Comms Lingo

By Two Guns & Jamie Innes
08-02-06








As you hone your paintball skills, such as sprinting, getting tight behind a bunker, sliding, crouching, crawling and whatnot... you may have inadvertently left out something very important. Your communication vocabulary. Try to visualise the last time you saw a film or TV show where you saw soldiers or armed Police co-codinating tactical movement. (If you can't think of one, watch 'Tears Of The Sun' with Bruce Willis).

So why read up on communication vocabulary? Well for one... when everybody has standardized words for certain things, a message can be quickly voiced and recieved with no room for error and interpretation. This is useful because you want the communication between you and your teammates to be as quick, fluid and concise as possible. Example:- Which one of these two sentences is more accurate and easy to interpret?

1. 'Two guys, over there, on the hill by the big tree'
2. 'Two hostiles, 2 o'clock to my position, 20 meters out'

Sentence 1 leaves fair room for interpretation. Are the two guys on our team or the other team? Which hill? which big tree?. Sentence 2 identifies with 1 word who the players are, then specifies a direction and estimated distance.

Furthermore, this is even MORE important when you get on the radio, which is really what this article is about. In person, you can point to a position or use other gestures to help get your message across. When you're talking via radio to somebody not close to you, you need to be accurate, quick... and composed under pressure, just like a navajo code-talker.

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THE MOST USEFUL TERMS:


Contact: Shots fired, engaging enemy, shooting enemy, used in sentence such as "we have made contact with the enemy, are engaging two." which means we are shooting two opponents. Variations include 'Contact Left' 'Contact Right' 'Contact Front' 'Contact Rear', which indicate direction of contact.

Have Eyes On: Can see the enemy (observation)

Crossroad: Road that crosses through a field, forest, jungle etc.

O.P.: Observation Point. Place to view enemy from.

Advance To Contact: Move forward until gunfight breaks out.

Break Contact: If you need to retreat in a gunfight, you pour out a bit of paint (20 or so rounds rapid fire) onto enemy positions while retreating. Sporadic fire after this is also a bonus. This should slow down a enemy follow up.

Follow Up: After retreating, enemy forces move to your old position and try to re-aquire you. Or alternatively... you follow up on the position of an enemy that has retreated.

Ghost: When retreating, leave a player lying in wait, observing your old positions. This player should be observant and stealthy. This player must be ready to initiate contact with enemy forces. Ghosts are not always nessessary. This is similar to a hasty ambush, where you have a player put a ambush very quickly on a patch of ground.

Sleeper: Two players, one overt (not hidden) one covert (hidden). Overt should be engaging targets to try to lure enemy into his area. Covert should be waiting for this to occur so he can engage them. Sleeper should wait, float around the area, quiet, stealthy and only fire when needed and can be fairly sure of an elimination.

Suppressing fire: The use of shooting, intended not as such to eliminate enemy, rather to prevent them from shooting back, so  the shooter or a teammate can perform a tactical manouver. Also known as 'Covering Fire'.

Skirmish Line: When the main force spreads out into a line facing the enemy, to cover terrain and prevent enemy from flanking.

Flank: Side, Ie- "Left flank of field" means the left side of the field. "My left flank" means "To my left".

Flanking: The act of moving around to the side, or behind the opposing force (Sometimes a single opponent).

Rally Point: If a squad of shooters becomes seperated for any reason, the designated rally point is the place they will later meet up.

Treeline: Topgraphical term for the point where trees from a forest/jungle etc meet a clearing.

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ADDITIONAL TERMS YOU MAY WISH TO ADOPT FOR PAINTBALL:


AWOL: Absent/Away without leave. Means a person who does not have permission to be absent, is in fact absent.

MIA: Missing in action. The wherabouts of a person in or after a battle is unknown.

No Man's Land: The land between opposing forces.

Hot: Ie- "That forest is hot", Land often occupied by enemy, thus dangerous to approach/occupy.

Callsign: The designated codename for an individual shooter or squad of shooters.

Sitrep: Situation Report. Report where you are and what you are doing.

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FINAL Q&A:

Q: So isn't all this stuff a bit militaristic?
A: Well, yes and no. Most of it is used by military, but some of it is also used by law enforcement and search and rescue personel.

Q: Should you adopt communications lingo?
A: If you want improved, faster... and standardized communication between you and your teammates, then yes.

 Q: Should you adopt THIS lingo?
A: Personal preference. Most of this is US Military lingo, some of which dates as far back as the english language has existed, since as long as there are people, there are wars. You can of course invent your own lingo instead.


Credits:
Firefox throat mic thanks to Dambuster