ARU Training

ARU conducts SWAT 4 game training

Armed Response Unit the SWAT 4 game co-op simulation team conducted "stack" training last night at its private LAN Hamachi training facility. The newly formed unit practiced stacking, corridor and entry tactics in two man teams with good results.

Inspector Rob "Rockape" Lee said about training "we are one big family here, although some do need to think about deploying deodorant grenades or maybe even think about brushing up on their shower drills".

The next training session is this evening at 18:00 GMT contact police.team.aru@gmail.com for recruitment details, and make sure you clean up before attending.

Tactical Basics: Individual movement

ARU SWAT 4 Tactics: Individual movement SWAT 4 Multiplayer

Looking back to our basic training so far we can establish that our duty is to defend ourselves, our team mates, civilians and then attempt to prevent harm to suspects.

How you move in transit, into a hostile confrontation or how you move around inside a security bubble becomes part of the equation when we think line of fire, stable firing positions i.e. aimed rounds at the target and exposure to hostile fire.

An Officer will walk but never run (sorry Sting, bastardised quote from An Englishman in New York)

This section develops the concept further and provides guides on how you can maintain your end of the team bargain. Although not strictly true, on occasions running outweighs the benefit of walking, generally Officers walk and don't run. The validity of walking as apposed to running should be obvious to an intelligent ARU Officer, but we shall digress into the topic for confirmation.

Back to our duty of defending ourselves, team mate etc etc Unless you can return effective conclusive fire from a stable, sustainable firing position whilst moving or static you are not an effective team member.

Thou shalt not pop a cap in the back of my mates head
So we come on to our first real Drill, the Off-set Drill.

When moving as a team we need a requirement to be predictable in our movements to fellow ARU Officers, especially when the rounds are flying. Off-set is a standardised movement in which Officers can predictably assume line of fire clearance to target. Off-set can be used for many contact Drills and forms a core Drill.

Descriptive: All Officers shall maintain a clearance of a minimum of shoulder width (one virtual Officer) to the off-side of the preceding officer. Off-side is defined as the side to which the formation of Officers from front to rear is fanning out too (confused? Lets have a diagram).


Any Officer requiring to go "off target" shall advertise this fact to fellow officers by stepping into Near-side with voice confirmation of the Drill he is about to conduct...

Example STOPPAGE drill (post to follow) Officer: (steps into near side) "STOPPAGE" .

Officers must instantly go "weapons safe" on Near-side, i.e. do not engage targets with fire-arms.

To reclaim his position an Officer must (in order) call "MINE" and then step back into position to engage the target area.

Off-set covers many line of sight (LOS) issues and is used within other drills, for example fire avoidance (avoiding hostile fire) or Stoppage drills (magazine change) where the Officer ALWAYS steps to the NEAR SIDE. Near-side is a no fire zone, Officers should not fire whilst "near-side" (part of fire control Drills in a following post).

Near-side in conclusion is the "working" area for Stoppages, TACAID set-up etc If an Officer steps into Near-side you understand that 1. His likely to be "guns down" or "off target" 2. You may have Added targeting loads or 3. He is avoiding hostile LOS and you should be aware.

Conclusion Off-Set Drill: Off-side fire and Near Side dont fire EVER.

When we do run

The only official time an ARU Officer runs is initial entry off the stage area, following a TACAID in for example. This "running" is only to get in and clear the bottleneck (door) as quickly as possible to allow following Officers to gain entry. This Drill will follow later, but essentially once clear of the bottleneck we drop back into walking for strong stable firing positions.

Movement conclusion

Basic Tenant yet again, remember every Officer has the right to defend him/her self with a fire arm. This right means that an Officer who feels justified to use a fire arm WILL, you cannot assume that the fellow Officer 1. knows your position 2. knows your intentions 3. will hold fire

Within the basic tenant you must fulfill your duty to defend, you must provide a stable firing position to defend at all times. You will find on many occasions Officers will reach the same conclusion at the same time and engage a target simultaneously, you must not impeded that decision.

