Royal Army College

Lesson Overview

A patrol that lasts more than a few hours, or that must rest, feed, plan, or wait through a night, needs somewhere to do those things securely, and that somewhere is the patrol base. The earlier lessons taught the short halt and the observation post, places a section stops briefly to watch or to rest a little; the patrol base is different in kind, a temporary base in the field that a section occupies for a longer stay, to rest, eat, maintain itself, plan, and hold while still secure. This lesson teaches it, because a section that can move and patrol well but cannot establish and run a secure base is limited to short tasks, and much of the Army's work, a sustained search over a day and a night, a relief task held over time, a presence maintained in an area, requires a section to sustain itself in the field from a base. The patrol base is where a section keeps itself going on a longer task without losing its security, and running one well is the difference between a section that can stay out and do the longer job and one that must come home when the light goes. As with all the practical work of this course, this is the knowledge layer; the establishing and running of a patrol base is built and certified in person and rehearsed in the field and through airsoft military simulation.

The lesson takes the patrol base in three parts. First, what a patrol base is and why a section needs one: a temporary, secure base in the field for the longer stay, distinct from the short halt and the OP, where a section rests and sustains itself while remaining defended, and why the longer tasks the Army does require it. Second, occupying a patrol base: how a section moves into and establishes a base securely, choosing and approaching a position, occupying it without giving it away, and setting the all-round security that makes it a base rather than just a place the section is sitting. Third, the routine of the base: how a section lives in a patrol base securely, the discipline of security maintained at all times, the work of rest, feeding, maintenance, and sentries shared by a routine, the keeping of the base quiet and concealed, and the orderly departure that leaves nothing behind. Throughout, the lesson holds that a patrol base is security and sustainment held together, that it is run by discipline and routine rather than allowed to become a careless camp, and that the section in a base is never off duty, because a base that relaxes its security is a base waiting to be found.

By the end you will be able to explain what a patrol base is, how it differs from the short halt and the OP, and why the longer tasks the Army does require one; occupy and establish a patrol base securely, choosing and approaching a position and setting all-round security; run the routine of a base so a section rests, feeds, maintains itself, and shares the watch while staying secure; keep a base quiet, concealed, and disciplined, and depart it cleanly leaving nothing behind; and explain why a section in a patrol base is never off duty.

Key Terms

Patrol base: a temporary, secure base in the field that a section occupies for a longer stay, to rest, eat, maintain itself, plan, and hold, while remaining defended; distinct from a short halt or OP.
The longer stay: the extended time, hours into a day and night, that distinguishes a patrol base from the brief halt, requiring a section to sustain itself while staying secure.
All-round security (in a base): defence maintained in every direction around the base at all times, so the base cannot be approached unseen from any side, the thing that makes it a base and not just a stop.
Occupation: the disciplined process of moving into and establishing a patrol base, choosing the position, approaching and entering it securely, and setting its security before settling.
Concealment: the keeping of the base hidden, by its position, its quiet, its light and noise discipline, and the absence of signs, so it is not found by sight or sound.
The base routine: the ordered pattern by which the work of the base, security, rest, feeding, maintenance, and sentries, is shared and carried on continuously without security ever lapsing.
Sentry / the watch: the members keeping security at any moment while others rest, rotated by a roster so the watch is unbroken and fairly shared and the base never undefended.
Security maintained at all times: the governing rule of the base, that a proportion of the section is always alert and on security, so the base is never wholly at rest and never off guard.
Light, noise, and track discipline: the strict control of light, sound, and the signs of occupation that would betray a base, kept continuously for as long as the base is held.
Clean departure: leaving the base taking everything and leaving nothing, so the base is not given away after the fact and the ground is left as found, a matter of security and of conduct.

What a patrol base is, and why a section needs one

The patrol base is best understood by contrast with what the course has already taught. Lesson 05 covered the halt and the observation post: places a section stops, the halt briefly to rest or take stock, the OP to watch a piece of ground, both relatively short and focused on a single purpose. The patrol base is different in kind. It is a temporary base in the field that a section occupies for a longer stay, not to watch one thing or to pause for a few minutes, but to sustain itself, to rest, eat, maintain its kit, plan the next phase, and hold securely through an extended period, often including a night. Where the halt is a pause and the OP is a watch, the base is a place to live, securely, for a while. That difference, the longer stay and the need to sustain the section, is what gives the patrol base its own disciplines, because keeping a section secure while it rests and feeds over hours is a harder thing than keeping it secure for a brief halt.

