AAR A/1-7 CO FTX | Operation Close and Personal | 26JUL26 | 1930z - 2130z

[Dread.M]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
ALPHA COMPANY 1-7
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

A/1-7 CO FTX | Operation Close and Personal
Date: 26JUL26
Time (Zulu): 19:30-21:30
Server:

Attendance:
Major Dread.M
Major Hilberg.A
Major Rodahl.S
Second Lieutenant Carr.W
Second Lieutenant Mobius.T
Sergeant Major Schmidt.A
First Sergeant Summerfield.P
First Sergeant Westcott.R
Master Sergeant Mazinski.H
Master Sergeant Willson.JA
Staff Sergeant Jones.RH
Staff Sergeant McAllen.J
Sergeant Giordano.C
Sergeant Howe.T
Sergeant Macintosh.S
Sergeant Winters.R
Warrant Officer 1 Bloggins.R
Corporal Bolte.D
Corporal Bosley.B
Corporal Bull.T
Corporal Couvillion.T
Corporal Grey.T
Corporal Johnsen.M
Corporal Lamb.J
Corporal Lethbridge-Stewart.J
Corporal Masnec.G
Corporal Reddick.A
Corporal Rozhkov.P
Corporal Spice.M
Corporal Xinos.T
Corporal Yota.G
Corporal Zaren.T
Specialist Abdulla.K
Specialist Bayer.MW
Specialist Brown.G
Specialist Chisum.J
Specialist Coner.J
Specialist Dellow.J
Specialist Facklam.E
Specialist Leon.J
Specialist McGill.A
Specialist Ross.S
Specialist Studs.J
Specialist Thomas.K
Specialist Ware.D
Specialist Weather.J
Specialist Woodford.F
Private First Class Jonez.M
Private First Class Sawyer.H
Private First Class Riley.K
Private Otter.D
Private Molitor.K
Recruit Hollywood.C
Recruit Zimmer.M

COC Lessons Learned and Sustains

• 71 in attendance at the height
• Overall Company (nontactical) objectives met
  • Attendance and engagement
  • 1st A Co infantry focused FTX executed
  • 1st Company FTX post merge - small unit leadership working as a cohesive group
  • Platoon leadership engaged and challenging decisions productively
• Tactical training objectives partially met
  • Key leadership disconnects due to server performance at pinnacle stages contributed to a lag in execution
    • CQB portion was not met
    • Tight LZs not met - challenging LZs met under direct and indirect fire
    • Succession of command and radio delegation improvement needed.
• Large scale integration tested with HELIOS-2
  • Good feedback and actionable adjustments
  • Caping squad size
  • Planned for average attendance of 45-50 received 70.
  • Plan for controlling Public Players in an OP with individual element cap sizes.

 

[Weather.J]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT
​

Element Callsign: Pioneer-7
Element Leader: Specialist Weather.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element: Specialist Weather.J

Pros:

• Great Op and concept
• 68W integration to elements seems to work well. -7 is definitely needed to help coordinate. I would also recommended having -7 attend -6 meeting during opbaord building so -6, -5.-7 are all on the same page before brief. I would also recommend if you do have a 68W attached to the element acting as that advance care provided that the squad not have a CLS so you can have an extra AT or ammo carrier. I think of the attached 68W being slotted in as Hellios-2 I think having them be slotted in as Platoon medic assistants and makes a little bit more sense since they report all medial needs to -7. They would join under -7 during PCI's so they get get the kit and get and assignment then switch over to the element group in game and report to that SL to get squad net and make sure they know whets going on. I think having a standard call sign such as P-1MIKE (M=Medic) after the -7 assigns you to a squad. For slotting I would recommend x1 PM X5 PMA. X4 PMA would then go to a element and the x1 remaining PMA would would be a PMA with -7 and act as 2IC/RTO. The ARR would be done by 7 in discord for to make it easy. I am happy tp answer any questions on this.

