tactical preschool 2

Another basic, yet vital concept is the difference between Cover and Concealment:


Simply put. Cover stops bullets, Concealment doesn’t. Concealment..well…”conceals” you. The opponent may be able to hit you “through” what you are hiding behind but he doesn’t know you are there. Or perhaps he knows you are there “somewhere” but not sure of your exact location.

Cover on the other hand…the bad guy may know exactly where you are, he just cant hit you through it.  The best of both worlds is when you are behind good cover AND the opponent doesn’t know where you are.

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10 thoughts on “tactical preschool 2”

  1. Correctly stated:

    ‘Safe Cover’ is wholly dependent on what you’re being shot at with. What stops a .22 might not stop a .380, 9mm, .45, RPG, etc, etc.

    Might want to clarify that.

    1. True..but one can get overly pedantic with that approach and I’m working from the KISS principle here…hence the preschool thing….

      Get behind the nearest object that will likely stop an incoming round most likely to be used against you. In civilian confrontations, a high percentage of people who manage to get to cover…period…survive.

      Different folks will have different requirements. In my line of work RPG’s are unlikely. But anything from a .22 to a .357 may come out of a waistband and I wouldn’t waste time trying to figure out what he’s got and “what will stop what”. My advice would be to find the closest reasonable cover and get behind it. You can only work with whats available. I’d like a big solid steel block, but there are not many of those laying about. If you think your car door will stop ANYTHING..well you need to think again.

      If you are getting shot at, better to get behind “something” of significant density; a tree, an engine block, hell even a curb can do in a pinch. And you better be looking for cover ahead of time. Find the best ya got and get to it. If the rounds penetrate then look for better cover if there is any. In the end sometimes you are just dealt a bad hand…make due.

    2. One implication is that if enemy sees you running to cover that will stop his bullets, he will throw a grenade at you and kill you. But if he couldn’t see you, because you were concealed the whole time, he can’t hit you even though the concealment won’t even stop a .22

  2. A good point. Cover is things like engine blocks, concrete or masonry walls, or big trees. In my work I’ve met several people who thought doors, either wooden or cars, were “cover”

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