Patrolling

[Volcano Man]

I didn't notice that the original question was addressed to 'real life point of view'. Yes, as OJW said, an infantry company can certainly fortify while conducting additional low intensity tasks. That said, I was looking at it purely from a game play perspective.

Digging in has been an 'either or' situation where a unit cannot dig in and choose to do another task unless it comes with a penalty (such as firing). This maintains a balance in game play so that the user has a clear incentive or a reason to choose not to dig in in certain cases. Since a fortifying unit is penalized with a reduced fire rating, my original observation is that if a unit is not further penalized (either an additional penalty to fire value to represent the further displacement of combat power, or a penalty to the probability a successful patrol), then it does not provide a realistic incentive to the user to make a conscious decision not to dig in while the user has a unit patrolling (or vice versa). If digging in and patrolling already carries a cumulative penalty with it (actually, I am not aware if it does or does not), then I would agree with the situation.