A section needs a patrol base because much of the Army's real work cannot be done in a few hours and brought home before dark. A thorough search of difficult ground may take a day and a night; a relief task may require a section to hold and work in an area over an extended period; a presence may need to be sustained rather than shown once and withdrawn. For all of these, the section must be able to sustain itself in the field, and to do that it needs a secure base to sustain itself from. A section that cannot establish and run a base is limited to short tasks within easy reach of home, while a section that can is able to stay out and do the longer job, which much of the Army's humanitarian and home-defence work requires. The patrol base is therefore not an advanced refinement but a basic enabler of sustained operations: it is what lets a section keep going on a longer task without either exhausting itself, because it can rest, or losing its security, because the base keeps it defended while it does. The whole point of the base is to hold these two things together, sustainment and security: a place where the section can rest and maintain itself precisely because that place is kept secure throughout, so that resting does not mean becoming vulnerable. A section that grasps this treats the base as the thing that makes the longer task possible, and runs it accordingly.

   THE PATROL BASE  (a place to LIVE securely, for the longer stay)

   HALT (Lesson 05) ...... a brief pause -- rest, take stock
   OP (Lesson 05) ........ a watch -- observe a piece of ground
   PATROL BASE ........... a temporary base for the LONGER STAY --
        rest, eat, maintain kit, plan, hold through hours/a night,
        WHILE STAYING DEFENDED

   WHY a section needs one: much real work can't be done in a few
   hours and brought home before dark --
        a day-and-night search · a relief task held over time ·
        a sustained presence
   -> the section must SUSTAIN ITSELF in the field, which needs a
      SECURE BASE to sustain itself from.
   can't run a base -> limited to short tasks near home.
   can run a base -> can STAY OUT and do the longer job.

   the base holds two things together: SUSTAINMENT + SECURITY --
   rest + maintain BECAUSE the place is kept secure throughout, so
   resting never means becoming vulnerable.

Occupying a patrol base

Establishing a patrol base is a disciplined process, not simply stopping and sitting down, because a base is only secure if it is occupied securely, and the moments of moving in are when a base is most easily given away or set up badly. Occupation has a few essential parts a section must get right. The first is choosing the position. A good base position offers concealment, so the base can be hidden, and defensibility, so it can be secured and held, and it is away from the obvious places an observer would look and from likely traffic, so it is not stumbled upon. The section does not simply use the first convenient spot but selects a position that can be kept hidden and held, because the choice of position shapes everything about the base's security thereafter.

The second part is approaching and entering the base without giving it away. A base betrayed as it is occupied is no base at all, so the section approaches the position carefully, by a route that does not advertise where it is going, and enters it without leaving an obvious trail in or making a disturbance that marks the spot. The discipline of a clean, unobtrusive occupation is what keeps the base concealed from the outset; a careless approach that tramples a path straight to the base or makes noise on entry undoes the concealment the position was chosen for. The third and decisive part is setting all-round security before the section settles. The thing that makes a place a patrol base rather than just a spot where the section is sitting is that it is defended in every direction, so that it cannot be approached unseen from any side, and this security is set up first, on occupation, before anyone rests, eats, or relaxes. The section moves into all-round defence, establishes its security, confirms it, and only then begins the routine of the base. To settle into rest or work before the security is set is to be, for that period, an undefended group sitting in the open, which is exactly what a base must never be. Occupation, done right, therefore turns a chosen position into a secure base in a deliberate sequence: choose a position that can be concealed and held, approach and enter it without betraying it, and set the all-round security that makes it a base before the section does anything else. The exact drills of occupation, the formations, the clearing of the position, the siting of sentries, are taught and certified in person; the principles the soldier carries are these, that a base is occupied securely or not at all, and that security comes before settling, every time.

