Tactical Tracking Operations

This manual is packed with practical lessons, on-the-ground tricks, training drills and equipment suggestions for the solo tracker on up to a multiagency tracking operation. Learn from a 30-year veteran how to find and follow tracks through any terrain; assess the age of tracks; relocate the trail after it's gone missing; foil every effort to throw off your pursuit; coordinate a four-man team while tracking armed fugitives; set up and run large tracking operations, use the latest high-tech gear to find fugitives and more.

The first book on tracking in a combat situation that includes suggestions for integrating visual tracking operations into existing military doctrine in addition to the boots-on-the-ground detail necessary for soldiers who perform those operations How to visually track an armed individual or group in a combat situation for the purposes of gaining intelligence, locating the enemy, and/or killing them Packed with photographs and carefully crafted diagrams A functional, readable manual for soldiers, trackers, military organizations, affiliates, and enthusiasts around the world

Tactical tracking is not new and has been a recurring tactic that has been used in every major conflict and been most prevalent in most post World War II low-intensity conflicts and has again been rejuvenated in the American military for employment in the Global War on Terrorism. More specifically it is being used successfully in Afghanistan and Iraq to hunt down insurgents and collect valuable intelligence to penetrate, isolate and eliminate insurgent cells hiding in sanctuaries or amongst the population in plain sight. This book Scout-Tracker: Operational and Training Notes of a Special Forces Combat Tracker provides a complete primer to the skills and tactics for scouting and tracking in a counter-insurgent environment. This easy to understand and employ information has been gleamed from years of tracking training under the tutelage of some of the world's most renowned combat/tactical trackers and operational combat tracking experience from around the globe. The intent of the book is to give the warrior on today's asymmetrical battlefield one more "tool in the kit bag" to bring the fight to an elusive enemy and give the solder the necessary skill-set to enhance his overall survivability and combat capability.

Tactical Tracker Teams was written to help K-9 handlers and tactical units to prepare and execute a high risk manhunt safely and effectively. Based upon personal experience and years of teaching, Schettler offers realistic recommendations and practical guidelines to assist in the planning and preparation for a fugitive hunt. High risk trailing is a team operation—no matter if conducted by an assigned tactical tracking team or a hastily assembled patrol team. This book will benefit everyone involved with the tracking team, including handlers, cover officers, supervisors, operational commanders and support personnel.Tactical Tracker Teams is not a “this is my way, this is the only way” instructional book. Schettler admits making mistakes—some that could have cost him his life. However, those mistakes have made him a better trainer and the lessons learned are readily and openly shared in this book.

Jeff Schettler's newest book "K9 Trailing: Tactical Tracking Teams" is about teamwork and it should be required reading for any K9 handler - regardless of experience - who tracks fugitives with a police dog in a rural environment or wilderness area because doing so is arguably the most dangerous job in law enforcement today and a tracking team must be prepared to safely face the challenges to be successful with the mission. A handler and police dog tracking alone or separated from a tactical support team during a high risk manhunt is a liability and no longer acceptable and "Tactical Tracking Teams" provides invaluable and practical recommendations and guidelines to minimize risk and prepare a team for a deployment. The emphasis on teamwork and the chapter on "proximity alerts" - along with the practical application realistic training recommendations - may literally save the lives of handlers or team members during searches. You may not be able to attend a training course on tactical tracking team operations with Jeff Schettler in the near future - but you can take advantage of his experience and lessons learned by reading "Tactical Tracking Teams" today. -Sergeant Bill Lewis II (Retired)

Before the industrial age, human beings routinely relied upon tracking skills for tens of thousands of years as a means to run down prey, avoid predators and determine whether other tribes were transiting their land. To see an indigenous tracker at work, one could almost swear that the uncanny skills were based in part on telepathy. Nothing could be further from the truth - trackers rely upon a suite of standard rules and techniques which can be learned by anyone and put to good use in the field. Although it will take years of practise and training for tracking abilities to develop to the extent they become almost unconscious, the basics skills of tracking and countertracking are worth learning for every soldier. It is therefore not surprising that the US Army Special Forces have been steadily reviving the nearly lost arts of tracking and countertracking for the past several years. From the preface page: "SF Soldiers routinely employ unconventional tactics and techniques while conducting operations unilaterally and with indigenous assistance. The conduct of SF differs from conventional operations in the degree of political risk, operational techniques, independence from friendly support, and dependence on detailed operational intelligence and indigenous assets. The success of SF operations within these parameters depends greatly on the team's ability to read “signs” for defensive purposes and its ability to use that same knowledge to minimize the signs it leaves when transitioning through hostile terrain.This training circular provides a doctrinal framework for Special Forces personnel involved in tracking and countertracking operations. Tracking, countertracking, and dog-tracker team operations are basic and fundamental to every SF operation whether offensive or defensive in nature. This TC describes and illustrates how to track, how to avoid being tracked, and the theory behind the use of dog-tracker teams. Appendixes A and B provide SF Soldiers with sample tracking logs for their use. This TC provides the basis for common SF tactical application primarily in a rural environment and it briefly discusses urban tracking using dog teams."Presented in Special Operations Press' distinctive OCP camouflage cover denoting a current publication, this manual is printed in easy-to-read 6 x 9, perfect-bound paperback format. Proudly printed in the USA.

