Tactical Tuesday Episode Two - MILSIM Fieldcraft: When Fieldcraft Leads to Battlecraft

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Tactical Tuesday with Modern Milsim, we finish our discussion regarding basic individual fieldcraft.  Not only do we touch on topics such as camouflage, crossing obstacles, finding and using good firing positions, stacking trees, displacement, types of direct fire and working cover but we also delve more deeply into Individual Movement Techniques (IMT).  Specifically, we discuss:

• Camouflage (2:16)
• Accurate Point  Fire (4:30)
• Suppressive Fire  (4:55)
• Area Fire  (6:57)
• Displacement (8:20)
• Hugging Cover vs. Working Cover (9:37)
• Stacking Trees (11:22)
• Firing Positions (13.39)
• Individual Movement Technique (IMT) Fundamentals (16:15)
• Crossing Obstacles (20:09)
• Low Crawl (21:24)
• High Crawl (23:04)
• 3-5 Second Rush (23:42)
• "I'm Up, He Sees Me, I'm Down" (24:27)
• Planning Your Route (25:49)
• Flanking the Enemy (27:53)
• Identifying and Calling Targets (30:38)
• Tactical Patience (32:27)
• and more.

A new episode of Tactical Tuesdays is uploaded every two weeks typically on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.   

SHOW LINKS/RESOURCES

For a video regarding IMT Movement click HERE.

For diagrams of the concepts discussed in this episode click HERE.   
 
To learn more about Craig White click HERE.

To find “From Alpha to Omega, A Milsim Tactical Primer and Training Manual” :  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FZ57B23/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ModernMilsim
If you have a topic you would like to see in an episode of Tactical Tuesdays, please suggest it in the comments of the post containing the posted episode.  We do read them.

Website:  https://tacticaltuesdaywithmodernmilsim.buzzsprout.com

YouTube Instructional Videos:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUXI_GBdPeDuIoq_KJeCgWg

SUBSCRIBE

If you like what you hear on this episode, please subscribe and provide us with a review and a rating.    You can subscribe  to Tactical Tuesday on ITunes, Stitcher, Spotify and YouTube.  You can also find us on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/ModernMilsim.  If you like this episode, you can find others Here.

You can also find “From Alpha to Omega, A Milsim Tactical Primer and Training Manual” and “From Insertion to Extraction:  Advanced MILSIM CQB Tactics, Techniques and Procedures”at Amazon.com.  

Transcript

 TACTICAL TUESDAY WITH MODERN MILSIM - EPISODE 2 TRANSCRIPT 

Welcome to another episode of Tactical Tuesday with Modern MilSim. Through this podcast, we will bring you real world tactics, techniques, and procedures that will enable you to succeed on the MilSim battlefield. It's time to get ready.

Hello and welcome to episode two of Tactical Tuesday with Modern MilSim. I'm your host, Craig White. Thank you for being here for today's topic. We're continuing our discussion of Milsim Fieldcraft. More specifically, we're going to discuss camouflage, crossing obstacles, finding and using good firing positions, stacking trees, displacement, the difference between hugging cover and working cover, and the difference between accurate point fire, suppressive fire and area fire.

We're also going to talk more in depth about individual movement techniques or IMT, including battle buddy flanking. If you're starting to see a pattern, there is one. I'm starting off with basic field craft skills as a prerequisite to talking about other topics that build off of them. As we move up through the episodes of the Tactical Tuesday podcast, the topics and issues will become increasingly complex until they culminate with battalion level operational planning.

So the point is that a lot more in depth information is coming in future episodes of Tactical Tuesday. Also, I believe I forgot to mention... That I do show notes for each episode where I post links to various resources that relate to the topics discussed in them. Some of these resources include YouTube video links, as well as various books and documents.

So when you get done listening to an episode of Tactical Tuesday with Modern Milsim, check out the show notes on the Modern Milsim Facebook page for additional goodies. Now that we've gotten through the basics, let's go on to the first real topic of this episode, camouflage. As you know, another thing that helps prevent detection by the enemy is camouflage.

