AAR ARMA 3 | October 2024 Warfare Wednesday | Operation Long Dark

[Beiter.A]

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

Name of Combat Mission: Operation Long Dark
Number Within Campaign: N/A
Game: ARMA 3
Server Hosted on: TacR
Date of Combat Mission: 23OCT2024
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu): 2200z
Mission OIC: First Lieutenant Sam.T
Mission Controller: Major Beiter.A "Clover"

Attendance (45):
Major Beiter.A "Clover"
Captain Berg.J "Binks"
Captain Narramoor.A
Second Lieutenant Sutodoreh.W "Scooter"
Second Lieutenant Hilberg.A
Second Lieutenant Rodahl.S
Second Lieutenant Davis.D
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Sparrow.P "Pinball"
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Villmarsson.L "Plan B"
Warrant Officer 1 Hamm.C "Hooker"
Command Sergeant Major Nexhex.A
Sergeant First Class Westcott.R
Staff Sergeant Willson.JA
Sergeant Blake.H
Sergeant Lucander.P
Corporal Burton.P
Corporal Houston.T
Corporal Kastor.K
Corporal Kuusela.N
Corporal McAllen.J
Corporal Searle.I "Squirrel"
Corporal Shepard.S
Corporal Vaughn.V
Specialist Apollo.R
Specialist Bryan.R
Specialist DeVoir.W
Specialist Gibbs.K
Specialist Rok.M
Specialist Winters.R
Specialist Xinos.T
Specialist York.A
Private First Class Banks.M
Private First Class Jackson.A
Private First Class Pollock.R
Private First Class Shakeshaft.S
Private Ham.P
Private Swan.J
Private Hawkins.R

Retired and Public Members
RET.1LT.Sam.T
RET.CPL.Keenan.J
RET.CPL.Saint.Z
DrWierd
Expendable Joe
Gen. Haywire
KMAC7994

 

[McAllen.J]

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

Element Callsign: Atlas-1
Element Leader: Corporal McAllen.J

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:

Private Swan.J

Pros:

• I liked the Op concept it was cool
• Got to engage some EI which was fun

Cons:

• Didn't really get to do a whole lot of medical because of the constant withdrawal
• We got separated at times which resulted in us going down and me going black tag
• Felt like the infantry was always stuck in contact and either refused or couldn't break contact throughout the OP
• Lack of personnel in my team made us ineffective

Notes: The medical settings while they definitely made it more difficult and gave us more work to do, but the issue is it is now more difficult to tell who is a red tag and or if they're going to spontaneously wake up.

 

[Sam.T]

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

Element Callsign: Misfit-6
Element Leader: First Lieutenant Sam.T (Retired)

Pro:

• The initial ~30 minutes were fantastic, and the nighttime road march was incredible.
• Very violent ambush.
• Decent comms.

Cons:

• The level of contact, combined with new health settings, was very rough.
• Limited visibility compounded ridiculous contact levels, and health settings meant there were a lot of casualties.
• Poor break contact at a squad/platoon level.
• Blue on Blue, again.
• Excessive amount of black tag due to contact level and health settings.
• The overall scope of the mission was far over what was realistic, which dramatically undermined the intent of more "realistic" or "immersive" kit limitations and medical settings.

 

[Rok.M]

Element Callsign: Misfit-2
Element Leader: Specialist Rok.M

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Apollo.R
Corporal Kastor.K
Sergeant Blake.H
Private First Class Shakeshaft.S
Captain Berg.J
Captain Narramoor.A
Specialist Xinos.T
Second Lieutenant Rodahl.S
Corporal Kuusela.N

Pro:

• Chaotic, Fun mission, engaging
• Great teamwork and solid plt comms which made the challenging mission easier to digest no matter the confusion
• Good execution of fundamentals due to challenges of changed settings.
• 1st phase recon was conducted by the book, the assault into 2nd phase (2 buildings) became to mass cas result which led us to think to apply more cautious approach to engagements
• Fireteam coordination and squad cohesion was great from start to end
• Alot of tactical maneuvers made it interesting

