Urban Assault Training

During my short time (3 1/2 years) in the 438th Military Police Company in Murray, KY; I did participate in Mout training at Ft. McClellan, AL. Training took place over a couple of days to include rappelling, entering a high window, crossing open terrain to deal with enemy snipers and room to room clearing. Currently, I am in the 1171st Transportation Company of the Tennessee Army National Guard and have been involved in training for a future deployment to Iraq. During training this past April at the Milan Training Center, the company participated in urban warfare training.

Combat in our modern times is now in urban settings in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prior to World War II, armies generally wanted to avoid combat in urban settings. Early during Operation Barbarossa, German forces placed Leningrad under siege than to endure the high casualties assaulting the city. Lessons were learned by many armies in the battles of Stalingrad, Berlin, Manila, Mogadishu and in Hue. Lessons learned were that tanks and other heavy armor, and defenders using fortifications in open streets were not effective. Urban warfare is generally fought with infantry.

Which leads to why does a Transportation Company need urban warfare training? Our training we received in April were provided by infantry from the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment of the Tennessee Army National Guard, which has served a tour in Iraq. Our training was for general purpose to know the fundamentals of urban combat but not to be experts since our primary job is to transport materials.

I have found the tactics to be interesting.

Room Clearing: In Milan, we used paintball guns to simulate rifles. A 4-man team is used. A team is stacked to one side of the door and communicates using touch. After the door is opened, the first man takes the path of least resistance, takes out enemy, finds windows/doors and alerts the team verbally. Second man, goes opposite of the first man, takes out enemy, sweeps part of the room. Third man which is the team leader, sweeps part of the room. Fourth man, is rear security and is armed with the M249 SAW. The first three men are armed with M-16 or M-4. Enemy encounter will be shot using the double-tap or the politically correct term "controlled pairs". Since the M-16 using the 5.56 mm or .223 caliber round, it does not have the knockdown power and two shots are needed.

Dealing with a sniper: Tactic may have changed, but during my 1990's training at Ft. McClellan, a team will form up in a V formation, each member holding onto the web gear of the person in front, the team will run across open (street) to cover and disperse. The idea is if the first man is hit, the others will hold him up (hence a human shield) to take further rounds.

Building Clearing: If possible, clear buildings from top to bottom from one end to the other and leaving one end of the building unblocked. Leaving one end unblocked lets the enemy escape were our friendly forces are in position to ambush the enemy in the open.