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U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES
CACHING TECHNIQUES
U.S. ARMY
JOHN F. KENNEDY
SPECIAL WARFARE CENTER
CACHING
Caching is the process of hiding equipment or materials in a secure storage place with the view to future
recovery for operational use. The ultimate success of caching may well depend upon attention to detail, that
is, professional competence that m ay seem of minor importance to the untrained eye. Security factors, such
as cover for the caching party, sterility of the items cached, and removal of even the slightest trace of the
caching operations are vital. Highly important, too, are the technical factors that govern the preservation of
the items in usable condition and the recording of data essential for recovery. Successful caching entails
careful adherence to the basic principles of clandestine operations, as well as familiarity with the
technicalities of caching.
Caching Considerations
Caching considerations that are vital to the success of the caching operation may be done in a variety of
operational situations. For example, cached supplies can meet the emergency needs of personnel who may
be barred from their normal supply sources by sudden developments or who may need travel documents
and extra funds for quick escape. Caching can help solve the supply problems of long-term operations
conducted far from a secure base.
Caching also can provide for anticipated needs of wartime operations in areas likely to be overrun by the
enemy.
PLANNING FOR A CACHING OPERATION
Caching involves selecting items to be cached, procuring those items, and selecting a cache site. Selection
of the items to be cached requires a close estimate of what will be needed by particular units for particular
operations. Procurement of the items usually presents no special problems. In fact, the relative ease of
procurement before an emergency arises is one of the prime considerations in favor of caching. When
selecting a cache site, planners should always ensure that the site is accessible not only for emplacement,
but also for recovery. When planning a caching operation, the planner must consider seven basic factors.
1. Purpose and Contents of the Cache
Planners must determine the purpose and contents of each cache because theses basic factors influence
the location of the cache, as well as the method of hiding. For instance, small barter items can be cached at
any accessible and secure site because they can be concealed easily on the person once recovered.
However, it would be difficult to conceal rifles for a Guerrilla Band once recovered. Therefor, this site must
be in an isolated area where the band can establish at least temporary control. Certain items, such as
medical stock, have limited shelf life and require rotation periodically or special storage considerations,
necessitating easy access to service these items. Sometimes it is impossible to locate a cache in the most
convenient place for an intended user. Planners must compromise between logistical objectives and actual
possibilities when selecting a cache site. Security is always the overriding consideration.
2. Anticipated Enemy Action
In planning the caching operation, planners must consider the capabilities of any intelligence or security
services not participating in the operation. They should also consider the potential hazards the enemy and
its witting or unwitting accomplice s present. If caching is done for wartime operational purposes, its ultimate
success will depend largely on whether the planners anticipate the various obstacles to recovery, which the
enemy and its accomplices will create if the enemy occupies the area. What are the possibilities that the
enemy will preempt an ideal site for one reason or another and deny access to it? A vacant field surrounded
by brush may seem ideal for a particular cache because it is near several highways. But such a location may
also invite the enemy to locate an ordnance depot where the cache is buried.
3. Activities of the local Population
Probably more dangerous than deliberate enemy action are all of the chance circumstances that may result
in the discovery of the cache. Normal activity, such as construction of a new building, may uncover the
cache site or impede access to it. Bad luck cannot be anticipated, but it can probably be avoided by careful
and imaginative observation of the prospective cache site and of the people who live near the site. If the
cache is intended for wartime use, the planners must project how the residents will react to the pressures of
war and conquest. For example, one of the more likely reactions is that many residents may resort to
caching to avoid having their personal funds and valuables seized by the enemy. If caching becomes
popular, any likely cache site will receive more than normal attention.
4. Intended Actions by Allied Forces
Using one cache site for several clandestine operations involves a risk of mutual compromise. Therefore,
some planners should rule out otherwise suitable caching sites if they have been selected for other
clandestine purposes, such as drops or safe houses. A site should not be located where it may be destroyed
or rendered inaccessible by bombing or other allied military action, should the area be occupied by the
enemy. For example, installations likely to be objects of special protective efforts by the occupying enemy
are certain to be inaccessible to the ordinary citizen. Therefore, if the cache is intended for wartime use, the
caching party should avoid areas such as those near key bridges, railroad intersections, power plants, and
munitions factories.
