Authors: Bobby Akart
“Urban combat against a well-armed enemy can quickly erode the strength and capability of the attacker. In order to overcome this tactical advantage, the attackers will need to employ combined arms tactics with disciplined, coordinated movement techniques to control its own losses,” said Brad. “Highly trained and skilled soldiers are required for this type of warfare.”
Brad paused for a moment and took a drink of water. American forces had suffered heavy losses due to lack of training and also because of certain political realities. Our soldiers were hampered because the rules of engagement tended to place limitations on urban operations. Further, under the current downsizing agenda, the military simply did not have enough soldiers trained in these tactics to meet the mission requirements. Training in simulated villages would not prepare soldiers for combat in large metropolitan areas should the need arise. Camp Edwards was designed to train soldiers in the proper terrain, but it was only one of a handful of training centers of its kind. Every major military installation should have a mock urban training facility.
“Every urban environment is different,” continued Brad. “Yet they all have similar structural characteristics. A platoon leader will need to assess the type of building to be attacked before moving forward with an urban assault. Let’s review the six integral components of an urban assault.” Brad thumbed through his binder to find the outline provided by the Pentagon although he could’ve written it himself.
Know thy enemy…
“First, realize you can’t attack every building at once,” said Brad. “Your first step is to isolate your objective—the building housing the enemy combatant. Recon the surrounding buildings, being mindful you are fighting in a three-dimensional environment. The enemy may have supportive fire assets placed in the surrounding buildings. During your assessment, identify potential escape routes, including catwalks, subways, utility tunnels and cellars. Clearing a building in an urban setting requires a lot of manpower to ensure you don’t simply flush the cockroaches to another location.”
This drew laughs from the participants who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The fleeing insurgents were typically referred to as
cockroaches
.
“Second, consider the threat before you assign personnel to supporting fire. Although I never advocate underestimating the enemy’s capabilities, if your intelligence indicates the enemy combatants are poorly trained, have low morale, are underequipped and have poor leadership, they may be convinced to surrender or withdraw simply by using skilled psyops or a great show of force initially. Assume the enemy is capable of viable resistance. You must be sure to concentrate direct and indirect fire together with other combat support assets onto the objective area. This has the effect of neutralizing the threat before positioning troops in preparation for an assault.”
Brad was prepared to summarize their battle movements followed by a summary of the afternoon’s activities. The warming trend melted the snowfall from Thursday night, leaving a muddy training field. Rather than simulating Afghanistan, EO site Calero would be more representative of Eastern Europe—or
Small Town, USA
.
The Loyal Nine had discussed many times the issues surrounding martial law or the occupation of a foreign military force within the United States. Sarge suggested the principles of urban tactical warfare should be learned to enhance their defensive capabilities. In other words, a cityscape might be easier to defend than a rural bug-out location—where open warfare benefits an attacker with superior air assets. Donald Quinn aptly related it to his career as an accountant. He said the best accountants are trained by the IRS in the early parts of their careers. This
fox in the henhouse
approach gives accountants a unique insight when they enter private practice.
Learn from the enemy
, Donald said.
“Third, once the decision is reached for a full-on assault of the building or objective, tactical movements will need to be employed,” said Brad. “Again, being fully aware of the three-dimensional aspect of urban terrain, fire teams may use bounding overwatch, traveling overwatch or even a modified wedge type of column to advance. The battlefield will dictate your TTP—tactics, techniques and procedures.”
Brad walked towards Shore and placed his hand on his shoulder. “Let me bring in some assistance from you for a moment. Chief Warrant Officer Kyle Shore is from my unit at Devens and knows a little about a related issue.”
“Shore,” said Brad, “why don’t you stand and summarize the importance of a sniper on the battlefield.”
“Yes, sir, Colonel,” said Shore. “Put simply, our job is to take out any enemy asset that will benefit my buddies the most. In a ground operation like this one, I would observe the target area, gather raw data and intelligence, and use my long-range weapons to strike the enemy by surprise.”
