = REDUCE YOUR TARGET SIZE WHILE IN A STATIC POSITION. Whenever possible, squad and fire team members should avoid silhouetting themselves. This includes avoiding standing in front of doorways or windows, using darkened or shadowed areas to provide concealment and reducing the body’s profile by kneeling or going prone. B = BYPASS DOORS, WINDOWS, AND CORNERS WHILE EN ROUTE TO TARGET BUILDING. Squad and fire team members need to cover likely threat axes as they move while the support element provides over watch. A = AVOID BOGGING DOWN AND MAINTAIN DISPERSION. Bogging down typically occurs when squad and/or fire team leaders are indecisive or when the squad or fire team makes contact with the enemy. Tactical elements need to avoid remaining in a static position for very long. Otherwise, the enemy may gain the initiative and counter-attack. Dispersion needs to be maintained to lessen casualties from any single attack. N = NAVIGATE IN LOW PERCENTAGE AREAS. As much as possible, squad and fire team leaders should use routes to the objective that are less likely to be traveled by the enemy, is less lighted and provides multiple points of cover and concealment. AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY/SECTORS WHILE MOVING IN THE STREET: Each fire team member should cover his/her sector of the staggered column. Team members on the side of the column facing the opposite side of the street should cover upper level danger areas and roads on that side. Team members on the side of the column facing the near building should primarily cover danger areas at ground level. When in doubt, cover danger areas not covered by other team members in the column. See Diagram 1.

DIAGRAM 1. DANGER AREAS/FORWARD PEEL: In urban environments, danger areas are typically represented by windows, doors and intersecting streets/alleyways. Smaller danger areas such as doors and windows are typically handled by using plating and holding cover techniques. See “Plating” and Holding Cover”, Infra. For larger danger areas, the Forward Peel technique is typically utilized. PROCEDURE: 1.

On Approach to a danger area, the first man in the formation will stop in cover on the near side of the danger area (i.e. the corner to an intersecting street) while pointing his weapon into it. See Diagrams 2 and 3. As the front man of the formation covers the near side of the danger area, the next man picks up front coverage.

2.

The next (second) man in the formation then moves to cover on the opposite side of the danger area. When the next (second) man gets into position, he aims his weapon into the danger area. See Diagram 4 and 5. In doing so, the first and second men have set up triangulating fire into the danger area. As the next/second man picks up coverage into the danger area, the third man in the formation takes up frontal coverage and moves with the remainder of the formation quickly across the danger area and to the opposite side in a smooth manner.

3.

The last person in the formation taps the first man on the shoulder as he goes by so that first man can rejoin the formation. See Diagrams 5 and 6.

4.

As he passes the next/second man, first man taps him on the shoulder to indicate he is clear. See Diagram 7.

5.

Next/second man rejoins the formation.

6.

The formation continues its movement toward the target building.

DIAGRAM 2.

DIAGRAM 3.

DIAGRAM 4.

DIAGRAM 5.

DIAGRAM 6.

DIAGRAM 7.

HITTING THE TARGET BUILDING: APPROACH

CORDON AND ISOLATE TARGET BUILDING: Prior to assaulting it, friendly tactical elements first must cordon and isolate the target building from its surroundings. This should prevent enemy forces from reinforcing the target building while friendly forces are assaulting and clearing it. While cordoning and isolating the target building, friendly forces must cover all enemy avenues of approach including those that allow movement through connecting buildings and through any underground access. If another building connects to the target building and if friendly forces have time to do so, consider clearing the adjacent building first…especially if the adjacent building can be more easily isolated from its surroundings. Doing so not only will deprive the enemy from using it to reinforce the target building but may also provide a more favorable breaching point for friendly forces to enter the target building. See Diagrams 8, 9 and 10.

DIAGRAM 8.

DIAGRAM 9.

DIAGRAM 10. MOVEMENT TO TARGET BUILDING: Whenever possible, movement to the target building should be made stealthily to prevent alerting enemy forces of the assault team’s approach. Whenever possible, do not provide the enemy with an opportunity to better dig in or move forces to potential breach points in the building. It is better to keep the enemy as unaware as possible to the timing and location of the initial building breach. In some instances, it may be helpful to send a mock or diversionary assault team toward a location on the building that is different from the intended breach point of the target building. That deception/misdirection may serve to “pull” enemy

forces away from the actual breach point to defend the “decoy” location. BUILDING APPROACH: If possible, approach the target building from a side where the enemy has limited visual vantage points (i.e. doors and windows) in which to observe the assaulting force’s approach. The approach angle to the target building does not have to correspond to the side of the building to be breached. Once the building is reached, the assaulting force can then move around it to the breach point. SELECTION OF BREACH POINT: Select breach points based on the effect to be achieved on enemy located in the structure while taking into account intel and the shape of the target building. Do not select a breach point based on how accessible it is. Be willing to accept some reasonable risk in selecting breach points. It is better to have a difficult breach into a section of the building that dominates the rest of it than a smooth breach in an area where the assault elements cannot establish a viable foothold or otherwise become bogged down. Whenever possible, do not rely on a single breach point. Use multiple breach points so that if one becomes non-viable, you can transition to another. CONSIDER A “TOP-DOWN” APPROACH TO TARGET BUILDING: If access to a roof is available, consider inserting the entry team on the roof to work its way down from the top. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES TO “TOP-DOWN” BUILDING CLEARING: ADVANTAGE: Enemy forces are more likely to be arrayed to defend breach points on lower floors. ADVANTAGE: Enemy forces’ attention is likely to be focused on potential breach points on the main floor and may not anticipate an attack from upper floors. ADVANTAGE: Friendly forces will have an easier time maintaining initiative and tempo of attack while

attacking from top down than from the ground up. ADVANTAGE: Friendly forces will continue to maintain height advantage on enemy forces so long as floors above them remain cleared. ADVANTAGE: Grenades errantly thrown on stairways are less likely to threaten friendly forces. Grenades thrown from below will likely roll back down the stairs toward the enemy. ADVANTAGE: Enemy egress routes are greatly reduced. From the roof and the ground, friendly forces can continue to isolate the target building. As a result, efforts by the enemy to disengage and break contact will be hampered and/or prevented. DISADVANTAGE: Extraction is difficult. The entry team can be largely cut-off from friendly forces located below it. DISADVANTAGE: Breaking contact will likely be more difficult. Breaking contact will often require moving in the opposite direction of the entry team’s momentum. (i.e. upstairs). This will likely result in additional friendly casualties. DISADVANTAGE: Without proper planning, entry teams may not have enough manpower to clear target building. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES TO “GROUNDUP” BUILDING CLEARING: ADVANTAGE: Friendly reinforcements can more easily reach assaulting forces. ADVANTAGE: Assault reams will have access to more than one potential breach point. ADVANTAGE: The target building can be cleared in a more deliberate fashion due to a greater availability of reinforcements.

ADVANTAGE: Momentum can be maintained because the\squad leader can more easily switch from assaulting to breaking contact. DISADVANTAGE: Enemy forces will likely be massed at potential breach points on the ground floor. DISADVANTAGE: Grenades in stairways are more likely to impact friendly forces. DISADVANTAGE: Unless target building is completely isolated from its surroundings, enemy forces may be more easily reinforced or can escape. THREAT AREAS DURING APPROACH TO TARGET BUILDING: During approach to the target building, tactical elements need to be aware of potential danger areas especially rooftops, balconies and open windows/doors. Make sure that tactical element sectors/areas of responsibility cover these potential danger areas.

HITTING THE TARGET BUILDING: ESTABLISH FOOTHOLDS BREACH THE BUILDING: Use CQB TTPs to breach entryway/door/window to gain access to building. If possible, complete the initial building breach as stealthily as possible. If that is not possible, clear the area immediately around the breach point as quickly as possible and establish defensive positions against possible, immediate counter-attack. LOCK DOWN AVENUES OF APPROACH TO FOOTHOLD: Once the initial breach is successful and a foothold is established, friendly tactical elements should move to defensive positions covering all enemy avenues of approach in close proximity to the foothold. SET SECURITY: Once the foothold is established, set 360 degree security to prevent surprise attack from unexpected directions.

ESTABLISH CHALLENGE/PASSWORD COMBINATIONS: Insure that friendly forces are aware of challenge/password and number challenge combinations established by higher command and implement use of same. PURPOSE OF FOOTHOLDS: Footholds serve as positions for consolidation and coordination of further building clearing efforts. Footholds can also serve as a base of fire from which entry team elements can assault or break contact. Finally, footholds can act as rally points for friendly forces.

HITTING THE TARGET BUILDING: PUSH OUT PUSH OUT TO ESTABLISH ADDITIONAL FOOTHOLDS AND TO SECURE ENTIRE TARGET BUILDING: Once the initial foothold is securely established, entry teams can then proceed to clear the rest of the target building. (See CQB TTPS, Infra). This is best done by establishing additional footholds on each floor near critical hallway junctures and stairways. Once a foothold is established on each floor, entry teams can push out to clear the rest of the floor. CLEAR ENTIRE BUILDING FLOOR: Methodically clear each floor of the target building before moving on to another. Whenever possible, clear and eliminate all enemy forces on each floor in a sequential manner, including all small rooms, closets and furniture. This will lessen the risk of enemy forces infiltrating from an un-cleared room and attacking entry teams from the flank or rear. ESTABLISH SECURITY AT CRITICAL HALLWAY JUNCTURES, STAIRWAYS AND ELEVATOR BANKS: Establish a security element at each critical hallway juncture to prevent enemy freedom of movement in the building and to provide force protection for other entry teams on that floor. Similarly, it is critical to establish a significant security element at each stairway and working elevator bank to prevent enemy access to floors occupied by friendly forces.

This is especially true where a particular stairway is one of the few avenues of approach to a particular part of the building or to one or more objectives. Stairways, ladders and elevator banks are critical to controlling avenues of approach between floors.

PA R T I I I – B A S I C C O N S I D E R AT I O N S A N D T Y P E S O F R O O M C L E AR IN G T E C H N IQ U E S

DELTA: CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE – ENTRY TEAM SIZE AND COMPOSITION ENTRY TEAM SIZE AND COMPOSITION ENTRY TEAM SIZE CONSIDERATIONS: Normally entry teams should consist of four members. Should an entry team consist of five or six members, no more than four should enter a medium sized room. The remaining entry team members should remain outside of the target room and act as either additional security or as an additional door breacher. COMPOSITION OF ENTRY TEAM: In a four man entry team stack, the First/Point man should be the entry team’s best reflexive shooter. The Second Man position should be filled by the entry team’s next best shooter. The entry team leader should fill the Third Man position. Finally, the Fourth Man should be the entry’s team’s breacher/grenadier. Note: Small rooms should only be cleared by the First and Second Men of the entry team. DIVISION OF SQUAD INTO ENTRY TEAM ELEMENTS: Each platoon or squad tasked with CQB actions needs to be divided into three elements: Assault, Support and Security. ASSAULT: The assault element needs to be comprised of four to six members. The Assault element must contain no support weapon gunners. SUPPORT: The support element should consist of at least one support weapon gunner and a medic. With the exception of entry team leaders, any other specialists in the squad should also be part of the support element. The support

element follows behind the assault element after the initial breach of the target building. It is intended to provide medical and fire support to members of the assault element. SECURITY: The security element should contain the remaining support weapon gunners. The security element is responsible for clearing the approaches to the building breach point. Once the assault and security elements enter the target building, the security element should leave a buddy pair behind to secure the entry point. The remaining members of the security element should follow behind the support element. The security element is then tasked with holding security on all danger areas that are not within the target room, including stairs and hallways, while assault and support elements are clearing the building ahead of them.

ECHO: TYPES OF ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES Although there are myriad variations of room entry techniques, they essentially boil down into three different categories: Dynamic Room Entry, Deliberate Room Entry and Limited Penetration Room Entry.

DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY Dynamic Room Entry relies primarily on speed, surprise and violence of action. It uses lateral separation of entry team members and triangulation of friendly fire to achieve its goals. The main advantage of Dynamic Room Entry is when the entry team breaches a room containing inexperienced players and/or where it is able to achieve surprise during the breach. The main disadvantages of Dynamic Room Entry is its lessened effectiveness once the initial breach occurs; the likelihood that enemy in rooms adjacent to the target room will become aware of the entry team’s presence (and will likely counter-attack); and the inherent risk of immediately entering a target room potentially filled with a dug in enemy. A four man entry team is the minimal size needed to effectively clear medium sized rooms using this technique. Two or more entry teams may be needed to clear larger rooms. For extremely small rooms (i.e. less than 50 square feet), usually a two man entry team is sufficient. (See “Dynamic Room Entry”, Infra).

DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY Deliberate Room Entry relies more on clearing as much of the room as possible from outside of the doorway/entry point before using dynamic entry techniques to clear the near side (“hard”) corners. Stealth is at a premium for Deliberate Room Entry. If

compromised, the entry team will likely need to transition from the Deliberate Room Entry to the Dynamic Room Entry technique to clear the target room. The advantage of Deliberate Room Entry is that up to 90% of the target room can be cleared from outside of the room. Utilizing the Deliberate Room Entry technique lessens the odds of incurring friendly casualties while clearing the room. The entry team has the opportunity to ascertain enemy strength and fortification in the room before committing to breaching it. The disadvantage of the Deliberate Room Entry technique is that the entry team is vulnerable to attacks while it is in the hallway and that the Point Man is exposed to potential enemy fire while he sweeps across the doorway/entry point to clear most of the target room. It also is less effective where the door to the target room is closed. As with Dynamic Room Entry, you will likely need a four man entry team to effectively clear medium sized rooms using the Deliberate Room Entry technique. Two or more entry teams may be needed to clear larger rooms. For extremely small rooms (i.e. less than 50 square feet), usually a two man entry team is sufficient. (See “Deliberate Room Entry”, Infra).

LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY Like Deliberate Room Entry, Limited Penetration Room Entry relies on clearing as much of the target room as possible while using walls and the doorway/entry point frame to provide cover against enemy incoming fire (i.e. fighting from the door”). It relies more on security, cover and force protection by engaging the enemy almost exclusively from outside the target room. Unlike both Dynamic Room Entry and Deliberate Room Entry techniques, the Limited Penetration Room Entry technique is focused on force protection. As such, entry team members do not actually enter the target room until almost all of it is cleared from the outside. Near corners of the target room are cleared by diminishing sectors/slicing the pie from the frame of the entry point or by limited penetration into room by one or more entry

team members. The main disadvantages of limited room entry is that it is often plagued by entry team members getting bogged down at the target room entry point and by enemy attacks on its flanks while doing so. (See “Limited Penetration Room Entry”, Infra).

TRANSITIONING BETWEEN ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES Entry teams should train to the point where they can easily transition from any one room entry technique to another. For example, if the team initially utilizes a limited penetration room entry technique, but is getting bogged down, it should easily transition to Dynamic Room Entry technique. If the team is initially utilizes a Deliberate Room Entry or Dynamic Room Entry technique but determined that the target room is heavily fortified, the Point Man should be able to pull back while the entry team transitions to Limited Penetration Room Entry technique. The entry team needs to be flexible enough to transition to each room entry technique as circumstances warrant it.

PA R T I V – D E F I N I N G T H E TAR G E T R O O M

FOXTROT: DEFINING THE ROOM In order to have an intelligent “discussion” regarding CQB tactics, techniques and procedures, we need to use a common method of defining the target room. Rooms (with some variations) are typically defined as one of two types: Center Fed vs. Corner Fed.

ROOM TYPES CENTER FED: A Center Fed Room is a room where the entranceway/door is located near the center of the near wall. In a Center Fed Room, members of the entry team can proceed both left and right along the near wall as they enter the target room. See Diagram 11.

DIAGRAM 11. CORNER FED: Any room where the entranceway/door is located at or near the corner of the near wall is identified as a Corner Fed Room. In a Corner Fed Room, members of the entry team can essentially proceed in only one direction along the near wall as they enter the target room. Note that a room with an entry point almost

but not quite in the corner of the room is still defined as a Corner Fed Room. See Diagrams 12 and 13. Room entry for Corner Fed Rooms works the same as standard room entry (Center Fed) except the dominant walls are not parallel to each other. Be aware that since entry team members are more likely to inadvertently push more into the center of the corner fed room, there is a greater risk of fratricide. As such, the entry team must use discipline not to over penetrate into the target room and/or to stray into firing lanes of other entry team members.

DIAGRAM 12.

DIAGRAM 13. BOX SHAPED ROOM: A Box Shaped Room is defined as a room that is typically nearly square in shape. It can also be a rectangular room where the entry point is on one of its long walls. See Diagram 14. A Box Shaped Room can be either center or corner fed.

DIAGRAM 14. LINEAR TYPE ROOM: A Linear Type Room is defined as a rectangular room where the entry point is located in its short wall. See Diagram 15. It is sometimes referred to as a “tubular” room. Like a box type room, a Linear Type Room can be either center or corner fed.

DIAGRAM 15. L-SHAPED ROOM: An L-Shaped Room is defined as a room that is shaped like the letter “L”. See Diagram 16. Like both the linear shaped and box type rooms, an L-Shaped Room can be either center or corner fed. The larger side of the room, from the perspective of the entry-point, is the “heavy” side. For example, the L-Shaped Room diagramed below would be referred to as “L-Shaped Room, Heavy Left”. Great care should be used in clearing L-Shaped Rooms. This is because a large portion of the room cannot be cleared from the room entry point.

DIAGRAM 16. IRREGULARLY SHAPED ROOMS: Irregularly shaped rooms are the ones that do not fall into the Box Shaped, Linear Type or LShaped room categories. These rooms are typically found in larger commercial or industrial type buildings. Generally speaking, irregularly shaped rooms are likely made up of a combination of box, linear and L-shaped rooms.

DESCRIBING THE INTERIOR OF TARGET ROOM LOCATIONS WITHIN ROOM: Throughout this manual, reference will be made to various locations in the target room in relation to the target room’s entry point. The near wall is defined as the wall in which the doorway/entry point is located. The far wall is the opposite wall from the near wall. The left wall is the wall to the left of the entry point from the viewpoint of someone outside of the target room. The right wall is the wall to the right of the entry point from the viewpoint of someone outside of the room. The near corners are the corners located to the left and right of the doorway/entry point where the near wall joins the right and left walls. The near corners are individually referred to as right near corner and left near corner, respectively. Near corners are sometimes also referred to as “hard” corners. The far corners are the corners where the far wall joins the left and right walls. In a similar fashion these corners are individually referred to as left far corner and right far corner respectively. Far corners are also sometimes referred to as “soft” or “easy” corners. See Diagrams 17, 18 and 19.

DIAGRAM 17.

DIAGRAM 18.

DIAGRAM 19. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS MANUAL, THE ABOVE-REFERENCED METHOD OF DEFINING LOCATIONS WITHIN THE TARGET ROOM WILL BE UTILIZED TO ILLUSTRATE EACH ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUE.

OTHER METHODS OF DESCRIBING THE INTERIOR OF THE ROOM COLORS: As an alternative, colors can be used to define the walls of the room. For example “White” would identify the near wall. “Black” would denote the far wall. “Red” would denote the right wall and “Blue” would denote the left wall. Using colors to define the corners of the room usually proves to be problematic. For example, is the left near corner the “White-Blue” corner? NUMBERS: Entry teams can also use numbers to define the interior of the room. The team would assign numbers to each wall of the target room. The corners would be identified by the two adjoining walls with a slash between them. For example, if the near wall is assigned “1” and the right wall is assigned “4”, the right near corner would be identified by either “1/4” or “4/1”.

Numbers can also be used to describe the positions of other doors/entry points into the target room. Other doors/entry points are numbered starting from the left of the entry point and continuing around the room in a clockwise fashion. Alternatively, other entry points can be described by their position in the target room. Examples of this method include “Door, Center of Left Wall” or Doorway, Left Side of Opposite Wall”, etc. HEAVY SIDE/LIGHT SIDE OF WALL: Unless the doorway/entry point to the target room is located exactly in the middle of the wall, the wall on one side of the door/entry point will be longer than the other. In such circumstances, the longer part of the wall is defined as “heavy” or “long” and the shorter side is defined as “light” or “short”. Generally speaking, the entry team should default to stacking up on the heavy side of the near wall of each room. This is especially important when the team is transitioning from clearing the initial room to stacking up next to an interior door or entry point. See Diagram 20.

DIAGRAM 20. LINE OF DEPARTURE: The line of departure is an imaginary line drawn across the width of the doorway/entry point. It represents the separation of the interior of the target room from its exterior. It is also the line past which the entry team must leave cover, enter and dominate the target room. With Dynamic Room Entry and Deliberate Room Entry techniques (See “Dynamic Room Entry” and “Deliberate Room Entry”, Infra), crossing the line of departure with

an entry team member’s body or weapon muzzle, commits the Point Man and the rest of the entry team to breaching and clearing the room. See Diagram 21.

DIAGRAM 21. STRONG WALL: The strong wall is the wall immediately adjacent to the entry point to the target room. In a center-fed room, the strong wall is also called the near wall. In a corner fed room, the strong wall will be the near wall and either the right or left wall (depending on in which corner the entry point is located. PRIMARY CORNERS: Primary corners are corners that the entry team expects to encounter while initially breaching the room. They include both the initial hard and soft corners. SECONDARY CORNERS: Secondary corners are ones that the entry team encounters after the initial breach of the target room. These include hidden corners that are out of the entry team’s line of sight as it enters the target room. Secondary corners also include corners in rooms immediately adjacent to the target room with an open entry point. Secondary corners may be unexpected and can catch the entry team off guard.

FATAL FUNNEL, PARTIAL VIEW AND BLIND ZONES: The “Fatal Funnel” is a term used to describe the area of greatest risk while breaching the target room. It is called the fatal funnel because that is the area where enemy in the target room will likely train most, if not all, of its weapons. The fatal funnel allows the enemy to focus their fire on the entry point where the entry team is forced to enter the room. The “Partial View Zone” is the area located immediately to each side of the fatal funnel. It represents the area of the target room that is observable from outside the room (i.e. from the entry point frame) but without entering the fatal funnel and without crossing the line of departure. The “Blind Zone” represents the 10-15% of the target room that cannot be cleared without crossing the line of departure. It is the area along the near wall and into the near “hard” corners of the target room. See Diagram 22. It is important to note that the fatal funnel is simply a method of describing likely lines of fire through the entry point from enemy located inside the target room. It does not represent the threat itself. The existence of the “Fatal Funnel” depends on whether the target room contains enemy with lines of fire extending through the entry point. Where there is no enemy in the target room, there is no fatal funnel. The shape and dimensions of the ‘fatal Funnel can change based on three criteria: 1). The locations of corners leading into the target room/danger area (these include hard corners formed by intersecting walls and those created by the presence of a “door frame” leading into the target room/danger area, 2). The location of enemy in the target room/danger area in relation to the location of entry team members, and 3). Enemy lines of fire extending through the entry point from enemy located in the target room/danger area. The dimensions of the fatal funnel can widen or narrow depending on the positions of enemy within the target room.

DIAGRAM 22. Be aware that, depending on the number and location of entrances into the target room or danger area and the number and location of enemy in the target room/danger area, there can be more than one fatal funnel leading out of the target room or danger area. IMMEDIATE THREAT AREA: The immediate threat area is the area immediately inside the entry point to the target room. It is sometimes also referred to as the “Danger Area” or “Threshold”. Enemy located in this area pose a critical threat to the entry team in that they likely physically block entry into the target room and are able to provide point blank fire on friendly entry team members. See Diagram 23.

DIAGRAM 23. MOVING ANGLES AND MAINTAINING REAL ESTATE GAINS: CQB TTPs are designed to allow an entry team to gain control over the target room, and by extension the building, while eliminating enemy contained therein. Use of CQB techniques such as diminishing sectors/slicing the pie are used to clear portions of a room or hallway prior to making entry into it. In formulating and implementing CQB TTPs, entry teams need to take into account the “moving” angle. Do not give up control over a section of a room or hallways (i.e. “real estate”) after you have cleared it. Maintain a visual of the cleared areas of the target room to prevent enemy from later moving into it to ambush the entry team. The “moving” angle represents dead space that is recreated when entry team members lose line of sight into a previously cleared area of a room or hallway. When entry team members lose line of sight into a previously cleared section of room or hallway, it allows enemy to move into that dead space and potentially ambush entry team members as they breach the target room. See Diagram 24. In essence, the entry team member allows himself to be ambushed by taking “eyes-off” previously cleared area and allowing it to revert to dead space again. Enemy that move into that recreated dead space are in an advantageous position and will

likely surprise the entry team member (in whose mind the space remained “clear” but was not) when he breaches the target room.

DIAGRAM 24. In this example, any enemy synchronizes his movements with the entry team member’s efforts to clear the interior of the target room from the outside while using a deliberate room entry technique. (See “Deliberate Room Entry Procedures”, Infra). As the entry team member conducts his sweep of the interior of the target room, he gradually loses line of sight into the partial view zone on the right side of the room. By the time the entry team member has reached the end of his initial sweep of the target room (Position “3”), the enemy has already moved into the danger area just inside the entry-point. At this point, it is unlikely that the entry team member is aware of the enemy’s movement and will likely breach the room based on his last known line of sight into the room. If he does so, the entry team member will be unexpectedly confronted by enemy in the danger area and will likely to be eliminated.

To counter this possibility, entry team members need to maintain cover over areas of the room they have cleared so as to limit possible movement by enemy in the room from attaining positions of advantage and surprise over entry team members. Often this issue is addressed by having the Second man immediately move up and hold cover over the partial view zone that is subject to the “moving” angle while the Point Man completes his initial sweep. If an enemy attempts to move from the blind zone toward the danger area of the room, Second Man should be in a position to eliminate him before the Point Man breaches the room.

GOLF: DEFINING HALLWAYS DEFINING HALLWAYS Before an entry team can breach the target room, it must reach it. In most cases, this will involve movement through a hallway. Hallways represent a unique danger area. They typically connect to other danger areas (i.e. other rooms or other hallways) via open intersections and/or doorways (whether open or closed) spaced irregularly along their length. Hallway intersections are often described by their shape. Although there are some variations, the typical hallway intersections are described as follows: CROSS SHAPED: Where two hallways cross through each other, the intersection they form is described as Cross Shaped. See Diagram 25. This intersection is also sometimes referred to as “XShaped”.

DIAGRAM 25. T-SHAPED: Where one hallway intersects into the side of another hallway in a perpendicular fashion, the intersection they form is described as T-Shaped. See Diagram 26.

DIAGRAM 26. CORNERS: Where the ends of two hallways intersect with each other in a perpendicular fashion, the intersection they form is described as a corner. See Diagram 27.

DIAGRAM 27.

DESCRIBING ROOM LOCATION AND DOORWAY ORIENTATION IN HALLWAYS Unless they have been able to recon target rooms ahead of time, entry teams will not know the exact shape and dimension of rooms that comprise the target building until they reach the entry point or doorway to each of them. Because of this lack of prior knowledge, pairs of doors on opposite sides of the same hallway are described by their alignment in relation to each other.

OPPOSING DOORWAYS: Opposing Doorways are described as those that are located directly across from one another in a hallway. See Diagram 28. When confronting rooms with open opposing doorways from within the hallway, it is normally best (if resources allow for it) to assault both rooms simultaneously or to plate one doorway while assaulting through the other (if manpower is limited). (See “Plating”, Infra). Otherwise, the entry team is likely to be attacked from the rear from enemy in one room while it assaults the room across the hall. If one of the opposing doors is closed, the entry team should consider assaulting the room with the open doorway first while either holding cover on or plating the opposite door. Once the room with the open doorway is cleared, the entry team can move back across the hallway to assault the room with the closed door. If both doors are closed, the entry team leader can choose in what order from the hallway the rooms should be assaulted.

DIAGRAM 28. OFFSET DOORWAYS: Offset doorways are doorways on opposite sides of the hallway with enough space between them to position an entry team member without exposing him to threats from either doorway. See Diagram 29. When confronted with Offset Doorways, entry teams should assault each doorway from the hallway one at a time in the order in which they are reached.

DIAGRAM 29. OFFSET OPPOSING DOORWAYS: Offset Opposing Doorways are doorways that are not opposing but also do not allow an entry team member to be placed between them in the hallway without being exposed to threats from one or both doorways. See Diagram 30. When confronting rooms with open offset opposing doorways, it is normally best (again if resources allow for it) to assault both room simultaneously or to plate one doorway while assaulting through the other. If one doorway is open and one is closed, the entry team should assault through the open doorway first. If both doors are closed, the entry team should assault the nearest doorway first.

DIAGRAM 30.

