Folk Workshop AAR 7th Oct - All About the Hummer

[Tigershark]

Apologies for the delay in this AAR but I have been traveling for work and finding time to write this up has been challenging.

This workshop centered on further fire and manoeuvre drills along with the efficient mounting and dismounting of Hummers. We closed out the session with an introduction to moving across intersections.

Each session we will spend 15mins to drill fire and manoeuvre until people are comfortable that they it is second nature to them. After that, we may extend this to be intra-fireteam fire and manoeuvre but let's see how this pans out.

HMMMV Mounting

We learn and practice Hummmer mounting and dismounting for several reasons

• avoid any wasted time through discussion of who takes which role in the vehicle
• ensure the FT can operate more effectively as a team when each member knows their specific role in the vehicle

In summary, the FT takes the following position and takes on the following roles.

• ATR - Drives the vehicle.
• FTL - Sits in the front passenger seat and navigates for the ATR. As the ATR has eyes on the road and not on the map he is able to identify threats ahead of the vehicle. The FTL should provide clear and concise navigation instructions to the ATR.
• AAR - Takes the role of gunner.
• AR - Takes a rear passenger seat. This enables the AR to dismount quickly if required and provide rapid and sustained fire on any threats in addition to the M2 on the HMMMV.

When mounting the vehicle it is important that the last member of the FT to mount the vehicle indicate to the FTL that the vehicle is ready to push off by calling out "<Fireteam Name> all in!". For example, "Bravo 1 all in!"

When the FT is mounted the FTL should report in to the SL, "<Fire team name> is good to go." or some other radio message to indicate that the FT is mounted up and ready for movement orders.


Dismounting

When dismounting the vehicle in combat situations it is important to maintain 360 degree security when the whole team is dismounted and security for the vulnerable flanks and rear of the vehicle if the M2 is manned.

There are 2 types of dismounts:

Partial dismount
In a partial dismount, the M2 remains manned and the driver stays in the vehicle to rapidly reposition the M2 if required. This is mostly used when the M2 is required as firing platform for an assault/ambush, or when a convoy is stopped and waiting for further movement orders. It may also be used defensively however in typical defensive operations, movement of the gun platform is not as a vital as having extra firepower from the driver being trained on the enemy.

During a partial dismount the the HMMMV is most vulnerable in its rear. For this reason, the AR typically takes up a position guarding the rear of the vehicle until otherwise directed by the FTL. The FTL will take up position on one of the flanks of the vehicle (typically the right hand side where they exit the vehicle) and will have binoculars ready to help guide rounds being being fired by the M2.

Under no circumstances should either the FTL or the AR stand in front or behind the vehicle. This inhibits the ability of the vehicle to move quickly to reposition and will most likely lead to being driven over.

Full dismount
A full dismount requires all members of the FT to dismount. This will usually be in low threat situations, in preparation for push off to a objective on foot, or during a period of lull in the battle when the FT awaits orders and is required to stay close to their vehicle.

During a full dismount it is important the 360 degree security be establish around the vehicle. Each FT member has an assigned area to watch.

• The ATR takes front left
• The FTL takes front right
• The AAR takes back right
• The AR takes back left

Although this is a recommended configuration for security, ultimately a lot will be based on where the player exits the vehicle. The exact positioning of each player isn't as important as making sure a FT member is on each corner of the vehicle and watching their sector to provide 360 cover. We will continue to drill this to make sure FTs perform this fluidly as they dismount the vehicle.

Crossing intersections in urban terrain

Crossing an intersection as an FT consists of several parts that happen sequentially.

• FT divides itself into Red and Blue teams and takes the left and right sides of the road in order to cover both sides of the intersection as the approach it.
• When the intersection is reached both teams hold and do a "cross cover check" in order to ensure that when their fellow FT member steps around the corner there are no immediate threats.
• Once both teams acknowledge there are no immediate threats they communicate with "clear" and each FT steps around the corner to cover down the street.
• As the streets are covered the remaining FT members cross quickly and take up cover positions mimicking their buddy.
• Once the remaining members are set they communicate "covering" or "move" to indicate that the original FT members can move across the street and begin covering ahead of them as they move.

Crossing T intersections
Section coming soon.

[Ferrard Carson]

The vehicle drills were really good, and continued ones will be extremely helpful.

In regards to intersection crossing, you can refer to the latter parts of both my and SuperU's "Blackfolk Down" footage for examples of movement in a MOUT environment. Sometimes we did them correctly, sometimes (like when I crossed in front of my blue-team's field of fire) we didn't.

