Tactical Tuesday Episode Twenty-Eight - Deliberate Room Entry: Clearing the Immediate Danger Area Before Breaching the Room

In this episode of Tactical Tuesday with Modern Milsim, we discuss the Deliberate Room Entry Method.  Specifically, we discuss:

• Characteristics of Deliberate Room Entry (1:34)
• Individual Entry Team Movement into Center Fed Room (5:14)
• Individual Entry Team Movement into Corner Fed Room   (15:40)
• Negative and Positive Corner Fed Rooms (15:58)
• Individual Entry Team Member Sectors/Areas of Responsibility (17:13)
• and more.

A new episode of Tactical Tuesdays is typically uploaded on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.
  
SHOW LINKS/RESOURCES

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To find “From Insertion to Extraction:  Advanced MILSIM CQB Tactics, Techniques and Procedures” :  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07THX1CFT/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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Chapters

• 1:34 Characteristics of Deliberate Room Entry
• 5:14 Individual Entry Team Movement into Center Fed Room
• 15:40 Individual Entry Team Movement into Corner Fed Room
• 15:58 Negative and Positive Corner Fed Rooms
• 17:13 Individual Team Member Sectors/Areas of Responsibility

Transcript

TACTICAL TUESDAY WITH MODERN MILSIM – EPISODE 28 TRANSCRIPT 

Hello, and welcome to episode 28 of Tactical Tuesday with Modern Milsim. I am your host, Craig White. As always, thank you for being here. Now today, we're going to start discussing deliberate room entry and related tactics, techniques, and procedures. Be aware that this series of episodes is intended to provide a more basic understanding of CQB TTPs.

For a more detailed explanation of these tactics, techniques, and procedures, please check out from Insertion to Extraction, Advanced MilSim CQB Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures, now available at amazon.com. 

As before, the topics of this episode builds on the TTPs discussed in prior episodes.  These previously discussed TTPs link with the lessons from this and future episodes to create an overall method for breaching and clearing rooms.  So with that in mind, let's get to it. 

Unlike Dynamic Room Entry, which relies on speed, surprise, and violence of action to accomplish its goals, Deliberate Room Entry focuses more on the use of walls and other cover and concealment to protect the entry team against enemy fire while Point and Second Men do a preliminary clear of the interior of the room…except for the near hard corners.  Once the interior of the room has been cleared of enemy, the Entry Team utilizes Dynamic Room Entry techniques to breach the target room and clear the hard corners and any remaining dead space in the room. 

Unlike Dynamic Room Entry, Deliberate Room Entry relies more on clearing as much of the room as possible from the outside of the doorway or entry Point before using Dynamic Room 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 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 percent 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 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 or 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, such as rooms that are less than 50 square feet, usually a two-man entry team is sufficient. 

Many of the general considerations and basic room entry techniques of dynamic room entry also apply to deliberate room entry methods. 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.

As with dynamic room entry, deliberate room entry utilizes two basic room clearing movement techniques. They are the least resistance, also known as the crossover technique, and the buttonhook technique. With deliberate entry, these techniques add an additional element to enable the Point Man to clear most of the target room from outside the door or entry Point.  Please see Episode 27 of this podcast concerning the basics of employing least resistance/crossover and buttonhook entry techniques. 

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 the stack in the following manner: first or Point Man, then the Second Man, then the Third Man, and then finally the Fourth or security man. 

An entry team utilizing deliberate room clearing methods can utilize read, no read, and free flow communication techniques to breach and clear the target room.

So let's talk about 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 or entry Point of the target room without extending his weapon muzzle beyond the edge of it where it enemy. This allows the Point Man to cover the entry Point and eliminate any enemy that decides to exit through it.  Maintaining some standoff distance from the door or entry Point can help avoid projecting a shadow across the doorway or entry Point. When stacking up, the Point Man should stay off the wall. 

Point Man then begins a quick wide sweep around the outside of the entry Point using slicing the pie or 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.  This technique is also referred to as panning or rainbowing the room. Point Man may make more than one sweep to ensure 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 react quickly enough to effectively engage entry team members. The initial sweep should commence at approximately a 10-degree angle on the near side of the entry Point to an approximate 10-degree angle off the opposite outside wall, also known as the blind zones.  Once Point Man has completed a sweep, he will move to a Point nominally aligned with the center of the entry Point and commence movement to breach the room. This is known as the reverse sweep. Typically, Point Man will make entry into the target room using a button hook technique so as to allow Second Man to make entry using the path of least resistance or crossover technique.

In doing so, Point Man allows Second Man to more quickly move into position to cover Point Man's flank. And the rear from the edge of the entry Point from which the Point Man has departed. 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 or 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 or area of responsibility.  Point Man's   Secondary sector or area of responsibility is the interior of the room. Once Point  man has cleared his primary sector or 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 standard operating procedures or upon receiving the command, “One Dominate”, Point Man will move 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 that he is entering the room that is too small for the entire stack to enter, he will announce a “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, it is usually the Fourth Man that is 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 is to cover the danger area represented by the door or entryway before the target room itself is breached. 

