Lesson-7-scouting-and-patrolling

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the OP and the objective. Surrounding the objective is an area of thin woods with limitedconcealment (brownish in the photo).Pebble has some crucial decisions to make. He moves south using cover and concealmentand visits the other OP (2), which is from 3rd platoon. The view is not so hot from this point—a check of the topo map shows that there is a fairly steep wooded slope to the south and east. Hedecides to pass the friendly OPL at the northern OP (1). Since it will be daylight, he will movethrough the woods directly towards the objective, moving quickly enough to arrive before it istoo dark to see, but carefully enough to avoid detection.Having determined whether there are Hetzers lurking near the road, the patrol will return on aroute parallel to the light duty road that runs east parallel to the main (red) road. This road isbarely visible on the photo, but clearly marked on the topo map. The patrol will pass friendlylines at the southern OP (2). As we will see, it’s more complicated than that, but this is thegeneral plan.The patrol order. On return, Sergeant Pebble stops by the company CP and briefs the CO onthe general plan, making sure all elements on the MLR (main line of resistance—the front line)and the OPL know what’s happening. Nothing spoils a successful patrol faster than being lit upby a friendly MG that didn’t know they were coming.He then reports to his PL and explains the plan. Pebble isan old hand; the PL approves the plan.Pebble than goes off by himself and scratches out theplan he will brief to the patrol. The patrol order uses thesame general format as any other field order—the five paragraphFO. Why? Aren’t you making it complicated? You doit because it assures you “won’t forgit nothin’” as the veteranRogers’ Rangers solder played by Walter Brennan put it in“Northwest Passage.” It makes the patrol leader considerevery aspect of the plan. Don’t get sloppy. The enemy shoots back.Tips and techniques.Plan and brief carefully. Losses are common on patrols, and the patrol leader may be terminated,as we say, with extreme prejudice. Every member of the patrol should be able to takeover if the next guy up in the chain is lost. Don’t just brief your patrol and trust in God—get aread-back to make sure everybody is clued in.Inspect the patrol. Make sure they have all the gear they need and that it is rigged properly.Have each man jump up and down to discover any rattles that can be heard by the enemy. Makesure camouflage is properly applied.Maintain head count. People can get lost, particularly at night. At night, the best formationis a file, Indian-style. Have patrol members pass the count, front to back and back to front. If youcome up a man short, halt and quickly verify a missing man; if somebody is lost, find him. Ifsomebody messed up the count, caution him or beat the crap out of him for wasting everybody’stime.Use rally points. It’s easy for a patrol to get disorganized or scattered, particularly (but notonly) at night. Always designate a marching rally point (if w come under mortar fire or have to8
disperse, we’ll rally 100 yards to the left. For a raid or an ambush patrol, it’s usually important tohave an objective rally point, a designated place with cover and concealment but defensible,where the patrol can take a break, check gear, etc., and the patrol leader and a couple of soldierscan scout the objective. After the action is completed, the patrol regroups at the ORP. This is importantbecause even a small patrol may have to separate into teams—security, assault, fire support—andregroup quickly after the enemy is awake and looking for revenge.Be flexible. The patrol order is the best you can do before the fact, but the enemy gets a vote.You may have to change on the fly. This usually happens on a raid or ambush patrol when thePL scouts from the ORP and finds that the map really doesn’t match the actual ground. But ifyou do change, make sure everybody from the assistant patrol leader to Private Snuffy in the rearrank knows about it.Don’t get overloaded. If you’re patrol leader, designate somebody else (somebody reliable!)to be compass man. The compass man has to be counting his paces, always at night, to judge distance,and it’s easy to screw that up if you have to perform other tasks.Choose your patrol route with care. I’m a strong advocate of a ground recon, not just amap recon (bitter experience). During daylight, use an open formation (see FM 21-75) and movethrough areas with good cover and concealment. At night, use a closed formation and movethrough open areas (the risk of being spotted in the dark is a lot less than the trials of trying tomove through dense woods when you can’t see more than a few yards ahead).Rehearse. If you have time (and you always have time at a reenactment), and the patrol hasto pull off something requiring coordinated effort, have a rehearsal on safe ground.. The moredemanding the actions on the objective, the more important it is to do a run-through until everybodyis clued in and confident.Figure 3: Patrol route and control measures: The patrol departs, leaving the MLR by OP 1 and movingapproximately 500 m on the azimuth shown; when the compass/pace man reports the first waypoint has9
Page 1 and 2: tacticsPRO TIPS:The InfantryLesson
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Page 11: LESSON SUMMARY1. The tasks of scout

Lesson-7-scouting-and-patrolling

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