# Special Ops hand signals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795 "2005-05-14T03:02:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/1 "2005-05-14T03:02:10Z")
Everybody from Jack Bauer to Jack O’Neill to Eric Cartman uses those Special Ops hand signals. Does anyone have a link to a site that explains them? ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/2 "2005-05-14T03:40:46Z")
Find some military manuals and go through those. Scroll down [here](http://www.specialoperations.com/Focus/Tactics/Hand_Signals/default.htm) and see some. I don’t think they’re strictly from SpecOps though. ---
**Author:** ![AmbushBug](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ambushbug/32/4600_2.png) [@AmbushBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmbushBug)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/3 "2005-05-14T06:36:19Z")
[Here](http://dotnot.org/images/signals.png) is a handy guide. All you need and then some! [sub]note: not really. apologies for infecting GQ with humor.[/sub] I found some real ones with a google image search of [hand signals army](http://images.google.com/images?q=hand+signals+army) which lead to [globalsecurity.org](http://globalsecurity.org) like [this](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/3-22-31/image359.gif) and [that](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/3-22-68/image921.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/4 "2005-05-14T07:43:25Z")
Just wanted to thank **AmbushBug** for that first link – some of those captions are _hilarious!_😃 “Jesus Christ! They’re shooting at us!” “Be quiet for once in your goddamned lives already” “Shit, I think he was on our side” “This is what I think of your opinion” Ripe for parody material… ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/5 "2005-05-14T08:35:03Z")
…Can’t resist hijack… **AmbushBug** ’s cite is great, but is there a way for this .png file to stay full size? On my screen (MSIE) as soon as it finishes loading it shrinks and the captions can’t be read. (I want to pass it on to my friend John.) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/6 "2005-05-14T09:00:29Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Just wanted to thank **AmbushBug** for that first link – some of those captions are _hilarious!_😃 > > “Jesus Christ! They’re shooting at us!” > “Be quiet for once in your goddamned lives already” > “Shit, I think he was on our side” > “This is what I think of your opinion” > > Ripe for parody material… Yeah, I’m thinking that is IS a parody…it’s from a blog, not any official site. Funny, though. Oh, and **MaryEFoo** , you can save the file to your computer, then open it using whatever you use for .jpg’s. You should be able to zoom in/out in that application. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/7 "2005-05-14T14:33:16Z")
The problem is that every unit has hand signals that are a little different. There is no doctrine on hand signals. Some hand signals are written in stone – like cease fire, or GAS (NBC)! And things like Halt always seem to be the same thing no matter where you go. But hand signals can call for a specific action or formation and, while they are SOP within the Unit, they are not universal across the military. ---
**Author:** ![Dio2112](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Dio2112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dio2112)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/8 "2005-05-14T14:57:02Z")
> [@MaryEFoo](#): > > …Can’t resist hijack… **AmbushBug** ’s cite is great, but is there a way for this .png file to stay full size? On my screen (MSIE) as soon as it finishes loading it shrinks and the captions can’t be read. Hover your mouse over the picture and an icon will appear at the bottom right. Click that to expand the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Viscera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/258eb7/32.png) [@Viscera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viscera)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/9 "2005-05-14T15:03:48Z")
Or, in IE, click Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, and under Multimedia, uncheck “Enable Automatic Image Resizing”. Vis ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/10 "2005-05-14T16:29:36Z")
[slight hijack] Hey **Bear\_Nenno** , when was the last time you used/saw pyrotechnic signals? I’m going through preparatory convoy training now, and our instructors mentioned it, but it seems pretty useless. Unless I radio to the gun trucks, “Lay fire on the purple smoke!”. I can see it in the movies when the Jolly Giant is looking for a downed pilot, but besides that, when are they useful? Tripler Just curious. . . ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/11 "2005-05-15T00:13:10Z")
