Close Quarters Battle

Standard Operating Procedures

Last date update: 4/12/2023

This is a guide on how our GAMER community conducts CQB operations and is by no means a guide for REAL WORLD application or the ONLY way to conduct CQB. The intent behind this guide is to standardize behavior in CQB environments so that actions remain predictable and controlled regardless of what game you're playing.

Section 1: The Quick and Dirty

Some quick bullet points to get those experiencing and trained in CQB up to speed with procedures specific and unique to our community: 

1. Whoever has the most SA is the 1-man
2. Be controlled and predictable with your body language
3. Do not skip spots in the stack
4. Do not fire from back in the stack
5. Avoid crossing thresholds, opened or closed, whenever possible
6. Do not pass more than 2 unchecked areas at a time
7. Clearance Priority: Threat > Open Area > Closest Closed Door > One Floor at a Time
8. Non-verbal whenever possible
9. 1-man is the one who calls for a banger
10. 2-man is defined as the man directly behind 1-man and is the one that throws the banger
11. Establish cross coverage whenever possible in hallways
12. 1-man takes two corners upon entry, 2-man takes 1 corner upon entry with thresholds and obstacles counting as corners
13. 1-man is always on hinge side when split stack, handle side is the Breacher not the 2-man
14. Breacher falls to rear after breaching

SECTION 2: The Stack

In CQB the team is often referred to as the "stack". In the stack there are multiple responsibilities given to each man and each man is numbered for easy consistent call outs: 1-man is the first man in the stack, 2-man is the second man in the stack, 3-man is the third man and so on. The stack will shuffle around as play continues but a few fundamentals will remain constant:

• 1-man
  • should always have the most situation awareness on the threat being worked
    • this means that if an individual in the stack has more situational awareness a threat, he then becomes the 1-man regardless of his previous position in the stack
  • always covers the biggest danger area to the front
  • waits before entering the next danger area until he gets a ready call from the 2-man or 3-man
  • makes the decision on if he wants 2-man to prep the room with a flash bang, breaching charge, or use a mechanical/ballistic breach
  • never wrong when entering a room and will decide what corner to clear based on his situational awareness
  • should never drop coverage to open the door at the front being worked UNLESS he must work the door solo
• 2-man
  • is defined as the man directly behind the 1-man not the second closest man to the threshold
  • must follow the 1-man immediately as he enters the room to cover 1-man's blind side
  • controls the stack and will let 1-man know when it is okay to continue moving when he has stopped
    • This can be done verbally: "stacked", "you have x" (x being the amount of people ready behind 1-man), "squeeze", or "push"
    • Or non-verbally: emitting a constant light/laser in front of 1-man or using an in-game squeeze/tap function if available
  • throws the flashbang, sets the charge, or works the door whenever it is called for by the 1-man
    • if a mechanical breach, ballistic breach, or door charge is called for the 2-man will breach the door using the respective tool and then fall back to become the last man in the stack
  • should attempt to get cross coverage whenever possible in hallways, thus giving up his spot as the 2-man to the new individual directly behind 1-man
• Last-man
  • should always be covering rear and should pay attention to the rest of the stack to know when to collapse
    • ideally the 2-man is controlling the stack and will be able to call the last man to collapse
  • is responsible for dropping a chemlight or marking the room clear upon exit
• Rest of the stack
  • looks for work by reading off of the body language and implied communication to cover a sector that is not actively being covered

SECTION 3: The Movement

In this section we will be discussing the decision making process when it comes to picking which direction to move, which door to work, and where to go. It is important to keep in mind that these fundamentals should account for the majority of situations but not all of them as there are times where you will need to break SOPs to address extremely complex geometry, time sensitive objective (hostage rescue, active shooter) or unique threats (like timed bombs, traps, etc) simultaneously. Whenever possible these are the fundamental pillars in order of priority: 

1. Do not pass by more than 2 uncleared areas at a time
   1. This is to prevent the stack from rabbiting through multiple rooms to chase one threat, thereby leaving themselves potentially surrounded and exposed
2. Address known threats first
3. Address open areas if no known threat is present
4. Address the closest closed door if no threats are present and all open areas have been cleared
5. Whenever possible, do not walk across thresholds open or closed
   1. There will be exceptions where crossing a threshold is called for, but generally avoid crossing thresholds to avoid from getting seen/shot through the threshold or triggering new angles
6. One floor at a time

SECTION 4: The Breach

Once a direction of movement has been established you will inevitably come across a door or threshold you must breach to enter. Here will we talk about the order of operations and thought process when it comes to actually breaching and clearing a room. First and foremost I want to establish that going completely dynamic into rooms, while effective in certain situations, should only be done precisely when the situation calls for it (time constraints, hostage rescue, bomb defusal, etc) where the objective takes priority over the lives in the stack.

