US Cavalry Scouts: "The Patrol" 1959 US Army; The Big Picture TV-427 (Patreon)

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'"Where is the enemy? What is he doing? How can we prevent it?" THE BIG PICTURE presents "The Patrol," the dramatic and exciting report of seven men sent deep into aggressor-held territory for the answers to these questions. Upon their skill, training, and fortitude can rest the outcome of an entire maneuver. As THE BIG PICTURE points out, thirty years ago such an assignment would have been accomplished by a lightening sortie of mounted men galloping headlong behind enemy lines, sowing confusion and, with luck, returning with the vital information. Today's cavalryman may not seem as glamorous but is certainly more reliable. In the course of their mission the patrol takes advantage of every form of transportation from helicopter to armored patrol car, to rubber raft, to combat boots. This is not a war "game." It has the serious purpose of giving Army units field experience in the doctrines they have studied in training. In wartime, such a mission could well result in the prevention of thousands of casualties.'

Originally a public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_scout

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Cavalry Scout is the job title used to refer to someone who has achieved the military occupational specialty of 19D Armored Reconnaissance Specialist in the Combat Arms branch of the United States Army. As with all enlisted soldiers in the U.S. Cavalry, the person holding the Scout specialization will still be referred to as a ”Trooper”, the traditional colloquialism denoted in the Cavalry's Order of the Spur.

Cavalry Scouts are trained covert operation and direct force specialist. Scouts use their special training to obtain, distribute, and share vital combat and battlefield intelligence on the enemy and on combat circumstances and environmental conditions. The Cavalry Scout is also known as the "eyes and ears" of the Army...

Role

The job of a Cavalry Scout is to operate as one of the first personnel in an area.

Cavalry Scouts gather information on the enemy by dismounted and/or mounted reconnaissance patrols. Cavalry Scouts engage the enemy with anti-armor weapons and scout vehicles in the field, track and report enemy movement and activities, and will direct the employment of various weapon systems onto the enemy.

Their specialized skills enable them to assist with observation and listening posts, perform and help with navigation, and help secure and transport ammunition. The Cavalry Scout leads, serves, or assists as a member of a scout crew, squad, section, or platoon in reconnaissance, security, and other combat operations...

Training and School information

All Cavalry Scouts attend OSUT (One Station Unit Training) at Fort Benning in Georgia. The first phase, roughly 9 weeks, is basic military training. The second phase, roughly 7 weeks long, focuses on becoming a Scout for a total of 16 weeks. The U.S. Army is currently testing and considering extending training to a 22-week OSUT course. During these final weeks the future Cavalry Scouts are trained by Instructors as well as their Drill Sergeants.

The OSUT training was moved from Fort Knox, Kentucky, to Fort Benning, Georgia, in 2011. Prior to current phase, OSUT was offered in the form of Cavalry Scout training with Ranger Assessment Selection combination to better prepare Soldiers for The Global War on Terror. This program ended in 2008 in favor of unit based Ranger School recommendation.

Training is broken into color-coded phases, during which recruits gain increasing freedom, based on the recommendations of their drill Sergeants. Training requires excellent physical and mental condition, and is mostly hands-on, in the field. Due to rigorous training an incoming recruit group can see a drop by half or more prior to graduation...