AAR Charlie Company 2-7 FTX: Operation Grand Master

[Balazova.S]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT
Name of Combat Mission: Charlie Company 2-7 FTX: Operation Grand Master
Game: Hell Let Loose
Server Hosted on: Training/Event
Date of Combat Mission: 07APR24
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu): 2330Z​

Mission OIC: Captain Strider.R
Mission Controller: Captain Strider.R
Number of Attendees: 70
7th Cavalry Personnel Involved in Action:
Major Mix.C
Captain Strider.R
First Lieutenant James.M
First Lieutenant Smith.V
Second Lieutenant Rhodes.R
Sergeant Major West.B
First Sergeant Balazova.S
First Sergeant D'Amico.J
First Sergeant Komar.T
Master Sergeant Zimm.L
Staff Sergeant Groves.W
Staff Sergeant Hermes.S
Staff Sergeant Mueller.H
Staff Sergeant Webber.R
Sergeant Busch.J
Sergeant Cantrell.J
Sergeant Silvis.B
Sergeant Rasmus.M
Sergeant Sotelo.R
Sergeant Whaley.H
Sergeant Zulu.P
Corporal Ackelson.K
Corporal Anderson.J
Corporal Berkowski.C
Corporal Button.J
Corporal Henderson.B
Corporal Jinto.H
Corporal Korfias.F
Corporal Lee.N
Corporal Leifried.R
Corporal Massey.A
Corporal OCulien.M
Corporal Richmond.DA
Corporal Williamson.J
Corporal Wisniewski.A
Specialist Bazzle.J
Specialist Bean.P
Specialist Blade.B
Specialist Caldreas.B
Specialist Canaday.A
Specialist Choi.S
Specialist Curran.J
Specialist Fields.M
Specialist LaRoche.P
Specialist Macpherson.C
Specialist Martinez.X
Specialist Quake.B
Specialist Rousseau.A
Specialist Silvis.C
Specialist White.N
Specialist Williamson.JR
Specialist Winter.A
Specialist Woody.W
Private First Class Donk.B
Private First Class Fabie.D
Private First Class Fairweather.S
Private First Class Johnson.G
Private First Class Kolanko.T
Private First Class Kona.B
Private First Class Laui.M
Private First Class Mawzi.B
Private First Class Murphy.S
Private Kolanko.S
Private Parton.D
Private Raid.R
Private Russell.T
Private Taylor.H
Recruit Collins.N
Recruit Shaw.L
Corporal Smith.N RET

 

[Komar.T]

S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

Element Callsign: Charlie SL AXIS
Element Leader: First Sergeant Komar.T
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First Sergeant Komar.T
Sergeant Cantrell.J


Pros:

• Squad had fun
• not getting mowed down by MG's every two seconds
• great call outs for enemy locations
• recapping with 2 minutes left was clutch and fun to be a part of

Cons:

• Back line Garrisons kept going down
• no OP's made for a bit of a running simulator
• lack of coordination or a plan, could have had some more leadership

 

[Woody.W]

Element Call Sign: axis recon
Element Leader: Specialist Woody.W
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element: Corporal OCulien.M

Pros:

• sp went well! were enjoyed ourselves

Cons:

• we did not have any.

 

[Busch.J]

Element Call Sign: Lead TC
Element Leader: Sergeant Busch.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element: Corporal Lee.N, Specialist Choi.S

Pros:

• Communication was on point and crew was coordinated
• Tanks overall were well positioned to disrupt enemy tanks to attack the point

Cons:

• A lot of talking over one another in Command Comms

 

[LaRoche.P]

Element Call Sign: Axis ABLE infantry squad.
Element Leader: Specialist Laroche.P
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First lieutenant James.M
Corporal Ackelson.K
Private first class Fabie.D

Pros:

• Toughtful exercice for balance.
• Super fun change of pace from the regular meta.

Cons:

• Not enough AT guns and mines on axis side

 

[Korfias.F]

S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

Element Callsign: Able AT Squad 1
Element Leader: Corporal Korfias.F
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Private First Class Kolanko.T
Specialist Macpherson.C


Pros:

• Fun gameplay, fairly well balanced.
• Was nice to see so many tanks running around.
• A lot of good callouts.

Cons:

• Lost a lot of garrisons constantly.
• Would have been nice to have OPs. Was hard to push off of garrisons.
• Command comms were too busy, need to clean that up in the future.
• Would have like some prep beforehand. I was unaware I was placed as SL until the day of the FTX, assumed I was not placed in a leadership position as I was not reached out to for planning, and I did not sign up to SL.

