(6) Shooters should not be confused with moving and clearing the sector of fire. Do not keep your muzzle pointed at the corner until you reach it. Once an area is visibly cleared, immediately continue to collapse your sector of fire. Remember, above the hips are like a tank turret, turning left and right while you are moving.
(7) The shooters Dominate from opposite corners, one has traveled up the long wall, and one has traveled up the short wall. The positions in the opposite corners are called textbook Dominating Positions.
Once the shooter has reached his Textbook dominating position, he cannot move forward of that position until supplemental verbiage has been exchanged. This is where we can understand how important it is for predictability between shooters is so important. To continue discussing dominating positions, the rule of thumb is that as the shooter is collapsing his sector of fire and the next step that he takes would cause him to cross his feet, he should stop and become static at that point. That position the he stops at is now called his true dominating position. NOTE: Once a shooter stops in the room, he cannot move forward until supplemental verbiage has been exchanged between all shooters in that specific room, doing so could put himself in extreme danger of being engaged by the opposing shooter. Again, predictability between fellow shooters. The specific verbiage will be discussed shortly.
(8) It is important that each shooter moves as close to his text book dominating position as possible so that he can clear more of the room.
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TEXT BOOK DOMINATING POSITIONS FOR A SQUARE ROOM, CORNER DOOR
fig. 4 b. CONTROLLING THE ROOM:
(1) As both shooters are moving to there dominating positions and collapsing their sectors of fire, they are identifying living individuals. Identifying only means target discrimination, ie, does it get shot or not...hands. If a living individual is not holding any type of weapon, then the shooters should give verbi-age in order to control that living individual. the verbiverbi-age given is "DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, WE ARE AMERICANS;" pause for compliance, "DON'T MOVE". The verbiage should be delivered in a clear, concise voice. The tone should be loud and firm. Do not let you adrenaline level influence the verbiage, in other words speaking so rapidly that no one can understand what you are saying. As you collapse your sector and you identify a non-hostile living individual, your collapse does not stop. Continue to do your muzzle sweep, while giving the verbiage. If, while giving verbiage, you identify a threat, stop the verbi-age, engage the threat, and then continue the verbiage. Continue giving verbiage until you have compli-ance. We will discuss what appropriate actions you would take if a non-hostile living individual is not compliant later in the course.
c. MOVING IN THE ROOM:
(1) Once the first three fundamental have been completed, it is now time to start moving in the room in order to complete the remaining fundamentals. The only verbiage required to move in a room is one shooter will sound of with "CLOSING", with the opposing shooter sounding off with "CLOSE" No shooter can move after stopping in the room during the initial clear until this verbiage has been exchanged.
A shooter who sounds off with "CLOSING" and then steps off could be placing himself in jeopardy. The opposing shooter could still be in the fight. Again, the shooter who sounds off with "CLOSING" must wait for the reply of "CLOSE" from his partner. By a shooter sounding off with "CLOSING" means that he intends to maneuver in the room. The shooter who sounds off with "CLOSE" means that he will pro-vide cover for the shooter who is "CLOSING". The cover man must not only propro-vide security for the shooter who is closing, but for the entire room as well. Any time that a shooter wants to stop all move-ment in a room, use the verbiage of "HOLD". Upon hearing "HOLD", all shooters immediately stop what they are doing. Shooters should then resort to plain text to explain what is going on. Example.
Shooter #1 is maneuvering in the room, shooter # 2 is providing cover. As shooter #1 is maneuvering, he fails to see a hidden danger area behind a counter and is getting ready to place his back to that uncleared area. Shooter # 2, the coverman, observes this and sound off with "HOLD"..."CHECK BEHIND THE COUNTER".
d. DEAD CHECK:
(1) A dead check is conducted on all those individuals who have been engaged. Before the dead check can be conducted the first three fundamentals must have already been completed. To initiate the dead check, one shooter, preferably the shooter closest to the engaged threat, sounds off with
"CLOSING". His teammate sounds off with "CLOSE". The closing shooter now approaches the en-gaged threat in the low ready. As he comes within arms reach of the enen-gaged threat, he assumes the under arm assault position, so as to better control his weapon should the adversary not be dead. The closing shooter first sweeps/removes the weapon away from the engaged threat. Next, he gives the engaged threat a thump to the eye with his support index finger. The purpose of the eye thump is to observe for a nervous reaction from the engaged threat. If the individual is unconscious and severely injured, but is still alive, you will observe a twitch from his eyes upon the eye thump. If the individual is playing possum, you will observe a twitch from the eyes upon the eye thump. If the individual is dead, you will observe no reaction upon the eye thump. After the closing shooter has removed the weapon and administered the eye thump, he will now announce to his teammate the condition of the engaged threat both verbally and physically.