5. Packaging and Transportation Assets
Planners should assess the security needs and all of the potential obstacles and hazards that a prospective
cache site can present. They should also consider whether the operational assets that could be used for
packaging and transporting the package to the site. Best results are obtained when the packaging is done
by experts at a packaging center. The first question, therefor, is to decide whether the package can be
transported from the headquarters or the field packaging center to the cache site securely and soon enough
to meet the operational schedules. If not, the packaging must be done locally, perhaps in a safe house
located within a few miles of the cache site. If such an arrangement is necessary, the choice of cache sites
may be restricted by limited safe house possibilities.
6. Personal Assets
All who participate directly in emplacement will know where the cache is located. Therefore, only the fewest
possible and the most reliable persons should be used. Planners must consider the distance from the
person's residence to the prospective c ache site and what action cover is required for the trip. Sometimes
transportations and cover difficulties require the cache site to be within a limited distance of the person's
residence. The above considerations also apply to the recovery personnel.
7. Caching Methods
Which cache method to use depends on the situation. It is therefore unsound to lay down any general rules,
with one exception. Planners should always think in terms of suitability, for example, the method most
suitable for each cache, considering its specific purpose; the actual situation in the particular locality; and the
changes that may occur if the enemy gains control.
Concealment.
Concealment requires the use of permanent man-made or natural features to hide or disguises the cache. It
has several advantages. Both employment and recovery usually and be done with minimum time and labor,
and cached items concealed inside a building or dry cave are protected from the elements. Thus, they
require less elaborate packaging. Also, in some cases, a concealed cache can be readily inspected from
time to time to ensure that it is still usable. However, there is always the chance of accidental discovery in
addition to all the hazards of wartime that may result in discovery or destruction or a concealed cache or
denial of access to the site. The concealment method, therefore, is most suitable in cases where an
exceptionally secure site is available or where a need for quick access to the cache justifies a calculated
sacrifice in security.
Concealment may range from securing small gold coins under a tile in the floor to walling up artillery in
caves.
Burial.
Adequate burial sites can be found almost anywhere. Once in place, a properly buried cache is generally the
best way of achieving lasting security. In contrast to concealment, however, burial in the ground is a
laborious and time-consuming method of caching.
The disadvantages of burial are that-
Burial almost always requires a high-quality container or special wrapping to
protect the cache from moisture, chemicals and bacteria in the soil.
Emplacement or recovery of a buried cache usually takes so long that the
operation must be done after dark unless the site is exceptionally secluded.
It is especially difficult to identify and locate a buried cache.
Submersion.
Submersion sites that are suitable for secure concealment of a submerged cache are few and far between.
Also, the container of a submerged cache must meet such high standards for waterproofing and resistance
to external pressure that the use of field expedients is seldom workable. To ensure that a submerged cache
remains dry and in place, planners must determine not only the depth of the water, but the type of bottom,
the currents, and other facts that are relatively difficult for nonspecialists to obtain. Emplacement, likewise
requires a high degree of skill. At least two persons are needed for both emplacement and requires
additional equipment. In view of the difficulties - especially the difficulty of recovery - the submersion method
is suitable only on rare occasions. The most noteworthy usage is the relatively rare maritime re-supply
operation where it is impossible to deliver supplies directly to a reception committee. Caching supplies
offshore by submersion is often preferable to sending a landing party ashore to bury a cache.
SELECTION OF THE SITE
The most careful estimates of future operational conditions cannot ensure that a will cache will be accessible
when it is needed. However, criteria for a site selection can be met when three questions are answered.
Criteria for Site Selection
Can the site be located by simple instructions that are unmistakably clear to someone who has never visited
the location? A site may be ideal in every respect, but if it has no distinct, permanent landmarks within a
readily measurable distance it must be ruled out. Are there at least two secure routes to and from the site?
Both primary and alternate routes should provide natural concealment so that the emplacement party and
the recovery party can visit the site without being seen by anyone normally in the vicinity. An alienate
escape route offers hope of avoiding detection and recovered at the chosen site in all seasons? Snow and
frozen ground create special problems.
Snow on the ground is a hazard because it is impossible to erase a trail in the snow. Planners must consider
whether seasonal changes in the foliage will leave the site and the dangerously exposed.
