AAR Arma Reforger | Firefight Friday (April) | Firefight Friday 009

[Beiter.A]

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

Name of Combat Mission: Firefight Friday 009
Campaign of Combat Mission (If applicable): Firefight Friday (April)
Number within campaign: 1
Game: Arma Reforger
Server Hosted on: Tac 2
Date of Combat Mission: 04APR25
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu): 2200
Mission OIC: Second Lieutenant Whitsel.M
Mission Controller: Lieutenant Colonel Beiter.A , Master Sergeant Westcott.R

Number of Attendees: 65

7th Cavalry Personnel Involved in Action:
Lieutenant Colonel Beiter.A
Major Grgich.A
Captain Berg.J
Captain Rodahl.S
First Lieutenant Hilberg.A
First Lieutenant Moore-Allen.D
Second Lieutenant Corbin.R
Second Lieutenant Mitsuma.R
Second Lieutenant Whitsel.M
Master Sergeant Westcott.R
Master Sergeant Wiseman.L
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Dalton.D
Sergeant First Class Willson.JA
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mullins.R
Staff Sergeant Blake.H
Staff Sergeant Crowley.T
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Peterson.L
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Terp.J
Sergeant Holiday.T
Sergeant Searle.I
Sergeant Smith.DM
Warrant Officer 1 Ratliff.B
Corporal Jones.RH
Corporal Kastor.K
Corporal Lothar.S
Corporal Olson.DJ
Corporal Villmarsson.L
Corporal Winters.R
Corporal York.A
Specialist Bull.T
Specialist Carr.W
Specialist Carrasco.J
Specialist Casey.W
Specialist Crimzon.E
Specialist MacTavish.J
Specialist Molitor.K
Specialist Mooser.G
Specialist Pierce.JA
Specialist Rossi.C
Specialist Snow.B
Private First Class Easy.G
Private First Class Kovacic.C
Private First Class Hudson.B
Private First Class Johnson.D
Private First Class Mack.A
Private First Class Murdock.T
Private First Class Stanton.B
Private Bishop.B
Private Bittrich.D
Private Colwell.J
Private Dolby.W
Private Juenemann.D
Private Mors.V
Private Russell.JG
Private Sandoval.M
Private Thomas.K
Private Vandal.T
Private Vara.J
Private Van Auken.P
Private Vlade.I
Recruit Sayers.L

Not Eligible:
Recruit Andrew.H
Recruit Clegg.M


Reservists:
Lieutenant Colonel Dread.M

Retired:
First Lieutenant Sam.T

 

[Hudson.B]

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

Element Callsign: BUFFALO-2
Element Leader: Private First Class Hudson.B

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Private First Class Kovacic.C


Pros:

• As always, a fun, well constructed OP. Thank you Beiter.
• Great communication between flight crews and elements*.
• Good objectives and a good MOB setup.
• Fun LZ's that weren't really "green" at all.

Cons:

• Outside of the OP itself, this had a sloppy start as far as last-minute sign ups. I will work with S3 to discuss how we can get the word out and get people signed up earlier in the week rather than during briefing.
• My CP had to leave about halfway through so I was alone in my bird, kind of forcing me to solely run supplies and the occasional reinsert.
• * Not the Cav's fault, but I would love to see a way for radios' volume to be adjusted, or set priority to channels. So much overlap in communications when monitoring three different frequencies.

 

[Corbin.R]

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

Element Callsign: Bandit 2
Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Corbin.R

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Second Lieutenant Corbin.R
Specialist Mooser.G
Private First Class Murdock.T
Private Vandal.T

Pros:

• Everyone had a blast! Felt like we did our part and supported the platoon effectively, even if we didn't deal with as much contact. These missions continue to be a blast. Looking forward to more PvE missions.
• New troopers and new people to the game all performed well and adapted to ongoing changes.
• Adapted well to getting last-minute additions and public players.
• Buffalo inserts were well executed and pilots performed amazing.
• Public players started to learn how we do things.
• We gained an enlistment from one of the public players.

Cons:

• Learned some lessons on being a squad leader and squad management with this game and how it works. Performed alright but improvements to be made for the next one! I hope reforger will expand teams to 9.
• Succession of command was lost at times.
• Communication was subpar at times over the Platoon net. Need to work on this for many of us.

