[Steels]

Two days ago, I was having a little skirmish with some friends of mine in a sort of training scenario: cat and mouse. I was sent into the woods by myself with about a one minute lead, and my two friends had to find and 'kill' me before I could do the same to either of them. We added a twist in that however dies first has to team up with whoever killed them, and whoever did not make that kill was suddenly on their own.

Anyway, as you might have noticed, this game was centered around stealth, which is good practice for me. For the first half my opponents were fairly noticeable, but I had to question my movement and technique. Generally, I tried to stay as low as possible, which involved a lot of keeping my knees bent, but I couldn't mess with my aim, so I had to keep my head upright and my rifle forward just in case. It felt a little awkward when I started, but then I thought I caught onto something.

Just to cover all the bases, I thought I'd poll you guys. How do you move, generally? In meters, in inches? How often do you move? Do you have any particular way that you sneak or walk or crawl that makes it more difficult to be detected? Any advice for stealthy movement?

 

[WorstInFinlanD]

Depends about the weather, but generally I move in "surges", I move from hiding spot to another, stay there for a while (depends on how far away I'm from op4) scouting, and move to a good shooting position if there's enemies near.

 

[Masterjuggler98]

Depending on how far the objective is, I half crawl half low run. If the objective is somewhat far away and there is no chance of bumping into an enemy, I might just jog. If there is an enemy near, I try to move as little as possible.

As for the weather, If it is fall and there are dead leaves and twigs everywhere, I pretty much give up trying to not step on them and just try to not get near enough to the enemy that they can hear me. If it is summer and the ground is clean, I will do what I said to do in the first paragraph. If it is snowy, It is even noisier than twigs and I Have to walk as slowly as possible. If it is spring, do the same thing as summer.

There is no one size fits all. Do whatever works for you.

 

[king..kranium]

If you can see the enemy don't stand up. Also its easier to be seen when you go straight forward or backwards, so move sideways if prone until you break line of sight. I like to hide in brush, and preferably shadow too. I run similar skirmishes with my friends. Wanna know what messed em up? They're expecting me to be all hidden. I crept around their start point with the pistol and took them both out from behind. But they are getting smarter ....

Sent from my MB870 using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

 

[bobgengeskahn]

U.S. Army trains IMT (Individual Movement Tactics), buddy movement and even team/squad level movement to move perpindicular to a target. Meaning that you move into position using terrain as cover, but once you are within sight, sound or range of a target or objective you move straight in toward the objective and straight back out, usually at a low crawl. Reason being that it is much harder for the human eye to train on an object moving straight at it vs. moving across your field of vision. (think about when someone is shooting straight at your face vs. shooting left to right in front of you; or watching a baseball game as the catcher vs. the first base man).

 

[spellisaac]

I prefer to move in slow deliberate movements (recommended by military snipers) it works great!! When I'm moving from and to cover I keep my self in a low crouch and only move when my enemy isn't looking directly at me

 

[oderfa]

its easier to be seen when you go straight forward or backwards, so move sideways

You know what went wrong in that sentence?

 

[reezo]

This is a nice read, hopefully I gave you some night bed time read

http://home.swipnet.se/sniper/sniper/sniper.htm#movement

On a side note, I quote what's referenced above and just to make sure there is no misunderstanding: when you are facing an enemy at a distance and he has you in his line of sight BUT he has not realized you are there (let's say because concealment worked in your favor)..you should approach and break contact along the line connecting you and the enemy, never breaking that line. If you move left/right instead of "closer/further" to the enemy, it will be easier for him to spot you.

So let's say you crawl into a firing position, take the shot, eliminate a HVT, put the enemy patrol on high alert and need to break contact from that position: you leave going "backwards" along the line connecting you and the enemy. You just push your body in the most appropriate position (probably some kind of crawl, from low to high) and go backwards. Don't turn your back to the enemy, just push your crawl in reverse and get back..like a reverse-crawl eheh

You should do this until you are safe enough under concealment and broke visual contact with the enemy, then you might probably want to reassess and use some different position (knees/hands, standing etc. depending on your situation).

Just don't move sideways, because the human eye will spot you moving along the line of sight. If you go forward/backwards you will just become a larger or smaller dot (to make it simple) and this will be harder to spot.

Here is a diagram I made:

 

[zero]

Thats a pretty neat diagram I must say.. :tup:

Zero

 

[reezo]

Thats a pretty neat diagram I must say.. :tup:

Zero

Thanks, man!

 

[Wolfgeorge]

Reezo you rock..!
Thanks man you couldn't have done it better!


Wolf

 

[reezo]

Reezo you rock..!
Thanks man you couldn't have done it better!

Wolf

Thanks Wolf! Sometimes a picture is really worth more than a thousand words ..and I must say - as a person - I talk way too much. So I kinda compensate it by providing these, to restore balance eheh

 

[Steels]

Reezo, thanks a ton for the link, I've been looking for sniper's field operation manuals for a while. I have to chime in with the compliments on the graphic, too, it does a great job of demonstrating the concept.

Another thing to consider: Detailed technique for movement. Crawls are pretty clearly defined in Reezo's link, but one thing that I like to ponder is movement when upright. For instance, weight placement and movement over one's feet, the placement of one's feet, balance, how to step correctly, etc. I've adopted the turning of one of my feet perpendicular to the other when crouching and moving for better stability. I have yet to figure out a way to walk quietly on dry brush or through shallow water, but most people point to heel-toe for that. Most of my friends tell me to avoid that sort of ground completely, but we all know how easy that can be. Anyone got specific tips on movement technique to make your transfers from one hide to another silent or undetectable otherwise?

 

[reezo]

Reezo, thanks a ton for the link, I've been looking for sniper's field operation manuals for a while. I have to chime in with the compliments on the graphic, too, it does a great job of demonstrating the concept.

You are welcome, brother! I am glad I could be of some help. It's been a quick Photoshop job and it's something I wanted to do for a long time.

Also, the manual I linked is a nice read but the compliments go to the US military, which is great to share such things on public.

 

[Libelle]

Anyone got specific tips on movement technique to make your transfers from one hide to another silent or undetectable otherwise?

The field manuals are usually written with the assumption that one has learned basic skills before getting to this book. The manual about a rifleman's combat habits might have more of this information for you.

I found a roady-rush often is strangely a stealthy, if somewhat head-bumpy (I wear a helmet) way of moving quickly on the suppressed. Further, try not to make big movements while stalking; no swinging your arms or head about, and no big, lurching steps.

I can tell you be very considerate of what your background is. For instance, do not walk along a ridge-line, where you make a silhouette against the sky. Not the height, but the background make this dangerous. So, consider to be the same walking near the edge of the woods where you are in shadow, but (from the expected observer's point of view) where you are standing against a brightly lit field.

Anecdote: this consideration got a team under my command out of a bad situation. In a night op, we were moving to evade a force of unknown size, which was certainly behind us. Our path came along an area where by a break in canopy or clouds the moon-light lit the area relatively brightly. We shifted sideways on our line of movement and continued by element. I was in the second of three, and turned to call up the rearguard when I spotted two silhouettes against the moon-light behind us. I called rear contact. They got off two shots at noone before the rearguard did them to death with BBs.