Training Videos: The Purpose Of Them
I feel it would be useful to post a comment about the purpose of the training videos that I have put up recently. I want to make it clear that I use them to illustrate specific points or training objectives, and not as the all encompassing answer to tactics. I’ve posted videos from the 1960’s, the OBUA (MOUT) training videos yesterday, and they are all full of useful nuggets but also lessons to be learned and sometimes ways not to do things and to learn from.
If I ever get the chance, I’ll make some high speed videos to specifically illustrate the tactics that I am teaching, but I’m not there yet.
A good example is the OBUA video from yesterday. The reality is that these guys are doing a decent job but they need a lot more training, which they will go on to do as they progress towards their operational deployments. They are Reservists in work-up training. It’s easy to be a fly on the wall armchair tactician, keyboard commando, and critique what these guys are doing in a dynamic training environment. “Aha! I’ll get them right now with my super-secret hiding position and my perfect information as I watch them on my computer screen. Those spider holes that luckily I had the foresight to dig on that hill earlier would be great to snipe them from, really give them the run-around….” etc.
What you have to remember when you watch this, or live firing, or any video of troops undergoing training is this:
1) They are training certain objectives for specific phases of warfare.
2) They will be at various stages, or levels, of their training.
3) They will be constrained by boundaries and restrictions imposed upon them by the training area, range safety arcs of fire, or the directing staff. That may be why they are where they are on the ground.
If you have served in the military, you will understand this. If you have not, then I would advise you to take what you can that is of use from the videos, rather than thinking up ways to mess up their day if you were suddenly magically among them with your perfect knowledge and your super-secret hiding position.
It was pointed out to me that when attacking the town in the OBUA video, they did not appear to be spending much time looking for booby traps, or Russian second world war bounding mines. “Aha, I’ll get ’em with one of those then, that I magically have and just put over there for him to run into!” Well, that is not part of their training at this stage, they are working on urban maneuver basics and room clearing up to platoon level in an OBUA environment.
When they went on to pre-deployment training specific to theater, for Iraq or Afghanistan, like these guys did back in 2005, they will have moved to focus on booby traps and IEDs, counter-insurgency tactics and the like, because that is a big part of the threat.
Do you think that if you use a super-secret tactic for real against a regular infantry unit, they won’t learn what you are doing and adapt to counter it? It still may work more than once, depending on their level of training and leadership, but don’t think sitting at your keyboard right now you well be able to be as clever, and act with as much impunity, as things continue. They will adapt, you will need to adapt. Or Die.
And while you sit there in front of your computer thinking how clever you are, those young Joe’s from the 2005 video have seen the elephant, come back, and now they look like this:
Or this:
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My point is this:
Learn, rather than critique. If you need to critique, remember the setting of the training and make it appropriate. These guys in the videos went through the training, and will have learned where they were going wrong. You too should train, and get better.
Live Hard, Die Free.
MV
Well said. What most fail to realize is that by critquing and counter pointing they are simply justifying not training in their own mind. If they already know it all or can pick apart the actions being displayed they are still superior. Even if it is only in their own mind. And for those who didn’t serve or atleast do some level or similar training… shit the F up and learn. Your opinion doesn’t rate.
Skittles
Well said.
The ability of Max to be “constructive” rather than “destructive” is why I trust him. The same can be said of JC Dodge at Mason Dixon Tactical. Rather than piling on about how we fucked that drill, they find what we did right and help us build from there. Not all instructors have these skills.
Max is there a difference between British and American room/building clearing techniques?
Joe Fahy
Joe: that is a big topic. there are minor differences and big similarities. It depends whether you are looking at the basic room clearing or the overall tactics of building assault/clearance. The differences are really in the specifics, whereas the generalities are similar. i.e. you need a cover group to get your breach team to the breach point, they breach, then you have an assault team go in etc. There are a lot of options that can be brought into play – top down, bottom up clearing, for example, how to use cover groups, how to split up/organize your squad. But that is really more about how a leader will deploy his guys for THAT SITUATION, rather than a difference in tactics.
The Brits classic FIBUA/OBUA technique was as described in the post, with 2 man assault teams. The US seems to prefer four man assault teams, which is a difference of specifics – so be flexible. If you don’t have so many guys, it may be all you can afford to clear a floor with 2 guys per room – and if the room blows up on entry at least you only lost 2, not a whole team….
