Tactical Wisdom
Politics • News • Preparedness
Book Review: Phantom Soldier
H John Poole
January 27, 2023
Guest contributors: TacticalWisdom
post photo preview
Book Cover

Next up in our reviews of H John Poole tactical manuals is Phantom Soldier, The Enemy's ANswer to US Firepower.  While The Tiger's Way focused on small unit tactics, Phantom Soldier focused on how a smaller, less technically able force can survive and thrive against the vast precision firepower that the United States can bring to bear.  The key examples revolve around the People's Liberation Army in Korea, and the Vietnamese forces against both the US and the Chinese.

Affiliate Link to buy book: https://amzn.to/3WIfMA1

Three key battles are analyzed for context: The Battle of North Ridge during the Korean War, The Battle for Hue CIty, and Iwo Jima.  Each gave concrete examples of how to survive our combined arms onslaughts, how to approach invisibly, and then seemingly disappear.

I can think of at least one scenario in which a small force might need to use the tactics involved in this book...

Part One of the book discusses the history of Eastern warfare and how well they've done against Western armies.  China has been writing about military strategy longer than most of the world has been writing at all.  At the heart of the Eastern way of war is deception, while the Western way of war is brute force.  Truthfully, Western forces determine wins and losses by body counts and by who holds the ground after a battle, but Eastern forces decide who won or lost based upon strategic effect.  

A good example from the book is Vietnam.  Imagine you are holding the perimeter of your firebase and group of Vietcong attack.  While repelling them, your command post blows up and the enemy withdraws.  The US would consider that a US win, because they held the ground.  However, it was a win for the Eastern force, because they sent in two sappers who blew up the strategic target, the CP.  Which one matters?  The CP casualties matter more than who holds the base.

Part Two goes into tactical differences, and how the Eastern side pulls off their magic.  It discusses why Eastern patrols are generally more effective than Western.  Eastern troops have better-trained point men (see TW-04 for this), their superior camouflage skills, their willingness to break contact rather than fight a lopsided battle, and their willingness to crawl in the dirt (yes, really).  The book discusses a story about Guadalcanal, where two Marines saw a Japanese point team crawl past their OP.  Western forces patrol by walking.  Who will see the other first?  The Eastern force.

As far as the willingness to break contact, Eastern forces enable their NCOs to decide to withdraw.  Western forces will maintain contact and try to "develop" the situation. In contrast, Eastern forces understand that not every fight is worth having.  Similar to the Vikings, the Eastern armies know that it is better to withdraw and fight another day than to waste resources fighting over terrain that isn't important.

Poole goes into the difference between the Western "chance contact " drill of a single envelopment and the Eastern drill of DOUBLE envelopment.  Want to know more?  Buy the book using the affiliate link above.

When on the defense, Western forces tend to create well-defined perimeters with linear trenches and fencing.  The Eastern defender prefers to burrow.  He will build underground forts and partially open trenches, connected by complete underground bases.  These underground facilities are what allow them to survive our high-tech bombardment and seem to disappear.  The book goes into deep detail on this.

During the review of the Battle of North Ridge, Poole describes the Eastern method of attack by infiltration and probing for weak areas.

As far as ambushes, we all love to talk about L-Shaped ambushes, despite their less than stellar record in actual combat.  However, Eastern forces employ U or V shaped ambushes to trap the victim in a fire sack with fire coming from multiple directions at once.  They generally use one or two running scouts to bait the targeted victim into the fire sack.

Eastern forces, unlike their Western counterparts, generally travel in smaller groups and under overhead cover to negate our tech advantage.  We tend to send large columns along the road.  That's how they seem to arrive out of nowhere.

That's the same tactic the VC and NVA used to infiltrate Hue City during the Tet Offensive.  By infiltrating in small numbers, they were able to seize the Citadel without having to fight their way to it.  Unlike the Western way of attacking the outskirts and then pushing towards the urban center, The Eastern attacker beings downtown and then pushes towards the edge of town.

Through some specific urban tactics covered in the book that you should learn, the NVA was able to hold the Citadel for 3 weeks.  At the end of that, they seemed to vanish.  It's likely that they used the sewer to escape.

Part Three discusses how American small units must change to stay ahead.

The book wraps up with an appendix of Eastern Tactical Wisdom.  The appendix references Sun Tzu and several other Chinese works on military strategy.

You need to include the Phantom Soldier in your Tactical Wisdom library.

 

community logo
Join the Tactical Wisdom Community
To read more articles like this, sign up and join my community today
2
What else you may like…
Videos
Posts
Articles
Timeline Cleanse

Time for a timeline Cleanse before WW3 kicks off.

00:00:10
INTEL UPDATE - GUYANA

This appears to be video from the fighting on the Venezuela-Guyana border.

00:00:36
Quick Thoughts on GPS Units

Here are a few quick thoughts on GPS units.

1. Get older ones - they may have less features, but they also don't track you for "your safety".

2. You don't need a camera on it. Ever.

3. There are guys on Ebay who specialize in flashing old units with new software. I just bought a "new old stock" one that a guy upgraded.