COMBAT HUNTER TRAINER COURSE Purpose: The purpose of the Combat Hunter Trainer Course is to produce a Marine capable of training a more ethically minded, tactically cunning, and situational aware Marine capable of proactively identifying threats in any environment. Scope: The Combat Hunter Trainer Course enhances the safety and security of Marines across the range of military operations, whether in garrison, on liberty, or on the battlefield. Marines are trained to observe and recognize human behaviors, patterns and trends that are indicative of a threat and to act on that threat quickly and decisively through an improved and matured decision-making process. The Marine receives training in planning, conducting, and evaluating training events to include classes on small unit training and unit training management. Combat Hunter training includes Introduction to Combat Hunter, Observation Devices, Criminal and Insurgent Networks, Decision Cycle, Enhanced Observation, KIM Technique, Introduction to Profiling, Heuristics, Profiling Domains, Terrorist Planning Cycle, Tactical Questioning, Analyze and Interpret Spoor, Individual Actions in a Tracking Team, Track Exploitation, Leading a Tracking Team, and Tactical Site Exploitation. DEFINITION AND MISSION OF THE COMBAT HUNTER. A combat hunter selects, uses, and maximizes the appropriate optics available to see objects and events, both hidden and distant. These optics range from the naked eye to advanced optical systems. A combat hunter, through attention to detail, establishes a baseline of an environment and detects the anomalies located within that environment. A combat hunter tracks humans and vehicles by reading the natural terrain. He pursues an armed enemy and gathers data that may suggest the enemy’s action and intent. The combat hunter is the creation of a mindset through the integration of enhanced observation, combat profiling, and combat tracking. This mindset will enable Marines to locate, close with, and destroy an elusive enemy that hides among the population and uses asymmetric tactics to attack our forces. By utilizing enhanced observation, combat profiling, and combat tracking, a Marine is more lethal, survivable, and tactically cunning. He becomes a force multiplier to his unit’s operations. OBSERVATION. Observation begins with the gathering and processing of information obtained through the senses. The five sensory systems are sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste that allow information to be collected from the environment. Perception is the process that the mind uses to organize the sensory information into an understandable interpretation of the environment. Central to all these skills is a critically-thinking Marine whose decisions can be affected by numerous factors, both external and internal. The Marine refines his decision making capabilities by understanding the decision cycle process and his awareness of the physical and biological responses he goes through when faced with a dynamic situation. Refining these skills and understanding the effects they have on his mind and body make him more capable and more lethal.

Tracking originated with man’s need for food; he needed to understand what he was following and what the rewards would be if he was successful. Little has changed over time about the terms of tracking. We still track game for sport and food, but we have also found other uses for tracking. Border police patrol to stop illegal immigrants from entering their country; the military tracks down wanted terrorists or enemy forces. Tracking has become a military skill. In the SAS Tracking Handbook, former SAS soldier and British Empire Medal (BEM) award–winner Barry Davies teaches not only how to survive in the outdoors with the skills of tracking, but how to use these skills from a military standpoint. Included in this book are many helpful tips on topics including: The types of dogs used for tracking. Traps for catching wild animals. Modern military tracking. Using your surroundings to your advantage. And much more. The success or failure of the modern tracker is dependent on the personal skills of the individual tracker. Training is vital in learning tracking skills, and continuous exercise the best way to interpret signs. These skills are rarely found, but they remain hidden deep within all of us. So whether you’re already a skilled tracker or a novice in the field, the SAS Tracking Handbook will be your guide to mastering this old and respected art.