Instructor(s)

Current qualified instructors:

• All of the Squad AIs

Booking a Course: To book a course, please speak with one of the listed instructors and request a suitable date. Information will also be posted in the Squad Training Academy subforums

Number of candidates

Eight candidates are maximum per one instructor.

Objectives of the course

The following course will help you be a better team player in Squad. Teamwork will be heavily emphasized.

Prerequisites

You can only participate in this course once you've read Squad Core Game Mechanics and passed the Basic Infantry course.

FOLLOWING SQUAD LEADER'S (SL) ORDERS

One of the most important things to do in Squad is listen to your SL, no matter what. It is he or she who has the overview of the battlefield and is in constant communication with the other SLs and Command. Things you cannot see are happening somewhere else and your SL is the main point of information/communication.

A SL always has priority over comms. If the SL requests radio silence, it is important to hold comms because he/she will most likely be in contact with the other squads and needs to get critical information from them. Get acquainted with his/her voice in order to stop talking as soon as they start speaking (or look at your screen for the voice marker). Suggestions are welcome but don't go into discussion. The final say is always the current squad leader's and if you do not agree with something during that match, you can only go as far as suggesting your thoughts and then debating those choices after the round/match in a constructive manner.

After joining a squad, and before spawning, there are two things that need to be checked with the squad leader:

• Ask your SL what kits are needed, and afterwards stick with that kit unless the squad leader asks you to change or if you ask the squad leader for permission to change and he/she approves it.
• Ask where to spawn or if spawn should be held (especially at the beginning of the round)

Breaking contact and falling back is also an important request by the SL; it's hard to do but even more rewarding when you all make it out. As soon as the order to fall back is given, forget everything else; your first priority should be to fall back rather than killing people or reviving downed soldiers if they are ahead of you.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Depending on the situation and your orders certain Rules Of Engagement (ROE) should be followed to the letter.

‘Hold fire’ aka ‘Weapons Red’

Stop shooting immediately if your Fire-Team or Squad leader issues this order!

‘Do not engage unless fired upon’ aka ‘Weapons Amber’

Used when moving stealthily, allowing your squad to keep under the enemies’ radar. If you see enemies, report it first. If the target engages or clearly spots you then self defence takes over and your whole squad will react with you. However if you shoot first you will likely give your squad away, getting them stuck fighting away from your objective which could result in mission failure.

‘Engage at will’ aka ‘Weapons Green’

Fire at your discretion, ensuring you engage targets that pose a direct threat to your squad or assist in suppressing the enemy firing positions. When switching from ‘Do not engage unless fired upon’ to ‘Engage at will’ ensure the first shot(s) are ‘kill shots’, giving you the advantage of surprise and aggression when going noisy and giving your position away.

 

During engagements one should think of the following:

• Rate of fire - Shooting in single fire mode increases accuracy, increases the longevity of the magazine, is better for better suppression, and helps you conserve ammunition in the long run.
• A simple, yet effective, rule of thumb is playing a waltz in your head and tap a single burst on every 1.  A full squad using this tactic will increase the amount of time covering fire and suppression can be maintained.
• Reloading - Call out locally when reloading so your teammates know that you cannot cover them for a few seconds. Avoid synchronized reloading with other teammates, so if your teammate starts shooting wait till he shoots off a few rounds then start shooting so while he is reloading you will have a few rounds left that you can shoot off. This only applies for suppression, because if you can kill someone take the shot and don't stay there waiting for your teammate to try and waste a few bullets.
• Covering fire: Keep an enemy suppressed for friendlies to move safely. Do keep your rate of fire in check since resupplying your ammunition requires extra trips from the support department. Remember that an AR equipped with bipod can provide big amounts of covering fire providing the rest of the squad the ability to move up.

Initiative can be taken but do it within the boundaries of the rules. Keep in mind that breaking these rules could result in death of your squad and failure of the mission.

It is important to keep pressure on the enemy at all times so you limit their firepower and movement.

• Aggression - You cannot stay passive and just camp a corner of a room and wait for the enemy to come inside, try and find ways where you can kill them while they are still approaching the area. Same goes while attacking, if you are going to clear a building or area commit to it and do it, don't hide and wait, because you will just get a grenade next to you or someone will outmaneuver you and kill you.
• Momentum - A very important ingredient in winning firefights, dominating an area or taking flags. As your Squad neutralises enemy threats, you create a space and can outnumber the enemy, forcing them to wait for a revive or healing, reinforcements, or respawn. Ensure you capitalise on all advantages you are given. Keeping momentum takes away the enemies’ ability to be effective and counter attack. Commonly in game you will hear ‘Push up’ or ‘Advance’ after a successful attack to ensure momentum is maintained.

