Small unit tactics is the study of how small groups of people—typically fire teams, squads, and platoons—move, communicate, and fight together. For the individual armed citizen, marksmanship is a necessary foundation, but it is not sufficient. Almost every realistic defensive scenario involving more than one person demands coordination: who moves, who covers, who communicates, and in what order. Without a shared framework for answering those questions under stress, even skilled shooters become a disorganized collection of individuals rather than a cohesive fighting force. This directory covers the core principles, drills, and operational patterns that transform a group of armed people into a functioning team.
The foundational concepts of organizing, moving, and fighting as a small team are addressed in the broadest sense in a dedicated overview. This page covers how teams are structured, how they communicate internally, and how the fundamental relationship between fire and movement governs every tactical action a small unit takes. It is the starting point for anyone unfamiliar with the discipline. Small Unit Tactics and Infantry Operations
Getting from one location to another without being ambushed, fragmented, or detected is a discipline in itself. Tactical movement covers formations, rates of advance, techniques for bounding, and the transition from movement to engagement when contact occurs. Movement, Maneuver, and Engagement
When a team makes unexpected contact with a threat, hesitation kills. Immediate action drills are pre-rehearsed responses—break contact, assault through, react to near ambush—that every member executes without waiting for orders, collapsing the decision loop in the critical first seconds of a fight. Immediate Action Drills and Tactical Response
Suppressive fire is the mechanism that makes maneuver possible. Without the ability to fix an adversary in place, no flanking element can close on a position. This section covers the role of the machine gun, principles of sustained and controlled fire, and how suppression is integrated into the fire-and-maneuver cycle. Machine Gun Operations and Suppressive Fire
The assault is where fire and maneuver converge into decisive action. Squad and platoon assault operations explain how an element establishes a support-by-fire position, how the assault element moves to close with and destroy or displace an adversary, and how these actions are coordinated across echelons. Squad and Platoon Assault Operations
Offensive small-unit missions such as ambushes, raids, and direct action operations take the initiative from an adversary through surprise, violence of action, and rapid disengagement. While fundamentally military in origin, the principles of dominating a specific area for a limited time and withdrawing in an organized manner have broader applicability for any group that may need to act decisively and then break contact. Ambush, Raid, and Direct Action Operations
None of these skills exist without deliberate investment in practice. The relationship between training methodology, equipment selection, and progressive skill development forms a feedback loop: training reveals gear deficiencies, refined gear enables more advanced drills, and consistent repetition builds the automatic responses that matter under fire. Tactical Training, Equipment, and Skills Development
Small unit tactics does not exist in isolation. The drills and operations described here depend on competent individual marksmanship covered in Rifle Drills and Qualification Standards, reliable communications addressed under Radio Procedures, Net Operations, and Message Formats, and the broader operational context found in Patrol Operations: Planning, Organization, and Execution. Mastering how a team fights together is the bridge between individual competence and genuine collective capability.