[Music] welcome to episode three of the pros guide to team CQB in this episode we'll be covering split Stacks priorities of work opposing threats and exiting a room now priorities of work is basically the next step that comes in after all the assaulters have entered the room all the assaulters have gotten to their points of domination they have cleared their sectors and at this point they're ready for their secondary tertiary checks so it starts with the dead or the threats that they have engaged because we want to make sure that they are actually dead at that point or are no longer a threat and then we move on to the living at this point we can do a lot more with the living but a just a quick cursory check we'll make sure that these people are still a non-threat and then we'll do some follow on actions as to get them segregated and stuff like that next we want to check the room itself all those nooks and crannies underneath the bed inside the closet uh anywhere like a small child can hide inside of a room needs to get checked when we get to the room phase and then finally when we're done with all that we want to Mark the room typically we marked a room with chem lights uh those can be a green color or if we have some kind of orange tape some kind of marking method is is needed so that we know which rooms were cleared and which room which rooms were not cleared at that point getting into split Stacks split Stacks just simply means that you have two or more assaulters on each side of the threshold whether that's an open door or a CL closed door a split stack can be one assaulter on one side and another assaulter on other side or you could have entire stacks on both sides of the door sometimes this is pre-planned depending on the the doorway of the structure that you're about to enter sometimes it can just happen naturally when we go into a room and we go to our points of domination for example if that's a dead end room and we have to come back out we can split stack another benefit of split stack is that each assaulter while they're waiting to get that squeeze and release they can kind of step into that wall and get a harder look inside that threshold inside that room into the corner that way they get about 90% of the room versus whatever they had prior to that but since now they're stacked on that door that kind of leads us into exiting a room upon exiting a room or before exiting a room usually the cell leader if there is one present will make a call on which way to which way to exit or which what the direction of travel is whoever the one man is at that point will know which direction to head and the number two man will pick up rear security as the rest of the stack flow out into the direction of travel the last man on that stack will pick up that rear security and they will flow into that hallway or basically into that next room now opposing threats opposing threats is probably the number one killer of good guys in CQB it simply means that one assaulter cannot look in two different directions at the same time when we come into these structures there's all kinds of furniture there's partitions there's nooks and crannies and when an assaulter is on his on his route to his point of domination sometimes he'll encounter something that will take him out of his sector of fire and at that point that that becomes an opposing threat so at this point when an opposing threat happens we need a fellow assaulter usually a three or four man to come in and now assist with negotiating whatever that opposing threat is that secondary or third angle that is now open to that alter opposing threats is a very huge risk when it comes to CQB and this is something that is not an easy concept to understand because it's not just a simple solution every room and every layout to every structure has some kind of opposing threat that you can't really rehearse for but as long as you understand the con concept of opposing threats and how to negotiate them and you'll be in good shape now we go into what we call priorities of work priorities of work is basically now going into secondary tertiary searches search of the search of personnel searching dead bodies making sure they're still dead or not a threat stuff like that but there is a priority in that so the priority goes dead living room Mark dead check the dead make sure that they're still dead that they're not no longer a threat check the living make sure that the living are non-threats and in fact not a threat in hiding or someone that could become a threat very quickly if we take attention off of them right and so what that means as far as what we do with those Personnel that goes down to sop level we don't have to cover that that's just whatever the unit feels like then we check the room this is where we do our secondary tiary checks this is we are checking all the nooks and crannies the beds the closets the anything that opens up think of it like this if a little if a little child can hide in there we need to check it somehow that doesn't necessarily mean you need your primary you can transition that this point go to your secondary to do some of these smaller checks in these tighter spaces make it make sense to you at that point if it is something that requires maybe two people then as long as we have Security on the door that we are coming from or going to or wherever then we can start priorities of work and we start pulling people to now you know give them tasks like John you're closest to the door pull security so go ahead and pull security for me John that's his world so as long as now we have security and John's going to pull security either this way or however I Orient Orient him now let's say I have to check something I can pull in Johnny and say Johnny we're about to check this closet door for example and so instead of going from just me checking it like you know under a bed now we can do a two-man check so Johnny can either have his pistol out or he can have