Fundamentals of Close Quarters Combat

The Ten Fundamentals of Close Quarters Combat address actions to take while moving along confined corridors to the room to be cleared, while preparing to enter the room, during room entry and target engagement, and after contact. Team members must:

1. Move tactically and silently while securing the corridors to the room to be cleared. Carry only the minimum amount of equipment. Rucksacks and loose items carried by team members can tire them, slow their pace, and cause noise.
2. Arrive undetected at the entry in the correct order of entrance, prepared to enter on a single command.
3. Enter quickly and dominate the room. Move immediately to positions that allow complete control of the room and provide unobstructed fields of fire.
4. Eliminate all enemy within the room by the use of fast, accurate, and discriminating fires.
5. Gain and maintain immediate control of the situation and all personnel in the room.
6. Confirm whether enemy has been neutralized.
7. Immediately perform a cursory search of the room. Determine if a detailed search is required.
8. Treat your wounded if possible or have them go to respawn immediately.
9. Mark the room as cleared, using simple, clearly identifiable markings in accordance with your team SOP.
10. Maintain security at all times and be prepared to react to more enemy contact at any moment. Do not neglect rear security.

Individual Tactical Movement in MOUT Environment

Individual Movement and Weapons Control:

1. When moving, team members hold their weapons with the muzzle pointed in the direction of travel. They keep the butt of the rifle in the pocket of their shoulder, with the both eyes open looking through the optic or down the sights. Team members swing the muzzle with their head so that the rifle is always aimed where they are looking.

2. Team members avoid "flagging" or leading, with the weapon when working around windows, doors, corners, or where obstacles must be negotiated. Flagging the weapon gives advance warning to anyone looking in the soldier’s direction, making it easier for an enemy to grab the weapon.

3. Team members should keep weapons safe (selector switch on SAFE and index finger outside of trigger guard) until hostile target is identified and engaged. After a team member clears his sector of all targets, he returns his weapon to the SAFE position.

4. If a team member has a malfunction with his weapon during close quarters combat, he should immediately drop to one knee and conduct immediate action to reduce the malfunction. Once the weapon is operational, there is no need to return to the standing position to engage targets unless the team must move to another firing position. Valuable time is saved by resuming target engagement from the kneeling position. When other members of the team see another drop to one knee, they know immediately that he has a malfunction and that they should engage in his sector.

Ready Positions: The two weapon ready positions are low ready and high ready.

1. Low ready position: The butt of the weapon is placed firmly in the pocket of the shoulder with the barrel pointed down at a 45 degree angle. This is the safest carry position. It should be used in the fire team stack or when preparing to clear "High-Low".

2. High ready position: The butt of the weapon is held under the armpit, with the barrel pointed slightly up, keeping the front sight assembly under the line of sight but within the gunner’s peripheral vision. To engage a target, the gunner pushes the weapon out as if to bayonet the target. When the weapon leaves the armpit, he slides it up into the firing shoulder. This technique is best suited for the lineup outside the door.

Tactical Movement of Fire Team and Squad in MOUT Environment

General: The preferred technique is to move using bounding overwatch. Normally the team will move as two elements: a movement element and an overwatch element. When necessary, these elements or parts of them exchange roles. If moving in small elements, there may be a designated overwatch element.

Key Points to Consider:

1. Elements moving by themselves or infiltrating may not have support elements.
2. The team leader determines when to rotate elements during movement.
3. The team will use a covered and concealed route whenever possible. Move through or behind buildings, and along walls. Avoid streets, alleys, and other danger areas unless necessary.
4. The team makes the best use of cover and concealment when moving, moving in the open only when ROE dictates or the situation requires.

Key points to consider while moving through a street:

1. Use smoke, rubble and debris for cover and concealment.
2. Clear intersecting streets and alleyways in similar techniques used for the clearing of intersecting hallways.
3. The team will cross the urban danger areas using the greatest cover, concealment, speed, and overwatch. An element normally crosses as a dispersed group at the same time but METT-T conditions may cause the element leader to decide to cross in buddy teams or individually.
4. Always stay at least one meter away from buildings. Rounds that strike buildings tend to follow the walls making the one meter closest to buildings and walls a dangerous area.

Clearing Hallways

Clearing a "T" Intersection:

The Serpentine Technique:
This technique Should be used in narrow hallways. The number 1 man provides security to the front. His sector of fire includes any enemy who appear at the far end of the hall or from any doorways near the end. The number 2 and number 3 men cover the left and right sides of the number 1 man and are positioned either one step forward or rearward of the 1 man. Their sectors of fire include any targets in nearby doorways on either side of the hall, covering the number 1 man’s flanks. The number 4 man provides rear protection against any enemy soldiers suddenly appearing behind the clearing team.

