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GWOT V - Scout Syllabus
California Republic
Scout Soldier Training Plan
Six Months / 24 weeks
Basic Training - 4 weeks
All California soldiers receive the four week basic training program, which introduces military courtesy, ethics, laws of land warfare, and a summary introduction to numerous essential military skills. Notably it includes only two weapons skills: the baton (as a club) and the shotgun. Heavy focus on self-discipline, remaining functional while physically and/or emotionally exhausted, and the resolute acceptance of death.
Rifleperson Training - 2 weeks
Rifle fundamentals as taught in most military basic training programs.
Infantry Combat Training - 2 weeks
The ICT course is primarily focused on the use of the hand grenade, the rifle and the bayonet - in combination in close quarters battle. Heavy emphasis on personal courage. Of all the training programs in the California Republic, this one is statistically the most dangerous as several soldiers have been killed by their own grenades in ICT.
Infantry Patrol Techniques - 2 weeks
Working together in squad-sized units, performing squad missions such as observation posts, security, patrolling, movement to contact, etc. Introduction to sentry removal.
[At this point, low-performing candidates are considered for other placements. For example, they may be recycled through ICT and IPT until they meet infantry line requirements. They may be deemed non-suitable for combat arms but still must pass ICT and IPT or they will be transferred to a labor battalion.]
Vehicle Maintenance - 1 week
General vehicle maintenance and minor repair for civilian cars and military cars and trucks. Heavy practical skills emphasis.
Machine Gun Familiarization - 1 week
How to use the common machine guns in active service with North American forces. Beaten zones, grazing fire, engagement of soft-skinned targets, walking bursts. Reloading and clearing malfunctions. Emergency use against armor. The machine guns are fired briefly on the first day and again at length on the fourth and fifth days.
Ethics & Laws Of Land Warfare - 1 week
California's interpretation of military law. A daily essay is required.
Combat Lifesaver (First Aid) - 1 week
The Emergency Trauma Technician course. IVs and advanced airways are not taught at this level. Heavy emphasis on bleeding control, stabilization and extraction of survivable injuries and prompt recognition of non-survivable injuries.
[Students are evaluated again. Only the most promising students continue in the scout-soldier track. Of particular importance is mechanical aptitude, ability to absorb large amounts of information and apply that information to the performance of practical skills. Students lacking these aptitudes are transferred out based on evaluation of their strong and weak spots, and may or or may not stay in combat arms.]
Scout / Observer Course - 3 weeks
What to look for on the battlefield. Rangefinding, use of optics and other devices, asset recognition, tactical terminology, map reading. Documentation of observations, post-battle reports. Ends with a two day field exercise with a California Republic Bear Force cell.
Remote Area Survival - 1 week
How to survive alone or with a partner without adequate supplies or equipment. On the afternoon of the next to last day, the scout soldier is blindfolded, beaten and dumped in a remote area "bear"-foot wearing a shirt and pair of shorts, given only a cardinal direction (N, S, E, W) to proceed in. This course is used to screen out candidates who cannot persevere alone.
Foot & Vehicle Tracking & Evasion - 1 week
How to use sign, tracks and other indicators to determine who has passed recently. Techniques for following. Techniques to break contact with or kill whoever is following you. This is an extremely knowledge-dense course requiring superior observation skills.
[At this point, low-performing candidates are transferred to other combat arms. Skills from this point are _much_ more expensive for California to teach. That there are many excellent soldiers who are nonetheless not good candidates _as scout-soldiers_ is emphasized.]
Fixed & Rotary Wing Mobility Course - 1 week
How to ride safely in aircraft, load and unload cargo, and recognition of California and enemy aircraft. Also how to spot and remain invisible from the air. Includes a day in the water helicopter crash simulator at Monterey, although this has to be scheduled around simulator availability.
HROC ("High Risk Of Capture") Resistance & Escape Course - 1 week
The week long HROC course is the same course given to California pilots. In a reversal of the typical lesson plan, the scout-soldier is first captured, then has to take advantage of opportunities to escape, then is pursued until recaptured or the end of the allotted time. Expands on Remote Area Survival Course, but allowed to wear boots.
Motorcycle Maintenance & Field Repair - 1 week
"This is your motorcycle. There are many like it but this one is the one your life rides on." Courses below this point integrate the use of the motorcycle as much as possible.
