Combat Tracker Standard Course 10 days, 100 hours
The Combat Visual Tracker Course, is designed to train combat personnel tactical visual tracking skills, tactics and operational procedures that are necessary for them to conduct tracking operations in pursuit of fleeing enemy, lost or missing personnel, locate enemy hide sites, IED emplacers, any enemy activities. To teach soldiers, sailors and marines, to find and track spoor without the use of electronics, or animal assistance, but to also work in conjunction with either or both. It is also the purpose of this course to provide military personnel with the skills, and tactics to safely gather forensic track evidence and intelligence gathering for basic WIC and JIEEDO investigations. As the focus shifts from tracking insurgents towards conventional warfare and LSCO, the Combat Tracker course is a vital skill set for the modern warfighter.
Phase I : 5 days ( 50 hrs.)
Subjects Covered in Phase I / Week I
- Introduction to Combat Tracking
- Glossary of Tracking Terms
- Roles of a Combat-Visual Tracking Team
- Visual Tracking Indicators and Interpretation
- Human Step Dynamics
- Rules of Tracking
- Lost Spoor Procedures
- Individual Tracking Techniques
- Tracking Team Formations
- Immediate Action Drills
- Advanced Shooting Techniques
- Processing and Preserving the Site. (Site exploitation)
Phase II: 5 days ( 50 hrs ) total Course ( 100 hrs.)
Subjects Covered in Phase II / Week II
- Mine and IED detection (IED Lanes) (C-IED)
- Assessing the Age of Spoor
- Tracker Deception / Counter Tracking
- Camouflage / Concealment and Movement
- Tracking to and conducting surveillance
- Night Tracking
- Tracking in Urban Environments
Combat Jungle Tracker Course 10 days, 100 hours
Phase I: 5 days ( 50 hrs.)
Subjects Covered in Phase I / Week I
Although all the basics of tracking are covered, each block of instruction is geared towards issues dealing with the jungle environment in both phases I and II.
- Introduction to Combat Tracking in the Jungle Environment
- Glossary of Tracking Terms
- Roles of a Combat-Visual Tracking Team
- Visual Tracking Indicators and Interpretation
- Human Step Dynamics
- Rules of Tracking
- Lost Spoor Procedures
- Individual Tracking Techniques
- Tracking Team Formations
- Immediate Action Drills
- Advanced Shooting Techniques
- Processing and Preserving the Site. (Site exploitation)
Phase II: 5 days ( 50 hrs ) total Course ( 100 hrs.)
Subjects Covered in Phase II / Week II
- Mine and IED detection (IED Lanes) (C-IED)
- Assessing the Age of Spoor
- Tracker Deception / Counter Tracking
- Camouflage / Concealment and Movement
- Surveillance: Tracking to, and conducting surveillance
- Night Tracking
- Tracking in Urban Environments
Combat Tracker Course Phase III -- 5 days, 50 hours
Phase III Course: 5 days ( 50 hrs )
Subjects Covered in Phase III
- Fast reaction tracking and footprint recognition
- Urban Tracking with small teams (2-3 man)
- Small unit lost spoor procedures
- Hasty track from jump and run
- Ambush pursuit and fleeing insurgents
- Smuggling and rat lines
- Rural weapon cashes and narcotics investigations
- Expedited site processing
- Urban IED / Booby-trap recognition
- Tracking transitions, Urban to Rural / Woodland
- Combat Tracker: Command / Control
- K-9 deception / counter tracking techniques and recognition
Prerequisite: Students must have completed 100 hrs of phase 1 and 2 training or accepted equivalent in order to attend a phase 3 course.
Combat Tracker EOD CIED D1 Course -- 5 days, 50 hours
The EOD specific Combat Tracker EOD CIED Courses D1 and D2 are designed to train EOD personnel the basic combat tracking skills combined with tactics, operational procedures, and enhanced Ground-Sign Awareness (GSA) which are specific to the needs of the EOD operator.
These skills and tips will assure more success in observing, recognizing, and locating indicators of emplaced IEDs and mines as well as the ability to track back to the source of the insurgent or cache if called upon. These skills have been proven force multipliers to combat units and EOD personnel and should be considered a must when working with sweepers and route clearing teams.
The course also serves the EOD operator by providing the skills and tactics to safely collect forensic track evidence, intelligence gathering for basic WIT and JIEEDO/JIDO investigations in both pre and post blast conditions. The course also focuses on teaching GSA and tracking indicator recognition skills in low light and night operation settings in both rural and urban environments.
Course Objectives: D1
1. Teach EOD C-IED personnel Basic Visual Tracking techniques and Visual Tracking specific to C-IED missions.
2. Processing emplacement sites by locating, exploiting valuable forensic evidence and information left at the incident/blast site, and track-line.
3. Know the rules of tracking as they apply to EOD techs.
4. Develop enhanced Ground Sign Awareness (GSA) with naked eyes and utilizing optics and stand-off locations.
5. Develop strong Track Interpretation skills in order to locate potential IED/Mines utilizing Action Indicators.
6. Understand Tactical Acuity Learning Strategies.
7. Backtrack to the source as applied to C-IED operations.
8. Become proficient with Micro-Macro Tracking and Transition Tracking (Sliding Scale) applied to C-IED.
9.. Given scenarios locate, process, and Back-track quarry over various terrain to locate and defeat emplaced devices.
10. Use Combat Tracking Skills in conjunction with standard TTPs to better detect and avoid IEDs in rural and urban setting in both day and night conditions.
Total contact hours: 50 hrs.
Combat Tracker EOD CIED D2 Course -- 10 days, 100+ hours
The Combat Tracker EOD / CIED D2 Course, is designed to train Military EOD personnel relevant Combat Tracking skills, tactics and operational procedures, that are necessary to conduct tracking operations necessary to enhance the understanding of Ground Sign and the Action Indicators left by IED emplacers in rural and urban settings both day and night. To teach the EOD Tech, to find and interpret spoor and ground sign without the reliance on electronics, or the use of animal assistance, but to also work in conjunction with either or both. It is also the purpose of this course to provide military personnel the skills, and tactics to safely gather forensic track evidence and intelligence gathering for basic WIC and JIEEDO investigations if tasked.
This course is designed with the intent to build the skill and confidence in tracking and ground sign awareness, for the EOD operator in a way that provides an increasing challenge, stress, and difficulty that culminates with scenarios that utilized devices that have been pre-emplaced in order to demonstrate aging as well as stressors to better mimic real world situations.
The course can be conducted at venues which most closely parallel the AO in which the operators will be deployed if requested.
Combat Tracker EOD C-IED D2 Course Objectives:
This EOD Specific course, is more focused on investigating the incident scene and limited areas which the EOD team is responding to. Ground sign awareness, is the primary subject rather than tracking an enemy for extended distances. The operator will be tasked to find emplaced devices, dug or hidden devices, or conduct post blast analysis. Limited training is conducted in classroom, multiple increasingly challenging observation lanes, IED lanes, and KIMs FTXs both using naked eye and optics as well as tailored threat based scenarios. TTTS, teaming with Agricultural Studies Group (ASG) in addition, will provide additional EOD cadre who will arrive at the training area a minimum of 1 week prior to the start of training ADVON will emplace devices for multiple week 2 scenarios to enhance realism, aging, and difficulty. Utilizing professionally built devices that will feature a variety of power sources, and components found OCONUS through lessons learned, C-IED lanes will be utilized in both and urban settings under periods of day and night for the most realistic training possible.
Total Contact hours: 100+ hrs