PA R T V – D E C I S I O N M A K I N G A N D T E C H N IQ U E S / P R O C E D U R E S C OMMON TO AL L R OOM C L E AR IN G TAC T IC S

HOTEL: CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE – DECISION MAKING AND TECHNIQUES/PROCEDURES COMMON TO ALL ROOM CLEARING TACTICS. BASIC ROOM CLEARING DECISION MAKING COMPLEXITY OF ENVIRONMENT: CQB is a thinking man’s game that requires entry team members to constantly think in three dimensions while simultaneously assaulting complex buildings and structures. In so doing, the team must recognize favorable threat angles against the enemy as well as potential threat angles against the entry team. It also requires ongoing communication and passing of critical information between entry team members in real time during the breach of the target room. Entry team leaders must make reasonable decisions based on the information available to them at the time. When time is of the essence, entry team leaders typically do not have the luxury of waiting for a clear picture of what is contained in the target room before making a decision to breach it. As a result, entry team leaders and members should: 1.

KEEP ROOM CLEARING PROCEDURES AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE: Keeping procedures simple prevents confusion and allows quicker reinforcement of the tactic, technique or procedure through repeated training. Make muscle memory your friend.

2.

FOCUS ON CLEARING ONE ROOM AT A TIME: Entry team members need to focus on clearing individual rooms one at a time. Do not move to adjacent rooms until the initial target room is cleared.

3.

ENTRY TEAM LEADERS SHOULD DECIDE WHICH ROOM CLEARING METHOD TO USE BASED ON INFORMATION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO THEM: Issues for consideration include, but are not limited to, whether the target room is known to be occupied by enemy forces, the number and composition of enemy forces, whether the target room contains an objective, whether the target room is fortified, whether the target room or its contents represent key or critical terrain, the location of entry points into target room, the number and location of additional doorways or windows into the room (threat axes) and the security provided to the entry team by nearby friendly forces.

4.

ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS MUST FULLY COMMIT TO AND ACT ON THE TEAM LEADER’S DECISIONS: Second guessing the entry team leader’s decisions will likely get the entire entry team eliminated. Once a decision is made by the entry team leader, the entry team must execute on that decision.

5.

THE ENTRY TEAM MUST MAINTAIN COORDINATION AND COMMUNICATIONS DURING THE BREACH OF TARGET ROOM: Communication (even if unspoken) between entry team members is critical to a successful breach. Depending on the experience of the entry team, such communications can be verbal or non-verbal signals. (See “Communications”, Supra).

6.

ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS SHOULD CROSS THE LINE OF DEPARTURE IMMEDIATELY: While using Dynamic Entry Techniques, don’t hesitate and get caught in the fatal funnel. Move quickly through the doorway/entry point and along the walls to increase lateral separation between each entry team member and to maximize triangulation of friendly fire on the enemy. If you get hit, step aside to allow other team members to breach the target room.

7.

ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS SHOULD EXPECT ENEMY CONTACT: While clearing any danger area, entry team members should always expect close contact with the enemy and be ready to engage same. Anticipating enemy contact should prevent surprise/hesitation once it occurs and provide entry team members with a reaction time advantage.

8.

EACH ENTRY TEAM MEMBER SHOULD ELIMINATE ALL IMMEDIATE THREATS AS HE/SHE ENCOUNTERS THEM: If Dynamic or Deliberate Room Entry techniques are being utilized, entry team members should eliminate threats while moving to their points of domination. First eliminate immediate threats. They pose more of a danger to the entry team member than potential threats that are positioned deeper in the room. That being said, rely on other entry team members to neutralize threats that are not in your sector and are deeper in the target room.

9.

MOVE TO ALL DOMINATION POINTS: If the Dynamic Room Entry or Deliberate Room Entry technique is being utilized, entry team members should move to all points of domination as per their TTPs or SOPs.

10.

NEVER STOP SCANNING SECTORS: Entry team members should stay focused and never stop scanning their sector/area of responsibility unless they are actively engaging a threat in their sector/area of responsibility. Hidden threats will often wait until the initial breach is completed before revealing themselves. Keep in mind that potential threats can be represented by open doors leading into target room, unidentified individuals in the target room and obstacles that cannot be cleared visually from the entry member’s current position. If such a potential threat exists, provide security for the rest of the entry team by covering it with your weapon.

11.

CHECK YOUR CONDITION: On command of “ALL CLEAR”, each entry team member should check both their condition and the condition of other entry team members before reorganizing back into the stack. Entry team members should also make sure that they monitor their ammunition use. When in doubt, reload.

IMPACT OF OBSERVE-ORIENTDECIDE-ACT (OODA) LOOP ON CQB TTPS First established by Colonel John Boyd, the OODA Loop is a generally accepted method of explaining the decision making process of individuals in combat. To be effective, many CQB tactics use interruption of the enemy’s OODA Loop to gain an advantage against him in reaction time and/or decision making. The OODA Loop consists of four basic steps performed in the following order: 1). OBSERVE: This is the information the individual picks up from environment around him, 2). ORIENT: The individual processes the information he OBSERVES based on his own prior experiences,

intelligence, training and education, 3). DECIDE: The individual decides what action to take based on the analysis of his circumstances (ORIENT) and 4). ACT: The individual acts on his decision. Both friendly and enemy team members constantly rotate through these steps throughout the operation or exercise. If entry team members can process information more quickly than the enemy, they are more likely to prevail. Most CQB TTPs are designed to interrupt the enemy’s OODA Loop by overwhelming him with more data than he can effectively process. If you can disrupt the enemy’s OODA Loop and/or force him to return to step one of the OODA Loop, his reaction time or decision making will likely be delayed. Entry team members can exploit this hesitation by making the first, accurate shot to eliminate the enemy. For those interested in this subject, a great deal of information regarding the OODA Loop can be located in print and on the internet. Links to one or more websites regarding the OODA Loop are located in the Video Reference Appendix to this training manual.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS This is the most essential consideration in the employment of CQB TTPs. Awareness by entry team members of changing conditions surrounding them, as well as changes in known or potential threats are critical to force protection (protection of the team) and completion of the mission assigned to it. Team members need to constantly observe and evaluate their surroundings for potential threats in three dimensions. It is also especially important to maintain situational awareness while breaching the room. Tunnel vision such as fixing on clearing corners as opposed to eliminating known threats, failing to transition from primary sectors/areas of responsibility to secondary sectors/areas of responsibility, failing to be aware of the positions of other team members and over-penetrating into the room (with attendant masking of other entry team members’ fields of fire)

while clearing a room, will likely result in friendly casualties or loss of the entire entry team. For support and security elements, failure to focus on their sectors/areas of responsibility can result in enemy forces engaging the assault element (entry team) before the target room can be breached and cleared.

INDIA: ROOM CLEARING DYNAMICS STACKING UP STACKING TYPES: There are many variations on the standard stack used in CQB. The more common variations are as follows: LINEAR/DOOR FACING: This is considered to be the “Standard” version of the stack. Team members line up along the outside wall of the target room while facing the doorway/entry point in to it. The Point Man stacks closest to the entry point and is followed by the Second, Third and Fourth Men in that order. See Diagram 31. With the linear stack, the Second Man normally lines up just off Point Man’s outside shoulder in order to put two muzzles on the initial danger area represented by the target room’s entry point.

DIAGRAM 31. ADVANTAGES OF LINEAR STACK

Allows Point and Second Men to both cover entry point while rest of entry team stacks up. Allows stack to better organize before hitting the room. Generally easier to incorporate other techniques and procedures into breaching target room. Limits time gap while entry team performs Dynamic Room Entry. Entry team members will already be close enough to immediately move into target room and provide mutual support to each other. Promotes more synchronous entry while using Dynamic Room Entry techniques. Limited opportunities for fratricide (i.e. “friendly fire”). Entry team members have assigned sectors/areas of responsibility and do not overly penetrate into target room. Better force protection than offset stack. Entry team members do not initially take positions that are exposed to potential enemy fire from inside target room. Easier to utilize for less experienced team members. Easier to set minimum safe distances to protect against grenade attack. DISADVANTAGES OF LINEAR STACK More static than other methods of stacking. Requires more time to prepare than other stacking methods. Provides reduced lines of sight/fire into target room. May slow pacing and flow of entry while opening doors. Depending on stack configuration, can be vulnerable from the sides and rear. Entry team is typically blind to interior of room until breach commences.

A variation of the linear stack is for the third and fourth men to increase separation between themselves and other entry team members prior to breaching the room. In this configuration, Third Man’s sector/area of responsibility would be danger areas on the stack’s exposed flank. Fourth Man’s sector/area of responsibility is to cover the rear of the stack. The linear stack is the most common stacking method used by entry teams. It works well with all three methods of room clearing and is a more easily grasped method of stacking by inexperienced team members. MOBILE/STACKLESS: The entry team is formed loosely into a stack formation in the same order as that used for a linear stack while moving down the hallway to target room. The stack does not stop for open doors but instead closes the gap between entry team members as the entry team approaches the target room before immediately breaching the door/entryway. It is sometimes also referred to as a “Rolling Stack”. When using the mobile/stackless method, familiarity with each position in the stack by every entry team member is especially important. Once Point and Second men enter the target room, the other team members must converge and enter the room immediately behind the Second Man. It does not matter which specific team member enters the room directly behind Second Man. Whoever that may be, that team member assumes the role of Third Man. The next team member assumes the role of Fourth Man/Security. Using this stacking technique helps to avoid timing gaps between each entry team member. With very experienced entry teams, Point and Second men are not pre-designated. Instead the first entry team member that reaches the target room entry point becomes Point Man, the second entry team member that reaches the target room behind Point Man becomes Second Man, etc.

Note that stackless entry is only really effective when the target room has an open door or entry point. If a closed door is present, the entry team may need to stack first before hitting the room. The biggest disadvantage of this stack formation is that it requires entry team members to remain in closer proximity to each other as they approach the target room. It also requires close synchronization of entry team members to function correctly using a dynamic entry room clearing technique. Stackless entry is often used to clear follow-on open doors that lead off of the initial target room. It provides a smoother and more sustained flow. See Diagram 32.

DIAGRAM 32. ADVANTAGES OF “STACKLESS”/MOBILE STACK Allows rapid movement to and breach of target room. Allow entry team to approach entry point from any angle. Allows entry team to maintain momentum and free flow of movement while clearing multiple rooms with open doors and/or entry points.

Better force protection due to dispersion of entry team prior to breach. Generally easier to incorporate other techniques and procedures into breach of target room. More likely to achieve surprise against enemy in target room with open door.. DISADVANTAGES OF “STACKLESS”/MOBILE STACK Requires more coordination from entry team members than other stacking methods. It is more difficult to coordinate breach of target room when entry team members need to converge together on the move immediately before breaching target room. Requires more experienced team members to perform correctly. Because of all of the “moving parts” associated with a “Stackless” breach, it is much easier for less experienced entry team members to become confused or fall out of synchronization with other entry team members. Potentially places Point Man in danger if there is timing gap between Point and Second Man. Point Man can be exposed to threats from the opposite near corner. Provides reduced lines of sight/fire into target room. Depending on stack configuration, can be vulnerable to attacks from the sides and rear. Entry team is typically blind before breach of target room. Greater likelihood of gaps between entry team members during breach of target room. Less effective against target rooms with closed doors. The Mobile/”Stackless” method is probably the second most frequently used stacking method. It lends itself well to all three room entry methods. It can also more easily incorporate free flow room entry techniques. Its main downside is that it

requires a more experienced entry team to perform it well. Each member of the entry team must know each position of the stack in intimate detail and must be able to assume any position in the stack on a room to room basis. OFFSET: In addition to the “primary” entry team, an additional entry team (“Offset Entry Team”) is positioned off the wall and perpendicular to it. The offset entry team stack is “offset” from the primary entry team and aligned with edge of entry point that is located across from the “primary” entry team. This formation allows the offset entry team to engage enemy through the doorway prior to breaching it. This formation still allows each entry team to breach the room by each team member taking a different angle to enter the room. The main disadvantage of this stack formation is that it exposes the offset entry team stack to potential incoming fire before the breach occurs and requires close synchronization to work properly with a dynamic entry room clearing technique. Because of the increased exposure of offset entry team to potential enemy fire and coordination issues associated with having a second entry team in this formation, the offset stack is infrequently utilized. See Diagram 33.

DIAGRAM 33. A variation of this formation is to remove the offset entry team altogether and to replace it with the primary entry team. Essentially, the entry team stacks up perpendicular to the entry point but behind the line of departure. Obviously, this variation places the entire entry team in the fatal funnel and subjects them to potential enemy fire coming out of the room. Because the stack is lined up perpendicularly to the entry point, there is also a greater likelihood of fratricide. Entry team member’s lines of fire are often masked (i.e. blocked) by the bodies of other entry team members ahead of them. Because of these issues, this variation of the Offset Stack is infrequently used by most entry teams. See Diagram 34.

DIAGRAM 34. ADVANTAGES OF OFFSET STACK (TEAM) Allows Point and Second Men of entry team to both cover entry point while rest of entry team stacks up. Allows most of offset entry team to cover entry point and larger portion of target room interior including partial view areas.

Allows immediate coordination of both entry teams for extremely large or complex rooms. Allows offset entry team to eliminate targets in deep area of target room from outside the entry point. Allows for greater support between entry teams. Support element of squad is in better position to support assault element. DISADVANTAGES OF OFFSET STACK (TEAM) Exposes offset stack to fire coming through entry point from interior of target room. Requires more coordination than most other stacking methods. Requires more time to prepare than other stacking methods. Likely requires offset entry team to be exposed to enemy fire both during approach to target room with open doors and before breach by primary entry team. Requires greater level of security to protect entry teams. Depending on stack configuration, can be vulnerable to attacks from the flanks and rear. Will likely require more experienced entry team members to perform correctly. Greater risk of fratricide due to the larger number of team members entering target room and due to coordination issues between both stacks. DISPERSED: The stack is dispersed in the area immediately near the target room door/entry point. The stack compresses itself immediately before breaching the target room. This reduces the likelihood of the stack being eliminated by one grenade or similar attack. As with stackless and offset stack formations, it requires close synchronization to work well with a dynamic entry room clearing technique. Unlike the

Mobile/Stackless formation, the dispersed stack is already stopped outside the target room entry point. See Diagram 35.

DIAGRAM 35. ADVANTAGES OF DISPERSED STACK Provides better force protection to entry team (especially from automatic fire) due to dispersion of entry team members. Allows Point and Second Men to both cover entry point and engage immediate threats exiting entry point. Faster movement on approach to target room. Less likely for team members to come into physical contact with each other. Generally easier to incorporate into free flow method of room clearing.. Better force protection than offset stack. Easier to utilize for less experienced team members than mobile/stackless formation. DISADVANTAGES OF DISPERSED STACK

Requires more coordination to perform breach correctly.. Typically requires more experienced team members to perform correctly. Can expose Point Man to threats from opposite near corner if there is a timing gap with Second Man. Provides reduced lines of sight/fire into target room. Depending on stack configuration, can be vulnerable from the sides and rear. Easier to leave entry team members behind during breach. COVERMAN: The stack utilizes a coverman that is offset from the stack formation and provides cover to the entry team before it breaches the room. The coverman clears the interior portion of the room prior to the breach by the entry team. This allows the entry team to prevent enemy movement into the center area of the room and largely avoids moving angle issues. See Diagram 36.

DIAGRAM 36. ADVANTAGES OF OFFSET STACK (COVERMAN)

Allows Point and Second Men to both cover entry point while rest of entry team stacks up. Coverman can clear immediate area of entry point and larger portion of target room interior. Coverman provides protection from threats exiting target room. Coverman position can be performed by Fourth Man or additional “fifth” man. Good balance between Linear Stack and Offset Stack (Team). DISADVANTAGES OF OFFSET STACK (COVERMAN) Exposes coverman to fire coming through entry point from interior of target room. Requires more coordination than other stacking methods. Requires more time to prepare than other stacking methods. Likely requires offset coverman to be exposed enemy fire both during approach to target room with open doors and before breach by primary entry team. Vulnerable to attacks from sides and rear in hallway. Will likely require more experienced entry team member to act as coverman. The coverman method is most often used with Deliberate Room Entry method. Because the presence of a coverman can result in the loss of stealth if he is detected by enemy in the room, it is not often utilized with Dynamic Room Entry method. The main advantage of the coverman stacking method is that the he can clear the majority of the deep portion of the room while also providing security to the entry team. The coverman is typically an additional team member that remains outside of the target room while the rest of the stack breaches it. However and depending on entry team

TTPs or SOPs, the third or fourth man can take the coverman position. In this variation, the coverman is typically the last entry team member to enter the target room and takes on the role of the Fourth Man.

STACKING TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES As with categorizing rooms, halls and stacking formations, there are basic techniques and procedures regarding stacking and movement into a target room. FAMILIARITY WITH RESPONSIBILITIES OF EACH POSITION IN ENTRY TEAM STACK: Each member of the entry team needs to be intimately familiar with the duties and responsibilities of each position in the stack…especially the Point and Second Man positions. Point and Second men have the most demanding position in the stack. Second Man has the additional responsibility of entering the target room immediately behind Point Man and moving in the opposite direction along the near wall to protect Point Man’s rear. Point and Second men are first to move into a contested room and are usually the first to engage targets therein. Being intimately familiar with each position in the entry team stack will lessen the impact of another team member such as the Point and Second Men getting hit. Cross-training for different positions in the entry team stack will also speed up the time between hitting rooms because the stack does not have to be reshuffled before breaching each room. This is especially important to utilizing the mobile/“stackless” formation. SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY OF ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS PRIOR TO BREACH: First Man’s sector/area of responsibility is the entry point/doorway. First Man’s weapon should be aimed at the entry point/doorway so as to be ready to engage any enemy that may move out through it. In doing so, Point Man must be careful not to expose the muzzle of his weapon past the plane of the entry point. Second Man should position himself so that his weapon is at the Point Man’s outside shoulder and pointing at the entry point/doorway. His sector/area of responsibility is also the entry point/doorway. This allows the entry team to maintain two weapon muzzles on the most immediate danger area: the target room’s

door/entry point. Third Man’s sector/area of responsibility is any threat areas on the entry team’s exposed flank. Fourth Man’s sector/area of responsibility is the entry team’s rear. See Diagram 37. Please note that inexperienced entry teams should use a simple linear stack formation to avoid coordination issues while breaching a target room before implementing complexity to it. Once the entry team becomes familiar with utilizing the “basic” linear stack, it can add in additional TTPs.

DIAGRAM 37. TRANSITION FROM HALLWAY/STAIRWAY FORMATION TO ENTRY TEAM STACK: Entry team members must be positioned in hallway or stairway formation to allow quick and seamless transition to the entry team stack. Especially with Dynamic Room Entry techniques and procedures, conservation of time is at a premium. (See “Dynamic Room Entry Procedures”, Infra). The more quickly and smoothly that an entry team can transition from a hallway formation to breaching the target room, the less likely that the enemy will have time to prepare for the assault. Maintaining initiative and the tempo of the assault should cause the enemy to continue to react to the assault and (hopefully) prevent them from taking more effective action to defeat same.

BREACHING: With the possible exception of Deliberate Room Entry, Point Man should not open doors into target room. Although this function can be performed by Third Man, it is recommended that Fourth Man perform this task. This allows for a more coordinated flow into the target room. Fourth Man enters the target room in the normal fashion behind Third Man. Once the target room is identified as having a closed door, the entry team should stack up according to whether the door opens into our out of the target room. If a closed door opens into the room, the entry team should stack on the hinged side of door. If a closed door opens out of the room, the entry team should stack on the doorknob side of the door. As the entry team stacks up, Fourth Man moves to the opposite side of the door. His responsibility is to open the door to allow Point Man to engage any targets that may be revealed by the door opening. Otherwise Point Man could be out of position when the threat reveals itself. When he is ready to open the door, Fourth Man gives Point Man a thumbs-up ready signal. Once Point Man responds by nodding his head, Fourth Man opens the door and the team breaches the target room. Fourth Man follows the Third Man into the room as per the entry team’s TTPs or SOPs. See Diagrams 38 and 39. It should be noted that the door does not need to be opened with much force. Use only enough force to open the door wide enough for Point Man to move through the entry point and clear his corner. Leaving the door partially open provides cover (only in MILSIM) and concealment of the entry team from potential threats located on the other side of it.

DIAGRAM 38.

DIAGRAM 39. AVOID WEAPON FLAGGING: Entry team members should not give away the entry team’s position by allowing any part of their weapon or gear to extend beyond a corner or into a doorway/entry point. That is a quick way to alert the enemy to your presence and that an attack is imminent. This is especially true for entry team members in the Point Man or Second Man Position. The Point and Second Men are the positions in the stack that are closest to the entry point and are more prone to weapon flagging. USE OF HIGH READY OR LOW READY WEAPON POSITION PRIOR TO BREACH: With the exception of Point Man (and/or Second Man in a staggered stack), entry team members should keep their weapons at high or low ready before breaching the target room. As each entry team member breaks the plane of the entry point, his weapon should have moved into firing position to engage enemy targets. This is done to prevent weapon muzzles from sweeping across the head or other body part of other entry team members. CLASSIC LOW READY TECHNIQUE: This is the non-firing weapon position most familiar to entry teams. It is performed by keeping the heel of the stock in the shoulder pocket while allowing the weapon muzzle to rest naturally about a foot or so in front of your feet. In essence, the weapon muzzle will be pointing down at the ground. To engage targets, the entry team member simply brings the weapon up so that his/her cheek “welds” on the stock as his eyes align with his gunsights. While this technique prevents flashing of other entry team members, it also slows the ability of the entry team member to get his weapon back on target quickly. The two to three tenths of second delay can result in the enemy eliminating the entry team member. Because shooters under stress often have a natural tendency to fixate on their gunsights, this

technique often results in entry team members looking at the ground where their weapon is pointing instead of covering their respective sectors/areas of responsibility. Since this effect decreases the entry team’s situational awareness, shooters are often trained to immediately scan the room as they are lowering their weapon to prevent gunsight fixation. Because of these issues, the modern low ready technique is preferred over the classic method. MODERN LOW READY TECHNIQUE: This technique is a modification of the classic low ready method. It is performed by keeping much of the weapon’s stock in the shoulder pocket as possible, while depressing the weapon’s muzzle no more than fifteen (15) degrees below eye level. To engage targets, entry team members need to raise their rifles only a few inches to align their eyes with their gunsights. Unlike the “classic” low ready position, the modern low ready technique lowers the muzzle only so much as to “pull” entry team member eyes off of their gunsights in order to open up their field of view. This technique promotes situational awareness. It also tends to discourage shooters from looking at the ground. Although it can be measured in tenths of a second, the less distance you have to raise your muzzle to get on target, the more quickly you can make your first, accurate shot. This technique is especially recommended for use by Point Man. Point Man is in the position to most likely encounter enemy as he approaches and/or breaches the target room. It is also recommended for use by Third and Fourth Men in the stack. As with the Classic Low Ready Technique, entry team members need to avoid gunsight fixation and keep their heads and eyes up and scanning for potential enemy threats. HIGH READY TECHNIQUE: Although there are multiple versions of the high ready technique, the cross-body high ready technique is often preferred by many law enforcement

and some military units. It is performed by allowing the weapon to naturally angle across the team member’s body with the shooting hand on the grip and the non-shooting hand on the weapon forearm. Hold the weapon up just high enough for the gas block or front gunsight to be at eye level. The stock of the weapon should not be tucked into the armpit but should be hanging loosely between the elbow of the dominant arm and the shooter’s torso. This part is especially important because it allows the shooter to bring the weapon into firing position quickly. Keeping the front sight or gas block at eye level lowers the majority of the weapon below the shooter’s line of sight, opens up the shooter’s field of view and promotes situational awareness. Holding the gas block or front sight at eye level helps prevent muzzle flashing because the weapon muzzle is in the entry team member’s line of sight. He can control where the weapon points. Having the weapon stock position between the dominant arm elbow and the shooter’s torso naturally places the weapon muzzle up at a 45-50 degree angle. The cross body technique usually keeps muzzles pointing up and to the side instead of flashing a team member’s body and/or head. To engage the enemy, the entry team member needs to first push the weapon up and out from his body just far enough to that the stock clears from underneath the armpit and torso. Once the weapon is clear of the armpit, pull the weapon stock back and seat it into the shoulder pocket. As part of this movement, the shooter’s eyes should be aligning with the weapon’s gunsights. Once the weapon is seated in the shoulder pocket and the target is acquired, fire. The high ready technique is highly recommended for Second Man while using Dynamic or Deliberate Room Clearing methods. As he breaks the line of departure, Second Man proceeds to move his weapon from high ready into a firing position. As he brings his weapon muzzle down, Point Man

will have moved out of Second Man’s line of fire and will not be flashed by the muzzle of Second Man’s weapon. ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES OF HIGH READY: ADVANTAGE: Entry team member can more easily engage the head and chest area of enemy located immediately inside of the entry point. ADVANTAGE: Easier to engage targets at higher elevation. ADVANTAGE: Preferable for Second Man to allow him to get on target more quickly during breach of the target room without sweeping Point Man’s body. ADVANTAGE: Easier to carry heavier weapons such as SAWs or LMGs. ADVANTAGE: Easier to manipulate weapon while moving. DISADVANTAGE: High ready position slows the entry team member’s ability to rapidly engage targets beyond contact range. DISADVANTAGE: Works against body’s natural mechanics. It is harder to pick up gunsights as weapon is being lowered instead of when it is raised into firing position. DISADVANTAGE: Classic high ready technique blocks entry team member’s field of view on his dominant side especially while moving around corners on that side. DISADVANTAGE: In high ready position, weapon can be caught in low hanging door frames, overhead wiring, etc. ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES OF LOW READY: ADVANTAGE: Allows entry team member to more naturally and rapidly bring weapon up into stable firing

position. ADVANTAGE: Allows entry team member to use Third Eye technique to engage targets. (See “Third Eye”, Supra). ADVANTAGE: Allows eyes to remain on target while bringing gunsight up and in line with target. ADVANTAGE: Less fatiguing to entry team members. DISADVANTAGE: Can hamper entry team member’s ability to engage the head and upper torso area of enemy located immediately inside of the entry point. Enemy’s body may be close enough to physically prevent raising muzzle high enough to get an upper torso or head shot. DISADVANTAGE: More difficult to engage targets at higher elevation. DISADVANTAGE: Risk of muzzle sweeping legs and pelvis of team member ahead of shooter. FRESH MAGAZINE: Entry team members must make it a habit to insert a fresh magazine in their weapons prior to hitting a target room to insure they will not “go dry” during the breach. There is little worse than having the entry team eliminated because the first or second man forgot insert a fresh magazine in his weapon. If necessary, reload with another entry team member’s magazine. To do so, the reloading entry team member calls “Check”. Once one or more of the other entry team members respond with “Go” or “OK”, the reloading team member performs a reload of his weapon. KEEP FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER: Until you cross the threshold and engage the enemy, keep your finger off of the trigger. Friendly fire isn’t. You don’t want to be responsible for a failed breach because entry team members ahead of you were victims of fratricide. ASSUME PROPER POSITIONING: Keep your body balanced in a slight “fighter’s” crouch in order to maintain a stable firing position

while moving. Keep your eyes above your gunsights until you are ready to fire. This opens up your field of view and promotes situational awareness. Make sure your eyes and weapon are covering the sector/area of responsibility for your position in the stack. Failure to do so can result of the loss of the entire entry team. Entry team members must also position themselves so that they can breach the room without striking the door frame or other obstacles. This is especially important for Second Man. Second Man needs to already be in position when he gives the go signal to Point Man. He must be ready and able to move with the Point Man immediately after the go signal is given. NOISE DISCIPLINE/JUMP CHECK: As much as possible, secure loose items (BBs, magazines, carabiners, slings, radios, etc.) so that they do not jingle, rub against each and/or otherwise make noise. Entry team members should do a “jump check” prior to hitting the target building to make sure everything in their kit is well secured. The last thing the entry team needs is to produce noise while they move. It will telegraph the entry team’s position and intentions to the enemy way before it approaches the target room. LIGHT DISCIPLINE: Generally, entry team members need to leave flashlights and lasers off until they actually breach the target room. Indiscriminate use of lights and lasers will also give the entry team’s position away. White light also destroys natural night vision. Use of night vision goggles or night optical devices is recommended so long as its infrared light is off. Entry team members also need to be aware that use of lights behind other members of the team will silhouette them. DARK ADAPTATION: After being exposed to white light and over time, the human eye will begin to adapt to the darkness. It normally takes 30-45 minutes for human eyes to fully adapt to the dark after being exposed to white light. Use of red light lessens this effect. Use white light infrequently to avoid this effect.

