CQB/MOUT

[SNAKE EYES 88 USMC]

Post your tactics for CQB/MOUT here.

[SNAKE EYES 88 USMC]

Some considerations for CQB/MOUT

* Long unsupported assaults are deadly. Assault for short distances, against a lightly armed or well-suppressed position. A single enemy soldier can destroy a squad across 100 meters of open ground.

* A long covered approach is always better than a short open route. Be careful of covered approaches that cannot be covered by an over-watching unit.

* Every unit needs obscuration. Smoke save lives. Every assault and every withdrawal should use smoke.

* Fire and maneuver is the key tactic. Use the majority of your force to overwhelmingly suppress the enemy, and a small assault unit to rapidly close on the objective.

* It's all about suppression. Fire without maneuver is wasteful and indecisive. Effective suppression is the basis for all infantry tactics.

* Units without mutual support are doomed. Mutually supported units protect each other from being fixed or assaulted.

* Mortars are inherently inaccurate. Area suppression is NOT destruction. Rounds are limited. Use them well. Don’t waste mortars on bunkers or buildings.

* Every unit— squad, platoon, and company—needs antitank capability when facing tanks. An infantry unit with no organic antitank weapon is either retreating or overrun. Tanks can only be fought in close terrain.

* Concentrate your fire. Fire control insures decisive action. In contact, men will disburse their fire. Sequentially destroying targets with point fire is more effective than distributing ineffective fires.

* Every unit— squad, platoon, and company—needs antitank capability when facing tanks. An infantry unit with no organic antitank weapon is either retreating or overrun. Tanks can only be fought in close terrain.

* For anti-tank positions, deep and narrow sectors of fire with defilade on both sides are best. The best sector of fire allows you to engage only one tank at a time.

* Defensive positions are temporary. All units need multiple positions and the ability to withdraw.

* For machinegun positions, deep and narrow sectors of fire, with defilade on both sides, are best. Primary and secondary sectors separated by frontal protection are better.

* COVER IS LIFE. Move from one covered position to another. Good cover is relative to a single enemy position. Mutually supporting enemy positions can overcome the protection of your cover.

* Use bounding over- watch to move. A squad in contact needs immediate suppression from another unit. The measure of success is the number of units that can immediately bring suppression to bear upon enemy contact.

If possible use snipers to provide cover so your main element can reach the building. If you can’t do this unseen use lots of smoke to conceal your movement, while snipers provide harassing fire. If you can make it the roof and enter from the top this is your best bet.
The top-to-bottom method is preferred for clearing a building. Entering at the top and fighting downward is easier from an upper story because gravity works to your advantage when throwing hand grenades and moving from floor to floor. As well as building construction and moving dynamics become assets to the assault elements.

This is also a tactical advantage in psychology when attacking from the top to bottom the enemy is naturally forced down and out of the building, wear supporting elements can take care of them so if your snipers are positioned outside in good cover they can pick them off as they exit the building while the main assault element is still on their ***. This also gives the enemy of weaker stomach a chance to flee outside and surrender (but you have no need for taking prisoners do you?).

When attacking from the bottom to top the enemy is forced to stay inside the building and revert to the natural stance of an animal in a corner making his stand for life, death, and territory. If you have no access to the top level assaulting the bottom floor and clearing upward is a common method. When you use this technique, the assault force closes on the flank(s) or rear of the building.

The team then clears each room on the ground floor; continuously moving upward, begin a systematic clearance of the remaining floors. Entry should be gained through walls breached by explosives or gunfire (substitute for paintball as best as you can).
Assault elements should avoid windows and doors because they are usually covered by fire or booby-trapped. Remember to stay away from walls paint balls either roll down them and on to you or bust and splatter you. Use lots of Grenades for entering rooms and remember SMOKE- SMOKE- SMOKE.

Keep yourself and your movement concealed rapid action lots of fire and confusion will have your enemies head spinning. I also like to use whistling Peat’s( I stock up every 4th of July.) They are so loud and annoying a good distraction for something like a “Breach, Bang, and Clear”.

[Malevolent_Frog]

Organization of a SWAT team. Snake Eyes had asked me to post some info up in here. So lets start with the positions and roles. Then if there are any questions post up and I will reply.

1)Pointman
Pointman will normally be armed with a pistol, so he will have one arm free to deploy a mirror, flashbangs ect...
The pointman is also designated "Primary Shooter" which means he will engage the first target when coming through the door.

2)Clearing man
Second man through the door. He will generally carry an subgun Mp5 etc.. He is to engage any additional targets. Point and the number 2 man must practice their entry techniques and know their fields of fire so they avoid any crossfire situations.

3)Team Leader
Team lead will carry either pistol or subgun, and acts as a secondary shooter. He will engage any targets left by 1 and 2 man. His position allows him to make split second tactical decisions upon entry. Team leader is responsible for subdueing any suspects in the room, so the first 2 can move on to the next room.

4)Clearing man
Generally armed with a shotgun carrying frangible rounds to blow locks when needed. Also will be used as a take up man for suspects.

5)Rear Guard
His role is generally to carry the rams or SWAT bars for initial insertion. Upon entry he will generally discard breaching tools to provide rear security for the entry team.