FORMATIONS

Check out this guide

The squad leader will use formations at his/her discretion, however you need to learn which formations are naturally suited to which environments so if the squad leader does not call out any specific formations you will know how best to set yourself within the squad for better survival and engagement success.

• Open Terrain - In open terrain the best choices of formations are those in which you set yourself horizontally to other people in a line so you can cover a large area and stay spread out. The advantage of this is two fold: the first being that if ambushed the casualty rate will be lower, and before the enemy can acquire new targets you have the rest of the squad able to shoot back without being suppressed. When hunting FOBs this is also the best choice of formation as you will cover a lot of ground faster with a proper spread.
• Closed/Built Up Terrain - In areas where it is not open and you will not be able to see each other if you spread out horizontally, the best choice is to stay in a vertical spread. This gives you the best survival rate because you will have multiple people covering multiple windows, alleys etc. and you will limit friendly casualties with proper spreading.

CONCEALMENT

Concealment is used both offensively and defensively.

• Offensive - Offensively it is always important to use cover and line of sight concealment while approaching the target. Mastering the environment around you will increase your survival chances and will enable you to make more enemy casualties. This is more important when you take into consideration that you might want to get close to the enemy stealthily before engaging, so it is important to learn how to maneuver through concealment so the enemy does not spot you.
• Defensive - If used correctly, concealment can be a game changer in a defensive environment. When settling down somewhere to defend the area, the first thing that you should do is have a look around you and identify where the strengths and weaknesses of that position are. That way you will know that if the enemy comes from a particular direction you will have the advantage but if they come from your weak side you should already have planned a fall back position where you know will be strong against that particular direction.

COVER

There are different types of cover; mainly we use two types of cover: visual or soft cover and hard cover.

• Soft cover; only breaks line of sight between you and your enemy while offering no protection at all. For example; Wooden fences, smoke, bushes, etc.
• Hard cover; it not only breaks the line of sight between you and the enemy, it also gives you protection from small arms fire. For example; sandbags, Mud walls, rocks, etc.

DISTRACTION

Distraction and misdirection are strong tools and when used effectively in a squad or on a multi-squad level, they can be devastating. There are multiple tools at your disposal that you can use to cause the enemies’ eyes to focus on you instead of your teammates.

• Smoke - this is an effective tool because it focuses the enemies’ attention to the smoke to try and figure out if anyone is going to push from it or not. If you toss out a random smoke, the enemy will not know which direction the real threat will be coming from. In addition you can use smoke to blind your enemy by throwing it on his position, forcing him to relocate. Working together with armoured or mortar deployed smoke can provide large distractions and thus give you and your squad the time to relocate, for example.
• Weapon fire - in a scenario where you are launching a two-pronged assault on a position, it is often best to have one fireteam draw enemy attention and lay down suppressive fire. In parallel, another squad moves in for the kill from another direction that is lightly defended. The AR is an excellent kit to make lots of noise and provide the rest of the squad with the opportunity to sneak in quietly. Vehicles can also be used instead of an AR.

GATHERING INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence on the enemy is the most important thing to have. If you have intelligence on the enemy, you already have an advantage when going up against them.

• Target spotting and estimated enemy attackers/defenders is important as this allows for squad leaders to make decisions based on whether they should get reinforcements or not and from which direction.
• Spotting targets does not mean that you start shooting at the first target that you see. Sometimes it is best you let them move ahead and just follow them by sight, and figure out if they have a forward base/rally somewhere or if they are attempting to use a new strategy. Knowing the enemies’ spawn location is half the battle
• The marksman and crewman kits are equipped with rangefinders, either be it in their scope or binoculars. Setting your horizontal line on a standing enemy's feet and seeing on which mark the enemies head will hit the upper line gives you an estimation of the distance between you and the enemy. This is very valuable information for you and your squad and also part of gathering intelligence.

(Note: the 1.7 seen on the rangefinder refers to the average height of an infantry target, 1.7 metres, and is not part of the rangefinding process)

 

FALLING BACK

As Oliver P. Smith once said in the Korean War: ‘Retreat, hell! We're not retreating, we're just advancing in a different direction.’

If an attack is not working or if a defensive position is being overrun, falling back offers the best strategic choice for the team in order to regroup their forces and plan for their next move. Even the best defenders can be overwhelmed in some situations and that is perfectly fine, but the mistake happens when you keep throwing men and resources at something which you know you will not take with your current strategy. If the squad leader orders you to fall back, it means stop what you are doing and move yourself to a rendezvous location. They make this choice for the long term benefits of the team and to stop bleeding tickets when it can be prevented.

