Winning a gunfight is so much more then accuate shooting or dexterous gunhandling. Even an expert marksman will not prevail if he puts himself in a no-win situation. What is just as imporant as shooting prowess, if not more so, is tactics.

As I play on the servers, I encounter an amazing number of people who profess knowledge and expertise in a field that can only be described as being diverse, abstract, at times subjective and always dangerous. As you might expect, much of what these "Experts" say reflect an alarming lack of cognizance of real-world concerns, things that can only be known to one who has "Been there, done that."

In the sections to follow you will relize that how you handle a tactical problem can have just as much influence on Victory, or Death, as does your quailty of shooting.

I will discuss the principles and guidelines that facilitate tactical problem solving, as well as the various architectural features found in the game and the best way to "Clear" them, whether you are alone or accompanied by one or two other shooters. I will examine the low-light environments and how to use the available ambient and artificial light to your advantage. Other topics include tactical communications, mindset and the weapons most suitable for the task. Sound tactics are often the only thing that stands between a glorious and spectacular victory and the cold anonymity of death and defeat.


Mental State:

• Unreadiness/White: In this condition, all your focus is within yourself on your private thoughts and problems and you are completely oblivious to your surroundings.
  
  
• Yellow: You are mentally relaxed but aware of your surroundings. You know what is behind you and notice if anything seems unusual or out of place.
  
  
• Orange: You have noticed a prefight clue, (Friendly dead body, enemy voices, etc) and are specifically alert to its source. You realize not only that you may have to shoot, but that you may now have a specific target.
  
  
• Red: You have a specific target spotted and are deciding whether ot not to shoot based on a mental trigger, such as what gun is he holding? Is he a friend or foe? Is he a passive threat, and is there a more immediate threat around?

When the fight begins you must pay complete and undivided attention to solving the problem at hand. This simply requires proper tactics, accurate shooting, and extreme concentration. You must not dwell on any shots you may have missed or a faulty tactic that you may have used. Neither do you plan ahead to the next shot to be fired. Instead, concentrate on and experience the shot you are firing right now! You will of course have to plan ahead as far as how to deal with a tactical problem such as a room search, door entry or flanking maneuver but this does not occur as you are defending yourself. In any event, once the fight begins, you must not hesitate. Be specific with yourself about why you are there and what it is you are trying to accomplish. Are you simply investigating a suspicious noise? Is it a low risk perimeter check? Or are you hunting a wounded enemy? Each of these scenarios is different in its degree of perceived danger. Knowing what you are getting into and what you are trying to accomplish may dictate the tactics you will choose. For example, you may elect to take a shotgun or sub-machine gun instead of a pistol. You may want to grab a flashlight or call for reinforcements before commencing. You might even want to hide quietly in the darkness and wait for them to come to you where you can deliver the terminal surprise.

One of the deadliest misconceptions in tactical circles is that a single operator can safely negotiate an entire area indoor or outdoor, alone. This point is easy to illustrate when you realize that you cannot look in two directions at once and searching alone often requires doing just that. A single operator must often turn his back on one danger area to search another. The rule is to avoid searching alone. A tactical team member will have the option of calling for reinforcements to help in the search. The last man standing does not have that luxury.


Quick tips:

• Avoid producing target indicators: Just as you seek target indicators during your search, you must strive not to produce them yourself. Searching a building for a hostile is 50% hunting and 50% avoiding being hunted; at such times stealth is king! Unless you are forced to rush into a confrontation, take it slowly, carefully and methodically. Be quiet, be careful, move slowly and handle each tactical problem individually. If you make a unintended noise, stop, look and listen for about a minute before proceeding.
  
  
• Be sure or be dead: Do not rationalize something that is out of place, check it out and be sure. Do not assume something is secure until you have checked it out yourself.
  
  
• Maximize your distance from potential threats and minimize your exposure to them: Stay away from corners and any other area that you cannot see beyond as far as geography will allow. Do not let your muzzle or feet protrude into the unsecured space in front of you. Doing so will not only betray your position and intentions but it may get you killed.
  