But then it becomes a confusion of approaches – because are you doing an arrest/search op, or are you doing high intensity urban fighting? That is where the US Military seems to confuse the issue, as I have written in detail, with the adoption of the ‘SWAT style’ hostage rescue style tactics sometimes in inappropriate environments i.e. they will not work so well in Fallujah, but they are great for a dawn door kicking search op, if you know what I mean?
Good stuff Max. So easy to armchair QB just about anything sitting behind a keyboard and internet connection. With the wealth of info out there these days (which is a good thing), it’s tough for guys not to feel super tactical and “ready for combat” because they went to a 2 day carbine course and have all of (insert youtube cool guy) speed reload moves memorized. Like you said training takes place in phases and at different levels (individual, team, squad etc). Training progresses through certain levels until some sort of culminating event where it all comes together. If I’m going down a react to sniper lane, I probably won’t be worried about the guy who read “Patriots” who might be hiding in an old fridge turned into a spider hole, ready to pop out with his Mini 14 and vietnam style webgear.
Keep up the good work.
I don’t think most people realize just how difficult it is to take in everything that is going on around you in these situations. Tunnel vision kicks in and what looks obvious to the armchair soldier is not so obvious when it is you – there in the middle of it all. As a former armor officer I think about the fact that I had four sets of eyes on my one vehicle keeping a look out. (We all had clear voice communications as well.)
I know there has been some discussion of “square range” training but if you go out and shoot a 3 Gun event it will quickly drive home the fact that it is very easy to lose an objective view of your “situational awareness.” People fail to engage targets that are right in front of them – it happened to me last month – because I was focusing on more distant steel targets.
Take every opportunity to learn from others and these videos are great way to do it. I would also urge you to try some USPSA (Pistol) or 3 Gun (AR, Shotgun, & Pistol) Yes I know that there are not 100% realistic but it will drive home weapons handling skills, the danger of tunnel vision, and the confusions that is ever present on the battlefield. These events can be humbling. Oh don’t be put off by the “space age” race guns. You can use your basic weapons. I use a 19 year old Colt HBAR. Some younger guys think it is some type of new sniper AR!
Keep reading, learning, and trying!
Spearhead87
Yes, all good points.
And you can also sign up for one of my CRCD classes, and get out in the woods doing actual tactics in a realistic environment with electronic pop-up targets.
Once you have that under your belt, you can progress to the patrolling class.
Just saying…..
And, given that my classes are pretty well booked up to the end of the year, and the only class in January is the Patrol class, if there is sufficient demand I will lay another CRCD class on in maybe late November, December or early January.
I’m avoiding the hunting season the two weeks around Thanksgiving to keep the locals happy and let some of them hunt in peace.
Local, local, local…
Let me know.
Spearhead87-
You said: I don’t think most people realize just how difficult it is to take in everything that is going on around you in these situations. Tunnel vision kicks in and what looks obvious to the armchair soldier is not so obvious when it is you – there in the middle of it all.
Very well put. I was armor branch (19D) and while I didn’t spend that much time in BFVs, I did do more than a little bit of MOUT training, and you’re right. Tunnel vision wants to kick in (and often does), and it is so very hard to keep track of everything- especially when it’s larger than a squad-sized effort.
Throw in smoke, a determined resistance, and maybe even some friendlies with contact of their own -not to mention noncombatants- and one word describes MOUT.
Overwhelming.
Unless a person has been there/done that, there’s just no way they can be expected to understand.
Max-
Excellent post.
Which is why it is so important for those that have “been there, done that” to share those experiences as descriptively as possible. I never saw combat during the time I was in the army and although I have been in law enforcement for seventeen years, I don’t pretend to be prepared for a post collapse society. Not many will be. I am thankful for guys like Max who are willing to throw the information out there because there are people that need this sort of information and look forward to it every day! Thanks Max!
I think it’s a shame the previously mentioned “Fat Assed Preppers” have tuned you out, Max. They’d surely benefit from watching the last two part reservist training and imagining the lads paying a visit to their place instead of the training village. What could the average prepper do to keep even 10-15 semi-trained fellows from imposing their will on a small stead like that? Not much without serious training and practice, and even then….
I also noticed the lads seldom used full auto fire, so nearly any group could replicate what they did with weapons most of us have.
Thanks for these.
Daniel
Max, thanks for these excellent training videos! So many people don’t respect the basics of small unit tactics. I’ve been watching some videos of MOUT/CQB in Syria and I can’t help but wonder if there are some good lessons learned from those videos. In your opinion, are there any MOUT/CQB lessons to be learned from the fighting in Syria?