 

[Ratliff.B]

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

Element Callsign: Bison - 1
Element Leader: Warrant Officer 1 Ratliff.B

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Warrant Officer 1 Ratliff.B
Specialist Carrasco.J
Specialist Carr.W
Specialist MacTavish.J

Pros:

• Bison - 1 was coordinated very well within the aircraft, despite the known lack of experience amongst all 4 positions of the crew
• HOT LZ LANDING, the slide (IYKYK)
• Calls from Chaos were excellent
• Landings and Extracts were incredible
• CSAR was conducted and we extracted one crew member of Bison-2. The extracted Crewmember is quoted as saying "You guys are so calm in this bird"
• After we had been shot down, one of my crew members survived and SERE'd out of a bad situation with no official training
• CAS engagement included 4x BTR and numerous infantry squads
• BP1 was when we started to work together as a crew. Excellent work was had by all
• ISR mission on the Military Site was awesome

Cons:

• Some Disorganization at the start
• I didn't plan a crewmember to be on the G2A channel (I thought the CAS helicopters didn't need to be on it, but I was wrong)
• I got shot down after a rocket run, all personnel were lost

 

[Holiday.T]

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

Element Callsign: Odin-1
Element Leader: SGT.Holiday.T

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Olson.DJ
Corporal Villmarsson.L
Specialist Rossi.C
Private Van Auken.P

Pros:
Teams did great responding to calls for fire
Troopers had fun
Carried out counter battery fire while repulsing a enemy attack on the firebase
Great time working with an impromptu FDC


Cons:
Team definitely wanted to see more calls for fire
If Helios is leaving firebase they should make sure to leave supplies with Odin instead of taking everything
Vehicle cleanup script deleted truck left behind for transport

 

[Willson.JA]

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

Element Callsign: Bandit-5
Element Leader: Sergeant First Class Willson.JA

Pros:

• Squads quickly reconsolidated after the initial engagement and gained a foothold in a heavily held town.
• Buffalo and Bison flights were on top of their tasking and quickly and efficiently got troops back into the AO.
• The squads were able to push through the town once their initial foothold was made.
• Helios was a lifesaver on the platoon's defensive positions, bringing up supply for squads to rearm.

Cons:

• Platoon Leadership was unable to command and control due to too many elements on the platoon net.
• We had a company's worth of units controlled by a platoon element.
• Radio communications were abismil and had a lot of steping on each other over the net.
• Too many units were using 50.5 as their primary channel to contact the platoon, and they should have been transitioned onto 50.
• Contact was much higher than was briefed.
• Succession of command was inappropriately handled on the platoon and squad levels. (I will take responsibility for platoon succession.)
• The lack of range on our standard radio affected command and control.

 

[Searle.I]

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

Element Callsign: HELIOS-2
Element Leader: Sergeant Searle.I

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Recruit Clegg.M
Private Thomas.K
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mullins.R



Pros:

• As always, a fun, well constructed OP. Thank you Beiter.
• Great communication between Helios-2 team
• Mullins & Thomas volunteering to make an extra run way down to St. Pierre for additional supplies, along with communication with SL.
• Clegg fire support to Bandit platoon at forward LRP position during phase 3.
• Helios-2 speed to kit out and be ready to move in convoy within 10 minutes of mission start.

Cons:

• Radio volumes are all over the place. Most people come through fine, but some come through so loud it drowns out every other possible voice or noise.
• Helios-6 got stranded at tertiary FB, possibly due to cleanup script deleting a vehicle.
• Supply points at St. Pierre was difficult to find for newer players
• Buffalo Air support unit less connected to Helios than OPORD indicated
• Communications fell apart somewhere in phase 3.

 

[Crimzon.E]

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

Element Callsign: Buffalo-1
Element Leader: Specialist Crimzon.E

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Private Mors.V
Private Andrew.H

PROS:

• Good Communications with Pegasus and Other Airframes despite the chaos.
• LZs were interesting and Hot
• Good Recon, Found and destroyed Mortar pits with only an M60, Prewarned ground about an Armored Column
• Private Andrews Flew very well.
• Air to Air Kill on Armed Mi-8
• Lots of Taskings, Weren't flying in circles for long.