  
• Move Tactically: The purpose of any tactical maneuver is to allow your muzzle to cover the potential danger areas as you encounter them. Keep your balance as you move from one problem to another. When moving through open areas, do so briskly; when approaching a danger area be sure to walk.
  
  
• Observe the Three-Eye Principle: This means that your weapon must be oriented toward whatever it is your eyes are looking at. Wherever your eyes go, your weapon must also go. Keep your weapon in a ready position or "Hunting" attitude so that it does not obstruct your vision while you search. Keep your weapon in a position to fire instantly at any threat.
  
  When it is time to shoot pay attention to the basics:
  
  
• Sight Alignment
  
• Sight Picture
  
• Trigger Control
  
  These will allow you to get fast, solid hits on your adversary in the least time possible to keep him from doing the same to you. Remember you cannot miss fast enough to make a difference. You cannot miss fast enough to win a gunfight. If you cannot hit on demand, all the tactics in the world will be of no use to you.

You are your own worst enemy. Your random thoughts are distractions. Even your real life breathing, your heart and how you handle it effect the game the most. Your goal is to be like the Grand-Master. The Grand-Master is at peace within himself: he has achived zen. Regardless of if you're under fire from multiple unknown and taking hits or doing good with two or three kills, you need to keep yourself calm. If your heart is racing you need to identfy it within yourself, acknowledge it and then make efforts to breathe consciously while remaining focused on the encounter. Do not hold your breath when you fire, even seasoned vets clinch when they are clicking away at the mouse but it drasticly effects your aim in the gaming enviroment. You want to breath stready, full breaths while firing the best you can on your exhale.

Accuracy is based on your breathing and your mental state. When studing players at lans I noticed a trend where the players that were winning were appriciatory of everything. In losses some of the great teams seemed joyous, so what was the secret? When you're in a state of appreciation you're more reflexive, letting you react faster. It's just like not clinching to shoot, it redirects too much energy away from making precise shots on critical mass. When you feel frustration is when you come apart and play worse.

Just as your mental state is important, so is the enemy's. Did you recently C4 four of them? Now the other two are demoralized; they most likely try to flank now or set up an ambush (assuming they didn't simply run away). You have to at times think like the enemy: where would they go? Were you following a guy and now you turned a corner and he is gone, what would you do, how much time has passed, where could he be within that time and where is it not possible he could of gone? Ask yourself these when ever the situation arrises, the more often you do it the faster you will be able to cycle in your OODA loop.

Your OODA loop is how you see and think and act on the enviroment. Your enemy does the same. OODA stands for:

• Observe
  
• Orient
  
• Decide
  
• Act

The OODA loop cycles over and over again. You want to cycle faster then your enemy. You do not want the enemy to get a couple cycles past yours, or you will be reacting to stale, incorrect data. Cycles happen within seconds to moments.

Great fire control is essental to victory. Imagine, the enemy laying down suppressive fire, late clip the operator navigates out and fires a precise 3-5 round burst or spliting the shots in two bursts eliminating the enemy. You still have ammo for the next encounter, if there were mutiple targets hopefully you isolated one with the apex of the corner.

Fire control tactics does not stop there, if we talk about advancing into the unknown, hopefully you have a friend or two with you. They can be very usefull in covering fire, and perimiter security when one gets caught in the moment of transitioning from cover to cover. With pie and post as you "wing out" one can stay tucked leaning on the corner being the spotter, and his friends go and extend to a side, not crossing into anyones firing lane. As you extend out a good rule of thumb to know when to post is if you have cover avaiable, and when you have sight of a new tactical problem, window, door, sneaky spot, and anything that may need a longer look.

When done right this looks almost as a chinese folding fan. The probing far winger extends into territory and posts. After a moment or so, find an alternitive way to watch the area, making sure the core directions are first watched by someone before you layer mutiple people on the same corner, window, direction. With this you control the enviroment, anything that disturbs you will be known, if there are hidden targets or potiential danger areas, you can not know, so best to just assume they are there, and react occordiningly by not setting up camp and jogging around quick, but insted clearing the underneaths and the extreme angles.

