Combat Police
Friday, September 3rd, 2010Is there a special form of sign language used by soldiers/police to talk during combat?
You see it on tv a lot, in war movies and police shows, when they have to communicate orders silently. It looks like a formal language, but not really like ASL.
Well, I suspected there was, but I'm interested in any details. What's it called? How many variations are there? Is it a subset of ASL, or completely different? Are there any online guides that show basic signs and meanings?
In todays combat no. Most of todays combat is fought in an urban environment. In Iraq currently the majority of patrol are mounted. We talk through the use of CVC's and the only time we use hand signals is when we are mounted and trying to communicate with a dismounted troop on the ground that has no radio. When dismounted in Iraq, hand signals aren't necessary because you are usually surrounded by kids.