Military Briefing 5

Intelligence Gathering

STANAG 2

Accurate battlefield information is very important for any modern army. This battlefield
information is called intelligence. We can gather intelligence in different ways.
Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs). These are medium to low-level aircraft which are very small
and fly very fast over enemy areas taking photographs of enemy positions. They are very
difficult to shoot down and do not have a pilot.
Spy-planes. An example of this is the U2, which flies very high and can take extremely good
photographs of a large area without having to fly into enemy territory. These aircraft are not
very manoeuvrable at low to medium levels.
Satellites. Satellites go round and round the earth in what we call an orbit, taking photographs
of different areas and can see if a country is building missile sites, for example.
Reconnaissance patrols or recce. These patrols go as near to the enemy as possible to find
out enemy strength, position and what the enemy is likely to do. Their aim is not to fight with
the enemy or contact them. The enemy must not see these patrols. This is known as recce by
stealth.
Finally, information by word-of-mouth. This comes from PoWs (prisoners of war), local
population or possibly under-cover spies, although a PoW does not have to give you any
information apart from his name rank and number.
Alright everybody, now that you have got the general idea of all the possibilities of recce, I will
tell you what I expect from you during the weekend that our company has planned for in the
military paint-balling centre in Yorkshire. The aim is for you all to act as a team and learn to
trust each others decisions. You will split into two teams and then inspect your team
positions. You will, then, recce your enemys area by the stealth method, and decide how to
attack it. You must draw your weapons by 0630 on the day of arrival, and please do not forget
everybody: ALL WEAPONS CAN KILL.
You must make sure you have your safety equipment ready and in good order. You should
have a breathing mask, body armour, helmet, camouflage equipment and boots. Also do not
forget your protective gloves and especially and most important, your goggles to protect your
eyes.
The last thing I want you to do is to talk to each other and then choose your teams. You must
also decide who the first team leader will be. Team leaders will change every 2 hours while we
are on exercise, so I want the first team leader to make a list of names of the team to see who
the second team leader will be and so on. Right then: Off you go and get ready. See you
there.