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"The Plattsburg Manual A Handbook for Military Training"


At the conclusion of this inspection he will, in the presence of the
officer sending out the patrol, go over his orders, giving his men all
the information that he has of the enemy and his own troops; state the
duty (mission) of the patrol so that all may know what they are going to
accomplish, and he will follow this with a statement of his general plan
for carrying it out. He will designate an assembly point should the
patrol be dispersed. He will designate a second in command should he be
disabled.

FORMATION
[Illustration: SUGGESTED FORMATIONS FOR PATROLS]
It is impossible to lay down any hard-and-fast rule governing the
formation and conduct of the operations of a patrol. Each situation will
have to be worked out by itself. The patrol should assume the general
formation of a column of troops on the march; that is, it will have an
advance guard, a main body, flankers and a rear guard. These several
elements may each be represented by only one man.

CONDUCT OF THE PATROL

In communicating with each other for ordinary purposes the members of
the patrol use signals agreed upon before the start.


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