ChalkLine's Desiderata

[ChalkLine]

Group Encounter #2: ‘Patrol’

What is a ‘patrol’?
I mean, that seems a dumb question but non-military people (such as myself) may not understand that a ‘patrol’ is a technical definition. A good one is:

‘A patrol is a detachment of ground forces sent out by a larger unit for the purpose of
gathering information or carrying out a destructive, harassing, or security mission.
Patrols vary in size, depending on the type, mission, and distance from the parent
unit. Most combat patrols are platoon-sized, reinforced with crew-served weapons.’
Note the important concepts:
- The Patrol is part of a larger unit.
- The Patrol has a set purpose.
- The Patrol is composed of sub-units with different tasks.
GMs creating a Patrol from Encounter #2 need to identify these qualities and detail them:
1) The Larger Unit
This unit does not pat the Patrol on the head and send them off into the wild blue yonder. They view the Patrol as a valuable asset and will only risk it if the mission is vital. Patrols will be supported somehow, be it by direct and indirect fires or by rapid reaction forces.
The patrol and its parent unit will maintain contact somehow even if they do not have electronic communications at hand. Common method are flare signals, recognition panels and/or other pre-timed signals. Patrols may have to check in with other elements of the parent unit, a patrol not arriving at a checkpoint will have the parent unit notified. Note that rapid reaction forces may get there too late to help their Patrol but will probably be able to work out what happened through the battle site. The GM should think this through and have the have the parent unit react with what information it has, adapting as the situation matures.
Obviously PCs not considering this may find themselves in hot water very quickly.
2) The Mission
The Patrol unless tasked to deal with the PCs has a job to do and a bunch of hillbilly stragglers is probably not it. This means the Patrol may not engage in combat if it jeopardises the mission.
There are essentially three types of encounter: ‘they see you, ‘ you see them’ and ‘you see each other’. If the players spot the patrol they may be able to divine what the mission of the patrol is, even just by the way it is moving or staying still.
In meeting engagements where the two groups stumble onto each other there may be an exchange of fire but this still does not mean the Patrol will press an attack if it is not in theirs and the mission’s interests. Having a Patrol bump into the PCs, fire off some shots from the scouts and fall back while firing off three flares really should scare the players.
Remember that as noted above the Patrol has methods of maintaining some contact no matter how slight with the parent unit. If they decide to not engage the players and avoid them they will probably notify their parent unit as soon as possible

3) Sub-Units
In nearly any conceivable situation the PCs will not know the location of the entire Patrol. The elements are kept separate so they cannot be taken out with an ambush. A Patrol officer usually has a designated manoeuvre unit for dealing with situations where the scouts discover something hostile and a heavy weapons unit for hitting the problem once the manoeuvre unit fixes the problem in place. Ideally the scouts should find the problem, if the Patrol engages the manouevre unit engages it and when the Patrol officer thinks he has a good idea of the problem’s dispositions he unmasks the heavy weapons of the support unit onto it.

Thinking on this we can use the following definition of Patrol Sub-Units:

Elements of Combat Patrols
Patrol Headquarters - this is the command group of the patrol. It is composed of the
patrol leader, and other support personnel essential to the patrol such as the radio
operator, Corpsman, and forward observer.
Assault Elements - engage the enemy at the objective.
Security Elements - secures the objective rally point, isolates the objective, and covers
the patrols return from the objective area.
Support Elements - provides supporting fires for the assault unit attack and covering fires
if required, for its withdrawal.
Elements of Reconnaissance Patrols
Patrol Headquarters - the command group of the patrol. It consists of the same personnel
as a combat patrol.
Recon Element - maintains surveillance over the objective.
Security Element - provides early warning, secures the objective rally point, and protects
the reconnaissance unit
Now, I’ve been quoting liberally from a document on patrolling here to hopefully whet your appetite. I recommend non-military GMs such as myself review it, it’s an easy read, to add some grit and reality to their encounters. It looks like Ivan isn’t a gaggle of guys smoking cigarettes anymore . . .