At most Milsim events, both parties typically wear camouflage to obscure the outlines of their body and to better blend in with their surroundings. Although camouflage can lessen your visibility in open terrain, presuming you're not moving, it proves to be much more effective in wooded areas where the camouflage patterns really help the player blend in.

That being said, there are particular camouflage patterns that are generally ineffective in most areas. Patterns that are basically based on grey and black tones should be avoided. This is because these colors are not generally found in nature. I cannot tell you how many times I have been able to locate an enemy player in the woods because he was wearing a black uniform or kit.

A black blob in the woods is very noticeable, especially when it is leaning against a tree. We jokingly refer to that as tree cancer. Typically, camouflage patterns that are based on green, tan, or brown tones work much better in non arid areas. Examples of such patterns include multicam, marpat, And the old M81 woodland camouflage pattern that the U.S. used back in the 1980s. There's also flecktarn and ATACS foliage and similar patterns. And this is because the green and tan in those patterns blend better into the woods than others. However, these patterns do not do well in arid terrain. For that reason, three color desert, multicam arid, and similar patterns that primarily use shades of brown or tan and leave out the green are much more effective in arid terrain.

It is definitely worth the money to invest in a good set of camouflage before you go to a Milsim event. You'd be surprised how badly you will stand out in the field if you're wearing street clothes or other camouflage that does not help you blend in with your surroundings. This is especially true in the wooded areas that surround a lot of these fields and other areas of operation, as we call them.

Now, most MILSIM event organizers will typically limit the clothing that can be worn by a particular side or faction. If you're not wearing the approved camouflage patterns that are approved for your side at these events, you will not be allowed to participate in them. The bottom line is you should definitely get camouflage.  It will suit you better in the field. 

So now that we've talked about camouflage, let's go ahead and talk about the next topic. And this is the difference between accurate point fire, suppressive fire, and area fire. So when we're talking about accurate point fire, this is basically fire directed at a single point or individual in the field.  It could be automatic or semi-automatic fire, but the point is, whatever fire or type of fire you're using is directed at a single enemy player to eliminate him. In contrast to accurate point fire, suppressive fire is defined as firing with sufficient accuracy and volume to change the behavior of the enemy to which it is directed.  Typically, this change of behavior is to keep the enemy's head, and therefore his eyes, behind cover, where he will have difficulty seeing and firing on friendly tactical elements moving onto his position. Typically, suppressive fire is utilized by LMG and SAW gunners, as well as machine guns mounted in gun trucks or other technicals.

Now, although riflemen can engage in suppressive fire, they're typically not well suited for this in that they have a limited ammo capacity, and it's very difficult for them to maintain a suppressive fire for any length of time. Even if they're going at a reduced rate of fire on semi-automatic, they will soon expend most of their ammunition if they continue doing that for a fair period of time.

Now for suppressive fire to be effective, it has to be accurate enough to be hitting the enemy's cover and other objects around him, so as to lead him to believe that he has to stay behind cover to prevent being hit. Now one thing you need to remember is that effective fire is not just simply blindly firing in the general direction where you believe the enemy to be.  If you're firing wildly in the general vicinity where you think the enemy is, you're not going to be putting rounds close enough to them to believe they may be hit and therefore need to keep their head and therefore their eyes behind cover. And again, when we're talking about suppressive fire, this is being used primarily to dampen or reduce the enemy's situational awareness.

If you keep their heads down and therefore their eyes down, they're going to have a very hard time locating friendly elements, moving to flank them or attack them at a place that is very disadvantageous for the enemy. They don't want that. And what we do, we want them to not know it's coming. So when you put suppressive fire down on an enemy position, keep their heads down, they're basically trying not to get hit.  In contrast, we have one element that's going to be shooting at them, and another element should be moving to a position where they can fire on the enemy from the flank or the rear. 

So now that we have talked about suppressive fire, let's talk about briefly about area fire. Now, really the only area fire weapons that a rifleman or most players on the field will have will either be grenade launchers, rocket launchers, or grenades themselves.  Area fire is defined as fire where a single round affects more than one target. So in other words, you could be firing directly at a player, but it has an area of effect. And because it has an area of effect, you don't necessarily have to direct it at any particular player. You can shoot into the middle of the players, on the ground even, and it will have an effect on them.

