Urban Survival - Tactical Movement on Foot

UrbanMan received this request from an UrbanSurvivalSkills.com reader: “Could you do a post on how to move in a group through the woods? It is predominantly for me and my family, maybe my sister's brother and his wife would be with us, if and when we vacate our home and if our vehicle goes down or transport by car is not possible. If I had to vacate my house and move to my friends rural farm I would need to move through the woods about 29-30 miles, then parallel a state road about 30-35 miles to get to the two roads that lead to my friend’s farm where it’s another 16-18 miles.”

UrbanMan replies: You have the right idea wanting to learn how to move in the woods or really any type of terrain for that matter. Aside from very specific techniques and procedures, otherwise called Standard Operating Procedures or SOP’s, tactical movement is a function combining common sense, awareness of the situation and of the environment, and just plain being cautious.

Movement techniques must be known by all in your group and regularly practiced in order to be effective. People spend years learning how to plan and conduct a small unit patrol. I cannot do that justice in one post, however I will attempt to cover some basics of movement.

Things you will have to consider when moving, above food, water and what else you are packing, are light, noise and litter discipline, and, control of your movement formation. Ensuring that all shiny objects that you and others are wearing, which will reflect the sun or artificial light are reduced or removed; use red filters on flashlights or be very careful when you use a white light and then consider using one only under a poncho or blanket; talk to your members of your group either using hand and arm signals or by whispering in their ear (sound carries more than your think!);……ensure you and your group does not leave litter behind that someone can track you by or otherwise learn of your presence or passage.

Looks like you may be moving 75 to 83 miles. Your movement rate, under good conditions is going to be .5 to 1.5 miles an hour if you want to move in a cautious tactical manner, stopping for a 5 to 10 minute blow every hour and to do map/navigation checks, check and treat people's feet, adjust loads and just to sit and listen for what is going on around you.

If you move at 1 mile per hour, you can probably move 12 miles a day then it will take you at least 6 days to get where you are going. Figuring on a minimum of 3 quarts of water per person per day that's almost 20 pounds of water weight per person starting off. Remember 3 quarts per person would be an absolute minimum,... a more realistic number is 5 quarts per person per day which would be 30 pounds of water weight.

Movement formations. There are really only two basic movement formations you should be using:

The Column or File formation (think single file) is the easiest formation to control. Interval (or distance) between patrol members should be no further than what sight allows – you need to be able to see the man in front of you and behind you. Relatively speaking, this interval will be as close as a couple feet during periods of darkness, with minimal lunar illumination, to as long as maybe 15 to 20 yards. In very open areas, that distance may increase to 25-35 yards. The idea is not to have two people (or more) needless close to each other where it would be easy to shoot two or more easily,...or have a booby trap or other casualty producing device hurt more than is necessary. Plus people close together tend to talk,...when you talk, people can hear....remember noise discipline.

The point man is the navigator and picks the route, the tail gunner ensures dangers to the rear are picked up; everyone else watches the sides of the column. Same thing when you stop, assign everyone a area to watch.

Wedge Formation. This is a arrowhead or triangle type formation used to move across a wider area, and best used when contact with a potentially or known adversary is expected. Using the wedge and making contact with bad guys to your front allows for more than one person to engage and defend the group at a time (clear fields of fire). This is also a good formation, albeit at extended intervals between members, when crossing an large open field if you have to. From the Wedge formation you can easily establish a skirmish line and either fight/move forward or withdrawal with all guns in your patrol having the ability to fire without a friendly in front of them.

The Wedge formation is much harder to control, especially in heavy brush or thickly wooded areas. Members of the patrol in this movement formation need to not only be concerned with their respective area of responsibility during movement, but will have to constantly adjust their route to keep the interval and contact with other patrol members.



Crossing Linear Danger Areas: Whenever you cross linear dangers areas, which will be roads, power line trails, dirt roads, game trails or natural lines of drift you will need to be extra careful, in both ensuring that there is no traffic or observation on this linear open area, and, careful to sterilize signs of your passage as much as you can. Cross these linear danger areas in one line so the tail gunner can more easily sterilize the signs and foot prints of your passage.

A careful way to cross these danger areas is to send one or two people across to reconnoiter (that is a fancy way of saying "recon") the other side. A speedier way is call "Scroll to the Road" or the bump method, where one person briefly stops facing down one way of the linear danger area where he or she is "bumped" by the person behind him which is the cue to cross, then face the opposite direction in order to provide observation and security in both directions.

After each linear danger area you cross, hesitate for enough time for the tail gunner to sterilize signs of crossing. The person in front of the tail gunner provides security for the tail gunner as he/she does this. If you are going to stop for a blow (rest) don't do it adjacent or near to a linear danger area you crossed.

