BACD - a philosophy of movement

Series

• CAF Doctrine 1 - Section design
• CAF Doctrine 2 - Section Battle Drills
• CAF Doctrine 3 - BACD
• CAF Doctrine 4 - Study
• CAF Doctrine 5 - Section Attack Lesson Plan
• CAF Doctrine 6 - Terms

BACD is a term you will encounter in regards to order of fireteams in section movement.

• Bravo (Green)
• Alpha (Red)
• Charlie (Blue)
• Delta (Yellow)

This particular ordering places the Bravo and Delta C9 at appropriate locations.

The simple case is a single column with the fireteams in BACD order.

Formation examples

Column, facing left in this case, aka "Single Column"

To clarify:

• "column" is players walking in a single path
• "line" is players shoulder to shoulder walking in the same direction

B1 B2 A1 A2 C1 C2 D1 D2

Heading Left, B1 in the lead.

Arrowhead, aka "wedge"

In this case we have the section IC leading, and the C9 gunners on each far end.

              A1
          A1      C1
      B1              C2
  B2                      D1
                              D2

Heading up, A1 in the lead. You can also Swap A and B and put B1 in the lead.

Staggered Column

B1
    B2
A1
    A2
C1
    C2
D1
    D2

Heading up, B1 in the lead.

Ack Ack, aka "Loose file"

B1
B2


    A1
    A2


C1
C2


    D1
    D2

Heading up, B1 in the lead.

Member spacing 5m within the team, team spacing 15m,

Transitions

Maintaining BACD order allows clean transitions from one formation to another.

For instance, advancing via arrowhead and encountering contact ahead allows a section to smoothly transition into a baseline to engage the enemy.

The C9 are at either end (Bravo and Delta fireteams) and the assault groups are already assembled on each side of the base line formation.

If contact is made on either flank, the section C9 on that flank can immediately engage while the section wheels into a baseline facing that flank.

Spacing

A few words on spacing. Mind your spacing, avoid bunching up, if you see it happening, call it out. When crossing open ground or in file, maintain about 10 m distance.

The shout "SPACING" is your cue to adjust.

Exfil / Peel / Extract

Basic Peel

In the situation where you need to break contact a "Peel" can be executed.

The basic concept is you have your element halt and then pull away from the enemy contact one person at a time while the rest of the section provides suppressive fire.

As each person makes their move to the back of the formation they communicate to their team mates:

LAST MAN

To indicate to the next person in the formation they are up next.

Diagram for a right peel.

The section then continues this peeling maneuver away from the enemy until the contact has been broken and can once again maneuver without coming under fire.

Aussie Peel / Staggered column peel

Same idea as the basic peel, with the difference being you fall back through the center of the formation.