Combat Tracking Guide – John D Hurth

Tributaries offer the quarry other alternatives to confuse the tracker. The quarry may also use any combination of the following maneuvers: keeping in the center of the stream in deep water, exiting the water where banks are not covered with moss or vegetation, walking out backwards onto soft ground, walking up vegetation-covered tributaries and then attempting to replace the vegetation in its natural position, or traveling downstream until coming to the main river and escaping by floating downriver on a log or prepositioned boat.

The slip-the-stream scenario will often slow down the tracker temporarily, but, with common sense, he can reacquire the right track, especially if he keeps in mind that soil along stream and river banks is usually soft and will crumble or capture slide or skid marks when someone leaves or enters the water. It’s helpful to remember that a quarry exiting a stream will leave behind two types of sign: 1) water draining from pants and boots and 2) mud from the stream transferred onto stones and grass.

Also look for overhanging moss-covered branches, which will usually be wet; if the quarry uses them as handholds when exiting the water the bark will crumble or scuff easily. Step Technique. The step technique is nothing more than the quarry attempting to change his route by making a series of 90-degree turns about every 100 to 200 meters. Skip Method. In this method, while moving single file, a quarry group stops and attempts to move carefully 20 to 30 meters to the left or right flank.

The quarry also tries to camoflage the jump-off point by returning disturbed vegetation to its original position. Sometimes, one or two members of the group create a false trail to confuse the tracking unit. Angle Technique. The quarry makes a series of random angled direction changes in an attempt to shake off pursuers. Step technique Skip method Angle technique Offensive techniques involve the use of ambushes or booby traps designed to eliminate, slow down, or discourage a tracker squad. The Fishhook.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books, 5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg PA 17055. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First edition Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hurth, John.

Combat tracking guide / John Hurth. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-8117-1099-2 1. Scouting (Reconnaissance) 2. Tracking and trailing. I. Title. U220.H87 2012 355.4’13—dc23 2012005460 eISBN: 9780811748612 1kitap1.com/en This book is dedicated to all combat trackers, past and present, as well as the men and women in uniform who have served and continue to serve our great nation. 1kitap1.com/en Contents Troops in Contact ix 1Basic Visual Tracking 1 2Human Gait, Tracks, and Track Interpretation21 3Organization and Tactics 44 4Operational Employment 85 5Countertracking, Mines, and Booby Traps 106 Acknowledgments 157 Appendices 159 Glossary 254 Index 259 1kitap1.com/en Troops in Contact “Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter.”

—Ernest Hemingway Somewhere in the current theater of operations a small convoy of military vehicles winds its way down a narrow, unimproved road. The surrounding terrain is steep and rugged, and channelizes traffic. On the south side, the road butts up to a mountain, and from the north edge of the road, the terrain drops down into a cultivated area that eventually runs into an intermittent stream. On the north side of the stream the terrain gradually rises above the valley floor. Approximately two hundred meters north of the stream, an enemy force is watching.

Patiently, they wait for the lead vehicle to reach a culvert below the road surface. The culvert marks and conceals the location of an improvised explosive device (IED). As the lead vehicle in the convoy creeps over the culvert, the enemy initiates the ambush with the IED. There is a violent explosion and the vehicle is engulfed by a plume of smoke and dust.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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