Welcome to the training page.
Before you read this page, read this page.
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Basic fire team drills
*A fire team is made up of 3 men. 2 fire teams are a squad. 4 squads make a platoon.*
As a member of a fire team, you must learn these drills until they become second nature. There will be both hand signals and verbal commands for each drill.
The purpose of these drills is to make it possible for you and your team mates to move as a group, rather than as individuals.
The most basic drill is called the wedge.
This formation is used for patroling in areas where you are uncertain whether or not the enemy is present.
While in this formation, you must maintain a 'safe' distance between you and your team mates. This distance will of course vary depending on terrain, but the following things should always be considered:
- Stay far enough apart and to the side so that one grenade or one machine gun burst could not hit 2 persons at once. (10 yards is good.)
- Stay close enough together to ensure that you will see hand signals or hear verbal commands from the team leader.
While in the wedge formation, if the pointman makes contact with the enemy, he will signal for you to go into the cover postion. If the enemy is to your front, you will move as pictured here:
In this position you are able to to fire upon the enemy without firing past you team mates.
If the enemy is all around you, you might go into the prone covering position, pictured here:
In this position, you are able to cover all directions.
If the enemy is to your front, and you are in the cover position, you may need to move left or right without breaking off from the enemy. This can be done by flanking:
This of course can be done to the right or left. One person at a time moves, starting from the side opposite where you want to go. The benefit of this is that 2 of your men are always providing covering fire, even while you move.
I want to stress again that while performing any of these manuvers, it is critical that you maintain your 'safe spacing' with your team mates. You must never 'bunch up'. Maintain your 10 yard or greater distance at all times!