Listen up, privates!
You wind up in some sticky situations when you’re in the field.
You might be in a dense forest, surrounded by enemies.
You can’t see them, but even the slightest mistake on your part could give away your
team’s location and have them pouring out of the trees at you.
You’ve got to think fast in combat situations, and you might see something critical - a trap
waiting for you.
You’ve got to alert your team - but even the slightest sound out of place could alert
the enemy.
What do you do?
The good news is, Uncle Sam has you covered.
Welcome to the world of military hand and arm signals.
There are a lot of ways to communicate in combat situations, even when you can’t talk.
Using flares and other pyrotechnics is a great way to signal your location for a rescue or
backup - but that only works if there’s no enemies about, or if they already know
where you are and you need an extraction.
But if you want to communicate with your fellow troops without causing any sort of fuss, you
need a silent and effective way to get simple ideas across.
That’s why the military uses hand signals to communicate in the field.
Of course, communicating with the hands is nothing new.
Remember when you were a kid and were taking a little too long to come in for dinner?
As soon as mom put her hands on her hips, you knew she meant business.
Or when you were listening to music while dad was watching his game shows?
As soon as he put his finger to his lips, it was time to move to the other room.
People have been communicating with gestures for a long time - and it evolved into a more
complex version, with deaf people using a versatile series of gestures called sign language
to communicate since the late 19th century.
And it was only a matter of time before it made its way to the battlefield.
First introduced in the aftermath of World War 2, the signals got one update decades
later to add new signals and refine some of the gestures.
There’s a simple reason all soldiers are trained to know these gestures - when you’re
armed with knowledge, you don’t need anything to communicate in the field but a working
arm and a clear line of sight.
Squad leaders can maintain command and control over their unit no matter the circumstances,
and units often customize their own hand signals for specific missions.
Of course, nothing’s foolproof.
Military hand and arm signals do have their weak points, with the first being their range
and reliability.
If a unit is mired down in fog or it’s a dark night, it can be hard to see feet in
front of your face.
This also goes for rocky and uneven terrain, where the leader may be over a hill and his
men behind him can’t see him clearly.
The signals can also lead to misunderstandings if two units are crossing over and they see
each other’s signals.
That’s why the brass encourages standardized signals, but making them too standardized
has its own risks.
If every unit is using the same signals, they can be seen repeatedly by the enemy, understood
- and intercepted, eliminating the goal of hiding actions from the enemy or even allowing
the enemy to set up traps.
No system is perfect - but few are more versatile than hand signals.
A soldier could find themselves in any number of situations that impair verbal communication.
You could be in a hot site surrounded by enemies.
You could be wearing gas masks to protect yourselves from toxic fumes.
You could even be communicating with a fellow soldier from inside a cockpit, only having
a few seconds to get across a mission before you speed in opposite directions.
In all of these situations, one system works flawlessly to get across a clear message - using
your hand signals.
Now, are you ready to learn some US Military arm and hand signals?
You’ve actually known some of them for years!
One of the most common uses of hand signals is to communicate time.
You need to communicate that the unit is moving in three seconds?
Just hold up three fingers!
But this isn’t kindergarten, where you could just count on your fingers.
You’ve usually got at least one hand busy, and only five fingers to work with.
So how do you communicate larger numbers?
The military has specific gestures for those.
For six through nine, you’re going to pinch the thumb and one finger together while holding
up the rest - which finger it is will give away the number moving from your pinky for
six to your index for nine.
For ten, you’ll want to create a circle with all five fingers.
Need thirty seconds - like if that’s when the unit’s about to jump out of a plane?
Hold the thumb and index finger apart by about an inch.
But numbers are just scratching the surface!
Need to get your unit’s attention?
It’s as simple as extending your arm out sideways, palm to the front, and then waving
your arm up to your head and back down several times.
This one can be seen pretty easily - but it can also be seen by enemies in the vicinity,
so keep an eye out.
Time to move out?
Just extend your arm towards the person closest to you, then raise your arm just above horizontal
with your palm facing them.
This way they know you’re ready to move, and they can communicate any dangers before
proceeding.
Need to mount your supplies for an operation?
Just communicate with the unit by extending the arm with the hand straight and the palm
outward, and move the arm up and down to a little above the shoulder.
This differs from the attention signal by the stiffer arm and lower level, and they’ll
know to start getting ready.
But things don’t always go smoothly with signals - and you should be ready.
Need to cancel a previous command?
Maybe you just sighted a problem in the area, or realized you made a mistake.
Raise both your arms above your head and cross your wrists over your helmet, making an X
signal.
This gets the order to stop across loud and clear.
But what if one of the men makes a signal - and you just don’t get it?
There’s a way to communicate that too.
Raise both your arms sideways, bent at the elbow, and place both your hands across the
face with the palms in front.
