Tactics for the "T" ~ One-Man Defensive Clearing

Training Training and Tactics
1

There are certain problems presented in one-man defensive clearing that are fairly straightforward. Others can cause your heart to start pounding even in a dry run. The “T” hallway, easily dealt with while a member of a team, can prove an enormously dangerous challenge for one man to properly clear.

I’d like to start a discussion on solutions to problems associated with one-man clearing techniques. Other problems we can discuss include opening certain types of doors and when multiple entrances open up in front of you.

2

Interesting topic. I dont have any input as of yet but will be watching this thread:)

3

put your back against the wall to allow maximum view down one length of hallway while simultaneously limiting any view of you from the other end of the hallway. then switch sides. remember most walls dont offer cover just concealment and it matters not how close you are to it.

4

Great topic.

Lets say my son has been snatched in a mall, guy may be armed grabs him and runs around a corner. I must pursue, and fast. When I round the corner I am faced with the “T”.

I dont have time to dick around. And there is no perfect ansewer.

Me?

Clear the corner to the left as far as I can as fast as I can while slicing the pie.
Back up. Move to other side of hall and clear to the right.
When I reach the point where I must expose myself to get all the way around the corner I have to move fast and decissively.
I come just far enough out standing to clear all the way down to the left and TURN and KNEEL to clear to the rear.

The other option I have been presented with is to peek out one way and then the other. Im not sure I like this. It gives away my position and allows time for the BG (if he is in the direction I did not clear first) to make ready. It also takes longer.

Your back is exposed either way. And I dont know of a way to not expose your back (back of head even) for moment.

I think in my proposed tactic the time I am exposed is no more than the peek. By kneeling I change my target profile, gain a more stable platform (lets say he is now far far down that hall and about to make his getaway) for shooting, and its not significantly slower than other turns (not counting gaming turns where you throw your foot out into the unknown and tear around.)

my .02

5

speed does have its advantage in this scenario. element of surprise

6

Very interesting topic, thank you for starting the thread.

I have several of these:

ASP 52470 Tactical Mirror and Case

http://www.ambientsw.com/gs19067.html

7

Throw a flash bang at the X, and proceed to rape faces :smiley:
(not a serious post)

8

Since you may have given away your position - would it make sense to go “high” (normal stance) at one corner and “low” (kneel) at the other?

M_P

9

Does the BG know who you are?

Are the halls empty or are other people there going about their business?

10

The most important qualifier, I think, is if we’re talking an offensive clear or defensive. I think that plays the biggest part in dictating how aggressive you want to be.

For a defensive clear, I’m thinking you have to basically slice the pie as Lee Indy said. Slow and deliberate, but at some point you still have to get out there.

For a more aggressive clear, the T seems like the perfect time for the “quick peek” IMO. I disagree with Shawn L about the peek slowing you down. It lets you cut the problem in half, speeding up the process. At the very least, if the quick peek does nothing for you (ie, you can’t see squat) you’re at the same point you were 1 second earlier, but at least you have some vague notion of the shape of the problem (ie, which side of the T is longer, which side has more doors, which one leads to an exit, etc). The peek has bought you info at the cost of a moments exposure.

The thing is, you won’t just face this problem just at a T hallway. Say you’re in an office building with lots of rooms on a long hallway. If you’re in one of those rooms, when you come out you’re basically facing the same issue.

As much of a problem as a T intersection presents, I think the long hallway presents a much greater one. I can’t figure out whether it’s better to go down the hallway slowly and deliberately or to move like heck from one door to the next, or all the way to the end as applicable. It’s like you’re in a big funnel with no cover or concealment.

11

Another good problem to discuss.

12

Scenario I am using for all this is pursuing people who are attempting to flee before thing go active. They are wanting to move quick but are willing to destroy me if the get the advantage.
For the Long hallway, unless a door is disturbed I am going to move down it rapidly but quietly listening for chairs, doors, or yelling and work the T. There is no correct technique. I would pie looking for indicators of direction. Scrapes on the walls, exit signs etc. Hopefully I have seen enough of the building to get some idea of basic layout. Near exterior walls, if I am in left side of the building or the right. That should allow me to make an educated guess of which way they turned. By aggressive steps you can get from one side of the hallway to the other fairly quickly and visually clear a good deal. Once i make the turn, I am committed and will to nearest cover.

