System A are your ground level CQB drills and techniques.  This system is meant to teach you your first steps in working inside of a CQB environment both alone and as a team.  The drills and techniques you will learn are meant to be a guideline for you to have a strong CQB baseline.  Mastering these techniques and learning all of the details that are involved with getting them done correctly should never be overlooked and are still practiced and utilized to this day within the team.  This step in the system will involve a lot more thinking and can lead to a lot of frustration due to the amount of process involved in each step.  Practicing this will be key in the longevity of your skill set, because these can be very perishable if not practiced routinely.

TECHNIQUES

 

DOOR PIE

 

CONCEPT

The idea is to take as many threats out as you can before entering the room and exposing yourself.  This is one of the most important concepts that has to be practiced routinely.  It is very tough to accomplish under pressure and can be a very perishable skill set.  One of the techniques used in pieing the door is rolling the gun.  Rolling the gun as you scan the room is the best way to maneuver your weapon on target without exposing your self to much to a threat.  The first man entering the room should always button hook, turning 180 degrees as he maneuvers around the door frame.  The largest threat to you after pieing the door is going to come from the side you were not able to see.  Without taking care of that corner you may leave your whole team exposed to whatever threat there may be.

EXECUTION 

  1. When approaching a door roughly around 10ft away, begin scanning what is visible inside the room.
  2. While using the door frame as a visual reference and protection begin to “roll the gun” and visually inspect as much of the room as possible before making entry.
  3. Keep a smooth consistent pace while scanning the room,  will help preventing your teammates from tripping up.
  4. After viewing 70-80% of the room,  button hook (180) into the opposite corner that was unseen before entering.
  5. Try to time your foot work so you can pop into the room instantly at the last possible second.
 

BLOCKERS 

Blockers.jpg
 

CONCEPT

Moving through and around close quarters environment being able to cover off angles while focusing on breach/objective, maximizing fire power minimizing target saturation covering teammates weak sides and keeping team mates together.  Team mates must be aware of their current position and be able to shift and pick up weak side angles in order to cover the primary and rest of the team. This can be applied to different screnarios such has door/entry breach , redzones, moving across hallways basically anywhere the team will have a blind side that needs cover.

EXECUTION 

Blocker is normally the 2nd man in the stack behind the primary,  he will shift a few steps offset from the stack while trailing the primary making sure not to muzzle flag in front of the stack. When breaching a room , a blocker will set security outside the door frame protecting/”blocking” the team during entry from enemy fire.  The set blocker will wait for a shoulder or make sure to maintain awareness that the rest of team as entered before entering himself.  This movement is initiated normally at the start of any stack formation which is almost always en route to a breach point. (door, hallway, cave, hut , etc).  *Blockers (roaming) can also be used in large out door areas*

 

ROOM ENTRY WITH TEAM 

 

CONCEPT

Moving team through close quarters environment and/or entering unknown entrance (door, hole, cave, hut, etc) while maintaining 360 awareness.  Moving in a 6 person stack allows for maximum coverage/firepower without being to crowded or under gunned.  Each man must be aware that every position in the stack has a specific job and that stack position will constantly be changing to maintain fluidity through out the current environment.  With all members focusing on their individual tasks while understanding it is in direct correlation with their teammates tasks it will allow the team to move without question.  When this becomes reflex,  mental and physical fatigue is drastically reduced.

