Hjemmeværnets Patruljer or the Home Guard Patrols - are organized at two levels: at Home Guard Battalion-Level, with Platoon size local patroling units assigned to the 23 HG Battalions and at Divisional/Corps-Level, with one "Patruljekompagniet" - a company size Long Range Survelliance Company (LRSC) for national operations, assigned to the Danish Army Operational Command (AOC).

The "Patruljekompagniet" (the Patrol Company) is a Special Operations Capable, LRS-unit to the Danish Home Guard who can trace their origin back to "Specielle Efterretningspatruljer ved Østre Landskommando - SEP/ELK" and "Specielle Efterretningspatruljer ved Hærens Operative Kommando - SEP/HOK" or "Special Intelligence Patrols" which were operative from 1959 to December of 1994.

The Home Guard closed the SEP units in 1994 and in 1995, the Home Guard founded The "Patruljekompagniet / HOK" or "the Patrol Company Army Operational Command" (PTL COY AOC)which is the successor to the SEP units.

This Long Range Survelliance Company is highly trained and carry sophisticated equipment such as night vision goggles, combat assault vests etc. The PTL COY AOC patrols are the equivalent of the US Army Divisional Long Range Survelliance Companies. PTLCOY-troopers are capable of performing a variety of missions, such as surveillance, direct action etc. with insertions from the sea, air or land.

Training is conducted with Danish and foreign Special Operations units and Long Range Survelliance-units, in Denmark and abroad.

Members of the PTLCOY are all-out volunteers recruited from all over the Danish Home Guard. The men rank from Privates to Captains.

Although the PTLCOY are of Home Guard origin, they are a unit specialised in recognition and tactical intelligence. The doctrine, in terms of recruiting, training and organization it's troops, are based almost entirely on that of the U.S. Amry's Long-Range Surveillance Units.

The Patrols of the Army Homeguard Battalions are organized into platoon-sized scout-units with limited range and capabilities. They can conduct basic Recce-patrols in enemy area for 48 hours, and have no LRS capabilities.

However, as can be seen and read on official webpages made by PTLCOY's of the Home Guard, the methods of recruiting, screening and training individual troops, vary widely! All patrols are capable of performing there intended missions, however most are capable of performinig missions that lie well beyond the original standard requirements set by the Home Guard.

The missions tasked:

Limited Reconniassance, Stationary Surveillance, Direct Action, Hit 'n run

The missions capable by some PTLCOY's:

Sabotage, (1) Sea, air and land infiltrations, (2) Counter-Terrorism

It is therefore fair to say that all Patrols live up to the general standards and that all have a trick or two up their sleves that does not follow the original operational requirements set by the Home Guard nor those stated in the Patrols standard operational procedures. The fact itself that U.S. Army and Danish Home Guard LRS units employ a doctrine which is highly unconventional is in itself an inspiration for the patrols to conduct warfare in a highly untraditional way, such as a that of guerilla warfare!

Those serving in U.S. Army LRSU's form a mixture of Ranger and Special Forces qualified personnel. In the Danish Home Guard this is found to be equally true!

The conclusion: PTLCOY's cannot be generalized and should not be underestimated in either endurance, creativity or adaptivity making for a total lack of capability predictability viewed in the eyes of foreign intelligence services.

(1) Sea, air and land capable, see www.patruljekompagniet.dk

(2) CT training received from Homestead P.D. SWAT, see www.6206.dk

Template:Dk-stub

External links

• Patruljekompagniet / Haerens Operative Kommando's main site http://www.patruljekompagniet.dk/
• The Scout/Patrol platoon at Army Homeguard Company 6206 http://www.6206.dk/
• Danish Special Forces and Patrol-units, capabilities. http://www.geocities.com/dk_special_operations_forces/index-us.html
• Specielle Efterretningspatruljer (in Danish but with photos)

http://users.cybercity.dk/~dko8218/sep.htm

• Long-Range Surveillance Unit Operations (FM 7-93)

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/7-93/index.html