Crossing Large, Irregular Shaped Danger areas. Really only three practical ways to negotiate a large, irregular danger area such as a large farm or field. Extended file formation. Wedge formation,....or to avoid the danger area by skirting it.

Stopping for an extended time or through a period of daylight or night. Since it is practically impossible to avoid leaving signs of your passage, one way to give you some security against people following you is to buttonhook off your route of movement into a defensive or ambush position. This is a good idea when stopping for extended times such as a remain over day (ROD) or remain over night (RON) position to rest. Ensure that you defensive ROD or RON position allows you to observe your original trail and have a patrol member (or two) positioning to watch the trail coming into to your ROD/RON.

Urban Survival Skills Reader Disagrees with Survival - Collapse Book Choices

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following comments on the previous post concerning the two best Survival – Collapse Books to read,…..”Anonymous said,…..Shame on you for not including Lights Out. This is a exceptional story and taught me alot of survival in an upheaval. Good story to just read and enjoy also. One Second after was a sorry story and did not teach me anything.”

UrbanMan replies: Lights Out is an absolute must read. I just think it’s third in line and the other reader asked me to just recommend two.

In Lights Out, you would have to admit that things go pretty well for the main characters,…having a buddy who owns a gun store and MILVAN’s full of ammunition and guns a their house…..having grocery stores stay open well past when the EMP generated Nuclear attack occurs, and having a car parts store open long after the collapse as well.

Sorry you did not learn anything from One Second After. I guess I tend to learn from negative things as much or more than positive teaching. The things I learned from One Second After, albeit from what they didn’t do, are:

1. Be prepared from the get go. Food, Water, Survival gear, equipment and material.

2. Have more firearms (and ammunition) than just some black powder guns.

3. If you are not organized into a Survival Group before the collapse predicating event, then that becomes a priority to do. If you have to start small, then start small. Organized the neighbors on your left and right, then the street,….. then the people on adjacent streets. People are going to be looking for a leader. Be that leader to get them squared away with as minimal waste of time and resources as possible.

4. Have a plan for when the infrastructure collapse in regards to necessary prescriptions and medications, and how to store them.

Note: I know of a guy who is on dialysis. This particular type of dialysis can be done at home using bags hooked up to a body catheter. This is a nightly requirement,….he’ll die without it. Knowing that this gentleman has stocked six months of the bags he needs, plus he can go to a once every two days dialysis schedule in order to extend his dialysis capability.

If you are diabetic, what are you doing to do? The percentage of people that are diabetic is increasing every year. As you’ll remember one of the character’s in One Second After dies from lack of insulin. The sad fact about having adult on-set diabetes is that this is a highly reversible condition, if you have the gumption to stick to a diet of low glycemic foods and advanced doses of nutritionals.

What else I learned from One Second After:

5. Be prepared to address food supplies and rationing from the start. The characters in One Second After should have immediately started growing crops and building green houses.

6. Develop a communications and alert system with a plan on how to provide security and defend the community - which would be a logical extension from the group organizational priority.

This is my short list of what I learned. I hope it lets you reconsider the value of One Second After. The negative learning concept is something watching your buddy stick his hand down a hole and he gets his hand shredded by a sharp toothed badger. You see it and say to yourself “Heck,…I’m not going to stick my hand down there like he did!”…… so you learned from his bad example.

Urban Survival Firearms - Weapons Training Schools

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com has received several private messages on facebook as well as e-mails regarding what we recommend in the line of firearms training centers or schools. If you are planing to survive a collapse and are going to depend upon yourself and your firearms for protection and security, then you owe it to yourself and those you want to protect to get professional training in the art and science of firearms.

I don't pretend to know all all the good shooting or weapons training schools that exist. However, after 33 years of carry a weapon, I either know the instructors, have been to the schools, have contracted them for unit training or have a close and respected friend who has.

Here are few schools that attendees won't be disappointed in. Worth of money not only for the training but to sit, learn and shoot in the company of dedicated professionals.

You don't want to wait until the SHTF then wish you invested the time and money. Anyway, I am not endorsing any particular school, again, just believe nobody would be disappointed with any of the below schools.

http://www.thunderranchinc.com/

Renowned firearms Clint Smith runs Thunder Ranch. The mission of Thunder Ranch, Inc., Oregon is to provide distinctive personalized tutelage for individuals and small groups of civilian, corporate, law enforcement or military clients in the acquisition of individual defensive firearms and tactical skills.