STAND OFF DISTANCE WHEN BREACHING DOORWAYS: When stacking up outside of the target room, entry team members, especially the Point Man, should position themselves so that they will not be exposed to fire from within the target room when the door is opened. Stacking a few feet back from the entry point will narrow and/or eliminate the gap through which the stack can be hit by fire and/or grenades coming out from of the target room. It is the timing and sequencing of entry team members hitting the room that matters…not proximity to the door. NOTE: Stand-off distance from the entry point is not readily applicable to entry teams utilizing Limited Penetration Room Entry techniques. If you are using dynamic or deliberate room entry techniques, do not crowd the entry point before the breach. You can unnecessarily expose yourself to potential enemy fire from within the target room before you even enter it. MAINTAIN ENTRY TEAM SPACING AND FIRING LANES: Although less applicable to MILSIM as a safety precaution, entry team members should maintain their spacing and firing lanes to avoid bunching up and to reinforce coverage over their respective sectors/areas of responsibility. It is common for entry team members to want to converge and fire on targets as they see them. The problem with converging on enemy positions is that an entry team member will likely stray into another entry team member’s line of fire to the same threat (“Masking”) and/or will fail to cover his own sector/area of responsibility. As a rule of thumb, an entry team member should maintain 30-45 degrees between the muzzle of his weapon and that of an adjacent entry team member. This 30-45 degree arc in front of each entry team member is his or her firing “lane”. A quick way to determine your firing lane or arc is to hold your fist at arm’s length with your thumb and little finger spread part. The arc between the spread tips of the thumb and little finger is approximately 30 degrees.``````

HITTING THE ROOM: TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES COMMON TO

ALL ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES DETERMINE MOST ADVANTAGEOUS ENTRY POINT: If possible, determine the most advantageous entry point for the target room. Whenever possible use every kind of deception to confuse the enemy and mask your movements as you approach and breach the target room. The objective is to keep the enemy off balance, to prevent the enemy from determining the team’s rhythm and to keep the enemy confused as much as possible while the entry team takes the objective (i.e. seizing target room). The entry team leader should determine the initial position of the stack and entry point based on several factors, including path of least resistance (as it pertains to movement), security and smoothness of movement into target room, threat axes to the location where entry team will stack up, and the presence of tripping hazards such as steps, ramps and/or uneven floor leading into the target room. Remember that a fall by one entry team member will delay and/or prevent the rest of the entry team from supporting team members that have already breached the room ahead of the fallen team member. FOOTWORK: Move efficiently and silently during approach to the target room. When moving forward, use a “heel to toe” step with your knees slightly bent and body leaning slightly forward. This will allow you to move quietly while still maintaining a stable firing platform. Use shorter steps to move smoothly and avoid the muzzle bounce associated with longer steps. Avoid shuffling or dragging feet. As much as possible avoid other unnecessary and noisy movements. Entry team members need to use proper footwork to provide the most efficient movement into the target room. Point and Second Men in particular should have their feet positioned so that they can quickly and efficiently clear the entry point and complete a crossing/least resistance or buttonhook maneuver into the target room. If using a Dynamic Room Entry technique from a linear stack, Point Man must

position his foot (the one that is closest to the near wall) just behind the near edge of the entry point. For a buttonhook entry (See “Buttonhook Entry”, Infra), he will then pivot out on that foot while the other foot goes directly behind and pushes him forward through the entry point. For crossover/least resistance entry (See “Crossover/Least Resistance Entry”, Infra), Point Man will pivot slightly and will continue to drive through the entry point and to the opposite side of the near wall. See Diagram 40. In performing this technique, Point Man must decide ahead of time in which direction he is going to move inside the room before his weapon muzzle breaks the plane of the doorway. Doing so will make his entry into the room more smooth and allow for better flow of entry team members entering the room behind him. This technique will allow the entry team member to more efficiently “take the corner”, cross over or buttonhook into the target room. It is important that entry team members do not cross-over or shuffle their feet. Similarly, the Point and Second Men should not move more quickly than they can smoothly do. Entry team members should practice their footwork to make it as efficient as possible. It will pay off later.

DIAGRAM 40. READY SIGNAL: Depending on the experience of the entry team, its members may elect to execute a ready signal prior to breaching the target room. Entry teams that have not worked together for very long often choose a deliberate signal for greater control. More experienced teams often use a more simple/abbreviated signal. Highly experienced teams are able to move from room to room quickly and aggressively with minimal communication at all. A ready signal should not be a “tap” or “leg bump” because an incidental tap or bump can be interpreted as a ready signal when it is not. Use a shoulder squeeze or some other deliberate action that generally cannot be replicated by bumping into other members of the entry team. When using a “squeeze” as a ready signal, be sure to apply a firm squeeze to the shoulder or fleshy part of the arm where it is not covered by armor or other gear. EXAMPLE OF DELIBERATE SIGNAL FOR MAXIMUM CONTROL: 1). Point Man gives thumbs up signal to

indicate he is ready to breach room. 2). Thumbs up signal is repeated down the stack to the Fourth Man. 3). Starting at the back of stack, each entry team member then squeezes the shoulder of the entry team member ahead of him when he is ready. 4). When Second Man squeezes the Point Man’s shoulder, Point Man bobs his head three times. 5). On the third head bob, the entry team proceeds to breach the room. This type of ready signal insures that everyone in the stack is ready to go and reduces the risk that any member of the stack will either be left behind or leave timing gaps during the breach. The disadvantage with this type of ready signal is that it increases the amount of time it takes to breach each room. This increase in time can result in the loss of tempo and initiative while clearing subsequent rooms. EXAMPLE OF SIMPLE SIGNAL: 1). Point Man gives thumbs up signal to indicate he is ready to breach room. 2). Beginning from the rear of the stack, each entry team member squeezes the shoulder of the team member ahead of him. 3). Immediately after Second Man squeezes Point Man’s shoulder, Point Man begins to breach target room. This form of ready signal is much faster than the deliberate signal above. It provides a good middle ground to insure that less experienced entry team members will not get caught flat footed when the Point Man commences his breach of the target room. The disadvantage is that it still takes time to complete this ready signal between rooms. EXAMPLE OF MINIMAL SIGNAL: 1). Second Man, takes a “snapshot” view of the stack behind him to make sure the entry team members are in position. 2). Second Man, squeezes shoulder of Point Man. 3). Point Man immediately moves to breach target room. This method is far faster than the previous two examples. It allows the entry team to breach successive rooms very quickly. The disadvantage of this ready signal is that inexperienced entry team members will not

be ready when Point Man breaches the target room and/or may get left behind while the team breaches subsequent rooms. It requires maximum alertness by each entry team member to insure that the team acts in a synchronous manner. A variation of this technique is for one entry team member to lightly push his forearm against the shoulder/upper back area of another entry team member in front of him. Upon receiving this signal, the front entry team member proceeds to breach the room or other danger area. This method is especially effective with entry teams using the “Free Flow” room clearing technique. It also allows the Second Man to keep his weapon in position while signaling Point Man to breach the target room. STAY OFF THE WALL: Do not bump or scrape against walls. It can be heard by enemy on the other side of them. TWO MUZZLES, ONE THREAT: Whenever possible, entry team members should work in a synchronized matter to put two or more muzzles on one target (i.e. superiority of fire) to increase the chances of a successful breach. Whenever possible, entry team members should avoid one-on-one firefights. It increases the odds of incurring casualties and can put the whole entry team in jeopardy. This is the very reason why no room should be cleared with less than a buddy pair. HEAD, EYES, WEAPON: Each entry team member should align his head, eyes and weapon to his sector/area of responsibility. The fraction of a second that it takes to get on target because your eyes and weapon are not aligned on your sector/area of responsibility can result in you being eliminated by the enemy. AVOID SIGHT FIXATION: While moving in a room, maintain eye level slightly above your actual gun-sights. Fixating on your sights narrows your field of view and makes your peripheral vision almost

useless. At typical CQB engagement distances of 10 to 30 feet, you will most likely use point shooting techniques to engage the enemy. FATAL FUNNEL: As much as possible, stay out of the fatal funnel until the entry team leader decides to clear the target room. (See “Fatal Funnel, Partial View and Blind Zones”, Supra). Once that decision is made, immediately move through the entryway and do not linger there. GRENADES: Grenades are little balls of hate that are friends with no one. As such, their use in CQB environments can be problematic. Accuracy is paramount. A well placed grenade can effectively eliminate a full squad or more of enemy forces. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. A miss-thrown grenade can eliminate the entire entry team. Entry team members need to determine the odds that a thrown grenade will “come back” to them if thrown. Stairs and ramps are especially prone to this issue. Take care to throw a grenade only where it will be effective against the enemy. NEVER CLEAR DANGER AREAS ALONE: Entry team members must avoid pushing forward into non-cleared rooms/dead space on their own. When an entry team member encounters noncleared room or dead space, he should hold and cover that danger area until he is supported by another team member. Avoid pushing into danger areas with less than two team members. Remember, you want two muzzles covering a danger area. When moving as a two man element, consider using the wingman formation. One entry team member covers the direction of movement. The second entry team member (“Wingman”) is located just off the front team member’s shoulder and either covers the direction of movement or the first team member’s most exposed flank. See Diagrams 41 and 42. As the formation moves forward, the Wingman’s primary sector/area of responsibility is to protect the primary team member’s flanks. As such, he can move to either side of the primary team member as necessary to do so.

DIAGRAM 41.

DIAGRAM 42. USE OF WEAPON LIGHTS: Each entry team should make a determination whether to use weapon lights while engaging in CQB operations – including whether to use them in lighted rooms. There is great debate about this issue in CQB circles. One school of thought believes that use of weapon lights can telegraph the entry’s team’s approach to the target room and should only be used in darkened rooms (“Limited Use”). The other believes that weapon lights should be used routinely in both lightened and darkened areas (“Free Use”). The advantages and disadvantages of each school of thought are listed below: ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES WEAPON LIGHTS:

OF

FREE

USE

OF

ADVANTAGE: Can be used as a silent tool to create disorientation to enemy forces.

ADVANTAGE: Weapon light can be used to locate enemy within the target room. ADVANTAGE: At closer ranges, the weapon light can increase enemy reaction time to the entry team member. DISADVANTAGE: Use of weapon lights by anyone in the stack other than the point man can silhouette the entry team to enemy in front of them. DISADVANTAGE: Use of weapon light will likely act as a “magnet” for incoming fire from unseen enemy. DISADVANTAGE: Free use of weapon lights will often cause the entry team to lose stealth and concealment. Artificial light in a dark building reveals the presence of the entry team to anyone with a line of sight to it. ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES OF LIMITED USE OF WEAPON LIGHTS: ADVANTAGE: Limiting use of weapon lights to the actual breach of the room, provides a sudden bright light that will likely disorient the enemy to which it is pointed. This disorientation can delay enemy reaction to entry team. ADVANTAGE: Weapon light is effective in locating enemy within the target room. ADVANTAGE: Use of weapon light during breach of target room frequently increases the reaction time of enemy in the target room. ADVANTAGE: Use of weapon light during breach of target room will likely draw enemy attention away from other members of entry team while simultaneously allowing that entry team member to eliminate that combatant.

DISADVANTAGE: Decision not to use weapon lights prior to breach can increase the likelihood that one or more of entry team members can trip and/or fall prior to breaching the target room. DISADVANTAGE: Use of weapon light will often act as a “magnet” for incoming fire from enemy located in the target room. DIVIDE THE ENEMY’S ATTENTION: Whenever possible, entry team members should formulate their CQB TTPs to divide an enemy’s attention between two or more team members. The hesitation of the enemy while he decides which threat to engage should lengthen his reaction time and can provide a tactical advantage to the entry team. Typically this effect is achieved by rapid, lateral separation of entry team members while entering the room. SECURITY: The entry team must also provide its own security during the entire process of clearing a building…from the approach to the objective through exiting the building. CQB is a complex environment that often involves many intersecting halls, rooms and stairways that are in close proximity to each other. Also do not leave an un-cleared room between you and your extraction or exit point. MAINTAIN SECTOR OF FIRE/AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: All entry team members must maintain their own, individual sector of fire/area of responsibility. Rely on your team members to cover their sector. As a general rule, each member of the entry team should initially scan from the outside edge of his/her sector and toward the center of it. SCANNING: Each entry team members needs to constantly scan his/her sector/area of responsibility to for enemy threats. COLLAPSING SECTORS: Collapsing sectors means that you progressively scan through your sector until you reach the muzzle of the entry team members to each side of you. This

insures that each entry team member is providing interlinking fields of fire with the team member(s) next to him/her. CONTROL DISTANCE TO THREATS: Whether the entry team utilizes a Dynamic Room Entry, Deliberate Room Entry or Limited Penetration Room Entry techniques to secure the target room, it must maintain distance to threats in the target room. Unless he is searching an enemy player, the entry team member should maintain at least a 6-10 foot distance from him or her. This is critical for the following reasons: Maintaining greater distance increases time in which to react during engagements. Maintaining greater distance increases your options regarding cover and alternative means of exercising control of the target room. Avoids weapon retention issues (dependent on scenario and event rules). Prevents masking (i.e. blocking) other team members’ fields of fire. Avoids fratricide resulting from over-penetration into target room. Promotes target acquisition and discrimination because areas of responsibility and sectors of fire remain clear. Facilitates efforts to contain High Value Targets (HVTs) in the room and prevent their escape. Distance lessens chance that enemy combatants in the room will be able to employ melee weapons such as knives. CLEAR ALL ROOMS: Do not bypass one room or door to clear another. Clear rooms and danger areas sequentially as you reach them. You should never expose your flank or rear to an un-cleared room, door or other danger area. If you are presented with multiple un-cleared rooms, decide which room to breach while maintaining security over un-cleared rooms/danger areas.

RETREAT/ESCAPE ROUTE: Always make sure to ensure that the entry team has a means of retreat/escape especially while clearing complex rooms and other danger areas. Make sure that entry team’s movement guards against efforts of enemy in the room to cut off retreat. THREAT DISCRIMINATION AND ELIMINATION SMOOTH IS FAST: Move only as fast you can acquire threats and put accurate fire on them. Remember that the engagement is won not by the first shot but by the first accurate shot. POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION: Before firing, entry teams should use positive identification measures to determine that the target is an enemy threat. This is known as target discrimination. Because it is possible for a target room to contain both friendly and enemy forces that are unaware of each other or are otherwise actively engaged, entry teams will not have time to use challenge/passwords to identify enemy forces. Entry teams will have to use positive identification (PID) indicators provided by the event organizer (i.e. uniform requirements, arm-bands etc.) to do so. ELIMINATE ALL THREATS AS YOU ENCOUNTER THEM: Eliminate all immediate threats that you encounter while moving. There is no point in checking your near corner if an enemy is just inside the door. All target engagement must be done on the move and/or in cover as circumstances dictate (depending on the room clearing method used by the entry team). As you move through the entryway, eliminate any immediate threats that your line of fire passes over. That being said, do not make a point of engaging enemy that your line of fire does not cross. Stick to your sector/area of responsibility as you move into the room. I.E. Shoot as you see them. Whatever you do, do not stop in the target room entry point to engage enemy. Doing so will likely prevent the

rest of the entry team from breaching the target room and providing support. DIMINISHING SECTORS/SLICING THE PIE: Diminishing Sectors, Slicing the Pie or Pie-ing the Corner means using walls and other cover to your advantage in clearing an area. Usually the area being cleared is a hallway or other indoor area; however, this technique can also be used while searching vehicles, clearing outside corners of buildings or anywhere else where an obstacle is preventing an entry team member from seeing what is on the other side of it. The idea is to reveal as little of the team member’s body as possible while clearing such areas. The team member must be careful to prevent extending arms or legs beyond cover. Watch your feet and avoid the “chicken wing” when clearing corners. If you see ”daylight” between the enemy and your cover, you are likely exposed to incoming fire. The entry team member begins by approaching a corner or room opening close to the near wall. Using the apex of the corner as a pivot point, the entry team member begins rotating in a semicircular arc away from his starting position near the wall while also increasing the distance between himself and the apex of the corner. By the time the entry team member reaches the position where he is perpendicular to the apex of the corner, he should be no less than to three to five feet away from it. Increasing the distance from the apex while you move in an arc around the apex of the corner is important. Putting more distance between the entry team member and the corner apex will reveal more of the dead space on the other side of the corner while revealing less of him. This maximizes the chances of an entry team member eliminating any threat around the corner before it eliminates him. As he performs this technique, each entry team member needs to insure that neither of his feet extend beyond the apex of the corner. See Diagram 43. Once the team member “pies” enough of a corner to see that there is no immediate threat on the other side, he/she commits to

proceeding along that wall to the next corner and/or threat area. This step of the process is commonly referred to as “taking the corner”. See Diagram 44.

DIAGRAM 43.

DIAGRAM 44. VARIATIONS ON DIMINISHING SECTORS/SLICING THE PIE TECHNIQUE: There are essentially two schools of thought on how to diminish sectors/slice the pie. They are the “SMALL SIDESTEP” and “FAST PASS” techniques. SMALL SIDESTEP: The small sidestep technique uses a series of slow, small sidesteps in an arc away from the wall in a semicircular manner. After each step, the entry team member pauses briefly to scan each newly revealed area for potential threats. This tactic allows team members to develop a greater line of sight into the room while still using cover to

present the smallest target possible to any enemy in an uncleared area. The disadvantage of this technique is the slow and tedious manner in which it is typically performed. Once one target it engaged with this technique, other potential targets will likely move to cover or other more advantageous position. FAST PASS: Although the fast pass technique uses the same basic procedure of diminishing sectors/slicing the pie as the small sidestep technique, it relies on a more fluid movement to complete the technique. The entry team member does not really pause between each “slice” of the pie. In essence, the fast pass technique trades protection and possibly some weapon accuracy for more fluid motion and increased enemy reaction time. It is much harder for the enemy to hit a faster moving target than a slower one. The fast pass technique is typically used as part of the Deliberate Room Entry Technique. HIPS TO THE WALL: This technique for diminishing sectors/slicing the pie focuses less on a quickly clearing the apex of the corner and more on protection of the entry team member. As the entry team member sets up to diminish sectors around the apex of a corner, he positions his body so that his hips are facing toward (as opposed to away from) the adjacent wall. As the entry team member moves in his arc to diminish sectors, he is indexing his weapon and the foot of his leading leg on the apex of the corner. As the entry team member moves to slice the pie, his other leg trails behind the leading leg in a pull/push manner and helps provide a stable firing platform. By indexing on the corner apex, this movement helps prevent the leading leg from extending beyond the apex of the corner and exposing itself to fire from uncleared areas of the room. The leading leg moves only as far as the muzzle of his weapon and not beyond it. FORTY-FIVE, NINETY, FORTY FIVE (45-90-45): This is a method of both performing and describing diminishing

sectors/slicing the pie while clearing a target room. It is most often associated with limited penetration room entry techniques. (See “Limited Penetration Room Entry Procedures”, Infra). The term “45-90-45” represents the degree of arc used to clear the target room. The first “45” represents movement from the wall to approximately a 45 degree angle of line of sight/fire into the target room through the entry point. See Diagram 45. “90” represents movement from the wall to approximately a 90 degree angle of line of sight/fire into the target room. The entry team member moves parallel to an imaginary line drawn perpendicular to the near edge of the entry point. See Diagram 46. The second “45” represents the continued movement from the “90” position to a position against the wall on the opposite side of the entry point. See Diagram 47.

DIAGRAM 45.

DIAGRAM 46.

DIAGRAM 47. TREAT VERTICAL EDGES LIKE A DOOR FRAME: It is of upmost importance that entry team members recognize the dead space that is beyond/around the vertical edge of walls, other large furniture or other items in the target room. Entry team members need to use diminishing sector/pie slicing techniques to clear dead

space around and/or behind wall corners and items like large furniture. For example, the space around the corner of an L-shaped room is dead space. To clear that dead space, the entry team needs to use diminishing sector/pie slicing techniques. See Diagram 48. In this example, two man teams will need to clear the room in at least three steps. 1). First clear the area of the room visible from the entry point; 2). Next clear the area of the room around the near corner to the left leg of the room (dead space highlighted in yellow); 3). Finally, clear the area behind the half wall (dead space highlighted in red).

DIAGRAM 48.

BASIC BREACHING MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES With some variations, CQB utilizes essentially three basic breaching movement techniques to breach target rooms.

CROSSOVER/LEAST RESISTANCE: The entry team member moves through the entry point at a shallow angle and along the inside of the opposite near wall. This movement technique allows the Point Man to more quickly engage targets in the target room’s opposite near corner. The movement technique is often used where the entranceway contains a door that opens into the target room. When the door is opened, it can provide the Point Man with cover as he clears his sector and before Second Man can move into position to engage targets in and around the same wall near corner. See Diagram 49.

DIAGRAM 49. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ROUTE OF LEAST RESISTANCE ADVANTAGE: Easiest movement technique to utilize ADVANTAGE: Allows Point Man to quickly clear entranceway and engage targets at opposite wall near corner. DISADVANTAGE: Requires Second Man to closely follow Point Man through entranceway in order to buttonhook onto inside of same wall and cover Point Man’s rear.

BUTTONHOOK: Entry team member steps into the entry point while pivoting in a “J” or U-shaped manner in order to move along the inside of the same wall. This movement technique is often used by the Point Man to allow Second Man to take the route of lease resistance to the opposite wall near corner. In doing so, Second Man can more quickly move to engage targets protect/cover Point Man from threats located on the opposite near corner. See Diagram 50.

DIAGRAM 50. ADVANTAGES AND BUTTONHOOK MOVEMENT

DISADVANTAGES

OF

ADVANTAGE: Eases synchronizing of Point Man and Second Man Movement so as to allow them to clear near side corners almost simultaneously. DISADVANTAGE: It is a more complex movement technique to perform than Crossover/Least Resistance technique. DISADVANTAGE: If used by Second Man, it requires that he follow immediately behind Point Man in order to cover his primary sectors/areas of responsibility. STEP CENTER/J-TURN: A variation of the Buttonhook technique is the “Step Center” or “J-Turn” technique. Instead of

immediately entering the target room using a standard buttonhook technique, Point Man first steps sideways in front of the entry point in an effort to clear the immediate area just inside the target room as well as much of the interior of the room as he can see before committing to crossing the line of departure. While doing so, Point Man rocks back on his outside foot before pushing through the entry point. As he crosses the line of departure, Point Man performs buttonhook maneuver to allow Second Man to enter the target room using a Crossover/Least Resistance technique. See Diagrams 51 and 52. Using this technique should allow the Second Man to reach the inside of the opposite near wall from Point Man at nearly the same time. This facilitates Point and Second Man’s ability to cover the rear of the other from threats in the opposite near corner.

DIAGRAM 51.

DIAGRAM 52. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES CENTER/J-TURN TECHNIQUE

OF

STEP

ADVANTAGE: Allows Point Man to observe immediate danger area just inside target room prior to crossing line of departure. ADVANTAGE: Allows Second Man to use crossover/least resistance technique to breach target room. This allows Second Man to more easily reach inside of near wall at about the same time as Point Man. DISADVANTAGE: More difficult movement to make. Second Man must execute crossover/lease resistance movement as Point Man is making his modified buttonhook/J-Turn into target room. DISADVANTAGE: Second Man must pay close attention to Point Man to insure their movement is properly synchronized. CRISS-CROSS: Point and Second Men stack up on opposite sides of the room entry point. Both men crisscross through the doorway and along the inside of the opposite near wall. This technique requires good timing and coordination to prevent both men

from running into each other as they breach the door. Typically, this is accomplished by the Point or Second Man raising or lowering his weapon. This acts as non-verbal signal for the other entry team member to pass through the entry point first. See Diagram 53.

DIAGRAM 53. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CRISS-CROSS MOVEMENT ADVANTAGE: Allows Point and Second Men to clear immediate area of entranceway. DISADVANTAGE: More difficult movement to make. Point and Second Men must be synchronized so as to prevent running into each other. DISADVANTAGE: Second Man tends to get left behind because he has to read off of Point Man. As such, it requires more complex timing and synchronization.

PA R T V I – D Y N A M I C R O O M ENT RY

JULIET: THREE PRINCIPLES OF DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY IN CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE SPEED Dynamic Entry requires speed to achieve its goals. The entry team must maintain initiative as it clears the room. You want to keep the enemy reacting to your actions instead of you reacting to theirs. That being said, smoothness of movement is more important to Dynamic Room Entry than speed for its own sake. [Smooth = Fast]. The momentum of the entry team keeps the enemy unbalanced and helps to prevent it from adapting to the attack. Speed helps the entry team achieve and maintain initiative by outpacing the enemy.

SURPRISE The objective of Dynamic Room Entry is to complete all offensive actions and to clear the room before the enemy can react. As a corollary to this principle, stealthy approach to the entry point assists in gaining the initiative and maintaining surprise once breach of the target room begins. Surprise can be achieved through rapid execution, shock and deception. Surprise is especially critical during the initial stages of Dynamic Room Entry because it helps the entry team gain the initiative during the first seconds of the breach. Remember that combining speed/momentum with violence of action can often result in a surprised enemy. Surprise will help establish relative superiority over enemy in the target room. An unexpected and overwhelming attack into the target room can prevent the enemy from adjusting to the attack and/or implementing an effective defense.

VIOLENCE OF ACTION Gaining and maintaining physical and psychological momentum in Dynamic Room Entry is essential to its success. Quick decisive action including the use of accurate fire, target discrimination and grenades overwhelms the enemy and maintains the momentum of clearing rooms.

KILO: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Where time is of the essence and/or where the target room must be secured, an entry team will often decide to clear rooms using a Dynamic Room Entry technique. As indicated above, the Dynamic Room Entry method relies primarily on speed, surprise and shock to clear the target room. As such, it also relies on close coordination of entry team members to cover their respective sectors/areas of responsibility, to eliminate enemy in their respective sectors and to provide support for other members of the team as they breach and clear the target room.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY ADVANTAGES TEAM DISPERSION: By spreading out along the walls of the target room, the entry team forces the enemy to engage multiple targets in different locations at the same time. DISRUPTION OF ENEMY DECISION MAKING: By moving into the target room in multiple directions, the entry team can cause momentary distraction for the enemy. It also allows the entry team to put more weapon muzzles on each target from differing directions. (See “OODA Loop”, Supra). The entry team can capitalize on this distraction to eliminate the enemy in the target room. EASIER TO CLEAR DEEP PORTIONS OF TARGET ROOM: By moving to points of domination, entry team

members can quickly clear dead space behind furniture and other obstacles in the target room. DISADVANTAGES EXPOSURE TO MASSED FIRE: By entering the room, the entry team is potentially exposing itself to enemy fire from multiple directions through the entry point at the same time. (I.e. Fatal Funnel). INCREASED FRATRICIDE RISK: Because entry team members are dispersed in the room, there is a greater chance of fratricide (i.e. “Friendly Fire”) due to intersecting fields of fire and location of enemy between entry team members. DECREASED ACCURACY WHILE ON THE MOVE: Entry team members take longer to get in a stable shooting position because they are moving to their points of domination. Firing while moving is inherently less accurate. INCREASED FLANK EXPOSURE: Point and Second Men are in danger of being exposed to fire to their flanks and rear. As they move to clear their respective near corners, their sides are often exposed to fire from the center or deep portions of the room or from behind furniture/obstacles in the target room. If the Second Man does not move into the room immediately behind Point Man, Point Man can also be engaged from the rear by enemy located near the opposite, near corner.

READ/NO-READ METHODS OF ROOM ENTRY As part of developing its TTPs, each entry team must decide whether to utilize a Read, No-Read or Free Flow method to breach

the room. With a No Read method, each entry team member (starting with Point Man) always turns in the same direction when entering the target room. Movement of the entire entry team is essentially scripted. The team hits the room the same way, every time. With the Read method, the Point Man decides whether to move left or right when breaching the target room. The rest of the entry team “reads” in which direction the entry team member ahead of him is moving and moves in the opposite direction along the near wall. With both the Read and No-Read Method, entry team members maintain their same position in the stack each time a room is breached. The Point Man is always the Point Man, the Second Man is always the Second Man, etc.

