Minicamp AAR Monday 12/13

[ABRA]

Well the attendance was down a little bit but that is far from being a bad thing. I think we had about 16 at the high water mark. Thanks to WhiskeySix, HallRazor, munchkin and aschmack for instructing and Bubba for once again fixing our admin tool woes. And of course to everyone who came.

We covered the TG rules and the basics of working under the orders of a SL. Then we did 2 man fireteam drills. Mainly taught them how to bound in a two man buddy rush. Some squads' students were able to pick this up ricky-ticky so they moved on the more grandiose things like the staggered Ranger file and full 6 man squad techniques. We stressed the AFAR framework of area of responsibility, focus of fire, axis of advance, and role in the squad. Also we got them using the contact report SOP or at least spotting enemies before firing.

All in all it was a really successful minicamp. On the instructor side we used the TS whisper system to great effect. During our debrief we saw how even though these drills work well when you have squad mates run them again each other, they would work even better if we had some people playing the part of the enemy. A sort of "target dummy" squad that was on call on the TS whisper function so SL-instructors could make requests for "I need to dummies to ambush my squad just East of the power plant" and such. So we'll be looking for volunteers for that. It'd be nice not to have to thin the instructor ranks by having them act as targets.

The other thing is that we saw a lot of familiar faces from last week. To that end I think from now on we'll be keeping a tally of who attends the minicamps. If the instructors remember who was in their squad's this time could they please PM that list of players to me. Maybe even be instituting some sort of badge system similar to the ribbons some of us wear in our signatures. Anyone with some photoshop experience that may be able to draw something up for me in that regard would be great, PM me for details.

There's an upcoming instructor meeting for those instructors and dummy squad volunteers that can make next week. The time has not yet been finalized so PM me if you are interested or keep an eye out for the new minicamp thread in the general forum.

[HellRazor61]

I would like to begin by saying thankyou to Abra for putting this all together! I would also like to thank Munchkin, WhiskeySix, and Aschmack for taking time out of their lives to help make this event an exciting event! I also again would like to thank Bubba for helping out with the admin side of things for the server! Finally, I would like to thank all of those who attended the minicamp it would not be possible without you guys! Without you guys it would just be us the instructors standing around looking at one another!

We had a pretty good session last night I thought. I got the feeling that most people saw that the tactics we were trying to teach could be very valuable when used in game! Of course the biggest thing we are trying to do here is plant the seed of teamwork in the newcomers. I too was once a lone wolf out in the great wild of pubbie servers. Although, that is not a bad thing it is just hard to go from thinking about 1 to thinking about a team. I also think things are going well towards getting people to communicate more after all communication is the key (shoot, move, communicate)!!

You know its funny but this makes me think alot of doing squad training while I was in the Army with my squad!

Anyways, to make a long story short I had a great time teaching lastnight and I hope all of you had a great time participating! So as long as all of you keep attending we will keep giving you what you want!

P.S.-How about a +rep to Abra and all those who make this possible remember its free!!!

[JimmyTwoHand]

Thanks guys. The session seemed well run and organised, Hellraiser and Munchkin did a great job communicating both the importance and technicalities of teamwork. As long as im not working youll see me at more of these Training camps. Good job. + rep

[Beatnik]

I sat in on TS for a little while early in the session. It sounded really informative, and HUGELY valuable to those new to TG as well as veterans. Great job guys.

[munchkin]

Originally Posted by Beatnik

I sat in on TS for a little while early in the session. It sounded really informative, and HUGELY valuable to those new to TG as well as veterans. Great job guys.

Cool, now next time you're gonna participate in the whole thing, aren't you?
C'mon, we've got some awesome stuff going when we split up into instructor groups.

[Flippin]

I was just woundering if you guys have plans to make an instructional video?

I can't attend this as im living in Europe (Sweden GMT+1) with not so usual working hours, thats why im asking.

[marstein]

I got to the session late and trained the buddy rush. I found that it can be very effective but probably easier in real life. You don't get so many kamikazees when it's your life.
Basically you run forward while your buddy fires on any enemies ahead. Then you lie down and provide cover while your buddy runs forward.

For this to work you need to watch your minimap, lay down effective suppressive fire and remember to start running. In the meantime I had to hande my breathing and a bottle of beer not to speak of the mouse and keyboard.

I felt that I was not that good at it. My senses are not yet coupled to the PC matrix world well enough. I am hoping for the next generation of input devices that hook into your brain stem.

I hope that we can over time more cohesive squads that know these manouvers by name and can execute them together.

[munchkin]

Originally Posted by Flippin

I was just woundering if you guys have plans to make an instructional video?

I can't attend this as im living in Europe (Sweden GMT+1) with not so usual working hours, thats why im asking.

I was planning to fiddle around with BattleRecorder, but I don't believe it was enabled.

[Beatnik]

I'll try to hop in one after the new year.