This manual is packed with practical lessons, on-the-ground tricks, training drills and equipment suggestions for the solo tracker on up to a multiagency tracking operation. Learn from a 30-year veteran how to find and follow tracks through any terrain; assess the age of tracks; relocate the trail after it's gone missing; foil every effort to throw off your pursuit; coordinate a four-man team while tracking armed fugitives; set up and run large tracking operations, use the latest high-tech gear to find fugitives and more.
The first book on tracking in a combat situation that includes suggestions for integrating visual tracking operations into existing military doctrine in addition to the boots-on-the-ground detail necessary for soldiers who perform those operations How to visually track an armed individual or group in a combat situation for the purposes of gaining intelligence, locating the enemy, and/or killing them Packed with photographs and carefully crafted diagrams A functional, readable manual for soldiers, trackers, military organizations, affiliates, and enthusiasts around the world
Tactical tracking is not new and has been a recurring tactic that has been used in every major conflict and been most prevalent in most post World War II low-intensity conflicts and has again been rejuvenated in the American military for employment in the Global War on Terrorism. More specifically it is being used successfully in Afghanistan and Iraq to hunt down insurgents and collect valuable intelligence to penetrate, isolate and eliminate insurgent cells hiding in sanctuaries or amongst the population in plain sight. This book Scout-Tracker: Operational and Training Notes of a Special Forces Combat Tracker provides a complete primer to the skills and tactics for scouting and tracking in a counter-insurgent environment. This easy to understand and employ information has been gleamed from years of tracking training under the tutelage of some of the world's most renowned combat/tactical trackers and operational combat tracking experience from around the globe. The intent of the book is to give the warrior on today's asymmetrical battlefield one more "tool in the kit bag" to bring the fight to an elusive enemy and give the solder the necessary skill-set to enhance his overall survivability and combat capability.
Tactical Tracker Teams was written to help K-9 handlers and tactical units to prepare and execute a high risk manhunt safely and effectively. Based upon personal experience and years of teaching, Schettler offers realistic recommendations and practical guidelines to assist in the planning and preparation for a fugitive hunt. High risk trailing is a team operation—no matter if conducted by an assigned tactical tracking team or a hastily assembled patrol team. This book will benefit everyone involved with the tracking team, including handlers, cover officers, supervisors, operational commanders and support personnel.Tactical Tracker Teams is not a “this is my way, this is the only way” instructional book. Schettler admits making mistakes—some that could have cost him his life. However, those mistakes have made him a better trainer and the lessons learned are readily and openly shared in this book.
Tracking originated with man’s need for food; he needed to understand what he was following and what the rewards would be if he was successful. Little has changed over time about the terms of tracking. We still track game for sport and food, but we have also found other uses for tracking. Border police patrol to stop illegal immigrants from entering their country; the military tracks down wanted terrorists or enemy forces. Tracking has become a military skill. In the SAS Tracking Handbook, former SAS soldier and British Empire Medal (BEM) award–winner Barry Davies teaches not only how to survive in the outdoors with the skills of tracking, but how to use these skills from a military standpoint. Included in this book are many helpful tips on topics including: The types of dogs used for tracking. Traps for catching wild animals. Modern military tracking. Using your surroundings to your advantage. And much more. The success or failure of the modern tracker is dependent on the personal skills of the individual tracker. Training is vital in learning tracking skills, and continuous exercise the best way to interpret signs. These skills are rarely found, but they remain hidden deep within all of us. So whether you’re already a skilled tracker or a novice in the field, the SAS Tracking Handbook will be your guide to mastering this old and respected art.