The Map Survey
Finding a cache site is often difficult. Usually, a thorough systematic survey of the general area designated
for the cache is required. The survey is best done with as large-scale map of the area as is available. By
scrutinizing the map, the planners can determine whether a particular sector must be ruled out because of
its nearness to factories, homes, busy thoroughfares, or probable military targets in wartime. A good military-
type map will show the positive features in the topography; proximity to adequate roads or trails, natural
concealment (for example: surrounding woods or groves), and adequate drainage. A map also will show the
natural and man-made features in the landscape. It will provide the indispensable reference points for
locating a cache site: confluences of streams, dams and waterfalls, road junctures and distance markers,
villages, bridges, churches, and cemeteries.
The Personal Reconnaissance
A map survey normally should show the location of several promising sites within the general area
designated for the cache. To select and pinpoint the best site, however, a well-qualified observer must
examine each site firsthand. If possible, whoever examines the site should carry adequate maps, a
compass, a drawing pad or board for making sketch maps or tracings, and a metallic measuring line. (A wire
knotted at regular intervals is adequate for measuring. Twine or cloth measuring tapes should not be used
because stretching or shrinking will make them inaccurate if they get wet.) The observer should also carry a
probe rod for probing prospective burial sites, if the rod can be carried securely. Since the observer seldom
completes a field survey without being noticed by local residents, his action cover is of great importance. His
cover must offer a natural explanation for his exploratory activity in the area. Ordinarily, this means that a n
observer who is not a known resident of the area can pose as a tourist or a newcomer with some reason for
visiting the area. However, his action cover must be developed over an extended period before he
undertakes the actual reconnaissance. If the observer is a known resident of the area, he cannot suddenly
take up hunting, fishing, or wildlife photography without arousing interest and perhaps suspicion. But he
must build up a reputation for being a devotee of his sport or hobby.
Reference Points
When the observer finds a suitable cache site, he prepares simple and unmistakable instructions for locating
the reference points. These instructions must identify the general area (the names of general recognizable
places, from the country down to the nearest village) and an immediate reference point. Any durable
landmark that is identified by its title or simple description can be immediate reference point (for example,
the only Roman Catholic church in a certain village or the only bridge o n a named road between two
villages). The instructions must also include a final reference point (FRP), which must meet four
requirements:
(1) It must be identifiable, including at least one feature that can be used as a
precise reference point.
(2) It must be an object that will remain fixed as long as the cache may be used.
(3) It must be near enough to the cache to pinpoint the exact location of the
cache by precise linear measurements from the FRP to the cache
(4) It should be related to the immediate reference point by a simple route
description, which proceeds from the immediate reference point to the FRP
Since the route description should be reduced to the minimum essential, the ideal solution for locating the
cache is to combine the immediate reference point and the FRP into one landmark readily identifiable, but
sufficiently secluded. The following objects, when available, are sometimes ideal reference points: small,
unfrequented bridges, and dams, boundary markers, kilometer markers and culverts along unfrequented
roads, a geodetic survey marker, battle monuments, and wayside shrines. When such reference points are
not available at an otherwise suitable cache site, natural or man-made objects may serve as FRP's: distinct
rocks, posts for power or telephone lines, intersections in stone fences or hedgerows, and gravestones in
isolated cemeteries.
Pinpointing Techniques
Recovery instructions must identify the exact location of the cache. These instructions must describe the
point where the cache is placed in terms that relate in to the FRP. When the concealment method is used,
the cache ordinarily is placed inside the FRP, so it is pinpointed by a precise description of the FRP. A
submerged cache usually is pinpointed by describing exactly how the moorings are attached to the FRP.
With a buried cache, any of the following techniques may be used.
Placing the cache directly beside the FRP. The simples method is to place the cache directly beside the
FRP. Then pinpointing is reduced to specifying the precise reference point of the FRP. Sighting the cache by
projection, This method may be used if the FRP has one flat side long enough to permit precise sighting by
projecting a line along the side of the object. The burial party places the cache a measured distance along
the sighted line. This method may also be used if two precise FRP's are available, by projecting a line
sighed between the two objects. In either case, the instructions for finding the cache must state the
approximate direction of the cache from the FRP. Since small errors in sighting are magnified as the sighted
line is extended, the cache should be placed as close to the FRP as other factors permit. Ordinarily this
method becomes unreliable if the sighted line is extended beyond 50 meters.
Placing the cache at the intersection of measured lines. If two FRP's are available within several paces, the
cache can be one line projected from each of the FRP's. If this method is used, state the approximate
direction of the cache from each FRP . To ensure accuracy, neither of the projected lines (from the FRP's to
the point of emplacement) should be more than twice as long as the base line (between the two FRP's). If
this proportion is maintained, the only limitation upon the length of t he projected lines is the length of the
measuring line that the recovery party is expected to carry. The recovery party should carry two measuring
lines when this method is used.
