The T.O.C. - Tactical Operations Centers

if you have spent any time conducting operations in the real world or even just like binge watching Black Hawk Down you might have learned about a critical part of any military operation and that is the Tactical operations center or talk so what is a talk in short a tactical operations center is a focal point a physical location where all Communications intelligence weather and command functions are conducted for any operation talks can vary widely in construction and Mission type based on the level at which the talk is situated talks can also go by other names depending on the agency or military group that they are for for instance in the US Navy most talks are actually called mocks or Maritime operation centers in a joint environment with different service branches operating in the same battle space the term often used is the jock or joint operations center these are all pretty much the same thing but technically these are all ever so slightly different entities for instance Navy mocks are often more strategic in nature with much larger areas of responsibility this is just due to the nature of a land-based command structure being responsible for large chunks of the world's oceans rger areas of responsibility this is just due to the nature of a land-based command structure being responsible for large chunks of the world's oceans on the other hand some talks can be a small tent in a patrol base with only a couple of people Staffing them being responsible for a much smaller area of operations the concept of the talk is also present in civilian agencies as well fire departments Wildland fire Crews police departments even larger medical facilities all usually have some form of tactical operations center which functions just like their military counterparts albeit with obviously different missions there is even an entire incident command system a collection of civilian-based Doctrine to organize and command civilian incidents we'll talk more about that in the future but for today we're mostly going to speak of talks that cater more to military operations and speaking of operations what is a taka used for and why is it needed in most military structures the talk is the nervous center for operations in short it's the place to be if things are going down and operations are going on outside the wire if a person has any impact on the mission at hand but isn't actually place to be if things are going down and operations are going on outside the wire if a person has any impact on the mission at hand but isn't actually going out on the mission chances are they're going to be in The Talk The Talk is the focal point for everything that might be needed during that operation due to Hollywood we thankfully have a pretty good idea of what a talk is used for even if we might not know it however if we crack opens of warfare Publications we can clearly list the six basic functions of a talk which are to receive information distribute information analyze information make recommendations to the commander integrate resources and synchronize resources to meet all of these objectives ideally a talk should contain representatives from all of the staff functions of a military unit so running down the list we should see commanded Administration intelligence operations Supply medical and Communications and sometimes other departments depending on what kind of unit you're supporting however a lot of times we will see medical and Supply not have physical represent presentation in the talk due to the nature of their jobs medical personnel will mostly be stationed at th dical and Supply not have physical represent presentation in the talk due to the nature of their jobs medical personnel will mostly be stationed at their medical facility and Supply Personnel will be at their staging areas and storage facilities both of which will have a direct line of contact via radio or field telephone to the talk this also applies to the six shop guys or the communications or signals Personnel who you can usually do their job of maintaining it networks from their own offices separate from the talk as well at minimum in any talk at any level in any military you will have operations staff Manning the radios and tracking the good guys intelligence Personnel doing their thing tracking the bad guys and some kind of command element orchestrating and directing everyone remember there are large volumes of military doctrine that dictate exactly what the functions and responsibilities of the talk are spelled out in excruciating detail so if you want to learn more check out the military Doctrine on the subject a lot of senior Ops guys absolutely salivate at the chance to talk talk about battle Rhythm turnover briefings battle staff functions battle update briefs Commander r Ops guys absolutely salivate at the chance to talk talk about battle Rhythm turnover briefings battle staff functions battle update briefs Commander update briefs and endless other topics that most people have no interest in especially a civilian audience so here today we're not going to Deep dive into the world of operations we're only going to cover the highlights as well as the things that matter in the real world for most civilian operations centers so let's explore some of the roles a talk has during operations first up is Communications talks are the place where Communications are centralized so that the commander operations staff intelligence personnel and any other support staff can be kept up to speed regarding what's going on with an operation Communications are piped in from any relevant entity and available for use as needed in the days of old this might have looked like this a switchboard for various field telephones all routed through the unit's area of operations to each unit that needs to maintain a direct line back to the Commander in today's world however most military units simply place a radio watch in the talk with very various rtos or radio telephone operato to the Commander in today's world however most military units simply place a radio watch in the talk with very various rtos or radio telephone operators Manning the radios Around the Clock 24 7. even when no operation is being conducted remember the talk is functional even if everyone is back at the base for coordination reasons we'll talk about next radio watch in the talk is usually looked down upon as a necessary evil a task that no one really wants because it's usually boring but is desperately needed in the event of an emergency or during an operation you never want to have a situation in which someone is screaming on the radio for a Medevac and there's no one there to hear them other than radios talks are usually going to have the fees for any sensors that are available to a unit as well as some form of shared network in military circles this is going to be the place where your nippernet supernet jwix nsanet or whatever Networks you're using all come together to be used however they are needed for a talk set up and being run by a prepared citizenry this is probably going to mean an internet connection you know how we have been talking about second collection and listening pos a prepared citizenry this is probably going to mean an internet connection you know how we have been talking about second collection and listening posts and observation posts some radio stuff the talk is where all of that information is going in other words your talk is your information Hub a place for multiple sources of information to come in all via different Communications methods another main mission of the talk is coordination talks serve as the coordinating entity for anything a team might need while out on a mission somebody gets shot and needs a Medevac that nine line request gets radioed directly back to the talk who then sends it to the kazavac or Medevac entity on call for that area of operations you could have observation posts with adsb receivers tracking aircraft all throughout the area and these observation posts could be spread out far enough to where they're covering a much wider area than just the talk could alone this information could be shared from talk to talk all across the nation or even the world or the talk alone could have the adsb plane tracking setup sending messages to operators in the field letting them know a suspect aircraft is approaching this coo alone could have the adsb plane tracking setup sending messages to operators in the field letting them know a suspect aircraft is approaching this coordination is also very helpful if you have different people operating in your area and you need to coordinate travel or Logistics or lodging any of these things can be handled from a talk and a pinch if a dedicated Administrative Office doesn't exist this is why a radio watch is so important and why talks function 24 7 even when no operations are actually ongoing you never know when something outside of your area of responsibility will suddenly be inside your area of responsibility this will directly impact battle tracking one of the main missions of talk staff is to battle track what is going on throughout the area this can be as simple or as complex as needed in smaller talks battle tracking could be as simple as a map on the wall a common operating picture showing the area of operations with pins for the good guys and pins for the bad guys and as the good guys move around on their mission talk staff update their locations on the map this is quite literally how generals have commanded their staff as far back as recorded history itse sion talk staff update their