Think of the technique this way. You are the Point Man. You and your team are stacked up on the right side of the entry Point to a center fed room.  Instead of breaching directly into the target room, Point Man moves in an arc out and away from the near edge of the entry Point until he reaches a Point on the opposite side of it. As the Point Man sweeps around the entry Point, he is facing into the room through the entry Point and engages any enemy he encounters while moving.

As Point Man begins his sweep of the entry Point, Second Man moves up to the near edge of the entry Point and clears as much of the left side of the room as he can without crossing the line of departure. In doing so, Second Man covers Point Man from the moving angle. As previously discussed, Point Man recreates dead space in the left side of the room as he completes a sweep around the entry Point.  This dead space in turn is covered by the Second Man as he moves up to the near or right edge of the entry Point. 

Once Point Man back sweeps to a Point aligned with the center of the entry Point, he proceeds to cross the line of departure and breaches the room using either a least resistance crossover or button hook technique.  The rest of the team works off of the Point Man's decision with Second Man moving into the target room in the opposite direction of the Point Man. Third Man moves into the room in the opposite direction of Second Man, and Fourth Man moves into the room in the opposite direction from the Third Man.

With many entry teams, Point Man will often use a least resistance or crossover technique to breach in the room on the same side as the stack so as to enable Second Man to use the same technique to breach the room from the opposite side from him. This allows both first and Second Man to hit the room. In a synchronized manner so that both near corners are cleared at the same time and each of them is covering the other's back.

So now let's talk about Second Man entry movement. 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, or 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 Point Man go down.

As Point Man begins the sweep of the entry Point Second Man will raise his weapon to allow Point Man to move past him during the sweep then immediately move up to cover the entry Point in 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 or area of responsibility is the near corner on his side of the room. Immediately upon clearing the corner, Second Man will transition to his Secondary sector or 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 S. O. P. S. Or upon receiving the command “Two Dominate”, Second Man will move up along the sidewall and out of his near corner to his Point of domination.  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.

And so that brings us to Third Man entry movement. 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 Point Man to a Point halfway down the near wall while facing into the center of the room.  The primary sector or area responsibility for the Third Man is to eliminate threats located in the center of the room. 

And then finally become the Fourth Man entry movement. The Fourth Man or security man 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 as directed by the Point Man. 

Fourth Man 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 enters the room immediately after Third Man enters it. 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.

So now let's talk about applying deliberate room entry to corner fed rooms. Corner fed rooms are typically easier to analyze from the door than center fed rooms.  When approaching a center fed room from the narrow angle, you cannot tell how far both sides of the room extend into the entry Point.

Typically, a corner fed room is defined as being a positive or negative corner fed room.  With a positive corner fed room you can see the side wall from the narrow angle and are able to immediately not only determine it as a corner fed room, but also that the room extends along the inside of the room towards the stack.  With a negative corner fed room, you can see the open area of the room beyond the entry Point but cannot see the side wall. The room mimics a center fed room until Point Man sweeps across the entry Point and sees the side wall as he is finishing his sweep. 

Once the target room is identified as a corner fed room, the Point Man will typically use a least resistance or crossover entry technique to run along the near wall to clear the hard corner at its end and allows the Second Man to run along the sidewall to support the Point Man and to clear any dead space in the room. 

Otherwise, the movement of Third and Fourth Man is very similar to their movement in clearing a center fed room. Third Man moves to the midpoint along the near wall behind Point Man to clear the center of the room while Fourth Man moves along the side wall behind Second Man to clear the interior of the room before turning to provide rear security on the door. 

And for our last topic in this episode, I want to cover individual entry team member sectors and areas of responsibility. Understanding each team member sectors and areas of responsibility are critical to understanding team member movement into the room.

With deliberate room entry, the sectors of each team member are essentially the same as that for dynamic room entry. Point Man clears his near wall hard corner before turning to clear the center of the room. Second Man clears the corner nearest to the door and then clears his far corner before turning to clear the center of the room.  Both Third and Fourth men clear the interior of the target room. 

As with dynamic entry, the entry team using deliberate room entry method may also need to back clear to the entrance of the building once the last room has been cleared. 

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of tactical Tuesday. Tune in for our next episode when we're going to begin our discussion of tactics, techniques, and procedures related to limited penetration room clearing, or LimPen for short. 

If you have any topics you would like to see covered in future episodes of Tactical Tuesday, please let us know by posting it on the Modern Milsim Facebook page.  If it is not one of the topics that we already planned to cover, we will likely add it to our ever-growing topic list. If you like this podcast, please subscribe to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts as well as many other podcast directories. 

As always, thank you for your support, and I'll see you at our next episode. See you then.

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