Cons:

• Setting : weapon sway, medical changes were hard to sustain engagements and utilize fire rates as trained.
• Break contact and Peel in PLT perspective needs to be worked on. Assuming individuals getting sucked into contact

 

[Banks.M]

Element Callsign: MISFIT-4
SL: Private First Class Banks.M

Attendance:
Corporal Searle.I
Sergeant Lucander.P
2LT Davis.D
Command Sergeant Major Nexhex.A
Private First Class Pollock.R
KMAC7994
RET.CPL.Keenan.J




Pros

• Good comms and teamwork within Squad. Team Leaders did a great job controlling rates of fire.
• Atlas was great at getting to wounded troops and getting them back in the fight.

Cons

• Break contact battle drill. Needs work so its not as chaotic and slow paced.
• Implementation of weapons squad to better support the maneuver squads.

 

[Westcott.R]

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

Element Callsign: Misfit-5
Element Leader: Sergeant First Class Westcott.R


Pros:

• Challenging environment, and a challenging mission that is out of the norm of what we usually do.
• Excellent Platoon comms, good SITREPS, good and accurate ACE reports.
• Staggered column initial movement was AWESOME to see, noise/light/IR discipline was solid until first contact.
• I performed a security inspection at initial positions while -6 RDV'd with GRNFOR and all squads were in excellent positions and had great spacing.
• Buffalo Flight was stellar tonight. Flying through THICK fog, every landing was a challenge. Good FRAGO initial comms problems but once comms were established everything was smooth. Excellent and on time resupply (and there were a lot), expeditious re-inserts, and mostly good fire support from the Door Gunners.

Cons:

• Break contacts were lackluster at times. With the new health settings this is going to HAVE to get better!
• The OP plan as briefed was to perform a defense in retrograde and break contact utilizing squad bounding. Asking to turn around a push through the contact doesn't align with the PL's orders as briefed.
• With the new weight restrictions FTL's need to issue fire commands! Ammo conservation needs to be on everyone's mind.

*With the new damage/health setting we are going to have to get better at what we do. Cover/Concealment is paramount. Break contacts need to be done correctly. Standing there and shooting will get you killed...period.

 

[Burton.P]

Element Callsign: MISFIT-1
SL: Corporal Burton.P

Attendance:
Specialist York.A
Corporal Houston.T
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Sparrow.P
Private Ham.P
Second Lieutenant Hilberg.A
Corporal Vaughn.V
Corporal Saint.Z




Pros

• Lots of contact. LOTS of contact.
• Excellent reaction to contact from the squad.

Cons

• Issues with some gear, one person didn't get earplugs.
• Issues with super easy knocking out.
• Restricted weight limit meant going black on ammo after a few engagements.
• Heavy fog made it impossible to see the enemy first for the first chunk of the mission.

 

[Hawkins.R]

Element Callsign: Buffalo 1-2
Element Leader: PVT. Hawkins.R

Pro:

• The weather conditions made for a grate test of comms and nav for the whole flight crew
• No Crashes

Con:

• Weather Made it difficult to PID targets
• Some com problems at beginning but were sorted

 

[Jackson.A]

Element Callsign: Atlas-1
Element Leader: Private First Class Jackson.A

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:

Specialist Winters.R
Corporal Shepard.S

Pros:

• Good amount of medics on the field
• Ground movement to objective
• CLS and troopers assisting in CPR, bandaging and moving casualties during tactical advances to the rear.
• The rate of movement/ medical interventions meant having to triage patients quickly and stabilize for moving.

Cons:

• I did not discuss a succession of command, meaning that when the 7 fell, didn't know who was taking that position. When I fell, did not know who was taking the team.
• Actions to be performed when separated from the Atlis team. Atlas 1 was called forward to treat a casualty and got caught in an ambush. When we fell back from that location, lost sight of the team. When I arrived at the next friendly position, I was the only medic there.
• The new medical loadouts mean that if a medic is separated from the team, they are greatly limited in the aid that can be provided.