locations on the map this is quite literally how generals have commanded their staff as far back as recorded history itself in more sophisticated role however we can see that this can be pretty easily automated the tax Suite of software and applications basically does this for you with every team member running ATAC and windtak being run in the talk from a computer with a projector we've got the ability to view the Battle space view where our team is located and if they find the bad guys and mark them we know where they are at too everyone in the talk being able to visualize this all at once on a common operational picture is very handy and is a standard of any Operation Center Battle tracking should also incorporate understanding what your Tactical neighbors are up to being able to understand what operations are being conducted in areas adjacent to you is also necessary remember the guys out on patrol or kicking indoors for you aren't going to give a flying flip with the team in the next grid Square are doing they are focused on their mission their City their street their house and their doorway but remember Warfare does not follow lines on a map it is oing they are focused on their mission their City their street their house and their doorway but remember Warfare does not follow lines on a map it is the operation staff in the talk that must care about out what goes on around the team and what is going on around their aor this is something that the US military in particular is horrible about doing the most common fracture side incidents have occurred because the unit was unaware of a different friendly unit operating in their area this stuff happens but it shouldn't happen if the guys in the talk are doing their job and maintaining relationships with everyone who might potentially operate in their area again this is a huge failing of the military in general inter-service rivalries or the inability or lack of desire to even walk across the compound and shake hands with a different unit has led to a lot of good Americans getting killed by their own people so this is one of those things that we can try to correct from the perspective of civilian life like running talks in our own neighborhoods Switching gears quite significantly we come to another major use for talks and that is weather usually talks are where the weather nerds work borhoods Switching gears quite significantly we come to another major use for talks and that is weather usually talks are where the weather nerds work for a very good reason as I myself have tried to drive home again and again weather is by far are the most deciding factor for military operations around the world weather is the most decided resource for a goat or no-go criteria for most military operations weather can ground a fleet of aircraft or it can stop an amphibious Landing the size of Operation Overlord weather can render billions of dollars of worth of sensors useless and whether it can prevent medevacs from being possible this is why weather usually gets a seat right up front in the talk because when it comes time to conduct an operational briefing the weather guy always goes first this is because if the weather is bad and the mission is a no-go nobody wastes their time going to a brief that's not needed next up is intelligence intelligence Personnel may spend a lot of their time scrolled away in Skiffs but when it comes to actually conducting operations in the real world you will find an Intel guy in every talk at all levels in a phrase echoed by Intel dudes as a way of actually conducting operations in the real world you will find an Intel guy in every talk at all levels in a phrase echoed by Intel dudes as a way of remaining relevant intelligence drives operations or at least that's what's supposed to happen towards the end of the G watt era and certainly a major factor in today's military forces is often the other way around some general or Commander wants to make their mark on the battle space with their ego and the Intel guys have to scramble to retroactively find reasons to raid a particular Target or conduct a particular strike we have all seen what happens when revenge or an operation needs to drive the intelligence it's not pretty but in a more civilian role intelligence can do what it needs to do and have a lot more Breathing Room in a civilian talk intelligence reveals that bad guys are staging at location X well that's where the operation is going to go we get some Signet that indicates an adversaries setting up checkpoints in our area the operations staff can use their personnel equipment and platforms to get the Intel guys the information they need we don't need to pick a spot and figure out a reason to go there we can actually decid t and platforms to get the Intel guys the information they need we don't need to pick a spot and figure out a reason to go there we can actually decide what we want to do based on the intelligence that we have in a civilian talk the adversarial relationship between operations and Intel doesn't need to exist especially if the talk is not under direction from higher for intelligence person now that talk is where most work gets done remember if the goal is for intelligence to drive operations intelligence staff need to have a pretty large role in every talk as an operation goes on Intel staff are right there to help guide the operation in many cases this is not necessary once Intel prepares the Target and operations staff figure out how to make it happen it's out of Intel's hands and the S2 shop can sit back and watch however in highly Dynamic operations where the mission is expected to change as it happens intelligence needs to have a more active role but again in real life this rarely works out this way in most military organizations so we've examined the roles and responsibilities of the talk now let's take a look at some of the equipment and features that make all of this possible o we've examined the roles and responsibilities of the talk now let's take a look at some of the equipment and features that make all of this possible first up you need a map a rather large one too or a computer with a projector that can be used to display your common operating picture this is basically just a map of your area with various information that you might need to know if you've got Personnel outside the wire that that information is going to go there if you detect surveillance sensors in your area or if you know enemy forces are massing in some location that location will go on the map as well it's just a shared map that everyone can dump their data on as needed a separate large map of the entire theater is also helpful for people operating in your area that might not be familiar with the geography so if you've got some dudes coming down to your area to work with you for a bit you can take them into the talk and show them the area of operations key landmarks stuff like that maybe even various Glenda telfa if that's something you implement in your operations up next radios and Communications of course one of the most important aspects of any talk is Communications talks a g you implement in your operations up next radios and Communications of course one of the most important aspects of any talk is Communications talks are great Communications nodes due to the variety of communications methods housed within for instance the radio operator could get in a message from an adjacent District via HF radio and the operator can pass that communication to the rest of the talk as well as anyone who might need it out in the field via a different radio this is probably best illustrated by our video on warlord radio so go check that out if you're interested in learning about the communications needs of a headquarters set up in the backcountry anyway the communications Factor alone will turn any talk into a beehive of activity with everyone scurrying around contributing their part to the mission though this is something to be mindful of most people refer to talks as artillery magnets for good reason the nature of the talk with all of its communication signals whizzing through the air mean that talks are juicy targets for an adversary and are also very easy to find most of the time from the perspective of the US military who has gotten used to counter Insurgency in for an adversary and are also very easy to find most of the time from the perspective of the US military who has gotten used to counter Insurgency in the Middle East keeping your talk from being leveled instantly in a war zone is a skill that certainly needs to be worked on a bit more this is why the bane of everyone's existence at NTC is when unit leadership says all right we're jumping to a new location but again from a prepared citizen perspective there are some things we can do to be a bit more secure than even the average military unit up next is support staff depending on the unit and the mission set this can vary widely if the unit is an air Cav unit the support staff might include senior maintenance staff or representatives from a recovery team in case an aircraft fails or crashes on an objective for infantry units you might have a couple of targeting guys working with the Intel guys to produce targets or you might have Logistics Personnel taking a larger role for units stationed in more remote areas where Logistics is the most hindering factor for operations in any case you're going to find support staff taking a seat in pretty much every talk depending on what the missio st hindering factor for operations in any case you're going to find support staff taking a seat in