Hand on the shoulder of the guy in front of you : why?

[Oborous]

I suggest that you use a pinch rather than a tap; tap/bumps can be accidental and sometimes start a stack moving when someone just 'oops'ed'.

Also, realize that forming a stack takes time, especially in MOUT or prior to FISH, you could be in a fire lane. Practice -forming- the stack quickly, or forming it Ad Hoc, where you're all arriving at nearly the same time and have worked together to breech together.

[Mr. G36!]

In reality, with armour and padding on, you might not feel a tap or a pinch; a nice firm squeeze on the back of the arm is the way to go!

[six4]

I went through all my airsoft vids and I have only one short recording of "stacking up" on video. At the end of the video you will see the camera turn slightly,thats because the last second F/A burst you hear is the bb's hitting my camera! That's how close I like to be in the action! Anyway here is the said clip!

http://www.filefront.com/14368115/Teaser-clip.wmv/

[Oborous]

Originally Posted by Mr. G36!

In reality, with armour and padding on, you might not feel a tap or a pinch; a nice firm squeeze on the back of the arm is the way to go!

Err, mostly I'm told to goose the guy, very rarely is their buttocks armor. But yes, squeeze arm, pinch, etc. is a very purposeful action; that's the point I'm trying to make.

[Mr. G36!]

Oh, I was just making a general statement, not a response to your comment. Sorry 'bout the confusion. The fact that you know what FISH is probably means that you know what you're talking about, so I ain't gonna correct you.

[Blackthorne]

Originally Posted by Silverthorn

I have seen in numerous pics or movies about SWAT and military that when guys are in line one in front of another,the guy behind puts his free hand on the front guy's shoulder and it goes on for the rest of the line.

Why is that done, tactically speaking?

So the guy in front knows the guy behind is still there?
So the guy in front can move and others can detect it and still follow quickly?
To allow non-verbal communication (taps and such)?
To keep a certaind maximum and minimum distance between the guys?

Thanks for your help!

It's so when one guy in the stack trips, he can grab refelxivly at the guy in front, drag him down with him, and fuck up the whole stack. In doing so it's hard to tell who screwed the pooch and makes the fuck-up look like less of a weirdo.

Tactical Spooning on the other hand, is a related by much less about fucking up as it is about team bonding and cohesivness.

[Oborous]

Originally Posted by Mr. G36!

The fact that you know what FISH is probably means that you know what you're talking about, so I ain't gonna correct you.

That can be dangerous, I could be full of shit. Or my shit could be out of date. But, thank you for the compliment.

I'm just the LE finance wonk that happens to work for the retirement farm for many tier-1 units (.mil or LE). I've been shown how to assault a trench network by JTF... but cannot confirm if he was just showing me cool shit, or the real shit. It makes sense, and it's amazing how much the high-speed shit is just actually some dedicated time to looking at it, figuring it out and a crap-ton of common sense. I have found some HSLD guys do shit because it looks cool, you -need- an ego the size of a mountain to have the willpower to deal with some of the shit they have to deal with.

Then stuff ages, look at the high-low method of cornering for movement for SWAT. That shit is aged; you try that in a mil environment and you're screwed if they got a PKM setup in an internal hallway.

Then you can over think it. I was taught goose the guy, then you're not pinching the funny bone, or causing him to jump (maybe squeeze the trigger). Who knows if that might ever happen? But they thought around it, is it neccesary... maybe.

That's the whole thing about my "What Model are you working under" thread, I have gotten into a discussion with a HSLD Tier-1 SOF trooper, a senior NCO "regular army" trooper, a HRT/Tactical/Swat LE trooper, and a regular army turned PMC . The HSLD guy was fully willing to be comfortable with the stack having safeties off, everyone was -that- trained and responsible, where the NCO didn't trust some of his troopers to un-wrap a chocolate bar safely. The HRT LE trooper based tactics on shock-&-awe against a very small number of hostiles, massive overwhelming force; The NCO knew how to call in reinforcements; the PMC knew his ass was swinging in the wind... They all used different TTPs. And, the HSLD, NCO, & PMC all were operating in the same AO.

Originally Posted by Blackthorne

It's so when one guy in the stack trips, he can grab refelxivly at the guy in front, drag him down with him, and fuck up the whole stack. In doing so it's hard to tell who screwed the pooch and makes the fuck-up look like less of a weirdo.

Tactical Spooning on the other hand, is a related by much less about fucking up as it is about team bonding and cohesivness.

/end thread