MCRP 12-10B.1, page 218

Section VII Advancing/Patrolling Along City Streets 31. Advancing/Patrolling Along City Streets. During MOUT operations, skills for advancing/ patrolling along city streets will be required. The platoon, squad, or fire team mission may be such that building-to-building clearing is neither required nor desired until contact with the enemy has been made. This section will discuss advancing/patrolling along urban streets. The standard tactics, techniques, and procedures for the conduct of a patrol, as outlined in MCWP 3-11.6 Scouting and Patrolling (draft), apply except as otherwise discussed within this section. a. Organization. The platoon’s three-squad organization or the squad’s three-fire team organization is already structured to conduct an advance/patrol down an urban street. The typical patrol is organized into assault, support, security, and command and control elements. Security is divided into front, flank, and rear security responsibilities. The platoon or squad can move down the street in a double or single column. b. Formation and Movement (1) Double Column. The double column is the preferred method for moving along an urban street (Figures A-68 and A-69). The double column provides 360 degrees of security and allows for mutual support and interlocking sectors of fire. The double column is flexible but can make control more difficult. There should be at least two squads or fire teams to conduct a double column. The two squads or fire teams move down the sides of the street using the walls of the buildings for cover and concealment. The point persons for the two columns should always stay abreast of each other and not move in front of or behind the opposite column. The Marines following in trace of the point persons stagger themselves accordingly. The platoon or squad leaders move where they can best control their units. If a squad is conducting the advance/patrol along the street, the trail fire team is never split. (a) Sectors of Responsibility. Every Marine moving in a column has a particular sector for whose security he/she is responsible. The point persons are responsible for security to the direct front and for pieing off windows and doorways. They are also responsible for staying in line with one another. The Marines immediately behind the point persons are designated as the cover persons. They are responsible for providing guidance to their respective point persons from the leader of the unit and for covering the 45-degree oblique angle across from one another. The second cover person is also responsible for covering the direct front when the point person is pieing and checking for the enemy. The third and fourth cover persons in the column are responsible for the far-side flank security; one covers the upper level and one covers the lower level building windows, doors, and stairwells. Marines will alternate providing security on upper level and lower level windows, doors, and stairwells. The fourth Marine also provides rear security if he/she is the last Marine in the column or interlocks his/her sector of fire with that of the lead Marine in the next fire team in the Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain A - 57