Sometimes fire control includes not shooting at all, you may not have any real chance, and sometimes the intelligence you can gather such as his manner, does he display haste or caution? In his future path of movement is there a way he would turn to see you? Can you get behind them? Maybe he is going to attack or defend a site, that intell is useful to your team. Where did you spot him going to what factual landmark, where could he be going? Through not shooting first, I have had some nice assaults, killing three off a flash, or comming behind five, or clockworking to kill seven enemies with a friend. It all comes to your position and your dynamic, are you going to cause shock and awe? Critical losses? Be sure to imagine if someone got away and made a call of what happened, you need to prepare to recive a counter-attack.

If you do not think that leaning left or right matters, or where you go to or from where you flank from matters, then you are mistaken. If you observe closely when you lean right you lean further, and you are also exposed as least as possible when you close the wedge. Untill they bring in the key to change your shoulder so that your left has a chance to be as little as exposed as possiple when you lean, leaning right is safer. What side is your heart? When you lean right you protect your heart behind your cover.

You may want to lean right however you should move and trasition the left side over the right, which means that you should never-never go right, however favor the left, also for the maps, if your far left, you have less need and possibilites to lean left,and it makes it more likely that they will be leaning right.

When going into a new area on focusing on left or right, from your angular search you should know the closed off side, the side less open, That should be your first mans zone of responsability. When you have a safe side you can then focus all your attention forwards to solve the problem and also behind where you came from.

In open enviroments, you want to try to get high ground, left and right does not exist the same as you need to maintain 360 degree watch. In a six man you have your front left and right your direct left and right, and your behind left and right zones of responsability.

Among the most dangerous and difficult architectural features to clear are doors. Whether they are open or closed, you rarely know what is on the other side and there is only one way in or out. Since you will likely begin your search through a door, you should pay particular attention to developing your door entry skills.

There are certain principles to observe when facing a door. First, do not stand directly in front of the door, whether it is open or closed. The are directly in fronmt of the door is often been called the "Fatal Funnel" and many who have dallied there have paid for their mstake with their lives. Note that when you clear a room visually from the outside, you will traverse this "Funnel" momentarily. There is no alternitive to this if you are to gain a visual scan of what lies beyond the door. It is a balance of risks, nothing more.

Position yourself so that you willl gain as much visibility as possible into the room beyond as soon as the door begins to open. An important consideration is to avoid leaning across the door to open it. This not only puts you into a postion from which you cannot fire, but it also exposes you to substantially greater danger. The best compromise between visibility and safety is to position yourself on the side next to the doorknob, this way you will have immediate visibility into the next room if the door opens outwards. You will have somewhat less visibility when the door opens inward, but that will change as you proceed with an angular search to the other side of the door if you are alone.

Before entering, try to obtain as much visual intelligence about the room as you can through an angular search. The angular search, refered to as "Slicing the pie." Utilizes moving incrementally in a half-circle, clearing the room a sliver at a time and a step at a time from the outside. Use the nearer door post as a pivot point from which to conduct the search. Don't forget to scan along a vertical axis not a horizontal axis. As you look into the room, move your visual field forward and back, altering the axis slightly each time untill you are satisfied with what you have seen.

Be careful not to linger in the midpoint of the opening of the door. This is the proverbial fatal funnel, especially if the room is dark and you are in a lighted hallway. There is no arguing that you must cross this area to complete your search, but do it quickly. In the end the entire room may have been cleared except for the extreme angles on either side of the door. In experiments that I have confucted, I noted that an operator can see for about seven feet into this extreme angle from outside the room. Eventually the angle becomes great enough that an adversary may be able to go unseen untill after entry is made.

As you quickly enter through the doorway, check these extreme angles first. Remember, you can't look in two directions at once. No one said this was going to be easy. If you have a partner with you, you cut your risk in half but that is for another chapter. The main problem is that you simply do not know which side the adversary is hiding behind, to the right or left. This being the case, you must conduct a tactical coin toss. This is handled in the same manner as the hallway intersection. Remember that you are the one initiating the action. Someone is hiding behind the wall in the extreme angle will be forced to react to you, thus he will be behind the reaction curve already. There are really only three possibilities to this scenario: There is an adversary to the right angle, there is an adversary to the left angle, or both sides are occupied by enemies.

