The Observation Post: Top 5 Things You Need

[Music] throughout the history of modern warfare one thing that has remained a constant necessity but also hasn't changed that much in the past century is the concept of the observation post sometimes also called listening posts observation posts are a highly valuable aspect of warfare for a whole host of very good reasons and with more and more threats popping up on our doorstep every single day let's dive into how to set up our very own observation post the concept of the listening or observation post dates back thousands of years to the origins of warfare itself but this idea really came into widespread use with the outbreak of world war 1 as warfare transitioned into a modern age with the widespread use of artillery machine guns poison gas and other new and efficient ways of killing each other the ability to observe the enemy's approach and activities was paramount and as the war settled into the bloody stalemate that has made the western front infamous the ability to detect enemy preparations for an offensive was more vital than ever so what defines an observation post or a listening post well it's pretty simple an observation post is a location from which an observer can see ever so what defines an observation post or a listening post well it's pretty simple an observation post is a location from which an observer can see the enemy front lines supply routes avenues of approach or any other endless number of key terrain features that one can think of a listening post is very similar with the main difference being their origins listening posts were quite literally just that a location usually a hole in the ground or in the case of the great war a small sap or trench out into no man's land from which a soldier or two could sit or lie very quietly and just listen during the era of trench warfare listening posts were often far more valuable than observation posts due to the extremely close quarters of the trenches with trenches being sometimes only a few meters apart from each other a soldier in a listening post could hear the enemy listening to their daily routines conducting drills cooking food laughing and joking amongst each other and most importantly the telltale increase in volume in the numerous footsteps on wooden duck boards that signal the enemy forces secretly trying to mass troops in the forward trench for an assault though these days we don't n ps on wooden duck boards that signal the enemy forces secretly trying to mass troops in the forward trench for an assault though these days we don't necessarily have to worry about tens of thousands of soldiers jumping down into our trench to kill us with a shovel the concept of the observation post is absolutely vital in today's world of people going door to door checkpoints being set up on u.s interstate highways and with any number of insurgent groups parading through residential neighborhoods we all do this subconsciously anyway even something as simple as going to the front window to observe some activity out on the street in front of your residence is technically an observation post but we can lean on a bit of history and a little bit of doctrine in order to increase our capabilities and therefore be vastly more effective in a situation where you have to spend a significant portion of your day or night sitting in an observation post so when it comes to building your very own observation post there are only a few things that you need the first being clear observation of avenues of approach this sounds pretty simple and it really is in most situations your op will need to have need the first being clear observation of avenues of approach this sounds pretty simple and it really is in most situations your op will need to have a clear line of sight to areas which your targets will actually be in an op that you can't see anything from isn't really effective unless you're going for a listening post in which case you have to be able to actually hear the adversarial force however this first point has a lot of problems when it comes to actually implementing this in today's world so we'll come back to this one in a minute but the next thing that is needed is cover and concealment this is a huge requirement especially in a modern context sure it makes sense as to why an army manual from 1985 would require your observation post to be concealed after all almost all observation posts are used by militaries in combat but in a modern civilian application things are a bit different and a lot of the time the stakes are much higher than even in combat remember we lowly peasant citizens have to operate in adverse conditions the majority of the united states is now what we would call a non-permissive environment meaning that we do not have the ability to operate freely with he majority of the united states is now what we would call a non-permissive environment meaning that we do not have the ability to operate freely without consequences even if it is our right to do so sure you could climb up on your rooftop to build an observation post that's your right you can do that but just fully expect every neighbor around you to call the police on you and encounter best avoided even by law-abiding citizens at this point as we've been saying for a while now concealment is a very high priority even if it means that you've got to pick a less than ideal site for your observation post this is important because it highlights a problem within most military warfare doctrine as we pointed out in our urban camouflage episode most modern urban warfare is focused on just that warfare there isn't any military doctrine that we can use in a situation less than a full-on urban war all urban warfare doctrine focuses on things like cutting holes in walls sandbagging the interior of walls setting up grenade sumps and ladders going from floor to floor and other things that are completely impractical in modern daily life where low intensity conflict is the much more likely proble from floor to floor and other things that are completely impractical in modern daily life where low intensity conflict is the much more likely