wensolys ujilah rainard
Faustina Trafton
Close-quarters battle (CQB) is a close combat situation between multiple combatants involving ranged (typically firearm-based) or melee combat.[1] It can occur between military units, law enforcement and criminal elements, and in other similar situations. CQB is typically defined as a short duration, high intensity conflict characterized by sudden violence at close range.[2]
Close-Quarters Battle has existed since the beginning of warfare, in the form of melee combat, the use of ranged weaponry (such as slings, bows, and muskets) at close range, and the necessity of bayonets. During World War I, CQB was a significant part of trench warfare, where enemy soldiers would fight in close and narrow quarters in attempts to capture trenches.
During World War II, Fairbairn was recruited to train Allied special forces in defendu. During this period, he expanded defendu's lethality for military purposes, calling it the "Silent Killing Close Quarters Combat method"; this became standard combat training for British special forces. He also published a textbook for CQB training called Get Tough.[3] U.S. Army officers Rex Applegate and Anthony Biddle were taught Fairbairn's methods at a training facility in Scotland, and adopted the program for the training of Allied operatives at Camp X in Ontario, Canada. Applegate published his work in 1943, called Kill or Get Killed.[4] During the war, training was provided to British Commandos, the First Special Service Force, OSS operatives, U.S. Army Rangers, and Marine Raiders. Other military martial arts were later introduced elsewhere, including European Unifight, Chinese sanshou, Soviet sambo, and the Israeli kapap and Krav Maga.
For a lengthy period following World War II, urban warfare and CQB had barely changed in infantry tactics. Modern firearm CQB tactics were developed in the 1970s as "close-quarters battle" by Western counterterrorist special forces units following the 1972 Munich massacre.[5] The units trained in the aftermath of the massacre, such as the Special Air Service, Delta Force, GSG 9, GIGN, and Joint Task Force 2, developed CQB tactics involving firearms to quickly and precisely assault structures while minimizing friendly and hostage casualties; these CQB tactics were shared between these special forces units, who were closely-knit and frequently trained together.[5] The Special Air Service used CQB tactics during the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege. CQB tactics soon reached police tactical units and similar paramilitaries, such as American SWAT teams, by the 1980s and 1990s.[5]
However, CQB was still not widely taught to regular infantry, as it was considered a hostage rescue tactic.[5] As late as the 1990s, some infantry manuals on urban combat described close-quarters room clearing essentially the same basic way it was described 60 years prior: a grenade being thrown into an enclosed area, followed by an infantry assault with automatic fire.[5] The special forces "monopoly" on CQB was broken following the experiences of urban warfare and close-quarters battles in the 1990s, during the Battle of Mogadishu, the Bosnian War, and the First Chechen War.
The First and Second Battles of Fallujah during the Iraq War were the watershed moments for infantry CQB, when U.S. Marines, under pressure to capture the city of Fallujah, Iraq from insurgents, used conventional combined arms and fire support against the city, and lacked proper CQB training and equipment to effectively clear buildings, causing numerous civilian and allied casualties and severely damaging the city.[5] With similar struggles in towns and cities among ABCA Armies during the War in Afghanistan, a proper approach to infantry in urban warfare became crucial, and CQB tactics began to be more widely taught to infantry.[5]
According to scholar Anthony King, some special forces units express disdain at regular infantry being taught CQB, especially in organizational politics and internal matters such as securing budgets; a unit with CQB training requires expensive equipment and training facilities, using up funding that could be used for other units or purposes.[5]
Military uses of close-quarters battle vary by unit type, branch, and mission. Military operations other than war (MOOTW) may involve peacekeeping or riot control. Specialized forces may adapt MOUT tactics to their own needs, such as marine naval boarding teams being trained specifically to search ships and fight CQB within them. Hostage rescue or extraction units may involve even more esoteric adaptations or variations, depending on environments, weapons technology, political considerations, or personnel.[6]
Armies that often engage in urban warfare operations may train most of their infantry in basic CQB doctrine as it relates to common tasks such as building entry, clearing a room, and using different types of grenades.[7]
Police tactical units (PTU) are the primary units that engage in CQB domestically. Situations involving the potential for CQB generally involve threats outside of conventional police capabilities, and thus PTUs are trained, equipped, and organized to handle these situations. Additionally, police action is often within what can be considered "close quarters", so members of PTUs are often well-trained in or already experienced with CQB, to the point that some PTUs may train military service members in CQB principles such as breaching and room clearing.
