The art of the combat foot patrol: Watching the man walking point

For my Korean War research I re-read the terrific memoir The Last Parallel: A Marine’s War Journal, by Martin Russ, and was struck this time by his mini-essay on the beauty of watching a good point man on a patrol.

The point man is way out in front of the others. It is his responsibility to detect any signs of an enemy ambush… When a point man sees something that really worries him, he will merely drop down flat on the ground, and everyone behind him will do the same.

The strain on a point man is constant and he is usually exhausted by the end of the patrol. Always volunteers. There are some men, like Van Horn, who are great at it and feel obligated he offer their services often… It may sound phony, but — to me — being a good point man requires talent. It is a beautiful thing to watch a good one at work.

… The usual method of locomotion is not merely to walk or step. The idea is obviously to move as quietly as possible. In an ideal sense, a man will support himself on one leg and with the other free foot he will poke gently at the ground in front of him. When he finds a spot that is free of twigs or leaves, he will put his weight on that foot and continue the process through the entire patrol. I have never seen Van Horn move any other way. The pace is dreamlike… In three minutes I had taken twenty-six steps — not quite nine steps a minute.

Something I’ve noticed: When I told people in conversation that I was deep into World War II in my research, they generally seemed mildly interested. But mention that I am deep into the Korean War and watch them start edging away… I think their message is, a normal person can be interested in World War II, but you have to be kind of around the bend to be interested in the Korean War.