Section Attack Lesson Plan

Series

Here I attempt to provide a simplified version of the Section Battle Drill.

Purpose

The objective of the section attack is simple:

Close with and destroy the enemy.

This is achieved through fire and movement, enabled by discipline, communication, and cohesion.

Key Principles

The Section is the weapon
Cohesion = Survival
Communication = Effectiveness
If the Section gets scattered - Mission failure
If the Section remains stays coordinated - Combat power is maintained
Avoid frontal assaults on prepared machine gun positions unless surprise is guaranteed. Use alternate methods (flanking, support weapons, or indirect fire)

Design and setup of the section

The CAF Rifle Section is 8 members, organized into 2 Assault Groups of 2 Fire teams of 2 members each.

Group 1 (Assault Group 1)
- Alpha Team
- Bravo Team
Group 2 (Assault Group 2)
- Charlie Team
- Delta Team

Each group would normally have 1 C9 Gunner and 1 Grenadier.

Section CAF1 gets into section design in more detail.

Fire team responsibilities

Each fire team is a two-person system.

Responsibilities:

Maintain constant awareness of your buddy
Never operate independently
Immediately report:
- Buddy down
- Buddy missing
Stay within effective supporting distance at all times

There is no task that justifies separation from your fire team partner.

Roles and loadout notes

Each group has a leader

Group 1 is lead by Section IC
Group 2 is lead by Section 2IC

Common gear

Squad radio, normally something short range
Everyone carries at least one box of ammo for the Gunners

Rifleman duties

Carry the factions rifle and sometimes an AT rocket
Normally 6 mags, 3 frags, and 2 or 3 smoke.
Riflemen should be using consistent ammo across the section in event we need to share mags
Keep loadout light because you may have to step up and man a gun or squad radio

Grenadier

Same notes as Rifleman, but trade the AT rocket for 40mm grenades and launcher
Resist the urge to roll heavy. Sacrifice handheld grenades if you have to
Real world 24 is considered a large loadout of 40mm grenades, 15 is reasonable
Depending on tasking you may also be carrying flares or smoke grenades.

Gunner

Machine gunner, you carry machine gun and machine gun bullets
Sometimes a pistol, Never an AT rocket or squad radio
The entire section will each carry a box or two of your ammo

IC / 2IC

Basically a Rifleman or Grenadier loadout, with an additional long range radio
Binoculars and sometimes rangefinder
IF the IC goes down, the 2IC steps up and checks in on Platoon net

Fall in for battle

The purpose of the fall-in drill is to establish:

Everyone is on squad comms
Everyone knows their role
Everyone is kitted appropriately for the tasking

Arrange the section in order along a wall or fence or anything, starting with
Alpha 2

Have each member identify themselves on the squad net in order, like so:

Name
Role
Team
Group

For example:

Dent, rifleman, charlie 2, assault group 2

Execution

Bounding

Fire and maneuver warfare.

Bounding will be used once you make contact.

Once you make contact you seize and hold fire superiority to allow maneuver
One element will be putting accurate fire on the enemy position to fix them in
place. The second element will maneuver to flank and finish them off
I use the term "element" here as it could be; an entire Section, Group, Team or individual member
Your movement should only be about 3 to 5 seconds, about 5 meters, to avoid giving the enemy a chance to react
The phrase "I'm up, he sees me, I'm down" is a handy way to get a feel for how long you can move

I'm up, he sees me, I'm down
Avoid converging on the target, keep to your lane so you don't sprint into friendly fire on either side of you
For a maneuver bound when not under fire you can go cover to cover over larger distances.
Continue bounding until you are in frag grenade range of your target, then throw a volley of frags into it and have a fire team assault and clear while the rest of the section covers and isolates the the target. The tradition in CAF for this is "Charlie take the trench"

Types of Bounding

Successive is like an inch-worm with one element always leading, and the second always following
Alternating is when the moving element sprints past the suppressing element

On an assault it will normally be Alternating. That said keep to the 3 second movement limit and stay frosty

Notes:

Emphasize bounding and suppressing
De-emphasize formations

Commands

The section IC will order the bounding part of the assault.

The CAF has some useful commands for this aspect.

SECTION SECTION SECTION

The section will advance bounding by groups. group 1 sets and covers while group 2 bounds, etc.

GROUP GROUP GROUP

The section will advance bounding by teams.

Within each assault group the teams will bound.

Alpha sets and covers while Bravo bounds, same for Charlie and Delta in Group 2.

TEAM TEAM TEAM

The section will advance bounding by player within each fire team.

This can be maximum chaos and players still need to stay savvy of the overall assault.

In some circles this technique is called "Buddy Rushing".

Rate of Fire

Rapid 1 round every 3 seconds
Normal 1 round every 6 seconds
Slow 1 round every 12 seconds

For the SAW, instead of a round, fire a burst of 3 to 5 rounds.

Laying down suppressing fire can have you firing into the air around possible enemy positions. This does not require as much ammo as you think. 4 or 8 players firing a round every 12 seconds adds up to a pretty constant barrage.

No need to burn your entire loadout on the first engagement.

REMEMBER

Cohesion = combat power
Suppression wins fights
Speed + violence of action

Authors

Dent