Now, with most MILSIM organizer rules, a grenade has got about a 10 foot radius area of effect. Rocket launchers are typically also 10 foot, but once you start getting into the large things such as artillery, which is something that you will not be using, um, that is going to be brought in by the commanders of the faction to which you belong.  Artillery rounds are going to be probably a 20 foot radius area of effect. And of course, if you're using an airstrike where they're using a J DAM, that is a 50 foot area of effect. So when we're talking about area fire, really that's just weapons that use explosive ammunition. They have an area of effect.  And therefore, if it doesn't have an area of effect, it's not area fire. And like we said, on a larger scale, area fire also refers to air delivered munitions and artillery fire. 

So, okay, let's talk about another little topic here, displacement. Displacement is defined as movement of a player or unit from one position to another.  Typically, displacement is used to hamper enemy efforts to locate and eliminate friendly forces that are shooting at them. When you're in contact with the enemy, you need to avoid remaining in a static position for very long. When possible, reposition yourself in such a way that it hinders the enemy's ability to locate and engage you while you move to more advantageous fighting positions.  You should be moving to improve your chances of hitting the enemy while hampering the enemy's chances of doing the same. 

Now in a real world, of course, once you've shot the enemy, he would be gone and you would not have to worry about him coming back. But in MILSIM operations, typically there's going to be some element of Medicing or respawning at a, forward respawn or casualty collection point.  And because of that, the player that you just eliminated will likely be trying to come back to find you and try to take you out. So what you want to do to hinder them from doing that is constantly be moving to different positions after you eliminate an enemy.  You don't want to sit in the same place very long.

On top of the fact that the enemy may be coming back to hit you or firing on you directly, he may also call in an artillery strike on your position. So you need to keep moving if all possible, unless you're defending an objective or something of that nature. 

So now let's talk about the next subject. And what I want to talk about now is another subtopic of cover and concealment…and that is the difference between hugging cover and working cover. And like we discussed in our last episode, hugging cover is actions by a player to move closer to cover in an effort to prevent exposure of his body to incoming fire. The problem with hugging cover is that the closer you move up against cover, the harder it becomes for you to see around it.  With respect to cover, observation and protection act opposite to each other. As one goes up, the other goes down. The key to determining when to hug up to cover is based on the circumstances where you find yourself. In contrast, working cover is actions by a player to locate his next piece of effective cover.  While moving, each player needs to be looking for a place to go if the shooting starts. You don't want to lose precious seconds frantically looking for cover when you come into contact with the enemy. 

Now, for purposes of discussing this subject, I want you to remember this cadence. And it goes like this.  “I'm up, he sees me, I'm down”. That is about a three to five seconds when you can say that. If you're moving and you come under fire, the first thing you need to do is make sure you can get to that spot where your next cover is before you get to the end of that phrase, I'm up, he sees me, I'm down.  So we're talking about a three to five second gap between each piece of cover that you'll need to get to. So remember that when you're going through this, you just don't want to be sitting there trying to get to something that is 10 seconds away and the next thing you know, the enemy opens up on you because the reaction time is caught up and then you're eliminated.

And while we're on the topic of cover and concealment, there is another little technique that you will find helpful when you're in a woodland area. It's called stacking trees. And what that means is when you're in a woodland environment, use multiple trees to block lines of fire to your position.  Although this concept primarily applies to movement toward an objective or other enemy position, it can also apply to defending friendly positions when your intent is to surprise the enemy as they advance towards you. The idea is to use trees to obscure your position and to provide cover so that as you move, the enemy has difficulty getting a clear shot.

Whenever possible, have one or more trees between you and a suspected enemy position as you move toward it. Unlike hugging cover, the trees you use for this purpose do not necessarily have to be in close proximity to you. Trees only have to block the enemy's line of fire. This concept also applies to other types of cover, such as light poles and other relatively narrow objects.

In other words, just to boil this down, what you're trying to do is make sure that between you and the enemy position that you can line up multiple trees so that even if they see you, they're going to have to thread the needle to hit you. And instead of just walking down between trees where you can easily be seen and shot, you're actually using the trees to obscure visibility of the enemy to see where you are.