FREE FLOW METHOD OF ROOM ENTRY In contrast to both the Read and No-Read methods, the Free Flow method is largely unscripted and undetermined…including the roles of each entry team member. With the Free Flow method, each team member follows the principle of “Move in the opposite direction of the person in front of you.” With the Free Flow method, the first entry team member to stack up at the door/entry point becomes the Point Man. Should the Point Man choose to go left along the near wall, the Second Man would go right. In turn, the Third man would proceed left and the Fourth Man would go right. When the entry team stacks to hit the next room, whichever team member is at the front of the stack becomes the Point Man. Each entry team member flows into the room in the opposite direction from the team member in front of him. The same free flow concept applies to all aspects of CQB. If one team member picks up coverage on an open door, the next team member moves past him to cover a different danger area. If the first team member moves past a danger area, the next team member will pick up coverage on it. Free Flow method relies on minimal

communication to perform. Entry team members simply react to each other’s actions and keep moving. Even when team members make mistakes (which will happen), they keep moving in order to maintain initiative and tempo. The Free Flow technique relies heavily on non-verbal signals between entry team members. Entry teams will use the “shoulder squeeze” (or similar signal based on entry team TTPs) to notify another team member to move to and clear a danger area. Other non-verbal signals such as the “brush” are used to notify an entry team member that another entry team member is covering his flank. There are a multitude of variations of non-verbal signals. Entry teams will need to formulate and decide on which non-verbal signals to use as part of their TTPs.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF READ, NO READ AND FREE FLOW ROOM CLEARING Each room clearing method disadvantages as described below. ADVANTAGES METHOD:

AND

has

its

DISADVANTAGES

advantages OF

NO

and READ

ADVANTAGE: Simplicity. Each entry team member enters and clears every target room the same way. ADVANTAGE: Mistakes are less likely. ADVANTAGE: Each entry team member only needs to know his specific role in the stack. ADVANTAGE: Easiest for inexperienced entry team members to master. DISADVANTAGE: Inflexibility. Breaching the room works well until the entry team loses a critical team

member such as Point or Second Men. Entry team members often will have more difficulty adjusting to unexpected changes in the target room using this method. DISADVANTAGE: Point Man has no choice regarding in which direction to breach the room. Based on entry team SOPs, Point Man may enter a room in a direction that exposes his rear to a known danger area. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF READ METHOD: ADVANTAGE: Improved Flexibility. Point Man can determine how to enter room based on threat assessments as he reads them. ADVANTAGE: Lower risk of mistakes. Except for determining in which direction the team member ahead is moving, there is little movement that is different in the breach of each target room. ADVANTAGE: Each entry team member only needs to know his specific role in the stack. ADVANTAGE: Works well with inexperienced team members. DISADVANTAGE: Less flexibility than Free Flow method. Loss of Point and/or Second Man of entry team can disrupt the breach of target room. DISADVANTAGE: Requires more training with inexperienced entry team members to ensure proper timing and spacing during target room breach. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF FREE FLOW METHOD ADVANTAGE: Flexibility. Entry team members can focus on situational awareness instead of being inwardly focused on a set procedure.

ADVANTAGE: Free Flow is more forgiving of small mistakes. Each team member should instinctively cover dangers areas missed by team members ahead of them. ADVANTAGE: Loss of any particular entry team member is less disrupting to target room breach. Every entry team member intimately knows the requirements of each position in the stack. ADVANTAGE: Each entry team member simply reacts to the actions of other team members. DISADVANTAGE: Usually requires more experienced entry team members to perform well. DISADVANTAGE: Higher chance of fratricide based on less use of communication during target room breach.

EXECUTE DECISIONS Decisions must be made and executed quickly. Once you make a decision, don’t second guess it. Roll with the mistake. There will be time later to discuss mistakes and make improvements. Right now, finish the fight.

MOVEMENT DURING ENTRY TEAM BREACH Each entry team member must immediately move behind the team member ahead of him and proceed into the room without stopping in the entry point (a/k/a “the fatal funnel”). Once the line of departure is crossed, entry team members must commit to entering the room even while taking fire. The initiative and likely the success of clearing the room depends the commitment, speed and violence of action of team members entering the room.

POINT/REACTIONARY SHOOTING Each team member needs to be proficient in point/reactionary shooting. CQB is a very dynamic and fluid environment where team members may not have time to take measured shots. While breaching the room, each team member’s eyes need to be positioned just above his/her weapon’s gunsights so that he can better scan the room and conduct target discrimination. This provides for better situational awareness because it opens the team member’s observational field of view and prevents team members from fixating on their sights. Team members must also become proficient with providing accurate fire on the enemy while on the move.

COMMUNICATE Each team member needs to communicate with the others regarding what he or she is doing. Once the initial breach is completed, indicate your intention to move to a different location by stating “Moving”. The other team members respond with “Move”. With this procedure, team members are aware of when a team member is in motion.

SLOW IS SMOOTH, SMOOTH IS FAST Only move as fast as you can accurately engage targets. Slow = Smooth = Fast. Moving too fast can result in Point Man moving too far ahead of the rest of the entry team (i.e. “Rabbiting”). CQB requires fast eyes and fast hands but slow feet. You cannot move faster than you can accurately shoot and you cannot accurately shoot faster than you can positively identify targets (i.e. Target Discrimination). That being said, it should take no more than five or six seconds to clear a medium sized room using the Dynamic Room Clearing method.

MOVEMENT TO FINAL POINTS OF DOMINATION As entry team members move to their final points of domination, they should engage hostile targets within their sector/area of responsibility. Shooting is done on the move without stopping and while using reflexive/point shooting techniques. When the breach occurs, it is likely that enemy in the room will attempt to engage entry team members from a stationary position. Firing on the move should hamper the enemy’s ability to calculate an accurate firing solution. Domination of the room means that it is covered by overlapping fields of fire. If a member of the entry team becomes endangered by or is eliminated by the enemy, other entry team members are positioned to eliminate that threat. It also creates a dilemma for enemy in the target room because they often hesitate while trying to decide which target to engage. Once the rest of the room is cleared, entry team members can then focus their fields of fire on other threat areas such as entrances to adjoining rooms and un-cleared/dead space located behind furniture, closets, half walls and the like. Be aware of false points of domination in the room. Depending on the shape and size of the room, your actual point of domination may be different than originally anticipated. Due to shape and size of the target room, entry teams may need to “stage” their points of domination. For example, if the entry team is hitting an L-Shaped room, it is going to encounter have dead space around the corner and into the other leg of the L. In such a target room, the entry team will have to dominate the near part of the room before moving on to clear the dead space around the corner. This does not necessarily require restacking of the entry team to perform it. It often can be performed by the point and second man moving to positions to clear this other leg of the “L”. Often, enemy in the dead space located in the other leg of the “L” will move to engage entry team as soon as they are aware that the room has been breached. As such, first and second men need to be ready to move to positions

of advantage to eliminate that threat before the enemy does. However, in doing so, the first and second men need to stay on the outside walls and avoid over-penetrating into the center of the room. (See “Treat Vertical Edges Like A Door Frame”, Infra). Overly large rooms will often require more than one team or splitting of team into two man elements to move along parallel walls to clear the space. In large rooms with multiple doorways, the entry team should treat the room like an overly large hallway and hit each room individually.

AVOID CROSSING WINDOWS AND OTHER DOORS DURING BREACH While moving to a point of domination, entry team members should not remain in front of doors or windows to avoid the risk of taking fire through same.

AVOID SWEEPING TEAM MEMBERS WITH WEAPON MUZZLE While entering the room, entry team members must be careful not to muzzle flash other entry team members.

AVOID CHANGING WEAPON POSITION DURING BREACH Before the breach is commenced, each entry team member needs to determine whether to shoulder his/her primary weapon on the left or right shoulder. Once the breach commences, entry team members need to avoid switching the positioning of their main weapon. Doing so can prevent the entry team members from having a stable firing platform if they are engaged while changing weapon positions.

BE PRO-ACTIVE All entry team members need to be pro-active to maintain initiative.

USE OF GRENADES Before breaching a room and presuming there are no hostages or other friendly forces in the target room, use grenades to reduce enemy forces in the room.

LIMA: EIGHT ESSENTIAL STEPS OF DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY CLEAR THE DOORWAY AND IMMEDIATE AREA Point Man must clear the entry point and the area immediately around it (i.e. danger area) before entering the target room. If the entry point is obstructed, he should call “Failed Breach”. The team should then abort the breach and immediately retreat to prevent being caught in the fatal funnel.

CLEAR THE CORNERS Room corners are typically the most dangerous locations in a room. The enemy will frequently hide in the near corners in the hopes that the entry team will fail to clear them. That being said, do not become fixated on a corner. Clear it quickly then immediately transition to your remaining sector(s)/area(s) of responsibility. Clearing the corners does not mean to literally move to the corner to clear it. Once the Point and Second Men have visually cleared their respective corners, they turn their attention to covering their secondary sector/area of responsibility while moving to their points of domination.

DOMINATE THE ROOM Entry team members must establish their points of domination in locations where they can clear danger areas behind furniture and objects in the room with interlocking fields of fire.

CONTROL OCCUPANTS

If the scenario allows for it, entry team members must exercise control over both “civilian” and “role players” in the room by applying dominating presence, verbal commands and physical contact.

SECURE THE ROOM Search closets and other areas of the room that were not cleared during initial room entry and set up security to cover any entryways into the room just cleared.

REPORT STATUS Entry team members need to report their status to higher command once building/premises are secured well as whenever they discover critical information, complete specified tasks assigned to them, suffer more than 50% casualties or otherwise become combat ineffective.

BACK CLEAR (SECONDARY SWEEP) This step applies only once the entry team has moved to the limit of its advance and is ready to exit the building. Elements of the entry team will proceed to “re-clear” areas the team has previously moved through to make sure they have not been again occupied by enemy players. This is especially important when trying to extract a high value target out of a building.

COVER AND EVACUATE Once the entry team has back cleared to the building entry point, they must be ready to exit the structure with any prisoners and hostages while under fire.

MIKE: DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY PROCEDURES ENTRY TEAM SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY POINT AND SECOND MEN SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: The Point Man and Second Man are responsible for initially breaching into the room along the near wall to and to clear the near corners. Their primary areas of responsibility are 1). The areas immediately in front of them as they enter the room, 2). The near corner on their respective sides of the target room entry point, and 3). The interior of the target room after clearing the corners and while moving to their point of room domination. THIRD MAN SECTOR/AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: The Third Man enters the room behind the Point Man to a position halfway toward the near corner on that side of the room. His primary sector/area of responsibility is to clear and cover the center of the room. FOURTH MAN AREA OF SECTORS/RESPONSIBILITY: The Fourth Man is responsible for providing rear security for the rest of the entry team entering the room and throwing grenades into the target room at the request of the Point Man. The Fourth Man is often also often tasked with opening closed doors to allow the entry team to breach the room cleanly. SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILTY FOR CENTER FED AND CORNER FED ROOMS: Though there are some variations, Sectors/Areas of Responsibility are illustrated below. See Diagrams 54, 55, 56 and 57.

DIAGRAM 54.

DIAGRAM 55.

DIAGRAM 56.

DIAGRAM 57.

HITTING THE ROOM: BASIC DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES

SQUARING OFF: Squaring off (also referred to as “framework” or “using the frame”) means turning your body so that your torso (and your armor plates) is perpendicular to the threat/danger area. By squaring up to the threat, your weapon should also be trained on it. In effect you are using economy of motion to save precious seconds on orientating to the threat. STAY OFF THE WALLS: Do not bump against or scrape against walls. It can be heard by enemy on the other side of them. AVOID CASTING SHADOWS INTO ENTRY POINT: Especially with target rooms that have open entry points, each entry team member must insure that he/she is not casting a shadow in front of the entry point. Shadows will likely telegraph the approach of the entry team to enemy in the target room. CHANGE HEIGHTS: While hitting the target room, consider using different heights to hit target areas from unexpected positions. This can cause confusion in the enemy as they attempt to process attacks from different directions and heights. In addition, most enemy weapons will be trained to strike entry team members in the upper torso area. NEAR SIMULTANEOUS ROOM ENTRY: When using Dynamic Room Entry Technique, breaching the room by Point and Second Man must be close to simultaneous as possible. Speed is not the answer here. First and Second Men need to be synchronized. The must hit their corners in sync, in real time to prevent rear and flank exposure to the other. AVOID FIXATION ON CORNERS: First and Second Men need only to visually clear their near corners before turning toward their secondary sector/area of responsibility. Team members do not need to become fixated on the corners when there no threat is present. You don’t have to move all the way to the corner of a room to clear it. Visually clearing it is sufficient. Do a quick sight-check then immediately move on to your secondary sector/area of responsibility.

Once you put accurate fire on any enemy located in the near corner, quickly transition to your secondary sector/area of responsibility. AVOID TARGET FIXATION: Don’t linger your attention on an enemy once he is hit. Immediately move to your secondary sector/area of responsibility. AVOID OVER-PENETRATION: Upon entry, no entry team member should penetrate into the room more than two to three feet. This prevents entry team members from crossing over into other team members’ fields of fire (i.e. Masking). It also enables each entry team member to provide mutual support to the others (i.e. Two Guns on One Threat). If a team member encounters an obstacle that will force him further into the center of the room, he must either step over it (if able) or stop where he is to clear the rest of his sector/area of responsibility. EXPECT CLOSE CONTACT WHILE BREACHING TARGET ROOM: All entry team members (especially first and second men) should expect close contact while breaching the room. Team members should push through enemy they encounter while breaching the room. Most MILSIM event organizers adhere to a zero Minimum Engagement Distance (“MED”). Do not hesitate to shoot enemy while pushing through to your point of domination in the target room. COVERING DANGER AREAS: When clearing rooms, you should always be looking for the next danger area. Once entry team members clear their primary and secondary sectors/areas of responsibility, they should make it a habit to cover the next potential danger area (i.e. doors to adjacent rooms, short walls, windows, etc.). If you see a security hole, cover it.

HITTING THE CENTER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Each member of the entry team has specific responsibilities and must take specific actions during the breach of the target center fed room. For purposes of illustrating these basic TTPs, each entry team member will be identified from the front to the rear of the stack in the following manner: First/Point Man, Second Man, Third Man, and Fourth/Security Man. The entry team will need to use speed and surprise to maintain momentum in clearing buildings. It should take an entry team no more than five or six seconds to clear a room and less than eight to ten seconds including the time to clear the current room) to reorganize and move to breach the next room. POINT MAN ENTRY The Point Man should stack at a distance from the entry point that allows him to point his weapon at the door/entry point of the target room without extending his weapon muzzle beyond the edge of it where it would visible to the enemy. This allows the Point Man to cover the entry point and eliminate any enemy that decides to exit through it. Maintaining some stand-off distance from the door/entry point can help avoid projecting a shadow across the doorway/entry point. When stacking up, the Point Man should stay off of the wall. The Point Man usually determines the direction of room entry based on the path of least resistance. If entering through a door, this direction will be primarily based on whether the door opens into the room or outward toward the entry team. If the door opens into the room, the entry team should normally stack up on the “hinged” side of the door. The Point Man then enters the room by sliding along the door as it opens into the room and crossing to the opposite side of the doorway and along the near wall. This allows the Point Man’s rear to be shielded somewhat by the partially open door while Second Man moves into position behind him. If the door opens outward, the entry team should stack on the doorknob side of the door. The Point Man would then move across and through the doorway along the inside of the door as it is opened. Although this is

the basic procedure for executing a Dynamic Room Entry technique, Point Man may decide to perform a button hook movement instead of following the path of least resistance. In whichever direction the Point Man decides to move, the rest of the entry team must move off of it. If Point Man decides to use the path of least resistance, he will move along the near wall opposite of the entry point from the Second Man and will engage immediate threats without stopping. He will continue to move along the near wall until he reaches the near corner. Point Man’s primary sector/area of responsibility after entering the room is to clear the near corner on his side. Point Man should not overly focus on clearing the corner before moving on to his secondary sector/area of responsibility. Point Man’s secondary sector/area of responsibility is the interior of the room. Once Point Man has cleared his corner, he rotates his body to “square off” to the center of the room while continuing to proceed along the near wall to his near corner. As part of the entry team’s SOP’s or upon receiving the command “One Dominate”, Point Man will move up along the side wall and out of his near corner. He should move along the wall only so far as required for him to clear dead space within the room. Upon reaching his point of domination, Point Man should continue to scan the interior of the target room until “All Clear” is called. It is important that only the Point or Second man move to their respective points of domination once the entry team initially breaches the room. This is designed to decrease the possibility of friendly fire should enemy be located hidden in the middle of the room. If the Point Man determines that he is entering the room that it is too small for the entire stack to enter, he will announce “Short” or “Short Room”. In such circumstances, the Second Man will enter the room while the Third and Fourth Men provide security outside. It is the responsibility of the Point Man to determine whether he wishes to have a grenade thrown into the room prior to entry. Although any entry team member can perform this task, usually the

Fourth Man will be responsible for moving up and actually throwing the grenade into the room. In no event should Point Man throw in the grenade. His primary responsibility to cover the danger area represented by the door/entry way before the target room itself is breached. See Diagram 58.

DIAGRAM 58. SECOND MAN ENTRY Second Man should stack up immediately behind Point Man and offset at his outside shoulder so that his weapon is also covering the

target room doorway/entry point. Doing so allows the entry team to put two weapon muzzles on the most likely threat axis. Doing so also allows Second Man to eliminate the threat should the Point Man go down. Second Man moves through the entry way immediately behind the Point Man then moves in the opposite direction from him along the inside of the near wall. Second Man eliminates immediate threats as he enters the room and continues to move down the wall toward the near corner on his side of the room. Second Man’s primary sector/area of responsibility is the near corner on his side of the room. Immediately upon clearing the corner, the Second Man will move on to his secondary sector/area of responsibility in the interior of the room. Once Second Man has cleared his corner, he should rotate his body to “square off” to the center of the room while continuing to proceed along the near wall to his near corner. As part of the entry team’s SOP’s or upon receiving the command “Two Dominate”, Second Man will move up along the side wall and out of his near corner. He should move along the wall only so far as required for him to clear dead space within the room. Upon reaching his point of domination, Second Man should continue to scan the interior of the target room until “All Clear” is called. Once Second Man has cleared the corner on his side of the room, he should shift his area of responsibility toward the interior of the room. See Diagram 59.

DIAGRAM 59. THIRD MAN ENTRY Third Man should stack directly behind Second Man while covering any danger area not already covered by other entry team members. This may require providing cover to the team’s flank and upper floor areas. Third Man enters the room and follows the Point Man to point halfway down the near wall while facing into the center of the room. The primary sector/area of responsibility for the Third Man is to eliminate threats located in the center of the room. See Diagram 60.

The Third Man slot is often occupied by the entry team leader. Depending on the entry team SOP, he may also act as the team’s breacher. In event he is acting as breacher, the Third Man can enter directly behind the Second Man or behind the Third Man (effectively reversing the roles of Third and Fourth Men).

DIAGRAM 60. FOURTH MAN/SECURITY ENTRY Fourth Man/Security should stack behind the Third Man and provide security to the rear of the stack. In doing so, Fourth Man should not turn his back to the rest of the stack. Instead, Fourth Man

should angle his body in such a way that he can see the stack in his peripheral vision while still covering the rear of the entry team. The Fourth Man/Security’s responsibility is to provide rear security for the rest of the entry team as they enter the target room. He covers the doorway from the inside of the room after the rest of the entry team is inside it. His other responsibility is to throw one or more grenades into the target room before team entry as directed by the Point Man and/or to breach (open) the room door so as to allow entry for the remaining three elements of the stack. He often also acts as the “breacher” to open closed doors for the rest of the stack to breach the room. In such circumstances, Fourth Man/Security enters the room immediately after Third Man enters the target room. Fourth Man is the last person to enter the target room. After taking a few steps into the room and clearing any immediate threats, Fourth Man turns to cover the door he just passed through to provide rear security. See Diagram 61.

DIAGRAM 61. ADDITIONAL ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS: If there are more than four members on the entry team, they will need to be positioned between Third Man and Fourth Man/Security. They will cover danger areas not already covered by the other four members of the entry team. They need to distribute their security coverage so as to protect the stack from all angles. In the rare occasion where the stack is comprised of two entry team members, they will fill the Third and Fourth Man positions. Otherwise, additional entry team members can perform security outside of the target room.

HITTING THE CORNER FED ROOM:

ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES Each member of the entry team has specific responsibilities and must take specific actions during the breach of the target corner fed room. For purposes of illustrating these basic TTPs, each team member will be identified from the front of stack to the rear in the following manner: First/Point Man, Second Man, Third Man, and Fourth/Security Man. The entry team will need to use speed and surprise to maintain momentum in clearing buildings. It should take an entry team no more than five or six seconds to clear a room and less than eight to ten seconds (including the time to clear the current room) to reorganize and move to breach the next room. POINT MAN ENTRY The Point Man should stack at a distance from the entry point that allows him to point his weapon at the door/entry point of the target room without extending it beyond the edge of it where it would be visible to the enemy. This allows the Point Man to cover the door and eliminate any enemy that decides to exit through it. Maintaining some stand-off distance from the door/entry point can help avoid projecting a shadow across the doorway/entry point. When stacking up, the Point Man should stay off of the wall. The Point Man usually determines the direction of room entry based on the location of the un-cleared portion of the room. As Point Man crosses the line of departure of the door/entry point of the target corner fed room, will be able to immediately clear the area immediately in front of him. The un-cleared portion of the corner fed room will be along the near side wall to the near corner. With corner fed rooms, Point Man will typically enter the room and move along the near wall to clear the unseen, near corner.

Depending on the configuration of the corner fed room, Point Man may buttonhook or use the path of least resistance to move along the near wall and will engage immediate threats without stopping. He will continue to move along the near wall until he clears the near corner. Point Man’s primary sector/area of responsibility after entering the room is to clear the near corner on his side. Point Man should not overly focus on clearing the corner before moving on to his secondary sector/area of responsibility. Point Man’s secondary sector/area of responsibility is the interior of the room. Once Point Man has cleared his corner, he should rotate his body to “square off” to the center of the room while continuing to proceed along the near wall to his near corner. As part of the entry team’s SOP’s or upon receiving the command “One Dominate”, Point Man will move up along the side wall and out of his near corner. He should move along the wall only so far as required for him to clear dead space within the room. Upon reaching his point of domination, Point Man should continue to scan the interior of the target room until “All Clear” is called. It is important that only the Point or Second man move to their respective points of domination once the entry team initially breaches the room. This is designed to decrease the possibility of friendly fire should enemy be located hidden in the middle of the room. If the Point Man determines as he is entering the room that it is too small for the entire stack to enter. He will announce “Short” or “Short Room”. In such circumstances, the Second Man will enter the room while the Third and Fourth Men provide security outside. Generally speaking, the Point Man should move so as to eliminate the most dangerous threat first. It is the responsibility of the Point Man to determine whether he wishes to have a grenade thrown into the room prior to entry. Although any entry team member can perform this task, usually the Fourth Man will be responsible for moving up and actually throwing the grenade into the room. In no event should Point Man throw in the grenade. His primary responsibility to cover the danger area

represented by the door/entry way before the target room itself is breached. See Diagram 62.

DIAGRAM 62. SECOND MAN ENTRY Second Man should stack up immediately behind Point Man and offset at his outside shoulder so that his weapon is also covering the target room doorway/entry point. Doing so allows the entry team to put two weapon muzzles on the most likely threat axis. Doing so also

allows Second Man to eliminate the threat should the Point Man go down. Second Man moves through the entry way immediately behind the Point Man then moves in the opposite direction from him along the inside of the near wall. Second Man eliminates immediate threats as he enters the room and continues to move down the wall toward the near corner on his side of the room. Second Man’s primary sector/area of responsibility is the near corner on his side of the room. Immediately upon clearing the corner, the Second Man will move on to his secondary sector/area of responsibility in the interior of the room. Once Second Man has cleared his corner, he should rotate his body to “square off” to the center of the room while continuing to proceed along the near wall to his near corner. As part of the entry team’s SOP’s or upon receiving the command “Two Dominate”, Second Man will move up along the side wall and out of his near corner. He should move along the wall only so far as required for him to clear dead space within the room. Upon reaching his point of domination, Second Man should continue to scan the interior of the target room until “All Clear” is called. Once Second Man has cleared the corner on his side of the room, he should shift his area of responsibility toward the interior of the room. See Diagram 63.

DIAGRAM 63. THIRD MAN ENTRY Third Man should stack directly behind Second Man while covering any danger area not already covered by other entry team members. This may require providing cover to the team’s flank and upper floor areas. Third Man enters the room and follows the Point Man to point halfway down the near wall while facing into the center of the room. The primary sector/area of responsibility for the Third Man is to eliminate threats located in the center of the room. See Diagram 64.

DIAGRAM 64. FOURTH MAN/SECURITY ENTRY Fourth Man/Security should stack behind the Third Man and provide security to the rear of the stack. In doing so, Fourth Man should not turn his back to the rest of the stack. Instead, Fourth Man should angle his body in such a way that he can see the stack in his peripheral vision while still covering the rear of the entry team. The Fourth Man/Security’s responsibility is to provide rear security for the rest of the entry team as they enter the room. He covers the doorway from the inside of the room after the rest of the entry team is inside the room. His other responsibility is to throw one or more grenades into the room before team entry as directed by the Point Man and/or to breach (open) the room door so as to allow entry for the remaining three elements of the stack. He often also acts as the “breacher” to open closed doors for the rest of the stack

to breach the room. In such circumstances, Fourth Man/Security enters the room immediately after Third Man enters the room. Fourth Man is the last person to enter the room. After taking a few steps into the room and clearing any immediate threats, Fourth Man turns to cover the door he just passed through to provide rear security. See Diagram 65.

DIAGRAM 65. ADDITIONAL ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS: If there are more than four members on the entry team, they will need to be positioned between Third Man and Fourth Man/Security. They will cover danger areas not already covered by the other four members of the entry team. They need to distribute their security coverage so as to protect the stack from all angles. In the rare occasion where the stack is comprised of two entry team members, they will fill the Third

and Fourth Man positions. Otherwise, additional entry team members can perform security outside of the target room.

DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY - POST ENTRY PROCEDURES As each entry team member reaches his/her point of room domination, he will signal whether his sector/area of responsibility is clear. Use of the word “Clear” signifies that there are no active threats in that entry team member’s sector/area of responsibility. This should preferably be done in as quiet a manner as possible or via radio. Use of thumbs up hand signal (or other non-verbal signal as determined by team TTPs) is preferred. Team members announce “Clear” in the order in which they have entered the room. Once the entire room is announced clear, each team member will announce their readiness status by checking off with their position in the stack. Example: “One up, Two up, etc.” This check in should be done via radio whenever possible to minimize noise. Alternatively, the entry team leader can accomplish this procedure by looking at each entry team in order that he/she entered the room. Entry team members would respond with a thumb up (“Good”), thumb sideways (“OK”, but need to reload, etc.) or thumb down (“Dead” or otherwise out of action). Immediately set 360 degree security while casualties are revived and/or entry team members change magazines. All casualties and magazine changes need to be made prior to moving to the next target room. Once the target room is secured, the entry team must control all non-friendly personnel in the room. If the MILSIM event rules provide for it, separate weapons from any personnel that are not immediately known as friendly. The entry team will then search the target room for evidence, intelligence and objective counters. Searches should be conducted with a minimum of two man teams. One team member

covers while the other conducts the search. All searching must take into account the possibility that the area being searched and everything in it could be booby trapped. On occasions where the event uses digital timers to assess points, periodically check the counter to make sure it is functioning properly, has not been tampered with or has been switched over to count victory points for the enemy.

MARKING PROCEDURES Entry team should mark the outside of the room as cleared, as personnel needing medical attention and danger areas with tape, chalk, colored chemlights and/or other clearly visible means of conveying information to friendly forces. This will assist follow-on entry teams in determining what contact to expect in the room. Entry teams need to be aware that a marked room does not mean that enemy has not moved into the room if another friendly entry team is not in the immediate area to confirm it is clear. It just lessens the possibility that the room will be occupied by enemy. When in doubt, use proper challenge/password combinations or other de-confliction measures to prevent fratricide. In addition, an entry team should mark the doorway outside of stairwells and other vertical access points so that friendly forces can more quickly locate them. Hallways should also be marked to reflect the limit of advance of friendly forces in the building.

BACK CLEARING THROUGH BUILDING Once the entry team has reached the extent of its advance into the target building, it will have to re-clear its path back out. As a matter of security, entry teams should consider any room not currently occupied by or under the immediate control of friendly forces as being potential danger zones. Assume that enemy forces

have moved into the area you have previously cleared at some point after you left it. Back clearing is also necessary to protect friendly VIPs being exfilled from the building. Typically, this back clearing toward the building exit is conducted using Plating, Holding Cover, Clear & Hold and Clear on the Move techniques. (See “Plating”, “Holding Cover”, “Clear & Hold” and “Clear on the Move”, Infra).

