There was a very good response to my recent post ‘Realistic Rucking‘ some of which I want to extract and use to make some points in this post. As I progress with this blog and the training site, things are starting to coalesce. The method  in the madness is becoming more apparent to me.  What […]

LINK TO THE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE Extract: The Hürtgen Forest occupies a rugged area between the Rur river and Aachen. The dense conifer forest is broken by few roads, tracks and firebreaks; vehicular movement is restricted. In the autumn and early winter of 1944, the weather was cold and wet and often prevented air support. Ground conditions varied […]

I was a little perplexed, but also (a little) encouraged,  by these news reports. They are both about 3 PARA on exercise in the UK, concentrating on conventional operations rather than the recent focus entirely on Afghan style operations. It was a little discouraging to hear both the reporter and one of the interviewed soldiers […]

I’ve seen some stuff around and about recently about rucking. I remember back in the day when I could ruck twenty miles carrying 150lbs in about an hour. Ooops – Bullsh*t Alert! Let’s take a realistic look at rucking. I did do an article not so long ago about extreme rucking on UKSF selection – […]

On a more serious note, the real version of the training video “How Not To Be Seen: How Not to Be Seen – Monty Python Marching Up and Down the Square – Monty Python Blackadder Goes Forth – Best of General Melchett Blackadder Goes Forth – General Melchett Visits The Troops Blackadder Goes Forth final […]

Lots of little gems, as usual. Question: where do they take in shit in the snipers hide (or OP, if you were doing one and are not a sniper)? Answer: in a ziplock bag, and carry it out. Fun. (Re: The Briefing Officer: yes, I know where you are going with that. Don’t ask, don’t […]

Old school. If you are serious about adding vegetation to your equipment (head/shoulders/back) you should consider a couple of things: 1) Use cam netting/burlap strips or similar as a base level of camouflage to break up your shape. For example, add a bit of camouflage netting to your helmet (or hat) to break up the […]

Marksmanship principles. Good video. Shoot to Kill Live Hard, Die Free. MV

Good stuff, self-explanatory. As true today as it was back in the 60’s. To add: for hard targets to indicate, if you are using a reference point, you can indicate distance to the left and right of the reference point by the finger tip or knuckle method: raising you hand at arms length, hold up […]

Old school training video showing both Recce and Fighting patrol. It is part of the same series. Granted, it does not show the whole picture but it will give you an idea of what it all means. Picture paints a thousand words, even if it is from 1985! One of the things to notice about […]