No PowerPoint. No garrison b.s. Just the manuals, the math, and the mission. For the 12 series.
"Anything worth starting is worth finishing regardless of how much you must sacrifice — and you have to believe everything you set out to do is worth it. Worth the struggle, worth the pain, the setbacks, the breaks, the blood, the tears."
ESSAYONS — LET US TRY
The bible. Demolitions, breaching, obstacles, bridging, field fortifications, and engineer math. Every 12B owns this one.
↓ Download (Hosted)Engineer mission command, combined arms integration, mobility / countermobility / survivability, and support to MDMP. Brigade and below.
↗ Search APDCombined arms breaching doctrine. Assault, demolition, and mechanical breaching integration with maneuver units. Lane assault tactics.
↗ Search APDRoute, bridge, and area reconnaissance. Report formats, classification procedures, trafficability analysis. The recon engineer's handbook.
↗ Search APDCombined arms and engineer operations at brigade level. Assault bridging, gap crossing, and obstacle integration.
↗ Search APDMedium Girder Bridge operator manual. Erection, load classification, site selection. The 12C reference for gap crossing under fire.
↗ Search APDCharacteristics and performance data for military explosives. C4, TNT, PETN, detonators, priming systems. The technical reference for demolitions.
↓ Download (Hosted)Hardening, fighting positions, protective construction. From individual hasty positions to hardened command posts.
↗ Search APDCombined arms obstacle integration. FASCAM, wire, AT ditches, dragon's teeth. Most detailed obstacle planning reference available.
↓ Download (Hosted)Patrol planning, ambushes, recon ops, demolitions, mountaineering, and field craft. Ranger standard — useful for any 12-series leader.
↓ Download (Hosted)Demolitions, breaching, mines, obstacles, bridge recon, and booby traps. The pocket reference built for the Sapper Leader Course.
↓ Download (Hosted)Individual task standards for every soldier. Warrior skills Level 1 — the baseline for combat readiness and skill certifications.
↓ Download (Hosted)Grid coordinates, contour lines, terrain association, compass, pace count, and resection. The land nav bible.
↓ Download (Hosted)Advanced nav — aerial photos, MGRS, GPS employment, and military map symbols. The continuation of Part 1.
↓ Download (Hosted)SINCGARS, ASIP, frequency management, PACE planning, and net operations. Comms doctrine for maneuver and engineer teams.
↓ Download (Hosted)Obstacle planning, emplacement, and combined arms integration. Minefield types, wire, AT ditches — the countermobility planning reference.
↓ Download (Hosted)Hardening, camouflage, and force protection construction. Predecessor to ATP 3-37.34 — still the most detailed survivability field reference.
↓ Download (Hosted)Properties, handling, storage, and employment of military explosives. Supplementary reference for demolitions planning and training.
↓ Download (Hosted)Marine Corps engineer reconnaissance — route, area, and bridge recon procedures. Cross-service reference aligned with Army doctrine.
↓ Download (Hosted)Combat engineers breach wherever the mission demands — wire, walls, minefields, ditches, doors, structures. The five breaching imperatives apply across all terrain and environments. No breach is isolated to one method or one surface.
→ Full ReferenceHasty and deliberate wire breach techniques. Bangalore torpedo employment, manual lane clearing, wire cutters, and marking. Maintaining momentum through protective wire.
→ NotesAnti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System (APOBS), Mine Clearing Line Charge (MICLIC), and manual lane probing under fire. Lane marking and reporting procedures.
→ NotesReducing anti-tank ditches and natural gaps. Dozer fill, fascine employment, assault bridging, and AVLB deployment for vehicle mobility under fire.
→ NotesAssault Breacher Vehicle (ABV), Mine-Clearing Armor Blade (MCAB), and D9 bulldozer breach. Armor-protected mechanical lane clearing with flail and plow systems.
→ NotesFrame charges for mouse holes. CMU vs. poured concrete vs. brick. Construction factor, P formula, M112 C4 calculations. Creating a man-sized breach in built-up areas.
→ NotesCalculating charge weight for door defeat. Hinge vs. lock-side attack, standoff charges, door type considerations — hollow-core, steel, reinforced.
→ NotesHalligan bar techniques, battering ram application, lock defeat, hinge removal. No explosives — noise discipline and denied-entry operations.