The benefits of a tactical retreat are:

• Buys you enough time for reinforcements to arrive.
• Provides the ability to set up a defensive perimeter and enough time to get the SL up to drop a new rally
• Buys you enough time to build up a new FOB
• Buys you enough time to set up a new defensive position
• Provides the ability to relocate safely to attack from a different angle
• Keeps the ticket loss to a minimum.

The following video is a tactic which is used if you are caught under enemy fire and want to fall back.

 

This tactic is called peeling. As the video shows a center peel from a staggered column, you can also peel left or right from a line formation. It is important that when peeling you are aware of the position of your squad and don’t walk into their line of fire. Also, use local comms and call out when you are doing any of the following actions:

• Peeling back
• Set in position
• Opening fire
• Reloading

 

Always be aware of your teammates and that a constant base of fire is directed towards enemy locations. That means using local comms but also listening to local comms.

FLANKING

When engaging targets, the best way to go about it is by having two elements

• First element holds your center and provides a solid backbone so the enemy stops moving forward
• Second element flanks from the sides and from behind in order to take the enemy out

There needs to be proper cohesion between the flankers and the people holding the line. You cannot flank and keep on pushing if the centre line is not pushing as well while you are taking out enemies otherwise you will just end up outflanked yourself. If you are holding the line and the flankers have completed their mission in clearing the area of enemies, sometimes you will need to push to hold a new front, or if there are still enemies it might be more beneficial to become a flanker and switch roles with those that flanked because you would still be further back and most likely not seen by the new enemy.

When flanking it is always important to plan a route. Do not randomly run out in the open if it is not safe to do so and always move/maneuver from cover to cover to let your stamina regenerate and to have cover that your can use if you are spotted. It is also important to pace yourself depending on what is happening to the rest of the squad so that the enemies are hit at the same time from multiple angles.

Keep in mind that when you are engaged, the enemy might do the same and flank you, therefore you need to prepare for this as well. if it is noticed that a particular flank is weaker and is losing to the enemy, immediately prepare a second line of defence to be ready for the enemy push from that side while the strong side of the flank needs to keep the momentum going. Generally if you lose both flanks it means that the middle will collapse shortly after because of a two-pronged flanking assault.

A good formation to effectively defend against flanking is the Arrowhead.

BREACHING AND CLEARING BUILDINGS AND COMPOUNDS

Check this guide for detailed information on this topic

 

When breaching compounds, communication is crucial, and you need to keep it fast and to the point. Also, stick to local so that only those people who are near you can hear the information, otherwise you would be flooding the squad comms with useless information. Keep it simple as well, use left/right instead of degrees and give information like "first window/second door" etc. so people can understand you better.

 

Grenade Usage And Smoke Grenades

These are very important tools that you should use when engaging in CQB both in attack and defence scenarios.

• Grenades - Grenades are one of the best tools because they offer a way to kill, injure or suppress the enemy without having direct line of sight to them, making them ideal to take out enemies behind cover or inside building. When throwing a grenade always say "Nade Out" in local comms. It is important not to call out "Nade" on its own because it means that an enemy has thrown a grenade at the friendly squad.
• Smoke Grenades - When thrown inside compounds it causes confusion among the defenders and will not allow them to effectively defend. Depending on the shape of the compound, it might be worthwhile throwing smoke in the middle of compound and areas where you think the enemy are hiding so that either they do not see you as you are coming in or else you will force them to relocate. When effectively used, these cause a whole enemy squad to end up working on their own instead of in a group because they will be unable to help each other due to line of sight.

ATTACKING AND DEFENDING THE FLAG

Attack

• Try pushing the attack from multiple angles at the same time together with other elements/squads.
• Take out nearby enemy FOBs before moving onto the flag.
• Use smoke to limit accurate enemy fire.
• Try moving stealthily first until you are seen to get as close as possible to the enemy.
• Use the buddy system so you can cover each other.
• Use bounding overwatch.

Defence

• A flag is best defended outside the cap range.
• Leave one person within the marker so you know when enemies start to cap the flag.
• To start capping a flag enemies need to be plus 3 people on the defenders so this is a good indicator to show how many attackers are in the cap radius.
• Have multiple FOBs set up for options when spawning in.
• Do not cover the same zone that someone else is already covering, there are other doors or paths that enemies can take to get where you are.
• Don't focus on one side (when someone calls out contact, no need for everyone to push to that side).
• Be calm, stay in cover, and watch.

Denial of Cap

• Objective is to waste as much time as possible of the enemy by keeping the enemies off the cap radius.
• To successfully deny an enemy cap you need to keep the enemies out of the cap zone, as they can start capping with only one person inside the cap.

