CAF Doctrine 1 - Section design

Dent 2025.

Here I attempt to present a coherent doctrine in as few pages as possible.

This is all based on Canadian Forces Doctrine but rewritten to apply to any assortment of kit.

The core concept at play here is the section is the weapon. Each member plays a specific role in support of the whole.

Series

Roles

Role	Description
Rifleman	Rifle and AT rocket (LAW / AT4, single fire rocket)
Grenadier	Rifle and 40mm Grenade launcher
Gunner	SAW or LMG (I will use SAW throughout for simplicity)
IC / 2IC	normally a Rifleman or Grenadier load out with extra gear

All roles carry:

Rifles should use a common magazine so ammo can be shared
Short range radio
2 boxes ammo for the Gunner (also for you in event you pick up the SAW)
No more than 40 kg for a regular loadout, any more slows you down

Note the SAW are critical and account for 50% of the sections total firepower. During contact you want both SAW engaging. If a gunner goes down, have the nearest man equip the SAW and keep engaging.

Section organization

Element	Detail
Fire team	2 players
Assault Group	2 fire teams(4 players)
Section	2 groups (8 players)
Platoon	3 or 4 sections
Company	3 or 4 Platoons

The fire teams are named:

Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta

The Groups are named 1 and 2.

The Sections are named Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, aka 1, 2 ,3, 4 in conversation, but alphabetical on the radio.

A section IC would refer to "2 Section" when talking to them, but over the radio would identify as "one two bravo" or just "bravo" if on a platoon net.

Platoon and Company are numbers.

See 1. Prepare for Battle Drill.

Now that we have defined the roles within the section we can look into the organization of the section itself.

A major advantage to this approach is you can quickly assign taskings to Fire team, Assault Groups, or the entire section without confusion.

A note on Fire team pairs. Taskings should always be to the Fire team, and not individual members. Normally the Fire team would not be separated as they are responsible for each other.

Assault Group 1

Alpha 1 IC
Alpha 2
Bravo 1
Bravo 2 Gunner

Assault Group 2

Charlie 1
Charlie 2
Delta 1 2IC
Delta 2 Gunner

If a LAV is attached:

LAV Crew (Zulu team)

Zulu 1 Crew Commander / 3IC
Zulu 2
Zulu 3

Notes:

2IC will be in Assault Group 2, D1
Each Assault group will have one SAW Gunner

For less manpower:

If 7 drop A2
If 6 Drop B1 and B2, move the B2 SAW to A2
If 5, run an oversize assault group

For more manpower:

If 9 add C3
If 10 add A3

If more that that, just try and balance the assault groups and teams.

Team colors

A Red
B Green
C Blue
D Yellow
Z White

A mnemonic to assist is Christmas/Ukraine.

Christmas being red and green
Ukraine being blue and yellow

Call Signs

In this example using 1st Company, 2nd Platoon (1-2):

Vehicle commander adopts a "Z" prefix on their elements call sign

For Example Z-1-2-B would be the 2 Section 3IC / vic commander

Call Signs table

Unit or person	Call sign	Pronounced
2 Section IC	1-2-A	"one two alpha"
2 Section 2IC	1-2-A-Minor	"one two alpha minor"
2 Section 3IC/CC	Z-1-2-A	"zulu one two alpha"
2nd Platoon IC	1-2	"one two"
1st Company IC	1-9	"one niner"
Medical IC	8-3	"eight three"
Ambulance	8-3-A	"eight three alpha"
HQ	0	"zero"

Authors

Dent