The Rolling T Technique:
This technique is primarily used to clear wide hallways. The number 1 and number 2 men move abreast, covering the opposite side of the hallway from the one they are walking on. The number 3 man covers the far end of the hallway from a position behind the number 1 and number 2 men, firing between them. Once again, the number 4 man provides rear security.

Hallway Intersection Clearance:
Hallway intersections are dangerous areas and should be approached cautiously. When a team clears the hallway entry point, corridors, and intersecting hallways, the number 1 man squats down to a low position at the corner. Simultaneously the number 2 man moves up to a high position at the corner while looking over the number 1 man. The number 3 man steps out and pulls frontal security, while the number 4 man maintains rear security.

1. At execution, the number 1 man steps off and this keys the number 2 man to do the same simultaneously.
2. The sectors are split down the middle of the hallway. Number 1 man secures the far side as the number 2 man secures the near side.
3. After the sectors are cleared, the number 2 man squeezes the shoulder of the number 1 man. This tells him that the number 2 man is finished firing. Only then will the number 1 man pick up and continue to move down the hallway.

Clearing Stairwell Technique:

1. The #1 man pulls security on the highest point he can see/engage .
2. The #2 man moves backwards up the stairs on the inside with the #3 man to a point that he can see/engage the next landing, where he turns around and continues to move up to the next landing.
3. The #3 man moves up the stairs on the outside with the #2 man and engages the threat on the immediate landing.
4. The #4 man moves up the stairs with the #1 man, on the squeeze the #2 man turns around to engage the next landing.
5. The flow continues with the #2 man picking up the sector the #1 man had. The #3 man picks up where the #2 man was. The #4 man picks up where the #3 man was. The #1 man picks up where the #4 man was.
6. Most stairwells will require a second team.
7. The plan should be flexible enough to allow the first fighting element that finds an unsecured / unobserved / under defended stairwell, that has a requirement to bring the fight upward, to immediately take advantage of this opportunity. Fighting uphill is had enough let alone being channeled by stairway walls.

Support by Fire

Fire support and other assistance to enhance the advance of the assault force are provided by an overwatch force. This assistance includes:

• Suppressing/ obscuring enemy gunners within objective building (s) and adjacent structures
• Isolating the objective building(s) fires to prevent enemy withdrawal, reinforcement, or counterattack.
• Destroying enemy positions with direct-fire weapons.
• Securing cleared portions of the objective.
• Providing replacements for the assault force.

The size of the overwatch force is determined by:

• Type and size of objective building(s).
• Adjacent terrain—open or covered approaches.
• Organization and strength of enemy defenses—what firepower is required to suppress/obscure enemy gunner.

Depending on the situation, the overwatch force may consist of only one infantry fire team, with support gunner, to support another fire team’s assault. In situations involving a larger assault force, may be required to support movement and assault by an adjacent squad size elements. Upon seizure of objective buildings, the assault force reorganizes and may be required to provide overwatching fires for the displacement or assault by the overwatching force.

Each weapon is assigned a target or area to cover. Individual small arms place fires on likely enemy weapon positions—loopholes, windows, roof areas. Snipers are best employed in placing accurate fire through loopholes or engaging long-range targets.

Key Tasks for Support by Fire

• Every weapon must have a primary and alternate sector of fire
• Must have a primary and secondary position, that covers his sector unless directed otherwise
• SAWs are suppressive fire weapons they suppress known and suspected enemy positions.
• Leaders should control fires of SAWs not the gunners.
• There are distinct phases of rates of fire
a) Initial heavy (cyclic) volume to gain fire superiority
b) Slow the rate (sustained low sustained) to conserve ammo while still preventing effective fire as the assault moves forward.
c) Increase the rate (Rapid) as the assault force nears the objective
d) Lift and or shift to targets of opportunity.

• All vocal commands to change rates of fire are accompanied simultaneously by hand and arm signals
• Use attention getters (whistles, smoke, pyro, chemlite, flashlights etc.) to alert every one of the upcoming commands.
• Commands
a) Cyclic
b) Rapid
c) Sustained
d) Watch and shoot
e) Increase
f) Decrease
g) Lift fire
h) Shift to sector two
i) Cease fire

• The attention signal does not mean stop firing to hear the command there should never be a lull in fire
• All commands must be repeated up and down the line
• Leaders ensure commands are followed
• Shift and shut down fires by teams or squads instead of whole line at once
• Every SBF must have back up for the SAWs
a) Multiple riflemen engaging
b) 40mm BB showers