AAR Operation Purple Tornado 22SEP24

[Korfias.F]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT
Name of Combat Mission: Operation Purple Tornado
Game: Hell Let Loose
Server Hosted on: Training Server 1
Date of Combat Mission: 23SEP24
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu): 0030Z (22SEP24 2030 EDT)

​

Mission OIC: Second Lieutenant Korfias.F & Sergeant Major Komar.T
Mission Controller: Second Lieutenant Korfias.F & Sergeant Major Komar.T
Number of Attendees: 100
7th Cavalry Personnel Involved in Action:
Lieutenant Colonel Hayes.J
Major Mix.C
First Lieutenant Anderson.P
Second Lieutenant Korfias.F
Sergeant Major Komar.T
First Sergeant Balazova.S
First Sergeant Webber.R
Staff Sergeant Busch.J
Staff Sergeant Herber.R
Staff Sergeant Hermes.S
Staff Sergeant Rasmus.M
Staff Sergeant Zulu.P
Sergeant Bean.P
Sergeant Curran.J
Sergeant Guillermo.C
Sergeant Lucas.A
Sergeant Silvis.B
Sergeant Sotelo.R
Sergeant Swanson.B
Sergeant Warren.G
Sergeant White.C
Sergeant Wisniewski.A
Corporal Ackelson.K
Corporal Carmine.J
Corporal Coutu.M
Corporal Etoh.I
Corporal Gardener.J
Corporal Hazen.D
Corporal Kona.B
Corporal LaRoche.P
Corporal Lee.N
Corporal Macpherson.C
Corporal Moreau.M
Corporal Noriega.D
Corporal Reign.A - Retired
Corporal Slagg.J
Corporal Smith.N - Retired
Corporal Sokol.Z
Specialist Barrett.JH
Specialist Bas.D
Specialist Blade.B
Specialist Caldreas.B
Specialist Choi.S
Specialist Donk.B
Specialist Ellison.C
Specialist Fabie.D
Specialist Feathers.A
Specialist Felton.J
Specialist Fields.M
Specialist Gimson.M
Specialist Griffin.B
Specialist Hall.S
Specialist Harris.W
Specialist Helmick.A
Specialist Hood.D
Specialist Johnson.G
Specialist Knowles.J
Specialist Maines.Z
Specialist Mulvany.J
Specialist Owens.W
Specialist Patterson.C
Specialist Quake.B
Specialist Rhone.T
Specialist Rousseau.A
Specialist Sanchez.R
Specialist Silvis.C
Specialist Smith.ER
Specialist Von Busch.M
Specialist Wagner.D
Specialist Winter.A
Specialist Woody.W
Private First Class Baker.JB
Private First Class Barnes.D
Private First Class Delosreyes.D
Private First Class Dirt.E
Private First Class Shook.K
Private First Class Hansel.R
Private First Class Hawthorne.S
Private First Class Jeff.F
Private First Class Lewis.P
Private First Class Peterson.LM
Private First Class Plummer.M
Private First Class Rowe.S
Private First Class Svenson.C
Private First Class Titus.W
Private Daly.S
Private Dieppe.C
Private Duffy.C
Private Grimshaw.J
Private Kozina.A
Private Mess.L
Private Roscoe.N
Private Schroeder.C
Private Smith.JH
Private Tech.C
Private Thomas.B
Recruit Bravo.J
Recruit Djari.K
Recruit Freeze.T
Recruit Summer.R

 

[LaRoche.P]

Element Callsign: Dog and King squad, Axis and Allies infantry.
Element Leader: Corporal Laroche.P
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Coutu.M
PVT.Schredz.C

Pros:

• Excellent start of the match, everybody in trucks, no fucking around.
• Excellent comms, all SLs did their job properly.
• Command comms were not too clustered.

Cons:

• Enormous sharpshooting level difference resulting in 2 (almost) quick match in less than 25 minutes.

 

[Woody.W]

TEAM:
Element Leader:
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:


Pros:

Cons:

 

[Hayes.J]

Element Callsign: Allies Recon Squad
Element Leader: Lieutenant Colonel Hayes.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Private First Class Rowe.S

Pros:

• A lot of fun.
• Seemed to be decent comms for the 2nd round.
• Plan seemed good at start but unfortunately crumbled on contact. (Part of combat, so no fault to anyone)
• Got outplayed by the other team so props to them.

Cons:

• Couldn't get a cohesive front established at times, which allowed for enemy penetration along the lines.