Problem areas-

  • moving down hallway leaves many uncleared rooms to my rear. I am not clearing these due to my perception the Tangos are attempting to flee.
  • once i commit to the turn, the area behind me. No good answer, but will move out of the center of the hall to the busiest side. Copy machines, water fountains, all will assist me.

I assume the Kater doesn’t have me chasing after Jack Bauer, and they are going to make some mistakes. Most times the Tangos will be louder than most.

13

Once you’ve given away your position, there is no good reason to take a step back, especially given that the walls around you are almost certainly incapable of protecting you from incoming rounds.

If you “quick peek” you’re hosed either way. If there are BGs in the direction you looked, they’ve now got time to react and send rounds your way… again, most likely through paper-thin walls. If you “quick peek” and the BGs are in the opposite direction, it’s even worse because you won’t know they’re there until holes start appearing in the wall.

The ugly truth is that there is not a guaranteed solution to this problem. Being fast and mobile is what’s necessary from the moment you’ve moved into a position that may identify your position.

14

I suppose that’s true to an extent, Todd. In the scenario you describe, it seems like the BGs are waiting in ambush for you. In that case, there really isn’t a way to attack the problem as a single person that’ll let you escape sans bullet holes. The T intersection is already a 50/50/90 type situation regardless of the defensive posture of the people you’re going up against.

Start adding in things like aggressive opponents, ambushes and so on and it truly devolves into a no-win.

At the very least the peek gives me some kind of info before I go charging headlong around the corner, in what may very likely be the wrong direction.

15

I imagine something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1fIe80SVSo

Realistically, in a home defense/ccw scenario I would imagine the safest bet for you would be to slowly clear the pie as much as possible in one direction without exposing your back, then proceed to the other side.

However once you have commited (either you must move into the intersection or you have been made) I believe the speed/violence of action way of doing things is going to drive this bus. You are going to be up a relative shit creek so might as well go through it fast.

The employment of a diversionary device or the mirror system might be benificial if time permits. Alot of this would come down to mission parameters and what exactly your situation is.

I would imagine this happening to cops or possibley in a home defense situation. Either way, it would most likely be benificial to weight for help.

PJ

16

A tactic based on the assumption that opponents are sleeping, blind, and deaf seems superfluous. Fun, but superfluous. :cool:

At the very least the peek gives me some kind of info before I go charging headlong around the corner, in what may very likely be the wrong direction.

The problem is that it gives the other team info, too, and while you’re backing up and reorienting, they’re acting.

You’re not the first one to suggest this so please don’t think I’m picking on you personally, here.

The “pie one side slow, pie the other side slow” approach works really well against static cardboard or paper targets. But when you add crazy stuff like humans who can move, once you take your eyes off the first direction you no longer know what’s down there. You might not be the only person sneaking around quietly.

If you want to be safe, don’t clear by yourself.

17

100% agree - one of the reasons I started this thread. I read/hear way too much guys casually talking about clearing their house like it will be easy.

However there may be reasons why a defensive clear must be done despite the danger.

18

Understood, and my comment wasn’t leveled at you. My point is that if someone is in one of those must be done situations, then one has to accept that commonly taught team tactics don’t apply. Most team tactics rely on the fact that someone else is essentially guarding the flanks. Trying to apply team-based techniques, especially in this case where so many are suggesting the lone actor play the role of each team member sequentially, is fraught with failure.

19

…and that’s the other half of this walnut. For some things there is no perfect solution that insulates you from risk. If there’s something that important in the structure that makes clearing it a necessity for you, then there’s a certain risk of leaving in a body bag you have to accept going in there. You don’t plan to get killed and you do your best to not let it happen, but there will be moments where you have to improvise based on what your instincts and training tell you.

I’m by no means an expert in CQB, but I have spent a bit of time in shoothouses and lots of other places pondering the complexities of clearing various areas as an army of one. (Which, frankly, doesn’t get as much attention as the way a team handles things) The conclusion I’ve come to is that if you have something like a T intersection and there’s a guy on one end of it who knows you are coming and has set up to ambush you then you are pretty much at the mercy of his ability to put bullets on target. I have yet to discover a way of seeing around those corners that does not give away your position to the other dude providing he is switched on and waiting for you. Even something like a compact mirror peeking around a corner will be a big neon warning sign to a dude who is looking for a guy with a gun to pop around that corner.

