Appendix 3: Stealth Hiking based on Aristotle's Tripartite Method and Junior ROTC
[Copyright Michael Llenos 2016]
INTRODUCTION:
Many years ago, when I was in High School, I did a lot of hiking and camping because of JROTC.
There were many things I learned in those years,
like bringing a radio (or two) when leaving base camp, and never to expect too much stealth from
your fellow peers. Plus, one of the lessons I learned came straight from the Ranger Handbook: YOU
SHOULD TRY TO AVOID DANGER AREAS! However, that book was inadequate for my own stealthy
purposes. [That is, except, of course, for Major Robert Rogers' 19 rules, found in the beginning of every Ranger Handbook.]
The book does talk about going around danger areas (and how to keep one’s pace count),
but there is almost nothing about a danger area’s categorized specifics.
And, I came to the conclusion,
many years later, that there are no specifics about danger areas because it is up to other units
(like the L.R.R.P.s, or now called L.R.S.U.s) to try to avoid being spotted all of the time; plus, that’s even the job of the
downed airman; but, it is the Ranger unit’s job to engage the enemy.
So Ranger tactics really center on firepower: things like leapfrogging while firing at the enemy and so forth.
Meaning, there is no real material out there (in the Ranger Handbook, and other military books, etc.)
for getting more specifics about how to categorize one danger area from the next.
Therefore, I believe the text below will make any casual (or serious) hiker or backpacker more observant and stealthy in the woods,
and although there is no need to add to survival methods (since, the Discovery Channel has already covered such subjects thoroughly), I think that the following text
should still be recognized as something to consider before anyone goes out on their next serious hiking excursion.
So while you are out in the woods: slow down, be careful, and always remember: safety and obedience to the law are first!!!
The Art of Stealth Hiking
I. There are three major field areas: DANGER AREAS, ADJACENT DANGER AREAS and NON-DANGER AREAS.
1. The first field area is called a DANGER AREA. A danger area is any open
space in which you can be detected from several directions anywhere from a
medium to a long distance away. E.g. highways, roads, paths, trails, oceans, seas, beaches, rivers, plains,
deserts, lakes, ponds, streams, flat areas, meadows, and all other open spaces where detection is possible
from a medium to a long distance away.
2. The second field area is called an ADJACENT DANGER AREA. An adjacent danger area is any
non-open space next to a danger area.
You can be spotted inside an adjacent danger area, from a nearby danger area,
or another nearby adjacent danger area, if you do not have proper camouflage and stealth.
Adjacent danger areas are tree lines (e.g. the edge of forests), rock lines, scrub lines, or grass lines
that have some decent cover and concealment; an adjacent danger area can either be a small, medium, or
large area. [In adjacent danger areas you usually have to hide behind something to remain undetected.]
3. The third field area is called a NON-DANGER AREA.
A non-danger area is neither a danger area nor an adjacent danger area.
This area is a place where it is almost impossible for others to detect you from any danger area
or adjacent danger area in your vicinity. However, it is still possible for someone to detect you if
they are in the same non-danger area as yourself.
E.g. being in the middle of a large swamp, forest, rain-forest, tall-grassland, plentiful bush-land,
or even being underwater.
Remember: a) if you are out in the open, with nothing in nature concealing your person from being observed
from a medium to long distance,
you are most likely in a danger area; b) if you are surrounded by natural vegetation,
and are somewhat concealed,
but nearby is a danger area,
you are most likely in an adjacent danger area; and, c) if you are concealed by nature, but you can't
see a danger area anywhere around you, or it's very far off in the distance, you are most likely in a non-danger
area.
II. Eight Notes for the three major field areas.
1. If you want to move speedily to an objective, you need to either travel safely on a danger area or at times cross such areas safely when needed.
2. When utilizing danger areas try to lessen the chance of detection by safely moving in and out of adjacent danger areas.
E.g. every time there is a bend in the road. [However, when doing this you
need to be careful and watch out for snakes and other deadly
animals, terrain, traps and things.]
3. For any stealthy approach to an objective, traversing in and out of adjacent danger areas (from non-danger areas) will also help you to recognize the danger areas that will help you navigate or detect other people while you are still being stealthy.
4. If you contour your movements between a danger area and adjacent danger area, you must still keep your distance from the danger area so you cannot be detected.
5. Again, one trick for speedy navigation is to keep a danger area (e.g. a road) in sight just as long as you are not too close to that danger area where you can be detected.
6. Because of the large population of the Earth, danger areas are places where it is practically impossible
for you not to be spotted in, even if you think you haven’t been spotted yet.
[That being said, danger areas make great environments for rescue.]
7. When you are not in a danger area,
and you can no longer see a single pathway between your position
and any distant danger area, you are no longer inside an
adjacent danger area but are inside a non-danger area.
E.g. being on a thick-forested jungle hill but only seeing tree canopies down to the ocean.
8. In the 1992 hit movie The Last of the Mohicans, there are several scenes depicting
the differences between danger areas and adjacent danger areas. Usually the Native American Indians
would attack from adjacent danger areas, while the British fought back from danger areas
they were traveling through.
In fact, the entire art of stealthy hiking is centered around how and when to exploit
adjacent danger areas.
III. All of the above promotes a question to be asked: Is the high ground or the low ground to
be favored when hiking stealthily in the three major field areas?