 

[Macpherson.C]

Element Callsign: Axis, Charlie QRF Squad
Element Leader: Corporal Macpherson.C
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First Sergeant Webber.R
Corporal Sokol.Z
Specialist Wagner.D


Pros:

• Great start to the matches with good garry placement and point push
• Fantastic comms from squad
• Put into practice what we have been learning in SP

Cons:

• Felt command comms were too cluttered with irrelevent information

 

[Herber.R]

TEAM: Axis
Element Leader: SSG.Herber.R
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
CPL.Lee.N
SPC.Caldreas.B
SPC.Felton.J
PVT.Tech.C
SGM.Komar.T

Pros:

• Squads played well together and were coordinated.
• Squads' communications up and down were good and clear. Very occasionally got cluttered but very seldomly.

Cons:

• Teams were severely imbalanced. Maybe some sort of active balancing could be put in place.
• Let's not 'hold back' so to speak during these matches. If the order is to hold, that should be specified near the beginning of the match. No need to play with our food.

 

[Moreau.M]

TEAM: Axis Offensive
Element Leader: Corporal Moreau.M
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element: Private Daly.S, Specialist Rhone.T, Recruit Summer.R, Private Roscoe.N, Private Kozina.A


Pros:

• Good coordination and comms
• Start of match with the trucks was very good

Cons:

• Defending so we not steamroll was a bit off for my guys

 

[Sotelo.R]

TEAM: 1
Element Leader: Sergeant Sotelo.R
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Sotelo.R
Corporal Gardener.J
Specialist Winter.A

Pros:

• My crew did a really good job holding our own and taking down assets and enemy infantry as best as possible
• Held areas that stalled enemy assaults
• Learning experience of seeing failures in plans and trying to adjust

Cons:

• It was a rough match, definitely got outplayed as a team and enemy AT infantry was absolutely on one tonight.

 

[Rasmus.M]

Element Callsign: Axis then Allies Recon Element
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Rasmus.M
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Staff Sergeant Rasmus.M
Corporal Carmine.J

Pros:

• Excellent pre-match start coordination to designate assigments from Commander and leadership.
• Excellent comms and markers in chat, not many useless info being conveyed.
• Strong pushes from our team on both iterations, the coordination from each squad moving together was Excellent.
• A lot of enemy tank and spawns spotting.
• Great shooting by Carmine

Cons:

• Team Balance.
• Need Support players to naturally put down their Explosive Ammo box on strongpoints (unlimited flares this way if we want).
• We had to fall back in order to not end the 2nd match too early and it felt a little weird giving a strongpoint.

 

[Wisniewski.A]

TEAM: Allies - Offensive Infantry King / Axis - Offensive Infantry Fox
Element Leader: Sergeant Wisniewski.A
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Smith.ER
Specialist Patterson.C
Specialist Quake.B
Specialist Gimson.M
Private First Class Peterson.LM

Pros:

• Squad worked well together
• We are able to get our footing a bit towards the end of the second match
• Other team seemed really well put together, good opportunity to learn & improve for us

Cons:

• Strategy & coordination between squads left a lot to be desired
• Didn't really maintain a frontline like we've been working on
• Several times where command coms were either too much or not enough

 

[Von Busch.M]

Element Callsign: AXIS/ALLIES TC
Element Leader: Specialist Von Busch.M
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Von Busch.M
Specialist Choi.S
Private First Class Hawthorne.S
Pros:

• Always fun to go against Cav Tankers and Infantry
• Great oppurtunity to use the AT SP's in an OP
• Comms between other tanks and Command were great for the most part
• Love the communication from the infantry using local voip
• It's refreshing to have a vanilla OP without any gimmicks

Cons:

• A bit of confusion between the games

 

[Balazova.S]

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

Element Call Sign: Allied Tank
Element Leader: First Sergeant Balazova.S
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First Sergeant Balazova.S
Corporal Ackelson.K
Specialist Helmick.A

Pros:

• Good teamwork within the tank and between the tanks

Cons:

• Teams seemed unbalanced
• First map was foggy and made it particularly difficult for tanks

 

[Hermes.S]

Element Callsign: Allies (PSG) / Axis - Defensive SL
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Hermes.S
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant White.C
Specialist Fields.M
Private First Class Hansel.R
Private Dieppe.C

Pros:

• I replaced (Mainez) for the second round as SL - the squad functioned great for what we were up against.
• Good discipline - strong reactive movements and callouts.
• I kept my guys on defense and was Johnny on the spot when it mattered.
• I appreciate my squad being vocal and forward regarding their thoughts. I felt they were genuine.
• Proud to see ACo show up hard - almost 50% of the signups.

