Looking for a lexicon of the tactical hand signals that police or
military groups use. Would prefer to find an official SWAT guide or US
Special Forces guide.

Haven't you ever wondered why they pump their arms on TV?

Dear rwmccauley-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting question.

Being in law enforcement myself I can tell you with certainty that the
?hand signals? you are referring to vary from department to department
and within those agencies they may even vary from unit to unit. There
is not standard manual that everyone in law enforcement uses to teach
visual signals (as they are actually called by the military) to their
team members.

The military is quite a different story. Being a US Army Veteran as
well, I am familiar with the manual you are asking about ? and yes,
one actually does exist. It happens to be FM 21-60 (FM stands for
?Field Manual?, by the way) courtesy of the DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY.
This is the universal visual signal manual taught throughout the
military to virtually all personnel, including those in the Special
Forces and other similar tactical groups:

FM 21-60 VISUAL SIGNALS
http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/21-60/toc.htm


To address your question more specifically about the pumping of the
arm and what it means, put simply, it means, ?increase your speed? and
the faster the signaler pumps his arm generally conveys the urgency.

Here are some others that I found to be fairly standard in the
civilian world (from my experience), but as I said, to each his own
where necessity is involved. They may differ greatly elsewhere:

HAND SIGNALS
http://www.johnnyq.com/ms.png


Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher


INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINES USED:

Google ://www.google.com




SEARCH TERMS USED:

MILITARY HAND SIGNALS, VISUAL SIGNALS, POLICE, SWAT

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Request for Answer Clarification by rwmccauley-ga on 05 Mar 2004 22:40 PST

Dear tutzdad-ga,

Please take a closer look at one of the links you provided:
http://www.johnnyq.com/ms.png

Are these *really* standard for the civilian world?

When I originally tried to research this myself, I had trouble finding
anything other than these kinds of humorous diagrams.

I would really appreciate any other material that might be available.

Thanks.

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Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 06 Mar 2004 07:22 PST

Precisely my point. In the real world, most hand signals are governed
by "necessity". What many people commonly understand (with the
exception of the obviously dumb ones here) are usually what teams are
accustomed to using.

I'll see if I can find a few more "legitimate" ones.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 06 Mar 2004 07:47 PST

The link I gave you earlier:

HAND SIGNALS
http://www.johnnyq.com/ms.png

...was meanto be humerous, but to make a valid point. I'm sorry if it
unnecessarily confused you.


Here are a few more from a variety of sources, but as I mentioned, how
universal they are is questionable:

PRACTICAL AIRSOFT
http://www.practicalairsoft.co.uk/tactical-field-sigs.asp

COMBAT ARM AND HAND SIGNALS
http://www.infodotinc.com/seabee/6-49.htm
(Used by Navy Seabees)

SOAK Tactical Handbook
http://www.strangelove.net/~kieser/Gaming/tactics.html

EIB STATION G
http://www.geocities.com/eib2010/StationG.htm

You can buy a video here showing examples of what it calls ?130 common
hand signals? used by police and tactical teams.
HSS INTERNATIONAL
http://www.hssinternational.com/code/online/

Again, how universal they are remains to be seen. Realistically, I
can?t imagine 130 ?common? hand signals being used. Most fire teams
use about a dozen and they are derived primarily (perhaps even in
modified form) from the FM manual I described earlier.

I hope this adds significantly to what I have provided.

Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 06 Mar 2004 10:00 PST

My colleague "bobbie7" offered these as well:

Standardized Hand Signals For Close Range Engagement (C.R.E.) Operations
http://www.lefande.com/hands.html

SWAT HAND SIGNALS
http://fcswat.tripod.com/hands.htm

Thanks Bobbie!

tutuzdad-ga

Excellent work. I especially appreciate the follow-up. Thnaks to you,
and bobbie7, too.