Land Navigation Course - 1 week
Builds on map reading for the purpose of extended travel on foot, motorcycle and by wheeled vehicle. "GPS is a crutch." Navigation is by compass, odometer, range and bearing. Inertial trackers introduced.
Emergency Vehicle Operations Course - 1 week
"I hope you're insured!" Using cars and motorcycles for 'offensive' driving.
Motorcycle Combat Course - 1 week
The integrated use of motorcycles for battlefield scouting. Expands on off-road cycling techniques. Rifle 'Parthian shot' technique and close range pistol defense are taught.
There is no final examination for scout-soldiers. They are immediately assigned to units patrolling the California borders in six week rotations in Northern (forest), Central (mountains) and Southern California (desert). Only after service on all three borders are they considered 'deployable', for example on an Expeditionary Force. Once in a while, a scout soldier is transferred and never heard from again - especially when they are killed while serving with the Bear Force.
Motorcycle medics complete all scout-soldier training, but instead of deploying to the borders, attend an aggressive EMT then a paramedic program. Sadly there is much medical work for them to do throughout California and every county hospital has an associated clinical paramedic training program. After paramedic certification (which is now skills based rather than hours based), they then rotate to the borders as paramedics. The motorcycle-medic program attempts to achieve a ten minute response time throughout California, and wherever soldiers are deployed.
A scout-sergeant achieves prominence as a scout and _then_ is sent to one of the two California NCO academies for fourteen weeks. The NCO academies attempt to replicate the intense small-unit patrolling of the US Army Ranger course using sleep deprivation rather than starvation as the primary stressor. Candidates are peer as well as instructor reviewed. Nearly all candidates pass. The lower half of the class is transferred to other combat arms as a sergeant, only the upper half remain in scout units. A few scout-sergeants per class (neither the highest nor the lowest ranking) transfer to Bear Force.
There is no corresponding program for California Republic military officers. They are selected using entirely different criteria and while they participate in many of the same training programs, the goal is skill building and not screening. However, all California Republic officers (except Naval Militia) take the Scout/Observer course in their first year of service and are expected to set the standard by which others are judged. Those who do not are often transferred out of combat arms, and sometimes to lead labor battalions.
Scout Soldier Training Plan
Six Months / 24 weeks
Basic Training - 4 weeks
All California soldiers receive the four week basic training program, which introduces military courtesy, ethics, laws of land warfare, and a summary introduction to numerous essential military skills. Notably it includes only two weapons skills: the baton (as a club) and the shotgun. Heavy focus on self-discipline, remaining functional while physically and/or emotionally exhausted, and the resolute acceptance of death.
Rifleperson Training - 2 weeks
Rifle fundamentals as taught in most military basic training programs.
Infantry Combat Training - 2 weeks
The ICT course is primarily focused on the use of the hand grenade, the rifle and the bayonet - in combination in close quarters battle. Heavy emphasis on personal courage. Of all the training programs in the California Republic, this one is statistically the most dangerous as several soldiers have been killed by their own grenades in ICT.
Infantry Patrol Techniques - 2 weeks
Working together in squad-sized units, performing squad missions such as observation posts, security, patrolling, movement to contact, etc. Introduction to sentry removal.
[At this point, low-performing candidates are considered for other placements. For example, they may be recycled through ICT and IPT until they meet infantry line requirements. They may be deemed non-suitable for combat arms but still must pass ICT and IPT or they will be transferred to a labor battalion.]
Vehicle Maintenance - 1 week
General vehicle maintenance and minor repair for civilian cars and military cars and trucks. Heavy practical skills emphasis.
Machine Gun Familiarization - 1 week
How to use the common machine guns in active service with North American forces. Beaten zones, grazing fire, engagement of soft-skinned targets, walking bursts. Reloading and clearing malfunctions. Emergency use against armor. The machine guns are fired briefly on the first day and again at length on the fourth and fifth days.
Ethics & Laws Of Land Warfare - 1 week
California's interpretation of military law. A daily essay is required.
Combat Lifesaver (First Aid) - 1 week
The Emergency Trauma Technician course. IVs and advanced airways are not taught at this level. Heavy emphasis on bleeding control, stabilization and extraction of survivable injuries and prompt recognition of non-survivable injuries.