The trees you use for this purpose do not necessarily have to be in close proximity to you. Trees only have to block the enemy's line of fire. This concept also applies to other types of cover such as light poles and other fairly narrow objects. 

Now, remember that the cone of cover behind an object typically widens the further the shooter is from you.  Think about our earlier discussion regarding hugging cover. The closer to the cover is to the shooter, the harder it is for him to see around it to engage you. This is also part of the reasoning behind the use of suppressive fire. By convincing the enemy that he may be hit by the volume of fire directed at his position, he will want to more closely hug cover.  In essence, suppressive fire is pushing the enemy to hug cover, Where his ability to observe you and your battle buddy is much more difficult. And so that's what you're trying to do. Again, diminish and degrade the enemy's situation awareness while protecting your own. Okay. 

So let's mix things up a little bit.  I want to talk about another subject that's going to be applicable to you, both on the defense and the offense. And that is selecting effective firing positions. Whenever you get an opportunity, whether you're on the defense or the offense, make sure you set up or find a good firing position based on the following criteria.

Number one, the firing position should provide you with enough room to use your weapon properly. You don't want to be in a position where you will have difficulty operating your weapon, including reloading it or using your iron or optical sights. You will also want to be able to traverse your weapon enough for it to cover your sector or area of responsibility for discussion purposes.  Sector and area of responsibility is the arc or piece of ground that you're supposed to be watching or guarding. 

Number two, your firing position should forward a good view of the ground to be watched or the target to be engaged. You want to make sure that you can see your entire sector or area of responsibility from your firing position.  You don't want your vision blocked by a large tree or rock and things of that nature. 

Number three, your firing position needs to provide adequate cover from fire coming from the enemy's expected avenues of approach. If the enemy is likely to approach from the north or the east, you want to make sure that your firing position provides cover from attacks from those two directions.

Number four. Your firing position should have a covered approach and retreat route. You want to make sure that you have a protected route to and from your firing position. This is especially important when you're on the defense. Often you will have two or more potential firing positions that you may need to move into to repel an enemy attack.  If you can't reach the firing position in question under fire, it is less than useless to you. 

Number five. Your firing position should be easy to advance from in case you need to transition to attack. Although a firing position should provide you with cover, it should not overly obstruct your movement.  Things change on the battlefield, and you may be on the defense in one moment, and then transition to attack the next. And to boil this down, what we really need to talk about here is you want to make sure that your firing positions have good cover to all the enemy's likely axes of advance. You want to make sure you're able to get out of your firing position quick enough to transition to attack and you want to make sure that your firing position gives you enough room to operate your weapon properly. 

Now in our last episode, we only touched on the issue of individual movement techniques. So I'd like to expand on that discussion here. As previously discussed, individual movement techniques is a method which you and your battle buddy can move and act more effectively on the battlefield under fire.  When you hear the phrase shoot, move, and communicate with respect to individual players, we are talking about IMT. Now, first off, there is a difference between tactical movement and maneuver. Maneuver is conducted while you're under enemy contact to gain a position of advantage over the enemy. Tactical movement is conducted in preparation for contact.  Now, there is a fair amount of overlap between these concepts as smaller units transition from one to the other during actions on contact. 

So with that in mind, here are the fundamentals of movement. Number one, use terrain for protection. Terrain provides cover and concealment from observation and fire.  Move through and behind terrain that will mask or obscure your movement from the enemy. Doing so should help in degrading the enemy's situational awareness.  

Number two, avoid possible kill zones. You want to avoid large open areas that are surrounded by cover and concealment, or are otherwise surrounded by dominant terrain such as high ground.  This is especially true where the safest route through the open area is blocked by obstacles that will slow your movement and facilitate an ambush.   

Number three, dispersion. Use dispersion between players to keep a single enemy position from suppressing and fixing the entire group for the inevitable flanking attack.  And what we're getting at here is just keep the individual members of your squad or team separated by enough space so that if they are attacked, they won't have the entire group caught in the same kill zone. You want to be able to fix with one part and then move to flank with the other. 