4. They will also sell you all the newest GPS Topo maps at reduced prices. I have like 5 different map areas on one SD card.

5. Get one that takes an SD card and force the unit to save all your tracks and points to the SD. That way in the event of potential compromise, you can pull the SD Card and either bury it or toss it, and they can't exploit your GPS to find your camp, home, base, etc.

00:04:55

Situational awareness.

Today’s run going north into Nashville I encountered a small group of protesters on an overpass, their protest was political in nature and banners openly calling for violence. (Comey beach numbers and Kathy Gifford infamous photo)
I did not engage nor in any other way interact with them… I did, however, call 911 as one of the individuals appeared to be holding a brick in his hand… possibly a HT radio.
As this summer proceeds to produce acts of violence, I would urge everyone to take a few minutes, slow down and be very thoughtful in your trip planning w/ a threat assessment and in your mental prep how you will deal with such a scenario, like traffic stopped due to a protest.
If the summer of 2020 showed us anything it is that motivated people, of either political or religious ideology are willing to do some outlandish things.

Take care, stay Frosty !

INTEL BRIEF - IED/Asheville

The National Park Service police are reporting the discovery of an IED along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville, NC.

You are in an insurgency. Act like it.

INTEL BRIEF -UAF

On the eve of peace talks (allegedly) the UAF has launched over 200 drones against Crimea and SW Russia.

post photo preview
DM-32UV Radio Review

Brushbeater Store Link: Baofeng UV-32DM

I know, I know, "Not another Boo-Fwang", right?  Well, this one fills a need for the prepared citizen, and it's not what you think.  I've had one for about 2 weeks and have been testing it out.  In this, I'm going to recap my thoughts.  

Let me just say that if you are a sad ham, or a fan for amateur "Digital Mobile Radio"/DMR, you should probably stop reading.  NC Scout and I teach an entirely different skill set with the DMR than you use, and you won't like it.  I did not test this out on a single DMR repeater and did not try to program every ham DMR contact in the world into my radio.  Sorry.  Just like we say at every class, "This is not ham radio".

So, if I don't use Amateur Radio DMR, why would I want a digital radio?   Well, for starters, in a complete collapse and Without Rule of Law (WROL) situation, a digital voice signal (like your cell phone) travels farther than analog voice, so there is that.  Our use case is for sending text messages via a handheld radio.  I know, some sad ham is going to screech about how we can't do that without a permission slip from our overlords, but that's entirely FALSE.  Digital text messages are allowed on MURS and you are allowed to send text messages via FRS/GMRS under the rules.  It's perfectly legal, sad hams. Wait until you hear about digital over CB - wild times, man, wild times.  Oh, and Midland is campaigning to add digital voice to GMRS, just like the Europeans did with PMR (Personal Mobile Radio - 446 Mhz).

I tested the message function and it works across all brands.  In other words, I was able to send and recieve text messages with my Baofeng digital radios, my Abbree ones, and Motorola XPR digital radios.  They all also recevied the digital voice using both the All Call ID and private calls.  A cool side effect of using digital traffic is that anyone with an analog-only radio will just hear static rather than your comms.

Another important feature on these radios is AES 256 encryption.  I tested it with my other Baofeng DMR (DM-1701) and the Abbree DM-F8 DMRs I own and the encryption worked flawlessly.  I was not able to get it to handshake with my Motorola XPR and XTS radios.  That's both a blessing and a curse I guess.  However, if everyone on my team has one of these and the same encryption key, we are good.  Now, neither NC Scout nor I recommend running encrypted radios all the time because they draw unwanted attention to your traffic, but there are times and places when I might want it.

The software is easy to use, but a little quirky.  For example, when programming repeaters, if you don't "Forbid Talkaround", the radio defaults to talkaround only and doesn't let you activate a repeater.  Checking the "forbid" box solved it, but it's annoying.  It also required me to enter the All Call talkgroup (16777215) manually, while every other DMR I've ever had had it already in the radio.

I recommend setting the squelch to 3 on all of your channels.  I started with 5 and wasn't receiving anything at all, while my other radios were. Adjusting it down to 3 was a quick fix.

The stock antenna is actually quite good, once you set the squelch properly.  

The radio is very well-built and is designed to look like a Motorola APX.  It fits very well into AR-152 pouches.  My radio came with a pouch, but I am not a fan of the stock pouch.

The main problem I have with it is the screen brightness.  When turned all the way up, it is still not readable in daylight.  You can turn the screen off as well.

The radio accepts all the standard K1 accessory cables.  You don't need to buy a whole bunch of additional stuff that way.  The radio battery screws into the unit and accepts USB-C charging, so you can charge it on the run.  You can also find spare batteries on Amazon.  For the first time, the people at Baofeng got the charger right - the charging base is also USB-C powered.  FINALLY, I can run the quick charge base from my vehicle power using a USB cord.  Well done.

