Back in my old paintball days, I played at a facility in downtown Davenport, IA. It was called Duck's Blind paintball and was an old hotel on 3rd street. 3 stories, 6 stairwells. 144 rooms, all the windows screened and boarded and all the doors removed. The only light was the light that made it in the windows through the cracks in the boards. This is where I first played paintball and where I learned to move quietly , approach corners, clear rooms, and how to acquire targets quickly. I only wish I had this kind of facility today to play airsoft in.

So This article is going to point out what I learned in this kind of environment about CQB and room clearing.

1.) Sounds

Depending on the furnishings in the building, talking to teammates can be OK or a no no. If the rooms are carpeted and there are drapes or curtains or upholstered furniture, you can get away with a little low level talking. If there are hardwood floors though, or the buildings rooms are sparsely furnished..voices travel like wildfire. Also pay close attention to heating vents. I don't know how many times my team won over others because the opposing teams talked out loud as if they were playing outdoors in the woods...thats a no no indoors..hand signals only...we knew where they were all the time.

2.) Sight alignment.

When your in a CQB environment, you need to be able to bring your sights up quickly as things happen VERY fast. However, you also need to have a clear view ahead, especially if the rooms and hallways are dimly lit. So how you hold your weapon is crucial For pistols, you want to have your weapon extended ahead, just below your eye level, your off hand cupped under the grip or at the side of your primary hand. For SMGs and small rifles you want the stock in your shoulder just a little above your armpit. The barrel nose down at about a 35-45 degree angle, to keep your forward vision clear. Both hands on the weapon. The both hands is important, its easier and faster to steady your aim with 2 hands than with 1.

3.) Approaching corners

I'm sure you've seen it..in the movies, two guys with guns..one on each side of the corner 3 feet from each other ready to jump out..doesnt that seem stupid..well it is. When you are approaching a corner or room in a hallway or into a room with no door you want to be as far away from the corner as you can as you approach. if your going to be going around the right side, then you approach the corner against the left side wall, with your sights raised just below your eyes with the gun ALWAYS pointed right at the corner. If there is reason to suspect danger from the opposite corner, such as in a room just across the hall from the one your clearing..then you have a second man doing just the same you are across from you...but several feet back. This way..they will have sight of any danger in that room before anyone in that room can see you...its all about angles... As you get even with the doorway, and you are facing the door from directly across the hall, if you still haven't seen anything, just keep going doing the exact opposite down the hall walking backwards...your cover man approaching the door just as you did...once every possible viewable angle inside the room has been seen..then you can breech...and when you do you know the only areas you should have to worry about are the small angles exact opposite the outside walls that you could not see when clearing the room, or any closets or cabinetry.

I'll write more later...any comments/critiques or corrections on this are welcome and requested.

Wait, I thought the reason the secondary weapon was held closer to the chest is due to the tight nature of CQB. And at a moment notice often times discharging your weapon will not be effective, you will have to either transition to a knife, or use some melee weapon, fist and etc to kill the opponent.

And I am not sure if DEVGRU uses airsoft for training purposes. But it would seem to me that you would want to use real-steel firing methods for airsoft, to maximize skills moving with a firearms in a real-world environment. Having to learn and develop another firing technique that is contradictive to what is taught for real-steel would complicate the muscle memory development that training helps to cultivate.

My own prefered stance and firing method in CQB, is when moving having my pistol fully extended but pointed slightly downward, when I acquire a target align the sights up with either center mass or the head and using a double tap or single shot method. I recall reading that Delta derived shooting methods from the SAS and IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), not sure exactly what method that is, or if it has changed, but someone else can add to this dicussion would be great. On the exact method Delta uses.

From what I remember from a SEAL documentary, the shooting method they showed, was a solider with an M4 moving through a shooting course, he took down first and and second target, simulated a weapons malfunction, jam/stovepipe, and then transitioned to his secondary which was on a pistol lanyard. From the remaining targets, he fired two shots center mass, and one to the head. Not quite the method you described earlier.

Then again, I am not sure if this is a SOP for firing pistols in all environments, or if that changes for different operating areas, aircraft, ships, buildings, and etc. But if you could better clarify on the method Naval Special Warfare Operations uses that would be great.

This post has been edited by WTA_Delta: Nov 7 2005, 12:11 PM

No, what I have said is definitely not SOP but you need to understand that real steel tactics DIFFER from airsoft tactics. All SOPs are optimised for the equipment and situation that we most commonly face. IF you have a real steel pistol that does not recoil... would you still hold out and lock your elbows just because the ones with recoil require you to do so? Now, if you really have a pistol that does not recoil, how will you optimise its characteristics for your use?