Cons:

• Rough landing led to me being reg tag off the LZ (unknown if it was due to connection issues or not)
• Server connection issues
• Having FTX be private ops to reinforce the topics we have covered for the month.
• Lack of coordination during PZ

 

[Reddick.A]

Element Callsign: Pioneer-4
Element Leader: Corporal Reddick.A
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Major Hilberg.A
First Sergeant Westcott.R
Corporal Lamb.J
Corporal Masnec.G
Corporal Lamb.J
Specialist Dellow.J
Specialist Facklam.E
Private First Class Murphy.K
Private First Class Pepper.A

Pros:

• Great integration of all elements
• Overall good concept of FTX

Cons:

• Messy EXFIL
• P-4 could have provided more value as a Blocking Position

 

[McAllen.J]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT
​

Element Callsign: Helios-2
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant McAllen.J

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:

Sergeant Winters.R
Corporal Rozhkov.P
Specialist Thomas.K
Corporal Lethbridge-Stewart.J

Pros:

• Liked the idea of splitting the Helios 2 members throughout Pioneer platoon as ACPs
• Had some reds in P-3 and P-4 which allowed some personnel to get some work done

Cons:

• The boarding/loading process at base took a bit too long and loading of extra equipment was unnecessary
• Lack of work in P-1 and P-2 since they were security positions with contact being very simple to deal with
• The exfil could've been done better in terms of where we wanted the landing points to be within the LZ and having squads push out preemptively to standby close to those landing points
• The public setting should be used for less complicated Ops/FTXs to ensure we complete the goals of the training plan
• Multiple black/red tags from explosions and getting glitched out in the buffalo

Notes: Overall I don't believe we completed the intended plan for the month, we were training on CQB and we went into a very open AO with a bunch of woods so we were not prepared at all for this. I highly recommend we stop doing FTXs in public settings since the purpose of these is to train in a operational environment from what we trained on the entire month with our fellow troopers.

 

[Coner.J]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

Element Callsign: Buffalo Flight
Element Leader: Buffalo-1: Specialist Coner.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Buffalo-2
Private First Class Sawyer.H, Recruit Zimmer.M
Buffalo-3
Private First Class Jonez.M, Specialist Ross.S, Corporal Bull.T
Buffalo-4
Corporal Spice.M, Warrant Officer 1 Bloggins.R
Buffalo-5
Sergeant Macintosh.S

Pros:

• Good teamwork between the flights​
• Buffalo-3 was constantly moving with Re-inserts the entire Operation​
• Everyone felt that it was a great operation.​
• Good turn out: 70+ people.​

Cons:

• Lack of communication/Comms were too crowded​
• Amount of Disconnects affected the overall of the operation​
• Troopers felt that Training was not covered during the operation (due to BLUFOR not reaching the push into Calverston).​
• Slotting of aircraft could have been reduced to 2x Grizzly with a CAS frame for aerial escort, would have lifted alot of the conflictions had.​
• CPL.Lamb.J mounted Buffalo-4's doorgun and fired into friendly positions, completely disregarding the safety of friendlies/airframe, and then proceeded to exit the aircraft, causing him to be crushed underneath, again disregarding the pilots commands.​

 

[Bolte.D]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

Element Callsign: Helios-1
Element Leader: Corporal Bolte.D
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Private Burns.J
Specialist Miranda.M
Private First Class Moore.P
Specialist Ware.D
Pros:

• Fun OP style with fast integration with Mortars and for the Demo
• Was a section tonight instead of the integration but was able to adapt fast to call for fires or demo request
• Lots of tasking to do tonight so we stayed busy and didn't have to go searching for work
• The 61's were vital to holding back the enemy of PZ and destroying armor

Cons:

• Lots of disconnect and game lagging made communication difficult at times
• the PZ was a mess because of above mentioned
• Pax count got jumbled cause of public players which led to last minute scrambling

 

