Enter & Clear a Room
The doorway is the most dangerous ground in the building, so nobody stops in it. A four-man team flows through to four points of domination, each man clearing his sector on the move. Here is the room-clearing drill, step by step, the way it runs on the ground.
Interactive Walkthrough
Hit play and watch the drill unfold from above, or step through it at your own pace. Gold is A Team, blue is B Team, white is the squad leader, red is the enemy. Every movement on the map matches the written steps below.
The Ranger Handbook (TC 3-21.76) is the source for every drill on this page — mandatory kit for any military leader.
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Task · Conditions · Standards
Enter and clear a room: a four-man team enters from a secured foothold, flows to four points of domination, and clears the room by killing or capturing the enemy with precision fire while minimizing friendly and noncombatant casualties and collateral damage.
The unit is clearing a structure as part of a larger operation. Enemy personnel are believed to be in the room and noncombatants may be present and intermixed. Support and security are positioned at the foothold and outside the building.
The team clears and secures the room by killing or capturing the enemy while minimizing friendly casualties, noncombatant casualties, and collateral damage, complies with the ROE, maintains a force able to repel a counterattack, and continues operations.
The Full Sequence
Squads that walk this drill on a terrain model before stepping off run it clean the first time live — build the objective, talk every phase.
Comms & Reports
Before the Door — Setup
The leader sets the conditions before anyone touches the handle.
- Foothold secured · corridor and far doors covered
- Security team on the building corners, two per corner, facing out — they hold there for the whole clear
- Clearing team stacked in entry order (#1 RM, #2 TL, #3 GR, #4 AR — the SAW goes last, never first)
- Leader behind the stack, on the wall, never in the doorway · his signal initiates the clear
The Entry Flow
Said in training until it needs no words in the room:
- #1 (RM) — button-hook into the near corner the pie could not see, kill on entry, dominate along that side wall
- #2 (TL) — opposite direction along the entry wall, opposite corner
- #3 (GR) — opposite of #2, 1 m off the door
- #4 (AR) — opposite of #3, 1 m off the door; the SAW is the last man through, never the first
The result is an L, not a U: complementary sectors, and no soldier facing another across the room. #1 and #2 go deeper only if necessary or on order.
“SHORT ROOM”
Called when the room is a closet, bathroom, or too small for four:
- First or second man announces “SHORT ROOM”
- Team leader tells #3 and #4 to hold or enter
- Prevents bunching four men into a one-man space
Grenades & ROE
A hard call governed by the rules of engagement and the structure:
- Cook off (2 sec max), announce “FRAG OUT”
- Frag / concussion / stun per ROE
- Thin walls & floors throw fragments — mind your own team and noncombatants
Discrimination
The defining skill of the drill — not volume of fire:
- Precision aimed fire, each man in his sector
- Positively identify noncombatants
- Minimize collateral damage · comply with ROE
CLEAR & Report
Closing out the room so the building stays organized:
- “CLEAR!” to the unit leader
- Mark the entry point per SOP
- Report the room clear · request sustainment
SALUTE, ACE, and every report above gets written, not memorized — in the all-weather leader book that’s standard issue for a reason.
Where Squads Fail This Drill
Stopping in the Doorway
The doorway is the fatal funnel — the one spot the enemy has pre-aimed. A soldier who hesitates in the door dies in it and blocks the men behind him. Clear the door fast and get to a corner.
Failing to Reach a Point of Domination
Soldiers who stop short and bunch in the center of the room have no cover, no clean sector, and cross each other’s fire. The whole drill is built on getting all the way to your point of domination and facing in.
Going Deep and Forming a U
Sending men to the far corners puts soldiers on opposite walls facing each other. Every shot toward the enemy is also toward a buddy, and fields of fire get cut off. Hold the L along the entry wall and one side wall; move deeper only on order, under overwatch.
Crossing Sectors / Flagging the Team
Reaching across the room to take a target that belongs to another corner muzzles your own buddies and leaves your sector uncovered. Own your sector, shoot your sector.
Spraying Instead of Discriminating
A burst into a room full of unknowns kills noncombatants and violates the ROE. Every shot is aimed and identified — the half-second of discrimination is the skill that separates a clear from a war-crime.
Grenades Through Thin Walls
A frag in a plywood-and-drywall room sends fragments back through walls and floors into your own stack and into noncombatants. The grenade is an ROE-and-structure decision, not a reflex.
Not Marking or Reporting
An unmarked, unreported room gets re-cleared by the next team or bypassed by mistake. Mark per SOP and report clear so the building stays organized and the higher map stays honest.