This will slow things down and get the signaler to repeat and hopefully clarify.
Need to get everyone moving in a hurry?
Just simulate the cranking of an engine by making a fist and moving your arm in a circle
at waist level.
If you need to do this at night when the subtle motion might be harder to see, use a flashlight
to make a figure eight signal in front of your body.
But what if you need to stop in a hurry?
Just raise your hand upward to the full length, palm forward - and hold it like a statue until
the person you’re addressing gets that.
At night, you can use a light horizontally back and forth in front of you to stop any
vehicles or engines before they cross into dangerous territory.
Of course, your unit isn't the only people you might encounter in the field - and getting
that across quickly can be the difference between life and death.
You see an enemy.
You need to react fast to let your team know that it’s time to mobilize and prepare for
combat.
Just hold your hand over your weapon hand, palm extended towards your weapon.
Silently, your team can move for their weapons and get the drop on the enemy before they
get the drop on you.
But what if you see a civilian?
If it’s an adult, just hold your hand extended to around shoulder level, indicating adult
height and letting the team approach them without being prepared for combat - but still
cautious.
If it’s a kid, hold your hand at roughly waist-level, which will indicate an even lower
threat level.
And what if it’s not a kid...but a very good boy?
A dog is a welcome sight in most situations, but in combat it can be tricky to address.
Dogs are unpredictable and can start barking, alerting the enemy to an alien presence in
the area.
That’s why it’s important to approach them cautiously - starting with giving a hand
signal to the unit of a partially extended arm and an upturned palm - almost like you
were giving that good boy a scratch under the chin.
But sometimes, you’ll need to be prepared for some nasty situations.
One of the biggest dangers facing any unit is a sniper.
These gunmen are often stationed far away from you and can pick you off from a distance
one at a time.
If you see one on the horizon, you might only have seconds to find cover.
That’s why it’s important to make a quick motion of putting your hand to your eye, your
fingers curled as if you were looking through a scope.
Then you can begin moving to shielded territory before the sniper can open fire.
Some enemies play dirty - and you need to be prepared.
If an enemy has taken a hostage, be it a local civilian or a member of the unit, the team
needs to know to hold their fire to protect the innocent life if possible.
To signal this, hold your hand to your throat and grip lightly, to indicate someone being
held against their will.
This will de-escalate the situation and increase the odds of a safe rescue.
But what if you’re about to come across a high-value target?
It’s rare to see an enemy commander in the field, as they’re more likely to be back
at base giving orders.
But if you’re lucky enough to stumble upon the enemy leader, this may be the most important
approach of your career.
To ensure the team takes all the precautions to capture the enemy leader, hold your hand
on the upper part of your weapon arm, signaling for their attention and letting you give any
extra instructions.
Every sense matters in combat - and sometimes it can save your life.
Most hand signals are based on visual or auditory indicators giving away a location or danger.
But another sense can be critical to staying alive - smell.
If you smell gasoline in an area, this could not only indicate enemy activity, but could
make it extremely dangerous to set off any weapons and potentially trigger an explosion.
At the first sign of a gas smell, hold your hand over your nose as if you’re pinching
it to let the whole unit know to hold their fire.
Making an entry can be one of the most dangerous things a unit does - so here’s how to make
it safer.
You’ve gotten intel that an enemy or hostage is located inside a building.
Now you need to make your entry.
But what’s the safest way - and how to communicate it to the men?
If you want to enter through the standard door, trace the outline of a door with your
hand - covering the left, top, and right sides.
If you want to breach through a window instead, just complete that signal by adding the bottom
part of the frame as well.
Time to hit that site!
But to get out alive, you might need to know what to do in the event of some deadly situations.
Death comes from the air, and an air attack can be one of the hardest to survive.
You’ll only have seconds to warn the troops, so quickly raise your arms over your head
and cross them at a forty-five degree angle with your hands forming an X.
If there’s a chance to take cover, raise your arm at a forty-five degree angle and
ten lower it down to your side, indicating that the unit should head to the nearest safe
space.
You might have an even shorter time to survive the next attack.
In the event of a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack, the danger can linger in
the air long past the initial attack.
You might have only seconds to let your team know to get their gas masks on, so quickly
extend your arms and fists and bend your arms to your shoulders - repeating as many times
as needed till your team gets the message.
Warfare is a fast-evolving field, and the odds are the US military’s hand and arm
signals will evolve again eventually.
But until then, these signals are a unit’s best chance to stay in contact and communicate
important messages without letting the enemy know what they’re planning.
Dismissed!
For more on how to survive in the military, check out “Most Dangerous Military/Army
Jobs”, or watch “Can You Believe the Military Eats This Stuff (Military Food)” for more
on what it’s like to chow down in the field.