Basic training part 6
The purpose and scope of recon training:
During the ‘real thing’ recon will be how we survive day after day. Combat training is necessary to prepare us for the unavoidable or self initiated conflicts; recon training is necessary as a lifestyle. Therefore, our focus of training is going to be slanted toward the recon end of the scale. Woodcraft, camo skills, noise discipline and movement skills are what will keep us alive in a military police state or military invasion environment.
The advantage that we have over them is that we have a working knowledge of the land, we have better woodcraft skills and we are a small, highly mobile group. These advantages need to be exploited to there fullest if we hope to survive. In every other way, the military force holds the advantage. They posses incredible amounts of firepower, extensive vehicular mobility and nearly unlimited manpower. None of these things offer them an advantage however, if they can not find their enemy.
The basic doctrine of any guerilla fighter is to force the enemy to fight on your terms. If we attempt to fight a conventional war, we will lose without question. The easiest mistake to make is to try to ‘hold ground’ in the face of a superior force. Yes, the defender has an advantage, but it is small, and we will not be able to counter their firepower. So we must commit ourselves to remaining as mobile as possible. The more we move, and the better we hide, the more difficult we make it for the enemy to determine how many people are in our group, where we are, where we are going and what strengths we have. This means that we can attack the enemy when we want to, and on the ground that we want to, and then disappear again. Only to leave them confused and still lacking a hard target to attack.
This is not to say that camouflage and woodcraft skills are a ‘silver bullet’. But they are things that we can exploit to our advantage. Also, just because you posses great skills in the area of recon does not mean that you will not occasionally end up fighting in less than ideal circumstances. Therefore, recon skills must be accompanied by good combat doctrine to be effective.
Study the techniques of the North Vietnamese, the rebels in Afghanistan and other guerrilla forces fighting a ‘superior’ army. Many of their techniques are worthy of remembering. While it’s easy to succumb to the desire to fight and win right now, we need to remember that long-term survival is the rule of the day.
Part 7