VARIATIONS ON BASIC DYNAMIC ENTRY TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES REACTIONARY GAP: Before he enters the target room, Point man takes a step out from the wall and before breaching the plane of the door/entry point to assess the visible portion of the target room. Point man uses the step out to create a better angle of vision into the target room while ensuring that the immediate area of the entry way is cleared of threat. It also allows the Point Man to engage any immediate threats before entering the target room as well as threats that are deeper in the room. This technique is also sometimes referred to as the “step center” or “J-Turn”. When using the reactionary gap/step center, the Point Man should enter the room using a buttonhook method so as give Second Man the path of least resistance. This will help insure that the Second Man is through the door and can cover the Point Man’s rear as quickly as possible. See Diagrams 66, 67 and 68. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF REACTIONARY GAP TECHNIQUE ADVANTAGE: Allows Point Man to square off and engage threats in the room without entering actually entering it. ADVANTAGE: Allows entry team to react to heavily fortified enemy in target room by attacking same from

cover outside of the room. ADVANTAGE: Allows entry team to clear some of the target room from the outside. ADVANTAGE: Allows Point Man to assess the size and shape of room as well as any danger areas and/or obstacles contained within it. ADVANTAGE: Allows entry team to halt entry. Entry team can engage then enter room or engage and hold on the entry point. ADVANTAGE: Provides more flexibility to entry team than breaching the room directly from the stack on the wall. DISADVANTAGE: Point man is more exposed to enemy fire from inside target room. DISADVANTAGE: Can often reveal presence of entry team to enemy before breach of room thereby losing surprise and initiative. DISADVANTAGE: It is more difficult to engage targets in deep area of the room. DISADVANTAGE: It is less efficient with a corner fed room because much of it would not be revealed by the reactionary gap movement. DIRECT ENTRY OFF THE WALL: Point Man moves immediately from his starting position from cover against the outside of the near wall and directly through the door/entry point into the target room. Point clears the immediate area of the entry point of the target as he crosses the line of departure. This technique is sometimes defined as the “standard” dynamic entry technique. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DIRECT ENTRY TECHNIQUE ADVANTAGE: More likely to achieve surprise on enemy inside of target room.

ADVANTAGE: Less likely to telegraph presence of entry team outside of target room. DISADVANTAGE: Entry team will have difficulty ascertaining shape and size of target room prior to breach. DISADVANTAGE: Entry team will have difficulty assessing enemy strength and disposition inside room prior to breach. DISADVANTAGE: Entry team engages enemy primarily from inside room. DISADVANTAGE: Difficult for entry team to halt breach if necessary.

DIAGRAM 66

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DIAGRAM 67.

DIAGRAM 68.

PA R T V I I – D E L I B E R AT E R O O M ENT RY

NOVEMBER: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS As an alternative, team members may clear rooms using a Deliberate Room Entry technique. The primary difference between Dynamic Room Entry and Deliberate Room Entry is that Point Man clears as much of the room as possible from the outside by using the diminishing sector/pie slicing technique before committing to clearing the room. Since this is a more cautious room entry technique, it often sacrifices speed and surprise in favor of force protection. Many of the general considerations and basic room entry techniques of Dynamic Room Entry also apply to the Deliberate Room Entry method. (See “Dynamic Room Entry Procedures”, Supra). The biggest change between Dynamic Room Entry and Deliberate Room Entry methods is the pacing of the room entry and that the Point Man conducts an initial sweep to clear the majority of the target room before the entry team proceeds to breach it using Dynamic Room Entry techniques.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY ADVANTAGES LIMITING AND CONFINING ENEMY MOVEMENT: Allows Point Man to keep the central area of the room clear long enough for remainder of entry team to breach the room. Enemy that attempts to displace/move into cleared area will be engaged by First and Second Men. (See “Moving Angles and Maintaining Real Estate Gains”, Supra). Entry Team

can then focus on clearing the un-cleared portion of the room without wasting time “re-clearing” the area previously cleared by Point Man. AVOIDS MOVING ANGLE ISSUES: By clearing and “holding” most of interior of room, it will prevent enemy from moving into previously cleared portion of the room through adjoining rooms. ALLOWS FOR RETREAT: By performing his initial sweep, Point Man can quickly determine whether the room is enemy occupied and/or fortified. Depending on what the initial sweep reveals, Point Man can move back to a position of cover while the team transitions from a Deliberate Room Entry method to a Limited Penetration Room Entry method. EASIER TRANSITION TO OTHER ROOM CLEAING METHODS: It is often much easier to transition from a Deliberate Room Entry method to either a Dynamic Room Entry of Limited Room Penetration method. DISADVANTAGES EXPOSES POINT MAN TO ENEMY FIRE: While the Point Man conducts his sweep(s), he is exposed to potential enemy fire from inside the target room as he traverses through the fatal funnel. LACK OF SURPRISE CAN COMPROMISE ENTRY TEAM: Because of the sweep of the target room performed by Point Man can compromise surprise and provide advance notice of imminent breach of target room to enemy inside of it, enemy will likely conduct a more determined defense of the target room. NOT AS EFFECTIVE WHEN TIME IS OF ESSENCE: Deliberate Room Entry is usually not as effective in situations where time is critical (i.e. hostage rescue) or where the target room contains an objective.

OSCAR: DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY PROCEDURES ENTRY TEAM SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY POINT MAN SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: The Point Man is initially tasked with conducting initial sweep outside of the doorway/entry point in an effort to clear the immediate threat/danger area just inside the target room as well as much of the interior of target room as possible (i.e. Fatal Funnel and Partial View Zones). He will then decide whether to move left or right along the near wall and clear his near corner. During the breach of the room, Point Man’s primary sectors/areas of responsibility are 1). The immediate area around the entry point, 2). The near corner on his side of room entry and 3). The interior of the room after visually clearing near corner. SECOND MAN SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: The Second Man is responsible for initially breaching into the target room behind the Point Man, moving along the near wall opposite from that of Point Man to clear his near corner. Second Man’s primary sectors/areas of responsibility are 1). The areas immediately in front of him as he enters the room, 2). The near corner on the side opposite of Point Man, and 3). The interior of the room after clearing his near corner. THIRD MAN SECTOR/AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: The Third Man enters the target room behind the Point Man to a position halfway toward the near corner on that side of the room. His sector/area of responsibility is to clear and cover the center of the room.

FOURTH MAN AREA OF SECTORS/RESPONSIBILITY: The Fourth Man is responsible for providing rear security for the rest of the team entering the room and throwing grenades into the room at the request of the Point Man. The Fourth Man is often also often tasked with opening closed doors to allow the entry team to breach the room cleanly. SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILTY FOR CENTER FED AND CORNER FED ROOMS: Though there is some variations in TTPs utilized in Deliberate Room Entry, the basic Sectors/Areas of Responsibility are illustrated below. See Diagrams 69, 70, 71 and 72.

DIAGRAM 69.

DIAGRAM 70.

DIAGRAM 71.

DIAGRAM 72.

HITTING THE ROOM: BASIC DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY TECHNIQUES SQUARING OFF: Squaring off (also referred to as “framework” or “using the frame”) means turning your body so that your torso (and your armor plates) is perpendicular to the threat/danger area. By squaring up to the threat, your weapon should also be trained on it. In effect you are using economy of motion to save precious seconds on orientating to the threat. STAY OFF THE WALLS: Do not bump or scrape against walls. It can be heard by enemy on the other side of them. CHANGE HEIGHTS: While hitting the target room, consider using different heights to hit target areas from unexpected positions. This can cause confusion in the enemy as they attempt to process attacks from different directions and heights. In addition, most

enemy weapons will be trained to strike entry team members in the upper torso area. AVOID FIXATION ON CORNERS: First and Second Men need only to visually clear their near corners before turning toward their secondary sector/area of responsibility. Team members do not need to become fixated on the corners when there no threat is present. You don’t have to move all the way to the corner of a room to clear it. Visually clearing it is sufficient. Do a quick sight-check then immediately move to your secondary sector/area of responsibility. Once you put accurate fire on any enemy located in the near corner, quickly transition to your secondary sector/area of responsibility. AVOID TARGET FIXATION: Don’t linger your attention on an enemy once he is hit. Immediately move to your secondary sector/area of responsibility. AVOID OVER-PENETRATION: Upon entry, no entry team member should penetrate into the room more than two to three feet. This prevents entry team members from crossing over into other team members’ fields of fire (i.e. Masking). It also enables each entry team member to provide mutual support to the others (i.e. Two Guns on One Threat). If a team member encounters an obstacle that will force him further into the center of the room, he must either step over it (if able) or stop where he is to clear the rest of his sector/area of responsibility. EXPECT CLOSE CONTACT WHILE BREACHING TARGET ROOM: All entry team members (especially first and second men) should expect close contact while breaching the room. Team members should push through enemy they encounter while breaching the room. Most MILSIM event organizers adhere to a zero Minimum Engagement Distance (“MED”). Do not hesitate to shoot enemy while pushing through to your point of domination in the target room. COVERING DANGER AREAS: When clearing rooms, you should always be looking for the next danger area. Once entry team

members clear their primary and secondary sectors/areas of responsibility, they should make it a habit to cover the next potential danger area (i.e. doors to adjacent rooms, short walls, windows, etc.). If you see a security hole, cover it. MOVING ANGLE: Point and Second Men need to be particularly cognizant of the Moving Angle presented by Point man’s initial sweep across the entry point to target room. As Point Man begins his initial sweep of the target room, Second Man needs to move forward to continue coverage over the portion of target room previously cleared by Point Man. (See “Moving Angles and Maintaining Real Estate Gains”, Supra and “Hitting the Center Fed Room: Entry Team Actions and Responsibilities”, Infra).

HITTING THE CENTER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES As with the Dynamic Room Entry method, each member of the entry team utilizing the Deliberate Room Entry method has specific responsibilities and must take specific actions during the breach of the target center fed room. For purposes of illustrating these basic TTPs, each team member will be identified from the front to the rear of stack in the following manner: First/Point Man, Second Man, Third Man, and Fourth/Security Man. POINT MAN ENTRY The Point Man should stack at a distance from the entry point that allows him to point his weapon at the door/entry point of the target room without extending his weapon muzzle beyond the edge of it where it would visible to the enemy. This allows the Point Man to cover the entry point and eliminate any enemy that decides to exit through it. Maintaining some stand-off distance from the door/entry point can help avoid projecting a shadow across the doorway/entry point. When stacking up, the Point Man should stay off of the wall.

Point Man then begins a quick, wide sweep around the outside of the entry point using “Slicing the Pie”/Diminishing Sectors techniques to clear the immediate danger area just inside the entry point and as much of the interior of the room as possible without moving into the target room. Point man may make more than one sweep into insure that the interior of the target room is clear. When executing the sweep, Point Man should move in an arc around the entry point as fast as possible while still maintain a fairly stable firing platform. It may be necessary to sacrifice some weapon accuracy in order to avoid exposure to enemy fire from inside the target room. Moving quickly in an arc makes it difficult for the enemy to effectively engage entry team members. The initial sweep should commence at an approximate 10 degree angle on the near side of the entry point to an approximate 10 degree angles off the opposite, outside wall (i.e. Blind Zones). (See “Fatal Funnel, Partial View and Blind Zones”, Supra). Once Point man has completed his sweep, he will move to a point nominally aligned with the center of entry point and commence movement to breach the room (“Reverse Sweep”). Typically, Point Man will make entry into the target room using a buttonhook technique so as to allow Second Man to make entry using the path of least resistance. (See “Reactionary Gap”, Supra). In doing so, Second Man can more quickly move into position to cover Point Man’s flank and rear. In whichever direction the Point Man decides to move, the rest of the entry team must move off of it. Immediately upon breaching the entryway, Point Man will move along the near wall and will engage immediate threats without stopping. He will continue to move along the near wall as he clears the near corner. Point Man’s primary sector/area of responsibility after entering the room is to clear the near corner on his side. Point Man should not overly focus on clearing the corner before moving on to his secondary sector/area of responsibility. Point Man’s secondary sector/area of responsibility is the interior of the room. Once Point Man has cleared his primary sector/area of responsibility, he should

rotate his body to “square off” to the center of the room while continuing to proceed along the near wall to his near corner. As part of the entry team’s SOP’s or upon receiving the command “One Dominate”, Point Man will move up along the side wall and out of his near corner. He should move along the wall only so far as necessary for him to clear dead space within the room. Upon reaching his point of domination, Point Man should continue to scan the interior of the target room until “All Clear” is called. It is important that only the Point or Second man move to their respective points of domination once the entry team initially breaches the room. This is designed to decrease the possibility of friendly fire should enemy located in the middle of the room be hidden. If the Point Man determines as he is entering the room that it is too small for the entire stack to enter. He will announce “Short” or “Short Room”. In such circumstances, the second man will enter the room while the Third and Fourth Man provide security outside. It is the responsibility of the Point Man to determine whether he wishes to have a grenade thrown into the room prior to entry. Although any entry team member can perform this task, usually the Fourth Man will be responsible for moving up and actually throwing the grenade into the room. In no event should Point Man throw in the grenade. His primary responsibility to cover the danger area represented by the door/entry way before the target room itself is breached. Crossover/Least Resistance - See Diagrams 73, 74 and 75. Buttonhook - See Diagrams 76, 77 and 78.

DIAGRAM 73.

DIAGRAM 74.

DIAGRAM 75.

DIAGRAM 76.

DIAGRAM 77.

DIAGRAM 78. SECOND MAN ENTRY Second Man should stack up immediately behind Point Man and offset at his outside shoulder so that his weapon is also covering the target room doorway/entry point. Doing so allows the entry team to put two weapon muzzles on the most likely threat axis. Doing so also allows Second Man to eliminate the threat should the Point Man go down. As Point Man begins his sweep of the entry point, Second Man will raise his weapon to allow Point Man to move past him during

the sweep then immediately cover the entry point and the area of the target room on the inside of the opposite near wall. This technique, applied effectively, should avoid issues of dead space and moving angles created when Point Man sweeps across the entry point to clear the deep part of the room not visible from the stack. Once Point Man commits to breaching the entry point, Second Man moves through the entry point immediately behind the Point Man then moves in the opposite direction from him along the inside of the near wall. Second Man eliminates immediate threats as he enters the room and continues to move down the wall toward the near corner on his side of the room. Second Man’s primary sector/area of responsibility is the near corner on his side of the room. Immediately upon clearing the corner, the Second Man will transition to his secondary sector/area of responsibility in the interior of the room. Once Second Man has cleared his corner, he should rotate his body to “square off” to the center of the room while continuing to proceed along the near wall to his near corner. As part of the entry team’s SOP’s or upon receiving the command “Two Dominate”, Second Man will move up along the side wall and out of his near corner. He should move along the wall only so far as required for him to clear dead space within the room. Upon reaching his point of domination, Second Man should continue to scan the interior of the target room until “All Clear” is called. Once Second Man has cleared the corner on his side of the room, he should shift his area of responsibility toward the interior of the room. Crossover/Least Resistance - See Diagrams 79. Buttonhook See Diagram 80.

DIAGRAM 79.

DIAGRAM 80. THIRD MAN ENTRY Third Man should stack directly behind Second Man while covering any danger area not already covered by other entry team members. This may require providing cover to the team’s flank and from threats located in upper floor areas. Third Man enters the room and follows the Point Man to point halfway down the near wall while facing into the center of the room. The primary sector/area of responsibility for the Third Man is to eliminate threats located in the center of the room.

Crossover/Least Resistance - See Diagrams 81. Buttonhook See Diagram 82. The Third Man slot is often occupied by the entry team leader. Depending on the entry team TTPs, he may also act as the team’s breacher. After opening the door to allow Point Man to breach target room, Third Man can enter directly behind the Second Man or behind the Fourth Man (effectively reversing the positions of Third and Fourth Men.

DIAGRAM 81.

DIAGRAM 82. FOURTH MAN/SECURITY ENTRY Fourth Man/Security should stack behind the Third Man and provide security to the rear of the stack. In doing so, Fourth Man should not turn his back to the rest of the stack. Instead, Fourth Man should angle his body in such a way that he can see the stack in his peripheral vision while still covering the rear of the entry team. The Fourth Man/Security’s responsibility is to provide rear security for the rest of the entry team as they enter the target room. He covers the entry point from the inside of the room after the rest of the entry team is inside it. His other responsibility is to throw one or more grenades into the target room before team entry as directed by the Point Man and/or to breach (open) the room door so as to allow

entry for the remaining three elements of the stack. He also often also acts as the “breacher” to open closed doors for the rest of the stack to breach the room. In such circumstances, Fourth Man/Security enters the room immediately after Third Man enters the target room. Fourth Man is the last person to enter the target room. After taking a few steps into the room and clearing any immediate threats, Fourth Man turns to cover the door he just passed through to provide rear security. Crossover/Least Resistance - See Diagrams 83. Buttonhook - See Diagram 84.

DIAGRAM 83.

DIAGRAM 84. ADDITIONAL ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS: If there are more than four members on the entry team, they will need to be positioned between Third Man and Fourth Man/Security. They will cover danger areas not already covered by the other four members of the entry team. They need to distribute their security coverage so as to protect the stack from all angles. In the rare occasion where the stack is comprised of two entry team members, they will fill the Third and Fourth Man positions.

HITTING THE CORNER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND

RESPONSIBILITIES As with the Dynamic Room Entry method, each member of the entry team utilizing the Deliberate Room Entry method has specific responsibilities and must take specific actions during the breach of the target center fed room. For purposes of illustrating these basic TTPs, each team member will be identified from the front to the rear of stack in the following manner: First/Point Man, Second Man, Third Man, and Fourth/Security Man. POINT MAN ENTRY The Point Man should stack at a distance from the entry point that allows him to point his weapon at the door/entry point of the target room without extending his weapon muzzle beyond the edge of it where it would visible to the enemy. This allows the Point Man to cover the entry point and eliminate any enemy that decides to exit through it. Maintaining some stand-off distance from the door/entry point can help avoid projecting a shadow across the doorway/entry point. When stacking up, the Point Man should stay off of the wall. Point Man then begins a quick, wide sweep around the outside of the entry point using “Slicing the Pie”/Diminishing Sectors techniques to clear the immediate danger area just inside the entry point and as much of the interior of the room as possible without moving into the target room. Point man may make more than one sweep into insure that the interior of the target room is clear. When executing the sweep, Point Man should move in an arc around the entry point as fast as possible while still maintaining a fairly stable firing platform. It may be necessary to sacrifice some weapon accuracy in order to avoid exposure to enemy fire from inside the target room. Moving quickly in an arc makes it difficult for the enemy to effectively engage entry team members. The initial sweep should commence at an approximate 10 degree angle on the near side of the entry point to an approximate 10 degree angles off the opposite, outside wall (i.e. Blind Zones). (See “Fatal Funnel, Partial View and Blind Zones”, Supra).

Once Point man has completed his sweep, he will move to a point nominally aligned with the center of entry point and commence movement to breach the room (“Reverse Sweep”). Typically, Point Man will make entry into the target room using a buttonhook technique so as to allow Second Man to make entry using the path of least resistance. (See “Reactionary Gap”, Supra). In doing so, Second Man can more quickly move into position to cover Point Man’s flank and rear. In whichever direction the Point Man decides to move, the rest of the entry team must move off of it. Immediately upon breaching the entryway, Point Man will move along the near wall and will engage immediate threats without stopping. He will continue to move along the near wall as he clears the near corner. Point Man’s primary sector/area of responsibility after entering the room is to clear the near corner on his side. Point Man should not overly focus on clearing the corner before transitioning to his secondary sector/area of responsibility. Point Man’s secondary sector/area of responsibility is the interior of the room. Once Point Man has cleared his corner, he should rotate his body to “square off” to the center of the room while continuing to proceed along the near wall to his near corner. As part of the entry team’s SOP’s or upon receiving the command “One Dominate”, Point Man will move up along the side wall and out of his near corner. He should move along the wall only so far as required for him to clear dead space within the room. Upon reaching his point of domination, Point Man should continue to scan the interior of the target room until “All Clear” is called. It is important that only the Point or Second man move to their respective points of domination once the entry team initially breaches the room. This is designed to decrease the possibility of friendly fire should enemy located in the middle of the room are hidden. If the Point Man determines as he is entering the room that it is too small for the entire stack to enter. He will announce “Short” or “Short Room”. In such circumstances, the second man will enter the room while the Third and Fourth Man provide security outside.

It is the responsibility of the Point Man to determine whether he wishes to have a grenade thrown into the room prior to entry. Although any entry team member can perform this task, usually the Fourth Man will be responsible for moving up and actually throwing the grenade into the room. In no event should Point Man throw in the grenade. His primary responsibility to cover the danger area represented by the door/entry way before the target room itself is breached. Crossover/Least Resistance - See Diagrams 85, 86 and 87. Buttonhook - See Diagrams 88, 89 and 90.

DIAGRAM 85.

DIAGRAM 86.

DIAGRAM 87.

DIAGRAM 88.

DIAGRAM 89.

DIAGRAM 90. SECOND MAN ENTRY Second Man should stack up immediately behind Point Man and offset at his outside shoulder so that his weapon is also covering the target room doorway/entry point. Doing so allows the entry team to put two weapon muzzles on the most likely threat axis. Doing so also allows Second Man to eliminate the threat should the Point Man go down. As Point Man begins his sweep of the entry point, Second Man will raise his weapon to allow Point Man to move past him during

the sweep then immediately cover the entry point and the area of the target room on the inside of the opposite near wall. This technique, applied effectively, should avoid issues of dead space and moving angles created when Point Man sweeps across the entry point to clear the deep part of the room not visible from the stack. Second Man moves through the entry way immediately behind the Point Man then moves in the opposite direction from him along either the inside of the near wall or the side wall (depending on which direction Point Man moves). Second Man eliminates immediate threats as he enters the target room and continues to move down the wall toward the corner on his side of the room. Second Man’s primary sector/area of responsibility is the corner on his side of the room. Immediately upon clearing the corner, the Second Man will transition to his secondary sector/area of responsibility in the interior of the room. Once Second Man has cleared his corner, he should rotate his body to “square off” to the center of the room while continuing to proceed along the near wall to his near corner. Upon reaching his point of domination, Second Man should continue to scan the interior of the target room until “All Clear” is called. Once Second Man has cleared the corner on his side of the room, he should shift his area of responsibility toward the interior of the room. Crossover/Least Resistance - See Diagrams 91. Buttonhook - See Diagram 92.

DIAGRAM 91.

DIAGRAM 92. THIRD MAN ENTRY Third Man should stack directly behind Second Man while covering any danger area not already covered by other entry team members. This may require providing cover to the team’s flank and from threats located in upper floor areas. Third Man enters the room and follows the Point Man to a point halfway down the near wall while facing into the center of the room. The primary sector/area of responsibility for the Third Man is to eliminate threats located in the center of the room. Crossover/Least Resistance - See Diagram 93. Buttonhook See Diagram 94.

The Third Man slot is often occupied by the entry team leader. Depending on the entry team TTPs, he may also act as the team’s breacher. After opening the door to allow Point Man to breach target room, Third Man can enter directly behind the Second Man or behind the Fourth Man (effectively reversing the positions of Third and Fourth Men.

DIAGRAM 93.

DIAGRAM 94. FOURTH MAN/SECURITY ENTRY Fourth Man/Security should stack behind the Third Man and provide security to the rear of the stack. In doing so, Fourth Man should not turn his back to the rest of the stack. Instead, Fourth Man should angle his body in such a way that he can see the stack in his peripheral vision while still covering the rear of the entry team. The Fourth Man/Security’s responsibility is to provide rear security for the rest of the entry team as they enter the target room. He covers the entry point from the inside of the room after the rest of the entry team is inside it. His other responsibility is to throw one or more grenades into the target room before team entry as directed by the Point Man and/or to breach (open) the room door so as to allow entry for the remaining three elements of the stack. He also often also acts as the “breacher” to open closed doors for the rest of the

stack to breach the room. In such circumstances, Fourth Man/Security enters the room immediately after Third Man enters the target room. Fourth Man is the last person to enter the target room. After taking a few steps into the room and clearing any immediate threats, Fourth Man turns to cover the door he just passed through to provide rear security. Crossover/Least Resistance - See Diagrams 95. Buttonhook - See Diagram 96.

DIAGRAM 95.

DIAGRAM 96. ADDITIONAL ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS: If there are more than four members on the entry team, they will need to be positioned between Third Man and Security. They will cover danger areas not already covered by the other four members of the entry team. They need to distribute their security coverage so as to protect the stack from all angles. In the rare occasion where the stack is comprised of two entry team members, they will fill the Third and Fourth Man positions.

POST ENTRY PROCEDURES As each entry team member reaches his/her point of room domination, he will signal whether his sector/area of responsibility is clear. Use of the word “Clear” signifies that there are no active threats in that entry team member’s sector/area of responsibility.

This should preferably be done in as quiet a manner as possible or via radio. Use of thumbs up hand signal (or other non-verbal signal as determined by team TTPs) is preferred. Team members announce “Clear” in the order in which they have entered the room. Once the entire room is announced clear, each team member will announce their readiness status by checking off with their position in the stack. Example: “One up, Two up, etc.” This check in should be done via radio whenever possible to minimize noise. Alternatively, the entry team leader can accomplish this procedure by looking at each entry team in order that he/she entered the room. Entry team members would respond with a thumb up (“Good”), thumb sideways (“OK”, but need to reload, etc.) or thumb down (“Dead” or otherwise out of action). Immediately set 360 degree security while casualties are revived and/or entry team members change magazines. All casualties and magazine changes need to be made prior to moving to the next target room. Once the target room is secured, the entry team must control all non-friendly personnel in the room. If the MILSIM event rules provide for it, separate weapons from any personnel that are not immediately known as friendly. The entry team will then search the target room for evidence, intelligence and objective counters. Searches should be conducted with a minimum of two man teams. One team member covers while the other conducts the search. All searching must take into account the possibility that the area being searched and everything in it could be booby trapped. On occasions where the event uses digital timers to assess points, periodically check the counter to make sure it is functioning properly, has not been tampered with or has been switched over to count victory points for the enemy.

MARKING PROCEDURES

Entry team should mark the outside of the room as cleared, as personnel needing medical attention and danger areas with tape, chalk, colored chemlights and/or other clearly visible means of conveying information to friendly forces. This will assist follow-on entry teams in determining what contact to expect in the room. Entry teams need to be aware that a marked room does not mean that enemy has not moved into the room if another friendly entry team is not in the immediate area to confirm it is clear. It just lessens the possibility that the room will be occupied by enemy. When in doubt, use proper challenge/password combinations or other de-confliction measures to prevent fratricide. In addition, an entry team should mark the doorway outside of stairwells and other vertical access points so that friendly forces can more quickly locate them. Hallways should also be marked to reflect the limit of advance of friendly forces in the building.

BACK CLEARING THROUGH BUILDING Once the entry team has reached the extent of its advance into the target building, it will have to re-clear its path back out. As a matter of security, entry teams should consider any room not currently occupied by or under the immediate control of friendly forces as being potential danger zones. Assume that enemy forces have moved into the area you have previously cleared at some point after you left it. Back clearing is also necessary to protect friendly VIPs being exfilled from the building. Typically, this back clearing toward the building exit is conducted using Plating, Holding Cover, Clear & Hold and Clear on the Move techniques. (See “Plating”, “Holding Cover”, “Clear & Hold” and “Clear on the Move”, Infra).

PA R T V I I I – L I M I T E D P E N E T R AT I O N R O O M E N T R Y

PAPA: LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY PROCEDURES As an additional alternative, team members may clear rooms using a Limited Penetration Room Entry technique. The primary difference between Limited Penetration Room Entry versus Dynamic Room Entry and Deliberate Room Entry is that the entry team engages enemy in the target room primarily from outside the entry point. Only after all enemy visible from the entry point are eliminated does any of the entry team enter the room to clear the near corners. Entry team members rely on pie slicing/diminishing sectors techniques on each side of the entry point to engage and eliminate enemy in the target room. Limited Penetration Room Entry relies more on force protection while clearing rooms as opposed to the aggressive action associated with dynamic room clearing.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY ADVANTAGES: LIMITING AND CONFINING ENEMY MOVEMENT: Limited Penetration Room Entry allows First and/or Second Man to keep the central area of the room (Fatal Funnel and Partial View sections) clear long enough for remainder of entry team to breach the room. Enemy that attempts to displace/move into the cleared area will be engaged by Point and/or Second Men. The entry team can then focus on clearing the un-cleared portion of the room without wasting time

“re-clearing” the area previously cleared by Point and/or Second Man. AVOIDS MOVING ANGLE ISSUES: By clearing and holding cover over most of the interior of target room, the entry team will prevent enemy from moving into previously cleared areas of the room through doors to adjoining rooms or other dead space in the target room. PREVENTS ENTRY TEAM FROM BEING DRAWN INTO ROOM: Limited Penetration Room Entry prevents entry team from being drawn into a fortified room where they can be eliminated by fire from multiple angles. STABLE SHOOTING PLATFORM: By engaging enemy from a stationary position outside the entry point, entry team members engage enemy with more accurate fire than while on the move. ALLOWS USE OF OUTSIDE WALL AS COVER: For airsoft purposes, Limited Penetration Room Entry techniques allow the entry team to use the outside wall as cover against enemy fire. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS. WALLS IN MOST STRUCTURES BUILT IN THE UNITED STATES ARE EASILY PENETRATED BY GUNFIRE. APPLICABLE TO SINGLE OR TWO MAN ROOM CLEARING: Limited Penetration Room Entry Techniques can be more easily applied to one or two man room clearing because it requires less manpower to execute. DECREASE CHANCE OF FRATRICIDE: Since entry team members are grouped together, it is less likely that they will be involved in fratricide. DISADVANTAGES:

VULNERABLE TO AREA EFFECT WEAPONS: Because much of the entry team is grouped at or near the entry point to the target room, it can be eliminated by a well-placed grenade. LIMITED ANGLES OF OBSERVATION INTO TARGET ROOM: Limited Penetration Room Entry techniques do not work as well in L-shaped and other odd shaped rooms where a large portion of the target room cannot be cleared from the entry point. EASES ENEMY TARGETING OF ENTRY TEAM: Because much of the room clearing is done from the entry point, the enemy has a limited area in which to engage the entry team. As such the chances of interrupting the enemy’s decision making process is diminished. (See OODA Loop, Supra). MORE DIFFICULT CLEARING ENEMY FROM BEHIND FURNITURE AND OBJECTS IN TARGET ROOM: Because enemy is being engaged from the target room’s entry point, entry team members are not moving to positions of advantage (i.e. flank) of enemy positions behind furniture or other objects. REQUIRES HALLWAY SECURITY: Limited Room Entry techniques work poorly in a contested hallway. NUMBER OF OPERATORS ENGAGING ENEMY: Typically only two operators can safely engage enemy in the target room from doorway.