Cons:

• Can't adjust comms like A3, (Hard to hear anything) Along with Gaps in Radio range.
• Lack of ISR capability
• Frequency of Logi requests on Light Airframes
• Lack of critical thinking when it came to some plans and stuff* Personal and team gripes.

 

[Bishop.B]

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

Element Callsign: Bison - 2
Element Leader: Private Bishop.B

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Private Bishop.B
Private First Class Stanton.B
Specialist Bull.T
Private Vara.J

Pros:

• Bison - 2 was quick and willing to learn new airframe mechanics. Teamwork and communication was key and crew all performed admirably and to the best of their ability.
• Heavy enemy presence and their accuracy added tense but fun moments such as an engine fire forcing a crash water landing in the lake. Upon engine failure we were able to turn out of the dive and auto rotate keeping the aircraft steady enough that one crew member managed to bail over the water to safety before impact, surviving and being rescued by Bison - 1.
• Calls from Chaos were precise and accurate and their flexibility with limited night time visibility allowed us to provide support quickly.
• Pegasus at one point re-tasked my crew to hunt down an enemy mortar battery that was performing a counter fire mission. With the assistance of Buffalo - 1 and support from Odin who managed to precisely target and illuminate the marked coordinates we were able to saturate the area and eliminate not only the battery, but all local supporting enemy forces, buildings, trees, and of course the biggest threat, local fauna and flora.
• We managed to successfully eliminate multiple BTR's alongside Bison - 1 as well as numerous infantry units and an enemy mortar battery.

Cons:

• Initial hot LZ and landing at alternate nearly fell apart but improvisation managed to get the units on deck and in the fight.
• Radio communications were rough, logistics and Air were constantly in contention over G2A at the beginning and we had "dead zones" in our loiter areas that impeded our ability to provide effective support at first but had managed to get sorted out.
• Approximately $1.6 million in aerial weapons platforms were lost during this operation. The flight data recorders should show this was entirely due to expertly trained "Terminator" like enemies and in no way due to pilot error for either of the deceased Bison flight pilots.

 

[York.A]

Element Callsign: Bandit-1
Element Leader: Corporal York.A

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Staff Sergeant Crowley.T
Specialist Casey.W
Private First Class Easy.G
Private First Class Mack.A
Recruit Sayers.L

Pros:

• good work from mission makers
• good squad communication and react to contact
• great flying

Cons:

• Platoon comms

 

[Molitor.K]

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

Element Callsign: Bandit-4
Element Leader: Specialist Molitor.K
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Captain Rodahl.S
Specialist Snow.B
Sergeant Smith.DM

Retired:
First Lieutenant Sam.T

PROS:

• Well coordinated at a fire team level.
• Most of the section thought splitting 4 into gun teams was a good idea given the terrain.
• Squad formations were excellent.
• Fire commands, cinematic moments, cav s***. Top tier.
• Clock face callouts by FTL were nice.
• Generally had a good time and enjoyed the Op.

IMPROVES:

• Respawns were confusing with multiple available points and no briefing.
  • Recommend briefing a single point for infantry.
• Spot Reps/Contact reports were hit or miss.
  • Individual training.
• Friendlies utilizing Opfor equipment/vehicles with no communication to other friendlies.
  • ROE violation... can't say much there.
• Coordination between squads was rough at times.
  • See below comment.
• Platoon net was brutal. Too many callsigns and lack of discipline on net leading to crowded comms, stepping, and other issues.
  • BRCC baby. Let's do it.

Personally, I had a good time and appreciate the challenge however... we are still learning Reforger as a Battalion. Actively messing up the Platoon Leader's initial insertion plan is something that needs to be carefully measured. I'd argue this is a situation where a bit more restraint from S3 might have been called for.

 

[Dread.M]

Element Callsign: CHAOS-2
Element Leader: Lieutenant Colonel Dread.M

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:


Pros:

• Precise strikes from BISON's allowed me to get closer and closer with calls.
• Flexibility to do walk-ons
• Love not having all the cool toys, have to be quick on your toes and maintain situation awareness

Cons:

• Platoon coms were obnoxious at best

 

[Mitsuma.R]

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

Element Callsign: HELIOS HQ
Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Mitsuma.R

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Staff Sergeant Blake.H



Pros:

• Helios units pushed from MOB after just 10 minutes from start. Primary FB set up within 35. Had Odin set up before they were needed — Great timing.
• Reaction to fire and FB repositioning happened quick and practiced — within 20 minutes from leaving primary FB we had a fighting position at alternate.
• Overall good Op, something about showing up to a built up fire base with two fully manned tubes at sunset is almost enough to make a virtual supply officer shed a tear.

