React to Contact and Break Contact
I thought I would share this with y’all. When I was in Afghanistan I was attached to my current unit which was 1/221 cav for a few months and when they left, the SecFor that replaced them was an arty unit from PA National Guard. At that time I had picked up my E5 and when the new SecFor arrived I suggested we use every Friday (that was our down day between mission weeks and going up on the OPs) to go train behind Camp Wright on the range. My reasoning behind that was because the guys that replaced the prior unit were Arty and they were being tasked out to serve an Infantry roll and they should know how to maneuver like grunts. It was also a great opportunity to burn off rounds and get some trigger time that you would not normally be able to do in a garrison environment. Especially if you’re in the National Guard.
So myself and my other recall buddy from 1st Ranger Battalion set up a training plan that consisted of weapons manipulation, reflexive fire, stress shoots, barricade shooting, buddy team rushes etc. So one of our first training exercises was how to move in a squad wedge, react to contact and then break contact back to our vehicles. First I taught it on a white board, then rock drills, then we did dry runs (with no rounds) to make sure they executed it correctly, and were also safe (ie. going from safe to semi and not flagging their buddies). Then finally we went live.
When we did the live portion of the training I always initiated the contact by shooting a star cluster at the mountain or firing on burst so they would have positive identification and also give the three Ds (distance, direction, description). Then to simulate what it’s like maneuvering under fire and how loud and chaotic fire fights are I had them bound back under fire from our crew serves mounted on the MRAPs which were M2s, Mk19s, and 240Bs. We also had them employ smoke for concealment, had the 203s gunners get used to shooting HEDP, and our SAW gunners maneuvering with their belt fed weapons.
The training ended up paying off because the couple dismounted fights we got into the guys reacted to their training and were able to fire and maneuver.
Now that I explained how we set up the training I’m going to explain how react to contact and break contact is performed. All Army and Marine Corps infantry battle drills are all centered around having one element suppress while the other element bounds back or closes with the enemy depending METT-TC (Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Time, Troops and Civilians on the battle field) considerations. You can either be conducting squad attack, breaking contact, reacting to a near or far ambush etc. but at the end of the day it’s all about being able to bound and suppress the enemy. So when you move in a squad wedge you’re going to have an Alpha and Bravo team. Whatever element comes in contact that element will immediately seek cover and concealment, return fire and everybody echos the three Ds (distance, direction, description). Then the squad leader will assess the situation and decide whether to either close with the enemy (by bounding or a flanking maneuver) or break contact back to a safer location. In this case for this iteration of training we conducted a break contact back to our vehicles. So the element in contact will suppress and the fire team not in contact will maneuver to a location where they can suppress the enemy so the team that initially came in contact can bound back. This process goes back and forth until contact is broken.
I also wanted to point out that the Team Leaders in this training were E4s. The reason I did this was because I wanted them to get some leadership time and also see who would be able to take charge and run a team in the event one of the NCOs is killed or wounded
Here’s the video of the various iterations we conducted:
Break Contact Training Afghanistan from david mazik on Vimeo.
Category: Terror War
The guys we replaced in Bosnia (SFOR 14) gave us a lot of training— at least those of us who thought it was important. The guys we replaced in Iraq didn’t do anything for us…however, for our replacements in Iraq, I had my teams write out a good training plan which included reactions drills for our security team folks. One of them told me: “We did all this training already, we don’t need to do it again.”
I asked the dumbass how many months he’d been in Iraq (2 days) and told him to shut thefuckup and listen or leave.
Note: I was a National Guard Puke handing over to regular Army folks.
I would rather have training on the tactical situation and extensive training on/in the area (right seat left seat) or training on the vehicles being handed over.
I don’t think being trained to perform simple soldier tasks is bad in anyway just seems like it should be done before you enter a War/combat zone. I was active duty so I guess I just don’t understand.
Soldier first MOS second. I have seen automations dudes from s-6 who called the title of your post battle drill 2 and 3. As an infantry guy was it awkward to title your post in that manner?