ENTRY TEAM SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY POINT AND SECOND MEN SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: The Point Man and Second Man are responsible for clearing the majority of the interior of the target room from the doorway/entry point. If the decision is made to breach the room,

Point and Second Men are tasked with entering the target room and clearing the near corners on their respective side. In doing so, Point and Second Men move a few steps down the inside of the near wall on their respective sides. Their primary areas of responsibility are 1). The visible areas of the room from their side of the doorway. 2). Upon decision to breach, the near corners of their respective sides. 3). Any new danger areas located on their respective sides of the target room. THIRD MAN SECTOR/AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: The Third Man provides outside security for both the First and Second Men. Should the decision be made to breach the target room, Third Man moves into the room but remains near the doorway between First and Fourth Man. His sector/area of responsibility is to clear and cover the center of the room and any danger areas deep in the room. FOURTH MAN AREA OF SECTORS/RESPONSIBILITY: The Fourth Man is responsible for providing outside security for both the First and Second Men. Should the decision be made to breach the target room, Fourth Man moves into the room but remains near the door way between Second and Third Man. His sector/area of responsibility is to clear and cover the center of the room and any danger areas deep in the room. SECTORS/AREAS OF RESPONSIBILTY FOR CENTER FED AND CORNER FED ROOMS: Though there are some variations in TTPs utilized in Limited Penetration Room Entry, the basic Sectors/Areas of Responsibility are illustrated below. See Diagrams 97, 98, 99 and 100.

DIAGRAM 97.

DIAGRAM 98.

DIAGRAM 99.

DIAGRAM 100.

HITTING THE CENTER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND

RESPONSIBILITIES As with room entry methods, each member of the entry team utilizing the Limited Penetration Room Entry method has specific responsibilities and must take specific actions once (if?) a determination is made to breach of the target center fed room. For purposes of illustrating these basic TTPs, each team member will be identified from the front to the rear of stack in the following manner: First/Point Man, Second Man, Third Man, and Fourth/Security Man. POINT MAN The Point Man should stack at a distance from the door that allows him to point his weapon at the door/entry point of the target room without extending it beyond the edge of it where it would visible to the enemy. This allows the Point Man to cover the door and eliminate any enemy that decides to exit through it. Maintaining some stand-off distance from the door/entry point can help avoid projecting a shadow across the doorway/entry point. When stacking up, the Point Man should stay off of the wall. See Diagram 101.

DIAGRAM 101. Upon receiving a shoulder squeeze from Second Man, Point Man will quickly move across, but not through, the entry point to the target room and take a position against his outside wall and just outside of the entry point. While in cover, Point Man will clear as much of the target room as possible by using Pie Slicing/Diminishing Sector techniques. Point Man will then eliminate enemy threats in the target room as he acquires them. Point Man will avoid exposing himself to enemy fire by only clearing the portions of target room that he can see from his position of cover. He will rely on Second Man to clear

the portion of the room that is out of his line of fire. See Diagram 102.

DIAGRAM 102. Once Point and Second Men have eliminated all enemy threats that are visible from the entry point (typically 90% of the room except for near corners), he or Second Man give the signal to breach the room using a crisscross method of entry. Typically, moving the weapon to high ready by Point or Second Man is the signal for the

other to enter the target room first. However, entry teams can formulate a different signal as part of their SOPs. See Diagram 103.

DIAGRAM 103. SECOND MAN Second Man should stack up immediately behind Point Man and offset at his outside shoulder so that his weapon is also covering the target room doorway/entry point. Doing so allows the entry team to put two weapon muzzles on the most likely threat axis. Doing so also allows Second Man to eliminate the threat should the Point Man go

down. As Point Man moves across the target room entry point to the opposite outside wall, Second Man immediately takes up a position just outside of the near entry point. While in cover, Second Man will clear as much of the target room as possible by using Pie Slicing/Diminishing Sector techniques. Second Man will then eliminate enemy threats in the target room as he acquires them with the priority of clearing sections of the room that are out of Point Man’s line of sight/fire. Second Man will avoid exposing himself to enemy fire by only clearing the portions of target room that he can see from his position of cover. He will rely on Point Man to clear the portion of the room that is out of his line of fire. See Diagram 104.

DIAGRAM 104. Once Point and Second Men have eliminated all enemy threats that are visible from the entry point (typically 90% of the room except for near corners), he or Second Man give the signal to breach the room using a crisscross method of entry. Typically, moving the weapon to high ready by Point or Second Man is the signal for the other to enter the target room first. However, entry teams can formulate a different signal as part of their SOPs. See Diagram 105.

DIAGRAM 105. THIRD AND FOURTH MEN Initially, Third and Fourth Men provide security for Point and Second Men from threats outside of the target room. Depending on entry team SOPs, either Third or Fourth Man will cross past the entry point to a position past Point Man in order to provide security on that side. See Diagrams 106 and 107.

DIAGRAM 106.

DIAGRAM 107. Depending on entry team SOPs, Third or Fourth Man can breach the target room after Point and Second Men to provide support. Otherwise, they remain outside the room to provide security. For inside breach variation, see Diagram 108. For corner flank variation, see Diagram 109.

DIAGRAM 108.

DIAGRAM 109. ADDITIONAL ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS: If there are more than four members on the entry team, they will need to be positioned between Third Man and Security. They will cover danger areas not already covered by the other four members of the entry team. They need to distribute their security coverage so as to protect the stack from all angles. In the rare occasion where the stack is comprised of two entry team members, they will fill the Third and Fourth Man positions.

HITTING THE CORNER FED ROOM: ENTRY TEAM ACTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES As with room entry methods, each member of the entry team utilizing the Limited Penetration Room Entry method has specific responsibilities and must take specific actions once (if?) a determination is made to breach of the target center fed room. For purposes of illustrating these basic TTPs, each team member will be identified from the front to the rear of stack in the following manner: First/Point Man, Second Man, Third Man, and Fourth/Security Man. POINT MAN The Point Man should stack at a distance from the door that allows him to point his weapon at the door/entry point of the target room without extending it beyond the edge of it where it would visible to the enemy. This allows the Point Man to cover the door and eliminate any enemy that decides to exit through it. Maintaining some stand-off distance from the door/entry point can help avoid projecting a shadow across the doorway/entry point. When stacking up, the Point Man should stay off of the wall. See Diagram 110.

DIAGRAM 110. Upon receiving a shoulder squeeze from Second Man, Point Man will quickly move across, but not through, the entry point to the target room and take a position against his outside wall and just outside of the entry point. While in cover, Point Man will clear as much of the target room as possible by using Pie Slicing/Diminishing Sector techniques. Point Man will then eliminate enemy threats in the target room as he acquires them. Point Man will avoid exposing himself to enemy fire by only clearing the portions of target room that he can see from his position of cover. He will rely on Second Man to clear

the portion of the room that is out of his line of fire. See Diagram 111.

DIAGRAM 111. Once Point and Second Men have eliminated all enemy threats that are visible from the entry point (typically 90% of the room except for near corners), he or Second Man give the signal to breach the room using a crisscross method of entry. Typically, moving the weapon to high ready by Point or Second Man is the signal for the

other to enter the target room first. However, entry teams can formulate a different signal as part of their SOPs. See Diagram 112.

DIAGRAM 112. SECOND MAN Second Man should stack up immediately behind Point Man and offset at his outside shoulder so that his weapon is also covering the target room doorway/entry point. Doing so allows the entry team to

put two weapon muzzles on the most likely threat axis. Doing so also allows Second Man to eliminate the threat should the Point Man go down. As Point Man moves across the target room entry point to the opposite outside wall, Second Man immediately takes up a position just outside of the near entry point. While in cover, Second Man will clear as much of the target room as possible while using Pie Slicing/Diminishing Sector techniques. Second Man will then eliminate enemy threats in the target room as he acquires them with the priority of clearing sections of the room that are out of Point Man’s line of sight/fire. Second Man will avoid exposing himself to enemy fire by only clearing the portions of target room that he can see from his position of cover. He will rely on Point Man to clear the portion of the room that is out of his line of fire. See Diagram 113.

DIAGRAM 113. Once Point and Second Men have eliminated all enemy threats that are visible from the entry point (typically 90% of the room except for near corners), he or Second Man give the signal to breach the room using a crisscross method of entry. Typically, moving the weapon to high ready by Point or Second Man is the signal for the other to enter the target room first. However, entry teams can formulate a different signal as part of their SOPs. See Diagram 114.

DIAGRAM 114. THIRD AND FOURTH MEN Initially, Third and Fourth Men provide security for Point and Second Men from threats outside of the target room. Depending on entry team SOPs, either Third or Fourth Man will cross past the entry point to a position past Point Man in order to provide security on that side. See Diagrams 115 and 116.

DIAGRAM 115.

DIAGRAM 116. Depending on entry team SOPs, Third or Fourth Man can breach the target room after Point and Second Men to provide support. Otherwise, they remain outside the room to provide security. For inside breach variation, see Diagram 117. For corner flank variation, see Diagram 118.

DIAGRAM 117.

DIAGRAM 118. ADDITIONAL ENTRY TEAM MEMBERS: If there are more than four members on the entry team, they will need to remain outside of the target room to provide security. They need to distribute their security coverage so as to protect the stack from all angles. In the rare occasion where the stack is comprised of two entry team members, they will fill the Third and Fourth Man positions.

POST ENTRY PROCEDURES

As each entry team member reaches his/her point of room domination, he will signal whether his sector/area of responsibility is clear. Use of the word “Clear” signifies that there are no active threats in that entry team member’s sector/area of responsibility. This should preferably be done in as quiet a manner as possible or via radio. Use of thumbs up hand signal (or other non-verbal signal as determined by team TTPs) is preferred. Team members announce “Clear” in the order in which they have entered the room. Once the entire room is announced clear, each team member will announce their readiness status by checking off with their position in the stack. Example: “One up, Two up, etc.” This check in should be done via radio whenever possible to minimize noise. Alternatively, the entry team leader can accomplish this procedure by looking at each entry team in order that he/she entered the room. Entry team members would respond with a thumb up (“Good”), thumb sideways (“OK”, but need to reload, etc.) or thumb down (“Dead” or otherwise out of action). Immediately set 360 degree security while casualties are revived and/or entry team members change magazines. All casualties and magazine changes need to be made prior to moving to the next target room. Once the target room is secured, the entry team must control all non-friendly personnel in the room. If the MILSIM event rules provide for it, separate weapons from any personnel that are not immediately known as friendly. The entry team will then search the target room for evidence, intelligence and objective counters. Searches should be conducted with a minimum of two man teams. One team member covers while the other conducts the search. All searching must take into account the possibility that the area being searched and everything in it could be booby trapped. On occasions where the event uses digital timers to assess points, periodically check the counter to make sure it is functioning

properly, has not been tampered with or has been switched over to count victory points for the enemy.

MARKING PROCEDURES Entry team should mark the outside of the room as cleared, as personnel needing medical attention and danger areas with tape, chalk, colored chemlights and/or other clearly visible means of conveying information to friendly forces. This will assist follow-on entry teams in determining what contact to expect in the room. Entry teams need to be aware that a marked room does not mean that enemy has not moved into the room if another friendly entry team is not in the immediate area to confirm it is clear. It just lessens the possibility that the room will be occupied by enemy. When in doubt, use proper challenge/password combinations or other de-confliction measures to prevent fratricide. In addition, an entry team should mark the doorway outside of stairwells and other vertical access points so that friendly forces can more quickly locate them. Hallways should also be marked to reflect the limit of advance of friendly forces in the building.

BACK CLEARING THROUGH BUILDING Once the entry team has reached the extent of its advance into the target building, it will have to re-clear its path back out. As a matter of security, entry teams should consider any room not currently occupied by or under the immediate control of friendly forces as being potential danger zones. Assume that enemy forces have moved into the area you have previously cleared at some point after you left it. Back clearing is also necessary to protect friendly VIPs being exfilled from the building. Typically, this back clearing toward the building exit is conducted using Plating, Holding Cover,

Clear & Hold and Clear on the Move techniques. (See “Plating”, “Holding Cover”, “Clear & Hold” and “Clear on the Move”, Infra).

VARIATIONS ON LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY Like with the Dynamic Room Entry and Deliberate Room Entry methods, there are many variations in Limited Penetration Room Entry. SINGLE MAN ENGAGEMENT: In this variation, the Point Man clears the target room from the near side of the entry point to the target room. Second Man takes a position just behind and off Point Man’s outside shoulder. As Point Man clears the room the room from the entry point using a 45-90-45 technique (See “45-90-45”, Supra), Second Man moves with him to provide security and support. Third and Fourth men remain behind Point and Second men and provide rear security. See Diagrams 119, 120 and 121.

DIAGRAM 119.

DIAGRAM 120.

DIAGRAM 121. ROOM PEEK: In this variation of Limited Penetration Room Entry, the entry team does not fully enter the target room. Instead, once the majority of the target room is cleared, either Point or both Point and Second men peek down the inside wall or clear the near corners. See Diagrams 122 and 123.

DIAGRAM 122.

DIAGRAM 123. DUAL MAN/TWO STAGE ROOM CLEARING: In this variation, the Point Man begins clearing the inside of the target room from the near side of the entry point using a modified 45-90-45 technique. Point man proceeds to clear the target room until he reaches the 90 degree position without proceeding to the 135 degree position. As Point Man reaches the 90 degree position, Second Man takes a position just off the Point Man’s outside shoulder. Second Man then continues to move in an arc (similar to that used in the Deliberate Room Entry method) around the entry point until he reaches his final position on the opposite side of the entry point. While moving,

Second Man engages the enemy as he encounters them. Once Point and Second men eliminate enemy visible in the room, they use a short breach or quick peek to clear the target room’s hard corners. Third and Fourth Men position themselves behind and outside of Point Man to provide security down the hallway. See Diagrams 124, 125, 126 and 127.

DIAGRAM 124.

DIAGRAM 125.

DIAGRAM 126.

DIAGRAM 127.

POTENTIAL MISTAKES OF ENTRY TEAMS UTILIZING THE LIMITED PENETRATION ROOM ENTRY METHOD AVOID OVEREXPOSURE IN DOORWAY/ENTRY POINT: Entry team members must avoid exposing themselves unnecessarily to enemy. Use the sides of the doorway/entry point for the cover that it is. Leaning too far into the entry point will expose entry team members to fire. WATCH MUZZLE FLAGGING: Entry team members must avoid exposing the muzzle of their weapons beyond plane of doorway/entry point and using angles to utilize cover effectively while engaging enemy.

PA R T I X – H A L LW AY T A C T I C S , T E C H N IQ U E S AN D P R O C E D U R E S

QUEBEC: HALLWAY TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES Hallways are considered to be danger areas for multiple reasons. First, the narrow, linear shape of hallways tends to force entry teams to bunch up and make themselves vulnerable to enemy fire. This is especially true where enemy fire is traveling down the length of the hallway. In addition, hallways are dangerous because they often contain many open doors and access points between the hallway and adjacent rooms. This presents additional danger areas that are perpendicular to the direction of travel in the hallways. Enemy in adjacent rooms can flank friendly forces as they pass in front of the entranceway. Even more problematic are intersections between one or more additional hallways. Such intersections vastly increase the number danger of areas with which the entry team has to deal. While moving through such intersections, the entry team may be exposed to enemy fire not only from the front but also from the flanks. As a result, entry team needs to move through hallways quickly while maintaining separation or dispersion between its members. Whenever possible, an entry team should move out of the hallway and into a room that provides cover. Generally speaking, the entry team should avoid moving down the center of the hallway in column. Instead it should rely on formations that allow some dispersion while pointing as many muzzles down the hallway as possible. This should help entry teams better suppress enemy located down the hallway and avoid unnecessary friendly casualties.

HALLWAY TACTICAL FORMATIONS/MOVEMENT

SINGLE TEAM HALLWAY TACTICAL MOVEMENT (ON-LINE): Point and Second Man form up on opposite sides of the hallway while angling their respective fields of fire toward the area opposite and in front of the formation. Third and Fourth men will form up just inside of the Point and Second Men with their fields of fire forward and parallel to the walls of the hallway. The advantage to this formation is that it allows the entry team to better cover sectors in front of them and to provide mutual support to frontal threats. It also allows the entry team to proceed more quickly down the hallway. The major disadvantage of this formation is the lack of dedicated rear security for the entry team and exposure of entry team members in the center of the hallway to enemy fire. See Diagram 128.

DIAGRAM 128.

SINGLE TEAM HALLWAY TACTICAL MOVEMENT (OFFSET): Point and Second Man form up on opposite sides of the hallway while angling their respective fields of fire toward the area opposite and in front of the formation. Third and Fourth men will form up behind Point and Second Man, respectively, and provide rear security for the team. The advantage of this formation is that Third and Fourth Men provide rear security to the entry team. It’s a major disadvantage is that movement is typically slowed due to rear security. See Diagram 129.

DIAGRAM 129.

SINGLE TEAM HALLWAY TACTICAL MOVEMENT (POWERI): The entry team moves down the hallway in single file with the Point Man in front. Point Man is covering the hallway in front of the entry team. Second, Third and Fourth Man follow behind Point Man in that

order. In this formation, Second Man positions his weapon just off the shoulder of Point Man to also cover the hallway in front of the entry team. See Diagram 130. This formation can be used to move down the center as well either side of the hallway as circumstance dictate. The biggest disadvantage of this formation is that it exposes Point Man (and potentially the entire entry team) to fire coming down the hallway.

DIAGRAM 130. SINGLE TEAM HALLWAY TACTICAL MOVEMENT (MODIFIED POWER-I): This formation is similar to the standard Power-I except that both Second and Third Men position their weapon off each side of Point Man to assist in covering the hallway in front of the entry team. This allows the entry team to put three muzzles on the threat

area ahead of it. See Diagram 131. Like the standard Power-I formation, the Modified Power-I can be used to move down the center or either side of the hallway. The biggest disadvantage of this formation is that Third Man has to cover threat areas on both flanks of the entry team.

DIAGRAM 131. DUAL ENTRY TEAM TACTICAL MOVEMENT: Point Man of each entry team form up close to each side of the hallway walls while angling their respective fields of fire toward an area opposite and in front of the other entry team. Second Man of each entry team will form up just behind and inside of their respective Point Men. Their fields of fire should be forward and parallel to the hallway walls. Third Men of each entry team will form up slightly behind and outside of the Second Man with his firearm sticking out between them.

Fourth men of both teams will be positioned immediately behind Third Man and will provide rear security. See Diagram 132.

DIAGRAM 132.

TACTICS FOR CLEARING HALLWAY INTERSECTIONS T-SHAPED INTERSECTIONS: Point and Second Men (if moving as single entry team will pie each corner before committing to rounding the corner. Each team member must lead with his weapon and engage any immediate threats using point shooting techniques. It is critical that Point and Second Men pie their corner and commit to taking the corner simultaneously to prevent exposing each other’s back to potential enemy contact from behind. (See SET-SNAP, Supra). Third and Fourth men would then follow behind first and

second man on their respective sides and cross over to the opposite while providing support for the Point and Second Men. The only difference with a dual entry team is that the initial corner clearing is performed by the First Man of each entry team following by Second Man of each entry team to cross to the opposite side. See Diagram 133 and 134.

DIAGRAM 133.

DIAGRAM 134. FOUR WAY INTERSECTIONS: Point and Second Men (if moving as single entry team) will pie each corner before committing to rounding the corner. Each team member must lead with his weapon and engage any immediate threats using point shooting techniques. It is critical that Point and Second Men pie their corner and commit to taking the corner simultaneously to prevent exposing each other’s back to potential enemy contact from behind. (See “SET-SNAP”, Supra). Third and Fourth men would then follow behind first and second man on their respective sides and cross over the intersection and into the hallway where the team intends to continue moving. See Diagram 135 and 136.

DIAGRAM 135.

DIAGRAM 136. HALLWAY CORNERS: One entry team member pies the nearside corner before committing to going around it. When this happens, another entry team member moves around the corner and

to the opposite side of the hallway to provide support and eliminate all threats. (See “Push Out”, Supra). See Diagrams 137 and 138.

DIAGRAM 137.

DIAGRAM 138. HIGH-LOW PEEK: Alternatively, two entry team members can perform a high-low peek before taking the corner. The high-low peek is performed by two entry team members that stack up just before the edge of the hallway corner. PROCEDURE: 1.

The lead team member will take a knee (the one closest to the wall) but far enough back to allow him to provide front security without extending his muzzle past the edge of the corner. Lead team member’s weapon should be oriented toward the corner at a 45 degree angle. The lead entry team member is also referred to as the “Low Man”.

2.

The second team member takes a position slightly behind and just off the outside shoulder of the lead

team member. The second team member is also referred to as the “High Man”. 3.

Upon a mutually agreed signal, the lead team member/Low Man peaks out from behind the corner in a kneeling position. At the same time, the second team member/High Man peeks out from a standing position above the first entry team member. See Diagram 139.

4.

Low man’s area of sector/area of responsibility is the left side of hallway. High man’s sector/area of responsibility is the right side of hallway.

5.

Upon clearing corner, low man announces “Left Clear” followed by high man announcing “Right Clear”.

6.

Once the two man team clears the corner, the Low Man remains in the kneeling position until the High (Man pulls up on his plate carrier (as if the high man was pulling him up). That is the signal for Low Man to stand back up. Low Man must stay in the kneeling position until pulled up by another entry team member to prevent Low Man from rising up into another team member’s line of fire.

7.

The entry team then reconstitutes and moves in formation down the hallway.

DIAGRAM 139.

PA R T X – S T A I R W AY T A C T I C S T E C H N IQ U E S AN D P R O C E D U R E S

ROMEO: STAIRWAY TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES BASIC CONSIDERATIONS Stairways represent the most challenging and dangerous environment for CQB operations. Think of stairways as being a large “fatal funnel” where there is little, if any cover. The entry team is exposed to potential enemy fire from multiple directions including from above and/or below. In addition, the entry team is especially vulnerable to grenade attacks from above. Frequently enemy forces will drop or roll grenades down onto the entry team from enemy located on stairways or floor above-them. For this reason, amongst others, the entry team needs to pay close attention to 360 degree security. Remember that in stairways, the threat is likely to be above or below the entry team. Entry team members should move up the outside of the stairway while staying off the walls. As much as possible, entry team members should allow the stairs themselves to provide as much cover as possible to potential fire coming from above or below. Don’t bunch up on stairs. In the confined space, a grenade will create many casualties and will likely eliminate the entire team. Whenever possible, the entry team should clear stairs while descending them. Tops of stairs, landings, doorways and balconies (and enemy located there) are more likely to be visible while descending stairways than while ascending them. Although there are many variations in stairway clearing TTPs, the essential elements remain the same. The entry team designates an assault element (usually four man team) to clear the stairway.

The entry team maintains a 360 degree, three dimensional security in the vicinity of the stairs. The assault element moves to locate, mark, bypass or clear any obstacles or booby traps that may block or prevent entry team access to the stairway. The assault element proceeds up (or down) the stairs while maintaining over watch/security. Upon reaching the next floor or landing, the entry team secures/covers all likely avenues of enemy counterattack before moving to another floor or exiting the stairway to clear the floor.

STRAIGHT STAIRWAY CLEARING A straight stairway is typically cleared by a four member stack similar to that used in Dynamic Room Entry. The stack would line up at the base of the stairway while in cover. The Point Man moves to the opposite side of the stairway while proceeding methodically toward the top (or bottom) of the stairs depending on the direction of the stairs. His sector/area of responsibility is the top (or bottom) of the stairway on his side. See Diagrams 140 and 141. At the same time, the Second Man moves to the near side of the stairway and immediately abreast of the Point Man and moves in sync with the Point Man in proceeding methodically toward the top (or bottom) of the stairs. Second Man’s sector/area of responsibility is the top (or bottom) of the stairway on his side. Third Man moves to position just behind and between Point and Second Men with his weapon sticking between them as he proceeds up the stairs. His sector/area of responsibility is the center of the upper (or lower) landing. Fourth man proceeds up the stairs behind the Third Man while facing backwards to cover the rear.

If opposition forces are known to be securing the top of stairs, the Point, Second and Third men will proceed to fire in steady rate to keep defenders suppressed until the top of the stairs can be reached. Grenades should be used sparingly in clearing stairways do the likelihood that it could fall back or be thrown back down the stairs on our own team members.

DIAGRAM 140.

DIAGRAM 141.

COMMERICAL STAIRWAY CLEARING Clearing stairways with landings and alternating direction of stairs are extremely difficult to clear because of multiple threat areas located in multiple directions/elevations and the movements needed by team members to transition from one area of responsibility to another as the team proceeds up the stairs.

If all possible, movement up complex stairways with multiple landings needs to be made more slowly but smoothly to ensure that all threat areas are covered while the team proceeds upstairs. When entering a commercial stairwell, the entry team needs to clear the initial stairway landing, especially any adjacent doors entering onto it before proceeding to clear the stairway itself. If more than one entry team is available, the second entry team should hold cover on any additional doors entering onto the landing while the other entry team proceeds to clear the stairs. The procedure for descending the stair is similar to ascending except that team members will be covering a lower elevation versus a higher one. Initially, a four man stack would move up to the initial stair in the same manner as with the straight stairway. See Diagram 142.

DIAGRAM 142. Point Man begins movement up the lower stair on the outside edge while moving upward toward the landing. Point Man’s area of responsibility is the landing immediately ahead and above him. Second Man moves up immediately behind Point Man while covering the stairs and landing behind and above him. Third Man moves immediately behind Second Man. His immediate area of

responsibility is the opposite corner of the next landing and ascending stair immediately ahead and above him. See Diagram 143.

DIAGRAM 143. Point Man continues to move up the lower stair toward the landing while covering same as well as any door entering into that landing from his right. As the stack moves up the stairway, Second Man continues to maintain his field of fire and area of responsibility on the landing/top of ascending stair above and behind the stack. Third

Man continues to maintain his field of fire and area of responsibility on the opposite corner of the landing and the lower portion of the ascending stair immediately ahead and above him. Fourth Man’s area of responsibility is the left side of the landing above him as well as any door entering into the landing from his left. See Diagram 144.

DIAGRAM 144. Upon reaching the landing, Point Man moves around the outside edge of the landing to the beginning of the next ascending stairway

while covering the stair and/or landing immediately in front and above him. The remaining members of the stack line up and cover their areas of responsibility as set forth in the previous paragraphs before repeating the same procedure to clear the next stairway and landing. See Diagram 145.

DIAGRAM 145. When in doubt, team members need to cover any gap in the stack’s fields of fire/areas of responsibility not already covered by another team member. When in doubt, cover a hole.

There are many variations of this technique. One of the more popular variations to is change the Fourth Man’s sector/area of responsibility to cover the lower part of the stairs as the team moves up to prevent attacks from the rear. If the assault team is working with a security element below and behind them, Fourth Man can concentrate on covering sectors/areas of responsibility (i.e. holes) not picked up by other assault element members. These tactics and techniques can also be used to clear down commercial stairways as well. Simply replace clearing up stairs and upper landings, with down stairs and lower landings. Note that it is much safer to employ grenades while traveling down stairs.

POST STAIRWAY CLEARING PROCEDURES/FOLLOW-THROUGH Upon securing landing to a floor entrance, the entry team must cover potential avenues of enemy counter-attack with priority initially given to securing the entry team’s direction of attack. These avenues include access points from other buildings, covered routes within the same building, hallways entering onto the landing, windows, roof access and stairs/landings located both above and below the entry team. The assault element should not only be prepared to continue its own attack but also to support other assault elements and/or to provide over-watch to other elements. Especially in stairway clearing operations, it is critical that the assault element maintain its momentum to prevent the enemy from establishing other defensive positions. Maintaining momentum should keep the enemy off balance and reduce the chance that it can prepare a strong defense against the entry team’s attack. Remember that stairways are often the only access to other floors in the building. Expect the enemy to fortify the approaches to stairways

and to provide a strong defense to friendly attacks. Similarly, entry teams should expect enemy counter-attack at any time.

