US Army Combat Tracking School
 

Anyone been to the US Army Combat Tracking School at FT Huachuca? If so, what is your impression?

x/S

I have been to this school. If you are a hunter, some of the course material will sound familiar but you will learn to get inside the head of a human quarry versus an animal. The man who runs the course is very experienced and has some outlandish stories. This is an excellent school for the light infantry-based small unit leader. You will look at the ground and your surroundings in a different way after this course. The bang-for-buck ratio is pretty good. I am sending some of my guys out there in July.

I heard that this school is discontinued, is it right??:confused:

According to one of my buddies who's an instructor at Huachuca, the course is still ongoing.

The Malaysian Man Tracker course is the one you really want.

WD

I concur! The Malasian course was great.

Rhade Yards and trcking/reading trails/bent grass
 

Rhade yards could look at a darn foot print in cloudy water and state- " NVA come back soon or VC gone." They had hunted all their life. Not wise to fool them. Now,experienced trackers are invaluable. How do you track the taliban in humvees? Pehaps only SF gets out off the road? I do not know?

I had to follow a snake for 8 hours, and not get closer than 30 feet. Once you picked up on trial signs, it was ok.

The first half of the day (4 hrs. ), really sucked.

Its a good tracking course. I went thru the course in Nov 08' while on terminal leave. Got to do some tracking in Baghdad for the Army later. (tracks still can be found in the city).

CD

If the course is still ongoing, you can register for it at:

https://ikn.army.mil/

Look on the front page for a link to the Combat Tracking Course. Their website has a page which you can use to register for the course. I don't know how that works as far as getting funding or permission from your unit; as far as I'm aware, the course is not in ATRRS. My NG unit told me that I could go, but that I would have to submit a memorandum explaining why the training should be funded, and get State approval.

I have heard different things. A while back I was told by someone affiliated with the course that the funding was not in place for FY 11, and that they weren't sure whether the course would stay, move to a different location, or go away. I have tried calling down there several times over the past few months, but have not gotten a definitive answer. I do know that as of a day or two ago, their website still did not show any classes scheduled going into FY 11. This may not be conclusive, but it doesn't seem like a good sign.

I, for one, REALLY want to go to this course if it continues. If anyone has reliable information on what is going on with it, or finds anything out, please post it here. I will probably call down there again in a few weeks, and if I find out anything useful, will do the same.

Better than applying for it, it's a course you "want to be sent to". Figure out who in the chain of command, (most likely the O5, budget officer) who approves such things. Then figure out who the last person from your unit went, how long ago, and did it help with unit strength or deployability. Consider writing a training program to teach other soldiers in your unit when you return. Write a business case that explains the cost benefit for the unit, if they send you. Consider all the "no you can't go" answers and have a "I should go because", response.

Good Luck,

WD

tracking
 

I read that Israelis run their own tracking school, I bet it´s gonna be top notch. Any experiences with this?

Combat Tracker Course
 

I was intimately involved in working the funding of that course when it started, I also took the OCONUS MTT course overseas, and my buddy was an instructor at the Huachuca course.

The course is much like language school, it is as valuable as you make it, and your proficiency is equal to your usage. The unofficial opinion from the joint service perspective is that the USMC Combat Hunter course is slightly better, and the Malaysian tracker course (which I don’t think we can take anymore) is the best. But as the Army goes, the course teaches you some decent skills, like staring at the ground for hours.

Typically you would need a group of people to go, if you need a POC at the school to ask questions of let me know. The class sizes are 24 students and as far as I can see their last scheduled class for FY10 just ended. The CTC was funded through the end of this FY after which it should be picked up by the Army, to my knowledge it was going to be funded.

I'll have to have a guy, call a guy and find out.