Civil War, Cedar Creek, Virginia, 2012

A moving renenactment of the Cedar Creek Battle. Enough to bring a lump to your throat and a tear to your eye. The program said: 2:30, Cavalry Skirmish. I was expecting some lame thing with a couple of guys riding around. Next, cannon fire erupts from both ridges, skirmish lines move forward, cavalry engage and then I […]

A Tactical Fiction: Patrol Contact!

Here is a little foray into some tactical fiction. The idea is to tell a little story in a fictional setting to bring out some tactical lessons: A Tactical Fiction: Patrol Contact! The sixteen man foot patrol had been out for a week now. They were cold, wet and hungry. There were two squads of eight […]

The Arctic Patriot: Rapid Fire!- My Take on the Book

The Arctic Patriot: Rapid Fire!- My Take on the Book: Previously, I reviewed Max Velocity ’s book Contact .   That book was a very good resource for people looking to become familiar with m… Thanks very much to Arctic Patriot for reviewing ‘Rapid Fire!’ Much appreciated brother! There is a comment there right now […]

Kicking off a little “CQB’ controversy

Ok, here is some food for thought and discussion that may well kick of some good comments! I have a ‘pet peeve’ that I will take the opportunity to air here. It’s about ‘CQB’ and what I see being taught out there. I am not a retired SWAT SME (subject matter expert) with a CQB […]

HEAT Movie Shootout!!!

I wanted to draw attention to the HEAT shootout scene because it is excellent, and demonstrates, in a Hollywood way, some break contact drills, initially from a vehicle, then dismounted. HEAT Shootout Scene (This is not the best quality YouTube example, but the good one appears to have been taken down) It a great scene, there is […]

Real Ambush Video & Comments

I am posting this video because it illustrates a lot of points. I remember this happening back when I was working in Baghdad, and I saw the after action review at the time. My intent is not to criticize the actions of the team, but to make constructive comments. Ambush Video Now, I will state […]

Combat Studies Group: The Three Man Team

Combat Studies Group: The Three Man Team: Combat effectiveness – a view from the outside in Years ago while still in uniform, I was selected to take part in a large training…

Case Study: Caches and Searching

It seems like a good interest/history topic to cover some first hand experiences of caches and search procedures in counter terrorist operations. It s a little at variance to what we have mainly been used to since 9/11 in terms of the ‘GWOT’. During my time in the British Army I spent a deal of […]