Reconnaissance and Surveillance Leaders Course (RSLC)

The Reconnaissance and Surveillance Leaders Course is a 29-day course conducted by Delta Company, 3d Squadron, 16th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Benning, GA. The purpose of the course is to teach reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition fundamentals to Soldiers, NCOs, and officers who are currently or may one day find themselves serving in reconnaissance units. What sets RSLC apart from other reconnaissance courses is the focus on those who actually execute reconnaissance and surveillance tasks. RSLC teaches the skill or the “science” of gathering and reporting intelligence. The target audience of RSLC is at the squad and team level with an emphasis on dismounted reconnaissance and surveillance. Although the majority of students are E-4 through E-6, senior NCOs and officers are encouraged to attend and will no doubt be challenged. The course is not limited to Infantry Soldiers. RSLC has proved beneficial to many military occupational specialties as the course has trained Armor, Field Artillery, Signal Corps, and Military Intelligence Soldiers to name a few. In recent years, RSLC has not only trained conventional and special operations Army units, but has also trained Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force service members. As word has spread about the RSLC, inter-agency partners in law enforcement have sought instruction on the technical aspects of collection reporting and communications. 

RSLC is a physically and mentally demanding course where one block of instruction builds upon the next, resulting in a multi-day, graded, field training exercise where students will execute skills learned in both urban and wooded environments. In the first week, students execute a seven hour land navigation course in which they will move cross-country during day and limited visibility covering approximately 15 kilometers. They receive instruction on the fundamentals of reconnaissance and surveillance and are taught how to use equipment in the Army inventory such as thermals, range finders and commercial-off-the-shelf (COT) equipment such as single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras to capture intelligence. Students learn how to camouflage themselves and equipment, stalking, and selection, occupation, and concealment of surveillance sites. The first week culminates in an airborne operation, exposing airborne qualified Soldiers to the considerations needed for a static line parachute insertion. Another factor that makes RSLC unique is that the course is designed to accommodate Military Freefall (MFF) teams that attend. Select cadre members are MFF and MFF Jumpmaster qualified, allowing those teams the opportunity to learn planning considerations of MFF operations as they pertain to reconnaissance and surveillance missions.

Week two begins with a two-day communications class. During this block of instruction, students learn how to send messages across the frequency spectrum, using high frequency (HF), very high frequency (VHF), and ultra high frequency (UHF) radios. Along with conducting voice communications, students learn to send messages using High Performance Waveform (HPW) which allows reconnaissance Soldiers to send written reports and pictures on Microsoft Outlook using the PRC-150 and PRC-117F radios. This skill gives commanders the ability to receive timely, accurate intelligence. Building on the ability to send intelligence via radio, students conduct area and zone reconnaissance as well as static and active surveillance throughout the week in both urban and wooden terrain, perfecting their reporting formats and fieldcraft. Students continue their exposure to insertion and extraction techniques by conducting fast rope insertion/extraction system (FRIES) and special patrol insertion/extraction system (SPIES) training.

The final week and a half are spent with students learning how to plan an operation using the troop leading procedures (TLPs) and incorporating air movement, fires, and evasion and recovery planning. Following the orders process students conduct a 48-hour non-graded situational training exercise (STX) where they will execute the mission they just planned under the watchful eye of RSLC instructors, allowing the students to ask questions and receive assistance along the way. Once this mission is complete and after-action reviews (AARs) are conducted, the students go into isolation planning for their graded culminating FTX. Throughout the FTX, students will execute and be graded on all the skills they learned from planning, reconnaissance and surveillance operations, intelligence reporting techniques, communications, fires, evasion and recovery, and small unit tactics to name a few. The end result is a graduate with the skill to plan and conduct a myriad of reconnaissance and surveillance operations, enhancing the ability of any brigade combat team.

RSLC is not the Long Range Surveillance Leaders Course (LRSLC) of yesteryear. Although RSLC is a course within the Ranger Training Brigade, this is not the fourth phase of Ranger School nor is it mandatory to be airborne or Ranger qualified to attend. RSLC is a constantly evolving course, seeking lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn and Operation Enduring Freedom. RSLC fosters a learning environment where Soldiers from units across the spectrum from conventional Army units to Special Operations Forces (SOF), Marines, Air Force, Navy, and even inter-agency partners can share experiences along with techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) making the course and students better. During cycle breaks RSLC can conduct “menu-based” training. This “menu-based” option is attractive to SOF units and those on an accelerated deployment cycle as it allows the unit to focus on the training it needs in anticipation of future mission sets. Another advantage of RSLC is cost to the unit. RSLC is a live-in course where students have government quarters and meals provided. As budgets begin shrinking, RSLC provides cost effective training where units only pay the cost to get their Soldiers from home station to Fort Benning, GA.