FTX AAR ARMA Reforger | Alpha Company FTX | Operation Embertrail, Q4, 2025

[Bishop.B]

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

Name of Combat Mission: Alpha Company FTX: Operation Embertrail, Q4, 2025
Campaign of Combat Mission (If applicable): N/A
Server Hosted on: TS1
Date of Combat Mission: 19OCT25
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu): 2100z
Mission OIC: First Sergeant Wiseman.L
Mission Controller: Captain Davis.D, Second Lieutenant Bishop.B

Number of Attendees: 60

7th Cavalry Personnel Involved in Action:
Captain Davis.D
Captain Hilberg.A
First Lieutenant Molitor.K
Second Lieutenant Bishop.B
Second Lieutenant MacMillan.M
Second Lieutenant Vaughn.V
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Terp.J
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Peterson.L
Warrant Officer 1 Ramirez.M
First Sergeant Summerfield.P
First Sergeant Wiseman.L
Master Sergeant Westcott.R
Sergeant First Class Mazinski.H
Staff Sergeant Borenstein.B
Staff Sergeant Lucander.P
Sergeant Apollo.R
Sergeant Carr.W
Sergeant Spice.M
Corporal Crimzon.E
Corporal Easy.G
Corporal Flint.J
Corporal Mendoza.R
Corporal Mobius.T
Corporal Russell.JG
Corporal Zimm.L
Specialist Bayer.MW
Specialist DeCann.A
Specialist Drezelan.O
Specialist Fox.Z
Specialist Fryer.T
Specialist Keene.R
Specialist King.MJ
Specialist Kron.D
Specialist Macintosh.S
Specialist Reddick.A
Specialist Tremblay.J
Specialist Utters.M
Specialist Van Auken.P
Specialist Vara.J
Specialist Webbel.R
Specialist Yota.G
Private First Class Bolte.D
Private First Class Farnsworth.S
Private First Class Harrel.R
Private First Class Johnsen.M
Private First Class Lawrie.A
Private First Class Pearl.F
Private First Class Ross.S
Private First Class Tanner.J
Private First Class Von Knispel.K
Private First Class Woods.F
Private First Class Young.M

7th Cavalry Members Who Did NOT Achieve Operational Credit:
Sergeant McAllen.J
Corporal Brophy.C
Corporal Dermont.L
Specialist Harry.J
Specialist Henderson.JA
Private First Class Brideau.J
Private First Class Colbert.L
Projekt

 

[Woods.F]

Element Callsign: Buffalo-3
Element Leader: PFC.Woods.F

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
WO1.Ramirez.M

Pros:

• Good flying and coordination between Buffalo elements.
• Short response time to mayday calls and SERE performed successfully.
• Non-Alpha troopers who took air crew positions did really well and proved to be a help instead of a hinderance.

Cons:

• Poor communication along with bogging down of Air to Air comms led to a lot of messages not being received or being received by the wrong personnel.
• Improper tasking of airframes and improper manning for assets required.

 

[Zimm.L]

Element Callsign: Bandit-7
Element Leader: Corporal Zimm.L

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Zimm.L
Private First Class Von Knispel.K


Pros:

• had fun
• had to split up the medics due to elements being far apart and we were successful and health multiple down troopers

Cons:

• few causalities most were straight black tags
• not being able to heal injuries due to not have a medical ring

 

[Utters.M]

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

Element Callsign: BUFFALO-2
Element Leader: Specialist Utters.M
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Terp.J

Pros:

• i had a lot of fun tonight
• got to fly, run radio as CP after consolidation, and practice SERE training, myself summerfield and terp were hit with a glancing blow from an unintentional blue on blue stinger at the very beginning and despite my best effort to make it back to base i decided to make an emergency landing due to heavy damage being sustained, as we were coming in to land the UH-60 caught fire. all souls on board successfully disembarked with minimal injury leading to no loss of life, we then hoofed it roughly 3km back to FOB thirty palms. in addition, i had the opportunity to aid other downed crews CAS-EVAC-ing 3x other downed crews during this FTX
• somehow with lady luck on my side managed to survive this entire FTX with one life
• had good clear communication with First Lieutenant Molitor.K as misfit-5 and First Sergeant Summerfield.P as Pegasus-5 throughout the OP
• had many successful re-inserts during the OP without loosing any trooper lives in our birds
• other buffalo elements from what i saw did well with returning to base and picking up PAX and reinserting them as needed
• had a relatively small number of re-inserts overall leading me to believe the misfit elements were effective on the ground.
• raider warned us of AA threats that were then eliminated by raider or ground crew ensuring the safety of buffalo flight
• got to consolidate and be CP for Specialist Macintosh.S PIC of buffalo-1 with Corporal Easy.G as crew chief and Private First Class Pearl.F and our door gunner and had a blast!