…but, and this is a big but, out of 100 bad guys in the wild, how many are going to be set up like that?

My approach…and again, I’m not an expert in CQB…is basically this: I’m going to pick a side that I think is most likely the general direction of the bad guy(s). In a dynamic situation there may be clues like noises or gunshots or people fleeing for their lives that indicate that the dude in need of lead therapy is in this general direction. I’m going to clear that corner defensively, and once I’ve seen what I need to see (hopefully without being shot) I’m going to do a quick check in the other direction and then get moving again. Because shoothouses are not realistic environments they neglect other helpful things like shadows, panes of glass (which can serve to show reflections or changes in light that can be a clue to a bad guy’s presence) etc which exist in real structures that can all help give you some sign that there’s a dude down there waiting to ambush you. I’m going to look for anything in the environment that might help me determine that I should concentrate more on what’s to the right than to the left, etc. Perfect? No, but it’s the best I can come up with. If I’m faced with the super ninja bad guy who knows CQB, is absolutely silent, is hiding in complete and utter darkness and who has dead aim in a gunfight and I pick the wrong direction…ya. I’m screwed. Realistically, however, it’s unlikely that the circumstances will be that ideal for the bad guy.

Now if somebody does happen to know some advanced gun-kata that makes you able to take down a T intersection with absolute safety, by all means share with the class. I’ve just never found a way to make it work without a team of dudes backing you up. Even with a team of dudes it’s no picnic. Thinking back to our most recent time in the shoothouse, imagine the difficulty of coordinating what we did in there in a low light environment…

20

I think there is an issue of semantics here, maybe I am not tracking. I’m going to go with defensive and offensive in terminology as the way I see it given that The_Katar has said this is a solo operation.

The only time I would 100% absoluteley engage in clearing a structure alone is an in extremis setting. I.E. HRT or if I reasonably believed that bad guy(s) with ill intent were between me and a loved one and I had to close with them.

To me this isn’t defensive clearing, this is offensive. I have made the decision that what I am about to do will very possibly result in my death or injury and have accepted that based on the rescue of innocents. (HRT principles).

An offensive HRT operation has a lot going for it that the lone operator can;t bring to bear. Multiple entry points onto a target area, distraction devices and other tactics, flooding an area quickly, and aggressively with people trained to do exactly that. What we’re talking about here is one guy against all odds, we might have our hand forced and make the decision to do this, just as long as we’ve made the decision that dying is an acceptable outcome.

“Defensive” clearing on the other hand to me is something that while we might do, (bump in the night) we have to honestly admit that there is no need. The risk/benefit is probably against us, we don’t ‘know’ that a bad guy is there. We could in all reality wait for help. But…we choose to clear the house anyway. “It’s probably nothing”.

I do investigate bumps in the night, but if in the process of that, I discover/hear/see something that leads me to believe there really is a bad guy(s) around the corner, and I know that my loved ones are safe with me between them and the threat, i am going to stop my clear, hold that ground or pick a better defensible location and wait for back up.

As OPFOR for my team, I get to be the bad guy at least once a month. God help the new guy, or guy that is having a bad day and screws up the entry when I am inside a room and expecting company. The punishment for doing that on my team is painful, and it should be. You have a 50/50 chance of making the right choice as far as which way to turn, and even if you choose correctly, and your partner(s) execute as they should the advantage is still with the defender since all he has to do is watch a doorway and blaze away at movement. Your opponent doesn’t care about backstops, or having to be accountable for every round, and is going to behave accordingly. You have a much higher burden, especially if this is a “do or die” situation where an innocent life of someone you love is on the line.

After every entry and exercise I sit down afterward and write down lessons learned, over time I’ve come to realize that good intentions aren’t good enough. Good solid tactics, developed and honed thru frequent training, executed as a team is what improves your chance of success. Even if everything is done right, the likelyhood of assaulters taking casualties against known armed defenders is very, very high. Protocols and tactics are developed with that in mind.

I’ve probably muddied the waters on this, if so I apologize. If the regular homeowner takes anything away from all this, i hope that it is : Make an honest decision as to whether you are going to go hunting for bad guys in a structure unless there is a life or death reason to do so. This has nothing to do with machismo or cowardice.