Climbing

• Climbing high walls is possible by getting a boost from fellow squad members. This gives the opportunity to vault into an enemy compound without using the doors and so avoid the funnel of fire.

BRINGING DOWN AN FOB

• Attacking a FOB is one the most important things to do next to try to take a flag. An FOB usually consists out of two structures. Firstly, the FOB itself (also known as the Radio), and secondly the HAB (short for HESCO Accommodation Bunker) also known as the spawn bunker. A HAB becomes unspawnable when a minimum of 2 members of the opposing team get within 30 meters of it.
• The benefits of taking an enemy FOB down are:
• It will cost the enemy tickets
• It removes their ability to respawn on that location and so cuts off reinforcements
• It removes their ability to rearm, repair or use heavy weapons from that location
• Destroying a FOB that does not have defences:
• Try to go in stealthily
• Set up a perimeter
• Let one/two people dig up the radio while the others provide cover
• Once dug up remove yourself from the area as enemies will know where you are coming from
• Destroying a FOB that is being actively defended:
• Spread out around the FOB
• If mortars are available then request a fire mission
• Hit it from various angles simultaneously
• Let GL / AT drop in some shots first
• Put grenades in the area before you enter
• While one digs up the defences (barbed wire/walls etc.) the others cover
• Try to get within 30 meters of the HAB as fast as possible so it becomes unspawnable
• Secure the area and expect enemies to come to your location
• While one/two people dig up the radio, the others provide cover
• Once dug up, remove yourself from the area

SOUND AWARENESS

Sounds within Squad are critical as they provide you with intelligence that you can pass along to your squad or capitalise on personally. For instance, in a scenario when you are outside a compound and you hear an ammo crate placement, it is certain that an enemy FOB is in the area.

Other important sounds that can save your life/friendly lives can be, for example, hearing grenade pins being pulled, mag reloading, entrenchments being dug down, etc, In depth sound training can be given by an AI additionally to this course.

It is also important to make sure your comms are always audible, local chat should be able to be heard (within a certain distance) even over the roar of an engine when in transit. Please check the example from fellow RIP member Shortround, watch from 2:20 seconds

 

 

NOTE:

Sound part will be more covered in the practical part of the course

LOGISTICS

The Logistics truck/technical holds the key to supplying the FOBs allowing SL's to build spawn points (HAB), fortifications, emplacements, offer vehicle repairs in the field and provide ammunition to infantry and vehicles alike.

The Logistic mechanics is broken into 2 parts, "Construction" and "Ammo" points.

The Logistic trucks can hold a maximum of 3000 Points (Logistic Technicals holding 1400) of either Construction or Ammo points of your choosing or what has been requested by a SL based on their intentions as each placeable asset costs a certain amount of points, or they may want to keep the Mortars fed with ammo.

Resupplying the Logistic vehicles is done at a Main Base around the Repair station.

Note: A supply vehicle is the most valuable asset, so keep it safe!!!

TEAMWORK

This game is not solely based on kill-death ratios, it is an objective based game that requires teamwork and coordination from your team in order to dominate on the battlefield.

• Being competent with your weapons and knowing your place in the squad will enable you to effectively defend your squad thus completing more objectives.
• When a Squad member is down:
• Ask him where he got shot from.
• Check the area is clear
• (Get a friendly to cover you if possible) while you bandage them.
• Listen to SL and your FTL at all times.
• Only open fire when Rules of Engagement allow this.
• Before opening fire, report contacts giving information on direction, distance and enemy numbers and assets seen.
• Don't look in the same direction as everybody else.
• Keep your head on a swivel and try to anticipate what the enemy is doing.
• Keep your spacing at all times
• Refrain from giving up to respawn, there is a timer anyway and it is more beneficial to wait for a bit and see if the area around you changes to one in which a friendly can get you up instead of wasting tickets.
• Request your give up if needed unless told so by medic or SL.
• Don't sacrifice your Squad members’ positions just so you can get a kill if you are supposed to be hiding.

PRACTICALS

An AI will lead you in battle and will follow you to see if you are implementing stuff that you have been taught in the course.

• Observe movement of trainee during matches. Stacking versus spreading out etc. To pass trainee has to consistently march properly as per the type of terrain that the squad is currently moving on in order to minimize casualties should they be hit by enemy fire and to be in a correct location to immediately flank or do whatever role the trainee has chosen.
• Observe response of trainee to enemy contact as per the role s/he is currently playing. Getting in cover, covering medics, working with the team to advance and clear enemy positions. To pass trainee has to utilize good tactics and all the tools in their arsenal (grenades, smoke, suppression etc.) to help push forward.