The routine of the base

Once the base is occupied and secure, the section must live in it for the longer stay, and living in a base securely is a matter of discipline and routine, because the danger of a base is not the moment of occupation but the long hours after, when tiredness and the feeling of safety tempt a section to relax its security and let the base become a careless camp. The governing rule that prevents this is that security is maintained at all times. A proportion of the section is always alert and on security, watching the all-round arcs, while others rest, eat, or work, so that the base is never wholly at rest and never off guard. The section in a base is never off duty: even as members sleep, the base is awake, because a base that lets its security lapse, that lets every member rest at once or the watch grow slack in the quiet hours, is a base waiting to be found and caught. This is the hardest discipline of the base, to keep security unbroken through long, quiet, tiring hours when nothing seems to be happening, and it is exactly then that it matters most.

The work of the base is shared and sustained by a routine. A section in a base has things it must do, keep the watch, rest its members, eat, maintain kit and weapons, attend to feet and welfare, plan the next phase, and these are organised by a routine that shares them out and keeps them going continuously without security ever lapsing. The watch is rotated by a roster so that it is unbroken and fairly shared, no member doing too much or too little, and so that security continues seamlessly as members cycle between rest and the watch. Rest is taken in turn, so the section is never all asleep, and so that over the longer stay the section stays rested enough to do its task and to move and react if it must. Feeding and maintenance are done a part of the section at a time, the rest staying on security, so the section sustains itself without ever standing down as a whole. Through all of it, concealment is held: light, noise, and track discipline are kept continuously, the base showing no light, making little sound, and leaving few signs, for as long as it is occupied, because a base betrayed at any point in the long stay is as lost as one betrayed on occupation. And when the section leaves, it departs cleanly: it takes everything it brought and leaves nothing behind, no kit, no rubbish, no obvious sign that a section was there, both so the base is not given away after the fact and as a matter of conduct, leaving the ground as it was found, which on the Army's home and humanitarian ground is a matter of respect as well as security. Run this way, by the rule of security at all times and the discipline of a shared routine, a patrol base does its job: it lets a section rest, sustain itself, and hold over the longer stay while remaining, every hour, a secure base rather than a vulnerable camp. The section that masters the base is the section that can stay out and do the long task, which is much of what the Army is for.

   THE ROUTINE OF THE BASE  (live in it securely; never off duty)

   GOVERNING RULE: SECURITY MAINTAINED AT ALL TIMES
        a proportion always alert on the all-round arcs while others
        rest/eat/work -> the base is NEVER wholly at rest
        hardest in the long, quiet, tiring hours -- exactly when it
        matters most (a base that relaxes is a base waiting to be found)

   THE WORK, SHARED BY ROUTINE (security never lapses):
        WATCH ........ rotated by roster -- unbroken + fairly shared
        REST ......... in turn -- never all asleep; stay rested to react
        FEED + MAINTAIN  a part at a time, the rest on security
        CONCEAL ...... light, noise + track discipline kept CONTINUOUSLY
        (a base betrayed at any hour is as lost as one betrayed at first)

   CLEAN DEPARTURE: take everything, leave nothing -- no kit, rubbish,
        or sign; the base not given away after the fact; ground left as
        found (security AND conduct, on home/humanitarian ground)

   master the base -> the section can STAY OUT + do the long task.

In Practice: A Base for a Day-and-Night Search

A Kaharagian section is tasked to search a large area of difficult ground for signs of a missing group, a job that cannot be done in a few hours and will run through a day and a night. Rather than search until dark and come home, the section establishes a patrol base, so it can rest, sustain itself, and continue the search over the longer period, and how it runs the base is this lesson in practice. It chooses its base position with care: a concealed, defensible spot away from the obvious places and the likely tracks, where it can hide and hold. It approaches and occupies the position without advertising it, leaving no trampled path straight to the base and making no disturbance that marks the spot, and on occupation it sets all-round security first, moving into all-round defence and confirming it before anyone rests, because the section knows that to settle before the security is set would be to sit undefended in the open.