You may not be able to visually clear the entire area. There may be pieces of furniture, cars, or other things that you could not see around that may conceal a hostile. you must physically clear them before leaving the room. Do not dismiss the room as "clear" untill youve seen all four walls as well as the ceiling and floor and are certain no one is hiding there.

When you go through a doorway be aware of the danger areas and the extreme angles where you cannot see without committing yourself. When it comes time to enter, do so quickly and without hesitation.

One of the fundamental rules of tactics is to stay away from corners. Corners are second only to doors as a potential hazard to the searcher. In years past trainers have advocated what they called a "Quick Peak" to clear corners. This involves sticking your head into the area beyond the corner, then just as quickly pulling it back to safety. By doing this the operator hoped to get a brief visual "Picture" of the area beyond. There are many wrong things with this technique, primarily, the searcher who executes this "Peak" will not be in any position from which to fire and shoot. Remember you want to be able to clear danger areas in front of your gun muzzle. The quick peek does not allow you to do this. Additionally, the amount beyond the corner that will be seen is quite minimal. Try it yourself. By peeking you have programmed yourself to withdraw as part of this technique. Now you are in retreat mode, and he knows exactly where you are. The Angular Search / Pie method is used on corners, it allows you to clear unknown space a sliver at a time.

To conduct an angular search on a corner, position yourself as far away from the corner as geography will allow. Move laterally, keeping your weapon trained on the space beyond the apex of the corner. Move toward the plane created by the far wall of the corner. Move slowly enough to pick up anything that might be a target indicator.

When scanning for the adversary, use the vertical method of changing visual focus. Move the focus of your eyes along a central longitudinal axis, or in and out. Shift the axis slightly to varying directions as you search. This will allow visual detection of target indicators that may have initially been out of the direct line of sight, the eyes focus naturally in and out, not side to side, so it is better you search that way.

You are looking specifically for a clue that someone is there, it may be the brim of a hat, the toe of a shoe, or even a gun muzzle. If someone is there you will likely see him long before he sees you. When this happens you can dictate the dynamics of the confrontation and either withdraw and challenge or overrun him.

When you decide to take the ground, do so quickly and forcefully. When conducting a angular search, you will reach a point where your angular movement will eventually allow the enemy to also see you . If this is your intent to move aggressively, you must do so before you reach the point where you have exposed yourself to your enemy's view.

Hallways are also a potential hazard because, like any other channelized area, there is only one way through them: one way in and one way out. There may also be rooms or corners along the hallway and corners at the intersections with other hallways that may contain potential threats. They must all be cleared before going on. The end of the hallway where it intersects or bisects another hallway is also of special concern you must keep partial attention on it as you deal with the other situations.

When moving down the hallway or any other channelized area keep your eye and muzzle oriented toward the potential danger area that you intend to clear next. If there is a second danger area that has not been cleared, you simply cannot ignore it. One method that has worked well for me is to keep my eye and muzzle oriented toward the primary danger area that I have determined is to be searched next. As I close in on the danger area, I keep partial attention on the secondary danger area that concerns me through peripheral vision, as well as taking an occasional glance toward it with both eye and gun muzzle. Before committing to finally clear the initial danger area, I glance quickly to the secondary danger area without shifting muzzle orientation and then commit to the first danger area. At such close quarters moving the entire gun turret (Upper Body, Gun, and Eyes) takes too long because you are at the threshold of the next danger area. You have already committed to moving in one direction now you simply double-check the other danger area before continuing. This will help minimize the possibility of the situation's having changed behind your back. This is called "Dividing Attention." Is it perfect? No, not at all. But when you are alone you have no choice.

Do not walk down the middle of the hallway, stay to one side. Avoid scraping your back against the wall, but, nevertheless, stay close to one wall or the other. Move briskly but carefully from one obstacle to the next.

What about that intersection at the end of the hallway? Quiet a problem, isn't it? This is where team members and partners become very desirable. A single operator can still handle such a problem, but the risk grows substantially greater. A single operator must divide his attention between the various danger areas along the hallway and the hallway intersection. Hallway intersections come in two basic types: Three-Way / T and the Four-Way / +.

