The purpose of this site is to function as an
information platform where different solutions for room entry can be studied
closely.
It will be possible to learn more about Close Quarter Battle,
to build a strong foundation to efficiently conduct room combat.
This does not provide a standard solution but it is a source
of inspiration.
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CLOSE QUARTER BATTLE
Battles that
occur at close quarters, such as within a room or hallway, must be planned
and executed with care. Use room clearing techniques when the tactical
situation calls for "room to room clearing" with enemy combatants and non-combatants.
Units must train, practice, and rehearse the techniques until each team
member
operates smoothly. Each operator must understand the principles of room
clearing, such as surprise, speed, and controlled violence of action.
Surprise Surprise is the key to a successful assault at close quarters. The entry team clearing
the room must achieve the element of surprise, if only for seconds, by deceiving,
distracting, or startling the enemy. Sometimes stun grenades are used to
achieve the surprise. Surprise is when your entry is not compromised.
Speed Speed
provides a measure of security to the entry team. Speed allows the
operators to use the first few vital seconds provided by surprise to their
maximum advantage. Speed is moving only as fast as you can shoot.
Violence of
action Violence of action
eliminates or neutralizes the enemy while giving the least chance
of inflicting friendly casualties. Violence of action is not limited to the
application of firepower only. It involves an operators mindset of complete
domination. Each of the principles of precision room clearing has a
synergistic relationship to the others.
If you don’t combine speed and surprise you can’t have violence of action.
BASIC
Most missions will require using a combination of stealth and dynamic
techniques. Stealth being a slow and quiet approach to the area to be
cleared.
When all are in place and if not compromised, you switch to dynamic
techniques with speed, surprise and violence of action. Room clearing is
generally accomplished using a four man team. Entry does not always require
four operators. If a specific room is too small or there are less than four
operators, the room may be cleared with less. However, never clear a room
with less than two operators and 1 to provide backup. Choose the entry
technique based on the mission, layout of the room and the teams ability.
The terms point of domination refers to the two corners of the room assigned
to the numbers 1 and 2 operators. These points allow the team to gain
control of the objective. Each team member is assigned a different, but
interlocking field of fire / AOR (Area Of Responsibility). This ensures
mutual supporting fires. CQB is dynamic in nature. When completed with
precision, it overwhelms the enemy and allows the team to move on to the
next objective very quickly. When a room is cleared, the exiting procedure
for leaving the room varies depending on the location of the entry point
Read systems
and no read systems The two different types of entry options are read systems and no read
systems. In no read systems the direction to move in the room is
predetermined. In read systems you have to watch the operator in front of
you and then go to the opposite direction:
Predetermined
Some teams use the technique of predesignating which way each man will move
after entering a room. For example. First man always goes left, the second
always goes right, or vice a versa.
The path of least resistance
When using a doorway as the point of entry, the path of least resistance is
determined initially based on the way the door opens; if the door opens
inward he plans to move away from the hinges. If the door opens outward, he
plans to move toward the hinged side. Upon entering, the size of the room,
enemy situation, and furniture or other obstacles that hinder or channel
movement become factors that influence the number 1 man's direction of
movement. The point of using this technique is to get the first man into the
room as quickly as possible to allow him to clear the "fatal funnel" quickly
and allow the rest of the team to make a smoother entry rather than keep
them bogged up at the fatal funnel.
Immediate threat
Another method is to allow the first man to pick his direction based on
immediate threat. The partner then takes the opposite side of the room. This
can only be done once the assault has been initiated.
Buttonhook
First operator always make a turn around the doorframe,
clearing a large portion of the room while entering. The second operator
then moves across the doorway and clears the hard corner. If the first
operator sees a threat when he enters he will move to it and the second
operator will take the opposite AOR of the room.
The Stack up
Once the approach to the room or building is completed, the team stacks in a
single file to ease the flow into the room, parallel to the outside wall.
Muzzle discipline and awareness is vital. The first operator provides
security on the entry point. This point is normally a door. The second
operator provides security to the front of the team. The number 3 and 4
operator cover opposite threat areas in the stack, and if none exist the
weapon is placed is in readyposition. Operators shut get
as close as possible tothe operator in front of him.
A support element shut cover the rear of the entry team.
When the situation allows, it is important to ensure that each team member
is prepared to enter the entry point to the room before the assault. This is
achieved while in the stack position.
When operator number 4 is ready, he squeezes the shoulder of operator number
3 with the non firing hand. This action continues up the line. When the
signal reaches operator number 1, he knows that the rest of the team are
ready to follow him into the room. If the team decides to use a flash
grenade the number 2 man shows this grenade to number 1 man instead of
squeezing the shoulder. (The grenade is shown to the front man, by holding
it up in front of his eyes, while he continues to provide cover).