Verbally by giving an "UP" or "DOWN" and physically by giving a thumbs up, (alive), or thumbs down, (dead). Both shooters will continue with the same technique until all engaged threats have been dead checked. The two shooters may switch off Closing and Close duties, simply by announcing the intentions.
Once all dead checks have been completed, both shooters will move to the next fundamental.
e. SEARCH THE ROOM: Their are two types of searches that we conduct in every enclosure, the Detailed Search and the Hasty Search. The difference is obvious. For the detailed search, the entire en-closure is thoroughly searched, ie, in draws, in cabinets, anywhere that a 2 foot high man could hide is
what is searched. A hasty search is a quick search of the obvious, ie, behind the curtains, underneath the desk, underneath the bed. The type of search conducted will be dependent on whether or not trailer tactics are used. If the Direct Action Troop alone is clearing the objective, then the shooters must conduct a de-tailed search of the room before they depart. However, as you will find out during integration training, if trailers are used, then the Direct Action Troop member only conducts a hasty search, then calls in a trailer to conduct a deliberate search of the room, while the primary shooter departs to continue the dynamics of the clear. During this course, you will be required to conduct the Detailed Search in every space, since we are not using trailers.
(1) Searching the Room. Once the dead checks have been conducted, the next fundamental is to conduct a Detailed Search of the enclosure. A shooter, preferably the shooter closest to any hidden danger areas that need to be searched, sounds off with "CLOSING". His teammate responds when ready with
"CLOSE". The room is then thoroughly searched.
(2) Fundamental 4 and 5 (Dead Check and Search the room) are the only two fundamentals that may be switched, and is only switched when necessary. The reason why you may need to switch these funda-mentals in sequence is, for example, you are closing on an engaged individual to conduct a dead check, but between you and him is a desk that you have not cleared behind. In this instance, you should search behind the desk before conducting the dead check. You need not give any additionally verbiage to your teammate, unless you feel it necessary.
f. SEARCH AND CUFF:
(1) Just as with the Dead Check and the Search, two shooters are required to Search and Cuff any liv-ing individuals within the room, one shooter to cover, and one shooter to do the physical work. We will discuss more on this fundamental later in the course during hostage handling classes.
g. DEPARTING THE ROOM: At this point we have Dominated, Eliminated, Controlled the room through verbiage, Dead Checked, Searched the room, and Searched and Cuffed the Living. You will attempt to conduct all of these six fundamentals in every enclosure that you enter. Now that we have completed the first six fundamentals in the room, we now need to leave the room and continue the clearing process. To leave the room, the first shooter who realizes that all six fundamentals have been completed in the room, announces "OUT", signaling for all shooters to depart the room. As the shooters move to the doorway, a shooter, preferably the last shooter to exit the room, will sound off with "I'LL MARK", signi-fying to others that he will mark the space.
(1) As the first shooter approaches the doorway, he sounds off loudly from within the room,
"COMING OUT", and steps out of the room, into the hallway, and looks for the next danger area or lone shooter.
(2) As the last shooter approaches the doorway, he grasp and breaks a green chemlight and places it on the floor on the side of the door frame on the side opposite of the direction of movement. We mark all enclosures that we have cleared so that it serves as a indicator to all inside the Crisis Site that specific room has been cleared. We mark the room with a illuminated green chemlight, as SOP. The reason that we mark the door on the side of opposite the direction of movement is so that after the fight has finished
and shooters are moving back through the objective to marshal, they will see the chemlight as they are ap-proaching. If the chemlight was on the side of the direction of movement, then the shooter might have to get right on top of the door frame before he can see the chemlight.
(3) As the last shooter is marking the room, he sounds off loudly with "LAST MAN OUT", letting all know that no other shooters are within that specific enclosure. The last shooter then exits into the hallway, looking for the next danger area and/or lone shooter.