pretty much every talk depending on what the mission is up next is leadership leadership is an important part of a functioning efficient talk in the professional talk there is always one operations officer that is in charge of talk operations serving as the talks representative to outside units higher leadership and anything else that might be needed in military organizations this person is usually referred to as the battle Captain not necessarily due to pay grade but due to organizational Authority the battle Captain usually has a battle NCO who usually handles some of the more routine operations and helps things move smoothly the battle NCO is also responsibility for maintaining order in the talk which is important a lot of times if a high profile operation is going down a lot of Spectators will show up to watch and crowd the talk or make it hard to hear the radio stuff like that so it's the battle nco's responsibility to keep things running smoothly so the talk Personnel can do their job efficiently this really isn't an issue for smaller organizations but maintaining an efficient p unning smoothly so the talk Personnel can do their job efficiently this really isn't an issue for smaller organizations but maintaining an efficient professional talk is something that everyone can benefit from no matter how small your organization is remember the tiniest bit of professionalism goes a very long way so if you have outside groups or people visiting your talk for joint operations you want everyone who visits to walk away thinking man they've got a slick operation here I wouldn't mind working with them again another major need is power a lot of electrical power generation capability is needed to power the wealth of electronics that are necessary for operations to be efficient technically you could build a talk the old school way with large printed paper maps and sheets of acetate to create overlays in our modern world we also have products like the Battle Board and even our homemade map cases that can make it easier to display a picture of the operational area without using computers or a projector however at minimum you are going to need power for the radios and for lighting and since the talk is a nerve center for any operation chances are you will rapidly find out t are going to need power for the radios and for lighting and since the talk is a nerve center for any operation chances are you will rapidly find out that you never have enough power for your needs most of the time in military organizations these power needs are met with generators and that's that that can work for more civilian approach but for most people their power needs in the back country or even in just an urban area they're going to be met with solar panels and batteries and trust me as soon as those panels come out and the batteries are charging everyone and their cousin will show up saying hey man have you got somewhere to charge my phone or radio or batteries for night vision devices or GPS devices or headlamps the list is endless since talks are usually the central point in any encampment it's quite common for groups of people to contribute their solar panels to pitch to talk so if you've got 10 guys rucking into the Backwoods each of them carrying a solar panel and one guy carrying the battery everyone can daisy chain their panels together to power the talk though if this route is taken it's only fair to provide a charging station for everyone's devices so dedicating a r panels together to power the talk though if this route is taken it's only fair to provide a charging station for everyone's devices so dedicating a small corner to a USB hub and a battery charger or two would be a very welcome addition to any talk up next are quality of life items seeing as the talk will be where various Personnel spend most of their time various quality of life items are handy to make the workspace more comfortable all of the pogi stuff like coffee pots snacks powdered drink mixes and other quick to eat food items frequently find their way into the talk one way or another in larger talks microwaves and refrigerators are also frequently found along with various canteen items like energy drinks snacks and other stuff being sold on an honor System now I must step back for a moment and comment on talk culture this is the exact kind of thing that brings about a lot of animosity for talk Personnel for understandable reasons in military organizations the Pogue stuff can get out of hand really quickly and the talk can become a cush office rather than a hardcore death dispensing watch floor imagine if you're a grunt who has spent the better part of a week sleeping in a h me a cush office rather than a hardcore death dispensing watch floor imagine if you're a grunt who has spent the better part of a week sleeping in a hole eating MREs for months prior and you stop by the talk for a minute to find people sipping caramel macchiatos and microwaving food from cute care packages and wrapping themselves in sweaters because that air conditioning is just a little chilly understandably this is going to result in a lot of animosity being generated the number one cause of conflict between Grunts and talk Personnel is a lifestyle either real or perceived on the other hand people who do not work in talks often do not understand the talk Personnel often work really really long hours with 12 to 16 hour shifts being the standard guys out on the field see the talk as a nice comfortable office and that's quite true what they don't see is the strung out Personnel who've been working 16-hour days for weeks just to plan and execute that three hour mission they just went on living this lifestyle for years will break a person so as with anything there's give and take on both sides of the wire having a coffee pot in the corner or a box with some MRE snacks in it is perfect n so as with anything there's give and take on both sides of the wire having a coffee pot in the corner or a box with some MRE snacks in it is perfectly fine but it is also the responsibility of talk Personnel to make sure that their work center remains a work center not their living room like at home so if you don't want to be made fun of keep the Pogue stuff to a minimum likewise it's the responsibility of the hitters that don't work in the talk to realize that just because a person works in the talk doesn't mean they don't work no dude with a rifle and cool pants will ever do their job without the dudes in the talk so an environment of mutual respect is required and having a lot of poke stuff cluttering up your work center erodes this respect so we can see how cultural social and personal issues can have a real impact on operations it might seem a bit trivial to talk about this stuff but it's real and these morale and social issues have impacted real world operations more than you could possibly know so it's worth getting this stuff out in the open now so that everyone is aware of how a simple microwave can cause a fist fight now all of that being said I myself usually maintain f out in the open now so that everyone is aware of how a simple microwave can cause a fist fight now all of that being said I myself usually maintain a secret stash of snacks candy coffee cups Cutlery baby wipes and so on all of this being purely for bribery purposes I guess this points more to my own career and experiences as an Intel guy than anything else but I myself have many times had to debrief Personnel in the talk rather than a dedicated briefing area most of the time people avoid the talk like the plague either for pogy reasons or because leadership is usually there so a lot of times your debrief is here's what we've got here are a couple of notes I'm out and then somebody like me has got to take the time to track down people all over the compound because I have questions about something so a piping hot pot of fresh ground coffee passed around by the team is a great way to entice Personnel to settle down and give me the information that I need from their mission also important to consider and similarly along these lines is the stuff that no one remembers or even wants to remember and that is housekeeping items at the risk of echoing every sergeant major ever a clean Talk he stuff that no one remembers or even wants to remember and that is housekeeping items at the risk of echoing every sergeant major ever a clean Talk is a happy talk sort of no amount of bleach and scrubbing will make anyone proficient at their job but cleanliness is still very very important if you have a coffee pot in your talk as is pretty much mandatory you will have spills you will have people just being generally messy if you don't have air conditioning with all of those server stacks and laptops running it's gonna get hot and the smell of feet and despair will fill the air if you let it if you are running a talk out of a tent in the middle of nowhere people are going to track in mud and dirt like crazy and since talks are high traffic areas a lot of dirty crusty dudes moving through it will make a great breeding ground for Filth and sickness you are going to catch the crud if you don't keep yourself clean again from a civilian perspective we living a civilian life don't have the luxuries of a military unit training for a week or two in the field a military unit who has 100 focused on their mission can be filthy for a week a month or even a year in the field if need be but we r two in the field a military unit who has 100 focused on their mission can be filthy for a week a month or even a year in the field if need be but we citizens who will probably