ARU News - Police shooting three dead

Reports the daily bollox newspaper

ARU SWAT 4 Police kill three after stand-off

ARU, the specialist SWAT4 Armed Response Unit of the virtual metropolitan area of Scumsville, have reportedly gunned down three people in what appears to be a barricaded suspect situation.

ARU Units rushed to the scene after responding to an unarmed police patrols request for armed officers to attend. A simple single Officer, Sergeant Barclay was first on the scene. Barclay 86, entered the domestic building and confronted 4 armed suspects that had allegedly earlier in the afternoon held up a petrol station at gun point in neighbouring lesser Scumsville.

During the confrontation the ARU Officer fired 6 rounds all striking the suspects killing three. Officer Barclay in a press statement said "All the world loves a clown!"

ARU in a broad statement said "wide"

ARU News - Officer Injured

ARU SWAT 4 CO-OP News

SWAT 4 gaming Officer Injured

Reports have been received that a Senior Officer of the newly formed Armed Response Unit, or ARU, has been injured in a training incident.

County hospital admitted a Police Officer to Accident and Emergency (A and E) late last night with what appears to be lacerations to his buttocks. A hospital spokes person made a statement...

"We can confirm that a Police Officer was admitted to the A and E last night and that his injuries are not life threatening" he went on "The Officer is expected to make a full recovery".

Teresa Green an A and E nurse commented " Three Police cars came tearing in, tearing in they was, and these robo-cops with guns and stuff come flying out with one of them crying" she went on "proper crying, like a little girl" and she went on " The one on the left, oh, he was proper gorgeous" and on "hey, Sharon, one on the left? phwoar !!"

ARU said " A Officer was Injured during training when a Sting grenade was incorrectly deployed into his back pocket, we have updated our ready status accordingly"

ARU Recruitment drive

ARU SWAT 4 clan CO-OP Simulation team begins recruitment drive

Advertising is now underway for the 3 vacancies that are available in ARU. With a bit of luck we will get applicants and it wont be long before we can begin training for full team live ops.

ARU Live ops report -It's real, honest

ARU - A Swat 4 co-op simulation experience.

Barely 4 days after its conception the Armed response unit was called to a live operation authorised by the Chief Constable virtual operational area.

At 21:13 UCT ARU responded to a request for attendance at a domestic address to assist in a barricaded suspect conclusion of a single suspect believed to be mentally unstable.

Call signs Romeo and Sierra attended the scene and entered the building on hand over of authority by Area commanding Officer Inspector John "doughnut" Daily at 21:47.

Locating the nutter suspect armed with a 9mm pistol in room 5 (small bedroom). On confrontation the suspect initially responded with verbal abuse and gesturing hostile acts with a firearm. Officers initiated non-lethal compliance drill CS and subdued the suspect into compliance at 21:58 after a stand-off that that lasted 3 minutes and did not involved any discharge of firearms.

There where no injuries to ARU Officers although the suspect did sustain a bruise to the facial area, internal investigation unit received a complaint from the suspects lawyer, no charges are being pursued.

Sergeant Barclay stated when asked about the bruising to the suspects face "he fell", Inspector Lee commented "Slippy floors those fake wood ones".

Tactical Basics: Team make-up Part III.

Tactical Basics: Team make-up Part III Specialists

As a rule ARU tend not to use specialists per se, they should always be embedded into a fully capable team that is able to provide security "bubbles" for the specialist to work within. In fact a whole mission objective can be based around providing safe transit and working space for a specialist to perform their task.

Specialists in the ARU

The defining a specialist utilized by the ARU, that is to say an operative that is highly specialised to the point at which normal operational functions are hindered.

We set aside rigged for breach, gas, flash, string, Easter, doughnuts... as not being a specialist but an operative that obeys tenant No.1 "Always carrying a firearm" who happens to be rigged for a particular task.

A specialist is an operative that is greatly hindered in their ability to defend themselves against threat(s) in their normal function or enters an operational mission severely under the combat power required to safely operate.