Sighting the cache by compass azimuth. If the above methods of sighting are not feasible, one measured
line may be projected by taking a compass azimuth from the FRP to the point where the cache is placed. To
avoid confusion, use an azimuth to a cardinal point of the compass (north, east, south, or west).
Since compass sightings are likely to be inaccurate, a cache that is pinpointed by this method should not be
placed more than 10 meters from the FRP.
Measuring Distances
The observer should express all measured distances in a linear system that the recovery party is sure to
understand - ordinarily the standard system for the country where the cache is located. He should use whole
numbers (6 meters, not 6.3 or 6.5, etc.) to keep his instructions as brief and as simple as possible. To get an
exact location for the cache in whole numbers, take sightings and measurements first. If the surface of the
ground between the points to be measured is uneven, the linear distance should be measured on a direct
line from point to point, rather than by following the contour of the ground. This method requires a measuring
line long enough to reach the full distance from point to point and enough to be pulled taut without breaking.
Marking Techniques
The emplacement operation can be simplified and critical time saved if the point where the cache is to be
buried is marked during the reconnaissance. If a night burial is planned, the point of emplacement may have
to be marked during a daylight reconnaissance. This method should be used whenever operational
conditions permit. The marker must be an object that is easily recognizable but that is meaningless to an
unwitting observer. For example, a small rock or a branch with its butt placed at the point selected for the
emplacement may be used.
During a personal reconnaissance, the observer must not only pinpoint the cache site, but also gather all the
incidental information required for planning the emplacement operation. It is especially important to
determine the best route to the site and at least one alternate route, the security hazards along these routes,
and any information that can be used to overcome the hazards.
Since this information is also essential to the recovery operation, it must be compiled after emplacement and
included in the final cache report. Therefore, the observer should be thoroughly familiar with the Twelve-
Point Cache Report before he starts a personal reconnaissance. This report is a checklist for the observer to
record as much information as possible. Points 6 through 11 are particularly important. The personal
reconnaissance also provides an excellent opportunity for a preliminary estimate of the time required for
getting to the site.
The Alternate Site
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U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES
CACHING TECHNIQUES
U.S. ARMY
JOHN F. KENNEDY
SPECIAL WARFARE CENTER
CACHING
Caching is the process of hiding equipment or materials in a secure storage place with the view to future
recovery for operational use. The ultimate success of caching may well depend upon attention to detail, that
is, professional competence that m ay seem of minor importance to the untrained eye. Security factors, such
as cover for the caching party, sterility of the items cached, and removal of even the slightest trace of the
caching operations are vital. Highly important, too, are the technical factors that govern the preservation of
the items in usable condition and the recording of data essential for recovery. Successful caching entails
careful adherence to the basic principles of clandestine operations, as well as familiarity with the
technicalities of caching.
Caching Considerations
Caching considerations that are vital to the success of the caching operation may be done in a variety of
operational situations. For example, cached supplies can meet the emergency needs of personnel who may
be barred from their normal supply sources by sudden developments or who may need travel documents
and extra funds for quick escape. Caching can help solve the supply problems of long-term operations
conducted far from a secure base.
Caching also can provide for anticipated needs of wartime operations in areas likely to be overrun by the
enemy.
PLANNING FOR A CACHING OPERATION
Caching involves selecting items to be cached, procuring those items, and selecting a cache site. Selection
of the items to be cached requires a close estimate of what will be needed by particular units for particular
operations. Procurement of the items usually presents no special problems. In fact, the relative ease of
procurement before an emergency arises is one of the prime considerations in favor of caching. When
selecting a cache site, planners should always ensure that the site is accessible not only for emplacement,
but also for recovery. When planning a caching operation, the planner must consider seven basic factors.
1. Purpose and Contents of the Cache
Planners must determine the purpose and contents of each cache because theses basic factors influence
the location of the cache, as well as the method of hiding. For instance, small barter items can be cached at
any accessible and secure site because they can be concealed easily on the person once recovered.
However, it would be difficult to conceal rifles for a Guerrilla Band once recovered. Therefor, this site must
be in an isolated area where the band can establish at least temporary control. Certain items, such as
medical stock, have limited shelf life and require rotation periodically or special storage considerations,
necessitating easy access to service these items. Sometimes it is impossible to locate a cache in the most
convenient place for an intended user. Planners must compromise between logistical objectives and actual
possibilities when selecting a cache site. Security is always the overriding consideration.
