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Army scout training for infantry

Discussion in 'Military Training, Doctrine, and Planning' started by Riter, Jan 1, 2021.

  1. Riter

    Riter Well-Known Member

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    What type of scout training if any was offered for American infantry privates? I know cavalry were used as scouts, but I'm looking only into infantry.
     
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2021
  2. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    This scout had none. He was an MP, got bored with it and put in for fighter pilot training. Then, the Battle of the Bulge started, and he was sent to the 90th ID. The platoon seargent came up to him and asked him to be a scout. His training was done at platoon level, but he did have some ROTC experience.

    Article here.
    A Scout in Patton’s Third Army - Warfare History Network
     
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  3. TD-Tommy776

    TD-Tommy776 Man of Constant Sorrow

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    Here's a PDF of a Masters thesis titled "Training of the American Soldier During World War I and World War II" written by Maj. Roger K. Spickelmier. I have not read it, but it may have some information pertinent to your question.

    https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a185226.pdf
     
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  4. Riter

    Riter Well-Known Member

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    Many thanks guys. Both links were useful. Apparently not much thought was given to training soldiers as scouts. Guess you'd had better be a Boy Scout before the war if you wanted fieldcraft and scouting (pre-war Scouts could earn a merit badge in stalking).
     
  5. bronk7

    bronk7 Well-Known Member

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    ..I would think it is like today's military--just about none--no ''advanced'' training ....I doubt they had time for ''specialized'' /long term training for your ordinary GI....they may have gotten rudimentary training and/or graduates of certain schooling, belonging to a company, battalion, or regiment might give some training to the '''BootCampers'''
    .....in the 80s, there was a Scout/Sniper school for the USMC-regimental or division specific, I think .....but the ''ordinary''' Marine never got Scout training
     
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  6. Biak

    Biak Boy from Illinois Staff Member

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    Try Alamo Scouts. Looks to be the beginning of Special Forces.

    The Alamo Scouts
     
  7. Riter

    Riter Well-Known Member

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    Alamo Scouts were a different breed apart from the common infantry scout.
     
  8. Riter

    Riter Well-Known Member

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  9. Carronade

    Carronade Ace

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    At Tarawa the Marines had a Scout/Sniper platoon led by 1st Lt James Hawkins, who won a posthumous MOH. They landed at the end of the pier that stuck out from the beach and cleared it of Japanese.
     
  10. Riter

    Riter Well-Known Member

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    Unfortunately I can't find the book on Archive.org. They have the regular scouting, patrolling and sniping manual but the two books are quite different.

    The book does mentioned never standing up to a window in la seniorita position and to stand back in the dark to make your observations. I read of one US sniper who learned that lesson and stayed in the dark to make his shot.
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2024 at 5:27 PM

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