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1. If you can remember acronyms, this is easy.

2. Thank you for not simply regurgitating from an FM. You hit the highlights and presented the material for Patriots instead of professional armies. As we all have that ‘one thing you forgot to mention’, here is mine: Five point contingency plan- What to do if something goes wrong. GOTWA stands for (G) where I am Going; (O) Others I am taking; (T) Time of return; (W) What to do if I don’t return; (A) Actions to take if I am hit, or to take if you are hit.
   Those five points can and should be applied to our families when they venture forth from the homestead- practice a 5-point contingency plan for walking to and from school, driving to and from work, a trip to the outlet stores, even attending a sporting event at the high school. Always allow for things to go wrong or for conditions to sour. GOTWA will guide the family to a better resolution.

3. good intentions, and interesting topic. However, if I may offer some critical remarks.

   The purpose of knowing acronyms is critical to understanding. At the echelon (sizes) relevant to the audience, knowing the purpose behind the acronyms is paramount – especially if you can’t remember a particular acronym. If you can remember that there is some other considerations, it might jar your memory.

   The acronyms are close enough to real military acronyms that you might as well use the actual acronyms in use and known by many vets and taught to many civilians by tactical instructors. i.e. Troop Leading Procedures works very well at the company echelon and below (150 pax). The most important of which may be to issue a warning order to your unit leaders, so they can prepare for movement or action while you are planning.

   Another example is your acronym for military aspects of terrain. OCKOA is the basic platform to which a few other aspects are often appended to.

   Your use of METT-TC is worthy of an article alone. It is such a great framework for quick analysis, everyone who thinks in any terms of tactics should know how to apply it. Let me elaborate about METT-TC a second:

   Mission – invokes the use of the Troop Leading Procedures.
   Enemy – drives the intel framework of surveillance and reconnaissance based on the question that must be answered.
   Troops – what “tools” are available to solve the “problem”. This means my troops and equipment compared to the enemy troops and equipment (or weather). Is my plan enemy centric or terrain centric?
   Terrain – invokes the use of OCOKA at the basic level. Am I defending or attacking – the same terrain has different relevancy for each force.
   Time – Have I developed an understanding of the operation in a temporal framework? Have I backwards planned from the decisive point to the decision point(s) and allowed for my R&S plan to gather the information I need? so much more.
   Civilians – In a post collapse or during a collapse, being able to understand 3 types is critical. Friend / opposition / neutrals (or even undecided – lol)

   if you want some help, just reach out to me. Best of luck as you work thru this!

4. Question, what group of people is all of this being prepared for?

   If it’s common thugs, common hunters will be able to take care it at 500 yards out.

   If it’s a real foreign military or even ours under an Obama type, you are going to lose.

   Lastly, is the scenario in the top 100 of actually happening in the next 10 years?

   1. It doesn’t really matter what size or scale you are working at. These are frameworks from which anyone with a desire for stability and normalcy AFTER can use to develop practical solutions for various problems that can and likely will come up after LEOs go home.

      While the military teaches these principles at length to combat leaders, the principles boil down to a simple word: forethought.

      They teach this in detail, so when a leader is presented with an emerging situation, they have already evaluated known elements, generally leaving emergent issues to consider.

      METT-C can take days to develop, or a few minutes, its all dependent upon the scale of the issue one’s team is dealing with.

      Mission: The mission for most people AFTER, is protecting your people. Its not defending stuff. If you value the last can of baked beans over your children, I can’t help you.

      Enemy: This is the only variable that will continually change. Whether the enemy is a lone vagrant or a foreign or domestic army, they are essentially evaluated the same. Its how you choose to respond that will vary. This is the big weenie, and a topic for a full article.

      Terrain? If you are not continuously on the move, terrain is outside your front door. Where are the high points? Low points? Water? What are the routes someone might take to attack/steal/etc from you? Go outside and look.

      Weather? Learn your local weather patterns, and then look at how they can help/hurt someone attacking your homestead. How can you use this knowledge to your advantage.

5. Does anyone have an opinion on the usefulness of “Total resistance” – Major H. von Dach Bern (Swiss Army) – Paladin press

   Its vintage 1950’s info. from the Swiss Noncommissioned Officers Association, using guerrilla warfare to protect their country from a potential communist invasion.

   The orientation was toward the formation of a civilian resistance movement.

6. Former doctrine writer here (US and two other countries): doctrine evolves, and acronyms evolve with it. Great article and starting point for discussion. You’re never going to cover all the bases (for example, conduct priorities of work in the defense) by yourself, or with your friends (under fire), or even with a tiered active duty unit. We always forget stuff. So, kudos to you for this great explanation. scott

7. get a ranger handbook it will tell you more and can fit in your pocket

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