Pros And Cons Of Linear Formation

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his men in a linear formation and wait (hopefully) for the enemy to enter the kill zone. The problem that LTC McDonough mentioned was the fact that they never knew where the enemy was coming from, they simply waited at a different spot and hoped the enemy would stumble upon them. Sometimes this method worked and sometimes it did not. To be honest I would not have used a linear formation, simply because there was no way of telling where the enemy was coming from, a linear ambush formation would expose me to all sides. My Great Uncle Paul was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, he explained to me that when he would go out on patrol at night he would set up his men in what we call a 360 security formation. He would simply place his men in a circle and would communicate with his men where the enemy was approaching from by using an equivalent of an LPOP a few meters away from the circle formation. What my Uncle and I consider to be effective about this strategy is it provides the maximum amount of security for the unit. Security at night in my opinion is a priority, especially because there was no way of telling where the enemy was going o approach from it does …show more content…
What seemed like a good idea at the time, turned out to be a tragic downfall for my Uncle. One night, while conducting a night patrol my Uncle left the circle to check on his LPOP, upon return from the LPOP my Uncle tripped and his weapon went off in the direction of the formation. Fortunately for the platoon, no one was hit, however a member of the platoon returned fire and shot my Uncle twice in the midsection. Unfortunately, my Uncle lost both of his legs and Vietnam, but to this day regrets nothing about his dedication and his service to this great country. He was a great asset to me while writing this