his rifle out but at this point it's just a little bit of communication and I just push this door and then he just gives it a check in this case we have a different room but let's just say that it's a small bathroom or a closet but a two-man check is a viable option if you have the Manpower sometimes you only have two people in here so then you kind of have to really make that make sense one person pull security cuz we need that before we do anything else and everybody and that other guy is doing basically everything or he calls for support at that point so that's priorities of work dead living room and then Mark the Mark is usually a chem light we have a bunch of chem Lights On Us whatever the SOP is Will Mark the room now we mark it somewhere at the doorway so that units that are out there that haven't come into this room yet will see oh I see a green chem light that room's been cleared so they're not coming in here reclearing possibly drawing guns on us make sense um if you don't have chem lights orange tape somewhere on the door frame could be a Sharpie could be spray paint anything whatever the SOP is that you guys can mark this room and say yep we've been here we don't need to check it again okay once we marked a room at this point we are going to basically roll into exiting a room before we exit a room we have to stack on that doorway right since we find ourselves in all sides of the room and let's say I'm the cell leader and I say we are exiting the room or the doorway that we just came out of you guys can now go stack on that door so everybody go ahead and do that okay so in this case what we have now is a split stack a split stack all right a split stack gives us the the pros and cons here of we have two sets of eyes looking in two different directions so both these guys are getting a good picture of what's out there at the same time they can do a diminishing return so so go ahead and sell yourselves up for like yep there you go so what they're doing at this point is getting a hard look down in this case this is a hallway so they're getting a hard look down that hallway they can either come back because maybe they have an open door for example Damon has this open door right here so he has to constantly check the open door but also when he can get that diminish return and get that deep look down the hallway as they can do that as many times as they want to until whoever is the uh the cell leader here now gives them the directional call as to which way to exit and then we we exit on the on the uh on that on that command on a split stack so we can naturally find ourselves in a split stack because again we came into this room it was a dead end and we find ourselves back on both sides of the door so naturally we just split stack there the I I talked about the pro there with both people with two sets of eyes and two sets of guns looking opposite directions the con there however is sometimes there's confusion on who's going to give that up to the other side so what needs to happen is there needs to be some kind of protocol there whether it's like a vigorous head nod if it's low light or if it's a small like you know you Chandler or excuse me Damon Damon you got this or I'll give it up or if it's simp something as simple as muzzle up muzzle down signifying hey you got this you're making entry or you're exiting first okay so split Stacks we can either voluntarily um we can either execute a split stack on the door ourselves if it makes sense to that door or again we can naturally find ourselves on a split stack um addressing a new door or the door we just came out of so this is what a split stack kind of looks like or what should what it should look like cuz we have the most security to kind of this area here but then diminishing returns give us our deep looks so what is a diminishing return then it's really just an opportunity or a luxury that we afford ourselves while we're waiting for that squeeze and release or while we're waiting for that command that command call to go in whichever direction is that at this point Damon on Damon's side he's just going to going to take a big step with his left foot pivot and kind of lean into it like a sideways lunge and just take a hard look down that hallway to gain more Intel to gain another snapshot maybe the corridor down there maybe there's movement maybe there's noise same thing with John on his hand he's going to take a big step with his right foot and just continuously kind of refine himself to get the deepest look he can and now he's calling that stuff out to us what do you see down there on the right Damon hallway right okay we got a hallway right John what do you got to your left just hallway just a hallway okay so that's that's as much as information as we have right now and at this point they can do as many of these diminishing returns as they need to or they or they or they want to and again they're just making use of their time while they're waiting for that squeeze and release so now that we have done priorities of work in this room we have stacked on this door the cell leader came down and says what do you got what do you got he makes a directional call that we are going to hold right exit left hold right exit left or he can say hold right go left why does he say hold right is because we have to remember that we need to pull Security in the direction we're not going it's not it's so it's just a simple saying that we say it's just protocol really hold right go left or in this case if I want to go right I say hold left go right again this is just a quick little reminder that we need to pull security to that end you right and it's again it's not it's not something that insults the intelligence of assaulters but again it's protocol that we've instilled into our Sops that now help assaulters because a lot of things are happening in the CQB environment so in this case we're going to say hold right go left okay so what happens now is both these