be running a talk part-time over a period of potentially many consecutive years while having a full-time job and a family life being filthy and catching a field flu every couple of weeks is not responsible so at minimum you will need some basic cleaning supplies enough to keep your work center tidy some antibacterial spray and some wipes go a long way and are great for sanitizing desks computers radios light switches you name it an air freshener also goes a long way to keep the stank at Bay and are always a welcome addition to any talk recognizing the role a talk has as you aren't really going to be able to keep the floor clean if you are operating in a remote location so having things set up off the floor is going to be necessary not only for ease of use but to also make sure that your radios and computers don't get covered in mud in any case we really do have to accept that a talk especially in a remote location is not going to be spotless however we should really be looking to keep things as neat and rel e to accept that a talk especially in a remote location is not going to be spotless however we should really be looking to keep things as neat and relatively free of crud as much as possible something also helpful to have is a private area in a military sense privacy takes a back seat to literally everything but if you find yourself in a leadership position a private area to discuss things will be a godsend a dedicated briefing area adjacent to but not inside the talk would be very helpful for getting salute reports or debriefing team members or just generally dumping information after getting back to base having this area located away from the talk keeps the distractions at Bay for the guys and gals that are working in the talk a separate debriefing area might also be hand Andy for more delicate needs such as the need to debrief a team without worrying about the consequences of what anyone might say this is especially necessary for intelligence Personnel who need the truth and not the story dictated by the boss these examples which are totally not specific to my own experiences really illustrate the situations in which a more private area near the talk but also out of earshot migh re totally not specific to my own experiences really illustrate the situations in which a more private area near the talk but also out of earshot might be handy to have if your team is big enough a private area off to the side of the main operations center might be handy for compartmentalizing information too information that is relevant to a unit but also might be something that not everyone needs to know has to be stored somewhere it is highly unlikely that a civilian team will need a skiff or a special access program area but who knows compartmentalization of information is arguably even more important for the prepared citizen so I just wanted to throw that out there and mention that a small tent or even just a curtain you can pull around a computer in the corner of a talk could be helpful for keeping eyes only information where it needs to be other stuff you might need are random support stuff mostly what I mean is stuff you need right freaking now and you cannot wait to retrieve from Supply or from a cache or whatever things like water batteries a set or two of binoculars office supplies like pens paper markers Maps other little Expendable stuff that you often need very quickl water batteries a set or two of binoculars office supplies like pens paper markers Maps other little Expendable stuff that you often need very quickly minor repair items like duct tape or zip ties or paracord will be very handy to have as well at some point somebody's going to come into the talk asking hey man you got something to fix this with right quick be very careful though you do not want to turn your talk into a storage area granted for a more civilian setup that's exactly what ends up happening and that's perfectly okay but you want to do what you can to provide a dedicated quick access Supply area that's not right up front in everybody's way and not distracting when people access it and finally a clearing barrel and or a weapons rack for larger talks and a more tactical environment having a dedicated weapon storage Rag and or a clearing Barrel will make everything easier and probably safer as well you don't want a rifle to slip off of a desk and negligently discharge or more likely you don't want some sharp part of a rifle to scratch your computer screen when somebody squeezes past you since talks are not supposed to be on the front lines all of the talk staff having thei o scratch your computer screen when somebody squeezes past you since talks are not supposed to be on the front lines all of the talk staff having their rifles in Iraq is usually perfectly fine makes it very convenient to walk around what is essentially a tactical office without getting caught up on stuff now that we know what a talk is what work gets carried out there what personnel usually work in one and the equipment that is needed to make all of this happen let's go over some things to think about from a civilian perspective as with most military Doctrine the idea of the talk isn't perfectly compatible with a prepared citizenry as usual when we try to cut and paste military Doctrine into a more citizen-based organization we find that things don't always fit perfectly and when that is the case we have a lot of of groundbreaking to do the military concept of the talk goes back to the origin of warfare itself but in today's unique situation both here in the U.S and around the world we are really on our own we simply have to develop a lot of this Doctrine ourselves so when it comes to the things you need for a civilian talk we here are learning along with all of you as well but all lot of this Doctrine ourselves so when it comes to the things you need for a civilian talk we here are learning along with all of you as well but all of that being said here are some things to think about if you want to set up one for yourself the first consideration is whether or not you even need a talk in the first place operations centers are usually pretty big by comparison just by the number of personnel alone even at the smallest level we're talking anywhere from 5 to 15 or so people working in the talk at any given time and these people are usually in the talk to track operations that again involve a dozen or so other people at a very minimum but talks can potentially involve hundreds of people managing very large operations in other words this talk staff alone is probably going to involve more people than most prepared citizens herbs even have so in that case is the idea a swing and a miss for the civilian sector is it even worth it to introduce the idea as something that might be useful for a prepared citizen I think the answer is yes the talk while mostly a military thing that involves a lot of people can easily be flexed to be a helpful addition to any operation whethe swer is yes the talk while mostly a military thing that involves a lot of people can easily be flexed to be a helpful addition to any operation whether or not you realize it for most neighborhood groups or even just a couple of friends neighbors or family members getting together they aren't going to need a full-blown talk at most you might need one location to operate out of and you might not even call it a talk you might set up a base camp with a tent specifically dedicated to holding your larger radios your HF radios your heavier laptop if you need one and stuff like that that could be your talk you could merge the functions of a talk into an observation post or a listening post any fixed position that serves as your kind of base camp but rest assured we will be talking about smaller operation centers and and even one-man operation centers in a separate dedicated video so if you have established that you need some of the functions of a tactical Operation Center there are some things to think about first up is dispersion remember the nature of running all of your Communications from a fixed site makes for a fat Target for any adversary the military solution to this is many fold b e nature of running all of your Communications from a fixed site makes for a fat Target for any adversary the military solution to this is many fold but the major way of ensuring a survivable talk is constant movement constantly moving the talk to new locations ensures that by the time an adversary figures out where you have moved to you've already moved somewhere else granted with all of the things we have learned in just the past couple of years regarding how Modern Warfare has changed we really do have to wonder if the concept of centralized operations centers is survivable at all in today's world either way that's for people with a lot more military industrial funding to figure out all I know is that for our civilian talks decentralization along with const movement might be a bit more effective if you can swing it for instance pushing out some of the capabilities of a talk to outposts or multiple sites might be helpful or rather not really helpful per se after all the point of talks is to have everything in one centralized place but rather giving up some of the centralization might be preferred for survivability reasons up next is security security is a huge concern especially ut rather giving up some of the centralization might be preferred for survivability reasons up next is security security is a huge concern especially for any situation in which a more prepared citizen audience might need to centralize their Communications