This is a basic SWAT entry team setup. It is very important that everyone know every position because in a split second the rear guard can become the pointman. Repetitive training is a must. So teammates know exactly what each other will do. A good entry team is like watching a choreographed dance and looks like one fluid object instead of multiple people!! Hope that helps!!

[SNAKE EYES 88 USMC]

So if this was dual role team in the Fire team the point man/scout would remain the same. The first clearing man would become a light rifeleman the team leader is the same the second clearing man would become possibly an A-gunner and the rear guard would be a S.A.W. gunner. Also what are some general formations for moving. What kind of intervals are kept. What are prefered methods of movement. And once the objective has been breached who moves where and covers what.

[Malevolent_Frog]

SNAKE said:

So if this was dual role team in the Fire team the point man/scout would remain the same. The first clearing man would become a light rifeleman the team leader is the same the second clearing man would become possibly an A-gunner and the rear guard would be a S.A.W. gunner.

Exactly. Thats how most specops fire teams are setup.

SNAKE said:

Also what are some general formations for moving. What kind of intervals are kept. What are prefered methods of movement. And once the objective has been breached who moves where and covers what.

Sticking with SWAT general formation is a straight line tight. How tight?? Ever heard the term "Nut to Butt"? Preferred method of movement is a fast shuffle even on most stealth entries. Ever wonder why the police always let all those news choppers hover over the scene? 2 reasons first it provides us with cover noise to move. Police have been known to setup construction sites with jackhammers just for cover noise. The second reason is if you are a tango holed up in say a bank and hear a chopper going over head every 20 seconds for 2 hours plus. Do you think you will notice when a chopper goes over flares and we fast rope onto the roof?? Ok so now you have breached the objective this is where it gets alot more complicated and is very difficult to explain without pictures. Here is a very basic entry diagram.



Basic fields of fire

[SNAKE EYES 88 USMC]

So what if the fight isn't in a room but Across the street, in a large open wharehouse, a parking lot, or the enemy flees into such an area as the ground complex of an apartment complex/hotel. Now the fight has become one of manuvere over a larger terrain and multiple OPFOR has chosen both defensine and offensive stances. Do you keep the same formations, what are the methods of movement across open ground, who assumes what fields of fire, and who covers who?

[Malevolent_Frog]

SNAKE said:

So what if the fight isn't in a room but Across the street, in a large open wharehouse, a parking lot, or the enemy flees into such an area as the ground complex of an apartment complex/hotel. Now the fight has become one of manuvere over a larger terrain and multiple OPFOR has chosen both defensine and offensive stances. Do you keep the same formations, what are the methods of movement across open ground, who assumes what fields of fire, and who covers who?

Damn Snake you go straight to the tough questions. Ok here is how a standard op on a large multi story complex would go.

Cordon off buildings before attempting to clear or secure. Block all entrys and exits.

Position EOD-trained soldiers to assist in disarming enemy demolitions/booby traps.

Clear building from the top down. It remains the approved solution; however, obstacles on rooftops may require rappelling, fast roping, or may preclude top-down operations.

Leapfrog platoons by floor, clearing a high-rise building, to keep one platoon rested and available as a reserve for reaction missions.

Secure (as opposed to clear) a multi-story building by searching the bottom floor and sending an element up the stairwell to clear the top floor and eliminate any snipers. If questioning of occupants does not reveal further enemy presence, move to the next building. Secure building access and control the roof tops.

[Malevolent_Frog]

Methods of movement across open areas. Generally speaking if we must make our way across an open area it will be behind the cover of a SWAT tank. Kinda pansy but its true. Now if it were a heavily wooded area then basic military formations would apply. Wedge or a leapfrog are preferred, but this would fall out of the realm of CQB.

[mrguitarporsche]

what exactly is CQB/MOUT? what does it stand for?

[SNAKE EYES 88 USMC]

CQB: Close Quarters Battle
MOUT: Military Operations in Urban Terrain.

I think our motto says it all (Locate,close with the enemy and destroy by means of fire and manuever!)
We used these tactics to rescue the hostage at the KLF battle. Every team has their quirks, but if you can use everybodies strong points you can have a very lethal group. Our members are designated with the skills they have not the dreams they had as kids. I would love to be a sniper, but dont see worth a shit. Grenadiers my game.

[kreeper]

For the sniper role The one problom I see the most of is ppl get impatient that theres a firefight going on an that they need to be right in the middle of the fight. for instance the hostage resue .I worked around to the S. side of the building on the hill where I engaged a rear guard. well at the distance I couldnt get a good shot on him at first he knew right where I was an all I did was meld back into a tree there an waited after a few searching rounds He quit looking for me an so when White shoes made a rush to the doorway I laid suppresion fire from above on the guard giving WS the window he needed to take out the tango. an then at that time I moved up to the buildings outer wall an helped dispatch another tango upstairs While a team pushed in from the west side of the building an snake gave the guy on the other side of the wall a nice little parting gift.

Right on. thats what Im talking about. gotta be patient. thats my other problem.!we were glad to have some good snipers on that op.There was alot of kick ass fighting going on and everybody did ther part.Youve got some tuff guys over there.will work with you anytime.