 

[Bean.P]

Element Callsign: Fox SL Allies
Element Leader: SPC. Bean. P
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Recruit Collins.N
Specialist Fields.M
Recruit Shaw.L


Pros:

• Great game these guys really worked well together!
• Communication was excellent on all levels.
• Overall lots of fun

Cons:

• We need to work on getting more garrisons down. At times it seemed that we only had a few people putting those up.

 

[Leifried.R]

Element Callsign: Allied Lead Tank Commander
Element Leader: Corporal Leifried.R
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:

Specialist White.N
Sergeant Whaley.H

Pros:

• Good TC - TC Comms
• Good Infantry to TC Comms

Cons:

• Lack of pre-FTX organization

 

[Rasmus.M]

Element Callsign: George Allies Recon
Element Leader: Sergeant Rasmus.M
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Rasmus.M
Sergeant Major West.B


Pros:

• Squad had fun.
• We continuously disrupted backline enemy garrisons and supplies, spotted what came out of enemy HQs, and dealt with artillery when it went on.
• Overall great call outs and markers management.
• We appreciated the flow change that the no-Outpost rule generated. It made garrisons placement/hunting even more strategic.

Cons:

• We were lacking East side garrisons and we took time before getting some guys in their backline putting attack garrisons up.
• A lot of running without Outposts makes more down time without action but this point lessen when you got a good garrison game.
• Use more AT guns ?
• Need to work on Zone of Control for Defense instead of all stacking on the strongpoint.

 

[Williamson.J]

Element Callsign: Charlie SL AXIS
Element Leader: CPL.Williamson.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
CPL.Richmond.DA
CPL.Henderson.B


Pros:

• crew had fun
• not getting blown up by AT every two seconds
• great coordination between tank crews
• very balanced FTX overall creating a very fun environment

Cons:

• almost no medium tanks until 15 min to go

 

[Kona.B]

Element Callsign: Easy SL Axis
Element Leader: Private First Class Kona.B
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Curran.J


Pros:

• My squad and I had a blast and worked really well together.
• Good call outs over comms.
• I really enjoyed the limited infantry loadouts that were allowed during this FTX.
• My squad and I did an amazing job at defending Hugo's Farm, we were able to spot a supply truck and a supply drop and deny the other team of getting a foot hold southeast of Hugo's Farm.

Cons:

• My squad was mainly the only squad on defense which consisted of me and a MG which was fine but felt like I was getting ignored in command comms when calling out that it was starting to get heavy on the point. I should've have probably been more direct and said I needed a squad or two back to help defend.
• The comms seemed to get cluttered every now and again with people talking over each other but wasn't too bad.
• Near the beginning of the match after capturing dugout, there were two tanks on the east side of the strong point that were marked and were sitting stationary for atleast a few minutes which never got taken care of and took everyone out on the east side.
• Would have been nice to have been allowed one or two support classes per team to help get garry's up rather than relying on support trucks and drops.

 

[Hermes.S]

Element Callsign: Axis Infantry
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Hermes.S
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First Sergeant D'Amico.J
Master Sergeant Zimm.L
Sergeant Silvis.B
Specialist Silvis.C
Private First Class Johnson.G

Pros:

• Excellent communication within the squad
• Excellent maneuvering within the squad
• Discipline was outstanding
• The commander was Johhny on the spot with supplies when the call was made.
• The defense was strong enough to repel what came at them to allow a heavy offensive
• The concept was a breath of fresh air from the usual.
• The medic role made all the difference
• The squad role restrictions were a fun limitation.
• The last push proves the power of a consolidated force.
• This squad had top scores: Offensive, Defensive, and

Cons:

• A lot of running. An average of 200-400m consistently.
• On the thought above, we could have thought of a clever idea such as shuttling infantry with an infantry truck consistently.
• We lost the center point

 

[Smith.V]

S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

Element Callsign: AXIS AT SQUAD
Element Leader: First Lieutenant Smith.V
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Quake.B
Corporal Smith.N

Pros:

• Fun OP concept.
• Methodical Gameplay.
• Acknowledged.

Cons:

• Acknowledged.

