Firefight video and thoughts

[Matt In Oklahoma]

http://www.tactical-life.com/online/news/us-army-soldiers-from-101st-airborne-ambushed-in-kunar-province-afghanistan-helmet-cam-video/?hp=news_title

Forget the monday morning call to duty gamers quaterbacking (which I almost did) and just try and apply this to you and your situation, family, friends, group etc in what would need to be done in a bad situation, wether moving out of the kill zone in a gang shooting at the mall or being in SHTF civil disruption conflict where you gotta bug.

my productive notes/thoughts on this:

Bounding, the leapfrog, wether with 2 people or 50 teams it is the same concept. Remember, last man out taps the shoulder of the first man encountered. Then the first man encountered knows it is time for him to move and no one was left behind. Something to be practiced. Note the 2 miles and 20 minutes carrying 40-50lbs of gear. Gotta be in shape and hopefully it wont be that extreme but who knows, one could find themselves carrying a small child/grandchild weighing 40-50lbs couldnt they?
This is also discussed and shown here and is a well done demo of how to train if you have a place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wznj0B9V4lc&feature=channel_video_title

Even if you dont run outside then go into your house and do a dry fire exercise (Safely)

Funnels: valleys, draws, doorways, tunnel entrances, car doorways etc. = bad places=death

Controlled fire: They didn't dump the whole mag trying to suppress the enemy. Jump out, fire a few then back in. Keeps their heads down. Gotta be in shape enough to control breathing for the shot.

Leaders/Officers: They were busy calling for fire, getting grids etc. (Civilian Leaders need to be looking for outs/exits, laying down the lead, calling 911, figuring out how to ID themselves to other friendlies such as responders or other CCWs)
Sub Leaders/NCOs: ( AKA- spouses, older children, pre-designated individuals or whoever didnt freeze up on the first incoming round) It's their job to get everyone moving, control fire teams and do an accountability and gear check

OODA- Observe-Orient-Decide-Act
As you see there isnt a lot of time to get thru the ooda loop. Training and action will prevail. Indecisiveness causes death. Bad decisions will happen, dont dwell, dont fear, just do. Dont be so analytical that you fall apart when it goes bad. I see it in combat, fights, action shooting, medical emergencies and other training. Just do the best you got for that day.

[Lowdown3]

Excellent, thank you for posting this Matt!

Notice also how after fatigue and exhaustion sets in, things start to break down....

The Importance of physical fitness if TSHTF.... I heard that somewhere before ;)

[WiseOwl]

Wow, I hope I am never thrown in a situation like this. I have never had any "formal" training (other than playing paintball or bb gun wars as a kid and that was the same game, dodge the thing that will hurt when it hits you). These soldiers are lucky that the bad guys were bad shots, other wise they seemed to be sitting ducks. Luckily there was that boulder field which looked to have some good cover. In a PAW situation I think the "bad guys" will be a lot closer and there may not be as much cover. I guess if I was traveling with my wife and 2 boys (hopefully older boys, not babies) that at least one of us would have some good firepower. But, unless I am with a group with "sense" , in a scenario like this, I would be done.

LD3, that video put a lot into perspective for me. Running with a BOB or a "scout" pack isnt easy at all. Especially if you are sprinting, G the hell OOD with rounds wizzin by. That prone position looks like it would give you an easier breather being stretched out like that instead of crouched or concealed behind a tree, etc. Good points man.

I will tell you this, from watching your videos on the SP page, it has really hit me hard. You hit it from so many different angles (for the common man, not some uber-tacticool armchair video game blogger.) That I appreciate sir. As much as I put my effort and time into preps, I think I need to hit my training 10 times as much. Man, I gotta get to a campout and learn from yall in person.

Thanks man.

Wise Owl

[Hawkeye]

Lots of things to pick up from that vid, but I'll be honest....the first things that entered my mind were.... Why is a reporter calling out incoming fire and having to tell them to move? Why werent they figuring that out and doing it on their own? Where were the Squad leaders? Platoon Sgt? Platoon Leader? Most of them seemed to not have much of an idea what to do, other than bunch up and hunker behind cover (getting to cover is the right move when taking fire mind you, but you dont bunch up. one PRG or mortar round inthe right spot...and there goes a big chunk of your team). At least someone called in for air support. If they had been up against a halfway decently trained and equipped force, they would have been in big trouble before the air support could get there. Mind you, this is all just perspective just from whats seen in the video and obviously doesnt capture the entire situation.

Again, complete Monday morning QB'ing on my part, but my uncle and a couple of former Sgt's and one particular LT of mine would have been having a complete hissy fit......

I could be completely delusional as well..... :eek:


As mentioned though.... working and training in and with your gear and weapons, co-ordinated movement and fire, disciplined fire, effective cover, physical conditioning, etc..., are all VERY important things to learn and do NOW.

[stapler]

That was just an ugly scene no matter how you cut it: Even if they were behaving the way I thought they should have, that loose scrabble has to be murder to maneuver on...

(I'm not ex-military... I just expected more than diving for cover and bunching up like they did... I say this knowing I am exposing myself to the "you don't know, you haven't been there" comments but there it is...)

[protus]

i saw one or two guys try and "lead" yelling to move, pointing where... but when the smaller groups ( 3-4 guys) bunched up..that line of communication/leadership broke down into
" WHAT...WHERE.... HUH.....it safe here behind the big rock,,,,,"

i get the impression that this was a larger force ( 20+ or more guys) 2 platoons or more maybe.... and they were "bounding" by groups. Which is why the chain of command may have broken down so fast.


as to the camera/news guy.
prolly not his 1st combat rodeo and doesnt wanna end up in a bag...so he's being that set of eyes that isnt looking down a sight tunnel vision style....

[max velocity]

Hi, well it's painful, I have so much to say. Actually, I watched a bit of the videos, but without audio, cos I am at work, but enough to get the idea.

Well, is it out of line to promote my own product? Bottom of the page, there is an Ad, for a book called 'Contact!". It's all in there, honestly, all these tactics, all the stuff you need to know and do. I basically downloaded my brain. I wrote the book basically out of memory from years of training and operations. Take a look at it, if you don't mind, and get back to me with any questions. Happy to discuss. Thanks.