Movement

Traveling

Traveling is basically just moving from point A to point B. It is only to be used if very unlikely. This means that the "traveling" movement is a dangerous one most of the time.

Traveling Overwatch

Traveling Overwatch is where things start to become applicable to gaming. This movement method simply increases the distance between elements. The extra space allows for more room to maneuver and decreases the density of friendly forces, which in turn increases the security of the unit by making it harder for an enemy to inflict large casualties via a sudden ambush or explosive trap.

When moving via traveling overwatch, particularly as in a squad or platoon line formation, one element is designated as the lead or "guide-on" element. This element controls the rate of movement or speed of advance, with other elements "guiding" off of them. If this element halts, the whole formation halts. If they move, the formation moves. This helps to ensure that the overall group formation does not overrun itself or get far out of formation.

Bounding Overwatch

Bounding Overwatch is one of the most fundamental combat movement skills practiced and happens to be one of the easiest to employ as well.

The basic principle of bounding overwatch is that one element is always stationary and covering the movement of the other element(s). There are two main techniques available - alternating and successive. The choice of which one will be used depends on the threat level and the speed required.
Successive Bounding Overwatch

Successive bounding overwatch is the slower of the two. In it, one team advances, halts, and then the other team advances on-line with them, halts, and the process repeats itself. This provides a high level of security, but takes longer to employ.



Alternating Bounding Overwatch

Alternating bounding overwatch is the fastest of the two, sacrificing some security for additional speed. In this mode, the teams bound past each other before stopping and allowing the other team to pass them.



Note: Bounding overwatch is used not only when moving to contact, but also when contact has been made. This should be common sense, but I want to mention it specifically to be clear. If multiple elements are moving in a traveling overwatch method and take fire, the natural reaction to it is to transition to bounding overwatch immediately and maneuver as necessary to eliminate the enemy position(s).
Crossing a Danger Area

Danger areas are locations at which there's a heightened level of vulnerability for anyone caught within them, and must be treated with due caution when the situation calls for it. They can be bridges, streams, large open lanes in forested terrain, or even streets in an urban environment. Danger areas are frequently observed by the enemy, and can have snipers, machinegunners, or enemy rifle fireteams ready to deliver fire into them on short notice.

The technique for crossing a danger area is another form of bounding overwatch. The idea is to maintain security and cross in small numbers that will not draw undue attention or fire.

Once you have determined that you are facing a "danger area" and must treat it as such, there are four basic steps to follow:

• Set up 2/3rds of your force as a security element. Ensure that they are spread out sufficiently that they do not stick out to observation. They will be concerned with watching the flanks and rear as well as observing and covering the scout element when it crosses. 
• Send a scout element (typically fireteam-sized) across first while the other elements cover them. The scouts will do a limited penetration of the far side of the danger area, check for enemy forces, and then act as security for the rest of the group when they cross.
• Once the scouts have given the all-clear, begin crossing remaining elements one at a time.
• Once everyone is across, consolidate and continue on with the mission.

Note: If the group is under fire and crossing a danger area, smoke should be used extensively, and security for the crossing elements should be provided by suppression fires.

In the following example you can see how a fireteam might deal with a street 'danger area' during urban combat:


The first man moves up to the corner, scans both directions, and takes a knee, followed by the second one moving up to observe down the side of the street not covered by the first. Once the second man starts to cross, the third man takes over his sector of observation, while the fourth man tightens up the formation and continues to cover the rear. The second man then sets up on the far side, checks both ends of the street, and observes the one that seems the most threatening at the time. At this point the third man crosses, then the fourth, and finally the first man crosses.

The illustration above has the first man across deciding that the left is the most dangerous area. Thus, he spends his time covering it. When the second and third people cross, they look to the right, since the left is covered by the other two. Additionally, since fireteams do not typically work alone, this technique is likely to be used with two teams crossing the street at the same time - in such a situation, the team on the left side would cover the left, and the team on the right would cover the right.

The communication for this procedure should be something like this:

Fireteam leader: "Street, prepare to cross."
One: "Near side set."
Two: "Two, crossing."
Two: "Far side set."
Three: "Three, crossing."
Four: "Four, crossing."
Fireteam Leader: "One, cross."
One: "One, crossing."
Fireteam Leader: "Team is up."
Indian Sprints

The "Indian Sprint" movement technique gives an element (or multiple elements) a way to move while maintaining a very high level of all-around security. The primary downside of it is that it is a relatively slow way to move. The up side is that it keeps approximately 80% of the element scanning for targets and observing the terrain at all times.

To conduct an indian sprint, the element leader simply states that the element will be moving via "indian sprint" to a designated landmark. He may then tell the rear-most person to initiate the movement, at which point the person at the rear of the formation would run to the front, stop, and begin covering the front while the "new" last person would then run to the front, stop, etc. This process would repeat until the element reached the designated end point.