About the best thing you can do when you have to do physical searches is make the visitor stand with their arms away from their body so they cannot trigger a bomb so easily. Then have the searcher approach the visitor from the side while a marksman aims at the visitor’s head with orders to shoot if they make any sudden movements. This might just prevent a bomber triggering the detonation.
It may be the case that you are prevented by someone who ‘flies a desk’ from dealing with the situation as safely I am showing here on account of upsetting the locals or his boss’ voters. You may even have to send someone forward to do the search. In this case draw straws for ‘point’ and change over at intervals to give everyone a fair crack at finding a bomber the hard way.
It is not a bad idea to set up your coral in such a way that an approaching bomber is not trapped in a queue before he can see how carefully you check everyone. This way he may just go away and trouble someone else. Better still, you might give anyone leaving the queue a careful once-over.
Vehicle bomb defence
The guiding principle behind dealing with vehicle bombs is also to keep them at a distance. The problem is that a truck can carry so much explosive that it doesn’t have to get very close to you or the target to do a lot of damage. It also takes some stopping. If you stop a vehicle bomb personally at a check point you are almost certainly going to die and there is nothing you can do other than go to mass regularly or carry a lucky rabbit’s foot. In the accompanying diagram, the distances between each station should be as great as the area allows.
REMEMBER:
Suicide bombers can be prevented from detonating their bombs in any chosen area given the political will to restrict freedoms and the military resources to do the searching. Normally the areas where these tactics can be applied must be restricted to relatively high value targets such as aircraft facilities, government buildings and military posts. Do your job well and you’ll stay alive and limit the potential damage. But there will be nothing you can do to prevent attacks on unguarded civilian targets – this is out of your hands.
Fortunately, the chances of this happening are fairly remote as there is a large investment by the terrorists in a truck bomb both in terms of planning and logistics including supplying the explosive. If it does happen, try a head shot at the driver, it might just stop him pressing the button – what have you got to lose?
When effective searches are either not implemented or followed through... The aftermath of a massive explosion which killed at least 18 people including children and security officials and injured more than 100 others in Karachi, Pakistan, on 11 November 2010. (Corbis)
What is much more likely to happen is that a vehicle will be driven at a position or building you are guarding. What are you going to do then? By the time it happens it is too late to think about it. Defence against motorized bombs is all in the planning. So far as is possible, given the fact you may be in a town, prevent vehicles from approaching within blast radius of the target by placing large concrete blocks or pillars sunk deep in the ground. These should be sufficient to stop a heavy vehicle approaching at speed and create a perimeter all around the target – not just where the entrance points are.
At the point of entry force vehicles to slow right down on their approach by placing further large concrete blocks or similar. These should be set up in such a way that the vehicles not only have to slow down but they have to manoeuvre through ‘S’ bends at least twice after being stopped by the search crew. By this means, a vehicle is stopped and searched outside the perimeter where it cannot do severe damage to the target or most of the guards.
The search crew should always be covered by fire from a position within the perimeter. By this means, if the search crew are shot, or their commands to stop are ignored, the vehicle can be brought under sustained and accurate fire. Even if the vehicle cannot be stopped immediately the driver can be killed and the ‘S’ bend will stop the vehicle’s closer approach.
As with walking bomb checks it is reasonable to draw for, and rotate, the job of search crew.
INTRODUCING THE IDEA OF DEFENCE
In this section we are going to look at how you keep yourself and your mates alive when you are attacked and the enemy are doing their best to kill you. As we have already seen, a lot of defence comes down to digging a hole and sitting in the bottom of it – not very glamorous but comforting when the two-way range is getting busy.
First of all we will take a look at classical defence; how you pick a place to defend, how you design the defences and how you man them. This will give you a clear idea of the principles involved in a prepared defence so you can then go on to design your own as the circumstances require.
Then we have what we might call the unprepared defence. Situations where you are not specifically dug in and ready for the enemy but, being a good soldier, you always have it in the back of your mind that you may be hit at any time and have your SOPs ready. This covers defending yourself on a foot patrol or convoy against ambush. Then finally we look at manning checkpoints and the bane of every private soldier’s life – sentry duty – where you are in a permanent condition of defending a particular target.
Its all pretty straightforward stuff but if you get it right you will stay alive and if you get it wrong you may not – so make your decision carefully regarding learning this part. Listen to the news and think how many of the casualties you hear of would still be drinking beer in the mess if they had done it right. As I’m finishing this section I have just heard the news from Afghanistan. A bunch of guys were caught in the accommodation area of their base by a couple of mortar shells. Some were hurt badly and one died because they didn’t have a hole to jump into. If they had been operating correctly they would still be on their feet.
A British Parachute Regiment patrol comes under threat and assumes an all-round defensive position. Notice there is a sniper with the patrol. (Photo courtesy Tom Blakey)
US Marine Corps base near Kandahar in 2001. Solid walls, strong roof, blinds behind to stop silhouette. Good effort. (Topfoto)
Defining the threat
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing when attacked, the first thing you need to think about is what the enemy is trying to achieve. Yes, I know you are thinking ‘That Bastard is trying to kill me,’ but actually the reality is a little more complicated than that.
Many, indeed most, direct attacks by insurgents are not aimed at overwhelming your defences and killing you all. They are harassing attacks designed to make life unpleasant for you. But, of course, there is always the potential for a ‘proper’ attack where the opposition are out to slaughter every man Jack of you.
As a general rule, if you are in a prepared position, the insurgent attackers are out to make your life miserable because you are too strong to assault. But if you are on patrol and ambushed or in a tiny, remote position with no back up, you need to work out if the opposition is just harassing you or out to kill every single man in the team.