As I stated before I was already in theater a few months with Cav and I stayed when they left (due to be recalled) We did do left side right seat right ride. To be honest it’s pretty easy to fight from MRAPs because you have can maintain your composure better. I used friday’s for dismounted training. You have to understand the circumstances of the MOB site at camp atturbury in terms of the training. Those guys didn’t get that type of training needed. I knew this because I did a train up when I got recalled at Camp Shelby and it was awful.
The reason I didn’t title the post battle drill 2 and 3 is because I realized the other branches of services and MOSs so I didn’t want it to sound too foreign.
It’s always good to have intel on the tactical situation and extensive training pertaining to the area you’ll be operating in. That’s all part of the relief in place… that goes without saying.
In addition, you don’t just train on “simple soldier tasks” prior to deployment. You retouch up on that shit before, during, and after deployment, just to keep it all fresh. That’s why training in the grunts is always consistent. On my prior deployments to Iraq, for instance, we used to do constant MOUT exercises to keep ourselves proficient for raids/interdictions, etc., and improve on things, because the battlefield is constantly evolving and requires constant precision. If you have down time on the battlefield, you need to be going over battle drills, patrolling principles, etc.,… training doesn’t stop just because you deploy.
With that said, Pathfinder and myself were both active duty grunts with combat deployments, then involuntarily recalled back to active duty later on for this stint to Afghanistan. There is a huge difference in the amount of training AD and NG get prior to deployment, and a huge difference between POGS and Grunts. Realizing these faults and mickey mouse train ups that the NG unit received only prior to their deployment, we decided it was best that we started from scratch to build them up on maneuvers, weapons, transitions, barricade drills, reflexive fires, patrolling, and the list goes on…
If you saw the train up that occurs at Camp Shelby or Atterbury, you would easily understand where I’m coming from in terms of getting these guys up to speed on basic tasks. This video was only the tip of the iceberg on training events that we had to conduct to keep inexperienced Joes from getting their heads shot off. And it paid off for us in teaching these tasks.
Don’t come at us sideways with the whole “active duty” talk because you probably don’t know much about our military backgrounds.
#3 fair enough. I have never seen the details of a ng units deployment training. I have seen ng at both ntc and jrtc. I honestly only met super pog mos’ that were pulled of irr like the laundry guys or some specialized medics.
I still don’t understand and probably never will. Just seems like their unit failed them and their Nco’s weren’t something to write home about. Guess it was a great thing soldiers from a different unit cared more about the soldiers than their leadership. Just a different world. I mean I have had piss poor training and leadership, there was always some buck sergeant or e-4 that cared enough to do it right again and again.
Only off days I experienced was spent on vehicle maintenance, weapon maintenance, kp duty, latrine duty, and shifts in a tower. Ohh and the dreaded you need some time off go guard the toc.
So when you read your title does it read the words or do you see battle drill 2 and 3?
#4. No where did I insinuate anything about your background. No where did I mention active duty talk but in the sentence proclaiming my ignorance on the subject. Was an attempt to get a few answers to the questions in my noodle which #3 pathfinder seemed to pick up on and answer. U mad bro?
So becaused you mobilized at Camp Shelby…you knew the quality of training at Camp Atterbury/Muscatatuck Training Center sucked?
I was one of the joes in the video and i was say flat out that the training at Atterbury sucked. if it wasn’t for the training we got from Pathfinder and the other recalls we would have been in a world of hurt.