Cons:

• We desperately need an ACRE mod for Reforger. 3 separate channels in all ears at the same volume is a demonstrable, recurring, hinderance on operations.
• Misunderstanding on our part led to some supply issues at MOB. We thought it was an established base that wouldn't need much, if any, resupply. — Rapidly respawning/kitting infantry kept sucking up the resources at home while all of Helios was forward deployed. Which caused longer timelines for our stuff, and a Lull in supplies at MOB.
• Helios units left stranded after building a backup fire base. One trooper came out in debrief saying they saw one of our trucks disappear. I don't know if I missed it, but if a message can go out when clean up is run so all leadership can be on the lookout for disappearing assets that would help.
• Helios troop abandoned Primary FB for Tertiary upon the former taking accurate IDF — Odin being discovered/sighted in — We left them a truck a told them to follow. When we got the pits set up at the alternate we realized Odin never left the primary, nor could I raise them to indicate such.
• More planning needs to be done between Helios and Pegasus for operations where a helo is supposed to be tasked to us for troop/FB supply. We were told we were essentially dedicated one bird after initial insert — conflicting tasking, and conflicting expectations resulted in some very ruffled feathers on all ends.

 

[Peterson.L]

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

Element Callsign: Pegasus
Element Leader: Chief Warrant Officer 2 Peterson.L

Pros:

• Great communications from all airframes
• Fun operation for first larger scale operation
• PLENTY of tasking for me to pass on to my airframes
• Great comms with Chaos-2 for getting Bison flight on station

Cons:

• Platoon Leadership radio was to chaotic to command effectively
• Radio communications were abismil and had a lot of steping on each other over the net.
• The lack of range on our standard radio affected command and control.
• Radio breakdown between myself and odin causing taking there tasking from them
• Stepping on radio channels and bogging them down to unusable level
• Not able to get clear comms with Helios when passing Buffalo-2 between the 2 sections

 

[Winters.R]

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

Element Callsign: HELIOS-1
Element Leader: Corporal Winters.R

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Pierce.JA
Private First Class Johnson.D
Private First Class Dolby.W

Pros:

• Fire bases were well developed and secure​
• Team provided good security with MG nests, walls and AT​
• Good info on communications net​
• Good coordination between HELIOS-1 and IRON RAIN​
• Troopers were well supplied​

Cons:

• Trucks were taken/disappeared leaving HELIOS-1 stranded at Tertiary Fire Base
• Communications and radio issues. Difficult to hear when in contact or loud scenarios. Also interface to switch radios cumbersome at times
• Supplies module turned off at bases. Had unlimited supplies at times
• Arma glitches (e.g. Gunner for humvee getting stuck)

 

[Blake.H]

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

Element Callsign: HELIOS-5
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Blake.H

Pros:

• Logistics OPORD is a must have and will be a standard going forwards for PvE (Non-air-assault)
• We were able to effectively complete our primary build tasks
• Successful LRP provided to infantry platoon in a timely manner.
  • Although it worked well, we're looking at alternative ways to resupply during Air-Assault.
• Fantastic work and communications from Teamleads

Cons:

• Firebase ran out of supply due to Buffalo-2 not being used for constant resupply, as intended in the Logistics OPORD.
  • More than likely needs moving from G2A to another net, too coms intensive.
• Scope of the operation was a little bit strange, logistics and non-portable mortars for air-assault generally dont go so well together.
  • We had fun but the scope was strange, something to look at SOP wise.
• Secondary Build Tasks incomplete (and honestly not needed) for infantry at OBJ

GM Specific feedback:

• Spawn base had inadequate buildings (No fuel, maintenance points, radio).
• Global Supplies were disabled at mission start in the Scenario Settings (Hit "V" in GM).
• The arsenals at mission start must have their supplies requirement disabled in their context menus.

 

[Rutkowski.P]

S1 Locked.

 

[Houser.J]

S1 Operations Processed