Our primary method for entering a room is a combination of limited penetration, or LP for short and dynamic entry. Limited penetration is a tactic whereby you clear the majority of the room from the OUTSIDE by slicing the pie deliberately. This allows the 1-man to utilize the corner of the threshold as concealment or cover as he sees into the room and engages threats. The benefit to LP is that you are controlling your exposure to the threat while also giving yourself more options like potentially bailing back to cover/concealment instead of blindly entering a room completely committed. Once the 1-man has broken the 90-degree angle of the threshold or "center checked" the room in question, he can then go dynamic by entering the room and moving to his point of domination within the room, roll the door and slice the rest of the room, or bail back to his original point and reassess or reprep.

The stack should be prepared to follow the 1-man into the room as soon as he has sliced as much as possible and makes entry into the room. In the case that the stack is split on either side of the threshold, the side that the 1-man entered on will enter first, followed by the opposite side. Upon entry each consecutive man will move to their point of domination and collapses their sectors of fire to the center of the room. Points of domination are determined by the 1-man as he takes 2 corners of the room, and the 2-man as he takes 1 corner of the room with new thresholds and dead space in the room counting as a corner.

Order of Actions for a Single Stack Breach:

1. Stack approaches the threshold from one side of the threshold
2. 1-man holds waiting for 2-man to send ready signal
3. 2-man sends ready signal
4. 1-man assesses the door first to check for traps/lock
   • If the door is LOCKED 1-man will either
     • pick it himself as 2-man covers him
     • or mechanical breach, ballistic breach, set a charge and move to the back of the stack thereby making the 2-man the new 1-man 
   • If the door is TRAPPED 1-man will either
     • disarm the trap himself as 2-man covers him
     • set a breaching charge himself and move to the back of the stack becoming the last man
     • or call for a breaching charge on the door
5. ENSURING THAT THE DOOR IS UNLOCKED AND CLEAR OF TRAPS, 1-man will now ask for a flash bang if one is needed
   • 2-man will pull immediately throw the flashbang into the threshold if called for
6. 1-man will begin to LP the room and engage threats/bail back/reprep the room as needed until he breaks the 90-degrees
7. At the 90 1-man must decide
   • if he wants to roll the door to slice more of the room
   • if he wants to enter the room
   • or if he wants to bail back to his original side and reassess
8. 1-man will now enter the room and take 2 corners as 2-man immediately follows to the opposite side and takes 1 corner
   • remembering that doors and dead space count as corners
9. Team will follow into the room alternating sides, collapse fields of fire to the center of the room, and hold for a "go deep" or directional call
   • "Go deep" is the call used to proceed deeper into the room generally towards the far side of the room
   • Alternatively a directional call can be used instead of a "go deep" call if the room is cleared from existing points of domination in which case the directional call simply directs the team where to go next

Order of Actions for a Split Stack Breach:

1. Stack is evenly split on either side of the threshold
   • Normally this happens naturally, but sometimes movement must be made deliberately cross the threshold to split the stack.
2. Identify which side is 1-man.
   • In the case of the split stack the HINGE side of the door is the 1-man side and the HANDLE side of the door is the BREACHER (not 2-man as we do not zipper the entry, but dump one side of the stack into the room at a time)
3. Breacher works the handle and assess the door as the 1-man holds security on the door
   • If the door is LOCKED Breacher will either
     • pick it himself
     • or mechanical breach, ballistic breach, set a charge and move to the back of the stack
   • If the door is TRAPPED Breacher will either
     • disarm the trap himself as 1-man covers him
     • or set a breaching charge himself and move to the back of the stack becoming the last man
4. ENSURING THAT THE DOOR IS UNLOCKED AND CLEAR OF TRAPS, 1-man will now ask for a flash bang if one is needed
   • 2-man will pull immediately throw the flashbang into the threshold if called for
5. 1-man will begin to LP the room and engage threats/bail back/reprep the room as needed until he breaks the 90-degrees
6. At the 90 1-man must decide
   • if he wants to enter the room
   • or if he wants to bail back to his original side and reassess

SECTION 5: The Communication

Acronyms:

• SA: situation awareness
• LP: limited penetration or "slicing the pie"

Terminology:

• Squeeze / Set / Stacked = terms used by the 2-man to let 1-man know he is ready to move
• Prep = to prepare the room for breach, usually referencing a flashbang
• Slide / Wagon Wheel = to hug the wall towards a certain direction
• Cross / Cross Coverage = the act of setting up opposing fire arcs in hallways or where ever space allows two men to do so parallel with each other
• Flip / Switch = the act of trading areas of responsibility with another man simultaneously, usually done when cross coverage is no longer ideal
• Line = another word for trap or tripwire
• Strong Wall / Close Dominance: the act of staying relatively close to the breach point as opposed to wall riding to corners, this is generally done in large open areas to control the immediate area before committing deeper into the room/area

Non-Verbal Signals (Light OR Laser):

• 1-man constant laser/light on door = prep banger
• 2-man constant laser/light in front of 1-man = ready/on you
• Lasso = Go this direction
• Pulse = Danger