On the importance of the Scout Team.

Absolutely required reading from NCScout at the Brushbeater blog.

Why is this absolutely required reading? Well here’s my opinion on it, and keep in mind that I spent some time downrange with a Long Range Surveillance unit. You’ll notice that he mentions “LRS” in the linked article.

In the post-SHTF situation, reality is that most of us are not going to have the ability to activate and operate with a company (roughly 90-120 dudes) or platoon-sized (about 30 or so dudes) element. The majority of us are going to be struggling to gather even a squad (8-10 dudes) that has the proper variation of skills and equipment when needed, while having the uniformity of equipment in other areas, experience, mindset, physical skills… You get my point.

In my opinion, your most important “fighting” teams are two: One is your actual defensive perimeter team, or if you have enough people to form a neighborhood protection team (NPF). Basically, these are your people guarding the home base. It’s whoever you can find with the gear they can find and the weapons they have. Most of us aren’t going to have rotating guard duties divided up among former Rangers and other operators.

The other important team is the team that NCScout discusses. The scout team. In the military, as he states, it’s about six people. When I was in Afghanistan, 2-38 Cav was running eight. In your case, it probably does need to be about three. If you actually do have the people, the skills, the gear, the goals, the need and the AO to facilitate it, then go right ahead and do six. He goes into detail about what kind of skills are ideal, such as bow hunting, radio operation, the ability to hit long range targets in less-than-ideal conditions.

I would add a little bit of medical skills in there, though I’m not so sure that if you’ve just got a three-man team, that you’d want to burden anyone into a full on combat medic role with all of the associated gear seeing as this is not a direct action weapons squad. It’s still a scout team, sent out to assess the operating environment surrounding your home base.

Required reading. Get on it.