PA R T X I – A D VA N C E D C L O S E Q U A R T E R S B AT T L E T E C H N I Q U E S

SIERRA: ADVANCED CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE TECHNIQUES In addition to basic techniques, entry teams should consider incorporating the following TTPs into their own CQB SOPs.

SET – SNAP This technique is often used by entry team members to coordinate clearing intersections within building. It allows two team members to clear opposing corners while still covering each other’s back. It can also be used to clear small rooms that are unlikely to be defended (with the attendant greater risk inherent with the lack of support from a full stack). Procedurally, this technique is fairly simple. It usually conducted in five (5) steps. PROCEDURE: 1.

At an intersection or similar location, Second Man moves up alongside Point Man.

2.

Both Point and Second Men pie slice/diminish their respective corners as far as safely possible.

3.

Either Point or Second Man calls “Set”.

4.

When the other entry team member responds with “Snap”, both men commit to clearing their respective corners.

5.

Once Point and Second Men have cleared their respective corners, either the Point Man or the entry team leader (as determined by the entry team’s

SOPs), will direct in which direction the stack will move. See Diagrams 146, 147, 148, 149 and 150.

DIAGRAM 146.

DIAGRAM 147.

DIAGRAM 148.

DIAGRAM 149.

DIAGRAM 150.

PLATING

This procedure is often used in a rolling fashion to move quickly down hallways containing multiple, attached rooms that do not contain “objectives”. This technique can also be used to quickly search nonessential rooms. It is intended to prevent enemy from surprising and eliminating the entry team as it moves along a hallway toward an objective. This technique involves entry team members squaring up to a room entryway with his “armor” plates facing toward the inside of the room…hence its name. PROCEDURE: 1.

Point Man typically “plates” the first room that the entry team encounters. If there are two rooms directly across from each other, Point Man indicates which room entryway he intends to “plate” by pointing his weapon at it.

2.

Second Man then plates the next entry point either next to or just past the one selected by Point Man.

3.

Third and Fourth Men then plate the next entry point past the First and Second Man, respectively.

4.

As they reach their selected entry point, each entry team member will square up in the entry point to “plate” or block potential enemy fire from inside the room from striking the stack as it passes behind him/her. The remainder of the stack will continue to proceed down the hall behind the “plating” entry team members.

5.

As the last entry team member in the stack passes each “plating” entry team member, he/she “taps” the “plating” team member on the shoulder. At that point, the “plating” entry team member rejoins the stack at the rear.

6.

The entry team will continue this procedure in a rolling fashion as it proceeds down the hall toward the target room.

7.

Should a “plating” entry team member be engaged by the enemy, the remaining entry team members will engage and eliminate the threat (usually with the use of grenades). Once the threat is eliminated, the entry re-organizes before pressing forward to the target room.

See Diagrams 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157 and 158.

DIAGRAM 151.

DIAGRAM 152.

DIAGRAM 153.

DIAGRAM 154.

DIAGRAM 155.

DIAGRAM 156.

DIAGRAM 157.

DIAGRAM 158.

FLOOD ROOM

This technique is used to clear heavily defended rooms where other room clearing techniques have proven ineffective. It relies on use of multiple grenades to disorient and/or eliminate enemy located in the target room. Be aware that this technique will not be effective in every room based on the typical area of effect of grenades. In large rooms, this technique will likely clear enemy located near the entry point but not those further away. PROCEDURE: 1.

Point Man calls “Flood Room”.

2.

Point Man throws grenade into target room before moving to the rear of the entry team stack.

3.

Second Man throws grenade into target room before moving to the rear of the entry team stack.

4.

Third Man moves up and throws grenade into target room before rotating back to rear of the stack.

5.

Fourth Man moves up and throws grenade into target room before rotating back to rear of the entry team stack.

6.

This process continues until all team members in the stack have thrown their grenades into the target room.

7.

Once Point Man moves back up to front of the stack, he waits for the grenades to detonate before breaching the target room while preferably using dynamic room clearing method.

See Diagrams 159, 160, 161 and 162.

DIAGRAM 159.

DIAGRAM 160.

DIAGRAM 161.

DIAGRAM 162.

PUSH-OUT/COVERMAN

The push-out/coverman technique is used to provide cover to the entry team stack against potential threats along hallways and to provide support to friendly forces moving along same. Pushout/Coverman is far more effective in wide hallways where the Cover Man can maintain long lines of sight and firing lanes. PROCEDURE: 1.

Point Man or team leader calls: “Push Out”.

2.

Point man crosses over to opposite side of hallway and against the wall to provide cover along its length.

3.

Upon Point Man moving to provide cover down the length of the hallway, Second Man now assumes the duties and responsibilities of Point Man of the stack.

4.

Stack proceeds down the hallway and past Point Man along the nearside hallway wall.

5.

Point Man maintains position until he no longer has a field of fire down the hallway (usually due to entry team members blocking or “Masking” his field of fire), then re-enters the stack at the rear.

See Diagrams 163, 164, 165,166 and 167.

DIAGRAM 163.

DIAGRAM 164.

DIAGRAM 165.

DIAGRAM 166.

DIAGRAM 167.

CLEARING OBSTACLES IN TARGET ROOM LARGE OBSTACLE ALONG NEAR WALL: Entry team members should not stop if they encounter a large obstacle that is along the near wall. Doing so may prevent the remainder of the entry team from achieving their respective objectives and responsibilities. Doing so may also allow an enemy behind the object to ambush the rest of the entry team. Instead, the entry team member should move to clear the area behind the obstacle using the fast pass pie-slicing

technique then proceed to clearing his near corner and/or moving to his point of domination in the room. LARGE OBJECT LOCATED DEEP IN ROOM: Once the entry team members have reached their points of domination (for Dynamic Room Entry or Deliberate Room Entry) or have cleared their near corners (for Limited Penetration Room Entry), usually the Point or Second Man will proceed to clear the dead space behind large objects located in deep in the room. PROCEDURE: 1.

DIAGRAM 168.

Either Point or Second man will call “Going Deep” or “Moving Deep” to notify the remaining team members that he is moving to clear dead space behind the object. As he makes this announcement, the Point or Second man will also point his weapon at the object creating the dead space before he starts moving. See Diagram 168.

2.

DIAGRAM 169.

Point or Second Man will move toward the object and will use diminishing sector/pie slicing techniques to clear the dead space behind. At the same time, the next closest entry team member will move with the Point or Second man to cover and provide support for him. See Diagrams 169 and 170.

DIAGRAM 170. 3.

The remaining entry team members should shift their points of domination to reduce the risk of friendly fire and/or to provide better cover for clearing entry team members.

4.

Once Point or Second man clear the dead space behind an obstacle, he/she should announce “Clear” to notify the remaining entry team members of that fact. See Diagram 171.

DIAGRAM 171. 5.

The two man team will then clear the dead space behind any remaining obstacles in the target room, as needed.

PUSH UP SECURITY This technique can be incorporated into either dynamic and/or deliberate room clearing techniques. It is usually best utilized where entry teams consist of five or more members. As the entry team breaches the target room, the “fifth man” pushes forward to a position just beyond the entry point of the target room and on the same side of the hallway. The push up fifth man’s sector/area of responsibility is down the hallway in front of him to better protect the team from enemy entering the hallway while the rest of the team is engaged in breaching the target room. See Diagrams 172 and 173.

DIAGRAM 172.

DIAGRAM 173.

TWO MAN ROOM CLEARING

TECHNIQUES Two man entry teams essentially use the same TTPs as four man teams except that they only perform the functions of the Point Man and Second Man. This applies across the board to two man entry teams using Dynamic Room Entry, Deliberate Room Entry and Limited Penetration Room Entry methods. Because of the lack of mutual support provided by utilizing a two man entry team, it should be avoided except to clear “short” rooms such as closets or obstacles within the target room.

PA R T X I I – T E C H N I Q U E S A N D P R O C E D U R E S F O R C L E AR IN G M U LT I P L E R O O M S

TANGO: MULTIPLE ROOM CLEARING TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES MOVING FROM TARGET ROOM DIRECTLY TO NEXT TARGET ROOM During the breach of a target room, frequently one or more entry team members will encounter an open doorway or closed door to an adjacent room or hallway. Such a doorway or closed door represents a danger area (more so for open doorways as opposed to a closed door). The techniques used to move from one room directly to the next depend on the positioning of the door(s) in the room, the position of entry team members in the room when the door is initially discovered and whether the door is open or closed. When the entry team enters the target room and encounters an open door, one entry team member will have a better visual angle into the adjoining room than other entry team members. In these circumstances, that entry team member should hold coverage on the danger area represented by the open door while the rest of the entry team clears the target room. At that point, the rest of the entry team would collapse into a stack to breach through the open door while the other team member holds cover over the doorway. It is critical that the team member continue to hold cover on the doorway to prevent enemy from moving into the area already cleared. The cardinal rule is not to give up real estate that the team has already cleared. If the doorway leads to a non-critical room, the entry team member can “plate” it while the rest of the entry team moves behind him to the next target room. It should be noted that there is no fixed rules on how to maintain coverage on a danger area while the rest of the entry team clears the

target room and stacks to move into the adjacent, non-cleared room. Instead, entry team members need to use common sense to cover the danger area while protecting themselves from enemy fire from uncleared sections of the adjacent room.

SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES APPLICABLE TO MULTIPLE ROOM CLEARING Techniques for moving from one room to another depend on the positioning of entry points/doors in the room and whether any doors are open of closed. For purposes of this discussion, the techniques for clearing multiple rooms with no doors or open doors are essentially the same.

HOLDING COVER OPEN DOORS/ENTRY POINTS: When the entry team breaches the target room, one of more team members will likely encounter other open “doors’ leading into it. Usually one team member will generally have a better line of sight through the door and into the adjoining room. That team member will announce “Door” and hold coverage on the entry point and the area of the adjacent room or hallway visible on the other side. He will continue to do so while the rest of the entry team continues to clear the remainder of the target room. This is to insure that potential enemy in the adjacent room or hallway will be unable to surprise the entry team if they decide to reinforce the target room. See Diagrams 174, 175 and 176. Typically, Third or Fourth Man will assume covering the sectors/areas of responsibility of the entry team member holding cover. See Diagram 177 and 178.

DIAGRAM 174.

DIAGRAM 175.

DIAGRAM 176.

DIAGRAM 177.

DIAGRAM 178. The rest of the entry team should continue to clear the target room while be cognizant of the danger areas represented by open doors and entry points to it. Once the rest of the entry team clears the target room, the entry team (less the team member holding cover over the door) will collapse, stack up on the entry point and breach into the next room. When stacking up, the entry team needs to avoid crossing in front of the entry point where it can be exposed to potential enemy fire. See Diagram 179. In situations where more than one entry point/door opens into the target room, the entry team leader shall indicate on which door to stack by calling “Door, Door, Door” and pointing with his hand or weapon to the entry point to be breached.

DIAGRAM 179. CLOSED DOORS/ENTRY POINTS: With closed doors, there is no reason to hold long coverage on the door. Although the door represents a potential danger area, the door blocks enemy fire unless it is opened. Presuming the target room does not contain open doors/entry points, the entry team should proceed to clear the remainder of the room while third man holds cover on the closed door. Once the room is cleared, the entry team will collapse, stack on and breach into the next room. If there are multiple closed doors, the entry team leader will determine which door to breach and in what order. The entry team leader can also request that a second entry team enter the target room to assist in clearing the remaining doors contained in the target room. HOLDING COVER ON MULTIPLE DOORS/ENTRY POINTS: Clearing a target room with multiple entry points is one of the most challenging room configurations to clear. In these situations, it is difficult to apply a fixed method to apply in every situation, every time. Instead, entry team members must use common sense and good judgment to clear the target room in the safest method possible. Generally speaking, team members should hold cover on each entry point into the target room without crossing into potential fields of fire through the entry point and from the hallway/room on the

other side. In some situations, this will result in sections of the target remaining “un-cleared” until one or more of the adjacent rooms or hallways are cleared first. Often this issue can be mitigated by the use of multiple entry teams. While one entry team holds cover over entry points into the target room, another entry team enters the target room to stack up and breach adjacent rooms/hallways. In these situations, the entry team member holding cover over an entry point will serve as the cover man for the other entry team while they breach the adjacent room/hallway. An example of various techniques for holding cover on open doorway’s to an adjacent room are reflected in Diagrams 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187 and 188.

DIAGRAM 180.

DIAGRAM 181.

DIAGRAM 182.

DIAGRAM 183.

DIAGRAM 184.

DIAGRAM 185.

DIAGRAM 186.

DIAGRAM 187.

DIAGRAM 188.

CLEAR AND HOLD In situations where the entry team wishes to move through a room quickly without clearing it, the team can use the Clear and Hold technique. This technique calls for entry team members to peel off from their movement formation momentarily to cover entry points,

doors and other potential danger areas while the rest of the entry team moves behind and past them. Clear and Hold is essentially a variant of the Plating technique described earlier in this manual. See “Plating”, Supra. This technique can also be used by the entry team to clear rooms as it moves down a hallway. PROCEDURE: 1.

The team leader calls for “Clear and Hold” while directing the entry team or larger movement formation to (usually by pointing at it with his nonfiring hand) the door/entry point to move through.

2.

The entry team breaches the initial door moves toward an entry point and doorway in their line of advance as directed by the team leader.

3.

As he approaches the first door/entry point he encounters, Point Man peels out of the movement formation to cover it. As he does so, the rest of the entry team or movement formation moves behind and past him. Unlike with plating, Point Man does not move forward to occupy the doorway or entry point with his body. Instead, he simply covers it with his weapon. If there are two open entry points directly across from each other, Point Man indicates which entry point he intends to clear and hold by pointing his weapon at it. Otherwise, he will move to clear and hold the open door or entry point.

4.

Second Man then peels out of the movement formation to clear and hold on the entry point, door or danger area either across from or just past the one selected by Point Man. As before, the rest of the entry team or movement formation moves behind and past the Second Man.

5.

Third and Fourth Men then peel off to clear and hold the next entry point past the First and Second Man, respectively. As before, the rest of the entry team or movement formation moves behind and past them.

6.

As the last entry team member in the movement formation passes each “clear and holding” entry team member, he/she “taps” the “clear and holding” team member on the shoulder. At that point, that entry team member rejoins the stack or movement formation at the rear.

7.

The entry team or movement formation will continue this procedure in a rolling fashion as it proceeds down the hall toward the next target room.

8.

Should a “clear and holding” entry team member be engaged by the enemy, the remaining entry team members will engage and eliminate the threat (usually with the use of grenades). Once the threat is eliminated, the entry re-organizes before pressing forward to the next target room.

See Diagrams 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195 and 196.

DIAGRAM 189.

DIAGRAM 190.

DIAGRAM 191.

DIAGRAM 192.

DIAGRAM 193.

DIAGRAM 194.

DIAGRAM 195.

DIAGRAM 196.

CLEAR ON THE MOVE The Clear on the Move technique is most often used where speed is critical. Unlike with the Clear and Hold technique, entry teams employing the clear on the move technique do not stop to cover dangers. Instead, entry team members stay in formation and continue to move while holding cover over danger areas as they move past them. Although Clear on the Move is the fastest technique for moving past danger areas, it is also clearly the most dangerous. The

entry team remains vulnerable to enemy fire from multiple directions including from within rooms that they are attempting to clear. As such, this technique should only be used where time is critical and force protection is of minimal value. Although, this technique can also be used by the entry team to clear rooms as it moves down a hallway, it is not recommended. PROCEDURE: 1.

Unless it is part of the entry team’s standard operating procedures (SOP), the team leader calls for “Clear and Move” while directing the entry team or larger movement formation to (usually by pointing at it with his non-firing hand) the door/entry point to move through.

2.

The entry team breaches the initial door and moves toward an entry point and doorway in their line of advance as directed by the team leader.

3.

As they move toward the room or hallway in the direction ordered by the team leader, each entry team or movement formation member orients his/her weapon on each potential danger area, entry point or door as he/she moves past it.

4.

Entry team members remaining moving and in formation as they clear each danger area, door or entry point.

5.

Should an entry team member be engaged by the enemy, the remaining entry team members will engage and eliminate the threat (usually with the use of grenades). Once the threat is eliminated, the entry team re-organizes before pressing forward.

See Diagrams 197, 198, 199, 200, and 201.

DIAGRAM 197.

DIAGRAM 198.

DIAGRAM 199.

DIAGRAM 200.

DIAGRAM 201.

MOVING FROM TARGET ROOM INTO HALLWAY While clearing a building, entry teams will often move from a target room directly to an adjoining hallway. The confining width of the hallway along with its linear shape creates a more narrow threat axis than that associated with breaching a room. As result, the entry team must utilize additional security when moving into a hallway. PROCEDURE: 1.

Once the entry team stacks up near the entry point, the entry team leader will indicate in which direction the entry team will move when it enters the hallway

by giving either the “Hold Left – Go Right” or “Hold Right – Go Left” command. 2.

Point Man enters the hallway and takes a position facing rearward and against the near wall in the opposite direction of the entry team’s direction of movement. Importantly, Point Man’s position should be on the side of the door away from the entry team’s direction of movement.

3.

Second Man enters the hallway behind Point Man and moves along the opposite wall in the entry team’s direction of movement.

4.

Third Man enters the hallway behind Second Man and moves along the near wall in the entry team’s direction of movement.

5.

Fourth Man taps the shoulder of Point Man as he enters the hallway, calls out “Last Man” and takes his position in hallway as determined by the team’s SOPs.

6.

Point Man rejoins the entry team from the rear and takes his positon in the hallway formation as determined by the team’s SOPs.

7.

Entry team members continue to move down the hallway in the formation determined by its SOPs.

See Diagrams 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208 and 209.

DIAGRAM 202.

DIAGRAM 203.

DIAGRAM 204.

DIAGRAM 205.

DIAGRAM 206.

DIAGRAM 207.

DIAGRAM 208.

DIAGRAM 209.

MOVING FROM TARGET ROOM TO NEXT TARGET ROOM WITH INTERVENING HALLWAY

While clearing a building, entry teams will sometimes move from one target room to the next target room while crossing an intervening hallway. In doing so, the entry team will confront not only the threats to its flanks in the hallway but also the potential threat in the room directly across the hall from it. PROCEDURE: 1.

Once the entry team stacks up on the entry point, the entry team leader indicates in which direction the entry team will move before it enters the hallway by giving the "Go Straight Ahead" command.

2.

Using a "free flow" technique, Point Man moves into the hallway and takes a position on either the left or right side of the near wall and facing away from the near doorway.

3.

Second Man enters the hallway behind Point Man and takes a position on the near wall that is on the opposite side of the near doorway from Point Man and facing away from the doorway.

4.

Third Man enters the hallway behind Second Man, moves across the hallway and enters the opposite room in the Point Man role and clears the opposite room.

5.

Fourth Man enters the hallway behind Third Man, moves across the hallway and enters the opposite room in the Second Man role and clears the opposite room.

6.

As Fourth Man passes them, Point Man and Second Man join the stack from the rear, assume the roles of Third and Fourth Men as determined by the

team's SOPs, then proceed to assist in clearing the opposite room. See Diagrams 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215 and 216.

DIAGRAM 210.

DIAGRAM 211.

DIAGRAM 212.

DIAGRAM 213.

DIAGRAM 214.

DIAGRAM 215.

DIAGRAM 216.

PA R T X I I I – T E C H N I Q U E S A N D P R O C E D U R E S F O R U S E W IT H M U LT I P L E E N T R Y T E A M S

UNIFORM: BUILDING CLEARING WITH MULTIPLE ENTRY TEAMS USE OF ADDITIONAL SQUAD AS TRAIL/SUPPORT FOR PRIMARY ENTRY TEAM When clearing large buildings, Platoons will use two squads to clear rooms and third squad to be used either as a security or reserve element. The two room clearing squads will often be divided into one or two assault elements along with a support and a security element. The security and/or support elements often trail behind the assault elements to provide them with support as needed. Using multiple entry teams provide several advantages. Increased manpower and firepower increase the likelihood of completing the mission. Additional team members also make it easier to evacuate casualties and escort high value targets out of the target building. That being said, operating multiple entry teams independently in the same building presents its own command and control issues. The odds of fratricide are also increased. As such, situational awareness of communication between entry teams is essential.

INTER-ROOM COMMUNICATIONS Multiple entry teams that are clearing rooms in close proximity to each other need to use coordination points to keep each entry team in line of sight to the others. These coordination points utilize “link” men that are able to communicate with hand signals or other visual commands between teams. See Diagram 217.

DIAGRAM 217.

MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES Often, multiple entry teams utilize three basic movement techniques: LEAPFROG: Two or more entry teams move past each other in alternating “bounds” to clear rooms. This technique has many variations. With two entry teams, one team clears the room while another provides security in the hall to provide cover over threat areas further down the hall. If the entry teams are followed by a support element, it will provide hallway security for the two entry teams that constitute the assault element. With three of more entry teams, two entry teams clear alternating rooms in a rolling fashion while the third entry team push’s forward to provide security against threats further down the hallway. An example of this method of

utilizing multiple entry teams is reflected in DIAGRAMS 218, 219, 220 and 221.

DIAGRAM 218.

DIAGRAM 219.

DIAGRAM 220.

DIAGRAM 221. TRAIL IN DIRECT SUPPORT: One entry team acts as the primary assault element while one or more assault, support or security teams follow behind the primary assault team to provide it with support. SIMULTANEOUS ROOM CLEARING: clears multiple target rooms simultaneously.

Each assault element

OTHER METHODS OF EMPLOYING MULTIPLE ENTRY TEAMS ROOM BY ROOM: Multiple entry teams systematically clear rooms sequentially. Once the initial entry team clears the first target room, the second entry team moves through it to clear the adjacent room. Each of the entry teams rotate through clearing adjacent rooms until the floor is cleared. See Diagram 222.

DIAGRAM 222. FLOOD: Multiple entry teams breach each room on the floor at approximately the same time. This method of employing multiple entry teams will need to use the Dynamic Room Entry Technique since speed and surprise are paramount. Precise intelligence is also necessary to utilize the flood method of utilizing multiple entry teams effectively. See Diagram 223.

DIAGRAM 223. ENVELOPING: Multiple entry teams surround the target building and clear as much as possible from the outside using Limited Penetration Room Entry techniques through all available outside doors and windows. Once overall control of the target building is achieved, one or more entry teams enters and clears rooms that otherwise cannot be cleared from the outside. See Diagram 224.

DIAGRAM 224.

SPLIT: Multiple entry teams move toward the center of the target building. Upon reaching the center, half of the entry teams clear the right side of the floor and the other half of the entry teams clear to the left size. The number entry teams depend on the size of the target building. Entry teams can employ Dynamic Room Entry, Deliberate Room Entry or Limited Penetration Room Entry techniques while employing the split method. See Diagram 225.

DIAGRAM 225. HAMMER AND ANVIL: Two entry teams enter the target building simultaneously. One entry team clears the target building towards the other entry team. This method of employing multiple entry teams works best in “L” shaped buildings. Entry teams need to employ Dynamic Room Entry or Deliberate Room entry techniques when using the Hammer and Anvil method. See Diagram 226.

DIAGRAM 226. SNAKE: Entry teams divide up into assault and support team elements. The assault team clears the target building room by room. The support element follows the assault element as it clears each room. See Diagram 227.

DIAGRAM 227.

PA R T X I V – D E F E N D I N G O B J E C T IVE S IN A M O U T E N VIR O N M E N T

VICTOR: DEFENDING OBJECTIVES IN MOUT ENVIRONMENT DEFENSIVE OPERATIONS IN BUILT UP AREAS (DOBUA) Historically, operations in MOUT environments have produced markedly more casualties than operations in other terrain. This is largely due to the presence of confining terrain (i.e. buildings, walls, vehicles, etc.) that surrounds open spaces (i.e. roads, parking lots, parks, etc.). The combination of these terrain types lend themselves to multiple danger areas and “kill zones” with troops in close contact with the enemy. Defending forces should utilize urban terrain to canalize enemy into engagement areas where they can be defeated in detail. Of prime importance while engaging in defensive operations in built up areas is to maintain situational awareness of friendly forces while denying enemy the same. Elevated structures and buildings that control primary avenues of approach (i.e. street intersections) within urban areas are key terrain. Establish your defenses to protect this key terrain as well as objectives located therein. This will allow friendly forces to observe enemy movement probably before they see you. TAKE THE HIGH GROUND: In urban areas, there are usually only few buildings that rise above the majority of other buildings. Friendly forces should seize these buildings and fortify the upper floors in an effort to deny the enemy of their use. Such a higher vantage point will assist friendly forces in observing enemy strength and movement. This helps maintain friendly force situational awareness and initiative.

ESTABLISH STRONG POINTS: Friendly forces should establish strong points in buildings that provide over watch along likely enemy avenues of approach, on key terrain and in buildings surrounding objectives. In addition to the strongpoints themselves, friendly forces should establish “stand-off” zones around the strongpoints to hinder enemy efforts to mass superior forces against strongpoints. Friendly forces should consider utilizing combat patrols and support by fire positions to deny enemy freedom of movement in these stand-off zones. ESTABLISH AVENUES OF APPROACH THAT ARE NOT IN OPEN TERRAIN: Establish avenues of approach through adjoining buildings and other covered areas for use by friendly forces. This will allow for freedom of movement for friendly forces and facilitate defense in depth for objectives. Friendly forces need to avoid moving in the streets and other large open spaces where the enemy is likely to set up ambushes. POSITIONING OF SUPPORT WEAPONS AND DESIGNATED MARKSMEN: Position support weapons in positions where they have multiple, clear lines of fire that can be used to impede enemy freedom of movement and eliminate enemy as they attempt to cross between rows of buildings and/or advance toward that support weapon’s position. Designated marksmen positioned in higher buildings with clear fields of fire can eliminate enemy leadership and canalize enemy into avenues of approach leading to massed friendly forces. POSITIONING OF ANTI-TANK (AT) WEAPONS: Position antitank teams in positions over-watching street intersections. Doing so should allow AT teams to ambush enemy technicals and armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) at close range. Establish cover teams in other nearby buildings to eliminate enemy infantry that are providing security and support for technical. The cover group can also provide covering fire that allows the AT team to withdraw if necessary. Consider using small recon teams to provide early warning to AT

teams of the approach of enemy technicals and armored fighting vehicles. USE OF MINES AND BOOBY TRAPS: Depending on the rules of the MILSIM event you are attending, consider using mines, claymores and approved booby traps to degrade enemy forces and slow their advance. Especially in the close confines of buildings, such weapons can be devastating.

DEFENSE IN DEPTH In order to be effective, defenses must have depth. Depth allows a defense to absorb an attack like a sponge instead of shattering like thin ice. As much as possible, the defense should utilize a line of positions to initially blunt an attack while successive defensive positions eliminate the enemy that manage to penetrate through the outer defenses. Defending forces should not rely on one outer ring of defensive positions or defenses that are positioned only on the objective itself to defeat an attack. Use of multiple, layered defensive positions force the enemy to wear itself out as it attempts to push through them. As attacking enemy forces take casualties as they push through the initial line of defenses, they are immediately faced with multiple other defensive positions with overlapping fields of fire. As the enemy encounters each “line” of defensive positions, it takes additional casualties and its troops steadily get worn down. Used properly, a defense in depth should steadily weaken the enemy as it attempts to push through a defense in depth. As the enemy takes casualties and gets fatigued, it slows down and may start losing the will to fight. This battlefield “friction” often results in a stalled attack.

CONTROL CHOKE POINTS IN BUILDINGS SUCH AS STAIRWAYS, ELEVATORS AND HALLWAY

JUNCTIONS Stairways, elevators and hallway junctions serve as choke points that can limit enemy freedom of movement either horizontally along a floor of the building or vertically through different floors within the same building. As such, seizure of these choke points is critical to clearing and/or defending a target building. This is especially true with stairways and elevators. Controlling stairs and elevators prevents enemy movement between floors. This is critical both for the entry team clearing the building (Offense) and forces holding the building (Defense). Securing these “vertical” choke points allows entry teams to seal off building floors as they clear them with little danger that the cleared floors will be infiltrated by enemy forces. Similarly, securing these “vertical” choke points act as strong points to prevent enemy from directly attacking objectives within the same building.

DEFENSE OF TARGET ROOMS When defending target rooms themselves, it is important to surround it with defenders in adjacent rooms with intersecting fields of fires down adjacent hallways. Defensive positions should be separated enough that enemy cannot attack one room without coming under fire by other defenders in other nearby positions. Defensive positions in rooms need to be situated so that they are not vulnerable to fire coming in from hallway intersections and/or grenades. For that same reason, the target room itself shall be defended by a limited number of friendly troops. One well-placed grenade can eliminate all the defendants in standard sized box or linear shaped room. Whenever possible, use stand-off zones to establish defense in depth to any critical room or objective.