“When the platoon is moving through a combat area, there are some countermeasures available to limit exposure to sniper fire,” said Brad. “What are those, Shore?”
“Sir. Active countermeasures are designed to detect and destroy the sniper before he can fire or neutralize him after he fires. The most common active countermeasures involve the establishment of perimeter OPs, recon and security patrols and rules of engagement that permit appropriate return fire. May I speak frankly, sir?”
“Go ahead, Shore,” replied Brad. Brad watched as Sarge furiously took notes. The active-duty soldiers in the room and Steve did not. Brad wondered if the others observed Sarge’s note taking. Brad knew what Sarge was thinking about Sun Tzu—
know your enemy as you know yourself
.
“The last active countermeasure—rules of engagement regarding return fire—is the most confounding, sir,” said Shore. “Currently, the rules of engagement in the Middle Eastern theater are skewed in favor of protecting civilians and therefore in favor of the enemy. This puts our troops at significant risk. The best way to prevent casualties from sniper fire is to utilize both preemptive fire and overmatching fire. With preemptive fire, in a high-density urban combat arena, we can attack likely sniper positions with a variety of unit weapons to deter sniper activity. With overmatching fire, our boys can respond to a sniper’s rifle round with a volley from something like an M203, sir. Simply put, our 40mm grenade trumps your .50-cal round. Game over.”
“Thank you, Shore,” said Brad. “The M203 grenade launcher is designed to attach to either the M16 or the M4. While its range is under one hundred sixty yards, I suggest to you that a football field is the equivalent of a mile in an urban environment. Clearly, there could be collateral damage to the civilian population. Shore, you mentioned active countermeasures. Given the present rules of engagement, what are some passive countermeasures?”
“Sir, another effective countermeasure is the use of projected smoke and, when the rules of engagement allow, the use of riot-control agents,” said Shore. “Smoke is used often to protect the platoon from long-range fire. Also, if the sniper’s location is known, smoke can be projected close to his location, which greatly limits his ability to acquire targets. Riot-control agents like tear gas are optimal, but typically not allowed under the present ROE.”
“Thank you, Shore,” said Brad. “You may be seated. Other passive countermeasures are also typical of well-disciplined tactical movements. These include covered and concealed routes, avoiding open intersections, staying away from doors and windows, and moving along the side of a street in a dispersed formation. These are all common sense, infantry basics.”
Brad covered the elements of assaulting a building objective after identifying the breach point and the best ways to avoid friendly fire. He covered the fundamentals of entering and clearing a building, which will be an important part of this afternoon’s activities. Finally, he gave them all an overview of the challenge parameters.
“Why don’t we take some time for lunch before we get started,” said Brad. “I want everybody to report to Urban Operations Site Calero at zero eleven hundred hours. Dismissed.”
Everyone shuffled out of their chairs and made their way toward the mess hall. Brad approached Steven and Sarge to get their opinions on the program so far.
“What do you boys think?” asked Brad.
“Great stuff, Brad. Listen, I need to break away for a little bit,” said Steven. “You guys go ahead without me. I’ll grab something to eat on the fly.”
“Don’t zap your testosterone, buddy, we’ll need it later,” said Sarge.
Brad saw Steven had lunch plans of his own as 2LT Dodge milled about, waiting on her prey.
“Hey, she’ll eat you alive, pal,” said Brad with a grin, grabbing Steven’s arm.
“Then it’ll be mutual destruction. Later,” said Steven and he was off.
Brad turned to Sarge. “Will he ever grow up?”
“Let’s hope not. The best we can hope for is to keep the boy harnessed and release him when necessary,” said Sarge. “Listen, Brad, I understand the need for this type of training. War has changed and we need to be prepared for all contingencies. But when is the last time our military fought in an urban environment with sewers, subways and tall buildings with catwalks? That type of battlefield exists primarily in one place and it isn’t Tikrit.”
