Core Infantry Handbook

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The FM outlines our core skills, policies and guides to ensure every member stands ready for the mission ahead.

Identify targets as legitimate targets before engagement. This is crucial to prevent harm to civilians and ensure adherence to the principles of distinction and proportionality in combat.

Combatants: Individuals who are actively engaged in hostilities or are members of armed forces.

• Enemy soldiers in uniform not surrendering or wounded
• Armed militants
• Persons directly participating in hostilities
• A person posing an immediate threat (e.g., aiming a weapon) can be considered a combatant
• Parachuting active airborne infantry

Non-Combatants: Individuals who are not actively participating in hostilities. These are not legitimate targets.

• Civilians not taking direct part in hostilities
• Unarmed medical and religious personnel
• Wounded/surrendering soldiers who are not participating combat in any way, and prisoners of war
• Parachuting crew from a downed aircraft

Do not cause damage to civilian infrastructure, unless necessary to archieve a military purpose. In general, preserving life should be prioritised over the avoidance of damage, but the destruction must be proportional to the purpose.

Examples:

• Acceptable situations:
  • Using explosives on a civilian house used as a military HQ
  • Dropping a bomb on an actively engaging enemy tank next to a house
• Unacceptable situations:
  • Cluster-bombing an enemy-held town
  • Destroying a house to take out a single shooter

"Weapons Red"

• Engage only if there is an imminent threat to life. 
• Authorisation is required for all other targets
  • with the exception of immediate life-threatening situations. 
• Return fire only if absolutely necessary. 
• This state is typically used when stealth is important.

"Weapons Orange"

• Return fire only and limit engagements to active threats against you or friendlies. 
• Disengage if the threat ceases.
• The most common state.

"Weapons Green"

• Engage any confirmed enemy target.
• This state is common in prolonged firefights, emphasising rapid response to enemy threats without the need for authorisation or detailed contact reports for each engagement.

Read grid coordinates to a 6 figure level (### “tack” ###) by combining the first 3 coordinate digits representing west-east and the first 3 coordinate digits representing south-north, with the resulting grid having a resolution of 100m.

Recognise points of elevation and hill numbers:

• 2 or 3-digit numbers on the tops of hills are known as hill numbers and should be referenced as ‘Hill xxx’
• The zoom scale of the map affects whether some of these numbers are visible (specifically the smaller/minor hills).
• In mountainous or hilly terrain there may be multiple hills with the same number. In these circumstances, provide additional context, such as a grid reference to ensure clarity of communication.

Use milliradian tools to obtain a range to the target, by applying the core concept that at 1000 meters, 1 milliradian equals 1 metre.

Look at the target and fire the laser rangefinder to obtain an exact range to the target.

Know who is in your element and what their role is. This makes it easier to understand and act on orders given by the element leader.

Remain within an appropriate distance of the other members of the element, such that:

• Mutual support is possible
• In-person communication, without using a radio, is possible
• The element leader is aware of your position

Actively listen for and follow the orders given by the element leader.

Maintain an effective distance between yourself and others, striking a balance between cohesion and minimising potential casualties, based on:

• The terrain being traversed
• The threats faced
• Visibility (foliage, fog,…)

Maintain awareness of:

• Your position
• The position of the members of your team
• The general position of other friendly elements
• Potential dangers

When moving, cover the direction appropriate for the given position in the formation.

When stationary, cover the direction instructed by the element leader. When no direction is specified, cover a direction and communicate that direction, such that the element combined has the best all-round coverage.

Avoid crossing through lines of fire as much as possible, instead preferring to go behind the element that is (potentially) engaging. This includes elements providing base of fire, even if they are not actively engaging at the time.

Adjust your aiming point vertically relative to the target by:

• estimating the distance to the target visually
• adjusting based on previous shot impacts

Use an appropriate shooting stance for the engement while taking into account available cover, sight stability and mobility requirements.

• Look up the vertical deviation caused by gravity using the range to target and a range card
• Integrate the calculated value into the final ballistics solution

Adjust for misses by correcting for the observed impact through any of the following core principles:

• with any sight, estimating the impact offset and holding its inverse,
• with a milliradian sight, reading the impact offset in mrad to hold the inverse of that exact amount,
• with a milliradian sight, reading the impact offset in mrad to dial in the inverse of that exact amount on the scope.

When pronouncing individual letters over a radio channel, replace the letter with the corresponding word from the following table:

1. ALERT: Begin with an alert pro-word. 
   • Use "Contact!" for entities in contact with the reporter
   • Use "Sighting!" for entities sighted but not in contact.
   • Use "Audible!" for entities not sighted and only heard.
2. ORIENT: Provide direction and range. Range can be omitted if desired. Direction should be one of the following:
   • Relative direction (front, left, right, rear) if movement direction is established.
   • Cardinal direction.
   • Compass bearing in degrees for high precision.
3. DESCRIBE: Composition of the enemy element:
   • Type of the enemy (infantry, MG nest, tank,…)
   • Rough size estimate (fireteam, squad,…)
4. EXPOUND: Give additional details such as:
   • Range if not provided during orient (from general, e.g. "Close", to specific, e.g. "523 meters").
   • A specific degree bearing if only a relative bearing was initially given
   • Movement of the enemy
   • Detailed information about individual enemy positions

Example Contact Report: "Contact front! Enemy infantry in the open, bearing 210, three hundred meters!"

