FIELDCRAFT
COVERING YOUR ARCS
Billy Basics: “Doing the basics well is the foundation of all soldiering”
A
nyone who has put on a
military uniform, be it as a
TA Soldier, a Regular or as
an airsofter, will have heard
the term ‘Cover your arcs’ –
sometimes as a quick reminder in a brief,
sometimes in a harsh tone from the Section
Commander or Squad Leader encouraging
you to switch on. But what does it actually
mean? How do you do it, and why?
The word arcs (in the dictionary: an
unbroken part of the circumference of a
circle or curved line) refers to the 360°
horizontally surrounding your location (which
must be observed if you are to guarantee
your security). Another term you might have
heard is ‘all-round defence’ which speaks
for itself.
That might be when you’re out patrolling,
in an offensive role, or in a static base
location. Even in an ambush situation,
despite the fact that it’s an offensive patrol it
is still a patrol with not unlimited firepower,
and therefore potentially vulnerable. The
ambush group would still have its arcs
covered, with the left cut off/right cut off
fulfilling their roles, the main killer group
facing the expected direction of the enemy
approach.
But what about the rear area, behind
all the firepower? What if an enemy patrol
ahead of the main force to be ambushed,
stumbled into the rear of the ambush
group? Contact to the rear? Confusion
would reign. So this is where we find the
oft-forgotten rear protection, which will have
the important task of guarding the Bergen
cache or day sacks. They’ll be keeping an
eye on the rear and hopefully they won’t be
“…arcs need to be interlocking, or in
layman’s terms overlapping, so that there
are no gaps in your vigilant watch through
which a cunning enemy can approach”
022
February 2012