To answer this question just remember the following Junior ROTC rhyme of mine:
"Morning and day, cadet, quietly hike and camp on high,
So those below won't catch you by ear or by eye.
Evening and night, cadet, hike on the lower portions of earth,
So those above won't hear your boots on dirt."
IV. Inside an urban or suburban setting there must be the following distinctions.
1. When you are on an outside road, street or pathway: you are inside of a danger area, and everything
indoors (meaning everything inside of a building or sewer) is to be considered inside of
an adjacent danger area.
2. When you are inside a building or sewer, everything outside, in an urban and suburban setting
(that is not inside a building or sewer),
is considered to be inside a danger area, and everything inside (that is inside another building or sewer), is
considered to be inside an adjacent danger area.) For it is pointless to categorize non-danger
areas inside an urban or suburban setting, since such non-danger areas are based on perspective
and not terrain. E.g. a tall building may give you stealth one minute but not the next, while an
adjacent danger area and a non-danger area, in the outdoors, will most likely stay that way for quite a while.
In a nutshell, a non-danger area (and an adjacent danger area) will more likely stay that way in the woods than
in an urban like setting.
[E.g. it makes sense that there aren't many enemy soldiers hopping from
tree branch to tree branch in the high, upward jungle canopy. But practically all enemy soldiers can move
from the first floor to any higher floors in an urban environment.]
3. Everything inside the same building (or sewer) you
are inside is considered to be inside either a danger area or an adjacent danger area: depending
on where those things are in the building,
and how much cover or concealment those things have in the present. The same goes for yourself as well.
Note: In the art of stealthy hiking, to maintain one's stealth, urban and suburban areas are to be avoided
at all costs. However, to successfully recon an urban or suburban area, one should conceal oneself
within a non-danger area or within an adjacent danger area located on the perimeter of an urban or
suburban setting. Entering
an urban or suburban area will most likely compromise your stealth, so it must be done with the utmost
caution and wisdom. Plus, sewers have dangerous waste water, deadly chemicles, dangerous things, animals and people
(and flooding), so should be avoided at all costs.
V. Camping advice in the three major field areas.
1. In the woods, a great amount of movement and noise is generally made when you
and your teammates camp.
The idea is to limit the
amount of noise and movement you and your fellow teammates make. Your camp will never be totally
undiscoverable, but your purpose should be to limit noise, movement and location so as
to make it less discoverable.
2. E.g. you don't need noise and movement to be easily detected inside a danger area.
You will still be easily detected inside a danger area just by standing inside of one.
And, by contrast, some movement and noise
is needed to be detected easily inside an adjacent danger area. However,
it is important to note that a lot
of movement and noise is needed to be easily detected inside a non-danger area from any
area located around its outer periphery.
3. Therefore, it is my belief that the best place to stealthily camp is inside a safe and secure
non-danger area.
Note: If you are worried about being spied on by drones while hiking or camping, the best advice
I can give is to
have one's movements and campsite covered by an above tree canopy.
Most commercial drones use propellers, so
it would be rare for a drone to penetrate underneath a tree canopy or to fly inside the perimeter of a treeline.
VI. A Leader's Determination of Stealth Patrol Formations
1. Now 'Major Robert Rogers' wrote 19 Rules (found today, like I previously mentioned, in the first few pages of every Ranger Handbook)
that explains 18th century American
small unit tactics in a nutshell; but he never categorized the importance of patrol formations. So I have decided to categorize small unit
stealth formations with the following of Major Robert Rogers' Rules.
2. Fundamentally, a leader must realize the capabilities of the unit they are leading (above all) and make the right formation for their unit.
Remember, if there is no order in the field
your unit will not be stealthy--creating a disorganized rabble.
3. If your unit is composed of an inexperienced field group, try to focus on the training and use of Rogers' 6th Rule.
"#6. When we're on the march we march single file, far enough apart so one shot can't go through two men. (U.S. Army Ranger Handbook: Public Domain)"
4. If your unit is composed of an experienced field group, add Rogers' 3rd and 7th Rules to your training and use.
"#3. When you're on the march, act the way you would if you was sneaking up on a deer. See the enemy first. (U.S. Army Ranger Handbook: Public Domain)"
"#7. If we strike swamps, or soft ground, we spread out abreast, so it's hard to track us. (U.S. Army Ranger Handbook: Public Domain)"
5. And finally, if your unit is composed of an extremely expert field group, add Rogers' 12th Rule to your training and use.
"#12. No matter whether we travel in big parties or little ones, each party has to keep a scout 20 yards ahead,
20 yards on each flank, and 20 yards in the rear so the main body can't be surprised and wiped out. (U.S. Army Ranger Handbook: Public Domain)"
Of course, although the main body must be as quiet as possible, only the extremely expert troops should be used for the scouts
positioned on all four sides. Rules 6, 3 and 7 are more important to train and use than Rule 12.
6. If you obey all this advice, you will most likely have a more efficient and more stealthy unit operating in the field no matter
what their experience level is.
[Of course, I am just generalizing with all of the above advice. A hiker should really use their own knowledge of
the woods and common sense first when applying any of the above advice to the outdoors.]
*REMEMBER: SAFETY FIRST WHEN USING ANY OF THE ABOVE ADVICE, AND OBEY THE LAW!!!
The End.
[Copyright Michael Llenos 2000-2016]