As such ARU attempts to not use Specialists as it breaks our cardinal rule Tenant No.1, but all things adaptable a clause is installed to allow Team leaders maximum scope in planning.

Team leaders should clearly state that an operative is a "specialist" and place them "inside" the transit chain with clear instructions on when they can operate within their designed function.

Note: An example is a non-lethal specialist who after transiting within a chain is released to compliance duties inside a security bubble created by his fellow operatives.

This concludes the team make-up section of the series, hopefully you will see that we opt to be adaptable and flexible to situations yet predictable to our fellow operatives, this is the core values we strive to attain.

Tatical Basics: Team make-up part II.

SWAT 4 Tactics: Team make-up part II.

Individual positions within the team

With the inclusion of our basic Tenant No.1 theoretically any single Officer can lead a clearance procedure into a unknown space if required. Although possible, it may not be "best practice" for an Officer weighed down with heavy body armour and primarily rigged for non-lethal to lead a confrontation onto an assault rifle wielding suspect intent on securing his escape from Police Officers with deadly force. As said it can be done if an advantage by quick decisive action overrides the time spent dropping into a deliberate assault pattern.

You may have noticed reference to "roles" within the fluid team. This section will attempt to install a mindset running through the core tactical doctrine that the ARU SWAT 4 co-op team/clan wish to cultivate among its team members and describe the fluid cell concept that can adapt quickly to conditions and can be projected in any direction to confront any threat to the team with appropriate force instantly. Note: A surprise compromise by an armed hostile must be met with an Armed (firearm) Officer immediately who will assess the situation and hand-down the threat (Domino hand off, discussed in future posts) as he she sees fit.

Individual positions naming convention and role primary and secondary

#1

ARU name: #1 (stated on voice as "one") other names: lead, point, assaulter, primary shooter

Duty: #1 is the name given to the individual that is pointing at the target area (direction of movement) and leads any assault into the area whether that assault be a staged TACAID enclosed space entry or team movement in transit. #1's focus is forward at all times clearing forward which can be in a semi-passive or aggressive posture (not Rambo). #1 provides a clear and safe route line for following team members in transit and key decision on entry into enclosed spaces (rooms, yards etc etc). #1 calls the deployment of equipment within the team leaders pre-deployment brief remit as required and "Set's" the teams posture pre-entry.

Weapon selection: Weapon selection would match reaction to direct threat of life from deadly weapons from areas not under control of the team. Within the ARU armoury normal choice would be the HK MP5 9mm Sub-Machine gun or the Colt M4-A1 Carbine, with justification for the use of Shotgun systems possible.

Equipment: Basic set-up as per the team leaders pre-deployment brief. Normally rigged for "assault" with the inclusion of sub-rig for example "Gas". Note: "Assault GAS" Rig. Fire-arm primary, fire-arm secondary, more Gas then other tacaid aids.

#1 is considered a "guns up" position, a position where a firearm is always at the ready to engage hostile threats.

#2

ARU name: #2 (stated on voice as "two") other names: support, secondary shooter

Duty: #2 supports #1 in all things tactical. An effective #2 would be an Officer that can compliment and improve upon #1's ability to confront, intimidate or neutralise a threat(s). #2 acts as the #1's second pair of hands deploying TACAIDS, adding weight/intimidation factor/fire power to the assault and providing immediate security to #1's blind areas. Note: Example If #1 goes right, #2 goes left. More on room entries in a future post.

During transit drill #2 would be considered a "short" cover, i.e. covering potential threat areas in the near ground for example the closest door, window, space, opening etc etc

#2 is considered a "guns up" position in transit and hold and primary TACAID deployment anchor on staged entry.

Individuals on station as #1 or #2 should be interchangeable and swap as required.

Weapon selection and equipment: as #1

1# and 2# together are known as "red" element. Note: Red is selected because the game uses it. you can replace with alpha, bravo, clown, egg, horse... they just need a name to distinguish them from #3 and #4. I commonly use "you lot" and "us lot" as I'm normal #3.