“Very astute, Sarge,” said Brad. “This is why I’m glad you two came this weekend. We need to know both sides of UO. I’m hearing rumblings from my like-minded friends throughout the service, Sarge. Our country is in for a jolt. In the not-too-distant future, there may be a time in America when the lines between a friendly and a hostile will become very blurred. We need to be ready.”
“Let’s go catch up,” said Sarge.
Chapter 24
June 4, 2016
Camp Edwards
Joint Base Cape Cod, Massachusetts
The teams began to gather at the training site. Sarge found it interesting that each team had lunch alone without any attempts to make small talk with the other participating members of the exercise. This competition would be intense. There was no prize, only bragging rights for their respective squads. Sarge always studied people and was intrigued by the interactions between the soldiers. He’d read several research papers on the mentality of military personnel. The age-old question of why soldiers fight might surprise many. After World War II, many returning soldiers simply said they wanted to keep fighting so the war would end and they could go home. The secondary response provided by the World War II vets related to the group ties their unit developed during combat. Sarge believed the premise held true today. He believed the motivation of today’s soldier was primarily sustained by his comrades and secondarily by his weapon.
Sarge observed the interaction between 2LT Dodge and her teammate 2LT Rose.
He’s pissed
. Steven finally arrived on the scene.
“Howzit?” asked Sarge.
Steven was adjusting his gear. “Psyops mission accomplished,” said Steven. “She won’t be worth a shit this afternoon.”
“Will you?” asked Sarge, adding, “Be worth a shit?”
“Oh yeah, just watch,” replied Steven.
Brad was trying to get everyone’s attention. Fortunately, the sun had melted all of the snow and the wind had stopped. Other than the mud, it was a beautiful day.
“All right, teams, please gather around,” said Brad. “We have set up a series of three challenges for you today. The first challenge will be a timed drill. The second challenge will be an accuracy and analysis drill. The third challenge will be a speed and agility challenge. The two highest scoring teams in these first three rounds will then move to the final challenge, which will involve the principles we discussed this morning.”
“Is everybody ready?” yelled Brad.
“Sir, yes, sir!” exclaimed the participants.
“Everyone remember, we will be using live rounds throughout this exercise. Nobody gets shot on my watch, got it?” said Brad. He received another reply of
yes, sir
.
“This first challenge will test your speed and accuracy under a high pressure, live fire scenario,” said Brad. “First, you will be required to run down the hill approximately one hundred yards to obtain your weapon, ammunition and your tactical spotting scope. Come back up the hill to your designated firing position identified by your preassigned colors. Once you have reached your firing position, the targets will be revealed to you. Red targets are always hostiles and white targets will always be friendlies. Any questions?”
CWO Shore spoke up first. “Sir, what is our assigned weapon today?”
“You didn’t think I would make it easy for you, did you, Shore?” said Brad. “You will not be using your beloved Barrett 82A1 .50 cal. You folks from the Army will be pleased to hear that today’s long-range weapon will be the M2010 ESR—enhanced sniper rifle. It has a shorter range than the Barrett and must be used due to the proximity of civvies in the area. Welcome to the rules of engagement.”
Steven leaned into Sarge and gave him the rundown on the M2010. “It’s a good weapon, bolt actioned. It’s really just a modern-day version of the basic Remington 700,” said Steven. “Let’s pay attention to see if it’s outfitted with a suppressor or a muzzle brake. Both of those attachments reduce recoil by about half, which will affect our second shot if we miss on the first go-around. There may also be multiple hostiles. The magazines hold five .300 Winchester Magnum cartridges. My guess is there will be at least six tangos, requiring two magazines. Be prepared to hand me the second magazine, or hand me single rounds, which I will reload manually. That will save time. I’ll take the shots. You spot me in. You good?”
“Yep,” said Sarge. This was the first time he and Steven had practiced like this. The training was invaluable and he hoped they could do it again. They were a team.
“On my whistle,” yelled Brad. “Go!”
The teams started running through the barren oak trees down a slight incline towards wooden crates painted in their team’s colors.
“Just don’t fall,” said Steven. “We’ll make up our time going back up the hill.”