Field Craft
Camouflage and concealment
Camouflage changes appearance to blend with the background - disruptive pattern, face paint, natural foliage. Concealment hides the body behind cover so it cannot be seen. Camouflage without concealment still fails if silhouette, shine, shadow or movement gives you away. Avoid skylining, tracks and shiny equipment.
Field signals
Hand signals communicate without noise: halt, advance, enemy seen, retire, form line, close up. Signals must be given at shoulder or head level and acknowledged. Whistle and ground signals using stones, sticks or grass supplement hand signals.
Judging distance
Use a known unit, such as 100 m, and estimate how many units fit between you and the object. The appearance method compares detail: at 100 m faces are clear; at 300 m features blur. Distance is overestimated in clear air, over water and in bright light; underestimated in dusk, rain, fog and broken ground. Take the average of several cadets.
Formations
Single file suits narrow tracks and limited visibility; arrowhead gives forward security; line gives maximum fire to the front; diamond gives all-round protection. The formation follows the ground and the task, not preference.
Worked example
A tree looks about three 100 m units away. Reasoning: unit-of-measure estimate = 3 × 100 m = 300 m. Check with appearance: at 300 m, branches are visible but leaves merge. Average with a second cadet's estimate before reporting.
Traps
Treating camouflage and concealment as synonyms; signalling above the skyline; judging distance once and reporting it as exact; moving along a crest.