#3

ARU name: #3 (stated on voice as "boss" if team leader or "three" if not team leader) other names: lead, team leader, Rupert

Duty #3 is normally the team leader and is in formation with Blue element as an active shooter. #3 is the director of team wide operations and the "#1" of the blue element (confused?), think of #3 as another #1 when acting in an Element ONLY movement and as the descriptive #3 outlined below during team operations.

#3 team wide: as well as normal directive command the position is also in transit the "long cover" note: targets which are not considered a local threat (which would be covered by #1 and #2 forward and #4 rear). As a long cover, weapon selection tends to lean towards the longer barreled weapon in the armoury the M4. #3 on entry is a "called in" position and enters and adds weight to an assault as required.

#3 is the individual charged with restraining suspects/civilians and the collection of all evidence once a "bubble" as been established. Only #3 (or acting #3 due to incapacitation) can call a switch from tactical entry into process bubble phase.

#3 is considered a "guns down" position during bubble process and can request a bubble be formed around him/her as anchor. As this position is a guns down #3's often elect to carry the teams breaching shotgun allowing forward operators more freedom of choice on rigs.

#4

ARU name: #4 (stated on voice "four") other names: rear, rear guard, rear security.

A #1 looking backwards, self descriptive.

Weapon selection varies dependant on the area of operation. #4 should be rigged to swap in to #1 on team 180 directional changes.

Coming next Team make up part III: Specialists

Tactical Basics: Team make-up part I.

Introduction

I was going to write a manual with diagrams, pretty screen shot pictures and full blown descriptive notes. But I decided against it, 1. I don't have time 2. I'm a little on the lazy side and 3. Long formal manuals I find extremely pretentious and boring.

So although formal in its very nature, a standing procedure for SWAT 4 CO-OP play I'm attempting to breakdown basic drill and method into bite size chunks in a drip feed fashion which is good for my stress levels and good for SEO.

The procedures/training series of blogs can there for be found in our tag cloud as "SWAT 4 Tactics" and then by the subject matter in this case "introduction" and "Team make-up", simple to the point and hopefully a little easier to digest. So lets get started.

Team Make-up

ARU operational teams assume that the virtual Officers assembled to make-up the team are fairly intelligent, i.e. switched on. This assumption should be apparent in our selection process and allows us to conduct missions which are fluid and logical.

As such a teams basic make-up is designed to allow such fluid actions and places the onus on the Officer "at the point" to instantly recognise the priorities, communicate as such with authority and assume lead accordingly. ARU firmly believes in allowing Officers with actual eyes on to call the shots.

Basic tenants

All Officers have the right to defend themselves from personal attack or threat of attack, injury or death. They also have the duty of protecting in order of priority (repeating i.)

i. Protect themselves
ii. Fellow team members or legal Authoritative agencies (except traffic wardens)
iii. Innocent by standers/ hostages
iv. Suspects (suicide by cop, self harm, deranged persons)
v. Property

We can draw an initial conclusion from this basic tenant.

Basic tenant #1. All Operational Officers must carry at all times a Firearm which can provide a lethal conclusion to a problem.

We can have a long drawn out discussion on priorities, the simple context of the above list is simply that an injured or dead officer cannot rescue jack-shit. In protecting yourself and fellow team members you are increasing the chances of everyone involved in surviving the situation.

This being the case that all Officers must carry a firearm at all times allows us to deal with the greater issues of team responsibilities with the assumption that If stated a position requires a "non-lethal" specialist we know that he/she will be capable of defending themselves at all times, to-wit they will have a firearm of some description.

Coming next: Part II. Actual team composition and responsibilities

ARU News update

ARU news

ARU posted as "in training"

Armed Response Unit officially formed by the Chief Constable of the virtual operations area. The SWAT 4 tactical CO-OP team begins its basic training phase. Inspector Rob "Rockape" Lee and Sergeant Jamie "Balls" Barclay posted to the unit and assigned call signs respectively Romeo and sierra.

Fire Arms licencing

Call signs Romeo and Sierra have been cleared for operational firearms use on active duty as per ROE form FM1-11/A and Annex A.