Fire and Maneuver Drill

[PMO Gordo]

After seeing the Magpul's videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=segtXBwglj4)about team barricade drills, I've come up with this idea of using barrier tapes to simulate barricades so that I can set up the drills anywhere.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OkjnECmPrEY/TAZXjjqffrI/AAAAAAAAAyY/bXyO4dCQ0cY/Fire%20n%20Maneuver.jpg

The orange lines are the barrier tapes. If it's a two-persons buddy team practicing the drill, they will start out at the high cover (an imaginative wall) at the bottom. First, they will fire a few rounds at the target. The person on the left will then yell "moving", and wait for the response of the person on the right. Once the person on the right determine he can provide adequate suppressive fire, he will yell "move", and then the person on the left will move from behind the person on the right to the left of the medium cover (an imaginative barrel) at the 40 m line. Once both persons reach the 40 m line, the person on the left will become the firing element, while the person on the right will become the maneuver element. (I'm not so sure about this, since Travis and Chris are always moving to the right in the video) They will use appropriate shooting positions for each cover. For example, prone for low cover, kneeling for medium cover, and standing for high cover.

The barrier tapes can be bought at home depot.They are about $9 for an 1000-ft roll. Also, check out my post about homemade target stand here (http://www.wpairsoft.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4338).

I appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

[crash]

Seems like a real cool idea for people who didnt have the army drill in into ur skull ;)

[doc_murray]

this is an over complication of a simple bounding over watch / assault drill. this can be done in an open football field with not guns or gear. get that down first, then work on cover to cover movement.

[PMO Gordo]

Thanks, Doc. I am planning to start with walking pace and not bothering about shooting and changing shooting positions. After making sure my buddy and I are not bumping into each other, I'll then move on to the more complicated drills. By the way, I just made this animation, which will clarify what I am planning.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OkjnECmPrEY/TAcfKf4AHOI/AAAAAAAAAyg/dUwJgyQp0Yc/BUDDYFNM.gif


this is an over complication of a simple bounding over watch / assault drill. this can be done in an open football field with not guns or gear. get that down first, then work on cover to cover movement.

[crash]

why all the crossings if ur just moving up just keep them on there sides all extra movement across will just lead to getting shot have whoever is doing it stay on the same side and bound forward that way. Thats how our unit in iraq did it no need crossing a opening like a road etc if u dont need too ;) just my 2 cents

[doc_murray]

roads, clearings, stream, bridges. these things are known as DANGER AREAS and are to be avoided. based on your diagram, there is intermittent cover directly ahead of you and between you and your objective. now if cover is not in a straight line between you and your objective, you would move like that from cover to cover along a non linear path (preferably the best cover tho the next best cover)

if you want some one to show you how to run a drill like this let me know, or ask crash, ssgt peppers, among a few veterans on the forum, if they have time and we are at the same event we would be happy to show you.

[Spears]

nice Animation

[Armcav]

As has been stated move from cover to cover. Also, if possible as you move up it should be toward a flanking position if possible. Also, the person providing the base of fire should reload, or at least check their ammo before each move, nothing worse then moving up and your base or covering fire has to stop for a reload.

[Chills]

I'm befuddled as to why they are crossing over and running straight at the enemy instead of flanking. I'm not even saying that they should go 1337 sneaking around, just that having one man move around the enemy makes your team two targets and causes the enemy to have two fronts to worry about.

[doc_murray]

depending on the situation flanking is not always an option. Sometimes it can do nothing but expose your side to enemy fire. sometimes you just have to assault through, close with your target and engage from close range. if you are assaulting building, you can keep a good base of fire on any firing points while half your team advances, then switch. get close enough for a hand grenade/ 203 round, then enter and clear.

there is just one situation where this type of tactic would be useful. you can't always be sneaky, or stealthy. Numbers, terrain, mission would be a few limiting factors that may force you to just bite the bullet and do it. remember the mission of American infantry is to locate close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver. while not fancy, this covers maneuver and close with.

a flanking position is best when ever possible. but this drill will get you the basics down with this, then you can worry about getting fancier with your maneuver

there is a lesson in INFANTRY 101

[PMO Gordo]

Guys,
Please see if this makes more sense now:
Here's what Magpul video is showing:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OkjnECmPrEY/TAhuFiNeaYI/AAAAAAAAAy0/IdHtHS4aM-M/BUDDYFNMv2.gif
Buddy team fire and maneuver drill

I also made the following animation:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OkjnECmPrEY/TAhuFlKRkFI/AAAAAAAAAy4/geUiXMQGF2w/FireTeamFNM.gif
Fire team fire and maneuver drill

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OkjnECmPrEY/TAh2Ye3r7PI/AAAAAAAAAzg/Gnn0qkRs21g/Squad%20FNM.gif
Squad fire and maneuver drill

[short_stack]

I think this is an over complication of to people flanking. You don't scream out to the enemy where your gonna move, and flanking is usually done in screcy, so when you are behind the enemey, they don't know that.

