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Authors: Matthew Bracken
date.
Matthew Bracken
February 29, 2012
#9
August 2012
Night Fighting 101
THE BASICS
Would you like an all-expense-paid week of training at a tier-one tactical shooting academy, taught by a Nationally Famous Big Shot? Would you like to ramp up your “operatorship” a few proficiency levels, but you can’t afford the time or the expense of top-flight training?
Well, I can’t offer you such a free ticket, but I can tell you how to improve your operator skills just as significantly, and it won’t cost you any money or even much of your time. You, yes you, can become a deadly night fighter in your spare time. If you are already a hunter who frequently stalks into position long before dawn, much of this will not be news, but for most folks, undertaking this self-training can make you a much more competent post-SHTF survivor.
How can it be so simple to become an effective night fighter, that it can be taught in a mere essay?
Allow me to explain. In all forms of combat, the warrior who perceives the other first has an enormous advantage. If he is clever, he is able to stay inside his unsuspecting adversary’s OODA loop, before either slipping away undetected or applying the coup, as circumstances dictate. On the other hand, the combatant who sees his enemy second, often gets no second chance. It is better to ambush, than to be ambushed. A lot better! (If you are unfamiliar with Colonel Boyd’s OODA Loop, you should look it up and become familiar with its concepts.)
So how do you become a self-taught deadly warrior of the night? You begin in the daytime. Lay out a walking path through your neighborhood “Area of Operations,” a path with plenty of transitions across all types of urban, suburban and rural terrain. Culverts, gullies, overgrown chain link fences, woods, meadows, railroad tracks, bridges, power line right-of-ways, abandoned commercial properties and fallow fields will be your classroom.
To begin, mark your route every twenty or thirty yards. Small torn rags stuck on fences and tree branches look fairly natural, and won’t be noticed. Walk and crawl through thickets, under fences, over walls, through the doors and windows of closed factories or falling-down barns. Travel your path in daylight both ways, several times. If it’s summer where you are located, dress for bugs, thorns and mud, but stay inconspicuous.
Then come back after dark on a moonlit night. Your mind and memory will already know the route very well, but the darkness will swallow up much that was plainly visible by day, while revealing new folds and textures of light and shadow. Your rag markers will help you to stay on course. You can also blaze a temporary trail with a small bag of baking flour, leaving a white pile at intervals.
Try the path again on an overcast and moonless night. Where you must, use the minimal amount of flashlight necessary. A single-bulb LED powered by a single AA or AAA battery can be filtered and shielded to provide just enough light to avoid tripping. A humble mini-compass with a glowing North arrow can keep you on course. Try difficult terrain with and without the penlight, to understand how night movement in pitch-blackness is still possible, and also to understand its inherent limitations.
Next, try a new route for the first time at night, under the moon. Then return during the day to examine the new path you had first explored in semi-darkness. Did you leave a trail of footprints that a blind man could follow? Finally, explore new routes on overcast moonless nights. The idea is to reach a merger point in your mental processing of various types of terrain as perceived in daylight and in varying degrees of darkness. When you achieve this breakthrough, you will be far above the mass of humanity when it comes to night fighting.
Where it’s appropriate and inconspicuous, bring your tactical white
Matthew Bracken
February 29, 2012
#9
August 2012
Night Fighting 101
THE BASICS
Would you like an all-expense-paid week of training at a tier-one tactical shooting academy, taught by a Nationally Famous Big Shot? Would you like to ramp up your “operatorship” a few proficiency levels, but you can’t afford the time or the expense of top-flight training?
Well, I can’t offer you such a free ticket, but I can tell you how to improve your operator skills just as significantly, and it won’t cost you any money or even much of your time. You, yes you, can become a deadly night fighter in your spare time. If you are already a hunter who frequently stalks into position long before dawn, much of this will not be news, but for most folks, undertaking this self-training can make you a much more competent post-SHTF survivor.
How can it be so simple to become an effective night fighter, that it can be taught in a mere essay?
Allow me to explain. In all forms of combat, the warrior who perceives the other first has an enormous advantage. If he is clever, he is able to stay inside his unsuspecting adversary’s OODA loop, before either slipping away undetected or applying the coup, as circumstances dictate. On the other hand, the combatant who sees his enemy second, often gets no second chance. It is better to ambush, than to be ambushed. A lot better! (If you are unfamiliar with Colonel Boyd’s OODA Loop, you should look it up and become familiar with its concepts.)
So how do you become a self-taught deadly warrior of the night? You begin in the daytime. Lay out a walking path through your neighborhood “Area of Operations,” a path with plenty of transitions across all types of urban, suburban and rural terrain. Culverts, gullies, overgrown chain link fences, woods, meadows, railroad tracks, bridges, power line right-of-ways, abandoned commercial properties and fallow fields will be your classroom.
To begin, mark your route every twenty or thirty yards. Small torn rags stuck on fences and tree branches look fairly natural, and won’t be noticed. Walk and crawl through thickets, under fences, over walls, through the doors and windows of closed factories or falling-down barns. Travel your path in daylight both ways, several times. If it’s summer where you are located, dress for bugs, thorns and mud, but stay inconspicuous.
Then come back after dark on a moonlit night. Your mind and memory will already know the route very well, but the darkness will swallow up much that was plainly visible by day, while revealing new folds and textures of light and shadow. Your rag markers will help you to stay on course. You can also blaze a temporary trail with a small bag of baking flour, leaving a white pile at intervals.
Try the path again on an overcast and moonless night. Where you must, use the minimal amount of flashlight necessary. A single-bulb LED powered by a single AA or AAA battery can be filtered and shielded to provide just enough light to avoid tripping. A humble mini-compass with a glowing North arrow can keep you on course. Try difficult terrain with and without the penlight, to understand how night movement in pitch-blackness is still possible, and also to understand its inherent limitations.
Next, try a new route for the first time at night, under the moon. Then return during the day to examine the new path you had first explored in semi-darkness. Did you leave a trail of footprints that a blind man could follow? Finally, explore new routes on overcast moonless nights. The idea is to reach a merger point in your mental processing of various types of terrain as perceived in daylight and in varying degrees of darkness. When you achieve this breakthrough, you will be far above the mass of humanity when it comes to night fighting.
Where it’s appropriate and inconspicuous, bring your tactical white
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