In a military or survival situation where silence must be maintained in order to mask your presence from an enemy, foe, or target, several types of non-verbal communication (visual signals) are available including flags, pyrotechnic, chemical lights, ground-to-air signals, and hand and arm signals. The United States Army Field Manual 21-60 lays out the standard for hand and arm signals (see below) but other hand signals have been adopted and are commonly used in situations requiring visual communication.

The limits of visual communication

Visual signals are, of course, limited in range and reliability. As such, weather elements and possibly terrain can disrupt the use of hand and arm signals when the line of sight is disrupted.

Hand and arm signals are easy to misunderstand which is especially problematic when non-standard hand signals are used by the participants.

Lastly, hand signals may be vulnerable to enemy interception and allow the possibility that the visual communications is received and properly interpreted by the foe, possibly even without your knowledge that the communication was intercepted.

Uses for hand signals

Despite their limitations, hand and arm signals are useful in military and survival situations and are especially useful when participants remain relatively close together. Hand and arm signals may be used by participants to coordinate movement and actions in a silent manner and may be used by leaders to control the movement of their team during patrol or combat movement. Hand and arm signals are also useful for hunting or tracking parties who must maintain silence to avoid alerting their target to their presence.

Common hand signals

Below are the various hand and arm signals that can be used when visual communication is required. When receiving hand signals, be sure to pay attention to the signaler’s facial expressions too. Eyes and head movement may be used to add emphasis or additional communications (e.g., nod of the head for “yes” or “no”, tilt of the head to indicate direction). Recognize too that multiple hand signals can be combined in sequence in order to more accurately communicate the thought or action.

Counting and numbers hand signals

People hand signals

Movement hand signals

Actions hand signals

Animals, people, and circumstances hand signals

Articles and items hand signals

Formation and position hand signals

United States Army FM 21-60 Hand Signals

The U.S. Army’s FM 21-60 manual, albeit dated, provides many useful hand signals too, most of which are more sophisticated and complex than the examples above. Some Army signals even have variants that can be used during nighttime activities.