[Dozer523]

ANNEX H (PW snatch Tips) Reconnaissance Tips of the Trade (con’d)

4. Other:
a. When your team is set up for a gas ambush, have all the personnel place their gas masks on top of their heads. It will only take a couple of seconds to pull the mask over their faces just prior to initiating the ambush.

b. Claymore and Explosives (Planned): this is set up with C4 explosive placed between the claymores. Personnel in the zone of the C4 will be stunned and / or incapacitated while the claymores will kill and wound the personnel in their zone.
1. Advantages:
a. As normally set up, with C4 spaced between the claymores, the corrosion (Sic. concussion) will incapacitate an individual and not kill him.
b. The team can hit a larger element.
c. Will ensure the enemy is stopped.
d. Will thoroughly disorganize and confuse the element hit, preventing them from reacting effectively.
2. Disadvantages:
a. The noise of the explosives going off will alert enemy forces of the team’s presence and location.
b. C4 takes a long time to emplace properly.
c. The disturbed soil and vegetation will mark the team’s location. This will aid the enemy in his attempt to pick up the team’s departure trail.
d. The additional weight of the demolition may hamper swift movement.
e. The resulting smoke, rising above the trees and vegetation, could result in enemy mortar fire on the site, if any are located in the general area.

c. Silent Weapon (Planned) Use a silenced or muffled rifle or pistol.
1. Advantages:
a. The noise of the weapon being discharged will be minimal.
b. A well-executed and placed round will stop an enemy and prevent his returning fire or using his weapon. Care should be taken to hit the intended PW’s right arm of shoulder. This should prevent him from returning fire, but will enable him to walk.
2. Disadvantages:
a. A wounded PW may die of shock or loss of blood before proper treatment can be given.
b. A wounded PW will have to be assisted and possibly carried, thus slowing down the team during it’s withdrawal from the site.
c. Care must be taken not to leave a blood trail.
d. A silenced weapon is not normally as reliable as an un-silenced one and in the case of a silenced pistol it would necessitate carrying another weapon, both of which must be available, within easy reach when springing the ambush.

d. No Fire / Silent Capture (Planned)
1. Advantages:
a. There is little noise to give the team’s presence or location away.
b. A live and healthy PW is the best kind.
2. Disadvantages: There are no significant disadvantages to a no fire / silent capture.

e. Chance Contact (Unplanned): both friendly and enemy elements may see each other at the same time.
1. A team must always be prepared to take a PW during a chance contact, especially with a small enemy element.
2. If contact is made with a small local or regional force element, they will normally break and run. This is because they seldom carry more than three magazines each for an AK-47. Those who carry the SKS rifle / carbine may have extra rounds in one pouch, making it difficult to re-load and of negligible influence upon the outcome of the firefight.
3. The team, after firing the initial rounds, should deploy into a defensive posture and look for enemy wounded. If one is located, don’t move directly toward him. You may be fired upon or set (Sic get) a grenade thrown at you, forcing you to kill him in self-defense. Instead throw a CS grenade at him. After a few moments in the CS most of the will to resist should be out of his mind and you will have a PW.
4. If there are between two and five enemy, attempt to deploy around them asking them to surrender. If, after a few minutes, you have not received the result, it is better to break contact and move away before re-enforcements arrive, remembering you are in the enemy’s territory.

f. Hasty Ambush (Unplanned): Where the friendly elements may observe the enemy before being seen and take up a hasty position to capture them.
1. There can be no set or prescribed way to set up a hasty ambush. Each team leader should establish his own SOP.
2. A hasty ambush can result in a capture of a PW only if it is practiced and rehearsed to perfection.

5. Ambush position and Executing the Ambush:
a. Positioning Personnel: No attempt will be made here to tell you exactly how to emplace your personnel into ambush position. Whether you have five or twelve man team members it is possible to succeed if you have the desire and training. By constant practice and training, using live ammo and training aids, you will come up with the best disposition to suit you, your plan, and your team. One of the best references you will have is your own and the team’s experience. Ask other team leaders of their attempts, both successful and unsuccessful, solicit their advice. The final decision is yours. A good point to remember, when selecting personnel for key positions, is that indigenous team member firing his weapon normally keeps his finger depressed on the trigger until all the rounds are expended.
b. If you have an 8 to 12 man team, give strong consideration to placing three men on each flank for security and early warning. They will psychologically feel more secure and will normally retain their position if one is wounded, thus better ensuring the successful accomplishment of the mission.
c. During a PW snatch, place the M-79 on the flank of the ambush.
d. Claymore should be set ton each flank of a PW snatch if possible.
e. Be patient and wait for the right moment and opportunity when one or two individuals come along the road or trail. Without patience your mission will most likely fail.
f. Once you have committed yourself and sprung the ambush, you must be aggressive. By that I mean you must immediately react. If you have wounded or otherwise halted your prospective PW; you must immediately move to physically secure him. Do not give him a chance to think or react. If you do not do this he will more than likely run or attempt to fire his weapon, forcing you to kill him.
g. f an attempted PW snatch fails, in that he individual dies, his body should be completely stripped and his belongings taken back to the S2. The body should then be taken a great distance and hidden, if possible. When the individual turns up missing, the enemy may assume that he has been captured and talked. /this will necessitate the enemy changing his plans and moving his headquarters; when he could have been doing something else.