Slippery Eels
TH1 Pilot: Dannysaysno
|- Gunner: Fer
As transport for a six-man Bravo, we were placed under the command of comrade SL Tigershark for the duration of this mission. Combat stress had changed comrade Tigershark; he just wasn't the same young man I'd known at the Party training camp for young leaders. Ah, those tender years in the springtime of our youth, those endless days of warm sun and ... anyway ... comrade SL Tigershark cut a rough figure now, designating an LZ with a name that evoked his brutal sexual appetite. We landed unopposed near the villa, the gravy-train riding UN troops and officials watching from their luxurious perch (they like to watch); but to see what had become of this once promising young leader ... I was dead inside already.
Fortunately, I was not so dead as to be unable to operate the controls on BOTH miniguns in our Blackhawk. Normally, I am not only happy with my Party-issued AK, but unable to comprehend the attachment some individuals have to BLUFOR equipment and call-signs. However, as we orbited the city, and I spied those ant-like people in the streets below through the sights of my awesomely powerful weapon, I succumbed to temptation and decided we should adopt the call-sign 'Super Six'. I got on the radio to tell comrade pilot Dannysaysno, and took his 'uh, yeah, whatever' as a resounding endorsement of this idea.
Of course, this new-found BLUFOR mania had little effect on me, but after spotting Alpha's bodies around their vehicles at the mosque check-points and hearing reports from Bravo of contacts to their south-west, I gripped the controls of my min-gun and responded the only way I could.
I hosed the living f--- out of those buildings.
Perhaps there were families in there. All I knew was that there were insurgents sheltering - and being sheltered - in those houses, and I had a mandate to DESTROY. They were all guilty. 2,000 rounds per minute not good enough? Flip to 4,000 rounds per minute and bring kinetic democracy to the street as well! Man, this was awesome. I was awesome. So ... much ... POWER!
Then our tail-rotor was damaged and comrade Dannysaysno was forced to put us down just beyond the riverbed to the south-east of the villa - but not before I could tell Bravo that 'Super-Six is going down'. Then we got out of the helo and ran across the fields until we met up with comrade medic Dan, who patched us up and declared us ready to re-enter the fray.
Comrade SL Tigershark was still up and by now Bravo was all that was left of BLUFOR. We were placed into buildings just south-west of the villa and told to ambush OPFOR if they made a dash along the road. Comrade Dannysaysno even managed to salvage an RPK and made ready to democratise any car that came along. Meanwhile, I gripped my MP5 and thought about Charlie Sheen in
Navy Seals. I wondered if I should put a bandana on.
Just as I was wondering whether or not to spray-paint a giant eagle on the bonnet of my car, we took some more casualties and the mission ended (BLUFOR couldn't lose more than 75%). I was sad - not about the mission, but about the way combat stress had change comrade Tigershark, and grateful that I am such a stable individual.
Huzzah SE
Alpha SL: Fer
|- M: Guus
Alpha'a initial tasking was straightforward: climb the western ridge, orient south, and sweep it for enemy infantry and bunkers before coming to rest overlooking the enemy positions north of Zargabad. Beyond my three fireteams (led ably by comrade FTLs Draakon, Mamuto and Bandzai), we would have comrade Dogface's HAT team in tow. This would be a cakewalk!
To begin with, it was. We mounted up in two Land Rovers and an MTVR and drove west to the ridge, then dismounted and formed a squad-wedge, orienting ourselves south. Comrade medic Guus was to follow behind us in the MTVR (because it contained ammo), as would the HAT team in their Land Rover (which was supposed to contain ammo, but didn't). I was aware of a friendly mortar team in our space, but assumed they'd be sensible enough to stay behind my infantry.
We moved forward, sometimes as a squad, sometimes with A1 providing overwatch as the rest of the squad employed the undulations of the ridge line to bound. We knew there were infantry contacts ahead of us on the ridge, but their numbers appeared small and I wanted to maintain momentum (and stay level with the rest of the platoon, which was advancing down the valley and the eastern ridge). There was sporadic fire from my fireteams, but eventually we were within sight of the end of the ridge. At this moment, we spotted an enemy squad moving towards us from the valley beyond (to the south), and I elected to set up a defensive line: better, I believed, to let the enemy crest and walk into the sights of our guns - especially now that Alpha 2 had recovered a DShKM from a nearby enemy bunker.
The squad, now in V-formation, set up the ambush and waited; but the enemy declined to come on, and comrade CO Toppometer called me up to request that I hurry things along. I sent comrade FTL Bandzai's Alpha 3 forward to scout, and eventually all of Alpha was arranged at the end of the ridge. Down on the valley floor was the enemy squad, beyond them - at the enemy positions that were the mission's objective - were two tanks, an HMG and more infantry. We opened fire.
HAT had come up and loosed its single Javelin round on an enemy tank (to great effect); the other tank was also cooked-up (perhaps by comrade Tigershark's IVF1 to our left?). We traded fires with the enemy infantry, both in the valley and beyond; rounds pinged around us and I was wounded. Aware - painfully so - that we were exposed on the top of the downslope, I ordered FTLs to pop smoke and pull back. This was executed superbly (kudos to comrade FTLs Draakon, Mamuto and Bandzai), allowing us to re-group, heal the wounded and even check to see if we required re-supply from our squad vehicles.
Talking to comrade CO Toppometer, I admitted we had been driven back; so he sent comrade Tigershark's IFV1 to observe the valley floor south of our position. Tigershark couldn't see any contacts, so we moved forward again and spread out at the end of the ridge, overlooking the town. We were told that Bravo had begun its descent to the east, so I oriented the squad towards the town and thus began a few minutes of accurate scoped fire on the half-dozen enemy troops we could see in the compounds to our south-east. It was turning into a turkey-shoot.
The squad was oriented south-east, with A1 at the tip, A2 to the left and A3 securing our right. Unbeknownst to any of us, an enemy fireteam was creeping up the slope towards A3. Although A3 had been tasked with looking in the direction of the enemy's approach, soething went wrong and two of comrade FTL Bandzai's team went down (including himself). A1, A2 and the remains of A3 reacted quickly, but I had to pull them back for a second to prevent the whole squad scrambling down the slope in a tactical blob: enthusiasm for taking the fight to the enemy was great, but I wanted to retain our formation because once a squad becomes a blob it's much harder to lead.
Suitably reformed, A1 and A2 moved downslope to the south-west, eventually confirming that no further enemies persisted in our area. We were now on the valley floor, with only sporadic rocks for cover, and I realised we were committed to the advance. The survivors of A3 were rolled into the other two fireteams, so Alpha remained effective, which was just as well: suddenly, to our left, IFV1 exploded and burst into flames.
Under cover from comrade FTL Draakon's A1, comrade FTL Mamuto's A2 ran forward, pulled the wounded crew from the burning vehicle and administered first aid. Then we bounded to the nearest set of compounds, some 50m to our south-east. For the next five minutes we held that area, incorporating the patched-up crew members and MAT1 straggler, eventually reforming as a 3-element squad of more than regular strength.
When Bravo joined us, having swept through the settlement to our east, we stepped off for the final objective. Alpha was to take the western-most segment of the enemy positions, so I made for this destination at head of my own element, with A2 screening left (south-east) and A1 right (north-west). As we hit the objective an enemy BMP-2 appeared, but was almost instantly destroyed by AT fire from Alpha (and quite possibly Bravo). We then traded fire with enemy infantry off to the south, before eventually securing the positions.
Comrade CO Toppo authorised celebratory gunfire.