"The enemy has a head start," he said, "Macro tracking helps us move faster to close the gap." He believes this is the most difficult element to work with in tracking. This technique closes the time-distance gap that is between the trackers and the quarry, said Ireland. Sean Ireland, a military policeman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cav. Knowing when something is out of place is accomplished by Soldiers broadening their search area, a technique called "macro tracking", said Staff Sgt. Seeing the whole picture is vital because a key element in tracking is knowing when something doesn't look right, said Greguras. More team members helps broaden the focus and allows the team to see the whole picture, he said. "They (trackers) work in teams.more sets of eyes," said Greguras. This advantage aids in successful completion of the course and in real-world situations. Like most trackers, Soldiers were taught to work in teams. It incorporated basic tracking skills and intelligence gathering techniques such as tracking "spoor", which is identifying marks like footprints, decaying food and broken vegetation, he said.Īll training came in the form of classroom instruction, practical exercises and culminated with a filed training exercise where Soldiers were grouped together to track a person or "quarry", said Greguras. The course is designed to pursue the enemy, deny him sanctuary and gather intelligence, he said. This is the first time the course has been taught on Fort Hood, said Mike Greguras, a tracking instructor for the course.
To learn these tactics, Soldiers from throughout the 1st Cavalry Division participated in a Combat Tracker Course on Fort Hood April 11-21. Adrian Bogart, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 393rd U.S. military until it died off again in the early 70's, according to the website.Įven In today's modern Army with its increased technology, conventional counterinsurgency tactics such as tracking are needed more than ever, said Lt.
after the Indian wars in the early 90's, according to .Īs each war in history progressed so did the fighting tactics, which recalled tracking within the U.S.
Army) VIEW ORIGINALįORT HOOD, Texas- Combat tracking or "Man-Tracking" has been in existence throughout the world for decades but died off in the U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. 1 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S.