On a three-way intersection, you must divide your attention between the two corners and maybe what is behind you as well. When dealing with a four-way intersection, you will be presented with an additional danger area directly in front of you.

Hallway intersections are handled by conducting an angular search from one corner to the next, searching incrementally until you reach the other corner. Think of the T-Intersection as basically two separate corners opposite each other. Deal with one corner individually without breaking the plane formed by the far wall. When you are satisfied that you cannot see any farther without breaking the plane, move a half-circle back toward the second corner, clearing it as far as possible without breaking the plane.

The main concern here is the extreme angles on either side of the hallway intersection as well as what lies father down the hallway. The close danger area (Extreme angle) is much more of a concern then the potential danger area down the hall.

When you are committed to entry, always try to move toward your strong side if possible, you will be much faster that way. Move diagonally toward your strong side, crossing the opening from one side to the other. Break the plane with your support-side foot so that your next step will be with your strong side foot. Move as if you intend to assault a threat hiding in the extreme angle to your strong side. As you commit yourself and actually break the plane glance quickly toward the opposite side to make sure your back is clear.

You may say it is too dangerous and it violates the three-eye principle. Yes, you are correct on both counts, but it is the best balance of risk for a single operator. Tactics must be flexible. The only alternatives to this either take much to long or ignore one of the extreme angles until entry is completed. Both of these other options are too dangerous to consider.

A short video that adds a few other thinking points to corners and working with a teammate.[www.liveleak.com]

Stairwells have always been a particularly dangerous problem. The main problem is that like hallways, stairwells channelize your approach. They also present a series of simultaneous potential danger areas as well. These are the stairs compartment itself, any corners created by switchbacks in the steps, and the upper or lower landing.

For many years, tactical thought on the issue was that searching down was much easier then searching up. In actuality, this depends on stair construction and design. In terms of ease of movement, it is much easier to clear upward than it is downward. One serious hazard however is a grenade from above.

Clearing from top to the bottom forces you to expose your lower body first. It makes moving behind your gun muzzle a problem. Additionally, many stairs are not solid, and a hostile hiding under / behind the steps can easily see you as you approach it is much too eash for a person to do that in the area underneath the steps created by the perpendicular room offset.

There have also been proponents of the clearing style that requires operators to slither around on their backs or bellies as they negotiate the stairs. This is not only noisy and produces target indicators but it sacrifices your greatest asset - mobility.

Clearing upward allows you to clear areas behind your gun muzzle. The ideal circumstance is that your eye and gun muzzle cover each potential danger area before you expose the rest of your body to it. In the end you must be adept at both upward and downward clearing.

A searcher will approach a stairwell much the same as a door or corner, searching along angular lines. He will clear as much of the initial staircase as possibe before committing himself to the steps themselves.

We will discuss clearing upward first. Take note of the location of the upper landing. As you move unto the steps and begin the climb, you may be faced with the immediate corner if there is a switchback on the steps, as well as the upper landing. If the landing is directly overhead as you step on the first step, you must momentarily ignore the corner and concentrate insted on the area above you. This is where a partner is very useful indeed.

As you commit yourself to the steps and break the plane created by the staircase, you must cover the upper landing as well. The best way to do this is to place your back toward the solid wall but not touching it, and cover the upper landing from below with your weapon. Clear this problem by using the angular search - a slice at a time.

Now, your partner can deal with the staircase and any switchback corner while you hold the landing. When he is done he will hold the upper landing while you move up and clear the next danger area. This is teamwork!

If you must solve this problem alone, the way to minimize the hazard is to move sideways up the stairs keeping your back to the wall. Keep your weapon aligned witht he potential danger areas. Since there are two or perhaps more of these danger areas, you will be moving your weapon back and forth in an attempt to cover them all in succession as you move.

Stay back from the "Well effect" at the center of a multiflight staircase. A hostile hiding at the top or bottom can easily fire on you without being detected. This central well portion allows a person at the bottom floor to see up to the top and vice versa. If you can see that far, so can the man you are hunting - and he can shoot you too. Just as with the other geographic obstacles we have already discussed, handle each portion of the problem individually, move carefully, and be ready to shoot at all times.