I went thru Atterbury in winter 09_10…hit Afg Feb 2010 as Sec4 on a Prt mission…I can concur the training sucked…but some of it was on point…our unit did well….I feel Ng units have some natural advantages that AD guys sometimes fail to see
Just wanted to add…good post btw
#2, the dudes had the other 6 days of the week to train on the vehicles being handed over, left/right seat rides and whatever else as long as they werent tasked elswhere or running missions. that is plenty of time to cover other things. react to contact from a vehicle is, as pathfinder said, far easier to do than it is on the ground. you have much less to worry about. the training the national guard recieves prior to deployment is certainly lacking. maybe not for units that will not leave the fob, but for units tasked with prt or coin missions it leaves a lot to be desired. so why not,in recognizing that, take the time to teach them a little more ond probably increase the chances of everyone going home when they are supposed too?
there is nothing more important in training than dismounted live fire excercises. it is the bread and butter for infantryman and far more necessary than you might think. the more bullets your team mates sling past you in training the more confident you will be in their abilities when rounds are being slung back. yeah, we all love our time off, but as lee1/75 said, you cannot stop learning and training just because you are deployed. what if the last live fire you did was 3 months before deployment, and then you did not get into a tic for the first 3 months you were there? 6 months of no training in that regard, active duty or not, is an dangerous gap.
I will bite on this one. I am an AD grunt assigned to Camp Atterbury. I don’t actualy train the NG Soldiers. The 205th in their infinite wisdom put me behind a computer screen tracking the training. There are several factors that I believe affect the training.
1st: 1AE decided to pull the TSBN that contained all the AD grunts and put them in a giant S-3 shop and left the NG non-combat arms as trainers. Don’t take this as I’m bashing non-combat arms.
2nd: Camp Atterbury has limited resources. Large units like PRTs will request the world, for example we had one come through here that wanted 110 MRAPs. I don’t know if there is even that many in all of CONUS.
3rd: At least as far as PRTs are concerned, they are not trained by the 205th which is stationed at Atterbury. I know for the 09-10 PRT the training unit was from Ft. Bragg. I got stationed here at the tail end of that PRT rotation.
4th: Not saying it is any of your units, but we get plenty of units that come through here that are more interested in going to the PX, The All Ranks Club, the USO, Walmart runs, and pass than they are in training.
5th: FORCECOM has set training guidence that they force us to go by. It is a check the block CYA “training” set that all units must complete in order to validate. If you get all of that done then maybe, just maybe you can get quality training.
Like I said before, I am not involved with the training. I am just a grunt that is forced to stare at Microsoft Excel all day long making sure that each unit has checked each block in the CYA training.
Ummm….. I like guns 🙂
Very impressive, when I arrived in Vietnam in 1967, I was fresh from an Armored Cav unit in Germany. (I had never even seen or held an M-16. 2 weeks of in country training, no live fire, mostly work details and then straight to the field where the FNG was made an ammor bearer for the machine gun. The troop rotation that was used back then had many faults. Glad to see now the guys are getting some decent training.
I’m in the PA National Guard (Infantry) and my unit is currently ramp’ing up for our next deployment; this time to A-Stan. I have deployed twice to Iraq before with the PA Guard (2005-2006, 2009) and have had the “pleasure” do conduct both train-ups at Camp Shelby, MS (the first being 6 months, the second being 3 months).
I can tell you first hand the training is generally terrible; the training unit dumbs everything down so much that it effectively castrates NCO’s ability to train their soldiers. They manage to keep our training schedule extremely busy – allowing us very little time to actually train our soldiers ourselves. I realize that in the NG we are not afforded as many training opportunities as the active components, but some of the training is downright embarrassing to sit through. Regardless of MOS, EVERYONE has to “check the block” at the same training events.
To give you an idea … instead of saying “Hey Sergeants, take the next two days and train your guys on map reading, mounted and dismounted land navigation; we will have a practical exercise after.” it goes more like this … sit in a classroom for 8 hours behind a powerpoint projector with some guy saying “this is a compass, this is how you read a compass. this is how you read a map” … and so on.
The training with weapons is just as bad. What I’m getting at is this would have been a very welcome training event for us to take part in both times I have been to theater. The way the military castrates NCO’s in these train-ups is terrible and I’m hoping to do my best and pull all the strings I can on this next deployment to allow us time to train our own soldiers as much as possible – there is certainly enough experience throughout my unit to make that possible.
Sorry for the long-winded post – great idea on the training though, I’m sure it was much appreciated by the receiving unit.
Sure fucked up that hillside nice and good like!