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 to range and reliability. As such, weather elements and possibly terrain, can disrupt use of hand and arm signals when 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 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 signalers facial expressions too. Eyes and head movement may be used to add emphasis or additional communications (e.g. nod of head for “yes” or “no”, tilt of 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
![]() One |
![]() Two |
![]() Three |
![]() Four |
![]() Five |
![]() Six |
![]() Seven |
![]() Eight |
![]() Nine |
![]() Ten |
People hand signals
![]() You |
![]() Me |
Movement hand signals
![]() Come |
![]() Hurry up |
![]() Stop |
![]() Freeze |
![]() Go here or Move up |
![]() Rally point |
Actions hand signals
![]() Listen or I hear |
![]() Watch or I see |
![]() Cover this area |
![]() I understand |
![]() I do not understand |
![]() Crouch or lie down |
![]() Breach (or breacher) |
Animals, people, and circumstances hand signals
![]() Enemy |
![]() Hostage |
![]() Sniper |
![]() Dog |
![]() A leader |
Articles and items hand signals
![]() Pistol (arm bent) |
![]() Rifle (arm straight) |
![]() Shotgun (pumping action) |
![]() Ammunition |
![]() Vehicle |
![]() Gas |
![]() Door |
![]() Window |
![]() Point of entry |
Formation and position hand signals
![]() Column formation |
![]() File formation |
![]() Line abreast formation |
![]() Wedge formation |
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.
May I have your attention
I am ready, Ready to move, or are you ready?
Mount
Disregard previous command, As you were
I do not understand
Prepare to move
Halt or stop
Increase speed
Advance, Move out
Open up or spread out
Close up
Right/Left turn
Slow down
Move forward (vehicle traffic signal)
Move in reverse(vehicle traffic signal)
Close distance between vehicles and stop (vehicle traffic signal)
Stop engines (vehicle traffic signal)
Dismount (vehicle traffic signal)
Neutral steer (used for track vehicles)
Stop (an alternate signal used to stop a vehicle)
Message acknowledged (I understand)
Move over or shift fire (gunnery signal)
Fire weapon (gunnery signal)
Commence firing weapon (gunnery signal)
Cease firing (gunnery signal)
Out of action
Disperse
Assemble or rally
Join me, follow me, come forward
Increase speed, double time, rush
Take cover
Air attack
Nuclear, biological, or chemical attack
Check the map
Pace count or number of steps
Phone or radio communication
Head count
Danger area
Stop and freeze
Left and right traffic stop (traffic control)
Front traffic stop (traffic control)
Rear traffic stop (traffic control)
Traffic from right may go (traffic control)
Traffic from left may go (traffic control)
Convoy open up distance between vehicles (convoy signal)
Convoy reduce distance between vehicles (close up) (convoy signal)
Convoy – pass and keep going (convoy signal)
Convoy – move in reverse, back up (convoy signal)
Raise the hoist winch cable (used in recovery operations)
Lower the hoist winch cable (used in recovery operations)
Raise the boom (used in recovery operations)
Lower the boom (used in recovery operations)
In-haul the winch
Lower the spade (used to signal digging machinery)
Raise the spade (used to signal digging machinery)
Cut engine or stop rotors (aircraft control signal)
Load has not been released (aircraft control signal)
Hookup complete (aircraft control signal)
Release (ground to air signal for aircraft)
Depart (ground to air signal for aircraft)
Go around, abort, do not land (ground to air signal)
Land the aircraft (aircraft control signal)
Stop the aircraft (aircraft control signal)
Steer the aircraft right (aircraft control signal)
Hover (ground to air signal for aircraft)
Downloadable hand signal charts
Below are a collection of downloadable hand signal charts.
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