Section Attack Lesson Plan

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

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

Some notes:

• The section is the weapon
• The section demands a high level of individual skill and communication
• If the section gets scattered, it fails
• If the section remains cohesive, you win
• The section runs on communication
• Do not section attack machine gun positions, use other means to eliminate
  these unless you can take it completely by surprise

Design and setup of the section

Discuss the Section/Group/Team system

• Section
• Group 1 and Group 2
• Fire teams Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta

Group 1 is Alpha and Bravo.

Group 2 is Charlie and Delta.

Fire team responsibilities

As a two man fireteam your primary responsibility is to execute on tasking, and maintain contact with your fireteam buddy.

It is your responsibility to speak up if your buddy goes down, or disappears.

You should never be far from your buddy, and there is no tasking that should separate you.

Discuss the 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 10 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, but can also be used when you anticipate contact and want to be ready.

One foot on the floor, one foot through the door

• 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
• A reasonable bound distance under fire can be a small as 5 meters. You don't want to push your luck.
• The phrase "I'm up, he sees me, I'm down" is a handy way to get a feel for far, or long you can move.

I'm up, he sees me, I'm down

• For a maneuver bound when not under fire you can go cover to cover over larger distances.

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
  suppressing element

Notes:

• Emphasize bounding and suppressing
• De-emphasize formations

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.