Updated: 03 AUG 16 Articles CONTACT! RGHQ-51 Military Reference Pages		Hand Writing For The Battlefield

RGHQ-51 Home Page	Battlefield Communications In General	Battlefield Communications Hand Signals	Battlefield Communications Morse Code
Military References Page	Battlefield Communications Semaphore	The RTO's Page	Hand Writing For The Battlefield

Introduction In combat there are times when you will have to hand write notes, anotate documents, maps etc., and there are four asspects to doing this successfully on the battlefield: 1. The Technique: Legibility On The Battlefield 2. The Tools: Of Pens, Pencils & Paper 3. The Content: C.A.R.O.T. 4. The Aide Memoire: Your Field Or Battle Book The Technique: Legibility On The Battlefield In the dark and the wind of a moonless night, as you fumble with a faint red torch to light your way across a ghastly battlefield, you will be tired, distracted, possibly in pain, or at the very least in great discomfort, wet, cold, with rocks in your boots, and sand in your butt, and finally and most importantly feeling really, really grumpy and miserable. So when your hands are shaking and your heart is in your mouth, good hand writing is the last thing on your mind. But this is precisely when you will need to make notes, write a message, or draw a sketch or map, and have it understood by yourself later in the mission or by someone else later in the day. Thus there are a few rules to the art of good hand writing on or for the battlefield: Do's: Always be generous with the spacing and font size, and most importantly of all, always PRINT the text using UPPER CASE characters. Do Not's: And Never write in tiny, crampt or cursive script, or use lower case characters. The objective here is to enable you or anyone else to be able to read with ease and accuracy what you have written, when in the afore mentioned state of mind and body. Failing to do so, will I guarantee, get someone, if not you, killed. Special Characters Three numbers and one letter demand special attention, as they can be easily misread. So whenever scribbling these down make sure you write them in the following format:    Character:   0   1   7   Z     Write As:   Ø    1      Ƶ  Why? Zero and the letter "O" can be easily misread, therefore write both "O" and zero boldly, the latter with a slash. The reason for doing it boldly, is to ensure that the Ø is distinct from the number "8". The digit 'one' is always written with an underscore to ensure it is read as a number 1 and not as either a letter "I", or any kind of slash "/" or bar "|". As 7, 2 and Z can get confused with one another, they are written as shown to render them distinct. 2. The Tools: Of Pens, Pencils & Paper Do not just carry an ordenary notebook and pencil or pen, they will bleed, rub off, and eventually turn in to a soggy mess. Top: the M4B Military Pen by the 'Fisher Space Pen Company', open. Bottom: The All Weather Pen by 'Rite In The Rain', closed. Actually, they are in fact the same pen, both being made by Fisher, but the lower one has been rebadged for sale under the RITR label. The Fisher 'M4B', or its rebadged 'Rite In The Rain' version, are the perfect field accessory. A simple brass bodied ball point pen, coated in a non-reflective black finish, with a one hand thumb click to open mechanism. The refils come in medium and broad, in both blue or black ink; black broad is best. The special feature is that the permenant ink is designed to write on almost any surface, wet or dry, and even greasy, and the refil itself is pressurised so it will write at any angle, including upside down. They even work underwater. Available from Amazon and elsewhere for about £14.00. For more information see the Fisher website HERE, and there is a YouTube review HERE. Finally, there is a discussion with examples of pen and paper abuse on the EDC Forums. A Q-Connect chinagraph 'pencil' For writing on clear plastic as used for map cases, lamenated Authentication Code Sheets and Triage Cards, use a china-graph 'pencil', as it is easily read, resistant to rubbing, but wipable. Modern chinagraphs are no longer true pencils which have to be sharpened, some have evolved. These are more like a disposable propelling pencil, costing as little as 50p. The Regimental QM's always carries a small stock, so you do not need to buy a box full - we did that already just for you. However if you want coloured actual chinagraph pencils, you can find Staedtler Omnichrom chinagraphs at Cadet Direct. Alternatively you can also use Staedtler Lumocolor non-permenant ink markers made for the purpose, also available here at Cadet Direct. Above Left: an olive green Rite In The Rain top spiral bound notebook, 4" x 6". Above Centre: a MultiCam™ Rite In The Rain Cordura™ notebook cover for the one at left. Above Right: a tan Rite In The Rain side spiral notebook, 4 3/8" x 7 1/4". One piece of kit that is truly invaluable is a Rite In The Rain waterproof notebook, which come in three paper sizes, with either olive green or tan plastic covers: 3" x 5" top spiral bound, with 50 sheets of waterproof paper (1,500 sq. in.) 4" x 6" top spiral bound, with 50 sheets of waterproof