Through the day and night in the base, the section lives by the rule that security is maintained at all times. A part of the section is always on the watch, alert on the all-round arcs, while others rest, eat, and maintain their kit and feet, and the watch is rotated by a roster so it is unbroken and fairly shared. The section is never all asleep and never stands down as a whole; even in the quiet, tired hours of the night, when nothing seems to be happening and the temptation to let the watch grow slack is strongest, the base stays awake, because the section understands that a base that relaxes its security is a base waiting to be found. Concealment is held the whole time, no careless light, little sound, few signs, so the base is not given away during the long stay. From this secure base the section sends out its search efforts and returns to rest and re-plan, sustaining a thorough search over a day and a night that no single push could have managed. When the task is done, the section departs cleanly, taking everything and leaving nothing, so the base is not given away after the fact and the ground is left as it was found.

The value is a long task done that a section without a base could not have managed. Because the section could establish and run a secure base, it stayed out, rested without becoming vulnerable, and searched thoroughly over a day and a night, covering ground and giving the missing group the best chance of being found. A section that could not run a base would have had to search in a single tiring push and come home when the light went, covering less and sustaining nothing. And a section that ran its base carelessly, letting all rest at once, betraying the position on occupation, or relaxing the watch in the quiet hours, would have turned its base into a vulnerable camp and risked being caught off guard. This section held sustainment and security together by the rule of security at all times and the discipline of a shared routine, which is the whole of the patrol base and what lets a section stay out and do the longer job the Army so often needs done.

Check Your Understanding

Explain what a patrol base is and how it differs in kind from the short halt and the observation post of Lesson 05. Why do much of the Army's longer tasks require a base, and how does the base hold sustainment and security together so that resting does not mean becoming vulnerable?
Describe the disciplined occupation of a patrol base: choosing a position, approaching and entering it without giving it away, and setting all-round security. Why is security set before the section settles, and why is a base "occupied securely or not at all"?
Explain the governing rule that security is maintained at all times, and why "the section in a base is never off duty." Describe how the base routine shares the watch, rest, feeding, and maintenance without security lapsing, why concealment must be held throughout, and why the section departs cleanly.

Reflection (write a short paragraph): This lesson argues that the danger of a patrol base is not the moment of occupation but the long, quiet hours after, when tiredness and the feeling of safety tempt a section to relax its security and let the base become a careless camp. Think about how hard it is to keep an unbroken watch and full discipline through a long night when nothing seems to be happening, and why that is exactly when a base is most likely to be caught off guard. Why is "security maintained at all times" the rule that makes a base a base rather than a vulnerable camp, and what would it take to hold your part of the watch and the routine faithfully when the temptation to let it slide is strongest?

Summary

A patrol that lasts more than a few hours, or must rest, feed, plan, or wait through a night, needs a patrol base: a temporary, secure base in the field for the longer stay, distinct in kind from the short halt and the observation post, where a section sustains itself while remaining defended.
A section needs a base because much of the Army's work, a day-and-night search, a relief task held over time, a sustained presence, cannot be done in a few hours; the base lets a section sustain itself in the field, holding sustainment and security together so that it can rest and maintain itself precisely because the base is kept secure throughout.
Occupy a base by a disciplined sequence: choose a position that can be concealed and held, away from the obvious places and likely tracks; approach and enter it without giving it away or leaving an obvious trail; and set all-round security first, before the section rests or works, because a base is occupied securely or not at all and security comes before settling.
Live in the base by the governing rule that security is maintained at all times: a proportion of the section is always alert on the all-round arcs while others rest, so the base is never wholly at rest and the section is never off duty, the discipline hardest and most necessary in the long, quiet hours when a relaxed base is a base waiting to be found.
Share the work by a routine: the watch rotated by roster and unbroken, rest taken in turn so the section is never all asleep, feeding and maintenance done a part at a time with the rest on security, and light, noise, and track discipline held continuously; and depart cleanly, taking everything and leaving nothing, both for security and as conduct that leaves the ground as found.
The section that can establish and run a secure base can stay out and do the longer task, which is much of what the Army is for; this is the knowledge layer, with the base drills built and certified in person and rehearsed in the field and through airsoft simulation.
Cross-references: extends the halt and observation of Lesson 05 to the longer stay, and rests on the security, formations, and movement of Lessons 03 and 04 and the night disciplines of Lesson 08; draws on the field-living, shelter, and sustainment of the Survival and Field Living course for living in the field, and the navigation of Navigation and Fieldcraft (FLD 201) for siting and finding the base; and enables the sustained patrols, searches, and relief tasks that culminate in Lesson 10.

The Patrol Base