It is a good idea to avoid staying mounted as passengers in them, due to the risk of a single RPG wiping out the entire vehicle, its crew, and the immediate family and close friends of everyone who was embarked on it at the time.
When dismounting, infantry elements should provide 360° security as a standard. They should also try to get at least fifteen meters of clearance from the vehicle to help protect against primary or secondary explosions in the event that it is engaged.
Moving on, let's look at the various other considerations that must be made regarding halts and dismounting from vehicles.
When to dismount?
To help decide on when to dismount, versus when to stay mounted, follow these basic guidelines.
● If a halt is short duration (30 seconds or less), mounted troops typically stay in their vehicles. All personnel continue to scan around the vehicle and stay alert to any potential enemy threats.
● If a halt is longer duration, mounted troops dismount and provide local security. Team leaders and squad leaders will order the dismount, at which point the "Dismount Drill" procedures are conducted. When it comes time to remount and move out, team leaders and squad leaders will say "Remount", "Mount up", or some variation thereof, which will then be repeated by everyone in earshot over direct-speaking comms. Each team leader will maintain accountability of their men each time they dismount and remount to ensure that nobody is ever left behind.
● Regardless of the duration of a halt, the driver and gunner always stay mounted. The only time they will leave the vehicle is if it is disabled or destroyed. The gunner may also dismount if the vehicle gun is out of ammo, so that they can employ their personal weapon.
5 & 25 Scan
A "5 & 25" scan involves scanning the area immediately around you and the vehicle for five meters, then dismounting and scanning for 25 meters in all directions. The idea is to ensure that the vehicle did not stop near a concealed satchel charge, mine, or enemy. The tactical situation will determine how much time you have to spend on this scan. At the very least, upon dismounting, ensure that you do a hasty 360° threat scan. Ensure you check all of the concealment-offering objects - such as bushes, brush, etc - around you as time permits. A well-camouflaged enemy will be extremely difficult to detect.
Note that due to the peculiarities of how Arma models armor and vehicle protection, the "5 & 25" scan often becomes "get out of the vehicle FIRST and scan afterward", instead of the more real-world procedure of scanning the first 5 meters while still mounted. In reality, being mounted in an armored vehicle provides a very large degree of protection. In Arma 3 this can depend heavily on the armor of the vehicle and the potential explosives used, so it can be a judgment call as to whether you'll want to dismount first or not.
Dismount Drill Procedures
The 'dismount drill' is a standard set of procedures that are executed upon dismounting a vehicle. While they can differ somewhat based on the tactical situation (ie: under fire or not), the same concepts apply at all times.
If dismounting under fire...
● Dismount once the vehicle has come to a halt or is moving slow enough that exiting will not injure you. Always Dismount to the side that isn't taking fire from the enemy positions
● Immediately return fire on known or suspected enemy positions while moving to a position that offers cover or concealment. If no cover or concealment is available, either use the vehicle as cover, or take a lower stance.
● Begin the "React to Contact" battle drill and follow it until directed otherwise.
● If the situation allows, conduct a hasty "5 & 25" scan, as described above. Ambushers will often try to get vehicles to stop in an area that has been mined or otherwise booby-trapped.
If not under fire...
Dismount once the vehicle has come to a halt.
● Move away from the vehicle to a position that offers cover or concealment. If unavailable, take a knee or go prone to reduce your exposure.
● Conduct a deliberate "5 & 25" scan, as described above.
● Scan outward and identify likely threat avenues, key terrain, etc.
● Continue scanning the surrounding terrain for enemy threats until ordered to remount the vehicle or move out with your team leader.
Bear in mind that this same dismount drill can be used when exiting a helo or any other vehicle where you may need to immediately fight or form a perimeter and provide security.
The decision to dismount can be a command from a leader or on your own disciplined initiative. If given as a command, it will be "Dismount, dismount!". Individual initiative is important here, of course. Don't sit in a vehicle getting shot up if you know you should be dismounting to react to the threat on foot!
Do not say "BAIL OUT!" when ordering an infantry dismount! "BAIL OUT" will cause the entire crew to exit the vehicle as well, and should only be used if the vehicle is in imminent threat of being completely destroyed.
Situational Awareness
Everyone in a vehicle must scan their sectors to maintain situational awareness at all times. Vigilance will help to spot enemy ambushers and spoil their element of surprise. The sector a person scans will depend upon where they are placed in the vehicle. For an MRAP, basic sectors are depicted below. 360° coverage is the ultimate goal.
Convoy Operations
Speed is Life, but Cohesion is Important
Speed in a convoy tends to result in security. This is due to the fact that speed makes it harder to engage the vehicles with threat weapons such as RPGs, command-detonated explosives, and more. However, one must be careful to balance speed with cohesion - if a convoy is spread out too far, the mutual support of each vehicle's weapons, and the security they bring, is lost. This leaves individual vehicles subject to the massed fires of the enemy, which can cause a lot of trouble in short order.
To maintain convoy cohesion, the first vehicle must be aware of their speed and the proximity of those behind them. The convoy commander and other vehicle drivers can facilitate that situational awareness by communicating with the lead vehicle and other vehicles, giving them guidance on their speed, interval, sectors of observation, and more.
If the lead vehicle needs to unexpectedly brake hard for some reason, the driver will say "BRAKING, BRAKING, BRAKING '' loudly over comms to help to prevent the trailing vehicles from piling into them when they slow down.
Interval
Maintaining good intervals is a key aspect of multi-vehicle operations. Depending on the terrain, vehicles should keep from 20 to 100 meters of spacing between each other. This helps to lessen the effects of enemy explosives such as satchel charges and IEDs and makes it harder for the enemy to mass fires on multiple vehicles at once.
It is particularly important to maintain good intervals when stopping temporarily, taking corners or other types of turns, and halting the convoy.
Avoid urban areas whenever possible. It is far too easy for an enemy force to set up a devastating ambush in an urban area. Routes which pass through heavily wooded or extremely rocky areas are likewise dangerous, but due to the nature of some terrains, they cannot always be avoided. Caution is the prime defense in that case.
The convoy must know where to go, and must be planned out in advance with backup courses of action. If every driver knows the path they're supposed to take, and what the end goal is, they are able to better make tactical decisions and judgment calls in high-stress situations.
The convoy must know actions-on. If the vehicles take contact, the drivers must know what they are supposed to do. In some situations it will be important to maintain high momentum and fight through every ambush or contact with ferociously aggressive action, while others will benefit from a more deliberate approach which involves clearing each contact with the help of dismounted infantry. It is up to the convoy commander to ensure that actions-on are briefed before the convoy starts rolling.
Situational Awareness & Security
Gunners must cover appropriate sectors. The first vehicle in a convoy watches to the front, the last vehicle watches to the rear, and vehicles in between alternate left-right-left so that guns are pointed in all threat directions at all times. It is important that gunners maintain their 360° observation even when contact seems to primarily be coming from a specific direction - if not, it is easy for the enemy to exploit this and maneuver into or fire from unobserved areas while the gunners are distracted elsewhere.
Cohesion and security at halts are critical. Maintaining a cohesive formation and using good security procedures are critical to convoy survivability. If a full halt must be conducted, dismounted infantry must be employed to keep the convoy safe while halted. Cohesion is just as important, as it masses friendly forces and makes it much more difficult for the enemy to endanger the convoy.