6. SQUARE ROOM, CENTER OPEN DOOR:
a. Most of everything that you have learned to this point remains the same, ie, stacking, deploying a flashbang, as well as the six fundamentals. Because of the room configuration with a center, open door, the manner in which we maneuver in the room will be altered.
(1) As the two man team is stacked on the outside and upon making room entry, the lead shooter will move to his initial corner, turn up that corner and dominate approximately 1/4 of the way up the second wall. The number 2 shooter will button hook, move to his initial corner, turn that corner and dominate ap-proximately 1/4 of the way up that second wall. Both shooters should now be abreast of each other on op-posite walls. Nothing else changes.
Now that we know how to clear square rooms, lets move on to what we will do when we are confronted with a closed door.
7. CLOSED DOORS. As the lead shooter approaches the closed door, he is looking for two things;
where the hinges are located and where the door knob is located. The location of the hinges will dictate how the two man team will enter the enclosure. If the shooter observes the hinges that means that the door opens outward. If you see no hinges, than the door opens inward.
a. Inward Opening, Closed Door. As the lead shooter approaches and sees no hinges, he will auto-matically cross past the closed door, stacking on the opposite side of the closed door. The second shooter approaches the door and also observes for hinges and doorknob. The second shooter will not cross the closed door, but will stop short of it. Both shooters should now be facing each other on opposite sides of the closed door. The shooter who is on the door knob side of the door will now be considered the Number 2 Man for room entry. This shooter will be responsible for opening the door, and if using flashbangs, will
deploy the flashbang into the room. The shooter who is on the hinge side of the door will be considered the Number 1 Man for room entry and is responsible for security on the door. Both shooters are in posi-tion; the door knob side shooter will reach for the door knob, grasping it. Both shooters then make eye contact, look and nod to each other, signifying that both are ready to make room entry. The door knob shooter, on the down stroke of the nod, will turn the door knob and push it forcefully open. Once the door has opened, the door knob shooter will grasp a flashbang and deploy it properly into the room. On the ex-plosion, the hinge side shooter steps off as the Number 1 Man, followed by the door knob shooter, the Number 2 Man. Interior room tactics will not change from what you have already been taught. The one advantage of this entry technique is that the second shooter to make room entry does not have to button hook, but simply enters the room and moves in the path of least resistance.
b. Outward Opening, Closed Door. As the lead shooter approaches and sees hinges, he will stack on the door knob side of the door. The second shooter, will likewise, stack behind the lead shooter on the door knob side. (If the shooter(s) stack on the hinge side of the outward opening door, then when the door is opened, it would open in the face of the shooter stacked on the hinge side, blocking him from making entry). When ready to make entry, the number 2 man will grasp a flashbang and step slightly out, not yet pulling the pin; he is simply in the profile to deploy the flashbang. As the lead shooter sees, out of his pe-ripheral vision, the Number 2 Man step out with the flashbang, he will reach and turn the door knob, forcefully pushing it open, and then re-gripping his primary weapon. Once the Number 2 Man has an opening, he will pull pin and deploy the flashbang into the room and re-grip his weapon. On the explo-sion, both shooters step off and make room entry.
Note: If at any time a door closes after the flashbang has been deployed, wait for the flashbang to explode, re-open the door, and make room entry.
8. THREE MAN CLEAR, SQUARE ROOM:
a. The Number 1 and 2 Men's responsibilities remain the same.
b. The Number 3 Man, upon making room entry, like the Number 1 and 2 Man, is responsible for clear-ing the Thresh Hold.
c. As the Number 3 Man steps in the room, he will move and dominate just inside the doorway, posi-tioning himself slightly to the left or right of the fatal funnel. As you can see, by the Number 3 Man dom-inating in this manner, we have established a horseshoe between the three shooters. This horseshoe will allow all three shooters a greater degree in flexibility when collapsing their sectors of fire. It is important that the Number 3 Man does not over penetrate into the room, as this will limit the Number 1 and 2 Mans Sector and will place himself in danger of possibly being engaged by a teammate.
d. The Number 3 Mans sector of fire is the same as the Number 1 and 2 shooters; one meter off of the nearest shooter. Preferably, his sector should start one meter off of the first shooter, (Number 1 Man), that made room entry.
e. By adding the third man to the room entry team, allows the team a greater degree of security and pro-tection.