guys are on that split stack and we are holding right and going left so I know that JN has the best view of that left side correct John so that implies that JN is going to be the number one man out which means that Damon is going to be the number two man now but Damon is going to pull security to the rear John number one man always goes in the direction of travel number two man pulls rear security number three and four man exit number four man Taps the the security guy picks him up and then we get back into that hallway back into a split stack all right so let's break that down then all right so get back into it guys okay as a cell leader I'm saying hold right go left so now ease up on the door a little bit so John that's you creep up on the door kind of get back into that that posture where you're kind of looking out the hallway a little bit okay so now what he's doing is he's kind of getting a really good and clear line of fire on that hallway cuz he's about to go in a direction that we haven't been before so of course he wants to pull security for himself I would do the same thing but what he can't do is go until I give him a squeeze and release so Daman I want you to be the number two man dami's going to come over here and give him a squeeze and release when John gets the excuse me when the number one man gets the squeeze and release he is going to take a peak he's going to pause and then he's going to push and we'll explain that here in a second so a peak he's already there he's peeking down the hallway to make sure that there's no like death machine down there and he's now he's pausing to decipher that information whatever Intel he's capturing down the hallway he's deciphering that in his head and now that's what that pause is but the pause is very quick it's just a tactical pause and then he pushes and what we mean by push is he is going to make a lateral push to that side of the hallway because from his angle he's already seen this side of the hallway okay he saw he saw the far side but now he's going to push to that Far Side to now capture the near side of the hallway so we can have a good snapshot of both sides of the hallway since he is our security to the unknown as he pushes across directly go ahead and push laterally okay push lat sorry come back so give it a more of a lateral because what happens is if you start moving forward straight across you're going to keep going and then whoever three man is he's going to come in have to catch up with you so just go kind of straight across and then kind of make little baby steps until you see that number three man on your periphal okay then we can speed up a little bit yep squeeze and release Peak pause push Damon picks up rear I'm the number four man so I pick up Damon and then I'm behind Johnny with my gun up Damon's right here and we go right back into a hallway posture okay split stack okay so once again at this point we've already said we're holding right going left so naturally John has the best view so he's going to take that as a oneman daman's number twom man Daman gives him a squeeze and release Peak pause push Damon picks up rear good number three man goes I'm the number four man I pick up that rear security guy and then we all travel down the hallway in a split stack with number two or the the two one men having Cross coverage until we get to that next threshold so when we the question was on a split stack do we always alternate left right side right side left side right side or is it all of one side goes and all the other side goes the answer is that all of one side goes and then all of the other side goes that's the that's the answer however for for in this case these two guys to go one and two that's also okay so there is no like hard answer there it's just more of a method which method should we choose and is that our sop does the entire one side of the train go and then the other side or do do we alternate in this case what we were doing was we were alternating but now we can demonstrate you guys just going so then as you give him the squeeze and release he does his Peak pause push you pick up rear and then we're going forward I'll pick you up posing threats are again two or more angles that one assaulter cannot cover down by himself okay so we have an example of that right here behind us that we'll use to demonstrate but if if we take this room for what it is this is a corner fed open Open Door room so that regardless of which side we're stacking on what number one man is going to go to his greatest unknown let's just say he goes to the left number two man is going down this wall as number two man gets down this wall in this case Damon can you isolate the number two man so let's just say number two man is here he wants to get to pod he wants to get to his point of domination however he can't and he cannot collapse the rest of this room down like he's supposed to because we have this opening here he's not just going to walk by this opening without a gun or without security so this becomes an opposing threat because he has a job to do here but now this has presented itself to him as a problem this is what we mean by opposing threat so what it takes at this point is basically for another assaulter to come in and relieve him or kind of switch with him so now Damon has a whole different job and I'm going to take over his job so the number two man is going to get us across this open threshold and I am going to stay right on top of him to get to his pod and also collapse the rest of this room for him so Ence what we're doing is he is protecting me from this open threshold as we move across it and I am protecting him from whatever else I see in this room in route to point of domination okay and how that works normally is let's just say that he's a Twan so I'm the fourman coming in I'm going to support to him anyway so if I drop here and I see that he's paused there's only so many reasons why the number two man would be paused on his