2. Anticipated Enemy Action
In planning the caching operation, planners must consider the capabilities of any intelligence or security
services not participating in the operation. They should also consider the potential hazards the enemy and
its witting or unwitting accomplice s present. If caching is done for wartime operational purposes, its ultimate
success will depend largely on whether the planners anticipate the various obstacles to recovery, which the
enemy and its accomplices will create if the enemy occupies the area. What are the possibilities that the
enemy will preempt an ideal site for one reason or another and deny access to it? A vacant field surrounded
by brush may seem ideal for a particular cache because it is near several highways. But such a location may
also invite the enemy to locate an ordnance depot where the cache is buried.
3. Activities of the local Population
Probably more dangerous than deliberate enemy action are all of the chance circumstances that may result
in the discovery of the cache. Normal activity, such as construction of a new building, may uncover the
cache site or impede access to it. Bad luck cannot be anticipated, but it can probably be avoided by careful
and imaginative observation of the prospective cache site and of the people who live near the site. If the
cache is intended for wartime use, the planners must project how the residents will react to the pressures of
war and conquest. For example, one of the more likely reactions is that many residents may resort to
caching to avoid having their personal funds and valuables seized by the enemy. If caching becomes
popular, any likely cache site will receive more than normal attention.
4. Intended Actions by Allied Forces
Using one cache site for several clandestine operations involves a risk of mutual compromise. Therefore,
some planners should rule out otherwise suitable caching sites if they have been selected for other
clandestine purposes, such as drops or safe houses. A site should not be located where it may be destroyed
or rendered inaccessible by bombing or other allied military action, should the area be occupied by the
enemy. For example, installations likely to be objects of special protective efforts by the occupying enemy
are certain to be inaccessible to the ordinary citizen. Therefore, if the cache is intended for wartime use, the
caching party should avoid areas such as those near key bridges, railroad intersections, power plants, and
munitions factories.
5. Packaging and Transportation Assets
Planners should assess the security needs and all of the potential obstacles and hazards that a prospective
cache site can present. They should also consider whether the operational assets that could be used for
packaging and transporting the package to the site. Best results are obtained when the packaging is done
by experts at a packaging center. The first question, therefor, is to decide whether the package can be
transported from the headquarters or the field packaging center to the cache site securely and soon enough
to meet the operational schedules. If not, the packaging must be done locally, perhaps in a safe house
located within a few miles of the cache site. If such an arrangement is necessary, the choice of cache sites
may be restricted by limited safe house possibilities.
6. Personal Assets
All who participate directly in emplacement will know where the cache is located. Therefore, only the fewest
possible and the most reliable persons should be used. Planners must consider the distance from the
person's residence to the prospective c ache site and what action cover is required for the trip. Sometimes
transportations and cover difficulties require the cache site to be within a limited distance of the person's
residence. The above considerations also apply to the recovery personnel.
7. Caching Methods
Which cache method to use depends on the situation. It is therefore unsound to lay down any general rules,
with one exception. Planners should always think in terms of suitability, for example, the method most
suitable for each cache, considering its specific purpose; the actual situation in the particular locality; and the
changes that may occur if the enemy gains control.
Concealment.
Concealment requires the use of permanent man-made or natural features to hide or disguises the cache. It
has several advantages. Both employment and recovery usually and be done with minimum time and labor,
and cached items concealed inside a building or dry cave are protected from the elements. Thus, they
require less elaborate packaging. Also, in some cases, a concealed cache can be readily inspected from
time to time to ensure that it is still usable. However, there is always the chance of accidental discovery in
addition to all the hazards of wartime that may result in discovery or destruction or a concealed cache or
denial of access to the site. The concealment method, therefore, is most suitable in cases where an
exceptionally secure site is available or where a need for quick access to the cache justifies a calculated
sacrifice in security.
Concealment may range from securing small gold coins under a tile in the floor to walling up artillery in
caves.
Burial.
Adequate burial sites can be found almost anywhere. Once in place, a properly buried cache is generally the
best way of achieving lasting security. In contrast to concealment, however, burial in the ground is a
laborious and time-consuming method of caching.
The disadvantages of burial are that-
Burial almost always requires a high-quality container or special wrapping to
protect the cache from moisture, chemicals and bacteria in the soil.
