This article will examine urban evasion as a necessary component of urban operations. It will discuss urban evasion in terms of the potential guidance that can be derived from information that currently exists in the form of urban operational doctrine. Finally, it will take a preliminary look at certain guidance offered for the traditional evasion environments, and examine how that guidance can be either directly or indirectly applied to an urban setting. This initial article on urban evasion should by no means be considered all encompassing; to the contrary, it is designed to stimulate discussion on the topic of urban evasion.

Recent military trends indicate that the open battlefields of the past are increasingly shifting to the more complex environments of the city. According to an article in the January 1998 issue of the Armed Forces Journal International, US forces have been committed 27 times since 1977. Ten of those missions took place in urban areas, while 11 others were conducted in combined urban and rural environments. It is highly likely that US military personnel will increasingly find themselves involved in one or more of a variety of combat or peacekeeping operations in urban and/or suburban areas of developing nations.

There are at least four important reasons for this. First is the rapid urbanization that will continue to occur in the developing world. The UN estimates that each day 150,000 people in developing countries move into cities. By 2025, nearly 2/3 of the world's population will live in urban areas. As mass urbanization occurs in a poor country, internal conflicts – political, social, cultural, religious, ethnic, and tribal – are likely to increase. A government's inability to solve or contain such conflicts will make these cities potential areas of violence and unrest.

Compounding the problems inherent to urbanization is the instability caused by urban terrorist groups, insurgents and criminal organizations – all past and potential future adversaries of US military personnel.

A third factor, which indicates that US military personnel will continue to be involved in urban operations, is the location in urban areas of many ports and airfields, essential points of entry into any area of operation. Troops sent in to seize these assets are likely to find themselves on an urban battlefield.

Finally, major prison facilities in which US personnel might be held in the event they are detained or captured are frequently located in urban areas. If US prisoners mange to escape from these facilities, they will be faced with an urban environment. (Hanoi and Baghdad are past examples.)

As US personnel become increasingly involved in urban operations, the possibility for them to become isolated and forced to evade in a hostile or semi-hostile urban environment will also increase. However, urban evasion has not received the attention it merits. The instruction of urban evasion is not an established part of Level C Code of Conduct training.

Overall, US military training continues to stress the traditional open battlefield, and avoidance of built-up areas. Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) schools instruct their students on survival and evasion in the traditional tropical, jungle, desert, and arctic environments. The Army SERE school teaches some barrier infiltration, tunnel movement and hand-to-hand combat techniques; but, like the other schools, its basic precept regarding urban evasion is simply to "avoid it."

Most SERE professionals today agree that the basic advice that can be offered to US military members who become isolated and have no choice but to evade in an urban area is to evade out of the city. They also agree that successful evasion in an urban area for any great length of time (especially in areas of Asia or Africa where Americans are easily identified), would be nearly impossible without the assistance of "friendly personnel."

As an operational concept, urban evasion has not yet been fully examined by the US military. However, both the Army and Marine Corps agree that their personnel will increasingly be involved in urban operations. US Army Field Manual (FM) 90-10-1, An Infantryman's Guide to Combat in Built-Up Areas, states, "The increased population and accelerated growth of cities have made the problems of combat in built-up areas an urgent requirement for the US Army. This type of combat cannot be avoided." The Army is now emphasizing more Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain (MOUT) training for its mechanized infantry, cavalry, and military police personnel. The Marine Crops has recently begun (MHP note: completed since this article was written) as series of experiments called "Urban Warrior" to test tactics, operational concepts, and equipment for use in the urban environment. Preliminary research into current urban operational doctrine, as well as available information about the on-going USMC experiments, indicates that a great amount of information about urban operations can be evaluated for its application to urban evasion. In addition, standing intelligence requirements levied to support other urban activities can and should be assessed for their application to urban evasion.

