Scouting and Patrolling

1. What they did

This is the United States Marine Corps field manual on scouting and patrolling, approved on 17 April 2000. It sets out the skills, tactics and procedures Marines need to work as scouts and as members of patrols, from a fire team up to a company. Part 1 covers scouting: terrain, maps and direction; reading enemy activity, including signs and tracks; daylight and night scouting; observing and reporting; and the scouting fire team. Part 2 covers infantry patrolling: how patrols are organized, prepared and moved, reconnaissance and combat patrols, and reports. Appendices give order formats, an evaluation checklist and ambush formations.

2. What they found

Reading signs and tracks (section 3002)

The manual says a scout can often estimate an enemy force’s size, make-up, direction, rate of movement, condition, discipline, training and morale from the signs and tracks left behind.

• Abandoned positions: the size of a bivouac or defensive area points to how many people were there. Clothing, ration containers and dumps add to this. A well-tidied area suggests good discipline; rubbish, ration and smoking remains and dropped personal items suggest lower morale and discipline. Stores left in good condition may mean a hasty move; burned or destroyed materials suggest a deliberate, orderly withdrawal. Letters and insignia may show which unit it was.
• Moving troops: the distance between halts shows the rate of march, if the enemy’s habits are known, and the condition of halt areas shows morale.
• Footprints: a track is defined as a mark left on the ground by the passage of a person or object. A few overlapping tracks on both sides of a road or trail may mean a patrol in staggered formation; many tracks mean troops in column. A large column wears a dry road smooth and flat. A runner’s toes dig into the ground, while a walker’s footprint is fairly even.
• Track age: in damp ground a fresh track has sharp edges, and signs of moisture usually disappear in about 15 minutes.
• Vehicles: the type of track shows whether a vehicle had wheels or tracks. Direction of travel shows in how tracks cross ruts (dirt pushed into the rut, a dent on the exit side), deeper impressions on the far edge of holes, the side of a puddle with the bigger splash, and the direction grass is bent and twigs and branches broken. The amount and spread of splashed water or mud gives a rough speed.
• Scouts are told they gain this skill by watching friendly troops and vehicles during training.

Other skills that touch on tracking

• Avoid soft ground where possible, so as not to leave tracks.
• Do not disturb birds or animals, whose flight can betray a scout’s presence. If they are alarmed, stay still under cover for a few minutes, because the enemy may also have noticed.
• In tall grass, move when the wind blows and change direction often, as a straight route is more easily noticed.
• At night, listen often and for long periods; sound carries farther at night and in wet weather, and with an ear to the ground a scout can hear people walking and vehicles moving. Smell can warn of fires, cooking, vehicle parks, engines and water.

3. What they concluded

As a doctrine manual, it does not draw research conclusions. Its message is that scouts and patrols are among a commander’s most effective ways to gather information, that the lives of a whole unit may depend on how accurate and timely their reports are, and that success depends on training, preparation and a clear understanding of the mission. Reading signs and tracks is presented as one of the scout’s core ways of learning about an enemy without seeing them.

4. How tracking was or was not used

The manual teaches human and vehicle tracks and signs identification for gathering information: reading abandoned positions, footprints (formation, numbers, running or walking), track freshness, and the direction and speed of vehicles. It also teaches scouts to avoid leaving tracks. It does not describe trailing (following a track to find people), and the tracking section is short (about one page of a 121-page manual).

6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

• Navigation with the lensatic compass, the stars, the sun and a watch; map reading and range estimation.
• Night vision technique (looking slightly away from an object so the eye’s night-sensitive region sees it) and night observation devices.
• Camouflage, cover and concealment, and individual movement (rushing, low and high crawl).
• Standard reporting formats, including the SALUTE report (size, activity, location, unit, time, equipment).