in a talk security is often directly at odds with dispersion the more dispersed your base camp or patrol base is the harder it is to secure and the more people it requires to provide security for that site however security is relative if your threats are mostly ground-based then absolutely you can use the standard patrol base setup that we all know too well that is statistically the best way to provide 360 degree Security in the most types of terrain with the few people but what if our threats are mostly from aircraft or from persistent surveillance devices well in that case everyone dispersing their positions more than as comfortable might be a better option this is especially true in locations where either you completely control the ground or it's so remote that adversaries are many many miles away but you do not control the airspace over you this Rings true from Vietnam and Afghanistan to Appalachia and Alaska security is such y many miles away but you do not control the airspace over you this Rings true from Vietnam and Afghanistan to Appalachia and Alaska security is such a large topic that a lot of other more experienced people have already covered in great depth we can talk more about this in the future but for right now security is very strongly linked with concealment concealment is a massive concern even more so for a prepared citizen since we do not have a battalion's worth of troops or air cover or artillery to back us up in most cases we're going to have to rely on concealment and camouflage a lot more seriously than anyone else camouflage and concealment is some something that is gaining a lot more traction in the Tactical civilian Community which is absolutely awesome we need to encourage this as much as humanly possible because the average American citizen even right now is living in the most high-tech sensor dense surveillance state that Humanity has ever conceived this is nothing to shake a stick at this is quite serious 99 of this surveillance we will not be aware of until it's too late for me personally my role is in the information space I do not shoot people or kick indoors for a livin ce we will not be aware of until it's too late for me personally my role is in the information space I do not shoot people or kick indoors for a living and even if it was my job in a fifth generation War I think a lot of people will spend a lot less time shooting than they think either way I myself dedicate a significant portion of my equipment to concealment gear both for flexing to be concealed in various environments and also for scaling camouflage as needed as we move the camouflage you use when moving through a swamp is going to be different than an open Forest camouflage for a static position is going to be very different than what a person would use on the Move we have talked a lot about camouflage and concealment already and will continue to do so in the future the bottom line is that camouflage is a lot more important than people think even for professional forces so what might all of this look like in the real world well before we take a look at a couple of Civilian setups let's recap what a typical military talk might look like so here's what the structure might look like it's just this large room a conference room if you will that can house the various desks and chairs like so here's what the structure might look like it's just this large room a conference room if you will that can house the various desks and chairs to everybody to work in an office setting right up front we've got a projector screen and some large maps on the back wall that everyone is facing so that everyone is on the same page when it comes to the common operational picture right up front next to the screens are areas for briefing Personnel to stand so that when you're conducting turnover briefs or Commander's update briefs or whatever kind of briefing needs to go on in the talk you can conduct that from the front up there so everyone can see you and it's a little bit easier to point at things on the map as we look down from the top we can see chairs for a seating area for any Personnel that might not work in the talk but still need to get briefing and still need to get some information right so if you're having a brief once a day or once every shift change these people can come into the talk have a you know 10 15 minute brief then get out having a nice little seating area down in front or in front of the desks where nobody's really kind of you know working or walking is a goo en get out having a nice little seating area down in front or in front of the desks where nobody's really kind of you know working or walking is a good area also the area keeping the area up front the little briefing area where you can stand and stuff like that that's a nice little area to walk back and forth across the front of the talk so that you're not walking in between everybody's desks and kind of being you know in the way of things like that as far as the physical layout of the desks of talk Personnel right up front you're going to have your rtos usually your comms guys running your radios now these guys can be situated wherever the radios are at but usually they're going to be up front this is so that the battle Captain the central person who's kind of running this you know organization who sits in the middle of the talk or even kind of the middle back portion of the talk they can see their radio personnel and they can talk to the radio guy as needed same thing with the weather guy the weather guy is going to be up front so that they can well more easily get to the briefing string to talk about weather maps and charts and data and things and also because they're the one wh hat they can well more easily get to the briefing string to talk about weather maps and charts and data and things and also because they're the one who is going to be hounded the most by Personnel outside of the talk that's why the weather guy's right up front because they're going to be hit up by the commander any kind of operational staff anybody outside the talk they're going to be coming in that talk at the top right door if we're keeping this kind of layout they're going to be coming in that door and worrying the weather guy of asking them you know when's the next update brief why is the weather looking for the operation tonight stuff like that you don't want your weather guy to be situated in an area that's hard to get to you want them in kind of a high traffic area because the traffic's going to come to them one way or another just like the weather Personnel your intelligence Personnel or your targeting guys are going to be very busy as well so they're going to be located in a decently Central spot of next to the battle Captain for sure and usually located right next to the weather guy this is mostly because again like I mentioned in most update briefs weather always goes fi for sure and usually located right next to the weather guy this is mostly because again like I mentioned in most update briefs weather always goes first Then followed up by Intel that way you can say all right cool if the weather's bad the weather guy can get up in front of everyone get up and brief and say all right the weather's bad nobody's going anywhere tonight all right cool then everybody uh everybody's time isn't wasted likewise if the weather guy gets up there and says hey the weather's cool we're good to go for it tonight then the then the Intel guy gets up there and says oh well the target's not there tonight or this operation is going to be kind of a waste of time because there's you know nobody there or the target shifted or we've missed our window or whatever once the Intel gets up there and confirms whether or not the mission is kind of a go or a no-go we can move from there A lot of times military units on the on the military side of the house are not going to have dedicated weather guys they're going to have your Intel component handling the weather and this is usually a very bad thing because Intel guys are not weathermen and it takes a lot of skill believe it or el component handling the weather and this is usually a very bad thing because Intel guys are not weathermen and it takes a lot of skill believe it or not to actually be really uh good weather Personnel weather is one of those really highly underrated jobs throughout the entire military and it is absolutely crucial and is very hard to get right you might not ever know it if you've got a good weather guy because the things just happen and you don't ever you don't ever notice and you kind of take it for granted but you will absolutely notice if you have a bad weather guy so just something to keep in mind so those are kind of like the central talk Personnel your radio guys up front your weather guys up front your Intel kind of off to the side there and your battle Captain kind of tracking it all now all the other support staff to kind of make it happen can vary based on the mission so for instance off to the left on this on this particular layout off to the left of the battle Captain is the battle NCO and various operational staff that might be needed for whatever Mission it is usually a person from the Ops department is going to be you know your battle NCO kind of an NCO bill it's us ight be needed for whatever Mission it is usually a person from the Ops department is going to be you know your battle NCO kind of an NCO bill it's usually what it is uh and you can also have a spot for operations staff that might be needed for whatever operation it is so if there's a key planner or somebody like that who's