Somebody, a few days ago, asked for the TOE of an Australian Recon Platoon,
URLs etc.
Here's what I've found:
Quotes from (Australian) Army Magazine No 36 Sept 98 pp9-12
"Each batallion of the Royal Australian Regiment and many of the reserve
batallions dotted around the country operate a recon platoon..."
"Under current Australian doctrine, a recon platoon consists of four
reconaissance patrols, four surveillance detachments and four sniper pairs."
"Each patrol or detachment hasa commander and 2IC and each branch is
administered by its own sergeant under the overall command of a
lieutenant, making it the most NCO-heavy platoon in the batallion."
"The five-man patrol is the basic formation within a recon platoon."
"It is formed from senior soldiers, each with their own specific
skill..."
"... each of the patrols is made up of a corporal patrol commander, a lance
corporal 2IC, a medic, a signaller and a scout."
"The guys are required to carry up to three means of communication, 12L of
water each, their rations and their normal kit..."
"Patrols can operate for up to 5 days without re-supply..."
"Usually patrolling in the jungle means water is less of a resupply problem...
But as 1RAR found out when it deployed to Somalia, the desert is a completely
different story."
"In a patrol, one bloke was carrying a 20L water jerry, in addition to the
patrol's normal water, to resupply themselves when their own water had run
out."
List of Specialist reconaissance kit:
35m rapelling rope, fig 8 descendeer, karabiner, tape harness Large pack HF
radio VHF radio ANTAS 6A Thermal Imager (1 per patrol?) Patrol medical kit
Non-rigid stretcher (1 per patrol?)
IV fluid bags and giving set Swift 60x telescope ANPVS 5A Night Vision goggles
ANPVS 4A Night sight 6x binoculars Emergency strobe Marker panel set M18A1
Claymore Lightweight antenna
11 x F88 30-round magazines
Chest webbing Basic Webbing Hoochie 60x Sony Handycam Smoke and fragmentation
grenades AusSteyr 5.56mm rifle Dehydrated patrol rations 12L water
The article goes on to say how Recon troops have to be really good at
humping this stuff around. 20km/day is a reasonable average when
"boxing" an enemy position.
Oh yes, the Australian Army is basically a light infantry force. This
means that in terms of fieldcraft etc many (20%?) of non-recon troops
are trained about as well as many recon troops in heavy/mech infantry
armies. Viz:
"Normally trackers are employed from recon platoons but we also train people
who fill the no 1 or no 2 scout role within sections..."
Visual tracking in this case is basic hunting skills: spotting spoor,
determining number of enemy by sign, etc. In close terrain, Smell plays a big
part, as does noise if the opponent is lacking in discipline.
In my own albeit limited experience, even normal line reservists were
expected to be able to "go bush" for 3 days or so without re-supply, and
reconnoitre, set up ambushes etc. And to be reasonably adept at camouflage (ie
given 10 minutes preparation, to avoid detection at
Alan spake thusly upon matters weighty:
> "Under current Australian doctrine, a recon platoon consists of four
The recon patrols are five man. The sniper pairs are twos. How big is the
surveillance det? 5 man?
> In my own albeit limited experience, even normal line reservists were
I've done this in paintball... I've had people who knew the enemy was nearby
walk by me at a distance no greater than 2.5 meters with me in plain sight in
the middle of a grassy clearing (I was crawling from
bush A to juniper B when the patrol appeared - closing with the enemy
slowly for a sniper attack or ambush). I thank my camouflage gear and whoever
it was told me that motion gives you away far more than anything else (and
hard outlines are verboten too). I was lying in the sun 5 feet from a team of
guys, and they walked right by without seeing me. (And of course, I've had the
other side... getting sniped by someone whom clearly must have teleported...as
they could not have been in the space I scanned....).
> Finally, although the recon troops do things like rapelling from helos
An SAS Anecdote: (Correct details if I have this wrong, folk of the Isles) SAS
set to act as terrorist opfor, attacking nuke plant. Reservists to defend.
Somewhere (Wales?). Opfor to infiltrate, concentrate, carry out attack. All of
opfor captured without a shot fired. Something to do with the fact that any
time one of them entered this bar in town (or it could have been several), the
locales could immediately place them as being out of town, and called their
nearby army guys to come bag the bad guys. Even the SAS has its off days.
/************************************************
> Thomas Barclay wrote:
> The recon patrols are five man. The sniper pairs are twos. How big is
Scouts in the US....Back when I was a scout our para-scout platoon
(organic to a parachute bn was organized as follows: Note we had gun jeeps but
also did missions dismounted.... 1xHQ element. 1LT 1PSG
2 RTO/Drivers
2 x sections each with the following 4x 3 man recon team. (1 SGT, one SP4, 1
PFC)
Total:28 men and 8 jeeps (6 w/ M60 MGs)
Then there was the LRSD (Long Range Surveillance Detachment) (A
division-support element). In the 82d this started out as a platoon
sized element then expanded to company sized and was handed off to 18 the ABN
Corps where it remains <I think> Though the 82d now has its own LRSD
again..TOE changes so much!) the organization for a platoon was: PLT HQ LT,
PSG 2xRTO 3xsections each with 2x3man R&S teams. Note: that the section was
sent on a mission together though sometimes it was 3 man teams. Almost never
was the platoon deployed n force. largest weapon was an M203.
EMPLOYMENT OF BN level and DIV level Reconnaissance. Both had recon as primary
function. Bn recon operated closer to the FEBA (Forward Line of Battle Area)
in direct support of bn missions. The
Div/Corp recon operates much deeper. Bn recon also picked up screening
missions like protecting bn flanks during attacks etc, as well as trip wire
during bn defense. Sometimes they operate with attached TOW plt elements. The
occasional rear area raid is also the purview of the bn scout platoon. The
scout platoon only takes the "best" of the bn's infantryman after analyzing
records and performance. You normally wouldn't see a guy come right out of
repl depot into the scouts. For officers, you needed to have already had line
platoon command time. The scout platoon leader is the most prestigious LT
position in the
battalion. The scout platoon works directly for the bn S-2 (intel
officer)
The Div LRSD (or corps) works directly for Div or Corps S-2. They
operate solely in small detachments unlike the scouts which could find
themselves operating in platoon strength. There is seldom or never combat
operations tasked to them. They are too valuable. There's usually a rigorous
selection process and a special course for LRSD types, and most if not all
usually go to RANGER school.
Hope this helps...