Plan a patrol route as a short list of checkpoints joined by legs, with a distance, a bearing and a timed arrival for each, then add an overdue time after which the posts treat the patrol as missing. At a stop-and-listen pace of about 3 km/h a 4.4 km route takes about 88 minutes, so an overdue time of 1.5 times the plan is about 132 minutes.
Part of Watch and Patrol Scheduling
Patrol route planning is the choice of checkpoints, legs and times for a patrol so that it covers what the posts cannot see and can be found if it fails to return.
Which Route-Planning Article
The corpus has two articles called Route Planning. The one for roads is about wagon grades and switchbacks (Route Planning for road construction) and is not about patrols. The foot-travel article is Route Planning (foot travel): break a route into legs, each with a compass bearing, a distance and a recognisable waypoint. This article adds the timing and overdue rules a patrol needs.
What You Need
- A sketch map of the area with the posts, dead ground, warning devices and caches marked (Sketch Mapping).
- A compass and a pace count (Pace Counting).
- Landmarks you cannot miss under stress (Landmark Memory).
- A way to report: the patrol’s signals and the posts that will hear them (Communication Between Posts).
Method: Building A Timed Route
Step 1: List what the patrol must cover. Dead ground the posts cannot see, the outer warning devices, the cache and water points. Everything else is a bonus.
Step 2: Choose checkpoints, each a place the patrol can stop, observe, listen and report from, preferably with cover and a view back.
Step 3: Join them into legs and note for each: distance, bearing, the next landmark, hazards (stream crossing, steep ground).
Step 4: Time each leg. Walking at about 5 km/h on a good surface is an ordinary pace (a figure I am recalling); a patrol that stops to look and listen is slower. Test a trial walk and use the measured pace.
Step 5: Add listening halts and checkpoints to the pace rather than as extra time, so the plan matches what the patrol actually does.
Step 6: Set an overdue time and tell the posts the route and the times in advance.
Step 7: Prepare two or three alternative routes that cover the same checkpoints in a different order (Patrol Patterns).
Worked Example: A Timed Route
Example inputs: four legs and a stop-and-listen pace of 3 km/h (an assumed planning value; replace it with your measured pace).
| Leg | Length | Cumulative | Planned arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gate to north field | 1.2 km | 1.2 km | 1.2 / 3 = 0.40 h = 24 min |
| North field to stream | 0.8 km | 2.0 km | 2.0 / 3 = 0.67 h = 40 min |
| Stream to hill | 1.0 km | 3.0 km | 3.0 / 3 = 1.0 h = 60 min |
| Hill to gate | 1.4 km | 4.4 km | 4.4 / 3 = 1.47 h = 88 min |
The overdue time is 1.5 x 88 = 132 minutes (an example margin). If the patrol has not reported at the gate by then, two people go out along the planned route and a post watches for a signal. The posts also use the checkpoint times: a patrol more than about half an hour late at the stream is behind, and the post nearest the stream looks for it.
Compass error matters over distance: a bearing 5 degrees off drifts sideways by distance x tan 5 degrees, which is 0.087 times the leg. On a 1.0 km leg that is about 87 m; on a 2.0 km leg about 175 m. Use landmarks and handrail features (Handrail Features) to correct drift, not just the compass.
Common Mistakes
- A route nobody has walked in daylight. Walk it before using it at night.
- No overdue time. Without one the posts cannot tell late from lost.
- Checkpoints in the open. The stop point is where a patrol is most visible.
- Planning at a road pace. A patrol that stops and listens does not walk 5 km/h.
Safety
Streams, slopes and the settlement's own devices
Stream crossings, steep ground, ice and your own tripwires and pits are the commonest causes of patrol injury. Mark the crossings, know where every warning device lies, and do not plan a leg through water you have not tested at the season’s level. Carry water and a light, shielded.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Patrol Patterns — varying routes without losing coverage
- Combine with: Night Patrols — the same route in the dark