When I was in Iraq and we were going to do a raid, we’d take all of the intel (information) we had, look at the map of the spot we were going to hit, and build a terrain model of it. We’d go over the route we were going to take to get there and which positions the outer security would take. We’d go over this until everyone knew full well exactly how we were going to do the raid.

We rarely knew the lay out of the building/s, but we would then physically practice pulling up to the site, getting out of the vehicles, breaching, and clearing the building. We’d practice taking control of the people inside, how we were going to separate the men from women and children. We knew who we were looking for. We practiced this until everything was smooth as glass. Even if we’d done raids 100 times already, we’d do this. We’d throw in a monkey wrench and screw everything up, what ifing the crap out of it. What if you breach and begin taking fire. What if so and so goes down. What if you begin taking fire from the surrounding houses. What if as you arrive the target flees in his car.

This is called War Gaming. This should be done often for most anything you plan to do if it might be a danger. If you are staying in, you should war game the what if’s. If you are bugging out, War Game the routes, what if this is closed, what then. What if you take fire from over here, how should we react. What if the car breaks down. What if there is a snow storm. There are tons of questions you should be asking and going over. Murphy is ALWAYS looking over your shoulder and the more you go over the various things He can throw at you, the better you will react to it. This is how you develop a solid plan.

So whenever you and your family/group get together to talk about things, war game a bit. Go over every move in your mind. The more you do it, the better off you will be, and the more likely you will succeed in your mission.

If you plan to use battle drills, go over them and over them and over them until you are all sick of them. This will save your life if you ever need it.

Woodsball paintball is also a good way to practice manuevers and drills without looking "crazy". A friend of mine that left(actually the reason I don't have a team anymore) our team to join the Army said that my use of my Marine Corps guidebook to set up fields of fire and drills made AIT(Advanced Infantry Training) seem easy. I don't know about that, but we'd run drills twice a week and even got a chance to run drills at our paintball field's "Little Havanna" Urban combat field when no one else was allowed in. However you do it, any and all practice helps.

Paintball and airsoft is an excellent way to train force on force. Practice your drills and then do them against a foe and you'll quickly find your weak spots. Do this over and over, you WILL become a well oiled machine. The same goes with Urban Warfare. Hell, set up pallets as kill rooms, put the opposition in them, and fight it out. You'll quickly learn what will work and what won't. Also paintball and air soft will let you know how you are about keeping completely behind cover, as if your heel is stuck out, it may get hit.

If it is warfare you are training for, however, I suggest you concentrate on not just battle drills, but modify them some for hit and run, small unit stuff. You won't have the support, resources, or funding for conventional warfare.

Either way, like Judge and I said, practice practice practice. Go over things in your mind. What if scenarios, then practice them, get all of those kinks worked out because when you really need it, it will all come naturally for you.

Case in point: My very first firefight in Iraq. My platoon and I were doing dismounted patrols in south east Baghdad, and had been doing them non stop for 2 days straight. We were tired as hell, sore, and all of a sudden we enter this square with a fountain in the middle. Someone to the front opens up on us and immediately 2nd squad on my right took cover, 1st squad, my squad, also took cover and began to flow along the left. 2nd squad began to flow up on the right. 3rd squad pulled overwatch until 2nd squad got a good position, then 3rd moved up. 4th squad was the weapons squad and integrated into the other 3. As we began to see targets, we began to fire, each supporting the other. It flowed so naturally, no thought required at all. Training kicked in and it just happened. Everyone was exactly where they were supposed to be, when they were supposed to be there. 15 minutes later we cleared the area of anybody hostile with one enemy wounded. The rest had already run off.

It was a strange feeling to me, just letting my body do what it was supposed to do, what it knew to do. That is what training and war gaming will do for you.

What about the big picture?

The big picture? One very well could war game Reconstruction of of routes for trade and news sharing, recreating community and how one might go about doing so. Of course! Once you start rebuilding community, you can start rebuilding a nation.