Emplacement or recovery of a buried cache usually takes so long that the
operation must be done after dark unless the site is exceptionally secluded.
It is especially difficult to identify and locate a buried cache.
Submersion.
Submersion sites that are suitable for secure concealment of a submerged cache are few and far between.
Also, the container of a submerged cache must meet such high standards for waterproofing and resistance
to external pressure that the use of field expedients is seldom workable. To ensure that a submerged cache
remains dry and in place, planners must determine not only the depth of the water, but the type of bottom,
the currents, and other facts that are relatively difficult for nonspecialists to obtain. Emplacement, likewise
requires a high degree of skill. At least two persons are needed for both emplacement and requires
additional equipment. In view of the difficulties - especially the difficulty of recovery - the submersion method
is suitable only on rare occasions. The most noteworthy usage is the relatively rare maritime re-supply
operation where it is impossible to deliver supplies directly to a reception committee. Caching supplies
offshore by submersion is often preferable to sending a landing party ashore to bury a cache.
SELECTION OF THE SITE
The most careful estimates of future operational conditions cannot ensure that a will cache will be accessible
when it is needed. However, criteria for a site selection can be met when three questions are answered.
Criteria for Site Selection
Can the site be located by simple instructions that are unmistakably clear to someone who has never visited
the location? A site may be ideal in every respect, but if it has no distinct, permanent landmarks within a
readily measurable distance it must be ruled out. Are there at least two secure routes to and from the site?
Both primary and alternate routes should provide natural concealment so that the emplacement party and
the recovery party can visit the site without being seen by anyone normally in the vicinity. An alienate
escape route offers hope of avoiding detection and recovered at the chosen site in all seasons? Snow and
frozen ground create special problems.
Snow on the ground is a hazard because it is impossible to erase a trail in the snow. Planners must consider
whether seasonal changes in the foliage will leave the site and the dangerously exposed.
The Map Survey
Finding a cache site is often difficult. Usually, a thorough systematic survey of the general area designated
for the cache is required. The survey is best done with as large-scale map of the area as is available. By
scrutinizing the map, the planners can determine whether a particular sector must be ruled out because of
its nearness to factories, homes, busy thoroughfares, or probable military targets in wartime. A good military-
type map will show the positive features in the topography; proximity to adequate roads or trails, natural
concealment (for example: surrounding woods or groves), and adequate drainage. A map also will show the
natural and man-made features in the landscape. It will provide the indispensable reference points for
locating a cache site: confluences of streams, dams and waterfalls, road junctures and distance markers,
villages, bridges, churches, and cemeteries.
The Personal Reconnaissance
A map survey normally should show the location of several promising sites within the general area
designated for the cache. To select and pinpoint the best site, however, a well-qualified observer must
examine each site firsthand. If possible, whoever examines the site should carry adequate maps, a
compass, a drawing pad or board for making sketch maps or tracings, and a metallic measuring line. (A wire
knotted at regular intervals is adequate for measuring. Twine or cloth measuring tapes should not be used
because stretching or shrinking will make them inaccurate if they get wet.) The observer should also carry a
probe rod for probing prospective burial sites, if the rod can be carried securely. Since the observer seldom
completes a field survey without being noticed by local residents, his action cover is of great importance. His
cover must offer a natural explanation for his exploratory activity in the area. Ordinarily, this means that a n
observer who is not a known resident of the area can pose as a tourist or a newcomer with some reason for
visiting the area. However, his action cover must be developed over an extended period before he
undertakes the actual reconnaissance. If the observer is a known resident of the area, he cannot suddenly
take up hunting, fishing, or wildlife photography without arousing interest and perhaps suspicion. But he
must build up a reputation for being a devotee of his sport or hobby.
Reference Points
When the observer finds a suitable cache site, he prepares simple and unmistakable instructions for locating
the reference points. These instructions must identify the general area (the names of general recognizable
places, from the country down to the nearest village) and an immediate reference point. Any durable
landmark that is identified by its title or simple description can be immediate reference point (for example,
the only Roman Catholic church in a certain village or the only bridge o n a named road between two
villages). The instructions must also include a final reference point (FRP), which must meet four
requirements:
(1) It must be identifiable, including at least one feature that can be used as a
precise reference point.
(2) It must be an object that will remain fixed as long as the cache may be used.