Cons:

• there were moments where the coms were coming in with 4-5x people speaking on 60.5 in addition to transmissions coming from 61.5 leading to some pretty hard to discern instruction. in addition i would call for certain buffalo and try to organize flight pattern and not get an answer, which could have lead to collisions but thankfully did not. although when we were trying to move troops from PZ alpo to LZ broadsword there was some confusionfor misfit 5 and myself as to why some buffalo were not answering or landing without announcing they were going to do so
• we had a small hiccup just before the blue on blue raider stingers where buffalo 1 mistook the BP for the raiders as a marker on map for our initial LZ and slowed and began descent as if they were landing this caused a little confusion for myself and i ended up circling then the other two buffalos either attempted to land or circled and caused a small break in formation.
• blue on blue with the raider aim9 stingers while trying to shoot red air at the beginning is understandable but definitely threw a wrench in our plans
• i think a personal con is that i need to practice more with my distancing in formation in addition to being able to communicate more effectivly or maybe efficiently in spite of haveing 4-5 people talking simultaneously on one net in addition to monitoring other nets.
• i had some brief disconnects and hadnt died at all during the OP which means after the first disconnect i could no longer see map markers or group markers making navigation a little harder mostly in respect to asking where people were and them not responding i assume because they thought i could see their locations on the map. but mostly because everytime a new LZ was established i had to ask for a specific grid reference slowing down my ability to know where i need to go and consuming more time on the net aswell as taking away misfit/pegasus5's time while they already have a lot on their plate

 

[Molitor.K]

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

Element Callsign: BANDIT-5
Element Leader: First Lieutenant Molitor.K

Pros:

• Always good to see the boys come out for another Company's FTX.
• Really awesome to see so many pilots present.
• Think the infantry elements did a decent job fighting against high levels of contact.
• Lots of folks willing to step up and take leadership roles to fill in and keep things moving.

Cons:

• Felt a bit off all night from the Platoon and couldn't really make it into the combat portion as a result. I was a bit less than useful in this space.
• I did not identify that there was a Pegasus callsign present and realized way too late. It got sorted in the long run but I should have been a bit sharper.
• I personally contributed to some of the comms issues with the pilots by pushing on 61.5. May start lurking on some of the other nets to try to keep SA on when I might be stepping on comms.

 

[Summerfield.P]

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

Element Callsign: Pegasus-5
Element Leader: First Sergeant Summerfield.P

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First Sergeant Summerfield.P

Pros:

• Comms with 5.
• Comms with Buffalo lead. Buffalos and their crews did a good job adjusting on the fly and following orders.
• Joined late, but Buffalos appeared mostly busy from my standpoint.
• SERE training coming into play and birds being properly blown up.
• Wonderful turnout from the ground guys. Thank ya'll for the support!!!

Cons:

• Comms brevity. Possible split comms between transport and CAS with this many airframes. Tough to do with Reforger limitations.
• Confusion around call signs and planning after crew consolidation.
• Professionalism - Few instances of Troopers not acting in a professional manner or trash talking. This isn't acceptable.
• Attention to detail with OPORD.
• Potential to look at airframe respawn limitations.
• "Solo" flights at the start. Airframes shouldn't leave base without a wingman especially with the amount of the airframes.

 

[Borenstein.B]

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

Element Callsign: BANDIT-3
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Borenstein.B

Captain Hilberg.A
Second Lieutenant Vaughn.V
Master Sergeant Westcott.R
Private First Class Farnsworth.S
Private First Class Tanner.J
Specialist Webbel.R
Specialist Tremblay.J

Pros:

• WAS GOOD
• VIOLENCE OF ACTION
• GREAT SECURITY ON FIRST OBJ
• GREAT MOVEMENT THROUGH SECOND OBJ

Cons:

• COULD HAVE USED BETTER 30 SECONDS AND STANDBYS
• KIND OF SILLY TO HAVE A BUNCH OF AIRFRAMES LOITERING RIGHT ABOVE AN AMBUSH POINT ON FIRST OBJ
• MISSED THE CIV LADA ON FIRST OBJ

 

[Spice.M]

Element Callsign: Buffalo-4
Element Leader: SGT.Spice.M

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
CPL.Crimzon.E
PFC.Lawrie.A

Pros:

• Good flying and coordination between Buffalo elements.
• Short response time to mayday calls and SERE performed successfully.
• Non-Alpha troopers who took air crew positions did really well and proved to be a help instead of a hinderance.

