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Demonstration Script of danger area crossing

May I have your permission to start sir please!

Respected Commandant, Senior Officers, Pl DSs, JCOs, NCOs and Officer Cadets 52

Welcome to the demo stand for the demonstration of danger area crossing drill

Sequence of action in the demonstration

Introduction

Arc of demonstration

Initial Battle Picture

Demonstration

As you have been taught this morning/this afternoon/yesterday about danger area crossings, Can

anyone say what a danger area is?Well, Danger area are those places on a route where the platoon or a patrol might be exposed to

enemy observation, fire or both. So, all efforts must be made to avoid these areas. If it is

unavoidable, then it must be done with a caution. Now, there are some standards of crossing theseopen areas which are called the danger area crossing drills.

Some of the different danger areas are as follows

Open Areas

Roads and trails

Obstacles

VillagesEnemy positionsMine fields

Streams

Wire obstacles

Initial Battle Picture

You are going to see a section on your right which a part of a platoon. They are a part of a

Kharipati platoon. They are out on a patrol. They are already a km away from their main bodywhich is staying in a harbour. Now, they are on the way towards the objective area. They are

moving cross country inside the forest and they have come across a road( a danger area)running

through the jungle. Now, lets see how they are going to cross this linear Danger area i.e. the roadusing the two types.

Type 1 and

Type 2

Demonstration

Now, on your right, you can see a section on a recce patrol. Now, on coming jst 20 or 30m ahead

of the danger area, the scout halts the section and gives a signal of a danger area. Then the section

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cdr assessing the situation decides whether to use type 1 or type 2. If the threat level is low then the

section cdr goes for type 1.

In this case, the Lead team signals Danger Area (relayed throughout the patrol), the patrol haltsand maintains local security (i.e. All round observation).Patrol Leader goes forward to the lead

team/scouts and determines what type of obstacle it is and what method to use to cross it. Let us

say he determines it to be a low threat linear obstacle, and therefore decides to go forType 1 Drill.Patrol Leader signals for Drill 1 and signal is passed down. A field signal such as crossing 2 hands

(to indicate obstacle) and then raising one finger (to indicate Drill 1) can be used.

Patrol Leader signals lead team to move on.

First man takes position on the near side of the obstacle observing to the high threat side.

Second man comes up, taps him on the soldier and takes his place, covering the same side.

First man, now relieved by the second, turns to cover the other side and crosses the obstacleto take position on the far side, covering towards the other side.

Third man does as the same and takes the place of the second man on the near side. Second

man crosses over and replaces the first man, taking position on the far side. The first man,

now relieved, continues the movement.

Rest of the patrol crosses over the same way with the last man covering rear and erasingthe traces or the footprints.

Now, they have crossed the danger area and moved forward ..again they come across

another road.

Now, Type 2 DrillLead team signals Danger Area (relayed throughout the patrol), the patrol halts and maintains

local security (i.e. All round observation).Patrol Leader goes forward to lead team/scouts and determines what type of obstacle it is and what

method to use to cross it. Let us say, he determines it to be a high threat linear obstacle, and

therefore decides to go forType 2 Drill.Patrol Leader signals for Drill 2 and signal is passed down. A field signal such as crossing 2

hands (to indicateobstacle) and then raising two fingers (to indicate Drill 2) can be used.

The Patrol 2IC brings the trail (last) team forward to the Patrol Leader. Meanwhile, the Patrol

Leader decides where to position his near side security and also his near and far side ERVs.The Patrol Leader informs his 2IC (in the case of a platoon, he would inform the Section Leaders)

and 2 IC of the situation and the near and far side ERVs. The Patrol Leader instructs the 2IC and

places near side security and recces a suitable crossing point. Near side security secures theflanks and over-watches the crossing as in the demonstration.

(f) The Patrol Leader orders the far side security (his team), to cross. This ensures a

commander on each side of the obstacle, in case something should happen. The area secured must

be large enough to allow full deployment of the remainder of the patrol.Far side security crossesthe obstacle, clears secures the far side, establishes an OP on the forward edge of the cleared area,

and covers the flanks of the crossing site from the far side.All clear signal is given. Patrol crosses over it is best to start with the last people on the Order of

March (OOM) to go first. That way, when the patrol deploys on the far side, it is already in the

original OOM.

Once all are across, the patrol establishes local security (all round observation).

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Near side security follows the last people across, covered from the other side of the obstacle by the

far side security; and moves forward to take its place as the lead team (remember that we used the

lead team as near side security). At this time, all are across and in the original OOM.

These are obstacles tactically sited by the enemy. The most common forms of tactical obstacles are trip wires, barbed wire and

mines.(a) Tripwires: Tripwires indicate tripflares or booby traps. As such they are most likely to be sited close to theenemy positions.The following techniques should be used, especially, on movement forward of the FRV and around the objective.It is looked for using a thin stick or flexible wire. The lead man looks for or rather feels for it and must be protected by the others.

The drill is as follows(1) The leadman holds the feeler lightly and gently moves it on the path in front, feeling for any tripwires. He should notswing it with so much force that it itself sets off the device.(2) Once he finds tripwire, he kneels down and feels its direction.

(3) He halts the patrol (signal is passed) and patrol maintains local security. Patrol leader comes forward and learns about thesituation.(4) Signal of tripwire is passed back and 2IC brings up the last man. Meanwhile, leadman marks the wire using a light whitecloth such as 2 x 12MALMAL tied around the wire.

(5) Patrol leader and second man kneel next to the wire facing each other and hold a rifle firmly between themselves, just

over the wire, marking for the patrol members, how high to lift their legs to safely cross the wire and also protecting the wire frombeing accidentally tripped.(6) Patrol passes over starting with the lead man feeling for more wires and 2IC and rearman crossing after him to take

position closest to the wire on the other side.(7) The others follow, with the rear end leading (behind the feeler) until all but the patrol leader and second man are on the

far side of the wire. Then the 2IC and the rearman (who are closest to the wire on the far side) hold a rifle between themselves,helping the patrol leader and second man also to cross over.(8) The patrol moves on.

Before wrapping up, Conclusion(some points to remember)

The danger areas always the best killing ground for the enemy. They generally lay down obstacles,ambushes, or generally cover these areas with either view or fire with an intent to destroy or delay

us. Therefore, it is very important that a patrol, be it a Platoon or a Section (-) in size, uses the

correct drills to tactically cross obstacles and danger areas. Keep in mind that if a whole Companyor even a Battalion is moving, the first (lead) platoon still carries out these drills so that security is

achieved for the whole unit to follow along without each group having to clear bounds.

Finally, the demonstration ends up hereI would like you to stand up and pay a sincere thanks to

the demonstration section from the 9 Air Defence Company with a loud applaud.Thank You.