AAR Operation Switchback 18FEB24

[Korfias.F]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT
Name of Combat Mission: Operation Switchback
Game: Hell Let Loose
Server Hosted on: Training/Event
Date of Combat Mission: 18FEB24
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu):0130Z​

Mission OIC: Major Mix.C
Mission Controller: Major Mix.C
Assisted by Specialist Korfias.F
Number of Attendees: 64
7th Cavalry Personnel Involved in Action:

Major Mix.C
Captain Cameron.J
First Lieutenant James.M
First Lieutenant Smith.V
First Sergeant Balazova.S
Second Lieutenant Anderson.P
Second Lieutenant Argentini.E
Sergeant Major West.B
Staff Sergeant DAmico.J
Staff Sergeant Hellious.T
Staff Sergeant Hermes.S
Staff Sergeant Phillips.B
Staff Sergeant Webber.R
Sergeant Bizutto.A
Sergeant Cantrell.J
Sergeant Herber.R
Sergeant Rasmus.M
Sergeant Sotelo.R
Sergeant Travis.W
Sergeant Zulu.P
Corporal Button.J
Corporal Flanagan.L
Corporal Lucas.A
Corporal Moreau.M
Corporal OCulien.M
Corporal Owens.J
Corporal Richmond.DA
Corporal Swanson.B
Corporal Whitefish.S
Corporal Zincoff.O
Specialist Ackerman.J
Specialist Baldwin.C
Specialist Bas.D
Specialist Blade.B
Specialist Canaday.A
Specialist Felton.J
Specialist Grenier.S
Specialist Hazen.D
Specialist Korfias.F
Specialist Landry.H
Specialist LaRoche.P
Specialist Lawton.D
Specialist Leifried.R
Specialist Moon.B
Specialist Noriega.D
Specialist Quake.B
Specialist Rousseau.A
Specialist Valente.M
Specialist Watson.J
Specialist Wisniewski.A
Specialist Woody.W
Private First Class Agazzi.J
Private First Class Chaplin.J
Private First Class Etoh.I
Private First Class Harris.W
Private First Class Knowles.J
Private First Class Lewis.J
Private First Class Macpherson.C
Private First Class Remy.K
Private Kona.B
Private Laui.M


Second Lieutenant Bonder.L - Retired
Corporal Smith.N - Retired
Reservist Warren.G - Camera

 

[Leifried.R]

Element CallSign:"Daddy's Belt" - Allied Tank Commander
Element Leader: SPC Leifried.R
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
SPC Bas.D
CPL Richmond.DA

Pros:

• Excellent execution when we could get to where we were supposed to be
• Great choice of tactic with splitting the armor squads ( ours was with Infantry ) while the other played backline disruption

Cons:

• Bad 'coinflip' decisions at the beginning trying to just get to where we needed to be through potentially dangerous territory which didn't workout in our favor once. They capitalized every time. Underestimation of their ability to notice an opportunity
• Not up to par with our possible amount of coordination and strategy as I've seen in the past. We got it together after recapping Town Center but initially was on the ropes
• Opponent not being aware (?) or actively ignoring ruleset with :
  • 3 armor pieces instead of 2
  • Camping armor crews at mid spawn

 

[Bizutto.A]

Element CallSign: Allied Baker Squad
Element Leader: SGT.Bizutto.A
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Moreau.M
Specialist Lawton.D

Pros:

• Amazing defense recovery
• In squad movement and teamwork was on point
• Getting trade kills when it was crucial
• Defending Op's
• Airborne's retake of town center was textbook
• pre-mining road's was key at some points.

Cons:

• Comms became too hectic.
• Should have been more communication with other airborne squads at some points

 

[Zulu.P]

Element CallSign: Recon
Element Leader:Sergeant Zulu.P
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Captain Cameron.J

Pros:

• good calls and movements, we reacted when we needed to and where we needed to ( mostly )
• great Marks and garry placements.

Cons:

• lot of clutter on the MIC and prevented me from making calls but at least our tanks and others were able to see our marks and got the information they needed
• felt like they focused more on kills than actually taking the point, not till the last 20min did they really hunt down stuff.
• slow reaction to flow of troop movement, I felt at times they would have lines of inf movements going one direction and the reaction flank and removal of the garry's took to long.

 

[James.M]

Element CallSign:George Squad - Wide North
Element Leader: First Lieutenant James.M
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Chaplin.J


Pros:

• Overall good Initial Format for placement and allocation of all Units
• Decent Comms, execution of commands appeared to be good

Cons:

• Artillery Defense continues to be of Critical Importance
• Physical Defenses could have been better once we take an Objective
• Details/Terrain/Avenues of approach per each Objective should determine the allocation and responsiblity of personelle as opposed to 1 format

 

[Hellious.T]

Element CallSign: Four Square defensive squad
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Hellious.T
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Second Lieutenant Bonder.L
Specialist Landry.H
Private First Class Agazzi.J
Private Kona.B

Pros:

• we won, plain and simple - after being on the backfoot for the first half of the game, troopers and leadership recalibrated, refocused and fought back into the game
• very close gunfights and the squad snap responded to movements required and fallbacks called, excellent work from the squad
• effective fighting force deployed south of point and cut up their attack lanes around railway - rough fighting south of pumping around cemetery

Cons:

• Some confusion with assignments caused some north side collapse on all three defensive locals
• some adjustment required for each defensive location for assignments to shift manpower to more important lanes
• some camping occurred on tank squads trying to reup in hq is balls

 

[Noriega.D]

Element Call Sign: Allied Alpha Squad, Rear defense
Element Leader: SPC.Noriega.D
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
SPC.Baldwin.C


Pros:

• Destroyed 2 garrison in the blue zone (that shocked me) a few OPs
• In squad comms was good, along with movement
• Defended and replaced Garrisons when needed
• Used Op for ZOC well
• Trooper won gun fights when needed too

Cons:

• Leadership comms was a little hectic at times
• I would recommend a Defense or Airborne discord channel similar to our Armor for in game comms.
• This was my first comp match as a SL. Tasked with replacing and building defensive garrys in the blue zone. It was definitely a learning experience.
• More coordination is needed at the start of the match especially when it comes to defense.
• Personally paying more attention to the map in regards to possible enemy troop movement for garry placement, lots of personal fine tuning when appointed to this particular task.