planning an operation and uh that that you know there is their baby right they're the ones who have planned it for the most part and it comes time to conduct that operation they might have them so ourselves a temporary desk out on the top floor to actually watch and you know make sure their operation goes as they had planned it kind of in the back side of things kind of behind the battle captain and more of a supporting role you might also have legal representation to make sure that if you're conducting any strikes that the strikes are legal uh and that everything's you know copacetic on that on that angle you might also have medical personnel kind of you know sitting alongside legal uh not necessarily because they're related but because you know medical personnel you know might need to be in the talk as well depending on how big this whole thing is right this i 're related but because you know medical personnel you know might need to be in the talk as well depending on how big this whole thing is right this is a very large talk so chances are there's going to be a medical representative on The Talk floor who can either serve as messenger or ensure that medical interests are being met if something's going on in the talk you know the weather guy says something or Intel says something or you know Intel guys are predicting hey there's like an ambush getting ready to go down in 15 minutes that's something that medical needs to know and if the medical guys are you know squirreled away at their clinic or at their casualty collection point they're not going to know that because they're not in the talk right so keeping a medical staff person in the talk is a way of keeping their foot in the door and kind of their you know ear to the ground with regards to what's going on with operations you don't see this all the time but it's usually a pretty common thing that's done in most military talks and then of course some of the more transient Personnel that you might see are various support staff various Liaisons of different service branches if you've g of course some of the more transient Personnel that you might see are various support staff various Liaisons of different service branches if you've got some kind of joint operation going on and this technically becomes a jock you know you're going to have to have desks or places for them again keep in mind this is for military organizations you're going to have a lot of different kinds of units being you know working together in a lot of the a lot of cases also additional Personnel that might not have a specific like place to sit on the top floor or they might not have a desk in the talk but are nonetheless going to be in and out of the doors all the time or or heavily spending a lot of their time in the talk our various Personnel off to the side there so your fires Personnel your targeting guys your your um whatever kinds of weapon are being used those kinds of personnel are going to need to have a foot in the talk a lot of times because it's going to be you know your military unit right that's kind of your job other Personnel are operations and plans uh usually they're separate departments but in a lot of times you'll see you know Ops and plans kind of get combined to share a wo perations and plans uh usually they're separate departments but in a lot of times you'll see you know Ops and plans kind of get combined to share a workspace in any case you're going to have a lot of operational Personnel a lot of op staff usually having their own staff room outside the talk but usually really quite close to the dock up next is the command Suite now the command Suite is usually just the office building for the senior staff senior operations staff your unit Commander your executive officers your senior enlisted uh Personnel even senior civilian Personnel if that's the kind of you know agency you're working with the high ranking Personnel are going to have offices separate from the talk for whatever reason either command privilege or just due to the nature of their job they're not going to have a specific office in the talk however the commander of the unit is going going to be in the talk constantly along with senior operations staff you know it's it's the central area for a unit usually the command Suite usually incorporates the Commander's living quarters along with the senior staff living quarters and their you know aides as needed and while we're talking about b porates the Commander's living quarters along with the senior staff living quarters and their you know aides as needed and while we're talking about building you're going to also have to have billing for the talk staff remember you cannot stand watch 24 hours a day no matter how much you know we may want to or how others may want us to so you're going to have to have shift work being done right usually two shifts or three shifts depending on what kind of situation it's in if this is more of a high speed unit kind of thing you're probably going to see more 12-hour shifts being done is the norm you know one guy working for 12 hours then they switch that's kind of the way things work for for the most part but in any case the people who work in the talk are going to need to live and spend their time pretty close to the talk usually if you're in a military unit and you're conducting a lot of your operations at night time or some of the more kinetic operations are being done at night your more experienced staff are going to be working at night and you're more administrative you're more um maybe maybe more inexperienced Personnel are going to be working during the daytime when you know th ght and you're more administrative you're more um maybe maybe more inexperienced Personnel are going to be working during the daytime when you know the risks are kind of minimal either way you're going to have on any shift be it the radio operators or the Intel guys the weather guys you're going to have a most experienced person on any of these teams and you're going to have to know where that person sleeps in the event that you have to wake them up so something happens you get attacked there's some kind of Base security thing or some kind of raid going down and you don't know what's going on those staff are going to wake up and go to the talk uh to to make sure that that's you know kind of like their Battle Stations right for lack of a better term so having everyone's tent kind of set up next to the talk you know of course dispersed for security reasons but uh still quite close to the talk would probably be a good idea also located near the top would be maintenance Personnel you're going to have a lot of Maintenance Bays they're they're going to be where the maintainers are going to be where the vehicles are at be it helicopters be it fixed-wing aircraft or just ground Vehicles yo 're going to be where the maintainers are going to be where the vehicles are at be it helicopters be it fixed-wing aircraft or just ground Vehicles you're going to have your maintainers and your maintenance Personnel where those vehicles are located but they still need to know what's going on in the talk so you might have maintenance Personnel either have a direct line or even sometimes in some cases they might actually have a seat on the top floor just in case something's going on this happens kind of a lot because with military vehicles especially they break down kind of a lot and they break down usually in the worst possible at the worst possible times so if there's a high profile Mission going on and you want to make sure that your vehicles have you have a plan you've got a jump plan to move to a different aircraft if this aircraft is broken you've got a another plan uh just in case this this vehicle hits an IED who's going to replace them this kind of thing this gets really really in-depth depending on what military unit you're you're talking about right but we can again break this down a little bit more simply in a separate video similarly to maintenance is medical like I men ou're talking about right but we can again break this down a little bit more simply in a separate video similarly to maintenance is medical like I mentioned medical is going to have their own specific facility they're going to have their own either casualty collection point or a roll three or a roll one or whatever level of of Medical Care Facility is at this location they're going to have their own little spot right so they're not going to be clitoring up the talk with their stuff they're not going to be bothered they're going to have you know their casualties being collected and you know treated in a field hospital or some kind of medical facility however again they're still going to need to know what's going on in the talk thus them having a specific person on the top floor to understand what's going on uh as it happens and then also Supply and Logistics is going to have another foot in the talk as well sometimes with a physical spot on the top floor but most of the time not most of the time the supply and Logistics guys are going to have their separate facility their storage Depots and their little cash sites away from the talk uh you know just because if that's you need space to have their separate facility their storage Depots and their little cash sites away from the talk uh you know just because if that's you need space for Logistics right but if there is again some kind of operation going on that's you know more than just you know a single night if it's a long time if you're going to anticipate resupplies or stuff like that then Logistics Personnel need to know