Number four, observation.  You need to constantly scan for enemy positions as you move. And when we're talking about this, I'm also referring back to what we meant with indicators in the last episode. You want to be scanning and looking for those indicators as your eyes cross through and around the terrain in front of you. If you do see something that is out of place, then you transition from scanning to searching to see if you can actually make out the silhouette of another player in the terrain or in the background. 

Number five, limited visibility. When possible, move through areas with limited visibility to lessen the chances that you will be detected by the enemy. In doing so, keep in mind rule number two. Make sure that areas with low visibility are not possible kill zones.

Number six, countermeasures. Use smoke, aerial observation, and suppressive fire as necessary to obscure your movement. You want to degrade the enemy's situational awareness while maintaining your own. 

Number seven, move steadily until contact is reached with the enemy. Whenever possible, move steadily until the shooting starts.  Now once that happens and you go loud, stay loud until the engagement is over.  

Now, on this last point, there are several things that you can do. In order to maintain stealth in the field, number one, hold your weapon at the low or high ready position to keep you from rubbing against vegetation or getting caught in trees and bushes and things of that nature.  Number two, make sure your footing is sure and solid by keeping your body weight on the foot that is on the ground. Number three, move your leg high enough to clear brush grass and fallen leaves. So as not to make noise. Number four, gently lower the moving leg with either your heel or toe first. Maintain your body weight on your back leg as you do so.   Next, which is number five, after the heel or toe of the moving leg is solidly on the ground, lower the rest of your foot to the ground. Number six. Once all of the moving foot is in solid contact with the ground, begin shifting your weight and balance to the front foot before repeating this procedure with the other leg.

At some point during your movement, you're going to encounter one or more obstacles, and this is how you deal with each one. Starting off with fences and gates, what you want to do, and the best way to handle them, is to crawl under the fence or gate. If that isn't possible, then quickly vault over them.  When you land, get low and move to cover away from them. Now when it comes to walls, the best way to move past them is to jump up, keep flat and roll over the top. You want to make sure as you come to the top of the wall, your belly is right in contact with the surface and you basically roll off on the other side.

When you land on the other side of the wall, stay low and move to cover to get away from it. Then finally, when you're dealing with ditches, streams, hedges, and other gaps, the best way to handle those is to simply move through them quickly because they're more than likely the enemy is going to be covering them with fire.

Now, once you have cleared an obstacle, you need to move to a covered firing position and scan the area for enemy scan from left to right and from near to far. If something does not look right, or if you spot movement, transition to searching that area in more detail. By looking for indicators of enemy presence.

Now there are three basic forms of movement while you're under fire. You've got the low crawl, the high crawl, and the rush. So first you've got the low crawl. You perform the low crawl by keeping your body as close as possible to the ground. As opposed to the high crawl, your weight is spread across the ground and not just on your knees and elbows.  Grip your weapon near the muzzle to keep it off the ground while you drag it behind you. To move in the low crawl, use one leg to push you forward while pulling your body forward with both arms. Periodically change legs to prevent them from becoming fatigued. Since they are stronger, use your legs to do most of the work.

Now, when do you use the low crawl? Use the low crawl when, One. Where you are moving under fire and the cover and concealment along your route is less than 1 foot high. Two. Where good visibility enhances observation by the enemy along your movement route. And three, when speed is not required. All things being equal, using low crawl makes you the least visible to the enemy.  At the same time, your proximity to the ground reduces your ability to get eyes on the enemy. And potentially reduces your situational awareness. It also decreases your freedom of movement and your ability to defend against tax from the flanks. 

So next you have the high crawl. You perform the high crawl by keeping your body off the ground while resting your body weight on your forearms and lower legs.  Cradle your weapon in your arms while keeping its muzzle off the ground. Make sure to keep the knees located well behind your butt so that it stays low. You don't want to be shot in the butt because it is sticking up. To move in a high crawl, first move forward with your right knee while pulling with the left elbow.  You then push forward with the left knee while pulling forward with your right elbow. Then repeat. Please know that it does not matter which side you move first so long as you follow with movement on the opposite side. 