Cons:

• The First Match lasted 25 minutes. The second match would have lasted less.
• Allies on the second round were asked to lighten up / not take the last point. It was blatantly obvious and it is degrading.
• It was equally obvious when the opposing team was given the green light to push and go hard. They walked right through us.
• The teams were grossly mis-balanced.
• Probably shouldn't make our garris so, easily seen.
• My guys say I'm the worst truck driver ever. And I drove a supply truck. Our truck game was bad. Zero reason for stopping so short of the center cap.
• Garri's game first round was pretty bad.
• Also, got complaints of multiple in base spawn kills.
• There should be a mission controller on each team.

 

[Woody.W]

TEAM:losing side
Element Leader: PFC.Barns.D
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
SPC.Woody.W

Pros:

• When we grouped up on defence we did do good!
• delt with arty for first match. There arty player got 285 combat score so high 20s low 30s in kills not perfect but not a loss.
• got some good practice in with the sniper rifle. little over 300 combat! There was a couple times my gun wouldn’t reload fast enoff
• ‘we had a new member to the cav command (a pfc). Evan tho we lost you/he tried and stepped up. Being new to the cav just means you dont know how individuals in the cav play. You may have time in game, but as your time in the cav grows you will learn and only get better With us, and in pubs. Evan new SLs And tcs are allways encouraged In my eyes! Don’t be afraid to speak up, or ask questions.

Cons:

• We pulled to many guys off the front attack. We had 3 full squads flanking when front assault didn’t work. Then they they walked through. We had a sniper and a 2 man squad at the front holding them back(second round start)
• we did good defending for a moment we had a good grid secured then everyone attacked. Leaving a squad maby 2 on defence (second round)
• maby should of switch up the teams on the second round.. switch 2 infantry sqauds or something
  

 

[Etoh.I]

Element Callsign: (Offensive) Infantry Allied Love -> Axis Dog
Element Leader: Corporal Etoh.I
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First Lieutenant Anderson.P
Sergeant Lucas.A
Specialist Barrett.JH
Private Mess.L
Recruit Freeze.T

Pros:

• Squad got nodes set up and was in trucks ready to crash before warmup was over
• Squad rebuilt downed nodes
• Squad destroyed 2 enemy node clusters and silenced artillery for a time
• Squad destroyed multiple enemy garrisons and constructed multiple red and blue zone garrisons
• Good interplay between close proximity squads and proximity comms

Cons:

• Bad Match Starts

• Single Transports at the line instead of multiple
• Transports stopped to build garrisons instead of crashing point
• Transports driven too far away from 4 grid and stuck in trenches

• Defensive Issues

• Talk of Logistics Squad but no Actual Designation led to back lines being wiped without countermeasures
• Multiple Squad leads running past placed supplies for garrisons without building them
• Uneven weight between Defensive and Offensive squads
• My Squad (Offensive) was the only one to rebuild nodes

• Offensive Issues

• Couldn't land on objective, majority of time was spent outside of either 4 grid and contributed zero cap weight
• Red zone garrisons were coated in OP's instead of ground being claimed so that we were kept in out of sector cages
• With no clear Skirmish line we were infiltrated and surrounded so that neither red nor blue zones were friendly
• I allowed some members of my infantry squad to go and destroy enemy node clusters and silence artillery because it needed to be done and wasn't. They were successful, it shouldn't have been the right call, maybe it wasn't

• Armor Issues

• Tanks acted as islands and everyone suffered for it
• Outside of the action, away from infantry, Dying in pairs multiple grid squares from any objective
• Infantry had no frontal support or spear to penetrate their line; Tankers had no rear support to keep their very expensive vehicles alive
• Armor and Infantry is a Symbiotic relationship see Armor/Infantry Cohesion Fighting - Badgers & Roosters SP

• Disclaimer: I have my own blind-spots and know that I too am not blameless nor had a faultless game. I know that everyone did their best and what they thought was right at the time. This is just my perspective of the matches

Conclusion:
We were bested twice by a team that brought more cohesion, acted proactively, and had a better execution of basic HLL mechanics. Despite our failings we should celebrate the victories we achieved situationally and scale those concepts up (and write medals for our troopers!). A loss is a learning opportunity if you look at it with grounded optimism. We should also remember to celebrate the victory that our opponents (our friends) had as they played an intelligent game and deserve praise!

Complaints around Team Balance are excuses and not a tangible thing that can be catered for. If you are seeing inefficiencies and knowledge gaps use it as an opportunity to educate and lead instead of to complain about a skill difference. S3 puts a lot of work into creating unique and engaging operations while organizing the myriad of troopers in Second Battalion. Feedback around Operation Balance is super valid at other times but this was a vanilla match.

Thanks to everyone that organized, and thanks to everyone that participated. It's always a fun time to play a massive internal operation and we were lucky to have a full 100. Huge shoutout to all the new Recruits and Privates that were here! Let's make sure they feel welcome. Remember to teach them, and remember to listen to them because everyone can teach you something.

Everyone's plans get punched in the face.

 

[Maines.Z]

TEAM: Fox Squad Lead
Element Leader: Specialist Maines.Z
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant White.C
Specialist Fields.M
Specialist Maines.Z
Private First Class Hansel.R
Private First Class Dirt.E
Private Dieppe.C


Pros:

• QRF Reaction was on point. We got to the places we needed to go quickly
• Dirt + Dieppe = Death.
• Hansel got 14 revives in 15 minutes.

Cons:

• Stopped truck way too short to attack mid point
• I heard that after I left, on the 2nd match, that the winning team was told to hold off winning to "make it easier on them". That is unacceptable. If your going to kick someones ass, kick someones ass. No one learns when you don't play realistically. It is absolutely degrading and demoralizing.

 

[Hazen.D]

Element Callsign (Defensive) Infantry Axis Golf -> Allied Juliet
Element Leader: Corporal Hazen.D
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Noriega.D
Specialist Mulvany.J
Specialist Owens.W
Specialist Hall.S
Private First Class Svenson.C

• Pros:
  • Match Start tactics were beautifully done. Nodes went up, and truck was on line before the wall fell
  • Communication in squad was, for the most part, flawless. Direction, distance and pings were communicated quickly and concisely.
  • Squad spread out to cover multiple zones of control on BOTH matches. Squad would collapse on whatever zone of control was receiving contact.
  • Squad defensive movement was fluid and kept the point free of enemy combatants.
• Cons:
  • We were told to back off the second to last point, to avoid finishing the match too early again. This raised alot of eyebrows, and definitely came off as demeaning to the losing team. We respect our opponents by giving our all, not holding back. I understand that there was a green commander, but every commander starts somewhere. Having the team hold back so that they doesn't lose so hard is not that.
  • Teams being unbalanced isn't a thing. Get better at movement and gunfighting. As has been pointed out by a fellow trooper, skill balance is not something we can cater to. You also don't have a leg to stand on when complaining about stacking during a purely 7cav vs 7cav op.

 

[Korfias.F]

Element Callsign: Axis PL / Allied PL
Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Korfias.F
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Second Lieutenant Korfias.F

Pros:

• Excellent start of the match, everybody in trucks, nodes went up quickly and we hit the point hard and fast.
• Comms were fairly tight all night, some instances of unnecessary chatter, but overall a pleasant experience.
• SLs worked well together and moved around and with each other well.
• Reactive squads and quick thinking led to victories.

Cons:

• Teams, while running even numbers, were imbalanced skill-wise.
• Need to address "HQ spawn camping" when nodes are in an HQ. Obviously each party needs a chance to defend themselves, but waiting for the person who spawns in to shoot first usually results in death of the node destroyer.

 

[Bean.P]

Element Callsign: Axis SL / Allied PL
Element Leader: SGT.Bean.P
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Kona
Titus
Feathers
Ellison
Knowles

Pros:

• Excellent start of the match, everybody in trucks, nodes went up quickly and we hit the point hard and fast.
• SLs worked well together and moved around and with each other well.
• Time for a brag. This squad of famine boys continue to amaze me when it comes to how well they are working together. More and more it seems that things are just clicking with this group hats off boys way to go.
• 
  Cons:
• None the guys loved it

 

[Swanson.B]

Element Call Sign: Axis Commander
Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Swanson.B
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:


Pros:

• My squads executed our plan to the letter. They were all positionned where they should have been
• The command chat was not too cluttered. Call outs were precise and clear
• Good garrison placement
• Good crash on the point at match start
• Forst sets of nodes where built in the first 2 minutes of the games

Cons:

• Nodes need to be rebuild when they get destroyed. I asked it in the command chat but it never happened