Small Unit Tactics: Building a Fighting Position

(Revised, 2025)

For the individual soldier, being able to build either a hasty or prepared position to fight from that will give you adequate cover and at the same time good fields of fire is essential for small units to be efficient in the field. All of the material I am covering here can be found in FM 21-75 Combat Skills of the Soldier.

The following discusses building a fighting hole big enough for (2) men. Remember, your SECTOR OF FIRE defines the position of your fighting hole, so discuss before hand with your team leader what your specific sector of fire is and be sure to double-check the location you are choosing is not in anyone else’s sector of fire!

Select some natural frontal cover – trees, rocks, earth, or rubble – that protects you from enemy direct fire. The best frontal cover is 18 inches of dirt, high enough to hide your head and wide enough to hide the muzzle flashes of two men. This is your hasty position.

Establish your sectors of fire. Primary sectors cover your left and right lateral limits with oblique fire. Secondary sectors cover your front. Sectors should not exceed 45 degrees. Hammer in 3 sector stakes form each primary sector. Selectively clear fields of fire, focusing on low vegetation that will block your fire. Scratch an outline of your hole in the dirt.

Dig your hole armpit deep. Use the dirt to create flank and rear parapets. Leave a front shelf for elbow holes and sector stakes. Natural camouflage should not be disturbed. Camouflage your flank and rear parapets with turf. No fresh earth should be visible from the enemy’s direction.

Improve your hole. If needed, extend each end of your hole to allow you to observe and fire on your secondary sectors. Keep your hole small to protect you from grenades and shell bursts. If needed for low visibility, hammer in y-shaped aiming stakes. Add a log or sandbag grazing fire platform. If needed, dig a bipod trench. Dig a grenade sump and slope the floor toward the sump. Dig a storage area in the back wall for equipment and ammunition.

Build overhead cover. Reinforce the front and rear parapets with logs. Lay a support layer of logs or engineer stakes across the parapets. Cover this with a waterproof layer of flattened boxes, a poncho, plywood or plastic sheeting, and an 8-inch protective layer of earth. Maintain enough head room so you can fight your primary sector from under the overhead cover. Camouflage with turf.

Build flank overhead cover if center overhead cover is impossible. Lay a support layer of logs or engineer stakes at both ends of your hole, just below ground level. Cover this with a waterproof layer of flattened boxes, a poncho, plywood or plastic sheeting, and an 8-inch protective layer of earth as a flank parapet. Dig a covered space beneath these logs.

Some key things to remember:

Your hole mist be invisible to the enemy. If he can see it, he will destroy it.

Must provide frontal cover. If the position cannot stop incoming fire, what good is it? Also, good frontal cover allows you to fight even while being suppressed.

NEVER fire OVER Frontal Cover. Always maintain something solid between you and enemy fire! Instead, fire at the enemy at an oblique angle while maintaining solid cover.

To be effective against a sizable force, Your fighting hole must PROVIDE and RECEIVE Mutual Support from adjacent holes. Creating INTERLOCKING FIELDS OF FIRE can often enable a very small element of fighters to annihilate a larger force. This is a tried and true Guerilla tactic.

Keep the construction of your hole simple. Select good ground. As with survival shelters, often the best fighting position is a natural one. Use the Natural terrain to your advantage BEFORE you start constructing artificial cover.

Be CLEVER where you position your fighting holes. A Good fighting hole AMBUSHES the enemy and takes advantage of the NATURAL ROUTES OF TRAVEL, APPROACH AND EGRESS. Often, when in unknown territory, an enemy, when ambushed, will EGRESS the exact way he entered.

Take time to camouflage your position naturally, taking care not to disturb the area too much where it looks trampled or disturbed. Scouts are sent ahead of the main force to look for just such a thing as to avoid being ambushed.

In closing, as with anything, practice is key.

A small unit needs to drill together regularly and practice building these fighting positions out in the field. Regular “Field Exercises” where the unit is split up into “friendly” and “enemy” elements and turns are took building the positions and then seeing if the “enemy” element can be ambushed from them without first being discovered.

Stay Frosty Gents.