Clint Smith states that: "The goal is to have the client acquire a higher level of personal skills under the direct supervision. In this venue the effort is not about promoting an institution or a teacher, it is about you, the client...are you reaching a new level of skill? This experience, this training, this skill advancement is about you the client."

http://www.frontsight.com/

Ignatius Piazza onws and operates Front Sight Resort. He say's: "He created Front Sight with one goal in mind: To be the absolute best defensive training facility for personal safety. To offer gun training, martial arts, edged weapons, contact weapons, mental awareness, defensive driving, executive protection, celebrity training, corporate team building, children and youth safety courses that more than satisfy the expectations of every student, regardless of the student's prior experience. Take one course at Front Sight Resort, whether a firearms training course, or any of our other world-class training programs, and you too will understand why students travel from across the country and return again and again for more of the Front Sight Experience."

http://www.gunsite.com/main/

Gunsite is a firearms school that uses sevral instructors, permanent and adjunct. Gunsite states: "Here, we teach Marksmanship -- how to hit what you aim at. However, Gunsite goes beyond this simple discipline to include the principles of Gun-handling and Mind-set. This we call the Combat Triad. We offer multiple levels of instruction in handgun, in carbine, in shotgun, in bolt action rifle and precision rifle. Each discipline is informed by the Combat Triad. Each Instructor at Gunsite is someone who has served in Law Enforcement, the military or both. Each Instructor is fully imbued with the doctrine and tradition of our school."

http://www.csp-tactical.com/

Covenant Special Projects is ran by Tom Buchino, a retired Special Forces Sergeant Major. CSP operates to serve domestic and international clients with customized, quality risk mitigation solutions.
Tom Buchino says: "We provide quality human solutions for a range of customer challenges in a discrete manner. CSP has the resources, the international experience and most important, the networks to operate ethically, legally, skillfully and according to the emerging demands of our customers."

"We provide high-end security services such as executive protection & special projects and security related assessments for corporate clients and high-net worth individuals as well as tactical skills instruction, at your location or at our facility the CSP - Tactical Ranch where we have ranges, classroom and field training sites."

"CSP provides governments, businesses and private clients with culturally aware, best practice, solutions in the full spectrum of security, training, assessment and risk reduction services."

"Lately, CSP-Tactical has been conducting firearms and defensive training for private clients with work or required travel in Mexico, due to the out of control violence and lack of security infrastructure there."

http://www.weaponstraining.com/

Competitive shooter John Shaw runs Mid-South. John Shaw says: "At Mid-South, we shoot pistol and carbine during our weeklong classes. Where else can you get all the training you need in a convenient weekly format? You can expect to shoot 2,500 rounds of pistol and 2,000 rounds of rifle. That's a lot of quality, disciplined trigger time, all in one week!"

http://www.practicalshootingacademy.com/

Ron Avery runs Practical Shooting Academy. He says: "Our research shows that much of the training experienced by the average law enforcement officer, CCW gun carrier and firearms owner does little to prepare them for success when it counts. The training standards, precision, speed, mental and physical conditioning and tactical skills often don’t yield the results needed to survive the speed, surprise and violent action of the gunfight."

"Since 1989 we’ve provided firearms and tactical training to thousands of real world operators in law enforcement, military and government agency staff as well as civilians. Many have had to defend themselves in lethal force situations – sometimes against overwhelming odds. They’ve succeeded…and so can you!"

Urban/Wilderness Survival - Dogs as a Survival Aid

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received a new comment on the "Wilderness Survival Task List" article,....Anonymous said,....."In my opinion I feel a dog is great for hunting, self defense, friendship, and tracking."

UrbanMan replies: Absolutely. I have several dogs,..mutts and mixes,..and their value begins with their companionship and loyalty. Humans are not meant to be alone and isolation can be largely mitigated with a dog. Cats just don't do it,...except for eating.

It doesn't take much for a dog to realize, learn then help you hunt rabbits. Having a dog helps when you hunt rabbits with rocks, since when you stun a rabbit with a rock, the dog can get to him quicker than you can.

Going to sleep in bear or mountain lion country is much easier knowing your dog is laying in camp with you to alert you and most likely take the first brunt of any attack.

They can serve as perimeter security and early warning, inside or outside a house and not just during a collapse but prior to that and as a counter measure against burglars and thieves. Many criminals do not grow up around dogs and are scared of them....even the small ones. So even if they just bark, they can be an great security asset.

Dogs can be taught how to track. This is not a "born with" skill for most dogs..
.....sure they have some genetic skills and a keen sense of smell,..but they must be trained. They can be trained to track on scent or sign. In fact the American Kennel Club (AKC) has some sort of tracking dog class and has periodic practices, probably at a location near you if you are interested in finding out more about training a dog to track outside of Federal Law Enforcement or the military working dogs.

I'm kinda partial to the working breeds: German Shepards, Retrievers, Australian Shepards, Blue Heelers, Kelties,.....but most of my dogs now are mixes and mutts, like I said. Several of them just showed up around the house and ending up staying. They stay pretty loyal if you just feed and water them, and pet them from time to time. Good, fairly low cost Survival Asset.

Plan for their survival food as well as your own. I buy several large, 50 lb bags of dog food and rotate them to ensure I have alot of hand, at least six months worth, for if/when the collapse hits.