way to point of domination it's either an opposing threat or there's somebody here that he's addressing either way I see what he's doing so when I come in and I see that opening now I understand that he's there for an opposing threat I come in and I give him a little brush and I say let's go so he's going to B body bunker me across and I'm going to body bunker him across and body bunkering just means again that I'm going to protect him with my guns and plates to this side and he is going to protect us with his gun and plates to this opening to this threshold to this opposing threat and just like that we've achieved it so we got ourselves across here safely I took over his sector I got to pod for him and I got to where I was supposed to or what he was supposed to be if he didn't have this opposing threat opposing threats come in all forms all shapes all sizes here we have a pretty basic opening that looks like a doorway it could be a hole in the ground it could be something that goes upstairs it could be a window it could could be a cat hole any kind of opening that goes into another layer another opening or a room would be an opposing threat or maybe it's an exterior window that also becomes an opposing threat depending on the situation however exterior doorways and rooms are have less priority over interior because the interior is where most of the bad guys like to hide not the exterior so that is opposing threats we can make opposing threats as complex as we want it to be I can open this door right here and now we have one more opposing threat now in this case whoever the one man is or the two man that's going to this left side runs into the same problem how can I come in and clear this corner and get to pod when I'm completely exposed to this opening back here right so now I need somebody to basically come and body bunker me so at this point John if you don't mind we you say I'm the number two man John is number four man he's supporting me any anyway so as I stop here John's going to John's going to basically come in at this point and I know that I need to give him room to work so I need to take a step forward and I got this and John's going to continue behind me and take and get to pod but I'm walking with him to get him to the other side of the threshold because again CQB is a game of angles all I need is one degree of angle to shoot you and that's all it takes in this case so that's why body bunkering is so important even though we're this far away and even though we had a 6ft movement in those 6 feet we covered a number of degrees of angles that could have got him or myself killed and that's why we have to body bunker okay gun plate plate gun that's what it comes down to protect him he'll protect you get across that open threshold let's go okay Index right there so good good I didn't see what you guys did here I was focused here on Damon but Damon and I negotiated this opposing thread pretty fluidly once he felt me once he felt my shoulder brush him I also kind of gave him a let's go and then we started body bunkering each other and I was focused on that door more than anything else obviously it's kind of an empty corner but that's what I'm doing I'm basically between the door and whatever de space I may have here that's why it said that constant kind of going back and forth has to happen CU of cases like this or like some extension of this room it's like couch here coffee table here and then everything else up here clear so now I'm focused here getting ready to basically become the one man when we go into priorities of work I'm going to shift myself over I'll pie the rest of this give this a quick look and then I'll just pull security if it's a dead end I'll be like it's a dead end right and then we just put one man here the three of us get to work yeah yeah there's nothing wrong with you covering down an angle that you think I'm coming on to it's just knowing when to shift fire right when to raise that's it the problem the the the thing we need to understand about posing threats is not these kind of layouts not that it's a door not that it's a you know whatever it's that it's something that again has caused me to now pull security here because and when I do that here I can't do what I was supposed to here so I can't look two ways I can't do a wi I don't have chameleon eyes right so therefore I need that NX assaulter to come in and be like I got you on your pod you just get us past this door cool let's go it's really should be that simple but opposing threats the biggest reason why people get shot in CQB is because of these kind of opposing threats not being able to cover down too many or more than one angle at once not having the support there that's it so and things are very Ed up in CQB you know adrenaline pumping emotions all that so we tend to miss little things like this sometimes because we're so just involved in the Moment The Players the people the you know whatever but again posing threats is huge we have to understand the concept it's just something that taking that's taking my attention away from my current task and that is a criteria for somebody coming in to now help you but you have to have the self-discipline to say I'm not going past this doorway for example I know I need to get to pod I'm not going past this doorway until somebody body bunkers me you know what I mean cuz sometimes we'll get so honed in on pod and collapsing sectors that will come in be like this and we'll just blow right past this opening because one it could be dark two we were amped up or three we have a lot going on right here right thanks for joining us on this episode of the pros guide to team CQB make sure you tune in to the next episode where we cover hallways and intersections we'll get a little more detailed we'll do everything from a dog leg or a hard 90° turn all the way up to four-way intersection and we'll talk about hallways and why they are probably the worst place to be in CQB [Music]