> [@AmbushBug](#): > > [Here](http://dotnot.org/images/signals.png) is a handy guide. All you need and then some! [sub]note: not really. apologies for infecting GQ with humor.[/sub] > > I found some real ones with a google image search of [hand signals army](http://images.google.com/images?q=hand+signals+army) which lead to [globalsecurity.org](http://globalsecurity.org) like [this](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/3-22-31/image359.gif) and [that](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/3-22-68/image921.jpg). The first cite is the problem. 95% of my Google hits point to a copy of that. Here’s [one](http://www.airsoftgent.be/dbase/hands.htm) that is serious, but is incomplete - there is one sign I see all the time where the guy waves his hand in front of his face. ---
**Author:** ![sewalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@sewalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sewalk)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/12 "2005-05-15T02:45:12Z")
> [@Oslo Ostragoth](#): > > there is one sign I see all the time where the guy waves his hand in front of his face. That one is “Cease Fire”. You can see it being made by Sergeant Horvath during the Omaha Beach segment of **Saving Private Ryan**. There is a US Army Training Manual that covers these and would be the closest thing to an official source as you are going to find. It will be something from the Infantry School. I’ll do some digging for some TM references and see what comes up on that. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/13 "2005-05-15T02:47:08Z")
I’ve taught a few of these to my speech kids. They are handy when you want to communicate some simple ideas across a crowded campus quad, for example. “Gather the team,” “Form on Me,” and “Thataway” are the most used. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/14 "2005-05-15T02:55:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Hey Bear\_Nenno, when was the last time you used/saw pyrotechnic signals? About a month ago. And we almost burned down half a mountain! > [@](#): > > I’m going through preparatory convoy training now, and our instructors mentioned it, but it seems pretty useless. Unless I radio to the gun trucks, “Lay fire on the purple smoke!”. Pyro signals are good for coordinating fires. Let’s say one squad is laying suppressive fire while the other squad gets into a flanking position. Once that squad is in position, they will want the other squad to shift their fires and eventually stop firing, to allow the squad to move in. Something like a Star Cluster is great, and it’s visible in day or night. Sometimes both squads will shoot one. The flanking squad shoots one up to say “We’re ready to assault, lift fire!” then the support squad send one up to say “We saw your signal and have stopped firing”. Or something like that. Or during a raid or something. Pyro signals can tell elements when to start moving or executing a specific task. Or can be used by an element to signal they’ve completed something or have reached the LOA or are ready to move. This may be in conjunction with a call on the radio too. However, not everyone has a radio, but everyone should see the star cluster. Then everyone would repeat and yell the commands verbaly when they see the signal or here it on the radio. So you’d have a visual and an audio signal. Smoke is great because it serves a dual purpose. If you lay smoke down on your target, not only are you marking the target for everyone to see, but you’re obscuring the enemy’s vision. One of the first things I’ll do in contact is have my grenadier lob smoke on the enemy. That way everyone else sees where they’re at. If every man had a radio and a decent headset, and those radios never broke or died, then pyro would probably lose much of it’s use as a signal. As far as convoy use goes… I’m not sure. Smoke could be tossed in the direction of sniper fire to alert the trailing elements and conceal the convoy. Star Clusters may be used to alert your QRF or command your armed escort vehicles to move into a specific position or something. Or to tell the entire convoy that youre switching to the alternate route. Obviously these are things you can do on the radio. So, I can’t see pyro signals ever being a Primary signal in a convoy. It would be like an alternate or contingency signal. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops-hand-signals/303795/15 "2005-05-15T03:38:00Z")
Much obliged, **Bear**. . . In my limited infantry-based experience (I’m an engineer), I’ve figured out that smoke is definitely an assaulting squad’s best friend. I do thank ya for pointing out it’s particular uses though . . . My gun trucks won’t be fit with Mk 19s, but will be carrying '60s or '240s. Smoke might be out of my range of options. But I have to admit, I’ve learned enough of the hand signals to run my guys in defensive drills. Hell, thanks to past experience, I feel more at home with the “legs” than I do with some of my own Dirt Boys. But I do want to hear about you nearly burning down a mountain. . . Tripler Your story may make for a better ‘other thread’ tho. . .