The radio has GPS and will do automatic APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System).  I did test the GPS function (because of two hams who asked me like a million times - you know who you are).  It matched what my Garmin GPSMap said exactly, including speed and elevation.  I did not test APRS because I am never comfortable broadcasting my location for anyone with a radio to find.  Before you tell me that I carry a phone that does that, several students will attest that one rural Tennessee Sheriff Department complained that my phone pings in Europe (they weren't looking for me, they were looking for a student in the woods with me whose mother was worried - Sorry Samuel).  I do turn the GPS on once a day to keep the clock updated, which is VITAL in digital communications.  Once it gets a fix and accurate time (from somewhere I'm not going to be at for long), I turn the GPS off.  It gets a fix in about 30 seconds after the first time.

The range is simlar to every other VHF/UHF dual band radio.  I am able to hit the Bigfork repeater from 30-35 miles away if I am outside with no problem.

While I think this radio is a must have for advanced users, I don't reocmmend it if you are just starting out.  If you haven't taken the RTO and Advanced RTO course, you won't have much of a need for one of these.  It will not replace my AR-152 for tactical operations, and it won't replace my AR-5RM that I use as my daily business radio, but it has a use for clandestine communications like NC Scout and I teach.

At $99.99, it's more expensive than other Baofeng's, but cheaper than most DMR units.

Again, it's not a radio that everyone needs.  However, if you need a DMR, getting this one or the Abbree DM-F8 is a good idea.

If you're new here, we do reviews like this and on other topics as well as share breaking news with subscribers.  Additional content is avaible for paid monthly supporters as well.  SIgn up.

Read full Article
post photo preview
Book Review: The Debilitating Tools of War
H John Poole Studies

Affiliate Link: The Debilitating Tools of War

H John Poole, legendary trainer at the USMC School of Infantry East, has released a new book, dealing with the threats posed by modern technology and how to defeat them.  The book touches on the two areas most people are concerned with most, drones and thermal imaging.  His opinions match those of NC Scout and I and hopefully the book can open some eyes.

As always, Poole begins by pointing out that the US military, and all western miitaries, are overly reliant on technology.  We have the most advanced and accurate weapon systems the world has ever known and drones are an incredible force multiplier.  However, as Poole points out, these tools haven't exactly enabled us to defeat Eastern soldiers.  We fought the Koreans and Chinese to a stalemate, we were defeated by a farmer militia in Vietnam, and we were outlasted by tribal militias in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also points to the example of Ukraine, where both sides are using drones heavily, but depsite the Instagram videos, neither side is winning.  In truth, both sides are now reverting to small unit skills and smaller bodies of troops to make progress....more on that later.

The book covers more than just drones and thermals.  Poole dives into weapon mounted lights and lasers, night vision, GPS, acoustic and motion sensors, and many other gadgets we use.  He cites the historical examples of how Eastern soldiers have consistently been able to defeat all of this with solid squad and team level small unit tactics, movement skills, and movement planning.

The rest of this article is for supporters only, so become a supporter today.

 

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
Read full Article
post photo preview
Book Review: Reluctant Partisan V2

Book Link: The Reluctant Partisan Volume 2

This weekend, I finished John Mosby’s second volume: The Reluctant Partisan, Volume Two: The Underground.  This volume builds on the first, which was directed more at the actual rural fighting force of a local resistance/partisan unit.  Volume Two concerns itself with the other aspects of resistance, running operations in an urban area, to include intelligence and counterintelligence.

While I liked the book, brace yourself for Mosby’s style.  The only thing I don’t like about this book is his looking down at anyone who wasn’t SOF but thinks they will form a resistance.  He spends a lot of time bad-mouthing the 3 percent movement, which is probably justifiable, but it gets to be too much.  He also derides most of the preparedness community unless you are a super-athlete.  While he has a valid point, he lays it on a bit thick and rather than motivation, it comes across as ridicule and hate.  I’m able to roll my eyes and glean the great training material in here but just brace yourself.

Having said that, this book has great material in it, far beyond the typical “tacti-cool” stuff you find.  He talks about developing an intelligence network and local defense group, finding like-minded people, and intelligence analysis. He also covers counterintelligence and guarding the image you project.  These sections need to be read and re-read dozens of times.  Might even make great class content…..

Just like me, he breaks down “gray man” tactics into reality.  There is a time to be the “gray man” and blend in and there is a time to project the “we will kill you if you trifle with us” image.  As I said, once things get spicy, gray man essentially goes out the window, except in very specific circumstances.

John offers an excellent primer on vehicle patrolling and movement tactics and the appendix contains a very good training curriculum for vehicle operations. 

There is a chapter on the urban guerrilla’s primary weapon, the handgun.  He goes into great detail on handgun operations as well as two-man CQB, the same type that most of the private military companies teach (as well as CAG and other SOF units).

There is a chapter on rifle selection and use.  John smartly stresses familiarity with the manual of arms on several different rifle platforms, as you may have to pick one up and use whatever your enemy was carrying.  It may not be the AR-15.  It might end up being Mikhail’s Brilliant Tool (the AK) or The Right Arm of Freedom (FN-FAL/SLR).  The appendixes contain a pistol and rifle training program.

It’s a solid book and I recommend it.  You can only find it at lulu.com.

Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals