AAR ARMA 3 | 24 Hour Op | Operation Trail Blazer

[Beiter.A]

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

Name of Combat Mission: Operation Trail Blazer
Number Within Campaign: N/A
Game: ARMA 3
Server Hosted on: TACR
Date of Combat Mission: 27APR - 28APR24
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu): 1600z - 1600z
Mission OIC: Second Lieutenant Lewis.A / First Sergeant Jupiter.J / Staff Sergeant Stewart.AJ
Mission Controller: Lieutenant Colonel Dread.M / Captain Beiter.A / Staff Sergeant Westcott.R / Corporal Fox.Z / Corporal Bethea.A / Staff Sergeant Hilberg.A

Attendees: 145
Major General Tharen.R
Command Sergeant Major Nexhex.A
Colonel LaCombe.M
Lieutenant Colonel Dread.M
Major Walsh.D
Major Bunnell.M
Captain Highman.J
Captain Beiter.A
First Lieutenant Sam.T
First Lieutenant Thumper.N
First Lieutenant Searle.I
Second Lieutenant Tallamy.D
Second Lieutenant Narramoor.A
Second Lieutenant Lewis.A
Second Lieutenant Berg.J
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Landini.T
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Spit.K
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dujakovic.R
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Villmarsson.L
Sergeant Major Preacher.A
First Sergeant Jupiter.J
Master Sergeant Couvillion.T
Sergeant First Class Oldham.G
Staff Sergeant Phillips.B
Staff Sergeant Mazinski.H
Staff Sergeant Stone.J
Staff Sergeant Black.A
Staff Sergeant Hilberg.A
Staff Sergeant Westcott.R
Sergeant Lucander.P
Sergeant Crowley.T
Sergeant Wisser.C
Sergeant Teddy.J
Sergeant Varnado.J
Sergeant Davis.D
Sergeant Willson.JA
Sergeant Turner.L
Sergeant Holiday.T
Corporal Maco.D
Corporal Blake.H
Corporal Bethea.A
Corporal Crapachi.M
Corporal Fox.Z
Corporal Kent.R
Corporal Dio.B
Corporal Rozhkov.P
Corporal Albright.J
Corporal Vaughn.V
Corporal Zaren.T
Corporal Whitehead.B
Warrant Officer 1 Lindsay.A
Corporal Kastor.K
Corporal Zander.D
Warrant Officer 1 Sutodoreh.W
Corporal Rodahl.S
Corporal Spin.M
Corporal Terp.J
Corporal Marcus.J
Corporal Law.S
Corporal Almaguer.R
Corporal Eugene.R
Specialist Hamm.C
Specialist McAllen.J
Specialist Borenstein.B
Specialist Smith.DM
Specialist Apollo.R
Specialist Alexander.P
Specialist Bonnet.J
Specialist Daniel.S
Specialist Morris.T
Specialist Rutkowski.P
Specialist Sorrow.R
Specialist Peterson.L
Specialist Zamora.K
Specialist Renard.S
Specialist Lee.H
Specialist Roberts.A
Specialist Frost.D
Specialist Xinos.T
Specialist Kuusela.N
Specialist Shepard.S
Specialist Rok.M
Specialist Gilman.A
Specialist Vincent.C
Specialist Taylor.D
Specialist Brian.F
Specialist Williams.U
Private First Class Neubauer.P
Private First Class Boyd.D
Private First Class Shere.J
Private Blades.D
Private Lee.P
Private Bryan.R
Private Boyd.M

Approximately:

34 Members of 101st Airborne
13 Retired or Reserve members
48-56 public members

 

[Maco.D]

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

Element Callsign: Atlas 1 1600Z - 1600Z
Element Leader: Corporal Maco.D

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:

Can Not Confirm times for below members

Sergeant Holiday.T
Specialist McAllen.J
Corporal Fox.Z
Major Bunnell.M
Corporal Marcus.J
Specialist Taylor.D


Pros:
Great time
Great medical
Great people


Cons:
Some lack luster self aid from more senior members

 

[Narramoor.A]

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

Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Narramoor.A

---

24 Hour OP Quarter 1 (1600z-2130z)
Element Callsign: Gunslinger 3 Alpha FTL
Pros:

• Great leadership in the elements & in the teams.

Cons:

• Slow to start

---

24 Hour OP Quarter 2 (2130z-0430z) - Lost Platoon & AOI Viper
Element Callsign: Gunslinger 2 SL
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Zander.D
Sergeant Crowley.T
Corporal Terp.J
Specialist Brian.F
Specialist Bonnet.J
(Former) White.M
Specialist Xinos.T
Corporal Rodahl.S
Private First Class Shere.J
Specialist Kuusela.N
Pros:

• This segment was the most fun I had during the 24 hours
  • The mission-makers put together a really great lost platoon scenario during the night.
• Quick response to the Garry Owen.
• Excellent fire-team initiative and infantry basics
• Successful land nav at night!
• Large amount of air assets doing great work on AOI Viper.

Cons:

• Showed that we ought to be better at anticipating a break contact scenario

---

24 Hour OP Quarter 3 (0430z-1000z) - Did not attend

---

24 Hour OP Quarter 4 (1000z-2130z) - Delaying action / FOB Defense
Element Callsign: Gunslinger 1 SL
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Willson.JA
Corporal Kent.R
Specialist Rok.M
Specialist Kuusela.N
Specialist Shepard.S
Specialist Kuusela.N
Specialist Vincent.C
Corporal Law.S
Specialist Smith.DM
Sergeant Crowley.T
RCT.Samra.S
Timber badger
(Retired) First Lieutenant Spiers.M
(Retired) Staff Sergeant Stewart.AJ
(Retired) Major Stewart.B
1LT D.Malus
PFC D.Vortex
SGT T.White
SGT R.Person
CPL M.Straw

Pros:

• Incredible cinematic moments around the bridge.
• Ok execution of delaying actions
• Great work put in by personnel to keep things organised in the first few hours.
• Mortars!

Cons:

• Towards the last 3 hours, it became incredibly chaotic due to low numbers, tiredness, and lots of ground to cover (expected given the circumstances of a 24 hour op)

 

[Lewis.A]

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

Element Callsign: Gunslinger-6 1600Z - 2300Z
Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Lewis.A

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First Lieutenant Sam.T


Pros:
1LT Sam is the most amazing RTO ever.
We accomplished the objective with minimal black-tags.


Cons:
None.

 

[Blake.H]

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

Element Callsign: Gunslinger-7 (Session 1, 2 & 4)
Element Leader: Corporal Blake.H

Pros:

• Outstanding work by ATLAS teams throughout.
  • Excellent security observed and handled themselves well when required or asked to fight.
  • Excellent outbound RTO Coms
  • Very good teamwork and 'casualty coms'
  • Newer ATLAS members performed well and were eager to learn.
  • Maco.D yelling at people in the CCP.
  • List goes on... and on...
• Fantastic buddy aid observed at squad level.
• Less black casualties than expected given no armor.
• Some amazing CLS's throughout the operation
  • On point with casualty care
  • Top marks for casualty handoffs
  • Eager to help when needed
  • Won the firefight first!
• Excellent to work with the 101st Group, would love to play with them again.
• Very good coms for most of the op
  • A little rough towards the end as to be expected
• Excellent learning experience for all troopers involved on the use of KAT medical without all the modern crutches.
  • I hope that troopers have taken away from this that you do not need to be a CLS to clear an airway and how important the recovery position is.

Neutral:

• The logistics system was a nice addition although i did not like how it was implemented.
  • Giving OIC's access to more tools in the toolbox, such as this logi system, allows for some really good problem solving, personal planning and personal development which should be encouraged to allow leadership to step out of their norms, try new tactics and develop new skills that they can use the augment their current skillset. I only see a positive here.
  • I dont believe removing the arsenal was necessary for this mission and just added to the load time and step off time. I, as would many others, have much preferred a limited arsenal with medical supplies, basic ammo, signals, food, water, etc. to reduce those gearing times and allow for a smoother start while not interfering with the logistics system or making it obsolete.
  • Logistics with no ATLAS-4 makes me sad (I understand but my heart will forever be 3/B/1-7)
• Food and water system isnt something i personally enjoy.
• Night time was mostly skipped.
  • pre-set game date had a tiny moon making to too dark.
  • It made sense to advance time for the mission criteria.

Cons:

• Platoon Medics did not have an assigned RTO or Radio Backpack as default.
  • Although a non-issue as Zeus was quick to rectify.
• Some minor instances of disregard for self aid & preservation.
• I would not make a good pirate.
  • I believe i only died once throughout, during a boat insert.

A special thankyou to those who took up Leadership, RTO and Zues positions for making this such an enjoyable and rememberable experience for all involved. You are Awesome!

Maybe more to follow after sleeps...

 

[Lindsay.A]

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

Element Callsign: Buffalo 4 & 5
Element Leader: Warrant Officer 1 Lindsay.A

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First Lieutenant Thumper.N
Corporal Spin.M
Specialist Peterson.L
Corporal Law.S
Specialist Otakar.D

Pros:

• Love Vietnam Ops
• Great to get online with Cav folks for these
• Brilliant job by S3 Beiter.A among others

Cons:

• KAT medical can be a bit tedious but food/drink was really well done
• I wish we did more/for longer/and did SP's before them to get ready (aviation, radio's, logistics)
• Towards the end radio freq. got all pushed onto one wavelength and was getting lectured by pubbies about how we should be doing it (which was incorrect)
• When more than one Aircraft was spawned at Maxwell they spawned too close to each other resulting in T/R damage to one helicopter. (was repaired and ended up not being an issue just feedback to learn from)

 

[Thumper.N]

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

Element Callsign: Thunder-1
Element Leader: First Lieutenant Thumper.N

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
N/A

Pros:

• Plenty to do in the beginning and middle.

Cons:

• Breakdown of command and control for some aircraft, where SOP was not followed, and Raider aircraft were firing on targets without authorization and getting in target LOS of fixed wing aircraft.
  

 

[Lucander.P]

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

Element Callsign: Gunslinger - 4
Element Leader: Sergeant Lucander.P
Attended from: 27/4 16z to 28/4 15z

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
N/A

Pros:
Mixed AOs
Good amount of contacts

Cons:
To many Air Assaults, not one Airborne Assault or Mechanized Assault.
Not enough variants of ground fire support vehicles on the ground.
No Marksman or Recon groups.
I was too tired to notice when my M113 exploded behind me.

 

[Sam.T]

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

Element Callsign: Gunslinger-6 RTO/Gunslinger-5 RTO/FO - 24 Hours
Element Leader: First Lieutenant Sam.T

Pros:

• This event provided a really cool in-between with our official weekend Operations and more organic MCCs we run on our public server. This really emphasized the leadership at a platoon level down, which was awesome. The squad+ scale patrols that were sent out at points were a really cool change from our usual tactics in modern operations.
• The platoon worked through some very challenging environments and objectives, which was awesome.
• 24-Hours as an RTO was a mental challenge that was very fun. This is the longest I've spent as a single role during one of these 24-Hour OPs. (Still need my 24-Hours as an MC but we'll get that done eventually).
• Lack of an arsenal and the logistics simulation was really fun! Also loved the ACE rations! These longer 6-24 Operations definitely lend themselves to these systems.
• KAT Medical in a Vietnam setting over a 24-Hour operation was amazing to see! I think all the medics have seen other communities rocking this sort of mission profile, and were very happy to see it within the Cav! Additionally, aside from the inevitable degradation due to tiredness, the work done by Atlas and care-under-fire done by squads was of good quality throughout!
• I think we had some public or community turnout through the entire operation, which was awesome! In the past 6-8 months it feels like we've come a long way with community promotion and interaction during these OPs!

Cons:

• As a unit we really need to slow down at times. This is a challenge we face in modern operations as well, but the retro-settings requiring slower land nav, featuring communication bottlenecks with the RTOs and just generally inhibiting situational awareness makes it very obvious when units and/or individual troopers are extending beyond where they should be.
• Mixed feelings about the 1200-1200 EST time slot, the slightly later time works a bit better for EST imo. However the earlier time lent itself to folks in Europe which was a cool benefit. Both times definitely have their merits. It also felt like the noon ENDEX meant we ended the mission as folks were starting to trickle back in after their naps...
• Lots of support assets for the first block (CAS+Arti), and it didn't feel like they got used until they started to sign off.
• As a Platoon HQ RTO the entire time, interacting with some elements at a Company scale (specifically Vanquish and at times Hitman) was a bit novel. I'll be the first to admit I'm not quite sure how the Platoon HQ to Vanquish interaction is supposed to work...

 

[Highman.J]

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

Element Leader: Captain Highman.J

"Beachhead" (Company Level Event) (27th / 1600z-2200z):
Element Callsign: Buffalo-4
Pros:

• Great turn out, especially among air assets
• Bought and installed PF only seconds before the map rolled, and the Vietnam environment was fantastic
• First time flying the UH-1. It went better than expected. I was the first ship to leave the airspace with troops and to insert them on LZ Alpha
• The use of the logistics system, while confusing at first, added some fun complexity to airlifting logistics (not to mention the care and feeding of my troopers!)

Cons:

• Slow to start
• I need more UH-1 stick time
• Really needed an airboss to control the airbase traffic

---

"Establish Outer Parameter" (Company Level Event) (27-28th / 2200-0400z):
Element Callsign: Vanquish-1

Pros:

• 101st showed up and I got to teach them how to use TFAR several times
• Our own pilots did fantastic work
• Coordinated air movements out of revetments to a pre-staging, and then moving to the infantry staging for boarding was mostly well done
• Our troopers were accommodating and inclusive of the 101st personnel who chose to fly with us

Cons:

• We aren't practiced enough with Pegasus and Vanquish so there was some confusion and a learning curve, particularly from the infantry -6s and -5s
• The use of a Grizzly for troop deployment meant that there was less need for Buffalo and ships flew empty as busy work
• The 101st guys were challenging to work with, at least the Buffalo crew. Not in a bad way, but they were so unfamiliar with TFAR and our radio procedures that they were stressed and upset the whole time
• Could not stay beyond initial insertion and first round of reinserts due to conflicting events

---

"Advance on Objectives" (28th / 0400z-1000z):
Element Callsign: Buffalo-3/Buffalo-4 CP
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Spin.M
Corporal Law.S

Pros:

• Flying with Spin and Law was a delight. Spin is a fantastic stick and Law is still the best in the CC business
• Good mix of work to do even as a Buffalo. Less logistical support this time around and more combat oriented work, including a route reconnaissance, ISR, and support by fire
• Attempted CSAR on our own initiative when we saw a Raider go down nearby
• Good crew coordination both in flight and upon shootdown to identify location, secure LZ, coordinate CSAR, and live to fight another day

Cons:

• Got shot down and couldn't recover the ship
• Fatigue was playing an obvious role in some people's performance, patience, and in some manner professionalism

---

"Major Cities" (28th / 1000z-1600z): Could not attend.

 

[Hamm.C]

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

Element Callsign: BUFFALO-1
Element Leader: Specialist Hamm.C "Hooker"

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
(no particular order other than my OP notes)

Corporal Terp.J
Sergeant First Class Oldham.G
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Villmarsson.L
Specialist Alexander.P
Sergeant Varnado.J
Specialist Frost.D
Specialist Shepherd.S

Pros:

• Amazing fun had by all. Extremely well done to the mission creators and well executed by our mission controllers, OICs, leadership etc.
• Turn-out was spectacular.
• Beautiful map and scenery. Love the Vietnam OPS and would love to see Vietnam for a week, quarterly maybe (not meaning for a full 24, just maybe SOG PF gameplay for a week at a time quarterly would be cool).
• Excellent aircrew coordination.
• Excellent flying/piloting.
• Excellent Leadership and responsiveness from Godfather (particularly for re-sup stuff)
• Very cool to have another unit join us. Not sure how practical it would be, but I think if we could have got together with 101st guys a little earlier, maybe we could have got some TFAR comms and coordination better. There was a lot of in-the-field education/instruction/help going on, which was asked for and necessary.
• Excellent and quick response to the GO.

Cons:

• I totally forgot from last time we did SOG PF that we could reduce fuel to fit the max amount of troopers on board (weight v. power). Initial insert, with 16 total pax, we (Buffalo-1) had no (and I mean none) climb-out power and clipped the Hesco barrier landing stall things, resulting in main rotor damage and some delay. However, succession of command worked very well as the other birds continued the mission. And going forward, leadership was advised to limit pax to 12 max which worked out very well. Really was pleased to see how this simple but vital communication was cascaded so well and expeditiously.
• Huey launched flares are not all that good with illumination. Probably a little more moon light or glow would have worked out much better. It was extremely dark- like flying in a black hole... very fun but wildly challenging.
• Comms effectiveness and certainly comms brevity could have been much better.
• I agree with Sam.T that we can and should slow down when we do these type OPs. We are so accustomed to our usual modern day tech OPs, with modern day equipment, Blackhawks, Apaches, NVGs, HUDs, etc... so when we do these events, it's a bit like going back to the stone age where we have to rely on maps/land nav/mark 1 eyeballs etc, so IMO, we should take that extra minute.
• Fatigue/exhaustion did set in around Q3 and performance did suffer as this was a long day.
• Not sure how I feel about the food/drink nutrition thing. Seemed like a little pedantic but I may be biased since I actually was losing consciousness piloting the aircraft with pax because I forgot to hydrate, which was scary. I guess it just seemed like a pedantic formality, but then we're not used to doing that, so unless something changes for the next time, we will just manage best as we always do.

 

[Kinser.E]

S1 Locked!
Assigned Rasmus.M for Processing.

 

[Rasmus.M]

S1 Operations Processed