→ Notes| Explosive | RE Factor | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| TNT | 1.00 | Baseline reference |
| Comp C-4 | 1.34 | Standard demolition block |
| PETN | 1.27 | Det cord core, sheet explosive |
| Tetryl | 1.20 | Booster charges |
| Composition B | 1.17 | Artillery, shaped charges |
| ANFO | 0.87 | Low-order cratering |
| 40% Dynamite | 0.67 | Commercial, varies by grade |
| Personnel Position | MSD |
|---|---|
| Unwarned, in the open | 300 m (standard minimum) |
| Prone, no cover | 300 m |
| Covered position (defilade) | 50 m minimum |
| Hasty foxhole / fighting position | 50 m minimum |
| Fragment hazard (general) | 600 m caution area |
Squared away soldiers don't rely on signal downrange. These formulas go on paper, in your pocket, before you step on that lane.
— Sgt. PETN| Material | R Factor |
|---|---|
| Brick / CMU | 3 |
| Reinforced concrete | 8 |
| Plain concrete | 5 |
| Wood frame | 1 |
Squared away soldiers don't rely on signal downrange. These formulas go on paper, in your pocket, before you step on that lane.
— Sgt. PETN
Before this rant I want to say I am deeply humbled by the love and support you all have shown during this most recent endeavor of mine. With a full heart I can honestly say you all have made the struggles and tribulations in this life that much more worth it. I am thankful and grateful that I have each and every one of you in my life. I count you as my brothers and mentors and friends. I am and will always be here for each and every one of you. If you ever are in need I will answer the call. I promise you all that. You all have impacted my journey and have helped me grow. From the depths of my heart — Thank you.
The final diagnosis of my injury is I shattered one of the bones in my foot in three pieces and will have a 6-month to 1-year recovery as long as the pieces remain in the position they are in now. So I will rise again and come back stronger than before — you can bet on that.
I'm asked was it worth it and the answer is this: Anything worth starting is worth finishing regardless of how much you must sacrifice and you have to believe everything you set out to do is worth it. Worth the struggle, worth the pain, the setbacks, the breaks, the blood, the tears — because if you don't believe with every fiber of your body that it was worth the journey then you will begin to grow a distaste for life.
The question I always ask myself is "how do you measure a man?" Over time I have honed it into this — you measure him by: how hard he loves, how selfless he lives, how strong his word is, how much loyalty he shows his friends, the fortitude of his courage, and last and most importantly how immense his passion and desire is to achieve his Telos.
We are on this earth to fulfill our potential and find our true limits. That is only accomplished through setting goals and then seeing them through. Once done the next goal should be a little harder and require a little more effort than before. Once you get this rhythm down you push — you push and push until the goals set before you are mountains and oceans and seem impossible. Once there you do everything in your power to make it to the end state, sacrificing everything you must. For in these acts you will find your true raw limitations.
The further we pursue our limitations and fulfill our potential, the more we can help those around us do the same. So on your path in life don't forget to bestow what you have learned and endured upon others so that they can come to know their true potential. You all have what it takes to be a better version of your yesterday self. I do what I do not to be the best there ever was. I do what I do to be the best version of me. As long as you strive daily to outdo your former self you should be able to walk tall with pride and call yourself successful and a winner.
"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
— Jack London
"The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between men — between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant — is energy, invincible determination — a purpose once fixed, and then — death or victory. That quality will do anything that can be done in this world, and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man without it."
— Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton
Where the combat engineer earned his lineage. July 15, 1779 — 147 years before Fort Leonard Wood would train the men who carry the castle.
In June 1779, British forces captured two American forts on the Hudson River — Stony Point and Verplanck's Point, 30 miles from Manhattan. The enemy fortified Stony Point heavily, a rocky peninsula jutting half a mile into the river with 150-foot crags, swamp flooding at high tide, and a double abatis. They called it "Little Gibraltar."
General Washington knew British control of that stretch of river threatened West Point and severed communications between the colonies. He tasked Brigadier General "Mad" Anthony Wayne and his light infantry corps — four regiments of hand-picked combat veterans.
On July 15, Wayne's men unloaded weapons and turned in their ammunition. The assault would be silent — fixed bayonets and hand-to-hand combat only. No gunfire. Secrecy was so tight the soldiers didn't know where they were going. They waded waist-deep into the flooded causeway as a British picket sounded the alarm.
Colonel François-Louis de Fleury, a French engineer officer serving the Continental Army, was second in command of the 1st Regiment. Through the fierce fighting — Wayne and Febiger both took head wounds — de Fleury pressed the assault up the rocky slope.
On 1 October 1779, de Fleury stood before the Continental Congress — the men who wrote the Declaration of Independence — and was awarded a medal struck in his honor for valor at Stony Point. The combat engineer traces his lineage to that wall.