Fire Team Operations

    The primary unit in any resistance or guerilla movement is the team or squad. A fire team shall consist of between two and five persons. Two fire teams (over six persons) will operate as a squad. The key is to operate in the smallest sized unit possible.
      The fire team will consist of a team leader, and whatever additional persons capable of bearing arms that join him. The standard configuration of a fire team will be as follows:

        1. Team leader. This is the person responsible for developing the unit. He or she will set up training for the team, establish and maintain unit cohesiveness. He or she will also act to suppress any divisiveness in the unit. This is the person whom the team feels that they are most likely to rally around. He or she directs fire team fire and maneuver during combat. The team leader should lead by example. He or she maintains contact with higher elements in the unit. The team leader should be agreed upon by the whole team. The fire team leader also locates meeting places for team meetings, which should occur on a regular basis.
    For organizational clarity, in communications, the team leader will be designated as unit one, so if your fire team is Team Katana, then your team leader is Katana One.

        2. Communications person. This is the team's radio operator. It is hoped that each fire team's communications operator has an amateur radio license. A hand-held CB or family radio may also suffice. This person understands some basic radio operating procedures, and aids the team leader in keeping in contact with other units. It is also a good idea to have at least one person in the fire team with a computer, to send and receive e-mail, publish newsletters, and even establish a web page for your fire team.
    Your commo person is unit two, so in our hypothetical fire team, the radio operator is Katana Two.

        3. Medic. The person in your fire team with the highest level of medical training will be your team medic. It is hoped that your team medic has at least the training of a Red Cross First-Responder. The more training, the better , and it is not unheard of for a team medic to be an EMT or paramedic. Your medic will check on the overall field health and sanitation conditions of the team. Medics are also responsible for checking each person's first aid gear. Team medics should carry additional medical gear, over and above that required for individuals. They are also responsible for aiding the team leader in checking individuals' water supplies.
    We will call the medic unit three, so Katana Three is Team Katana's medic.

    This is a good basic three-person fire team. Additionally, we may round out the fire team by adding a couple of riflemen to the team. Everybody is a rifleman. Riflemen are responsible for maintaining a high level of combat readiness. A rifleman assists the team leader and other members in maintaining the unit. He or she may also serve as a communications person or medic, and these are things that all militia persons should strive for. Riflemen are the backbone of every armed ground force in the world.
          Let's look at a couple of more specific rifleman positions that you may include in your unit.

          4. Heavy gunner. This is the person who has the large capacity magazines for his rifle. It is also the person who is capable of carrying a lot of ammo. Heavy gunners are used for suppressive fire, covering likely avenues of approach, and even possibly engaging aircraft, should that ever be called for. This is the civilian militia version of a machine-gunner, and should be considered as such for employment in the field.
    The heavy gunner, should you have one, will be unit four. Otherwise, unit four is a rifleman.

          5. Sniper. Well placed, accurate shots are the job of your team sniper. He or she should be calm and relaxed. A good rifle with good optics are best for this position, but any rifleman should be considered a potential sniper. The sniper may be someone in your team who is a hunter, or just in tune with the woods. Perhaps the sniper can help with rifle instruction and training.
    If you have a team sniper, he or she is unit five.

        Five people is really the biggest size for a fire team, because five people can fit in one vehicle, usually. If your team grows beyond five, then you should consider breaking into two fire teams.
        Your team members should all know where each other lives, and should be in touch with each other at least weekly. Quite possibly, your team meetings can rotate amongst your members' houses.
        Communications should be set up within the team, using e-mail, beepers, or radios if the distance permits.
          It is possible that you may have team members who have no desire to ever go to the field and train. Consider this to be your team support element. There is much to be done that does not require field work.
          Also, you may have members who just haven't managed to pass any line qualification (level one). As long as the rest of the team is comfortable with that, then it's okay. We feel that Level One is a good basic measure of a citizen's ability to bear arms, and your team leader should make an effort to do so.

         The important thing is to develop your fire team as soon as possible.

Every unit should have several means of communication: Telephone, Radio (Ham & C.B.), Paging, Email, courier, wireless telephone. However, Intelligence info. should only be transmitted by secure means: encrypted, encoded, scrambled, etc. Every Unit should have a communications center(s) and intelligence gathering unit, where members and other units can communicate and exchange information quickly and easily.

There are several sources to gain Intelligence from: Listening and Observation Posts (LPs & OPs), Scouts, News agencys, (Newspaper, Magazines, Television, Internet, Radio, and Shortwave Radio), Local Bulletins Internet, Other Units, etc. Any intelligence gathering unit should consider all these means as sources to be monitored. Then accuracy of the information must be verified.

Once you have received and read the materials that may have accompanied this document, and have decided that the constitutional militia needs to be activated in your area, there are several things for you to do:

� Try to find like-minded persons in your area. Ask around. Try friends, family, work, social meetings, patriotic organizations, such as the VFW and the American Legion. Sound out people at gun shows and gun stores. Ask if there is already a militia activated in your area or if anyone is considering it. Put out notices for interested persons to contact you.

