Re: [SG2] [DS2] Aussie Recon Platoon Organisation

Alan spake thusly upon matters weighty: 
> "Under current Australian doctrine, a recon platoon consists of four
> reconaissance patrols, four surveillance detachments and four sniper
> pairs."

The recon patrols are five man. The sniper pairs are twos. How big is 
the surveillance det? 5 man? 
> In my own albeit limited experience, even normal line reservists were
> expected to be able to "go bush" for 3 days or so without re-supply,
and
> reconnoitre, set up ambushes etc. And to be reasonably adept at
> camouflage (ie given 10 minutes preparation, to avoid detection at
> ranges of over 1 metre) It's actually not that difficult, and it's
> positively scary when someone magically appears next to you in a
> featureless paddock, even when you know how its done.

I've done this in paintball... I've had people who knew the enemy was 
nearby walk by me at a distance no greater than 2.5 meters with me in 
plain sight in the middle of a grassy clearing (I was crawling from 
bush A to juniper B when the patrol appeared - closing with the enemy 
slowly for a sniper attack or ambush). I thank my camouflage gear and 
whoever it was told me that motion gives you away far more than 
anything else (and hard outlines are verboten too). I was lying in 
the sun 5 feet from a team of guys, and they walked right by without 
seeing me. (And of course, I've had the other side... getting sniped 
by someone whom clearly must have teleported...as they could not have 
been in the space I scanned....). 

> Finally, although the recon troops do things like rapelling from helos
> and other LRRPS stuff, the real Scary Fellas are still the SAS, in a
> class of their own. They often play OPFOR.

An SAS Anecdote: 
(Correct details if I have this wrong, folk of the Isles)
SAS set to act as terrorist opfor, attacking nuke plant. Reservists 
to defend. Somewhere (Wales?). Opfor to infiltrate, concentrate, 
carry out attack. All of opfor captured without a shot fired. 
Something to do with the fact that any time one of them entered this 
bar in town (or it could have been several), the locales could 
immediately place them as being out of town, and called their nearby 
army guys to come bag the bad guys. Even the SAS has its off days. 
 
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Thomas Barclay		     
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