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Patrols
By
Joseph Hewes
Patrolling makes up much of a grunt's life. It must be mastered as much as the rifle for your life depends upon it. One false move, one cough, one little cigarette could cost you your life and even worse, your comrades'. There are eight different kinds of patrols.
Raid: Raid patrols destroy or capture enemy personnel or equipment, destroy installations, or free friendly personnel who have been captured.
Ambush: Ambush patrols conduct ambushes of enemy patrols, carrying parties, foot columns, and convoys.
Contact: Contact patrols establish and /or maintain contact with friendly or enemy forces
Economy: Economy of force patrols perform limited objective missions such as seizing and holding key terrain to allow maximum forces to be used elsewhere.
Security: Security patrols detect infiltration by the enemy, kill or capture infiltrators, and protect against surprise or ambush.
Route: A route reconnaissance is a reconnaissance along specific lines of communications, such as a road, railway, or waterway, to provide information on route conditions and activities along the route
Area: An area reconnaissance, sometimes called a "point reconnaissance", is a directed effort to obtain detailed information concerning specific terrain or enemy activity within a specific location. The objective of the reconnaissance may be to obtain
information about a particular town, bridge, road junction, or other terrain feature or enemy activity critical to operations.
Zone: A zone reconnaissance is a directed effort to obtain detailed information concerning all routes, obstacles (to include chemical or biological contamination, terrain, and enemy forces within a zone defined by specific boundaries.
*Hint: Remember them by RACES RAZ