combat skills of the soldier - ch4.pdf

7/27/2019 Combat Skills of the Soldier - Ch4.pdf

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FM 21-75

CHAPTER 4

Observation

GENERAL

During all types of operations, you will be look-ing for the enemy. However, there will be times whenyou will be posted in an observation post (OP) towatch for enemy activity.

An OP is a position from which you watch anassigned sector of observation and report all activityseen or heard in your sector. Chapter 6 provides

guidance on collecting and reporting informationlearned by observation.

CONTENTSGENERAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1

HOW TO OBSERVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2

THINGS TO LOOKAND LISTEN FOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4

RANGE ESTIMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4

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FM 21-75

HOW TO OBSERVE

This section discusses the techniques youwill use for day and night observation.

DAY OBSERVATIONIn daylight, use the visual search tech-

nique to search terrain. Do this in two steps:

Step 1. Make a quick, overall searchof the entire sector for obvious tar-gets and unnatural colors, outlines, ormovements. Look first at the area justin front of your position, and thenquickly scan the entire area out to themaximum range you want to observe.If the sector is wide, divide it and

search each subsector as inStep 2.

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Step 2. Observe overlapping, 50-meter-wide strips, alternating from left toright and right to left, until you havesearched the entire sector. When yousee a suspicious spot, search it well.

NIGHT OBSERVATION

At night, use anyone of three night obser-vation techniques to search terrain.

Dark A daptat i on Technique. First, let youreyes become adjusted to the darkness. Do so

by staying either in a dark area for about 30minutes, or in a red-lighted area for about20 minutes followed by about 10 minutes in adark area. The red-lighted method may save

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time by allowing you to get orders, check equip-ment, or do some other job before moving intodarkness.

Off-Cent er Vision Technique. Focus your atten-

tion on an object but look slightly away fromit. The object will be more visible this waythan when you look straight at it.

Scanni ng Technique. Again focus your atten-tion on an object, but do not look directly atit. Now move your eyes in short, abrupt, andirregular movements around it, pausing a fewseconds after each move.

THINGS TO LOOK AND

LISTEN FOR

In trying to find the enemy in a sectorof observation, look and listen for these signsof his presence:

Sounds.

Dust or vehicle exhaust.

Movement.

Positions.

Outlines or shadows.

Shine or glare.Contrasting colors.

SOUNDS

Listen for such things as footsteps, limbsor sticks breaking, leaves rustling, men cough-ing, and equipment or vehicle sounds. Thesemay be hard to distinguish from other battle-field and animal sounds.

Sounds can alert you to the direction orgeneral location of the enemy. They may notpinpoint his exact location. However, if a soundalerts you, you are more apt to spot the enemy.

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DUST OR VEHICLE EXHAUST

Moving foot soldiers or vehicles oftenraise dust. Vehicle exhaust smoke also rises.You can spot dust and vehicle smoke at long

ranges.MOVEMENT

Look for movement in yourthe visual search technique.

POSITIONS

sector. Use

Look for enemy positions in obviousplaces, such as road junctions, hilltops, andlone buildings. Also look at areas with coverand concealment, such as woods and draws.

OUTLINES OR SHADOWS

Look for outlines or shadows of enemysoldiers, equipment, vehicles, or guns. Theenemy may use the shadows of trees or buildingsto hide himself and his equipment. Look forhim in shaded areas.

SHINE OR GLARE

In darkness, look for light sources such as burning cigarettes, headlights, or flashlights.In daylight, look for reflected light or glarefrom smooth, polished surfaces such as wind-shields, headlights, mess gear, watch crystals,or uncamouflaged skin.

CONTRASTING COLORS

Look for contrasts between backgroundcolor and the colors of uniforms, equipment,and skin. For example, a soldier’s T-shirt ortowel may contrast with its background.

RANGE ESTIMATION

You must often estimate ranges. Yourestimates will be easier to make and more accu-rate if you use the 100-meter unit-of-measure



FM 21-75

method, the appearance-of-objects method,or the flash-and-sound method. This sectiondiscusses the use of these methods.

1OO-METER UNIT-OF-MEASUREMETHOD (DAYTIME)

Picture a distance of 100 meters on theground. For ranges up to 500 meters, count thenumber of 100-meter lengths between the twopoints you want to measure. Beyond 500 meters,pick a point halfway to the target, count thenumber of 100-meter lengths to the halfwaypoint, and then double that number to get therange to the target.

Sloping ground changes the appearance of l00-meter lengths. Ground that slopes upwardmakes them look longer than 100 meters, andground that slopes downward makes them lookshorter than 100 meters. Thus, the tendency isto underestimate 100-meter lengths on upslopesand overestimate them on downslopes.

The accuracy of the 100-meter methoddepends on how much ground is visible. This ismost true at long ranges. If a target is at arange of 500 meters or more, and you can onlysee part of the ground between yourself and

the target, it is hard to use this method withaccuracy.

APPEARANCE-OF-OBJECTS METHOD(DAYTIME)

This method is a way to estimate range by the apparent size and detail of an object. Itis a common method that is used in everydaylife. For example, a motorist trying to passanother car judges the distance of oncomingcars based on their apparent size. He is not

interested in exact distances, but only in havingenough room to safely pass the car in frontof him. Suppose he knows that at a distance of 1 mile an oncoming car appears to be 1 inchwide and 2 inches high, with a half inch between

the headlights. Then, any time he sees anoncoming car that fits those dimensions, heknows it is about 1 mile away.

The same technique can be used to esti-mate ranges on the battlefield. If you know theapparent size and detail of troops and equip-ment at known ranges, then you can comparethose characteristics to similar objects atunknown ranges. When the characteristicsmatch, the range does also.

To use the appearance-of-objects method,you must be familiar with characteristic detailsof objects as they appear at various ranges.As you must be able to see those details tomake the method work, anything that limits

visibility (such as weather, smoke, or darkness)will limit the effectiveness of this method.

COMBINATION OF METHODS

Battlefield conditions are not alwaysideal for estimating ranges. If the terrain limitsthe use of the 100-meter unit-of-measuremethod, and poor visibility limits the use of theappearance-of-objects method, you may haveto use a combination of methods. For example,if you cannot see all of the terrain out to thetarget, you can still estimate distance from the

apparent size and detail of the target itself.A haze may obscure the target details, but youmay still be able to judge its size or use the100-meter method. By using either one or bothof the methods, you should arrive at a figureclose to the true range.

FLASH-AND-SOUND METHOD(BEST AT NIGHT)

Sound travels through air at 300 meters(1,100 feet) per second. That makes it possibleto estimate distance if you can both see and

hear a sound-producing action.When you see the flash or smoke of a

weapon, or the dust it raises, immediately startcounting. Stop counting when you hear the

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sound associated with the action seen. The meters. If you stop at three, the distance isnumber at which you stop should be multi- about 900 meters. When you must count higherplied by three. This gives you the approximate than nine, start over again after countingdistance to the weapon in hundreds of meters. nine (counting higher numbers throws the

If you stop at one, the distance is about 300 timing off).

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combat skills of the soldier - ch4.pdf

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