Tactics

Close Fighting Zones

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In the past few decades, the enemy has changed faster than ever. We are no longer fighting against organized armies. Although terror organizations have shaped their structure as a semi-organized army, they still work as in a low-intense conflict. The enemy does not count dead bodies. When they attack, they do it in a ride (moving forward, attack, retreat) as we have seen from 9/11 up to the latest terror attacks in Europe (by car or bomb etc.). When they defend, they take us to the close fighting zones (CFZs).

So the questions are: how can we win and what defines a victory?

I believe that the answer is that a victory is measured by the accessing of a quality target.

These sensitive targets will be found in close fighting zones.

There are six Close Fighting Zones.

  1. Urban environment
  2. Bushes
  3. Rocks
  4. Artificial fortification obstacles for Makeshift Bases
  5. Dirty zone—agricultural fields or woods etc.
  6. Underground tunnels

The reason the enemy chooses these CFZs can be explained by looking at the door of a room. We could put a maximum of four commando fighters in a doorway, but inside the room, the enemy could be waiting with 15 guns pointed at that exact point. At the meeting point in the moment of tackle, the enemy turns a disadvantage into an advantage. The historic battle of Thermopile Gates proves this point. This scenario will happen in every close fighting zone.

Armies worldwide are facing the same challenge of confronting the enemy in CFZs, for example:

Terror Organization CFZs
Hezbollah Urban, Bushes, Makeshift Bases, Under Ground
Hamas Dirty Zone, Underground, Urban
Al Queda and Isis Urban, Rocks, Under Ground, Makeshift Bases

This applies to many other terror organizations worldwide.

Each CFZ has its own characteristics. For example, the urban E=environment has a multiple threats—every window is a threat; in the bushes, you only have shade and there is no cover excluding your fire.

However, all six CFZs have four characteristics in common:

  1. The Difficulty of Reconnaissance—no matter how good your spot, you can never see everything because there are always “dead places,” places that cannot be observed due to obstacles in the way.
  2. Close Range—encountering the enemy at ranges from 5–75 meters. That does not mean that you do not need to be deadly at longer distances, but in the CFZ, the element of surprise will be present at a “face-to-face” confrontation.
  3. The Difficulty of Orientation in the Fighting Zone—there are many obstacles that limit the ability to see every fighter on your team in the fighting zone and you must know where every soldier is at any point in time so that when you tackle the enemy, each fighter will know exactly where he can and cannot shoot.
  4. The Difficulty of Command—it is hard to know where every soldier is at any point in time. This makes it difficult to determine the picture of the situation causing the Difficulty of Command.

In each CFZ, the ability to isolate the target and allow special forces to work on it is the determining factor for a decisive victory.

The four characteristics that we mentioned above will influence any command or drill called by the commander. For example:

  1. Minimize the force in front—control and to have better orientation
  2. Shoot fast and in a salvo—close range
  3. Use of signs and signals—difficulty of reconnaissance and command.
  4. In a CFZ when maneuvering, the leader is followed by the fighter closest to him, and that soldier in turn, by the soldier closest to him and so on, so the location of each soldier is known at any point in time.

In he future, every soldier will need to be a commando trained in CFZ tactics. We are going to see some brave operations on very sensitive targets. No airplane or tank will win the next war. The next war will be decisively won by these commando forces. They are going to be the only force with the ability to access sensitive targets and this will instill a sense of defeat in the enemy while clearly defining our victory. All other forces will assist the main effort, the commando effort, relying on very specific intelligence and fast and deadly rides.

See you in the next war.

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