Ulysses Grant Said: Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can and as often as you can, and keep moving on.

With that in mind, being able to shoot as you move from one point or obstacle to the next is very important. The entire reason and purpose for any tactical maneuver, whether slow or quick, is to allow you to cover the next potential danger area with your gun muzzle. Sometimes, you must shoot on the move as you advance toward another position. You may even wish to aggressively close on an adversary to shoot him on the advance, put him on the defensive, or enable you to execute a more precise shot.

As you search, you must adhere to the three-eye principle. This means that, except for specific situations, both your eyes and your gun muzzle must always be oriented in the same direction. They must be looking at the same thing. If you look up, you raise your gun muzzle, if you look at the apex of a corner for a target indicator, your muzzle must be oriented toward that corner as well. The objective is to be able to shoot any suddenly appearing hostile without hesitation, at all times, whether you are stationary, advancing, or passing him on the move.

When you are moving through an open area, you should use the tactical walk, where you avoid exaggerating any of your movements or body mechanics. Teamates can help with covering fire and suppressing enemys that may try to ambush. Try to stick to cover over concealment.

One of the primary lessons a gunfighter must learn is the difference between cover and concealment. If you learn and use these tactics wellm they will be invaluable during a fight, and may save your life. If you use them poorly or confuse one with the other, you may be eliminated. In a nutshell, cover is anything that is solid that offers ballistic protection. That means that you can hide behind it and be reasonably certain that bullets fired at it will not penetrate and hit you. This requirement may be problematic depending on the type of armament your opponents have on hand. Concealment, on the other hand, is anything that hides your presence from the adversary. Hence earlier while under fire, concealment will only delay your death if that ambushing adversary has yet to be eliminated.

Cover may be used during a fight to prevent your getting shot. Concealment may only be used prior to the fight to decive your oppenent about your whereabouts. Concealment will provide a base from which to launch a surprise attack. Concealment demands stealth, which is sometimes enough. If your opponent does not know you are there he will not think of shooting you. Cover often offers the same advantages as concealment with additional ballistic protection.

To use concealment you must have prior knowledge of an enemy's approach, as well as the belief that he has not seen you. Obviously, if he knows you are there, hiding in the shadows will not help you. To use cover you must have the time and room to reach it, as well as the specific anticipation of hostilities.

There are discussions about the need of always running to cover when a fight begins. Generally the close the fight is, the less time you will have available to respong to a threat. You will often be forced to react and solve the problem with your own gunfire.

Remember the nature of most urban gunfights:

• Short-Duration
  
• High-Intensity Fights

If you are being attacked, your only response must be to counterattack immediately. Then, after you have reacquired control of your enviroment, you can move to cover. Sometimes, however, the gunfire may come from an unknown area or from such a long distance that it precludes an instant counterattack from you. At such times, you must move to cover first. A good rule of thumb is that if you do not have a target to shoot at when you come under fire, get behind cover. Realize that many things most people consider to be cover are really only concealment. That goes for corners, doors, and walls inside buildings. Most modern cartridges will penetrate directly through these. Therefore, If an adversary fires at you from a doorway, you can shoot him right through the wall, even buckshot will work in such situations. Vehicles, on the other hand, make relatively good cover agaisnt most small-arms fire. The exception is the glass which is as resistant to gunfire as paper. Remember when I said that there are no absolutes to tactics and that tactics is an art and not a science? When you are looking around cover in search or shooting around it, expose as little of yourself as possible.

The tactics described here are for the lone operator, and/or the small two-three man team. Tactics for moving through and searching outdoor open areas are very similar to those used indoors. The only real differences are that the distances involved are longer and the space, it is not contained within four walls. Subsequently, outdoor problems are somewhat more difficult to solve because there are more potential danger areas then there are inside a structure.