[Students are evaluated again. Only the most promising students continue in the scout-soldier track. Of particular importance is mechanical aptitude, ability to absorb large amounts of information and apply that information to the performance of practical skills. Students lacking these aptitudes are transferred out based on evaluation of their strong and weak spots, and may or or may not stay in combat arms.]
Scout / Observer Course - 3 weeks
What to look for on the battlefield. Rangefinding, use of optics and other devices, asset recognition, tactical terminology, map reading. Documentation of observations, post-battle reports. Ends with a two day field exercise with a California Republic Bear Force cell.
Remote Area Survival - 1 week
How to survive alone or with a partner without adequate supplies or equipment. On the afternoon of the next to last day, the scout soldier is blindfolded, beaten and dumped in a remote area "bear"-foot wearing a shirt and pair of shorts, given only a cardinal direction (N, S, E, W) to proceed in. This course is used to screen out candidates who cannot persevere alone.
Foot & Vehicle Tracking & Evasion - 1 week
How to use sign, tracks and other indicators to determine who has passed recently. Techniques for following. Techniques to break contact with or kill whoever is following you. This is an extremely knowledge-dense course requiring superior observation skills.
[At this point, low-performing candidates are transferred to other combat arms. Skills from this point are _much_ more expensive for California to teach. That there are many excellent soldiers who are nonetheless not good candidates _as scout-soldiers_ is emphasized.]
Fixed & Rotary Wing Mobility Course - 1 week
How to ride safely in aircraft, load and unload cargo, and recognition of California and enemy aircraft. Also how to spot and remain invisible from the air. Includes a day in the water helicopter crash simulator at Monterey, although this has to be scheduled around simulator availability.
HROC ("High Risk Of Capture") Resistance & Escape Course - 1 week
The week long HROC course is the same course given to California pilots. In a reversal of the typical lesson plan, the scout-soldier is first captured, then has to take advantage of opportunities to escape, then is pursued until recaptured or the end of the allotted time. Expands on Remote Area Survival Course, but allowed to wear boots.
Motorcycle Maintenance & Field Repair - 1 week
"This is your motorcycle. There are many like it but this one is the one your life rides on." Courses below this point integrate the use of the motorcycle as much as possible.
Land Navigation Course - 1 week
Builds on map reading for the purpose of extended travel on foot, motorcycle and by wheeled vehicle. "GPS is a crutch." Navigation is by compass, odometer, range and bearing. Inertial trackers introduced.
Emergency Vehicle Operations Course - 1 week
"I hope you're insured!" Using cars and motorcycles for 'offensive' driving.
Motorcycle Combat Course - 1 week
The integrated use of motorcycles for battlefield scouting. Expands on off-road cycling techniques. Rifle 'Parthian shot' technique and close range pistol defense are taught.
There is no final examination for scout-soldiers. They are immediately assigned to units patrolling the California borders in six week rotations in Northern (forest), Central (mountains) and Southern California (desert). Only after service on all three borders are they considered 'deployable', for example on an Expeditionary Force. Once in a while, a scout soldier is transferred and never heard from again - especially when they are killed while serving with the Bear Force.
Motorcycle medics complete all scout-soldier training, but instead of deploying to the borders, attend an aggressive EMT then a paramedic program. Sadly there is much medical work for them to do throughout California and every county hospital has an associated clinical paramedic training program. After paramedic certification (which is now skills based rather than hours based), they then rotate to the borders as paramedics. The motorcycle-medic program attempts to achieve a ten minute response time throughout California, and wherever soldiers are deployed.
A scout-sergeant achieves prominence as a scout and _then_ is sent to one of the two California NCO academies for fourteen weeks. The NCO academies attempt to replicate the intense small-unit patrolling of the US Army Ranger course using sleep deprivation rather than starvation as the primary stressor. Candidates are peer as well as instructor reviewed. Nearly all candidates pass. The lower half of the class is transferred to other combat arms as a sergeant, only the upper half remain in scout units. A few scout-sergeants per class (neither the highest nor the lowest ranking) transfer to Bear Force.
There is no corresponding program for California Republic military officers. They are selected using entirely different criteria and while they participate in many of the same training programs, the goal is skill building and not screening. However, all California Republic officers (except Naval Militia) take the Scout/Observer course in their first year of service and are expected to set the standard by which others are judged. Those who do not are often transferred out of combat arms, and sometimes to lead labor battalions.