To peek or not to peek

[Maximus856]

Well, whats your opinions on the turkey peaking? I was reading an article is some 'tactical' magazine, and it highly reccomended peaking in a clearing situation.


I say not. And my training says not to. If your gunna go you have to commit and just go. However, the differance is I have sapi plates. Is that the differance, or is the magazine wrong?

-Max

[woodland]

In the academy they trained us to "quick peek" in the dark. You fling the door open, pause a second, make a 1 second peek just flashing you light on and back off, and then back away from the door. Then you tell your partner anything important you saw, and go in within a few seconds of the peek, not turning your lights on till you are in the room and out of the doorway. I thought this was a stupid tactic the whole time, and was quite amused when we did mock scenes with SIMS guns, and everyone kept getting shot in the face when they peeked. The instructors had no good answers other than they must be "peeking too slow."

You will not find me doing that in real life! Get through the door and use lateral movement. If you need to go, the GO!

[pax]

If you're peeking because if someone is there you will have to go in -- don't peek. It gives too much away for too little gain.

If you're peeking because if you spot anything you're backing out and calling the pros -- peek one time. FAST. From an unexpected height or angle. And if you do spot someone there, don't go back. Get out.

My opinion, based 100% on nothing.

pax

[cschwanz]

I "peek" when i play paintball, but thats a different story. 300FPS with nonlethal vs. 800FPS lethal . I cant see peeking around the corner a good idea when clearing a room or building. If you think you have to go, then go, gun up, eyes open, lateral movement

[bigghoss]

flashbang:D

[hoytinak]

When clearing rooms, I've always been taught to commit and go (worked for me 10 years). Once inside the building going room to room, it's best to keep going, if you stop to peek in every room you're going to lose your momentum. But you also don't want to go too fast..."slow is smooth, smooth is fast".

[SAWBONES]

The modern tactical doctrine for acquiring visual coverage of an unknown environment is "slicing the pie", that is, gaining progressively-greater degrees of area visualization while being prepared to shoot instantaneously.

If you choose to do a "quick peek" instead, be certain you don't peek a second time from the same spot or you may get yourself shot.

[Marty Hayes]

"When clearing rooms, I've always been taught to commit and go (worked for me 10 years). "

In these 10 years, did you ever come accross anyone who wanted to kill you?

[hoytinak]

In these 10 years, did you ever come accross anyone who wanted to kill you?

yes

[BreacherUp!]

I have had training in the "quick peek." Not a big fan. I do not like putting my grape anywhere without the muzzle of my M4 leading it.

[Rob Pincus]

Since most people on this forum are not operating in a team environment, I think it is important to make a distinction.


(For the record, as if it matters, :rolleyes:, I've never rounded a corner and found someone who had both the intent and opportunity to kill me. But I have spent a fair amount of time teaching CQB tactics to Army SF, NSW and SWAT personnel over the past few years, to include the necessary familiarity with their procedures and I regularly teach home defense courses to regular average types (like I am now).... So, we got the personal measurment issues out of the way? Let's evaluate the posts based on the logic, appropriateness and efficiency of the information presented, not the resume.)

When you have multiple people making entry into one area, as any team's doctrine will indicate, I think you are going to much better served by commiting to a corner/door and taking it as per the team's SOP.

When you are alone, moving through your house to ensure that a family member is safe, to get to an exit when barricading is (for some reason) not appropriate (as it usually would be w/o family to secure) or for any other reason moving in an environment with what you percieve to be a likely threat present, the quick-peek might have a good place. Specifically, it can be used to "clear" an area before commiting in the opposite direction (such as a T-Intersection or door in the middle of a hallway. In those situations, it makes more sense, I think, to peek to the direction where the threat is most likley and then "peek again" to the opposite side to "clear" it before proceeding in the direction you need to go. The priority side should be determined by noise/light/entrances and/or any other clues you have at your disposal at the moment.

Either way, as noted above, staying put and calling 911 in a safe room is always going to be better than rounding any corner that you don't have to.

-RJP

[Recon7]

+1 Rob, in a 4 man stack if you commit to crossover (straight across the room) your #2 man will button hook (go the other way) and have your back. by yourself it is probably better to go slow pieing corners and peeking. also with a buddy you can also do hi/lo with one person on a knee. sometimes there is no one right answer in MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain. Some things to consider would be: are you expected around the corner? are you in a hurry? is the corner hard cover, or just concealment? how deep is the room? all these things affect your decisions.

[Maximus856]

The stack vs. one man makes sense. Still, in my opinion I think I'd just commit and in a controlled manner 'come out ablazin.'

Flashbangs and frags make things easier too :eek:

-Max