As P.M. mentioned about his weapons platoon mixed in, you will need a mixed bag of tricks. Screw what all those ARM chair experts say about absolutely needing q bunch of .308 mbr's. What you need is what works for you and also for maximum effectiveness. Do not look past having either AR15's, AK47's, or AK74's as your main weapons & having 1-2 designated marksmen. Just be sure your not fielding 1 of each. Get a weapon commonality & diversify there. Have an AR15 with a 20" barrel or two for those 3-400m contacts while your DM(designated marksman) is moving into position. Then keep those 16" barrel AR's for distances under 300 yards & urban use. This mixed rifle fielding in the same caliber while keeping magazine commonality & giving you range options.

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Ok, and your operational structure is based on...
What are the common and core ROE's
In a time of complete break down, what are the priorities and how do we integrate your methods into daily activity?
What are the daily tasks that we need to consider?
What are some of the possible extreme events that might be a call for action?
Defense and security requires logistics, I didn't happen to see anything other than a simple battle plan, which might in reality belong in some militia forum as it is just simple tactics.
Though training is good, realistic training and well thought out scenarios are essential.

I agree lumpy, there IS much, much more to things than a simple battle plan. However, and maybe I should have been more expressive about it, I was using it as example of making sure to practice and what if your plans, whatever they may be. If you are bugging out, consider routes, what do you do if one way is closed, what do you do if you can't GET out for a while, but it is not safe at home? War gaming all of your plans, IMO, is essential for your prep planning, no matter what those preps are for.

Simple tactics and battle plan do require much, much more than drills and such. You need chain of supply, you need to know what units are operational and where they are at in relation to your own, you need to know what the strategic goal is and maybe why your part in it is so important, you need command and control of all of this, you need communications, you need to know contingencies in how to proceed if the original plan goes to hell, many many things go into that. So in that, I agree. I see what you are getting at there.

Honestly your operational structure should be based off of the Marine Corps Rifle Squad (13 people) or Fire Team (4 people & one team has the "Squad leader") if you cannot field a full squad. Then the Squad is broken down into 3 Fire teams & a squad leader. You practice around that and set up your logistics that way.

My group has 3 Marines & all of us had the combat medicine course & are first responders we have planned to split us 3 in different "Fire Teams". 1 guy is an EMT/Firefighter now so he is in the 3rd Fire team, which is our support team. he carries a lighter rifle & less ammo because of his med kit.

Logistics being that everyone does not have the capability of carrying a 300 round combat load & their packs. Diversity in gear so that while certain things are redundant you do not carry certain things in every pack. Are you going on a long range patrol in the countryside? Are you just taking a 20 mile hump to the nearest town to check things out? Are you just doing a perimeter patrol of your Area of Operations(AO)? You have to take this into consideration when leaving your base of operations. How much of what is taken with you.

Drills MUST be part of your preps. you cannot expect to be successful by just showing up to your BoL with your group and saying, "OK where here now. What do we do?" and expecting it to be ok when the bad guy comes knocking or you have to leave your house to find out what is going on with the outside world. What do you do when you have contact right? What do you do when you come over a ridge and see the farmer you are working with for a food/security exchange get shot, but you have not been seen? you need clear plans of action before hand and PRACTICE. It is no different than football practice. You have the freshman squad, first day of practice and they look like some are playing basketball, some are playing volleyball, and some are playing tennis. completely disorganized. Now you take the same team 4 years later and they know what they are doing, you may not have a state championship team, but you dont have a bunch of miscues and errors from lack of knowledge of what is supposed to go on in a game.

the problem i see with using set reactive tactics are that others may know those same tactics, and possibly judge your actions. this worries me greatly. the other question is that standard wartime (if there is such a thing) is a whole diffferent animal then post clapse guerilla actions, or defensive measures. training ith a group is a good idea, but putting the sports veiw on, i'm not falling for the pumpfake twice.