if there's some kind of emergency and they need to be on the hook to start dropping emergency supplies somewhere then Logistics and Supply guys are going to have to have a physical spot on the in the talk to understand what's actually going on now all of this is fine and dandy right we understand what a military talk looks like what you know how the desks are laid out how the chairs are laid out the things on the walls all of this is crucial to understand and it's kind of fascinating if you're in the world if you have you know a career in a talk right it's kind of interesting to see how different entities units and organizations set up their facilities to run operations but what would a civilian talks layout look like here's an example of that obviously a civilian talk if you're talking about ilities to run operations but what would a civilian talks layout look like here's an example of that obviously a civilian talk if you're talking about just a prepared Community right basically a super prepared Community Watch facility right this is what a talk might look like you're are very obviously not going to have as much space or as many personnel as before you might just have one map in the front and a small little space for a couple of chairs for additional Personnel you're at minimum of course going to have your RTO your radio guys your battle captain and your Intel slash weather like I mentioned with the professional attacks you might not even have a dedicated weather guy it might just be one Intel guy who's doing the best he can right so keep that in mind is that this talk in and of itself can actually be literally three people one radio guy one battle captain and one Intel guy and that can be in a just a three-person talk would it be an efficient talk well I guess you'd have to decide that based on the size of operation they're managing if you're talking about getting a three-person talk to run a several hundred person operation then no you're gonna have to set your exp ey're managing if you're talking about getting a three-person talk to run a several hundred person operation then no you're gonna have to set your expectations right however it can be done you can set up very small talks with other supporting Personnel located adjacent to you and just like with a small civilian and talk there are outside entities that you will need to have plans for and the first one is operations and plans usually your planners your operational staff they're not going it's maybe just one or two guys right and they're not going to be located in the talk they're going to be scrolled away either at their how at their home or in a tent somewhere else they're not going to be in the physical talk right they're going to do their job to you know plan operations and things like that and then they're just not going to be part of the Talk itself same thing with maintenance Medical Supply Logistics the same thing applies uh for a civilian talk is that you're going to need to have space for these people outside the talk and understand that they may you know come into the talk they may set up their shop there you might have all of these people have their offices in one room in stand that they may you know come into the talk they may set up their shop there you might have all of these people have their offices in one room in somebody's house and that might be your talk right with a civilian talk you're going to be a lot more flexible and a lot more incorporate a lot more roles that you might not include with a military talk and some of those additional roles come into play when we look at building thing so billeting or basically just a place to sleep you're going to have to have a place like that for talk Personnel either it's a tent or a place for them to pitch their own tent outside the building you know whatever the case is you're going to have to have a place a physical geolocated site next to the talk for talk staff to sleep when they're not on duty right likewise you're also going to have to have building for transient Personnel people who might be coming through your area of operations you know either Logistics Personnel that are moving supplies from one end of the state to another you're going to have to have some kind of building or you know some kind of safe house for these Personnel because chances are your talk your is going to become your hea e to have some kind of building or you know some kind of safe house for these Personnel because chances are your talk your is going to become your headquarters all of these terms are going to start to blend together right your your command post your headquarters your talk it's all probably going to be in the same room to be honest likewise we're also going to have to remember that we're talking about the civilian side side of things if we're going to be operating a talk or having some kind of Operation Center right we're going to have to have spots in a lot of cases for families and for rest and Recreation let us not forget that none of this occurs in a vacuum right we are not in many cases none of us here in the United States are going to be deployed overseas like leaving our families behind for a temporary period of time until we can return that's not how this is working out even right now you might need an operations center to be set up in a residential home you might need to have you know a spot a room for the kids to sleep but you know a place for um you know their caretakers to sleep and it's kind of in the same spot as the talk something to keep in mind is that we're not goi u know a place for um you know their caretakers to sleep and it's kind of in the same spot as the talk something to keep in mind is that we're not going to be deploying away from our families for a lot of this stuff we're going to be setting up these operations centers in very close proximity to our normal civilian lives right and that also applies to training we're also going to need some kind of training capability because remember in a lot of cases this is going to be very notional this is going to be something that we're thinking about in advance I highly doubt that everyone out there who's watching this is going to just suddenly get together you know 15 or 16 of their closest friends and build a talk that they maintain for years this is more of a theoretical thing to think about for the near future or if you have a specific need for a talk you probably already know it right so having some kind of training component having a specific training area or a training location or just a storage area for training you know supplies and stuff like that that's going to be very instrumental to making sure that your talk even though it might be notional right now you might only be practicin ff like that that's going to be very instrumental to making sure that your talk even though it might be notional right now you might only be practicing right now Manning a talk you might only be practicing you know going out of the woods and doing tactical operations and stuff like that this may be practice now but you need to account for those those training materials and those training resources so that's a big difference between civilian talks and Military talks in more of like a you know deployed location you're not going to have as many training resources you know downrange when you're no longer training however in our civilian side of things we we might incorporate training a little bit more into our daily lives than you know say someone in a deployed Zone might but even something as small as this a small one room in someone's house that might be impractical for the average user there's a fine line between LARPing and really having tactical capabilities and what we don't want is to set up a talk just for the sake of having a command center you don't want to have a tactical operations center if you don't have any tactical operations to conduct or even Monitor and that's perfec mand center you don't want to have a tactical operations center if you don't have any tactical operations to conduct or even Monitor and that's perfectly fine in fact that might be preferable to a more prepared citizenry anyway here's what I mean by that this is what a typical setup might look like for most people up front we've got just a single tent in the woods somewhere somewhere that's you know located on someone's property maybe they're trying to set up a talk so they can track some you know Logistics operations going on throughout the area maybe they've had a rash of break-ins or they've had a rash of people you know people moving into the area to try to steal stuff and they're trying to set up you know security patrols to their area and they need a talk set up in kind of the middle of the woods right you might start with just a single listening post and that listening post might not have very many resources it might just have a handheld VHF or UHF radio for the for the occupant to communicate you know with everyone around you know inter team Communications uh they might also have a tablet with an adsb receiver they might also have a laptop with an SDR and maybe even a field know inter team Communications uh they might also have a tablet with an adsb receiver they might also have a laptop with an SDR and maybe even a field telephone so they've got some basic intelligence collection capability and they've got Communications capability with people in a different tent now you might also set up an observation post now this guy in this particular example has got a couple of things going for him for well for one he's got a lot of antennas