POSITIONING OF AUTOMATIC WEAPONS FOR BETTER DEFENSE

OF TARGET ROOMS Support weapon gunners and submachine gunners need to be positioned where they have long, unobstructed fields of fire down hallways and other avenues of approach to the target room. No less than a fire team should be designated to provide security for each support weapon gunner or submachine gunner. Maintaining overlapping fields of fire between fire teams are critical to protecting rooms containing objectives. In addition, properly positioning support weapons so that they can provide over watch over open space between buildings creates both a choke point and a kill zone for the enemy.

BE OBSERVANT If you are in a room that has an outside view, scan buildings and other concealed areas not only for enemy reconnaissance elements but also for enemy security and support elements that are attempting to cordon off the building before one or more of its assault elements breach it.

PA R T X V – T H E I M P O R T A N C E O F 3 6 0 D E G R E E S E C U R IT Y

WHISKEY: A NOTE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF 360 DEGREE SECURITY Because CQB is a game of angles and firing solutions, entry team members need be especially cognizant of danger areas above and behind them. 360 degree (or in some cases “Spherical”) security is of paramount importance when clearing buildings. Just because your entry team has cleared a room, do not presume that it will remain clear after your leave it. Since you are likely to be operating within a building or structure, there will likely be multiple avenues of approach, including vertical access and hidden access points. The enemy will likely use these “hidden” avenues of approach to move behind the entry team and/or attack it from the rear. Often entry teams will fail to cover potential threat areas above or below them. Attacks from these areas are particularly effective because the internal structure of a building (such as hallways and stairs) tends to group friendly forces into danger areas before they realize it. Each entry team member, especially the Number Four or “Drag Man”, need to use discipline to cover their assigned sectors. When the team stops for any amount of time, maintain security. Also keep in mind that one automatic weapon at the end of a hallway can easily eliminate multiple entry teams or bog them down to point where they are combat ineffective. Locking down friendly forces in this manner also allows other enemy forces to attack the entry team from its vulnerable flanks and rear. Unless they are guarding a terrain objective, entry teams should keep moving and hit hard from unexpected directions. Entry teams should also be proficient with “Plating”, “Clear and Hold”, “Holding Cover”, “Push Out” and “Clear While Moving” techniques to maintain security while moving down hallways with multiple intersecting rooms, hallways and stairs.

Maintain security at vertical avenues of approach such as elevators and stairs. Securing these access points are critical to controlling enemy access to floors that “feed” into them. If you control vertical avenues of approach, the enemy will have extreme difficulty moving back into hallways and rooms that have already been cleared by friendly entry teams. Finally, entry teams must vary the tactics and techniques they use to clear rooms. They want to avoid becoming predictable by using the same room entry techniques every time. Being predictable allows the enemy to modify its tactics to exploit the weaknesses in the entry team’s tactics. To be unpredictable to the enemy, entry team members need to move through and combine techniques seamlessly. Keeping the enemy off balance and reacting to the entry team’s movements also promotes team security. If the enemy is constantly reacting to the entry team, it is less likely to develop a counterattack. Avoid forming a set pattern for assaulting target rooms.

PA R T X V I – T E S T I N G T A C T I C S , T E C H N IQ U E S AN D P R O C E D U R E S F O R E F F E C T IVE N E S S AN D S IM P L IC IT Y

ZULU: TESTING TACTICS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES THROUGH TRAINING EVALUATING THE TTPS FOR THEIR IMPACT ON SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, INITIATIVE, EFFECTIVENESS AND SIMPLICITY MASTER THE BASIC TTPS: Initially, Entry Teams and Tactical Elements must train until they reach a level of proficiency where executing them becomes second nature. Master not only the individual TTPs but also how to “link” or apply them together in a smooth and efficient manner. For example, a team will bound to the objective building, will stack up near the entryway to the building, will pie the doorframe/corner to clear as much of the interior of the building as possible before breaching it. Once entry is made to the building and a foothold established, the team will use various techniques, including but not limited to, dynamic entry, deliberate entry, limited penetration entry, set-snap, push out, etc. to clear the building while still maintaining force protection. Mastering the basic TTPs will also lessen the chance of mistakes. Mistakes cost the entry team time. Making small mistakes exposes the entry team to potential enemy fire for a longer period of time. Making big mistakes can result in the loss of the entire entry team. For that reason, master the basics before you move on to more advanced TTPs. MODIFY TTPs TO BETTER WORK WITH YOUR TEAM AND TACTICAL ELEMENTS: Once you have mastered the basic TTPs, you will want to modify them to better fit your team’s play-style. Be careful not to change the TTPs so that they become cumbersome

and ineffective. Start with minor changes first before moving on to more significant ones. Use common sense in formulating your TTPs for room clearing. That being said, common sense is not all that common. The good thing is that you can update your room clearing TTPs from learning from your mistakes. After all, death in MILSIM is simulated. I also recommend that you write down your team’s TTPs in a loose leaf binder of some sort. As you update your team TTPs, add the sheet with the modified TTP into the binder along with the one it replaces. That way, you can track changes to you make to your team TTPs as you modify them. TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN: As a team or tactical element, practice your TTPs repeatedly. Doing so will build muscle memory, will reveal any movement or communication issues and should make you more effective. When you train with the same team members repeatedly, you will often begin anticipating each other’s movements/actions and the entire team will improve. Using another team as an opposing force will quickly reveal deficiencies in your TTPs and/or theirs. Train like hell to become more smooth in in your movement, firing and other related actions while clearing a room. You will reap the rewards later. As you continue to train, TTPs become second nature (and become part of your muscle memory). When you no longer have to consciously think about individual TTPs as you perform them, your situational awareness will also improve. This should allow you to better conduct target discrimination and elimination. THE IMPACT OF MEANINGFUL TRAINING: The adage that bad training leads to bad results applies in MILSIM. Make sure that the TTPs that you are using are simple and effective. If you are noticing that your team’s effectiveness is suffering more than before, review your TTPs to see if that is part of the problem. If you still don’t see improvement, don’t be afraid to seek advice from more experienced teams or experts in military or law enforcement tactics. Practice and use of appropriate Tactics, Techniques and Procedures should continue to develop your team’s skill set and move you to high proficiency.

NIGHT OPS

XVII - AP P E N D IC E S

ABBREVIATIONS 1SG 2IC AA AASLT AD ADA ABD AAO AAR ACH AFV AG AO APC AOI AOR AP ASLT ASP AT ATGM BCT BDE BDM BIS BN BP C3I CAS

First Sergeant Second Man In Charge Assembly Area Air ASsauLT Armored Division Air Defense Artillery AirBorne Division Action on Objective After Action Review Advanced Combat Helmet Armored Fighting Vehicle Army Group Area of Operations Armored Personnel Carrier Area Of Interest Area Of Responsibility Anti-Personnel ASsauLT Ammunition Supply Point Anti-Tank Anti-Tank Guided Missile Brigade Combat Team BrigaDE Bunker Defeat Munition Backup Iron Sights BattalioN Battle Position Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence Close Air Support

CASEVAC CAT CBRN CCIR CCP CDR CJSOTF CO COA COMSEC CONUS CP CQB CW DIV DOA DS DZ EA ECM EEFI E-KIA ENDEX ENY EOD EOS EW EZ FC

CASualty EVACuation Combat Application Tourniquet Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear Commander’s Critical Information Requirement Casualty Collection Point CommanDeR Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Commanding Officer or COmpany Course of Action COMmunications SECurity CONtinental United States Command Post or Check Point Close Quarters Battle Chemical Warfare DIVision Direction of Attack Diminishing Sectors Drop Zone Engagement Area Electronic Counter Measures Essential Elements of Friendly Information Enemy Killed In Action END of EXercise ENemy Explosive Ordinance Disposal Eyes On Sector Electronic Warfare Extraction Zone Fire Control

FCO FEBA FEEP FFA FFE FO FOB FOV FPF FPL FS FTL FRAGO GP HE HEAT HMG HQ HVT ID IED IFAK IFV JTF KIA LACE LD LDZ LCC LDA LID LMG

Fire Control Order Forward Edge of Battle Area Forward Edge of Enemy Position Free Fire Area Fire For Effect Forward Observer Forward Operating Base Field of View Final Protective Fire Final Protective Line Fire Support Fire Team Leader FRAGmentary Order GrouP High Explosive High Explosive Anti-Tank Heavy Machine Gun HeadQuarters High Value Target Infantry Division Improvised Explosive Device Improved First Aid Kit Infantry Fighting Vehicle Joint Task Force Killed In Action Liquid, Ammo, Condition & Equipment Line of Departure Linear Danger Zone Last Cover and Concealment Linear Danger Area Light Infantry Division Light Machine Gun

LZ LOA LOS MBT MD MED MEDEVAC METT-T-C MG MGRS MOLLE MOUT MTC NAI NCO NCOIC NLT NOD NVG OBJ OIC OCOKA

O/O OODA OP OPCON OPFOR OPORD

Landing Zone Limit of Advance Line of Sight Main Battle Tank Mechanized Division Minimum Engagement Distance MEDical EVACuation Mission, Enemy, Time, Terrain, Troops, Civilians Machine Gun Military Grid Reference System Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment Military Operations on Urban Terrain Movement to Contact Named Area of Interest Non-Commissioned Officer Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge No Later Than Night Observation Device Night Vision Goggles OBJective Officer In Charge Observation, Cover/Concealment, Obstacles, Key terrain, Avenues of approach On Order Observe, Orient, Decide, Act Observation Post OPerational CONtrol OPpossing FORces OPerations ORDer

OPSEC ORP PCC PCI PD PIR PL PLT PSD PSG QRF R&S RECCE RECON REGT RLY ROE RP RPG RTO SALT SAR SAW SBF SEAD SGT SITREP SL SLLS SOF SOG SOP

OPerations SECurity Operational Rally Point Pre-Combat Check Pre-Combat Inspection Point of Departure Priority Intelligence Requirement Platoon Leader PLaToon Personal Security Detail Platoon SerGeant Quick Reaction Force Reconnaissance and Surveillance REConnaisanCE RECONnaisance REGimenT RaLlY Rules of Engagement Rally Point Rocket Propelled Grenade Radio Telephone Officer Size, Activity, Location, Time Search And Rescue Squad Automatic Weapon Support by Fire Suppression of Enemy Air Defense SerGeanT SITuational REPort Squad Leader Stop, Look, Listen, Smell Special Operations Forces Special Operations Group Standard Operating Procedures

SP SOSRA SQD SSE STARTEX SUT TASKORG TM TF TLP TRP TTP TOC UO WP X XO

Start Point Suppress, Obscure, Secure, Reduce and Assault SQuaD Sensitive Site Exploitation START EXercise Small Unit Tactics TASK ORGanization TeaM Task Force Troop Leading Procedures Target Reference Point Tactics, Techniques & Procedures Tactical Operations Center Urban Operations White Phosphorous a/k/a Willie Pete Contact point eXecutive Officer

AIR SUPPORT

SUMMARY OF CQB BASIC PROCEDURES/TENANTS The following is a brief summary of CQB basic procedures: 1.

Move tactically and silently while securing the corridors to the room to be cleared. Carry only the minimum amount of equipment necessary.

2.

Arrive undetected at the entry to the room in the correct order of entrance and be prepared to enter on a single command.

3.

Enter quickly and dominate the room. Move immediately to positions that allow complete control

of the room and provide unobstructed fields of fire. CHECK YOUR CORNERS. 4.

Eliminate enemy in the room with fast, accurate fire. The fastest shot does not win the gunfight, the fastest, accurate shot does.

5.

Gain and maintain immediate control of the situation and all personnel in the room.

6.

Confirm whether enemy casualties are wounded or dead. Disarm and segregate the wounded. Search all enemy casualties. Handcuff everyone.

7.

Perform a cursory search of the room. Determine if a detailed search is required.

8.

Evacuate all wounded and any friendly dead.

9.

Mark the room as cleared using a simple, clearly identifiable marking according to the unit SOP.

10.

Maintain security and be prepared to react to more enemy contact at any moment. Do not neglect rear security.

TOP CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE MISTAKES (DYNAMIC AND DELIBERATE ROOM ENTRY) HESITATION: CQB relies on speed, surprise and violence of action. Hesitation by one or more members of the entry team stack will cause an increase in casualties and possibly mission failure. When the Point Man commits to entering a room, there cannot be any hesitation from any of the entry team members.

RABBITING AND ONE-MAN ROOM CLEARING: Rabbiting is where the Point Man starts off so fast that the remaining entry team members cannot keep up with him. One-Man Room Clearing occurs when the Second Man drops the ball, does not immediately move into the room with the Point Man and leaves him alone in the danger area with no support. Deliberate and smooth movement is preferred over simple speed. This issue can be avoided by practice and the exercise of situational awareness primarily on the part of the Point and Second men in the stack. SMOOTH IS FAST: Speed for its own sake detracts from the effectiveness of CQB tactics. Each member of the entry team needs to be in a position to support the other members in the stack. The entry team should not move more quickly that it can smoothly and effectively apply its tactics and fire its weapons. CQB requires fast eyes and fast hands but slow feet. You cannot move faster than you can accurately shoot and you cannot accurately shoot faster than you can make “Shoot-No Shoot” decisions (Target Discrimination). This issue can be avoided by practicing room entry SOPs repeatedly until all entry team Members are comfortable with them and can move both speedily and smoothly. FATAL FUNNEL: Get out and stay out of the entryway into a danger area. Enemy forces will be typically set up to react quickly to assaults through the entryway of the room and to concentrate fire there as well. FIND AND FILL HOLES: CQB is an exercise in finding a shooting solution on the enemy before the enemy finds one. If you see a team-mate fail to cover a threat area and you can cover same without ignoring your own sector/area of responsibility, fill that hole. MAINTAIN SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: Avoid getting so amped up and stressed that you develop tunnel vision. Keep calm and stay aware of your surroundings. You do not want to be so focused on a potential danger area that you are unaware of being silhouetted against a window beside you.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON YOUR SECTOR/AREA OF RESPONSIBILTY: All too often, entry team members will take their eyes off of their sectors in order to talk to another team-mate. Avoid the temptation to look at team-mates while talking to them when you are in a potential danger area. SPEED IS NOT YOUR SECURITY: Although speed is a necessary element of CQB tactics, it cannot be substituted for proper security procedures. Entry teams need to be careful not to over penetrate into a danger area and get themselves cut off from escape routes.

USE OF SUPPORT WEAPONS AND SUBMACHINE GUNS IN CQB ENVIROMENTS LMGS AND SAWS: Many MILSIM event organizers limit the use of Light Machine Guns (LMGs) and Squad Automatic Weapons (SAWs) within buildings and structures. In addition to more cumbersome nature of LMGs and SAWs inside buildings they often have more restrictive minimum engagement distances (MED) and are restricted to semi-automatic fire only. That being said, support weapons can be effectively used to provide sustained fire against targets located outside of the building or structure. SMGS: Unlike support weapon classes, submachineguns typically have a zero (0) foot MED and are allowed to employ automatic fire indoors. As such, entry team members using submachineguns should occupy the Point or Second Man positions. In those positions, the submachinegun’s rate of fire should aid in clearing rooms.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OVERLAPPING AND

INTERSECTING FIELDS OF FIRE OVERLAPPING FIELDS OF FIRE describes when sectors of fire completely cross-over each other and different firing positions can engage targets in front of each other. See Diagram 228.

DIAGRAM 228 INTERSECTING FIELDS OF FIRE describes where the edges of sectors of fire of two adjacent firing positions touch and slightly overlap each other. There are no gaps between the sectors of fire between adjacent firing positions; however, one firing position cannot engage targets directly in front of adjacent positions. See Diagram 229.

DIAGRAM 229. Typically support weapon gunners will be assigned overlapping firing arcs whereas riflemen will be assigned intersecting fields of fire.

CHECKLIST FOR CORDONING AND ISOLATING TARGET BUILDING 1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

Organize platoon (or squad) into assault, support and security forces. Security force CORDONS and ISOLATES target building from overwatch positions by using smoke and suppressive fire. Security force continues to suppress enemy in target building to cover assault and support forces’ movement toward target building. Support force resupplies ammunition and replaces personnel for assault force. Assault force breaches/makes entry into target building and establishes initial foothold. Support force enters target building.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14.

Elements of support force establish security at initial foothold until relieved by security force. Security force enters target building to relieve elements of support force that were initially providing security for initial foothold. Assault force divides into two or more entry teams. Assault force entry teams proceed to CLEAR target building room by room. Elements of support force proceed behind assault force as it clears target building. Elements of security force secure objectives and target building choke points such as stairways and hallway intersections behind assault forces as it clears them. Assault or support force marks each room as it is cleared by assault force. Once target building is cleared and secured, elements of assault, support and security forces consolidate, reorganize and await further orders.

EXAMPLES OF ENTRY TEAM COMMUNICATIONS For those interested in examples of communications and flow of information amongst entry teams while they breach a target room, I have enclosed a few examples of them below. DYNAMIC ROOM CLEARING USING SIMPLE COMMAND SIGNAL: Entry team stacks up in a linear stack to breach rectangular, center fed room with inward opening, closed door. The door’s hinges are on its right side. Entry team will use dynamic room entry technique with simple start signal to breach target room. Point man will use “read” technique to decide in what direction to enter target room. 1.

Team Leader (over radio): “Stack up, right”.

2.

3. 4.

5.

6. 7.

8.

9.

Once entry team is stacked up on hinged side of the closed door. Point Man makes hand signal for “Breacher” by swinging fist back and forth over his non-dominant shoulder. Fourth Man moves up past the stack to the opposite side of closed door from Point Man. Second Man looks behind him to make sure Third Man is in position to breach target room before squeezing Point Man on his shoulder. (Entry team is now ready to breach target room) Fourth Man gives “Thumbs Up” signal to Point Man indicating that he is ready to open door to target room. Point Man nods his head once to signal Fourth Man to open the door. As door opens, Point Man clears the immediate, danger just inside the door as he decides to use crossover/least resistance movement to move left along inside of near wall. Point Man clears his near corner and immediately transitions to covering left side of the interior of target room. While facing the interior of the target room, Point Man continues to move to the near corner then along the left wall until he reaches his point of domination. At the same time, Second Man immediately moves up behind Point Man and button-hooks around the right door frame and along near wall in the opposite direction of Point Man. As he does so, Second Man encounters an enemy threat in the right, near corner and engages him while moving. After eliminating the threat, Second Man transitions to covering the interior of the target room. Third Man immediately moves up behind second man before turning left along near wall and behind Point Man. As he does so, Third Man scans the

10.

11.

12.

13. 14.

interior of the target room for threats. Third Man takes a final position 2-3 feet down the left, inside wall and continues to scan interior of room. As he does so, third man notices an open door in center of the far wall. He immediately calls: “Open Door, Center of Far Wall” and holds cover on the newly discovered door. Fourth Man moves up immediately behind Third Man before turning right and following behind Second Man to a position approximately two feet down the inside of the target room’s near side wall. From that position, Fourth Man initially assists Third Man in covering the interior of the target room. Seeing no active threats, Third Man clears behind the door and sets rear security over target room initial entry point. Starting with Point Man and ending with Fourth Man, the entry team announces “Clear” over the radio. Once all entry team members have announced that their sector is clear, the entry team leader will announce “All Clear” over the radio. This is done over the radio to lessen the chance that the entry team will be heard by enemy in nearby rooms. Starting with Point Man, each entry team members announces readiness by announcing “1 Up”, “2 Up”, etc. via radio (due to the possible presence of enemy in adjacent room) or by giving “Thumbs Up” signal to the leader beginning with Point Man and continuing to Fourth Man. In this example, Second Man gives “Thumbs Down” signal because his weapon has now jammed. Second Man clears the jam and announces “Back In”. During this entire time, Third Man maintains coverage over the potential threat presented by the

15.

16. 17. 18.

door in the center of the far wall. Entry Team Leader indicates that the entry team is to stack up on wall next to the door knob on the left side of closed door because it opens out of the adjacent room. He does so by pointing at the door, then pointing to the wall to the left of it. Third Man maintains cover over the door while Point, Second and Fourth Men stack up next to the door on the center of the far wall. Once the rest of the entry team is stacked up on the door, he rejoins the stack. The entry team proceeds to clear the adjacent room using Dynamic, Deliberate or Limited Penetration Room Entry techniques.

DELIBERATE ROOM CLEARING USING MINIMAL COMMAND SIGNAL: Entry team stacks up in a linear formation to breach rectangular, corner fed room with open door. Entry point is located in right corner of target room. Entry team will use deliberate room entry technique with minimal start signal to breach target room. Entry team will use free flow movement method while breaching target room. 1. 2.

3.

Team Leader (over radio): “Stack up, left”. Once entry team is stacked up on left side of the closed door, Second Man does quick check behind him to make sure all entry team members are in position. He then squeezes Point Man’s shoulder. Point Man immediately proceeds to use the quick pass pie clearing technique in a quick arc around to the other side of the entry point. As he does so, Point Man clears the fatal funnel and partial view areas on both sides of the entry point. At the same time, Second Man moves up to Point Man’s original starting position to continue to provide coverage over areas of the room previously cleared by Point Man to avoid any “moving angle” issues.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Point Man makes a reverse pass to a point halfway back to his starting position before pushing through the line of departure. As he does so, Point Man turns to move down the inside of the near wall to clear the near corner on that side. Note: Point Man cleared the far right corner during his initial pass around the entry point to the target room. Point Man’s final point of domination is the left near corner. As Point Man performs his reverse pass and begins to push into room, Second Man follows immediately behind him. As he crosses the line of departure, Second Man moves in the opposite direction of Point Man and moves along the right wall to clear the far right corner as well as the interior of target room. Point Man’s final point of domination is the right far corner. Third Man crosses the line of departure immediately behind Second Man then moves behind Point Man along near wall while covering the center area of target room. Third Man’s final position is two to three feet down the near wall from target room entry point. Fourth Man crosses line of departure immediately behind Third Man before turning right and following behind Second Man to a position approximately two feet down the inside of the target room’s near wall. From that position, Fourth Man initially assists Third Man in covering the interior of the target room. Seeing no active threats, Third Man clears behind the door and sets rear security over target room initial entry point. Having engaged no enemy, each entry team member checks of his status, beginning with Point Man, over the radio. Example: “One Clear”, “Two

9. 10.

11.

12.

13.

Clear”, “Three Clear”, etc. Once all team members check in, the entry team leader announces “All Clear” over the radio. Note: Using this method of announcing a cleared sector doubles as status update for the team leader. By using it, entry team members can dispense with the extra step of announcing their status. (“One Up”, “Two Up” etc.). Entry team leader announces for entry team to stack up on door out of target room. Before exiting room, Point Man calls “Coming Out” or sticks his hand out with a “thumbs up” signal to notify friendly forces in the hallway that the team will be coming out of target room. Friendly forces in the hallway respond with “Come Out” to notify the entry team that it is safe to come out. As Fourth Man/Security leaves the target room, he announces “Last Man” to let friendly forces in the hallway to know he is the last friendly team member leaving the target room. The entry team moves to proceeds to clear the next target room using Dynamic, Deliberate or Limited Penetration Room Entry techniques.

OBSOLETE ROOM CLEARING TECHNIQUES/METHODS Although this training manual seeks to adapt several “real world” room clearing TTPS for use in MILSIM environments, several room entry tactics and techniques were intentionally omitted. Some of these tactics and techniques include, but are not limited to, “Same Side”, “Center Flood”, “Running the Wall”, “Wedge”, “Four Man Penetration”, “Power Shift” and “Immediate Threat”. These techniques were omitted from this training manual because they have

been proven to be cumbersome, to be more prone to fratricide and/or are otherwise generally ineffective. The whole point of CQB TTPs is to keep them relatively simple while maximizing their effectiveness. That being said, information regarding these various techniques can be located on the internet and in print by those interested in them.

A NOTE ON MILSIM EVENT ORGANIZERS There are many MILSIM event organizers located throughout the United States and elsewhere throughout the world. Listed below are several MILSIM event organizers located in the United States: THIRD COAST AIRSOFT (TCA): www.thirdcoastairsoft.com AMERICAN MILSIM: www.americanmilsim.com CENTURAN MILSIM: www.joincenturion.com MILSIM WEST (MSW): www.milsimwest.com OLCMSS a/k/a OPERATION LION CLAWS: www.oplionclaws.com DOOMSDAY: www.doomsdayairsoft.com MSATO MILSIM: www.msato.org MINDGAMES PRODUCTIONS: www.mindgame-productions.com MIR TACTICAL:

www.mirtactical.com/events Each of these MILSIM event organizers specialize in providing differing experiences to their player bases in different regions of the country. I highly recommend trying each of them to see which experience works best for you.

DETONATING EXPLOSIVES IN PLACE

XVIII – R E F E R E N C E S AN D AB O U T T H E AU T H OR

MILITARY REFERENCES FM 3-0 Operations FM 3-06 Urban Operations ADRP 3-90 Offense and Defense FM 3-21.8 The Infantry Platoon and Squad FM 3-90-1 Offense and Defense (Volume 1) FM 3-90 Tactics FM 3-90-2 Reconnaissance Security and Tactical Enabling Tasks (Volume 2) FM 7-8 Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad FM 7-85 Ranger Unit Operations FM 10-90 Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) STP 21-1-SMCT Warrior Skills Level 1 US Army Ranger Handbook SWP 3-05.2 Naval Special Warfare SEAL Tactics

VIDEO REFERENCES HIGH READY VS. LOW READY https://youtu.be/O_tG9dM1v-Q https://youtu.be/aCWjtLYxTC0 LIMITED ROOM ENTRY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8YUwaLWN_4 https://youtu.be/jwUwUGlrfdA DYNAMIC ROOM ENTRY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyvw3Qu8k3A STACKLESS ENTRY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjCB9YLOuU0 MOVING ANGLES https://youtu.be/murLU0us4eY OODA LOOP https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/ooda-loop/ https://www.tacticalresponse.com/blogs/library/18649427-boyd-so-o-d-a-loop-and-how-we-use-it https://taylorpearson.me/ooda-loop/ MULTIPLE ROOM CLEARING EXAMPLE https://youtu.be/3yReIGUV9UE EXAMPLE OF CQB MISTAKES https://youtu.be/ZBbIIaW4aWI

TRUTH

AFTERWORD AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR I am a former police officer and currently practicing attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2010, my son got me into airsoft. I have been playing it regularly ever since. When I took the plunge into Military Simulation (MILSIM) in 2013, something clicked in me and I never looked back. In addition to allowing me to further explore my interest in small unit tactics and to practice CQB techniques, MILSIM events also allowed me to take on various leadership roles including company commander, battalion XO and battalion CO. During these events, I also noticed that I have a knack for operational planning and orders preparation. As result, I often not only act as a commanding officer but also as the battalion/joint task force operations officer (S3). Most importantly, I became part of the tight knit community that is MILSIM. As I got more involved, I noticed that there is very little information available to airsoft players who are thinking about getting into MILSIM. Many were concerned about the potentially steep learning curve associated with attending national MILSIM events. Some were also intimidated by more experienced players that attend such events…especially those with military and/or law enforcement experience. It is very difficult to find any books that discuss tactics, techniques and procedures as they apply to airsoft. This lack of information for newer players inspired me to bridge the gap between your typical airsoft “pick-up” game and MILSIM. The result is “Alpha to Omega: A MILSIM Tactical Primer and Training Manual” and this training manual. As I talked more with MILSIM players, I realized that many of them were very interested in improving their CQB skills. Although many MILSIM players were somewhat familiar with Dynamic Room Entry techniques, they wanted information regarding more advanced CQB TTPs. As with “Alpha to Omega: A MILSIM Tactical Primer and Training Manual”, this book is not intended to teach CQB

tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) that must be applied only one way, by every team, to every situation, every time. Although the basics procedures in CQB are pretty well established, there is great variation in techniques and SOPs that are applied to CQB tactics. Not every TTP will work well for every team. As such, they will need to train with various TTPs to see what will work for them. Every MILSIM team I have ever met has its own unique “take” on the tactics, techniques and procedures that they employ during a MILSIM event. This is especially true in CQB. Though many of their TTPs are based on the basic tactics, techniques and procedures taught in this book, they have evolved as the team that uses them has also evolved. These modified TTPs are not necessarily “wrong”. Instead, they are simply modified to work better for that particular team or group of players. It is my hope that his manual will provoke discussion regarding which tactics, techniques and procedures are effective the MILSIM CQB environment. Though I expect a lot of TTPs used by law enforcement and the military will have applicability in MILSIM, some may not work well, others may be surprisingly effective. To old and new friends, I look forward to fighting with (or against) each of you on the field.

MILSIM

“WE DON’T RISE TO THE LEVEL OF OUR EXPECTATIONS. WE FALL TO THE LEVEL OF OUR TRAINING” ARCHILOCHOS