Sei sulla pagina 1di 6

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.

Learn more

4th Infantry Division in Afghanistan

Small unit tactics is the application of army military doctrine for the combat deployment of
platoons and smaller units in a particular strategic and logistic environment.[1][2][3]

Classical

The composition of a United States Army squad falls into three broad categories: classical,
balanced and combined.

United States Army 'classical' squads are composed of three elements; a command and
support element, a base of fire element, and a maneuver element. The command and
support element could include a squad leader, an assistant squad leader, a medic, a forward
observer and a radio operator or it could be limited to a squad leader. The fire element
consists of a machine gunner and one or two personnel who act as loaders and barrel
changers for the gun and porters for its ammunition and ancillary components. The
maneuver element is composed of troops armed with assault rifles, entrenching tools,
grenades and additional ammunition for the machine gun and tasked with the role of
enabling the safe movement of the fire element by scouting ahead and providing a security
detail.

Balanced

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 a machine gun and protected by assault rifle or submachine gun wielding
ammunition porters or the fire teams could be organized as 'storm' units composed of a
handful of personnel armed with assault rifles reinforced with a squad automatic weapon

and grenade launchers.

Combined

The combined squad is composed of dissimilar fire teams; an RPG team, a fire team and a
sniper team. The RPG team consists of two personnel; one armed with an RPG launcher and
the other porting extra RPGs and providing protection with an assault rifle. The fire team is
composed of two personnel; one carrying a machine gun and the other porting its
ammunition. The sniper team consists of one or two persons, one deploying the weapon,
often a semi-automatic designated marksman rifle as opposed to a true sniper rifle, and the
other acting as spotter and providing close protection.

Combat Strategy and Phases

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 the second element maneuvers
forward to provide covering fire that allows the first element to leapfrog forward. This
process is repeated until the maneuver element is 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 sufficient disruption of
the enemy's control of their defensive front to allow other squads to advance unopposed.
United States Marines squads are arranged into "Buddy Pairs" and will assault in "Buddy
Rushes", ensuring that one Marine is firing at the enemy while the other is maneuvering.

Interim

In this phase the squad consolidates its position by entrenchment, construction of


fortifications, creation of passageways between structures and forward reconnaissance of
surrounding areas. Minor chemical decontamination will commence as seals, respirators
and masks are checked for damage. Body armor will be examined to replace damaged
ceramic plates. Casualties will be treated, evacuated and/or replaced. The squad will use
this period to familiarise itself with its surroundings, dig in to defensible positions, recharge
itself, repair any damage to itself and prepare either for the next offensive movement, or go
on the defensive against a counterattack.

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 machine gun. As the
enemy advances, the small forward element will pull back. When its former position is
overrun the mine will be detonated to distract the attackers, and then the machine gun will
open fire on the attacker's flank. The machine gun 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 fields of fire and call in fire support from supporting units.

References

Y. Todd South (April 11, 2018) This Mattis-directed task force wants to overhaul the
infantry. Hereʼs how it might do that.

`. Colonel Daniel S. Roper, U.S. Army, Retired (2018) Regaining Tactical Overmatch: The
Close Combat Lethality Task Force

b. Bob Scales (November 26, 2018) Mattisʼs Infantry Task Force: Righting ‘A Generational
Wrongʼ
Department of the Army (1992-04-22). "Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad" . Field Manual
Nº 7-8. Washington, DC, USA: globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 20 July 2011.

United States Marine Corps (2011-04) "Fire and Movement"

How the LTTE was 'military' defeated: A Soldier's view [1]


Last edited 2 months ago by I dream of horses

Potrebbero piacerti anche