Scouting/Recon

[RERomine]

Originally Posted by c_of_red

Jeeps, like armored cars, scout cars, etc have crews. I assume that the crew of a scout vehicle has been trained on observations techniques and has practiced those techniques until they are better at them then the average GI.
Sort of like why in the game a crew has to remount it's own vehicle, or why a rifle squad cannot grab the Sagger left laying on the ground after it's crew got mowed down several turns ago.
Scouting is a skill set, an MOS, 19D according to this;
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/enlistedjobs/a/19d.htm

My last unit was 2/12 Cav, so I'm familiar with what they do. The basic question comes down to simply spotting opposing forces. An enemy force moving in traveling, traveling overwatch, bounding overwatch formations, etc., isn't any more likely to be spotted by a scout than by an average joe. Identifying what has been spotted is more in tune with the training, but that item is rendered moot within the game. If you see it, you know what it is.

Training is also more in tune with avoiding being spotted while scouting. In the game, it's up to the code and how the player moves the unit. You might have an argument here that scouts should be more difficult to spot, but leg scouts are already size 0.

And there are a whole host of other aspects of scout training that don't have anything to do with looking for the enemy. An example would be evaluating routes for heavier assets following behind. It wouldn't do well to have an M1A2 come up to a bridge that wasn't able to handle it's weight. Even that aspect is moot in the game. All bridges handle all tanks. In game terms, what is really left that makes a scout different than regular units?

If you want details on what scouts do, at least in the US Army, here is are links to FM 7-92 and FM 17-98:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...001/index.html

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...-98/index.html

Nothing classified in these or they wouldn't be on the internet.