(3) It must be near enough to the cache to pinpoint the exact location of the
cache by precise linear measurements from the FRP to the cache
(4) It should be related to the immediate reference point by a simple route
description, which proceeds from the immediate reference point to the FRP
Since the route description should be reduced to the minimum essential, the ideal solution for locating the
cache is to combine the immediate reference point and the FRP into one landmark readily identifiable, but
sufficiently secluded. The following objects, when available, are sometimes ideal reference points: small,
unfrequented bridges, and dams, boundary markers, kilometer markers and culverts along unfrequented
roads, a geodetic survey marker, battle monuments, and wayside shrines. When such reference points are
not available at an otherwise suitable cache site, natural or man-made objects may serve as FRP's: distinct
rocks, posts for power or telephone lines, intersections in stone fences or hedgerows, and gravestones in
isolated cemeteries.
Pinpointing Techniques
Recovery instructions must identify the exact location of the cache. These instructions must describe the
point where the cache is placed in terms that relate in to the FRP. When the concealment method is used,
the cache ordinarily is placed inside the FRP, so it is pinpointed by a precise description of the FRP. A
submerged cache usually is pinpointed by describing exactly how the moorings are attached to the FRP.
With a buried cache, any of the following techniques may be used.
Placing the cache directly beside the FRP. The simples method is to place the cache directly beside the
FRP. Then pinpointing is reduced to specifying the precise reference point of the FRP. Sighting the cache by
projection, This method may be used if the FRP has one flat side long enough to permit precise sighting by
projecting a line along the side of the object. The burial party places the cache a measured distance along
the sighted line. This method may also be used if two precise FRP's are available, by projecting a line
sighed between the two objects. In either case, the instructions for finding the cache must state the
approximate direction of the cache from the FRP. Since small errors in sighting are magnified as the sighted
line is extended, the cache should be placed as close to the FRP as other factors permit. Ordinarily this
method becomes unreliable if the sighted line is extended beyond 50 meters.
Placing the cache at the intersection of measured lines. If two FRP's are available within several paces, the
cache can be one line projected from each of the FRP's. If this method is used, state the approximate
direction of the cache from each FRP . To ensure accuracy, neither of the projected lines (from the FRP's to
the point of emplacement) should be more than twice as long as the base line (between the two FRP's). If
this proportion is maintained, the only limitation upon the length of t he projected lines is the length of the
measuring line that the recovery party is expected to carry. The recovery party should carry two measuring
lines when this method is used.
Sighting the cache by compass azimuth. If the above methods of sighting are not feasible, one measured
line may be projected by taking a compass azimuth from the FRP to the point where the cache is placed. To
avoid confusion, use an azimuth to a cardinal point of the compass (north, east, south, or west).
Since compass sightings are likely to be inaccurate, a cache that is pinpointed by this method should not be
placed more than 10 meters from the FRP.
Measuring Distances
The observer should express all measured distances in a linear system that the recovery party is sure to
understand - ordinarily the standard system for the country where the cache is located. He should use whole
numbers (6 meters, not 6.3 or 6.5, etc.) to keep his instructions as brief and as simple as possible. To get an
exact location for the cache in whole numbers, take sightings and measurements first. If the surface of the
ground between the points to be measured is uneven, the linear distance should be measured on a direct
line from point to point, rather than by following the contour of the ground. This method requires a measuring
line long enough to reach the full distance from point to point and enough to be pulled taut without breaking.
Marking Techniques
The emplacement operation can be simplified and critical time saved if the point where the cache is to be
buried is marked during the reconnaissance. If a night burial is planned, the point of emplacement may have
to be marked during a daylight reconnaissance. This method should be used whenever operational
conditions permit. The marker must be an object that is easily recognizable but that is meaningless to an
unwitting observer. For example, a small rock or a branch with its butt placed at the point selected for the
emplacement may be used.
During a personal reconnaissance, the observer must not only pinpoint the cache site, but also gather all the
incidental information required for planning the emplacement operation. It is especially important to
determine the best route to the site and at least one alternate route, the security hazards along these routes,
and any information that can be used to overcome the hazards.
Since this information is also essential to the recovery operation, it must be compiled after emplacement and
included in the final cache report. Therefore, the observer should be thoroughly familiar with the Twelve-
Point Cache Report before he starts a personal reconnaissance. This report is a checklist for the observer to
record as much information as possible. Points 6 through 11 are particularly important. The personal
reconnaissance also provides an excellent opportunity for a preliminary estimate of the time required for
getting to the site.
The Alternate Site
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