[Giordano.C]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT
​

Element Callsign: Pioneer - 3
Element Leader: Sergeant Giordano.C
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Howe.T
Corporal Vara.J
Corporal Johnsen.M
Specialist Studs.J
Specialist Rayner.N
Private First Class Max.G
Private First Class Otter.K
Private Molitor.K


Pros:
-Succession of command internally in Squad
-Executed textbook assault with shift fire calls with Pioneer-4 element
-Contact reports, rate of fire, mutual support between fire teams
-Great initial squad movement to contact formation and spacing

Cons:
-Bunched up between Squad at PZ, created the opening for a MASSCAS of Pioneer-3 once Pioneer-1 pulled out against enemy heavy armor
-No use of SOSRA or CQB during operation, most likely due to time and not being able to perform follow on assaults after OBJ 1
-Would like to see our Platoon movement AO open to allow better spacing and prevention of the constant "stepping on top of" periods
-Multiple and consistent desyncs at the worst times (nothing we can do)


Public Member:
CPL.Decann.A [DISCH]
Trigger

 

[Carr.W]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT
​

Element Callsign: PIONEER-6
Element Leader: 2LT.Carr.W
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:

AAR ACOYFTX JUL26

"Improves" are listed as "notes" with bullets below.

Mission: Pioneer conducts a Raid on an AAA site, neutralizing their weapons emplacement, to degrade enemy strength in the south west peninsula of Faircroft NLT H+2+00.

Outcome: Success.

Plan: Air insert using 4x buffalos to LZ Bravo (GRID) and INFILTRATE to ORP (GRID), then emplace BLUE (security), WHITE (SBF), and RED teams without being discovered, Isolate and then then kick off ABF on objective, and assault through. Once OBJ cleared, Engineers emplace demo. Then, on "RED RED RED" assault team and engineers pull out, detonate demo, "WHITE WHITE WHITE" SBF pulls out, then "BLUE BLUE BLUE" security team pulls out, back to ORP.

Call is made to buffalo for Pickup at PZ/LZ Bravo or best new PZ. Ream and refit, prepare for follow on tasking.

Actual: More troopers than expected, had to increase lift to 5x buffalos. Helios team was separated and loaded on BUFF-5. Also some of Chalk-2 had to be bumped to BUFF-5. Max numbers in squad was difficult to ascertain with "attached" members and teams.

• Note: Ideal max count for a Buffalo chalk needs to be determined and stuck to. Most likely 11 infantry PAX to save the appropriate room for Buffalo crew (Pilot not in command, Crew Chief, Door gunner.)
• Note: When a chalk is created, the chalk leader needs to report the chalk pax count, not squad plus attachments. If PSG or Medic or Helios or FO is in the chalk, they are included. This will reduce confusion and math problems during staging.

5 chalk lift arrived at LZ Bravo, and infantry began movement to ORP.

• Note - need to plan ahead of tie for order of march and formation of platoon so no time is wasted on decisions on the ground. Ideally: BLUE team first, then Platoon HQ unit, then WHITE team inc Helios mortar team, Then RED team with Helios Demo team in trail. This is essentially what happened, but there was some ambiguity on the ground.
• Note, with ATC traffic on A2G, I as 6 had to mute the A2G channel during INFILTRATION because there was too much traffic. This made for problems later with ISR reports from Buffalo Flight. Another way to reach 6 / tactical ground commander is necessary if ATC (rather than CTAF) is used. I also assumed for whatever reason that WARHORSE would handle ISR radio traffic, but that assumption was obviously incorrect, and an explicit responsibility needed to be set during planning.

Platoon encountered 2 man enemy patrol and successfully avoided contact. Excellent fire discipline exhibited.

From ORP, Blue team emplaced, then white, then red, per SOP. White team was discovered by enemy, immediately kicked off assault. White team made mad minute including indirect fire mission. Blue team began Guarding task and stopped all enemy movement to OBJ. After 60 seconds, red team assaulted through obj.