EXECUTION 

  1. First man in stack (primary) controls the tempo and direction,  his main concern will be focused straight ahead scanning for enemy and entrance points.  He will be PIE’ing any entrances in sight.
  2. second man in stack (blocker) becomes a buddy team with the first man by stepping off the stack slightly and providing the first man with an extra set of eyes/gun.   Be sure to slightly trail the primary or else your muzzle may flag ahead of him and alert enemies.
  3. third man in stack is technically the 2nd  man in stack ,  the reason for this is because the “original” second man has become the blocker.  This third man must be aware that the block is offset from the stack and must move up the the primary and shoulder tap to let him know he is now there and ready for any breaches upcoming.
  4. fourth man in stack is considered outward security, scanning toward the teams weak side (away from the wall)
  5. fifth man in stack is also considered outward security but is more concerned with keeping the 6th man informed and moving with the rest of the team.
  6. sixth man in stack is rear security and must keep his head on a swivel and constantly giving glance behind the stack to check for enemy contact

NOTES

  • protecting the your teammates is the main goal of the stack,  if that is the first thought on your mind all of the positions and movements will become reflex and second nature.
  • the stack never moves unless a hand tap is initiated from the last man going up the line, basically you never move forward unless you’ve felt a tap or verbal recognition
  • forward/rear/outbound security must always be maintained.  
  • give the person in front of you about an arm’s length of distant between each other. Don’t be so close you’re stepping on or bumping into the person in front.
  • Third man in stack must always be aware and ready to move up and shoulder tap the primary, do not leave him hanging to assume the team is ready without some form of letting him know.
  • fifth and sixth man are almost a buddy team like the primary and blocker are.  The difference is they will be focused on the rear of the stack.  Sixth man is not going to be able to keep security rear and have a idea if the team is moving or not.  So it is up to the fifth man to keep constant communication and assurance about the teams movement
  • if a rifle goes black that teammate will be forced to the center of the stack using the team as safety while not compromising forward or rear security.  Basically you want to mush into the 4th position to be safe and not mess up initial room entry or eyes on rear.

DRILLS

 

TEAM ENTRY & EXIT WITH TARGETS 

 

CONCEPT

Keeping the team moving in a standardized set of actions that will be repeated for every room clear.  Will minimize the mental drain of decision making and cover the most angles while minimizing dangers zones.

EXECUTION 

  1. Point man pies door while 2nd man is blocking
  2. 3rd man shifts up and backs up point man to make 2nd entry and clear opposite corner
  3. 4th man enters  door and brings focus to middle of room
  4. 5th man must alert the last man that team is making entry and then focus his attention to center of room when entering
  5. 6th man must tap the blocker as last man and make entry
  6. The door blocker now becomes last man to make entry

Exiting

  1. After the room is cleared someone must step up and pull center security on the door (this is usually either one of the 1st two who had initially entered the room, or furthest from door
  2. At the same time center security is made the two guys on opposite sides of door from must now swivel and cover each side of the door.  They will have intersecting angles of security pointing outside the door (do not flag muzzles outside)
  3. Once security has been set on 3 angles the team must decide which direction they will exit, left or right.
  4. The side chosen to make exit on will be the side that the team will stack heavy on,  so this means with the 3 security angles in place the rest of the team will flow around the “lava” and stack on chosen side. (If exiting left the team stacks on the left wall, if exiting right the team stacks on the right)
  5. Now a standard exit is done,  point man rolls out while the rear blocker follows and becomes set on the door frame.  Rest of the team exits following the point man.  
  6. Last man out of the room is the center security,  he must wait till the entire team exits and then tap the blocker as last man.
 

X DRILL 

 

CONCEPT 

This drill is practice for manipulating your primary and secondary weapon systems.  Being able to control your body/footwork while engaging targets.

EXECUTION

  1. Shooter will stand in center of 4 targets placed around 10-15ft away.
  2. First engage the target directly ahead of you with your rifle (primary) 2-3x shots
  3. Next you swivel around 180 while in high ready position and punch the rifle out to engage the target to your rear.
  4. Without moving from your position pull your pistol (secondary) with one hand and punch out to the target on your right and engage 2-3x
  5. Bring pistol to your chest and gain 2 hand control of your pistol while changing your foot stance to left and engage that target 2-3x
  6. After hitting target call for “check” an admin will say “gotchu” then you will holster your pistol and re-ammo (tac reload) your rifle to get it back up and running.