paper (2,400 sq. in.) 4 5/8" x 7" side spiral bound, with 32 sheets of waterproof paper (2,072 sq. in.) The figure at the end is our addition, being the available writing surface, using both sides of the paper as a guide to value. Also available are protective MultiCam™ cases for these notebooks offered by the same company. As an example, the price for the 4" x 6" notebook is £6.50 from Survival Aids. See this brief YouTube review HERE. Their full range of Tactical products can be found on their US website HERE. Left: Nyrex Documant Folders Next in our list of tools, are Nyrex or Nirex document folders, which are in universal service with British armed forces. They consist of a series of hard or soft plastic covered folders, containing transparent sleeves for the storage of documents necessary for the battlefield. They come in three sizes A4, A5, and A6, usually in dark olive green. Some have a fixed capacity, while others are expandable using a system of brass screws that securely hold the sleeves and cover in place. They come with either 20, 30 or 40 sleeves, and the expandable version can hold up to 50 easily. Like the other pads and folders, MultiCam™ covers are available for these extremely useful bits of kit. See Kit Monster for a good selection, and . Kit Monster again for covers 3. The Content: C.A.R.O.T. For use when either creating your Field Book (see below), or for writing reports or messages, use the same mnemonic as applied to radio procedural work to help you write just what you need to say and no more: CONCISE, keep it short. Fortunately writing in block capitals is far slower than cursive script, this ironically will help you keep things concise, plus it will allow you more time to think. ACCURACY, be sure to record all the information correctly, check and recheck, time permitting. RELEVANCY, record only the information required by the person with whom you are communicating, do not pad out the message with unnecessary data or woffle. In a message to another person, do not forget to state for who the message is intended, from whom it has come, and when the message was written using the Date Time Group. Where possible you should assign the message a precedence, using the code at Radio Procedure 7. Message Precedence. OBJECTIVE, keep in mind what the intention or purpose of the message is, when you compose it, do not digress. TIMELY, When sending a written message by runner (messenger), do not delay. And remember, keep it neat, well spaced, and printed entirely in capital letters. 4. The Aide Memoire: Your Field Or Battle Book Left; The 'Rite In The Rain' made "Field Book" The final item of kit, is in many ways the most important, this is the 'aide memoire'. In the US it is called a 'Field Book', while in the UK it used to be called the 'Commanders Battle Book', but is today referred to as the 'Tactical Aide Memoire' or TAM. The TAM is a large printed document housed in an A5 sized ring binder. It is supplemented with what are called 'Slate' cards, A5 or A6 printed plastic cards with snipets of infomation useful in the field, normally housed in a Nyrex folder. However, due to the short nature of our operations this format is of limited value to us. Instead, the old fashioned art of hand writing your own Field Book has a lot going for it. Firstly it is by necessity shorter and less comprehensive. But secondly, because you have to write the information in to your book yourself, it is retained by your mind better, and so, hopefully in the heat of battle you will feel the need to refer to it less than someone packing an entire TAM and Nyrex, but then they are operating at much larger scales, and over longer periods of time. Unlike the regular military, you have the advantage of being able to return to the relative safety of our base, and make full use of the web, so no need to carry an entire library with you. Pictured at left is the 'Rite In The Rain' waterproof 'Field Book' #980, which is designed for this purpose. It has 16 pages of printed aide memoire material, and 144 blank pages for your use. The first two of these provide space for your personal details and an index of contents. It measures 4 5/8" x 7 1/4" and is about 3/8" thick, with perfect bound leeves and covers, and is designed to fit in a cargo pocket. The 'Flex' plastic covers, which are printed with even more useful data, are available in either olive green or desert tan. Again MultiCam™ protective covers are also available for these from the maker. Current on offer for £17.90 at Jay Jays. Parting Shot All the above items are available via numerous other venders, including Amazon, so do not feel you have to go to the suppliers I have linked to. Meanwhile follow these simple rules and your missive or great tome, will be easy for you or your comrades to take in and if you do not, then... END OF DOCUMENT

RGHQ-51 Home Page	Battlefield Communications In General	Battlefield Communications Hand Signals	Battlefield Communications Morse Code
Military References Page	Battlefield Communications Semaphore	The RTO's Page	Hand Writing For The Battlefield

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