Using cover or concealment is mandatory. You might be able to observe an entire area from your hidden position of cover. Remember, you are looking for target indicators. Initially, look for places where it is likely that an adversary might be hiding. You will be moving toward those areas to clear them. Before you move from your covered position select the covered position you will be moving to next. Such a move must be designed to gain you some type of an advantage. Seek either an enhanced zone of fire or a better look into the area you are checking. Do not abandon your position out of impatience.

Visually scan along a varing vertical axis or from close to far and back. This will allow you to examine the same spot from more than a single angle. Such a visual search will enhance the possibility of seeing something you missed during previous passes of the same area. Look slowly and carefully, do not just pass your eyes over the area haphazardly.

Avoid silhouetting yourself or giving off a shadow. Be aware of the light source and stay out of it. This may not be possible, but you must try nevertheless. Do not let sky fall behind you on roofs or fences. Such things will make you stand out like a target. Keep low when you move from point to point. You should be able to shoot on the move as soon as you leave cover. Stealth is still your greatest asset.

When working with a teammate or two, practice "Traveling overwatch.". This method has the team members moving to static positions as they cover divergent areas of responsibility. This is the same method used indoors as the team moves from point to point. The advantages of this method are that it places two or more guns and eyes on the danger area insted of one. Additionally, all the team members are in a position of mutual support, and can fire at a sudden threat without exposing themselves to their own team members gunfire.

Another method is called "Bounding Overwatch.". This may be used to enter or exit a very hazardous enviroment where there has already been some shooting or where a gunfight is expected. Additionally, this technique is extreamely useful when evacuating an area. Bounding overwatch works this way, one member of the team moves to a position of cover, his partner then leapfrogs him to another diffrerent point of cover, and then the next man will move past his partner to a father point and cover his partner's approach. This can be done at any speed, depending on the circumstances. The distance each partner travels is dictated by the terrain itself, but it should not be more then around 15 meters. Once you are committed to moving, do not stop. If the original plan of movement becomes untenable, you can always go back. But simply stopping in the open is foolish.

Clearing and searching a building is considerably safer and easier if you have extra people with you. This is based on the operational characteristics of a three-man team or two teams of three for a squad (Or 4's). A three-man element has a contact man, a cover man, and a security man. These three roles may be interchanged during a search, depending on the dynamics of the architecture. With such a three-man team, it is possible to clear an entire builfing in relative safety. The team can actually move as a gun turret and cover all potential danger areas simultanously.

The secuity man is also the most expendable position on the team. This means that if there are only two men present. They may still be able to conduct the operation, but the cover man must serve double duty and provide rear security as well.

The members of such a team do not need to be veterns or professional experts, but they must have a basic understanding of tactical principles as well as having established a method of communication among themselves.

When any man on the team confronts a hostile with either verbal commands or gunfire, he automatically becomes contact man, and the team's actions will be keyed to his tactical requirements. The others must hold their areas of responsibility. If the contact man needs assistance he will request it from one of the others. The cover man is always the first to help him or one closest to him. At this point the security man must not only cover his area but the one abandoned by the cover man.

The requirement to reload will always occure under fire, so the ability to keep shooting is paramount. So is the use of cover. If there is no cover immediately available and a team member needs to reload he will call out, "Red / Reload / Etc" This tells his partner he needs "Cover" to reload his weapon and he needs to move out of the kill zone without letting the hostiles know of his status. The partner will take his area of responsibility. Together they get him into cover. The partner covers the maneuver and, if necessary, shoots any threats. When the first man has reloaded he calls out again, "Green / Go / Ready / Etc" telling his partner that he is back in the fight.

Multiplying your forces also miltiplies your survivability. If you can bring more people to the party then the bad guys, do so. It will pay off when the bullets fly. Be sure to let them know, if they can't soar with the eagles then they should not fly with the flock.

I created this guide to help the community of Insurgency find a level connection, one that put it simply some of the core basics of gunfights. It is my hope that this guide motivates players to use their microphones, use direct & decisive, progressive & aggressive tactics. At this time of publishing it is mostly finished, just some typos and a few more paragraphs to add. My friend Kalts freely offered his assitance in those typos, please give him a few words of thanks.


*****NEW*****
6/12 Chapter Left or Right
6/22 Intro and Tac Mindset sections cleaned up --Kalts