In the
U.S. military
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
, the term REDCON is short for Readiness Condition and is used to refer to a unit's readiness to respond to and engage in combat operations.
There are five REDCON levels, as described below in this excerpt from
Army Field Manual
United States Army Field Manuals are published by the United States Army's Army Publishing Directorate. As of 27 July 2007, some 542 field manuals were in use. They contain detailed information and how-tos for procedures important to soldiers ser ...
71–1.
Overview
* REDCON-1: Full alert; unit ready to move and fight.
**
WMD alarms and hot loop equipment
hot loop equipment
/ref> stowed; OPs
In ancient Roman religion, Ops or ''Opis'' (Latin: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth goddess of Sabine origin. Her equivalent in Greek mythology was Rhea.
Iconography
In Ops' statues and coins, she is figured sitting down, as Chthon ...
pulled in. (A hot loop is a field telephone circuit between the subunits of a company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
.)
** All personnel alert and mounted on vehicles; weapons manned.
** Engines started.
** Company team is ready to move immediately.
* REDCON-1.5
** WMD alarms and hot loop equipment stowed; OPs
In ancient Roman religion, Ops or ''Opis'' (Latin: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth goddess of Sabine origin. Her equivalent in Greek mythology was Rhea.
Iconography
In Ops' statues and coins, she is figured sitting down, as Chthon ...
pulled in.
** All personnel alert and mounted on vehicles; weapons manned.
** Company team is ready to move immediately.
* REDCON-2: Full alert; unit ready to fight.
** Equipment stowed (except hot loop and WMD alarms).
** Precombat checks complete.
** All personnel alert and mounted in vehicles; weapons manned & charged, round in chamber, weapon on safe.
** (NOTE: Depending on the tactical situation and orders from the commander, dismounted OPs may remain in place.)
** All (100 percent) digital and FM communications links operational.
** Status reports submitted in accordance with task force SOP.
** Company team is ready to move within 15 minutes of notification.
* REDCON-3: Reduced alert.
** Fifty percent of the unit executes work and rest plans.
** Remainder of the unit executes security plan. Based on the commander's guidance and the enemy situation, some personnel executing the security plan may execute portions of the work plan.
** Company team is ready to move within 30 minutes of notification.
* REDCON-4: Minimum alert.
** OPs manned; one soldier per platoon designated to monitor radio and man turret weapons.
** Digital and FM links with task force and other company teams maintained.
** Company team is ready to move within one hour of notification.
See also
* Alert state
An alert state or state of alert is an indication of the state of readiness of the armed forces for military action or a state against natural disasters, terrorism or military attack. The term frequently used is "on high alert". Examples scales i ...
* DEFCON
The defense readiness condition (DEFCON) is an alert state used by the United States Armed Forces. (DEFCON is not mentioned in the 2010 and newer document)
The DEFCON system was developed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and unified and spe ...
* Force Protection Condition
In United States military security parlance, force protection condition (FPCON for short) is a counter-terrorist threat system overseen by the United States Department of Defense directive, and describes the number of measures needed to be taken b ...
* Redcon (2016 game)
References
External links
REDCON levels from Army Field Manual 71-1
on GlobalSecurity.org
Alert measurement systems
Military life
Military terminology of the United States
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