problem that we all face daily it would be perfect to cut a hole in your roof and set up an observation post in your attic but it's just not something that we're going to do unless a bonafide shooting war breaks out what's far more likely is for us to pull up a chair to the window and watch the activity in the street all night and then we have to go to work the next day when the sun comes up and the rioting stops these considerations mean that we will have to accept the fact that we will have to be sacrificing the best observation site for one that's actually feasible but not as effective in other words we've got to understand that since we're not going to cut a sniper loophole in a wall or a rooftop we're going to have to be content with and take into account that we'll have to use existing openings in structures such as windows and doorways now we see why it's not as simple as following the old school army doctrine and why selecting an observation post that actually provides for the maximum observation of the target area isn't actually an old school army doctrine and why selecting an observation post that actually provides for the maximum observation of the target area isn't actually an easy thing to do in most situations that we face today the next requirement is for your lpop to have concealed ingress and egress routes obviously it wouldn't be a great idea to have the most camouflaged and hidden op in the world but you have to walk right up to it to get in it again these ingress and egress routes are a major limiting factor for most observation posts if it means that you have to move your observation post in order to allow for easy and concealed entrance and exit this might be something that you have to do even at the expense of limiting your field of observation even more terrain might force you to set up an op in a less than ideal spot and even then you might have to wait until darkness falls in order to enter it or even more inconvenient you might have to build the entire op under the cover of darkness or while concealing yourself from the target's view another key part of any lp or op is communication that's the entire reason ops were invented in the first place granted the need for communication is not quite y part of any lp or op is communication that's the entire reason ops were invented in the first place granted the need for communication is not quite as much of a hard requirement for some civilian applications for instance if you are alone in an observation post monitoring some particular action such as a riot or some kind of clearance operation you might not have anyone else to talk to so having a radio or a field telephone or some other communication device might not be as necessary as one might think however if you even have just one other person to talk to within range a communication device will be essential to report what you see and provide early warning capabilities to people who might be counting on you for support and one final category of things you might need for your observation post are optics optics are massive force multipliers meaning that a single person with a powerful set of binoculars has capabilities that would take several people to replicate or even might not be replicatable by the unaided eye the proliferation of modern generation 3 night vision devices and thermal optics on the civilian market provides devastatingly effective capabilities to civilians whi n of modern generation 3 night vision devices and thermal optics on the civilian market provides devastatingly effective capabilities to civilians which is something that many people still do not understand granted the high cost of such devices makes it difficult to obtain the best optics that you can buy but a good set of rugged and powerful binoculars will increase the capabilities of your observation post in ways that you cannot even possibly imagine as a side note we will have an entire video dedicated to optics for surveillance and reconnaissance so stay tuned for that and that's pretty much it observation posts and listening posts are quite simple things and oftentimes very little construction is needed to set up a very capable location from which you can keep an eye on activity in your area of course there are a whole host of other things that can improve an observation post which is far beyond the scope of this somewhat introductory video but creating your own lpop and adapting these ideas to your own situation will highlight the things that you need for your specific setup no two observation posts will look alike every single one will look different have different fields o the things that you need for your specific setup no two observation posts will look alike every single one will look different have different fields of observation have different ingress and egress points and have different goals altogether that's why it's so hard to teach this topic because it's so generalized that oftentimes the broad brush teaching tactics of military doctrine end up not teaching very much at all and in modern civilian capacity this could be dangerous especially considering that most modern civilian urban or suburban observation posts will be drastically less effective than their rural counterparts you might have to set up an op in a less than ideal location with subpar cover and concealment where you can't really see much and it's hard to get into and out of without being seen and that might be the best you can do so you've got to learn to work with what you've got and mitigate these disadvantages as much as you can so try this out for yourself really sit down and think about locations that you can use to observe activity in your area and see what you can build it doesn't take that much effort and even just thinking about and planning observation posts in your activity in your area and see what you can build it doesn't take that much effort and even just thinking about and planning observation posts in your immediate environment is a step in the right direction and will make you much more prepared to handle whatever threats find their way into your neighborhood [Music] [Music] you