If someone inside opens the door before
this sequence is completed, the team will
immediately enter the room.
If the team uses the technique of predesignating, the operators stack
tight with the weapon oriented in the direction he will move when he enters
the room. If he is to clear to the left, his weapon will be on the left side
of the operator in front of him. This ensures rapid target acquisition
without sweeping his weapon across the body of the man in front.
BREACHING
A part of room clearing
is the ability to gain access quickly to the rooms to be cleared. Breaching
techniques vary based on the type of construction encountered and the types
of munitions available to the breaching element. Techniques range from
simple mechanical breaching to complex, specialized demolitions. A closed
door is considered locked in all cases when a breacher is present, assuming
the breacher has the means available to defeat the lock. Once the other team
members are stacked, the breacher moves to the door and breaches it on the
signal of operator number 1. The brecher then steps back in order to clear
the path for the team. If no breaching equipment is available, a
quick attempt to open the door, from the side may be made. If the door is
locked, kick it open. However, this should be the last choice for defeating
a locked door. Kicking generally requires more than one attempt to defeat
the lock. After the first attempt, the breacher's chances of drawing fire
through the door are significantly increased.
The entire team enters
the room as quickly and smoothly as possible and clears the doorway
immediately. If possible the team moves from a covered or concealed position
already in their entry order. Ideally, the team arrives and passes through
the entry point without having to stop.
The door is the focal point of anyone in the room. It is known as the fatal
funnel , because it focuses attention at the precise point where the
individual team members are the most vulnerable. Moving into the room
quickly reduces the chance anyone will be hit by enemy fire directed at the
doorway. The team may choose to create a diversion (use a stun-hand grenade)
to momentarily distract the defender while it enters and achieves domination
of the room.
On the signal to go, the clearing team moves through the door quickly and
takes up positions inside the room that allow it to completely dominate the
room and eliminate the threat. Team members stop movement only after they
have cleared the door and reached their designated point of domination. Each
member of the team must know his sector of fire (AOR) and how his sector
overlaps and links with the sectors of the other team members. Team members
do not move to the point of domination and then engage their targets. They
engage targets as they move to their designated point. However, engagements
must not slow movement to their points of domination. Team members may shoot
from as short a range as 1 to 2 inches. They engage the most immediate enemy
threats first. Examples of immediate threats are enemy personnel who are:
-Armed and prepared to
return fire immediately.
-Blocking movement to the position of domination.
-Within arm's reach of a clearing team member.
-Within 3 to 5 feet of the breach point.
CLEAR A
CONNECTED ROOM
Open door:
If the door to the connected room is open, and a threat is identified in the
room, it may be engaged from the cleared room. The team stacks in preparation
for entry into the next room. When the team leader declares the first room
clear, the team will automatically stack on the entrance to the next room.
If the team is spread out in the room, crossing the doorway would not only
place a soldier in the fatal funnel unnecessarily, it could also mask the
cover fire other team members. Therefore it might be necessary to stack up
on both sides of the door.
Closed door:
Standard room clearing SOP.
CLEAR A FLOOR
When clearing a single
floor complex, the principles discussed in room clearing and connecting room
clearing are used. The only added features are the hallways and an
additional teams and faseline.
CLEAR A STAIRWAY
When multilevel
structures are encountered, stairs become an added obstacle that will
require manoeuvre. One of the more dangerous stair situations that a team is
likely to encounter is a stairway with a turn between floors. Besides the
blind spot at the turn, these stairways often have a loft that overlooks the
bottom portion of the stairway. If the team is ascending, the number 1
soldier (as always) provides security to his direct front. Soldier number 2
secures the top row of stairs. Soldier number 3 secures the loft area. If a
loft area does not exist, soldier number 3 secures the top of the second row
of stairs. If the team is descending, each soldier has the same area of
responsibility, except that the bottom of the stairway is secured, as
opposed to the top.
Stairs with
split level landings
that have a space allowing one to see up through to the top from below
should be cleared as follows:
The first operator stands on the first level looking up covering the space
between the stairs as the second operator takes Point and clears ahead of
the Train to the next landing, where he stops and also takes up an upward
cover position. The train moves up the stairs past the first operator who
falls in at the rear. He is now the last man. He will fall in walking
backwards covering the rear. Once the train reaches the second operators
position, the operator in front of the train takes over the point and moves
to the next landing while the second operator now covers the space above the
moving Train. During movement, the Train always moves close to the wall,
under the staircase, to stay out of sight and enemy-fire. Those covering the
movement must stand in view so that they can see through the spaces to the
top and bottom of the stairs.