Now, when do you use High Crawl? You use it when, one, when you're under fire, but your movement route contains good cover and concealment, two, where poor visibility hinders enemy observation along your movement route, and three, where speed is required, but the vegetation and terrain are not suitable for rushing.  Using high crawl makes you less visible to the enemy, but still provides better observation than the low crawl. As a result, your situational awareness does not suffer as much as when you are using a low crawl. Since your knees are up in a good position to push you up into a crouch or to stand up, you also have a better freedom of movement.

Then finally, you have the 3-5 second rush. You use the 3-5 second rush to move from one covered position to another when incoming enemy fire allows brief exposure. And this is how you do it. First, you start from a prone or crouched position, depending on the cover you're using. Then you look for your next covered position.  Once you have done that, then let your battle buddy know that you're getting ready to move by announcing moving. If prone, lower your head while drawing your arms into your body with elbows down. At the same time, pull your dominant leg forward. Raise your body in one movement by straightening and pushing up with your arms.  Then spring up and sprint to your next covered position. It should take you no more than three to five seconds to move from one covered position to another. Use the cadence, I'm up, he sees me, I'm down, as a time reference. By the time you say I'm down, you should have already reached your next covered position.

When you arrive at your next concealed position and have assumed a firing position, announce SET to let your battle buddy know it is his turn to move. And then finally, cover your battle buddy as he moves to his next covered position. Now, to be effective, each member of a buddy pair needs to alternate moving and covering his battle buddy.  Now, while we are on this subject, let me briefly address the issue of covering movement. In this instance, cover does not mean firing wildly in the suspected direction of the enemy. Instead, it is a slower, sustained, semi-automatic fire at the best suspected enemy positions that are firing on you. 

Now, when do you use the 3 to 5 second rush?  You use it when, one, when you must cross open areas under fire, and two, when time is important. In essence, the rush relies on speed and inner space cover instead of a lack of visibility to protect you. Using the high crawl makes you less visible to the enemy, but still provides better observation than the low crawl.  As a result, your situation awareness does not suffer as much as when you're using a low crawl. Since your knees are in a good position to push you up into a crouch or to stand up, you also have better freedom of movement. 

Now, how do you determine which form of individual movement you should use? Well, that is based on the terrain along with movement route that you choose.  Start with the acronym GROUND to identify geographical features along each potential travel route. 

G stands for ground. And when we're talking about ground, we're talking about what type of ground is along the route. Is it flat or rolling terrain? Is it terrain open or closed in by hills and other high ground?  And things of that nature. Now, R stands for ridges. When we're talking about ridges, what we're talking about is where are the highest points along the route. O equals observation. When you're talking about observation in this sense, what we're talking about is where are the best observational points of view along the route in question.  U stands for undergrowth. Now, the location of trees, scrub, and bushes along the route in question can make a big difference because it offers cover and concealment along the way. Then moving on in stands for non-passable obstacles. If there's a river, a ravine or marshland and things of that nature along the route or especially across the route, those will have a very big impact on which route you take.  And then finally, D stands for defilade. Defilade in this instance means are there lines of advance which offer cover and or otherwise mask your movement as you go along. Now, gullies, ditches, and low walls that are at a slight angle to your direction of travel are terrain that favors a high or low crawl, depending on the height of the cover.

If the terrain provides temporary cover positions such as interspersed trees, rocks, stumps, rubble, and vehicles, or even folds and creases the ground, rushing may be the name of the game. It is important to select a route that has the least exposure to enemy fire and one that does not cross in front of other friendly forces where you can inadvertently block or mask their supporting fire.  In any event, you want to select the best route that provides the best cover and concealment along the way to the objective. 

Well, at this point, I'd like to move on to the next topic, which is flanking the enemy. Otherwise referred to as fix, flank, and finish. When you're conducting an attack, it is often best to move to the enemy's flank and assault from that position.  The flank is either side of the enemy element you are attacking. It is always relative to the enemy position and cover. Flanking is far more effective if the attack is on an unprotected side, where the enemy will have difficulty focusing his attention. The point is that whenever possible, avoid a frontal assault on the enemy's position.

Typically, the enemy is most ready to defend against a frontal attack. His weapons are usually pointed in that direction, and to the extent it is available, he will be covering the front from his position. Flanking the enemy tends to negate many of these issues. If the enemy is using one sided cover, his flank should be exposed to your attack.