 

[Korfias.F]

Element Call Sign: Dog - Four Grid Flex
Element Leader: Specialist Korfias.F
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Travis.W
Corporal Whitefish.S
Private First Class Knowles.J

Pros:

• My guys worked hard on both offense and defense
• Flex ability really helped, being able to push around the map where we were needed
• Sneaking down south under the cover of night and smacking the enemy around at La Maison held them back from making a full push at Rail Causeway
• Jumping between squads when great OPs were placed worked flawlessly
• Even through victory we continue to learn. They were a tougher opponent than we usually play.

Cons:

• Enemy did not show up with a full fighting force.
• Spawn camping our Tankers is a weak move.
• Carentan Allied Arty position has zero cover available.

 

[Zincoff.O]

Element CallSign: Queen Squad - N Wide Offense.
Element Leader: Corporal Zincoff.O
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Rasmus.M
Corporal O'Culien.M
Private First Class Lewis.J

Pros:

• Excellent Garrison and OP placement
• Squad coms was great, great coordination relaying information to tankers in between squads
• Night was excellent cover getting into that last point and setting up those OPs and maneuvering around the tanks and enemy squads

Cons:

• Command coms were hectic and had people speaking over each other causing miscommunication amongst my squad and relaying information to other squads.
• First half did not go as planned and we were intercepted almost immediately by the enemy with mg fire and squad maneuvers.
• After the first half taking the capture zone my squad felt very splintered and was unable to do our assigned job correctly without much support from others squads outside of the Airborne.

 

[Webber.R]

Element CallSign: Allied Fox Squad - Delta Reapers
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Webber.R
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Herber.R
Specialist Felton.J
Specialist Watson.J
Private First Class Macpherson.C

Pros:

• Biggest pro was that we did not fold when pushed back. Kept our composure and retook mid. A lot of teams would have lost morale at that point, but we did not.
• Props to the teams that retook Town Center, that point is not easy to take back, especially without a majority of team's assistance.
• Excellent work with some flanking garrisons allowed us a quick sweep into Rail right after recapping Town Center before the enemy could resituate. Great call by Mix as team lead to do that maneuver as well.

Cons:

• On occasion the team was slow or nonreactive to callouts and map markers, such as flanking infantry units.
• Command Comms at times were too hectic. A few times had to ask my squad members to repeat calls due to being unable to hear them over multiple people talking at once in command.

 

[Hermes.S]

Element CallSign: Infantry - Grid Sq North
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Hermes.S
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Quake.B
Specialist Wisniewski.A
Private First Class Harris.W

Pros:

• Cav Victory!
• Good working cohesion between both infantry / airborne / armor. It improves each time.
• Excellent discipline within the squad as they were constantly redeploying and shifting.
• Overwhelming odds defensively on point - constant harassment but despite that we still gave'm hell.
• The constant drive to win despite the challenges faced.
• An abnormal, but victorious, amount of aggression from Command. Small windows of opportunity were met with huge results. Risky, but damn did it pay off.
• The hardest defensive fight we've done in a while.

Cons:

• Four-man squad defense. I like working with 6 but understand the concept.
• Infantry was shakey on defense - assignments were confused leading to incorrect placement and hasty changes mid-game.
• Too much aggression after winning the initial cap race. While we had the center point, at no point did it ever 'appear' to have more than 3 in or around at a time. Infantry squads weren't in the proper locations and often too far to lend a hand defensively (on the point) when needed.
• The majority of times I called out "Point is being capped." (and I annoyed myself with how much) was typically only being capped with 1-2 troopers. But without the proper infantry assets to assist directly on point, is where the majority of my panic callouts were from.
• Consider some changes to alleviate command comms. IE using separate discord channels: Airborne, Infantry, Tanks, Recon...etc. The majority of my chatter outside of requesting help was spent barking at the other infantry.
• The puma rushed to the center point - he lived FAR too long and created far too much havoc. He should've been handled immediately.

 

[Anderson.P]

Element CallSign: Allied Negat - Brawlers - Southern Strong Point
Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Anderson.P
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Owens.J
Corporal Lucas.A
Specialist LaRoche.P
Private First Class Etoh.I

Pros:

• We won against a tough opponent
• Enough sign ups to help other team make numbers
• Lots of impressive plays

Cons:

• Squad leads didnt know their jobs
• we were so close to losing our footing repeatedly
• Still feel like command comms could be improved in a variety of ways

 

[DAmico.J]

Element CallSign: Airborne Wide Defense South
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant DAmico.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:

• Specialist Rousseau.A
• Specialist Hazen.D

Pros:

• Good use of reactive defense to outflank enemy positions as they attacked
• Impressive recovery to take Town Center

Cons:

• There was too much panicking in the comms.
• We need to develop trust within the team. I had made several callouts that I would pull back to place backup garrisons, but people kept yelling about a lack of garrisons.
• Defense seemed a little scattered. It wasn't exactly clear where people were on the hard point and why the defense was struggling. We had half the team on it, but we always seemed to be just holding on.

 

[Kinser.E]

S1 Locked!
Assigned Mobius.T for Processing.

 

[Mobius.T]

Reassigned Teddy.J for processing.

 

[Teddy.J]

S1 Processed.