Rogers' Rules of Ranging (1757) | Hacker News Reader

Rogers' Rules of Ranging (1757)

wesclark.com

Interesting - they are expressed in such a way as they aren't tied down too much to the specific weapons available at a point in time. I wonder if they have been rephrased to be more universal.

I'd say the mention of "hatchets" certainly fits with Rogers' era rules, and the lack of reference to a specific firearm I suspect is due partially to the fact that American forces of Rogers' time often had an ensemble of firearms that were both personal as well as issued by an authority.

That and the fact that he was intentionally setting rules for tactical and operational behaviors that are necessarily abstract.

Yes, I thought about hatchets, but the words are in relatively modern language. Nothing about muskets, powder, preparing to shoot. There must have been a lot of military training and discipline about the multiple lines of soldiers not only having continuous lines of fire like this describes, but also taking the right amount of time to prepare (load musket, powder and paper (what do they call that?) and fire. Keeping your powder dry, etc.

It seems that the version linked here has been edited from the original (which makes sense, since the language doesn't sound very 18th-century).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rogers%27_28_%22Rules_o...

One of the more interesting facts about Rogers' Rangers is that they fought for the Crown in the American Revolution. It's a tad ironic that the we named our premier light infantry after them.

The submission differs from the U.S. Army Ranger School Handbook [1] (PDF - page 2). The Ranger school variant is more down to earth.

> The Rangers still use these rules today.

Sort-of. The rules are still used in the same sense that Algol-68 is still used. It's not, but all the lessons are incorporated to into modern programming languages. If you're intereseted, the tactical doctrine for the U.S. Army is freely available as "Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad" [2] (WARNING - large PDF). [3] (unofficial HTML version)

Here's the modern day interpretation for some of these rules:

> 2. In a small group, march in single file with enough space between so that one shot can't pass through one man and kill a second.

Everything is dependent on the mission variables, but you generally keep at least 5 meters in-between soldiers so a grenade can only kill 1 person and so it's harder for a machine gun to pin down multiple people.

> 4. Before reaching your destination, send one or two men forward to scout the area and avoid traps.

This is a leader's recon. Before conducting the attack, the leader will recon the objective to confirm that's it's actually the objective, verify enemy strength and scout out locations for machine guns and the main assault force. The leader's recon is on page 326 in [1].

> 13. When laying in ambuscade, wait for the enemy to get close enough that your fire will be doubly frightening, and after firing, the enemy can be rushed with hatchets.

This is a near-ambush. Ideally, you set this up as L-shaped ambush to achieve enfilading fires in the kill-zone. The "doubly-frightening" is initiating the ambush with a Claymore mine or an AT4 rocket. The "rushing with hatchets" is clearing the objective, taking prisoners and collecting intelligence. See page 7-10 in [1] for the step-by-step guide on how to conduct an ambush.

> 14. At a campsite, the sentries should be posted at a distance to protect the camp without revealing its location. Each sentry will consist of 6 men with two constantly awake at a time..

The minimum security at night is 33% and is bumped to 100% at dusk and dawn. The campsite would be a patrol base, usually arranged as a triangle with machine guns at the vertices.

> 16. Upon discovering a superior enemy in the morning, you should wait until dark to attack, thus hiding your lack of numbers and using the night to aid your retreat.

It is really difficult to fight at night, even with night-vision goggles. This is one of the primary advantages of first-world armies in a tactical setting.

> 19. Avoid using regular river fords as these are often watched by the enemy.

These are called linear danger areas and include roads, dirt paths and streams. See [4] for how to cross them.

[1]: http://www.milsci.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.mili.d... [2]: https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/ARN1384... [3]: http://www.infantrydrills.com/ [4]: http://www.infantrydrills.com/fm-3-21-8-chapter-3-section-v-...

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