And if a lone enemy simply sprinted up on the right with the cover, he could take out the entire flanking fire team *snaps* like that.

It's cool, but you are over-doing it in my opinion. If someone tells me to flank up the right side with 5 other people, im sure not going to go along with it.

And what happens when the cover isn't specifically like what you said? It's not easy to make up a battle plan for every type of field ever.

[Jarhead]

You veterans got all that? LOL!!! Noise discipline goes out the window once the rounds start flying. There's the difference between living/lived it and pretending to live it on weekends. Experience is under-rated around here.

That's all good stuff fellas. Keep it up. Fire and Maneuver, that's the key. Communication. Covering fire. Movement.

[GoRed]

The question has to be asked. Do you think it's over complicated because you don't understand it? Or maybe because you're sure that you're the next Alvin York?

Some base of training has to be done for personal and for process improvement. You do not train in accord to every battle plan known to man or God. You train so that you can improvise, adapt, and overcome. To swipe a phrase.

Sometimes the quickest way to tip an opposing element's center of gravity is straight through. Sometimes it's about regaining momentum i.e. assault through an ambush.

Something to note, real firearms are not as quiet as AEGs. And unless you were born in Tennessee, the third of eleven children to mamma York it's wise to listen to people who know more about the subject. I do.

[doc_murray]

guys, if you don't know what you are talking about, don't act like you do. is you have a question, throw it out there and it'll get answered

[Armcav]

Thanks, Jarhead and Doc, I thought that since it was so many years ago, that shoot move and communicate stuff they taught me at Ft. Knox had gone out the window.

[short_stack]

It's cool what your doing, and I fully understand it, but its not for me. Good ideas though.

[Spears]

wow nice animations again. hoping to learn this stuff in real life from you BTDTs at the FTX and/or SCA clinics

[PMO Gordo]

Thanks for all the comments. I'm not too concerned about how applicable these stuff are to airsoft, but I do like to know more about how soldiers in the armed services practice these things. I didn't get the opportunities to observe any drills when I was testing soldiers at Ft. Campbell for their fitness (please refer to our lab project (http://www.pitt.edu/~neurolab/)). So I can only guess what it's like from reading field manuals. A lot of stuff are not in the manuals, such as voice communication during fire and maneuver. I sincerely hope the active or ex-soldiers on this forum could give me some feedback about what's wrong or missing in my animation.

I have a question about the squad movement: where should a squad leader position himself? Does he go with the maneuvering element?

[Chills]

depending on the situation flanking is not always an option. Sometimes it can do nothing but expose your side to enemy fire. sometimes you just have to assault through, close with your target and engage from close range. if you are assaulting building, you can keep a good base of fire on any firing points while half your team advances, then switch. get close enough for a hand grenade/ 203 round, then enter and clear.

there is just one situation where this type of tactic would be useful. you can't always be sneaky, or stealthy. Numbers, terrain, mission would be a few limiting factors that may force you to just bite the bullet and do it. remember the mission of American infantry is to locate close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver. while not fancy, this covers maneuver and close with.

a flanking position is best when ever possible. but this drill will get you the basics down with this, then you can worry about getting fancier with your maneuver

there is a lesson in INFANTRY 101

Thank you for that, not having been in the military there is a lot I don't know; I am willing to learn though! Usually from my experience charging forward leads to a wave of punishment, but maybe I'm not doing it correctly. Undoubtedly cover fire and speed is the backbone of any advancement. Without cover fire, you get destroyed. Without speed, your cover fire could stop do to reload or you could just get destroyed. I believe by keeping the bad guys heads down during an advancement you can make do with shoddy cover.

[crash]

Thank you for that, not having been in the military there is a lot I don't know; I am willing to learn though! Usually from my experience charging forward leads to a wave of punishment, but maybe I'm not doing it correctly. Undoubtedly cover fire and speed is the backbone of any advancement. Without cover fire, you get destroyed. Without speed, your cover fire could stop do to reload or you could just get destroyed. I believe by keeping the bad guys heads down during an advancement you can make do with shoddy cover.

As my old Math teacher used to say theres more then one way to skin a problem. The reason we train so much in the army is so that u know what tactic to use when but most of the time in my opionion u dont think its just a gut reaction and go. And only downside to cover fire with bbs is u dont strike the fear of death into those that u shoot so nothing says there going to duck while u move. which might add to the fact that rushing lead to failure. And when all else fails being lucky with your choice never hurts.