One last thing of note: Initiative Based Tactics

We've been doing drills now, and a lot of people have been asking to be reminded what SOP is regarding, for instance, which sector to cover during fire-team movement. While there is a standard protocol, I can't even remember the exact arcs that each fire-team member should cover. Even there, the exact arcs must change in response to whatever terrain you are in. There's little point to watching your 2-5 arc like a hawk when there's a sheer drop to the sea in that direction.

Basically what I'm saying is that SOP is good, but Initiative Based Tactics on an individual level are even better.

In terms of street-crossing, it doesn't matter who gets to the corner first. Whoever does hit the corner first becomes the covering element, and the next person along becomes the first to cross. During movement, even if you remember SOP in regards to watching sectors, check where everyone else is looking. Wherever you are in whatever formation you're holding, look where your other fire team members are looking. If you are the AAR and your FTL is looking forward, your AR is looking left, and your AT rifleman is looking behind, then it falls to you to watch right, where no one else is watching. (Incidentally, I cannot give the ShackTac HUD add-on a more glowing recommendation than in regards to this - it gives me instant feedback on where the rest of my fire team is watching at all times, and lets me cover my arc without having to glance over my shoulder every other second)

Only in situations where there is no time at all to figure out what everyone else is doing, such as clearing a room, should you memorize SOP and adhere to it rigidly. Even then, keep running Initiative Based Tactics through your mind, because the situation could change at any moment and render standard procedure obsolete.

~ Ferrard

[Black Mamba]

I'd have to disagree on one point: room clearing has no more standard SOP than street crossing. Depends if you're on a split stack or not, and the first man to go in decides if he goes for a hook or a cross.
But I don't think all this matters much in Arma, as whenever you get into buildings you're basically doomed. You can't even properly frag inside before breaching, cause the explosions will kill you through the wall.
My main advice when clearing a building would be suppress the hell out of it (frag rain!), and then suppress the hell out of it.
And then get in.

[Ferrard Carson]

Good point, Black Mamba; I generally don't know much about building-clearing because I've mostly studied World War II operational-level warfare, the TTP2 doesn't really say much except "ArmA isn't a CQC simulator," and by the time most of us get into a MOUT environment in Folk, we're so cut up from the initial assault on the town that building clearing happens on a "flood the building" basis. Also, the AI tends to leave buildings ungarrisoned. Maybe in future ASR_AI rounds we'll see more use of urban cover by AI, in which case this would become more important.

~ Ferrard

[wolfenswan]

Ferrard you might be interested in The bear went over the mountain.

A lot of text book examples of strict adherence to SOP being the cause for failure of a mission or individual initiative on lower levels bringing success.

[StrangLove]

Regarding urban combat: I much prefer chernarus for urban combat, as it does away with ARMA's awkwardness with going inside buildings whilst still giving that close in fighting experience. Berezino and Vybor are particularly good for this, with Elektro and Chernagorsk both providing a nice blend of industry and residential locales. Hopefully with ASR_AI now on the server, we'll have a better MOUT experience.

Also, I second Wolf's reccomendation of 'The Bear went over the mountain', it's an excellent book.

[Black Mamba]

Yup, that's arguable. Though Chernarus' non enterable buildings remove one important thing from MOUT, and that is verticality. If no random soldier has spawned on a rooftop (yeah. You know what I mean), there's almost no chance you're going to get shot at from a second floor window. Yet that's, in my opinion, what makes urban combat so enjoyable: you have to watch all directions, and up too.

Anyway, the only proper way to clear a building in Arma is to call in an airstrike. Period.

[fer]

Ferrard you might be interested in The bear went over the mountain.

A lot of text book examples of strict adherence to SOP being the cause for failure of a mission or individual initiative on lower levels bringing success.

True story: Folk was nearly called "Limited Contingent", because I was reading this book when the sessions were created. If you look at the first half-dozen missions I wrote for the Folk sessions, such as Highway, you'll see that this book provided a lot of inspiration! It's a superb read.

[Ferrard Carson]

That's now about the fifth recommendation of that book I've gotten in the past week from all over the place (funny how the timing worked out) so guess what's going on my reading list? After I finish Neptune's Inferno, of course.

Also, I SCIENCE'd frags and walls with a buddy yesterday, and I'm not sure what you were talking about in terms of frags killing people through walls. We tried a few different spots in two different Takistan buildings, aaaand, nothin'. Is it maybe like the problem that plagued Waffly in Internecine two weeks ago when his grenade just stuck to the wall instead of falling down?

~ Ferrard

[Black Mamba]

Well I just tested this again, and I can confirm that in a large part of the Zargabad buildings (assuming that it doesn't take you half an hour to actually frag the damn building, and that you haven't been shot in the process, which is higly unlikely) you might die due to the explosion of the grenade inside the building.
Apparently it mostly appears on those buildings where the nades disappears instead of falling on the floor.