Blue team guarded the avenues of approach north. (Pioneer 1) and south (Pioneer 2). Pioneer-1s north position was difficult for them to control with thick woods and multiple AoAs within a small area.

Red team cleared to their LOA, engineers (who were separate at WHITE position) then moved into OBJ.

• Note - next time the engineers could be attached / organic to RED team so no time is wasted moving to OBJ from WHITE position, etc.

Engineers placed demo and dett-ed demo.

• Note: Engineers could have waited to det demo until RED RED RED was called and all friendlies were off of OBJ. This could have been observed from the SBF/S&O position rather than on-site, aka "BLUE BURNING" where the clacker is handed off to security team or demoed as the last act off OBJ. This would get RED team off the X sooner and speed up the whole time on target problem.

RED RED RED was called and red team exfil-ed back to ORP.

• Note: a release point (RP) would have been useful to have RED, WHITE, BLUE team pass through a control point for accountability rather than everyone just heading independently to ORP as there was ambiguity WRT where people were and if they had gotten off the X. More radio confirmation would have been helpful from teams to the Net. "PIONEER X MOVING TO ORP TIME NOW" etc. It's important for all elements on a net to remember that if you don't confirm the order with "WILCO" etc, the person sending the order does not know that you have received it at all, and in fact has to assume that you didn't.

WHITE WHITE WHITE was called and the SBF team moved off objective.

BLUE BLUE BLUE was called and the security teams broke contact and returned to OBJ as well.

Once accountability had been gathered at ORP, 6 made a call for pickup on 61. I chose to make a new PZ that was closer than LZ/PZ bravo IOT expedite exfil. Map markers were placed, including a formation call of staggered column and chalk numbers were placed on map.

During this time contract kept coming from direction of OBJ including a BMP PC which drove through our ORP.

As 5 birds came in, small arms fire shot out over the PZ (PZ CHARLIE) (Amber LZ was called with the Pickup Request 6-line as well as direction of contact). Buff 1 set down and chalk 1 began loading. Buff 2 set down and chalk 2 headed towards it and then a spot rep of enemy armor came over radio. I called for wave off of all birds, and they began to lift. I called for the platoon and aviation to relocate to PZ Bravo. At that point I DC'd / died and was not present for the rest of the operation.

From the debrief, Pioneer-2 took command and tried to move the platoon to LZ/PZ Bravo (our original landing point) but had to move back to a new PZ CHARLIE (name the same caused more confusion) which was close to the enemy AoA on the south side of OBJ. A very difficult exfil followed, but eventually the platoon returned to base.

• Note: clearer platoon level succession of command plan was needed, as well as radio nets (the A2G for the 2IC, 3IC) and clear plan for aviation so they would know who to call.
• Also aviation having platoon net available would have been good for their situational awareness and ability to call on our short range without waiting for ears on their A2G.
• Note: The PZ choice (my decision) was poor because of the lack of security to the north. The farther PZ Bravo would have been superior because the platoon would have been able to protect the birds better and be in cover longer for an echelon pattern landing.
• Note: Better SOP needed to get chalks in a "ready" position at the LZ. Also, an SOP around only the Chalk Leader using his IR helmet signal or using a laser lasso would be good so that pilots know exactly where their Landing Point (LP) is. Any ambiguity that can be reduced is necessary at a amber / red LZ.

Overall takeaways: The raid was a success. The problems had to do with clear succession of command including radio responsibility at the platoon level. Also, a tighter chalk plan / coordination was needed WRT total pax count per chalk, bump plan, and the ability for aviation to choose a different air frame (grizzly) if needed. The poor choice of PZ CHARLIE was my mistake and not a systemic one, simply a valid check to observe enemy AoAs when choosing HLZ/PZs.

Sustains:

• Keep this raid structure (RED WHITE BLUE)
• Keep working closely with Helios-1 for demo and fires tasking
• Keep working closely with Archangel for air assault planning

I think that overall the operation was a success and the improvements are noted and very doable.

Carr
2LT
2/A/1-7