� Form a Safety Committee. Having found a few like-minded persons, meet together, share materials, and agree to issue a militia call-up.

� Pick a suitable date, time, and place for the first muster. It should commemorate some historical event. Ideally, it should be in a highly visible location, within the municipal limits of a major community, and on public property.

� Try to have a notable speaker or stage an event that will appeal to the media. Be creative. Although the first muster will primarily be an organizing meeting, it is also a media event and should be staged that way.

� Publicize the muster. Post public notices in the local newspaper of record, on the courthouse public notices bulletin board, and in the newsletters of sympathetic civic groups. Mail and fax press releases to the media, especially talk radio stations. Try to get on as a guest of local talk radio programs, and call in announcements of the muster during listener call-in periods. The notices should answer the questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Send along supporting documentation.

� Compile patriot mailing lists. Enter them into a computer database if possible, or prepare mailing label masters for producing self-adhesive mailing labels for repeated use.

� Prepare draft by-laws, regulations, and guidelines. Adapt them to your local situation. Make enough copies for the number of persons you expect to attend, and try to get the documents out to them in advance to save time trying to read them at the first meeting.

� Mail announcements to as many people in your area as you can. The advertisements and radio broadcasts are important, but many people will also need something in their hands that they can read that will motivate them to attend. They need to come with some common understanding of what a militia is, how it can be organized, and what it might accomplish. You might include the draft by-laws and regulations in the mailing if you can afford the postage and copying costs.

� Invite local officials and representatives of military and law enforcement organizations to attend. Try to involve them from the outset, to reassure them and win their support.

� Prepare documents to be handed out at the muster. They should provide information and instruction on all the points that may be of interest and concern to the attendees. Make enough copies so that everyone can get one set, and make some extras for persons who could not attend.

� Conduct the muster. The first order of business will be an introductory speech, followed by adoption of by-laws, regulations, and guidelines, then the election of the commander and other officers.

� Give attendees an opportunity to speak. Let them voice their experiences, their feelings, their understanding of the situation, and their hopes. Build a resolve to recruit more participants, train them, and conduct more musters.

� Elect a Safety Committee and a Correspondence Committee. Get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of participants. Pass out materials. Collect contributions toward the expenses of the muster and to pay for notices of future meetings. Agree on the date and place for the next meetings of the committees and perhaps of the next muster. Adjourn the muster.

� Follow-up publicity. Issue press releases to the media. Visit reporters and explain what you are doing, providing them with literature. Get on talk radio and television.

� Assist in activating the militia in neighboring counties. Encourage attendees from neighboring counties to go back and activate the militia in their own counties. Send organizing teams on a tour of the state and nation to find and motivate local leaders to do the same. Establish correspondence committees linking local militia units at all levels.

� Set up regular training sessions and camps. Initially, each of these may need to serve a multi- county region. Shooting ranges, especially those that can simulate combat. Tactical military training. Police training. Emergency and medical training. Survival training. Seminars on constitutional law, on jury powers and duties, on investigation of official and corporate corruption and abuse, and on reform measures.

� Set up an alert system. Establish and exercise a telephone tree. If feasible, set up neighborhood sirens or other sonic alert signals. Establish alternative communications networks, such as amateur radio, line-of-sight comm links, visual signals, and couriers. Establish links to the broadcast media, and contingency systems in the event that the media are shut down.

� Either publish a newsletter or use an existing one. Sometimes several counties can combine their efforts in a regional newsletter. Maintain a steady flow of information and guidance to supporters.

� Get on the Internet. Share information and plans with others across the country and around the world. Pass on the information to people not on the Internet through newsletters and handouts.

� Recruit officials and civic leaders. Make sure all of them are informed of what you are trying to do, and make sure you know where each of them stands. Insist on strict construction of U.S. and State constitutions according to the original intent of the Framers, and make sure they know what that means. Line up both the high officials and rank and file of law enforcement and military organizations. Identify supportive judges and lawyers. Work to defeat opponents and replace them with supporters.

� Set up regular booths at public events. Gun shows, fairs, conventions, political rallies.

� Operate a speakers' bureau. Get your best speakers to speak before civic and other groups at every opportunity.

� Do some fun things. Parties, picnics, and other events for the entire family.

� Enforce the law. Investigate official and corporate corruption. Infiltrate corrupted agencies. Recruit whistleblowers. Protect witnesses, investigators, and their evidence. Get grand juries to bring indictments. Expose wrongdoing. Concentrate on vote fraud, corrupt judges, and law enforcement officers, and other offenses that would not ordinarily receive official attention or that are being covered up.

� Secure entire areas against attack. Make it infeasible for criminals of any kind to attack people in certain defensible areas, which can serve as safe havens for larger areas. Establish defensive perimeters around persons or organizations that might be particularly subject to attack. And establish mobility and secure communications in the event area security cannot be maintained.

� Roll back unconstitutional legislation. Work on legislators. Pursue cases in court. Get rid of corrupt and abusive officials. Go after the special interests that are the ultimate source of corruption and reduce their power.

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WHY A MILITIA?