strung up so this guy can have the HF antenna strung up for invis communications you know either more close range than say your average HF Communications and you can also set up an HF antenna you know via like a collapse possible you know Carbon Fiber Mast or something like that for more long-range HF Communications and this guy can be kind of the go-to for those longer range Communications with maybe say a bigger talk back at like a home base or even just teams you know that are more than a line of sight away from you if that makes sense this guy can also have kind of a handheld scanner set up along with an adsb receiver so he's got some Intel collection capability as well right uh and you can also have a field telephone a eld scanner set up along with an adsb receiver so he's got some Intel collection capability as well right uh and you can also have a field telephone and this guy can also have the food water and Supply so he can be the logistics guy he can have the the duffel bag full of food right and finally this last guy may be up on a Hilltop or in some kind of area where he's got a larger field of view this can be you know your more substantial observation post with lots of Optics lots of sensors if you're into the multi-spectral kinds of stuff you know like thermal uh this guy can be that kind of guy set up if he's got the larger field of view and he can communicate with everyone else via handheld radio or Via Field telephone but this guy's just mostly going to be focused on observation and not so much any kind of Signet or stuff like that you can even have a roving Patrol of just a couple of people that kind of bounce back and forth between all three of these sites uh depending on how far they are dispersed again with if you're trying to use field telephones in the field between you know from 10 to 10 to 10th it's going to be a little harder to do if they're further away and remember field t eld telephones in the field between you know from 10 to 10 to 10th it's going to be a little harder to do if they're further away and remember field telephone line is kind of a dead giveaway if you trip over it in the dark that someone's kind of in your area so you know field telephones are really great to use to keep your mcom down so that you're not going to be able to be detected by other you know Signet capabilities but we see how the roles of a talk can very much be filled by having three separate sites you know there is no one specific structure or location in this example that is the talk rather these responsibilities are dispersed among everyone in the group who is more spread out than you might want to be most people will not have enough Personnel to warrant a full-blown talk in the middle of the woods but rather the capabilities of command and control Communications Logistics intelligence and operations will be split up among whatever positions are able to be occupied in other words most talks will look like nothing more than a listening post with a map hanging on the wall and again to address the glaringly obvious problem of security we really have to examine what the th n a listening post with a map hanging on the wall and again to address the glaringly obvious problem of security we really have to examine what the threats are and what our role in a fifth generation War might look like in the long term obviously if you are conducting combat operations in an area that is a contested environment the standard patrol-based setup is probably best however if your role is logistics making sure that your various Logistics trains can get from one location to another or Transportation or medical or Communications and you are operating in a fifth generation battle space where the biggest concerns are no knock raids aerial surveillance random violent targeting and even Insider threats to departing from traditional military infantry Doctrine might be the better move in that case if all of this sounds really vague I'm sorry it's really difficult to have really specific ideas to convey but also want to speak to a much larger audience at the same time the larger point in discussing the talk is to get an understanding of what is required to run anything larger than a squad a lot of people are organizing their communities friends and family members and that is outs g of what is required to run anything larger than a squad a lot of people are organizing their communities friends and family members and that is outstanding do more of that having prepared and responsible citizens in every Community is going to be instrumental in just making it through the hardships of the next few years but merely surviving is not thriving basic preparedness is the Baseline it is the absolute minimum expectation having a basic community group even something as simple as a community watch is the absolute minimum expectation for those of you who are not in that situation just yet fear not that that's okay we're going to work on that right we'll come back to that later but if you want to organize anything beyond the Baseline if you want to do anything beyond basic Community defense then having an understanding of these mid-level logistical informational Communications and command needs is vital some of you might already be ready for something like this you've got a good team of people experienced Personnel for protection and defense Family Support to help run the household and daily life stuff and people to help with Communications and medical needs that's great but on and defense Family Support to help run the household and daily life stuff and people to help with Communications and medical needs that's great but if you were at this point it's probably time to start thinking larger than just your group how can you coordinate with other groups in your area or how to run logistical lines of support or help others get their local groups set up with a setup like this I can take a four-man team and put them in the most rugged terrain imaginable and they can serve as an information center a Communications node and relay and a logistics hub for others operating in the area and the best part is at least in our current Society these people will look like a few guys going out for an ice camping trip you can run a talk that can support and manage three or four fire team sized elements and the entire operation will look totally innocent to any eyes that might be watching I can also put this team in a tiny apartment in a city center running a central location from which safe houses Logistics networks counter surveillance and Communications can be managed all over a city there are going to be plenty of people interested in the boots on ground aspect of war surveillance and Communications can be managed all over a city there are going to be plenty of people interested in the boots on ground aspect of warfare the guy stuff right the concept of recce or reconnaissance the light fighter or basic infantry tactics or even just moving through the woods with rifles and a few friends all of these things are super popular these days for good reason but none of this will be possible certainly not in the long term without some kind of higher organization and support staff understanding the concept of the talk is crucial to start thinking about these smaller but still important roles that support staff and capabilities play in a tactical environment for we citizens we can't radio in a supply drop we don't have unlimited budgets or Technologies we don't have artillery or helicopters and we don't have the ability to operate in the open without the consequences that come with living under a massive authoritarian surveillance state so we've got our work cut out for us not only do we have to get really good at surviving but we have to think about larger operational concerns as well and we have to do this while living a somewhat normal life with a job good at surviving but we have to think about larger operational concerns as well and we have to do this while living a somewhat normal life with a job and a family to take care of that's the name of the game even if you aren't set up right now with a full-blown tactical Community defense team that's okay it's worth thinking about Administration Logistics and Communications right now so think about it constantly re-examine yourself your team and your needs just like you constantly re-examine your tactical gear there will always be people willing to carry a rifle there will always be people willing to resist tyranny and is the situation around the world develops we are going to have more and more average people stepping up but if we want these dedicated people to be as capable of a force as possible somebody has got to focus on the boring stuff that makes it happen if the world's basic military training schools are any indication it takes a couple of months to train a complete civilian to become a minimally effective Soldier but it took generations of warfare to develop those schools and basic training programs to even allow that Soldier to be trained in a firefight when you're getti generations of warfare to develop those schools and basic training programs to even allow that Soldier to be trained in a firefight when you're getting shot at it's unlikely that you're going to be thinking about maintenance schedules or cargo shipments but outside of that tactical engagement outside of those few minutes of combat it's the boring stuff that's going to get you resupplied patched up rested and ready for whatever comes next so we're going to keep focusing on the boring stuff even if we have to for now fight in the shade