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ONLY FOUR?
Of course there are many more rules-"rules of thumb" mostly-that the reconnaissance patrol leader follows. The four we have come to regard in VietNam as THE four rules, unlike most of the "rules of thumb," were evolved out here. For various reasons they had never become particularly apparent during the years of training. It took combat to show their importance.
The army bases its combat operations on three words: move, shoot, communicate. While we don't generally think of a reconnaissance element in the same light as a combat infantry unit, the four rules for Recon can be expressed in similar terms: Move-Shoot-Communicate-Together. Let's consider them one at a time. See what they mean to recon, how they are applied by a reconnaissance team leader and how they came into being.
"Move. Do not, under any circumstances, remain in one place more than 12 hours. If the area is hot, move more frequently."
Most of our information is gained from sitting in an OP and observing. When the recon man finds a good OP, he has a strong tendency to want to stay in it-good OPs are hard to find. This tendency must be overcome. That team must move, and frequently. Once one of our patrols is sighted, Charlie's reaction time against it is a function of the communications he has available and the distance between him and someone with troops and the authority to commit them. While Charlie's communications are poor, they are not nonexistent. His most commonly used means is the runner. In order to react against the patrol, the man making the sighting usually must physically go to his leader and convince him to react. The leader must gather men and equipment, plan his attack, move to the patrol's location and execute his attack. We find he can seldom react against us in less than 24 hours. By requiring the patrol to move in 12 hours, we are merely adding a little insurance.
We have sometimes had OPs attacked. In every instance but one, that OP had been...