SOP when carring ruck's in to combat..

[saintM]

Hi All

Have a question towards any infantry unit carrying there ruck/ bergen in to combat.. on operations..

Do you have a SOP on when and where to drop there rucksack, when/ if you end up in a contact. Do you do "reaction to enemy fire" drills first.. or how does it work?

If you don't have a clue of what I'm talking about have a look at this vid.

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...in-Afghanistan

I have always been motorised/Mechanised infantry myself and only seldom took the ruck of the APC..

Any ref., opinions and relevant experiences are welcome.

Thanks!

[JoshuaS]

If carrying backpack and hitting contact, any contact, the first thing you do is to pour a huge amount of “fire” onto the enemy position. By that time, you will have a chance to drop your backpack. You then normally start with fire- and –movement, which is very difficult with a backpack. If it so happens that the action take you away from your backpack, you are suppose to have at least a skeleton webbing on you with most of your ammunition , some first aid, radio, water and your survival equipment. If needs be you can then also start with Escape and Evade with this skeleton webbing.
If you do not need to Escape and Evade, you can always return to your back pack after the contact and retrieve it.

This discussion is very general and normally applies for normal infantry operations in a perfect world . In small teams however, you sometimes elect to do a tactical withdraw, which then, you would like to retain your backpack. You then do a different type of drill when hitting contact.

[TehSuig]

If you're wearing a ruck and take contact, the first thing you would do after hitting the deck, finding cover, and gaining fire superiority, is to hit the quick releases on your straps. Anyone who's ever spent a great deal of time under a ruck knows you can't bound with them and you definitely can't lay in the ****e with one on your back. There will be plenty of time to come back after the fight and get your ruck back - that is, if the locals haven't already ratf ucked them

[saintM]

JoshuaS, Suigenesis... thanks alot.

For the record - only talking Infantry here..

1. Win fire supriority -
2. Take cover/find good fire position -
3. Drop ruck -
4. continue/win fight -
5. retrieve Ruck..

Roughly..

[JoshuaS]

That is correct. Therefore your backpack must not contain items that you need in a fire fight or ambush. It is better to have layers of kit on you. It sometimes will be required to shed more than one layers of kit if needed,for instance Escape and evade

[Fallosophy]

Do you guys still use the 3 line system? or is there a SOP that is more updated? stay safe.

[JoshuaS]

It all depends on the type of operation. You have three types of configurations

• Assault Order.
• Combat Order.
• Marching Order.

Assault order:
If you are doing Reaction Force, you only carry first line (essential) ammo, water, helmet and first aid. The idea is to spend as little as possible time on the ground, but with the max fire power. Your webbing then is suited accordingly, most of the time in the form of an Assault vest (or Body armor with load bearing straps, to attaché pouches onto, to allow you to customize your own particular configuration).

or belt and yoke webbing system and chest webbing. Your main ammo holder is the chest webbing

Combat order:
When you intend to stay for at least 24 to 48 houers. You therefore gear up on all to enable you to do that. For instance a sniper team doing blocking-service, sitting in an OP for a day or more. For this, you can either use an Assault vest with all the additional pounces utilized

or a small backpack for the extra gear combined with belt and yoke webbing system and chest webbing.

Marching order:
If you are expected to stay operational without re-supply for at least two weeks. Sometimes longer. Typical operation will be a LRRP. You then breakout the big back pack and fill all pockets with gear. It is also easier to use a belt with yoke and pouches as webbing combined with the chest webbing. You must remember that your body (around neck) and clothing (pockets) also serve as a means to carry stuff.


Based on that you decide which items to ditch if needed.

Note: This is very general and you do get variations on the above.

[Sewen]

Do you guys still use the 3 line system?

line 1: smock - line 2: webbing - line 3: backback? Yep, still in use with us.
When under contact you perform your reactions under fire, and lose your 3rd line afterwards (ie. whilst peeling off).

[flanker7]

There's also the grab away bag, which you keep on to of your bergen, easily accesible, and which contains all mission essentials accorting to your mission. For example, the explosives to do a demolition if that's your mission, or the medic pack if you are the Medic, or the squad radio, etc. The idea is that if you must ditch your bergen you still have the option of quicly grabbing your mission essentials or other sencidive gear.