Attack on Tandag Pocket (Oct 18)

E-Male · 10-19-2008, 09:13 PM

Informal AAR: Attack on Tanang Pocket (Oct 18)
Approx 11:30 - 00:30 EST

Bowing to considerable peer pressure (the good kind) Sam Hoy turned on his mic and stepped up as platoon leader.

The platoon consisted of two squads lead by Blackdog and Barnacle of Doom (BofD).

I did not take notes or screenshots, but I do have some very vivid memories of excellent comms between the PL and SLs (I remained in the TS channel to learn from the command chatter).

Moving out under Blackdog, with XMaster, Chunga and Michael I observed some excellent use of SOPs by BlackDog, BofD, and Sam Hoy.

Blackdog's first move was to get his men in an orderly column for move-out, assigning point and positions two, three, and four following point. This only takes a moment and is an excellent operatig procedure.

We ran ahead of BofD's squad, which was tasked with stopping a small convoy, and BlackDog carefully assigned each of his men to an overwatch position. Again, his communication technique was excellent and noteworthy. One by one, he called each of over to his position, showed us where he wanted us to be and what direction we were to pay attention to.

To be continued...

Sam Hoy · 10-19-2008, 09:42 PM

Was a good round, too bad I died early from a random round that went over second section that pegged me in the head. More to come...

**Blackdog1** · 10-20-2008, 03:37 AM

TANDAG m8

& cheers always easy to organise you chaps as not much is required!

Yep this was a fun one and very good to see Sam Hoy on comms and did well as PL. I really want to start encouraging many more to step up to have a go at SL duties and PL roles, it really is not as daunting as some of you may think and once the first one is out of the way, it's much easier to step up the next time.

Best
BD1

E-Male · 10-20-2008, 04:09 PM

AAR Continued...

BlackDog keep very tight control over the squad, and clearly was constantly aware of where his men were positioned. Precise instructions were provided whenever any one man was sent forward ('to the WEST corner of that house'...).

As we moved into the village I spotted a number of enemy prone to our West (dead ahead). Started calling in contact info but there was silence from Blackdog. Turned out that some incoming fire that narrowly missed me on one side of the street nailed our SL on the other side. With extreme stupidity, I stood over his body as I wondered aloud if this was BlackDog.

Note to self: Do not tarry over the freshly dead body of a teammate. The enemy that took out BlackDog opened fire on me and I too bought the farm.

I do not have any notes on Sam's actions as PL but I do recall being impressed by his cleality, fast thinking, and tactical aptitude.

**Jeepo_SAS** · 10-20-2008, 04:13 PM

Good to hear that Sam has refound his voice, he better keep it!!!!

**BarnacleofDoom** · 10-20-2008, 06:26 PM

My first thought on reading E-Male's debrief was "I had a squad?"

I had Bravo Squad only for the last third of the game. Unfortunately, I don't recall who had the squad for starters - Jeepo, or perhaps Grambo?

The ambush went OK but on careful reflection I think we might have been better served to keep the squad on one side of the hill only and move the ambush point further east, towards a slightly better field of fire.

As to the latter part of the mission, it consisted mainly of me standing over someone (you are not alone there, E-Male) wonder how I was going to complete my squad's assignments with my steadily dwindling band. Ended up with just two others in my squad, both of whom were disciplined. A bystander placed a single charge between two of the BMP's - a situation that I had specifically told my squad to NOT do - and then had a close quarters gunfight with the angry dismounted crews. My two placed two charges each at each BMP and we had no theatrics. Immediately after the BMPs had been destroyed, my thought was, "Alpha has how many remaining?" Apparently, they were down to only two or three and were folding back to rally with my troop. At this point, the mission ended. We were told in the debrief that at least three more OPFOR were inbound when the mission ended.

-BoD

**Xmaster** · 10-20-2008, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackdog1-22 Reg.SAS

I really want to start encouraging Xmaster to step up to have a go at PL roles, its really is not as daunting as he may think and once the first one is out of the way, it's much easier to step up the next time.

*rolleyes*
What? You're always pointing me out! Looks like you have something against...some vandetta or something. Always want to see me make a fool of myself. (just kidding here bro).

Seriously...I want to PL' like...each time nobody steps up... I just dont have the guts to...
I dont have problem micro-managing a small platoon (8ish person) but once its more than 10...**** hits the fan and I always feel like i'm doing a bad job.

On the other hand, i dont have any problem SL'ing. And I really enjoy it.

Thanks for kicking my ass up to the task BD.

beita · 10-20-2008, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xmaster

*rolleyes*
What? You're always pointing me out! Looks like you have something against...some vandetta or something. Always want to see me make a fool of myself. (just kidding here bro).

Seriously...I want to PL' like...each time nobody steps up... I just dont have the guts to...
I dont have problem micro-managing a small platoon (8ish person) but once its more than 10...**** hits the fan and I always feel like i'm doing a bad job.

On the other hand, i dont have any problem SL'ing. And I really enjoy it.

Thanks for kicking my ass up to the task BD.

The key to leading more than 10 people is to delegate. Do NOT try and lead a 20 player group. Put some other people in charge of smaller groups, then just tell those leaders what you want to happen.

Makes things much easier.

Sounds like a good round was played on this mission.

BSR_SARGE · 10-20-2008, 08:20 PM

It was good to hear Sam does have a working mic, and he can PL as good as any I have had the honor of serving under so far at TG.

The mission started with Grambo as our SL, and later it fell to BarnacleofDoom when Grambo had to leave. All went well before, during and after the convoy ambush. We were ordered to move into an easterly position of Blackdog's wolf pack (puppy kennel) and that's when Barnacle took over.

We then were repositioned to the north of our final objective. As we were setting up for overwatch we had a two man patrol walk right up to us. We didnot notice or see this parimeter patrol prior to our moving from east to north. I managed to take out the patrol, but the MG nest took me out.

Overall, I thought the mission went well, and can only commend all who participated to make it a good night for all.