This page is about playing a video game. It is not medical, tactical, or safety advice for real life, and nothing here should be used as such.
In one line: the rifleman is the standard every other job is built on. You are one of four in a fire team: you shoot well, you move well, and you tell your team leader what you see.
In game
This is where almost everyone starts, and nobody expects you to know it all on your first night. Stay with your team, listen to your team leader, and ask.
What you do
- Know your rifle and its sight, by day and by night.
- Put well aimed shots on the target, from a position that gives you cover.
- Use cover and concealment every time you stop.
- Fight as part of the team: keep your spacing, watch your sector, and know the drills.
- Tell your team leader everything you see and hear. You may be the only one who saw it.
- Give buddy aid when someone next to you goes down.
- Look after your own ammunition and supplies, and say so before you run short.
- Help on special jobs when asked: searching, carrying a casualty, breaching.
What good looks like
- Your team leader never has to ask where you are.
- You can pick up any weapon in the squad and use it.
- You know the other jobs in your team well enough to take over the automatic rifle, or the team, if you have to.
- You understand the plan two levels up: what the squad is doing, and what the platoon is doing.
What you carry
Kit
A rifle. One of the squad's light anti-armor launchers is often yours to carry as well: by the book there are two in a squad, normally one with each rifleman.
Who you work with
You answer to your team leader. Next step up: automatic rifleman, then team leader.
By the book
From ATP 3-21.8, paragraphs 1-11 and 1-31. The manual calls the rifleman the baseline standard for every infantry soldier.
Sources
This page is adapted for a game. Where it differs from the source, it says so. Read the current edition at the source for the real thing.
Version 1, updated .