Recognize the following meanings of smoke colors:

Maintain the correct position in the formation set by the element leader.

When given the order to break contact, immediately stop engaging the enemy and move according to the orders of the element leader. Be prepared to throw smoke grenades, as the element leader may order smoke to be deployed as concealment.

Stay away from potential killzones where possible, especially out of the open in urban terrain as this is a natural killzone. Instead, maximize the use of cover like walls and structures.

When clearing a room with no non-combatents inside, throw in a offensive grenade (fragmentation, concussion) before entering the room

If there are non-combatents inside or when executing a capture mission, flashbangs can be used instead.

• Stay off crew intercom, and join cargo if crew was selected by default
• Do not try to interact directly with the crew, regardless of the situation
• Casual conversation is allowed, unless instructed otherwise by the crew/leadership
• Cease casual conversation automatically when in contact or in an emergency

• Before dismounting, the call "Dismount" will be given by the crew
• After dismounting the vehicle move away from the vehicle without crossing in front or behind the vehicle, to prevent being run over, or stopping the vehicle from moving as it needs to.

When mounting in a vehicle, announce to the fireteam leader when your are mounted over the radio.

‘{name} up’

This allows fireteam leaders to then notify the squad leader and so on and ensure that everyone who needs to be on board, is on board before the vehicle departs.

When approaching a helicopter, keep in mind the following factors:

• Avoid crossing the door gunner firing arcs
• Avoid getting near the tail rotor, especially the side of the tail that the tail rotor is on
• Avoid approaching and standing directly in front of the helicopter, as this is the direction in which the helicopter will move when taking off
• Be mindful of the clearance between your head and the main rotor, especially on uneven terrain

In practice, this means:

• Approach helicopters that load from the side from the side, preferably slightly from the rear
• Approach helicopters that load from the rear directly from the rear

Above: Infantry moving to a Ghosthawk to mount

• Stay off crew intercom, and join cargo if crew was selected by default
• Do not try to interact directly with the crew, regardless of the situation
• Casual conversation is allowed, unless instructed otherwise by the crew/leadership
• Cease casual conversation automatically when in contact or in an emergency

• Before dismounting, the call "Dismount" will be given by the crew
• After dismounting the vehicle move away from the vehicle without crossing in front or behind the vehicle, to prevent being run over, or stopping the vehicle from moving as it needs to.

When mounting in a vehicle, announce to the fireteam leader when your are mounted over the radio.

‘{name} up’

This allows fireteam leaders to then notify the squad leader and so on and ensure that everyone who needs to be on board, is on board before the vehicle departs.

When leading a parachute jump as jump master:

1. Ensure that parachutes (and altimeters if era-appropriate) are available for every paratrooper to collect
2. Ensure that every paratrooper has backpack on chest and parachute on back before entering the vehicle
3. Ensure that every paratrooper has a unique number from 1 to X designating the order they will leave the plane on command
4. Confirm the LZ to the paratroopers and the recommended altitude to open the parachute (ASL and AGL) for the LZ
5. Explain the process of jumping while on route, to ensure first time jumpers know the process as well
6. Switch the light to red in the vehicle, and ensure the paratroopers are quiet and ready to jump
7. Switch the light to green and call each number in order, instructing paratroopers to jump when they hear their number

When giving first aid to a patient, follow the following steps:

• Minimize long term blood loss in 30 seconds or less (time it takes to apply 4 tourniquets or 3 bandages)
  • if unsure, tourniquet wounded limbs
• Manage the airway
• Perform further treatment as needed

Use tourniquets to temporarily prevent bleeding from all the wounds on a limb, when individually bandaging the wounds would result in unacceptable blood loss.

Use splints to temporarily treat broken limbs, until a personal aid kit can be used to restore full usage of the limb later.

Assess the airway with “check airways” and categorize as one of the following states:

• Clear
• Occluded
• Obstructed

Above: The location of the "Check Airway" action and the result as seen in the activity log

Turn the patient's head to clear the occluded airway of the patient if an Accuvac is not available.

Above: Action as seen in the medical menu

Hyperextend the patient's head to clear the obstructed airway of the patient, and stay within 2m of the patient during the process.

Above: Action as seen in the medical menu

• Administer or take combat wound medication pills to decrease pain by about 20%
• Limit frequency of consumption to no more than 6 pills every 6 minutes to avoid overdosing
• Be aware of side effects:
  • a slight increase in heart rate
  • a decrease in blood pressure

After identifying a patient with no heart rate

1. Perform CPR for at least 2 minutes (or 30 seconds as a medic)
2. Check pulse
3. If no heart rate, repeat

Checking a patient's pulse whilst someone else is performing CPR or checking pulse on a limb with a tourniquet placed will provide an erroneous reading.