Police CQB doctrine is often specialized by unit type and mission. Depending on the unit or agency's jurisdiction or scope, PTUs may have different goals with different tactics and technology; for example, prison guards may maintain a unit trained in CQB in compact indoors areas such as cells without using lethal force, while a police anti-gang unit may be trained in CQB against multiple enemies that may be difficult to identify.
Unlike their military counterparts, PTUs, as law enforcement officers, are tasked with ideally apprehending suspects alive; for this reason, they are often trained in arrest procedures, non-lethal takedowns, and standoff negotiation instead of solely combat. They may be equipped with less-lethal weaponry such as tasers, pepper spray, and riot guns to fire tear gas, rubber bullets, plastic bullets, or beanbag rounds.
Private security and private military companies may maintain units that are trained in CQB.[citation needed] These teams may be responsible for responding to an incident at a facility operated by a government agency that has hired their security services, or to provide protection for VIPs in combat zones. For instance, the U.S. Department of State employed such security teams in Iraq.[8]
An El Paso County SWAT team instructor and Senior Airman Lloyd Quintana, a 310th Security Forces Squadron defender, demonstrate using body contact as a form of communication, Feb. 4, 2023, on Schriever Space Force Base. During a training course lead by El Paso County SWAT team instructors, 310th and 710th Security Forces Squadron Airmen trained using non-verbal communication techniques as a means to rapidly and decisively communicate during close-quarters combat. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Marko Salopek)
Airmen assigned to 310th and 710th Security forces Squadrons listen to an El Paso County SWAT team instructor, Feb. 4, 2023, on Schriever Space Force Base. As part of a close-quarters combat training course, El Paso County SWAT team instructors taught room entry and clearing techniques through classroom instruction and hands-on practice in a simulated environment, using the indoor training facility on Schriever SFB. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Marko Salopek)
Tech. Sgts. Kenneth Pate and Joshua Kerk, 710th Security Forces Squadron defenders, conduct a room entry and clearing drill, Feb. 4, 2023, on Schriever Space Force Base. During a close-quarters combat training course lead by El Paso County SWAT team instructors, 310th and 710th Security Forces Squadron Airmen practiced employing room entry and clearing tactics. By using an indoor training facility with re-configurable rooms, the Airmen were presented with multiple scenarios and environments throughout the course. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Marko Salopek)
As part of an ongoing partnership between the 310th Space Wing and the El Paso County SWAT team, Airmen assigned to the 310th and 710th Security Forces Squadrons participated in a three-day close-quarters battle tactics course lead by El Paso County SWAT, Feb 2-4, here.
The lead SWAT team instructor, who will not be named due to ongoing special investigations, as a former Green Beret with the 19th Group Special Forces, explained the room entry and clearing tactics they use and practice were created by special forces units.
The training course was designed to progressively increase in difficulty, beginning with classroom lecture on the specifics of employing the tactic and ending with multi-room scenarios involving two-way firefights using non-lethal munitions and incorporating unarmed bystanders. Airmen ran each scenario repeatedly until they perfected the tactic, with instructor critique after each run.
Chase further explained that when you must clear a building where you anticipate being shot at, physiologically your stress response spikes and an individual will experience an elevated heart rate, fine-motor skill loss, and tunnel-vision. In each training scenario, they add as many stress elements as they can, including the use of sim ammunition, acclimating the Airmen to working through the experience of being shot at and minimizing the stress response.
Senior Airman John Hubbard, 710th SFS defender said, as an officer with the Glendale Police Department, he recently trained with the Denver Police Department on responding to an active shooter which, which while similar in content, was not as thorough or effective.
As part of the cooperative arrangement between Schriever SFB and El Paso County SWAT, the team now has access to schedule and utilize the training facilities here, with access to a classroom area, a large virtual training system, and a network of rooms with walls on a track system, allowing the rooms to be reconfigured to suit the desired environment and scenario.
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