Never underestimate the psychological effect of hitting the enemy from the flank or the rear. It often will have a greater effect on enemy morale and willingness to fight than more firepower during a frontal assault. If you are properly using individual movement techniques while on the attack, one-half of your unit should be putting suppressive fire on the enemy position, while the other half should be working its way around to conduct a flanking attack.  This is where the phrase fix, flank, and finish comes from. 

Now, what do these words mean? Well, let's start with the first word fix. One part of your element sets up a base of fire to suppress the enemy position. You want to pin them down so that their heads are down instead of looking for troop moving to flank them.  One part of your element sets up a base of fire to suppress the enemy position. You want to pin them down so that their heads are kept below cover instead of looking for troop movement outside. That way it is easier for friendly forces to move to and flank them. As we discussed in our last episode, the force with the superior situational awareness usually prevails in the gunfight.  The next word is flank. Now, while the support by fire element is suppressing the enemy position, another friendly element should be moving in an effort to flank the enemy position. Then we move on to the next word, finish. Once the flanking element has reached a position where it is going to be attacking the enemy's flank, the flanking element then proceeds to assault the enemy's position in an effort to destroy them.

Now, one thing you need to remember about enemy contact is once you go loud, stay loud until the engagement is over. The enemy now knows where you are. It is much more important that the team or unit members provide mutual support and call out targets to each other. This is the communicate part of shoot, move, and communicate.

So this sounds like a good time to talk about enemy target identification. As I just mentioned, one of the more important field craft skills is identifying and calling targets. In the midst of a gunfight, some team members will see targets that others may not. By calling out targets as you observe them, it makes sure that other players will also become aware of them.

One method that has proven to be effective on this issue is the clock ray method. It works like this. First, select a prominent reference point on the ground to serve as the center of an imaginary clock face. If the field in front of you has a large barn located in it, that would often be a good reference point.  Then using the imaginary clock face superimposed on the reference point, indicate the approximate position of the enemy. You can also use objects in the vicinity of the enemy location to help direct friendly team members to it. Be sure to accurately describe the composition of the enemy at that location.

For example, if you observe four riflemen and one machine gun, 250 feet away in a ditch that is to the left of the barn and near a broken down tractor to call that target. You would announce 250, left side of the large barn at nine o'clock for tractor in field with rifleman and machine gun in the ditch.

And so what you've done there as you quickly identified where the enemy is by use of a clock reference system. Now, the one thing I want to make sure that we're talking about superimposing the clock on the reference point. We're talking about vertically. We're not talking to set it down horizontally where 12 o'clock is past the barn and 6 o'clock is in front of the barn, but you want to do is superimpose it so that when you're talking about the sides, the left side is the 9 o'clock position and the right side is the 3 o'clock position and then you kind of angle it from there.  If they're slightly behind the barn, instead of in the 9 o'clock, they will be at the 10 o'clock. 

Now the last topic I want to talk about today is Tactical Patience. In that respect, be patient while moving. Stop from time to time to look for and listen for enemy movement before proceeding further. When possible, especially if the enemy has not yet detected you, wait to engage them.  Often the first enemy you see is only part of the formation. Tactical Patience may allow more enemy to enter the kill zone before you engage them. That way you are more likely to smoke them all than just a few of them. 

With that in mind, I'm going to wrap this episode up. As always, I look forward to seeing you at our next episode, or even better, on the field.  See you then.

To our listeners out there, thank you for tuning in, and I look forward to providing you with new episodes every two weeks. If you like what you're hearing on this podcast, please subscribe and provide us with a review. We want to know what you like and how we can improve. You can also contact us on our Facebook page at facebook.com/modernmilsim with any suggestions you may have. Now for our next episode of Tactical Tuesday, we're going to dig into fire and movement, also known as bounding under fire. 

If you want to know more about application of real world tactics, techniques and procedures to MilSim, please check out From Alpha to Omega: a Milsim Tactical Primer and Training Manual, as well as From Insertion to Extraction: Advanced CQB Tactics, Techniques and Procedures. Both books are available at Amazon.com. As always, thank you for your support, and I'll see you at our next installment of Tactical Tuesday.

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