Internal Stairs
with no gab
between the stairs are normally cleared using a l man clearance. An operator
will clear ahead of the Train.
External stairs
primarily are located on a main superstructure. The best method for clearing
stairs is with a four man clearance team. The standard operating procedure
is as follows: Left, right. forward, and back. The number 1 man always
clears left, number 2 man always clears right. Number 3 man in the stack
clears forward. The number 4 man clears back. This way 360 degrees of
security is maintained.
COMMUNICATION
When the room has been
dominated, communication is required between the team members in order to
clear the room quickly and move on to the next objective. Whether scanning
the room or providing security on possible threats, the team members cannot
shift their atention around the room to ascertain the current situation. To
solve this problem, the team leader calls for a status when he determines
that no immediate threat exists. This status or situation report consists of
each clearing operators current condition and any possible threat in his
sector. The number 1 operator states his situation to the rest of the team.
The number 2 operator follows with his report and so on down the line. The
team leader absorbs all this information and then gives directions based on
the information. The conversation should be at a level that each team member
may hear, but no louder. If operator number 1 fails to sound off, operator
number 2 states his status. If operator number 1 is down, the team will know
it. If soldier number 1 fails to sound off due to a mental lapse, he may
give a SITREP once the other team members have given theirs.
Read more of this in SIGNALS found on the menu on the top of this page.
SECURE UNKNOWNS
The clearing team
secures and identifies all personnel found in a room or building that is
being cleared. Until identified, they approach non combatants in the same
manner as combatants.
Read more of this in HAND 2 HAND found on the menu on the
top of this page
GENERAL
RULES
No matter what the room configuration, there are a few rules that should
always be adhered to. These rules include the following:
Know that it does not matter if the person in front of you goes the wrong
way when entering the room. Just go the opposite way of the operator in
front of you and it will work out.
Enter the room as
quickly and smoothly as possible and do not waste movements. Remember smooth
is fast. The faster each team member picks up its initial point of aim, the
more difficult it becomes for the defender. Even a prepared defender can be
caught off guard.
Clear (do not stop) the
fatal funnel. The number 3 and number 4 soldiers are especially prone to
stopping in the funnel.
Ensure that the doorway
is completely cleared before assuming a final position in the room.
Stay focused. Never
stop scanning your sector for targets unless:
You identify a threat in your sector. This threat could be an open door
leading to an uncleared room, a person in the room other than one of the
team members, an obstacle that cannot be cleared visually from your
position, or anything else that you may determine as a threat. If such a
threat exists, provide security for the team by covering it with your
weapon. You are ordered by the team leader to perform another task.
Ensure that if you fall
down while entering the room, you stay down and do not move. Do not get up
until a team member places his hands on you and lifts you up. If a team
member arbitrarily gets up, he may become an impediment to the rest of the
team's movements. Another possibility is that he would rise into the path of
a team member's bullet.
Rehearse communication.
As stated above, speed and momentum will make or break this type of action.
Poor communication techniques will slow your building clearing to a crawl.
Ensure that each team
member knows the procedures for each position. After the first room is
cleared in a multi room objective, a team member may find that he is in a
different position in the stack than when the assault started.
The team leader should
always attempt to avoid being the number 1 soldier when entering a room.
This can normally be accomplished, but in some situations it will be
unavoidable.
Ensure that you never
enter a room alone. Two personnel are the minimum room-clearing team. If two
soldiers are entering a room (either due to the size of the room or
attrition), they should assume the number 1 and number 2 soldiers'
positions.
Ensure that you never
flag a fellow team member. Flagging is defined as pointing your weapon at or
sweeping your weapon across another team member. Muzzle awareness, at all
times, is imperative.
Short
Reminder: -Move tactically and
silently while securing the corridors to the room to be cleared. Carry only
the minimum amount of equipment.
-Arrive undetected at the entry to the room in the correct order of entrance
and be prepared to enter on a single command.
-Enter quickly and dominate the room. Move immediately to positions that
allow complete control of the room and provide unobstructed fields of fire.
-Eliminate the enemy in the room by fast, accurate fire.
-Gain and maintain immediate control of the situation and all personnel in
the room.
-Confirm whether enemy casualties are wounded or dead. Disarm and segregate
the wounded. Search all enemy casualties. Handcuff everyone.
-Perform a cursory search of the room. Determine if a detailed search is
required.
-Evacuate all wounded and any friendly dead.
-Mark the room as cleared using a simple, clearly identifiable marking
according to the unit SOP.
-Maintain security and be prepared to react to more enemy contact at any
moment. Do not neglect rear security.