Jeff Schettler's newest book "K9 Trailing: Tactical Tracking Teams" is about teamwork and it should be required reading for any K9 handler - regardless of experience - who tracks fugitives with a police dog in a rural environment or wilderness area because doing so is arguably the most dangerous job in law enforcement today and a tracking team must be prepared to safely face the challenges to be successful with the mission. A handler and police dog tracking alone or separated from a tactical support team during a high risk manhunt is a liability and no longer acceptable and "Tactical Tracking Teams" provides invaluable and practical recommendations and guidelines to minimize risk and prepare a team for a deployment. The emphasis on teamwork and the chapter on "proximity alerts" - along with the practical application realistic training recommendations - may literally save the lives of handlers or team members during searches. You may not be able to attend a training course on tactical tracking team operations with Jeff Schettler in the near future - but you can take advantage of his experience and lessons learned by reading "Tactical Tracking Teams" today. -Sergeant Bill Lewis II (Retired)
Before the industrial age, human beings routinely relied upon tracking skills for tens of thousands of years as a means to run down prey, avoid predators and determine whether other tribes were transiting their land. To see an indigenous tracker at work, one could almost swear that the uncanny skills were based in part on telepathy. Nothing could be further from the truth - trackers rely upon a suite of standard rules and techniques which can be learned by anyone and put to good use in the field. Although it will take years of practise and training for tracking abilities to develop to the extent they become almost unconscious, the basics skills of tracking and countertracking are worth learning for every soldier. It is therefore not surprising that the US Army Special Forces have been steadily reviving the nearly lost arts of tracking and countertracking for the past several years. From the preface page: "SF Soldiers routinely employ unconventional tactics and techniques while conducting operations unilaterally and with indigenous assistance. The conduct of SF differs from conventional operations in the degree of political risk, operational techniques, independence from friendly support, and dependence on detailed operational intelligence and indigenous assets. The success of SF operations within these parameters depends greatly on the team's ability to read “signs” for defensive purposes and its ability to use that same knowledge to minimize the signs it leaves when transitioning through hostile terrain.This training circular provides a doctrinal framework for Special Forces personnel involved in tracking and countertracking operations. Tracking, countertracking, and dog-tracker team operations are basic and fundamental to every SF operation whether offensive or defensive in nature. This TC describes and illustrates how to track, how to avoid being tracked, and the theory behind the use of dog-tracker teams. Appendixes A and B provide SF Soldiers with sample tracking logs for their use. This TC provides the basis for common SF tactical application primarily in a rural environment and it briefly discusses urban tracking using dog teams."Presented in Special Operations Press' distinctive OCP camouflage cover denoting a current publication, this manual is printed in easy-to-read 6 x 9, perfect-bound paperback format. Proudly printed in the USA.
A major responsibility of the leadership of any specialized police unit is the awareness of endlessly changing societal, legal, and managerial developments that affect operations. This third edition of The Management of Police Specialized Tactical Units represents a significant updating and expansion of each of the chapters from previous editions. In addition to explaining the steps for developing and maintaining a realistic and effective response to increasingly violent levels of crime, this edition discusses the social, political, and technological matters that must be continuously identified, defined, and resolved prior to the implementation of any substantive or procedural change in tactical policy and practice. Legal and operational guidelines are provided to help tactical leaders to develop their leadership abilities and tactical success, thereby enhancing the tactical unit’s ability to safeguard the public. The authors make extensive use of the latest court decisions to provide the legal bases for operations as well as recent case histories to illustrate the various aspects of organizational management. These case histories do much more than summarize the sequence of events. They also point out what was learned from the successes and failures alike. Of particular interest is the new material on how the range of activities assigned to tactical units has expanded dramatically since September 11, 2001 and how the law enforcement community has been forced to respond to its newest critics. Emphasis is placed on how decision-makers must not only be organizational managers and administrators but also on how they should possess a firm grasp of confrontation tactics and leadership principles.
In this book you will find a new approach to the teaching of man and animal tracking. Osuna's depth of knowledge on the subject ranges from boyhood experiences on the Pascua Yaqui Reservation in Tucson, AZ; a hunter; a U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper; Search and Rescue Tracker / Instructor; Law Enforcement Tactical Tracking Instructor; Military Combat Tracking Instructor. Living a trackers life spanning 20 plus years and four continents. This very quick read serves as an introduction to his method of Index Tracking, and only a very small snap shot of his signature work (Weaponize the Senses - 2023).
Tracking--Signs of Man, Signs of Hope is a complete guide to tracking and finding humans, alive and dead: lost children and adults, crime victims, escaped criminals.