Cons:

• Raider Flight clogged Comms with their conversations, They should have pushed to CAS to allow Buffalo Flights to communicate effectively
• The weird shuffle done to man crews resulted in Troopers that signed up for specific roles to not preform said roles and lose their slots to late comers
• Poor planning brought the Buffalo flight too close to objective
• Raider engaging in Blue on Blue with Buffalo

 

[Peterson.L]

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

Element Callsign: Raider Flight
Element Leader: Chief Warrant Officer 3 Peterson.L (Raider-1 PIC)

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist DeCann.A (Raider-1 Gun)
Private First Class Ross.S (Raider-2 PIC)
Warrant Officer 1 Bloggins.R (Raider-2 Gun)

Pros:

• Lots of work for Raider flight.
• Good comms with Buffalo flight after the first 15 minute chaos.
• Comms with both Chaos operators were expertly executed
• Inner ship comm's were swift and executed well
• Inner flight cohesion was spot on, never really had to direct Raider-2 to positions or what we were doing, they seemed just know where to go and what Raider-1 was going to do as we did it. Great piloting/gunning from both Raider's.

Cons:

• We need to give a CAS aircraft a 5 minute lead on getting ISR and eyes on target instead of going in blind.
• Raider-1 was trailing REDAIR MI-8 and let a stinger go and it did not track the MI-8 and went directly into a friendly Buffalo creating a very rough and chaotic start to the operation. Stinger's do not have any secure way of targeting enemy airframe's so a large chance for a blue on blue if friendly aircraft in the area.
• The map did not give any kind of conceal or cover for Raiders to terrain mask behind.
• Having the short view range still hurts attack helicopters, we have to set ourselves just 1500-1800 meters away and low so we can see the target but makes the airframe very visible/vulnerable.
• The lack of being able to carry more then 1 radio really hinders aircraft crews, especially CAS crews because they need to have access to 3 but preferably 4 radio channels, A2A, G2A, CAS and a separate radio channel for CAS crews. Wish we could have radio channel isolation back so we could put certain comms in certain ears.
• Having a no fly zone North of ambush site made doing orbits a no-go.
• Watching some members of Buffalo flight flying directly into AA gun arc after communicating with Buffalo flight to stay NOE to avoid AA since the AA was on the airfield/higher elevation then where Buffalo could fly. Most aircraft did listen, some still avoided the warnings and did there own thing.
• Acrobatic maneuver's are going to kill paxs, they need to be avoided at all costs for safety of crew and customers.

 

[Macintosh.S]

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

Element Callsign: Buffalo-1
Element Leader: Specialist Macintosh.S

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element
Corporal Easy.G

Pros:

• We had lots of fun, both me and my crew.
• The flight patterns we were able to do were solid
• We successfully deployed every trooper that entered our aircraft at their LZs, 0 casulties recorded
• Internal Comms among Buffalo 1 before and after consolidation were amazing
• We successfully assisted 2 SERE Operations
• Corporal Easy.G was able to get guns on red air and was able to assist raider momentarily.

Cons:

• My really big negative was our communication. Some of it could not be helped because we were all using the same nets, but in the future this needs to be corrected so we dont have a repeat. Multiple airframes conducted manuvers or landings without calling them over the net which at a few moments almost could have resulted with collisions. It was hard to descern who was talking to who at times over both 60.5 and 61.5, this also caused miscommunications on what 5 needed from which aircraft and whether people still needed transport from LZs.
• We had to have Buffalo Flight consolidate into fewer aircraft to keep tasking high.
• Personal Note: Pay more attention to the map, I confused the BP at the beginning of FTX for our first LZ and caused some confusion as to where the LZ was.

 

[Russell.JG]

Element Callsign: Bandit-1
Element Leader: Corporal Russell.JG

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element
Sergeant First Class Mazinski.H
Staff Sergeant Lucander.P
Sergeant Apollo.R
Corporal Mendoza.R
Specialist Kron.D
Specialist Drezelan.O
Specialist Reddick.A
Private First Class Harrel.R

Pros:

• When Buffalo 3 came into contact, they made great maneuvers to keep us safe. Additionally, they had expended all flares during this time and made the safe decision to return to MOB and resupply.
• Unsure which Raider unit, but we were pinned done with a BTR approaching. The Raider engaged and destroyed the BTR before it could reach us.
• Movements and formations were squared away.
• The team was consistently aggressive. We took several casualties but kept moving and fighting.
• Bandit-7 ultimately kept Bandit-1 in the fight.

Cons:

• Bandit-1 found the HVT, but we did not have a picture of him and were unsure if we had the right subject.
• An argument occurred within another Bandit Unit before stepping off, leading to a Trooper leaving the game.
• Abmush was not well established, resulting in a Blue on Blue.
• During the assault on the Airfield, Bandit-1 was left far behind the other units, almost resulting in a mass cas with a BTR.

 

[Rutkowski.P]

S1 Locked.

 

[Angels.N]

S1 Operations Processed/Milpacs Updated