Being on QRF is a lot like being a professional fire fighter. You are at the “fire house” with all your men, vehicles, and equipment ready to go (good standard operating procedures help a lot, which are established through practicing) within 5 minutes. This means your men have to know what they are doing, so QRF’s need to be drilled and improved constantly. It’s not a job for shitbags (under-performers in the military). One minute you’re chilling reading a book, ten minutes later you’re a few miles away in a gun fight.
I spent a lot of time on QRF and you have to be ready to react to a variety of situations, but first and foremost you have to be ready to bring the thunder when called for. This means jumping out of the vehicles, kicking in doors, and stomping skulls. Somebody decided to start a fight with your buddies and now you’re here to end it. This requires that every person on the team be trained to be a door kicking, hard charging shocktroop. QRF needs studs, not duds. We’re not looking to get bogged down into some sort of negotiation, QRF isn’t a SWAT team, we’re here to end this as quickly and decisively as we can. We’ve already established our Rules of Engagement, and since these guys opened fire first they’ve pretty much signed their own death warrant for a bunch of young, aggressive, pissed, and bored QRF fighters looking to take some scalps.
Because of the unknowns, like how many enemy there actually are, and where they are located, we have to be cautious and flexible. In case there are any ambushes or IED’s waiting on the road to the farm I would dismount squads 1 and 2 before the S curve south of the farm.
We would do a route clearance patrol for 150 meters, checking the road for IED’s and checking the uphill side of the road for anyone waiting in ambush. Squad 3 would remain with the vehicles which would trail squads 1 and 2.
Once within 150 meters of the farm all the squads would assemble and get into one big skirmish line oriented on the east side of the farm. Squads will then move forward using bounding overwatch until contact is made at which time a standard squad attack will be performed. At that point the first team in contact is the base of fire while the other teams flank. This will be coordinated by the squad leader. For more information on what I’m talking about check out this free book in the library.
Check out the original post over at VS Training.
Originally posted on American Partisan on May 31, 2022 A TDG is a Tactical Decision Game, a mental wargaming exercise designed to get you practice …
TDG 13: Quick Reaction Force
Badlands Fieldcraft 
Nice man! A lot of guys wanted to split their forces early to flank, and the aggression is commendable. However, a flanking maneuver on an enemy of unclear disposition, and in the dark, is a recipe for disaster. Your plan of keeping the QRF together until contact is made is simple, effective, and has minimal moving parts.
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Thanks buddy, I got drilled more times than I can remember basically doing exactly what I wrote, day and night and in all weather. The simplicity of it is really important when everything else is chaotic.
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