Evasion Guidance from Existing Information

FM 90-10-1 offers limited information on subjects such as cover and concealment in urban areas, which can be directly applied to urban evasion. Chapter Six, Sniper Operations on Urban Terrain, of US Army Training Circular (TC) 31-32 provides information on urban camouflage techniques, hide sites, environmental considerations, etc. Although this particular guidance is aimed at a specific audience (Army snipers), much of it can be applied as general urban evasion guidance for conventional forces as well. "Specialized" military units, as well as certain civilian intelligence organizations and federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies also provide a degree of urban training to their "elite" personnel. This information should be assessed in terms of its potential value to general urban evasion.

USMC Experiments and Their Potential Application to Urban Evasion

Movement: The Marine Corps is experimenting with movement techniques through what they call the "three-dimensional characteristics" of urban terrain. An individual operating in a city must know how to maneuver on the surface (through and around buildings), under the surface (subways, tunnels, sewers), and over the surface (bridges, rooftops). The same movement techniques taught to "urban warriors" can be used by that individual in the event he or she becomes an urban evader.

Technology: The Marines are also testing certain and-carried and helmet-mounted devices for the urban battlefield. One is an identification friend-or-foe (IFF) system that will respond within the dense three-dimensional urban environment to any inquiry from a helicopter. Cellular phones with build-in GPS receivers were also mentioned as technologies that should be exploited for the urban battlefield. Although they were discussed in terms of ensuring more accurate fire support, their utility in rescuing an evader is obvious.

Current and Potential Intelligence Objectives (IOs) Applicable to Urban Evasion

Both the urban warrior and urban evader will rely heavily upon intelligence, but providing accurate current intelligence on urban areas in a conflict is difficult at best. The terrain may change rapidly as buildings, roads, tunnels, and hospitals are damaged or destroyed. What had been a "friendly" area may rapidly become unfriendly. Mogadishu is a case in point. IOs should include lines of communication; location of tunnels, subways, and sewage systems; location of religious institutions and medical facilities; and US embassies or Consulates and Embassy evacuation routes. These items, originally derived in support of urban operations, will be just as essential to urban evasion. Additional information for an urban evader includes the location of Non-Government Organizations, International Organizations, and "friendly" Embassies or Consulates; as well as the location of ethnic or religious minorities that might be willing to assist an isolated American. An urban evader might also be interested in the types of fruits and vegetables the inhabitants of a certain urban or suburban area commonly grow in their backyard gardens.

SERE Guidance

Much of the standard guidance currently provided to all evaders applies to an individual evading in an urban area. For example, all evaders are advised to lie low and observe an area or individual before he or she decides to move or approach members of the population. An urban evader, as evaders in other environments, would be advised to treat all water – even tap water – prior to drinking. Most importantly, all evaders, regardless of their environment, need to know and understand the characteristics of the security situation and culture in which they may find themselves.

Other generic SERE guidance requires analysis to determine its usefulness in an urban environment. An urban evader, for instance, might be less concerned with identifying poisonous plants or dangerous marine and wildlife than his or her counterpart in a more traditional environment. An individual evading in a city would need to be concerned with the potential injuries from falling, cuts, cuts from broken glass or other sharp objects, or electrocution from fallen wires. It would be just as beneficial for a potential urban evader to learn how to walk with minimal noise over broken glass, rubble, or other debris as it is for a jungle evader to learn how to walk silently over dried leaves or twigs. It might also be helpful for him or her to have had some practice climbing silently in and our of windows or through breaks in walls.

Summary

Military operations in general will increasingly be conducted in urban environments, and U personnel will more often find themselves involved in urban conflicts worldwide. Urban evasion should be considered a necessary component of urban operations. A great volume of information and guidance exists to serve as a starting point in the formulation of basic urban evasion guidance, SERE professionals can no longer afford to simply advise their students to "avoid" evading in a city when those students are going to be deployed into that very city.

This article is meant to stimulate thought and discussion on the topic of urban evasion.

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