Small unit tactics
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Small unit tactics is the application of military doctrine for the combat employment of platoons and smaller units in a particular strategic and logistic environment.
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[edit] Squad tactics
[edit] Squad structure
Squads fall into three broad categories; classical, balanced and combined.
Classical squads are composed of three elements; a command and support element, a base of fire element, and a manoeuvre element. The command and support element could be inclusive of a squad leader, a medic, a foreward observer and a radio operator or it could be limited to a squad leader. The fire element consists of a gunner that would operate a light machine gun and one or two personnel who would act as loaders and barrel changers for the gun and porters for its ammunition and ancillary components. The manoeuvre element would be composed of a handful of troops armed with a main battle rifle, entrenchment tools, grenades and additional ammunition for the lmg and tasked with the role of enabling the safe movement of the lmg by scouting ahead and providing a security detail for movement of the fire element.
Balanced squads are composed of two or three fire teams coupled with a command and support element. The fire teams could either be standard base of fire elements organized around an lmg and protected by assault rifle or submachine gun wielding ammunition porters or the fire teams could be organized as sturm units composed of a handful of personnel armed with assault rifles reinforced with a squad automatic weapon and grenade launchers.
The Combined squad is composed of dissimilar fire teams; an rocket team , a fire team and a sniper team. The rpg team consists of two personnel; one armed with a rocket launcher and the other porting extra rounds and providing protection with an assault rifle. The fire team is composed of two personnel; one carrying a squad support weapon and the other porting its ammunition. The sniper team would consist of one or two persons, one deploying the weapon, often a semi-automatic squad marksmanship weapon as opposed to a true sub-moa bolt action sniper weapon with free floating barrel, and the other acting as his shot's effect spotter.
[edit] Assault
The two major techniques of squad assault are bounded fire and advancing under the cover of suppressive fire of supporting units. Bounded fire entails having one element of the squad provide covering fire and field obscuration while another element manoeuvres forward to in turn provide covering fire that would allow the other unit to leapfrog forward. This process would be repeated until the manoeuvre element was in grenade range of the enemy positions. Advancing under the cover of supporting units requires the squad to stealthily advance towards the enemy position from a weakly held sector after the enemy has been suppressed by overwhelming fire. Once the squad has closed with the enemy it uses grenades and squad automatic fire to engage the enemy this allows a sufficient disruption of the enemy control of their defensive front to allow other squads to advance unopposed.
[edit] Interim
In this phase the squad will consolidate its position by entrenchment, construction of hastily assembled barriers, creation of passage ways between structures and forward recce of surrounding areas. Minor chemical decontamination will commence as seals, respirators and masks are checked for damage. Body armour will be examined to replace shattered plates. Casualties will be medically treated , evacuated and or replaced. In essence the squad will use this period to familiarize itself to its surroundings, dig in to defensible positons, recharge itself, repair any damage to itself and prepare either for the next offensive, movement or to go on the defensive against a counter attack.
[edit] Defensive
In the defensive an isolated squad will allow a small element to hold a weak, easily evacuated position behind a remote detonated mine flanked by a non-firing crew served weapon. As the enemy advances the squad's small forward element will pull back, when its former position is over run the mine will be detonated to distract the attackers and then the crew served weapon will open up on its flanks. The crew served weapon will then switch to engage and suppress the tail of the enemy assault as the rest of the squad manoeuvres against its dislocated and exposed flanks which have been pulled forward from their defensive line to support the head of the assault. In the defensive a squad with a secure means of communication will fix the enemy in interlocked field of fires and call in indirect fire support from nearby units and available ordinance platforms.