 

[Wisniewski.A]

Element Call Sign: Allied AT - Dog Squad
Element Leader: Corporal Wisniewski.A
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Private Kolanko.S
Private Parton.D

Pros:

• Squad moved and worked together well
• un SP idea
• Liked the role restrictions, added more bolt/semi auto guns to the fight
• No OP was frustrating, but made taking an objective more rewarding

Cons:

• Would've been nice to have a limited number of support players to have more supplies available

 

[Webber.R]

S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

Element Callsign: Allies Charlie Infantry Squad
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Webber.R
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Jinto.H
Specialist Bazzle.J
Specialist Caldreas.B
Private First Class Donk.B

Pros:

• Extremely fun concept, I will always love concepts that highlight the underplayed Medic role and help bring them to the forefront. I hope to see more of this Infantry Squad design in the future!
• The limitation of some of the more powerful Infantry roles helped make combat not as much of a slog, just having mainly rifles made firefights more skillful and engaging.
• Limitation of outposts slowed down gameplay and made lives more valuable.
• Limitation on no Support made actually holding ground until Supplies could be brought in for spawns a necessity, a breath of fresh air from the usual support swap and moving on from a location.

Cons:

• That said, with how fast garrisons were being destroyed and spawns limited, a single support attached to an AT/Engineer Squad may have been an interesting idea to help leverage a scarce resource.
• A small amount of pre-planning would have helped smooth out the gameplay for both SLs and Troopers. Much of the first half an hour was very hectic with nobody having an actual plan and having to find our cohesion on the fly. Once Dugout was lost, for instance, we did not have a dedicated Defense Squad and almost started losing Brecourt immediately. Also with the lack of supports, having a conversation on having a dedicated supply truck driver, etc, would have been a good conversation to have prior. The limitations in the FTX were great and it would have made for some interesting strategizing beforehand.
• Could have possibly benefitted from having one or two Infantry "Platoon Leaders" to help micromanage and coordinate our various Infantry groups. While our individual squads played well, it felt like we did not have an overall plan and each squad was just participating alone on their own objectives instead of playing as a team. This would have really helped as this FTX highlighted having specialized teams of AT and MG that could have probably been more effective actually working alongside Rifle squads to accomplish objectives easier together, just as having the MG team post up and help suppress for an offensive push when its ready, etc.

 

[Groves.W]

Element Call Sign: 2ND TC
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Groves.W
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element: Specialist Williamson.JR, Private Raid.R

Pros:

• Communication was on point and crew was coordinated
• Tanks overall were well positioned to disrupt enemy tanks to attack the point
• Multiple actions ended with gaining the upper hand due to skillful manuvering and actions
• Very milsim

Cons:

• we lost but it was close

 

[Mueller.H]

Element Call Sign: Axis AT - HOW Squad
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Mueller.H
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Zulu.P

Pros:

• Fair designed FTX concept.
• Squad enjoyed the FTX - lot's of explosions.
• Excellent callouts.
• If a team wants to win, they just have to let Sergeant Zulu.P play the AT class.

Cons:

• Support class was missing in this FTX design.
• Sometimes too much talking in Command chat. Maybe add an additional communication layer in Discord.
• As the squads were divided up according to specialisms, an additional PL should be implemented to micro manage them.

 

[Rhodes.R]

Element Call Sign: Allies Infantry - HOW Squad
Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Rhodes.R
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Second Lieutenant Rhodes.R
Major Mix.C
Private Taylor.H
Private First Class Laui.M
Private First Class Fairweather.S


Solids

• I went into this OP in a bad mood, it was such a good OP I came out of it in a good mood.
• Tanks responded to calls quickly and reliably, dealing with tanks we could not very easily.
• Loved the limited roles, it brought focus onto mission.

Improvements

• Would like to see more planning or pre-OP organization done for events like FTXs. It always enhances the fun.
• A platoon level role in this situation would help clear up command comms.

 

[Sotelo.R]

Element Call Sign: Axis Armor 3 - "Cheap and Easy"
Element Leader: Sergeant Sotelo.R
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Sotelo.R
Corporal Massey.A
Specialist Winter.A

Pros

• Me
• Massey
• Winter

Sustains

• The overall mission format was quite fun, with quite engaging mechanics to assist force balancing
• Infantry did a stellar job with armor callouts, as well as calls for assistance
• Axis armor platoon cohesion felt so strong, Busch did a terrific job leading us
• My crew's execution of tasks was STELLAR, with multiple medium kills using Recon cars as well as multiple kills saving friendly armor assets in immediate peril only possible by expert map traversal and marksmanship

Improvements

• In the current state of HLL, prolonged combat limited to only Recon and Lights is not very enjoyable, and many troopers wished for more time with mediums, with maybe one singular heavy being the balancing factor amongst standard mediums.

 

[Button.J]

Element Call Sign: 3rd TC Swamp Thing
Element Leader: Sergeant Button.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element: Sergeant Berkowski.C Private First Class Mawzi.B

Pros:

• Very milsim

Cons:

• we lost but it was close