OpFor's point of view:

This is an Opfor-side AAR of the CPX on map 900 run by Jerry Hall on Dec 5 1998, 
by James Sterrett.


Opfor Players:

  James Sterrett (CO, Arty, Helos)
  Corinne Mahaffey (Recce, 3rd Bn)
  Bill Buckingham (Desant Company, Advance Guard)
  Scott Gainer (1st Bn, 2nd Bn)

  Matthew McKenzie was supposed to play but did not show up for reasons as yet 
unclear; the commands above are what was played, not what was originally 
planned.


  Our forces were the 5th Tank Regiment, plus attachments we bought.  We were 
given 10 points to buy "extras"; we spent 4 on intel and 6 to buy 4 HINDs and a 
Desant company (which had two escorting HINDs).


  Our mission was to transit map 900 from the NE corner to the SW corner.
Recce would enter at 0700, the lead platoon of the Advance Guard at 0730, the 
FSE (the rest of the Advance Guard) at 0745, and the Main Body at 0800.
 We chose to have the Desant company enter at the start of the game, and the 
HINDs would enter with the main body.  Our initial intel was very sketchy - the 
enemy had some remnant blocking force in the area and probably would reinforce 
with something else.  Over the course of the planning period we learnt that the 
blocking forces consisted of a set of three 2 company defense areas, each 
fronted by a minefield.  (We attempted to alter our planned routes to avoid 
these but did not entirely succeed; firstly because the info was not precise and 
secondly because we misunderstood our entry area until just before the game - 
see below.)  We also learnt that an Armored Cav Squadron was coming to meet us, 
probably reinforced by M60A3 tanks (whose thermal sights meant they could 
turkeyshoot us from behind smoke) and a platoon of Cobras.

  We laid out three routes for the recce; loosely following the three basic 
paths available (BLUE via NW corner, RED via SE corner, GREEN down the middle).  
the Advance gurd would follow the path that Recce thought was most promising, 
and the Main Body would follow their combined reccomendations.  Recce planned to 
move in small formations with motorbikes in the lead, BRDMs in the middle, and a 
BMP in the rear, all moving up to each checkpoint, waiting for the rear of the 
formation to catch up, and then setting out again.  A few infantry teams were to 
be dropped off to scout the exact locations of enemy minefields.

  The Desant company was to grab a chunk of woodline at about 60/24 and defend 
it.  We hoped that this would cause problems for the incoming Cavalry, and also 
help hold this area for us since the SE route looked best.


  The Recce entered the map and immediately ran into trouble.  Green got wiped 
out in short order, and Blue only survived because its route took it into the 
hill/wooded area at 62/71.  Red was meeting with light resistance when it got to 
the ridge at 64/27 and at that point the lead element of the Advance Guard 
needed its orders.

  Jumping elsewhere for a moment....  The Desant landed into a firestorm.
Very furtunately most of its elements wound up on the ground, and with liberal 
use of off-map smoke and HE support, soon supplemented by its own mortars, it 
managed to gain the woodsline and return fire.  Apparently it did a fair amount 
of damage to an enemy Cavalry Troop and nearly overran a brigade headquarters.  
For quite a while it was under attack, but eventually the enemy seemed to give 
up on trying to kill the Desant and permitted its remnants (4 mortars, an AGS, 
and 4-6 squads) to hold onto their woodsline.  The Desant occasionally ambushed 
the odd enemy element which strayed too close.  All in all, we were moderately 
pleased with the results from the assault; from all we could tell, we'd drawn 
enemy attention, killed a lot of them, and still held the chunk of ground.

  Back to the Advance Guard.  It dawned on us that Jerry had defined the map 
corner so as to allow us to enter as far south as 28 and as far west at 62.  If 
we had thought about this beforehand our plans might have looked rather 
different, instead of all entering past Ransbach!  Our error.

  However, we now rejigged our entry area - incurring a 10 minute delay in 
arrival - to enter at 285 and 29 northing.  We lanned to follow Route RED 
because the recce on that axis had gone pretty well thus far.  A small enemy 
unit had been detected - perhaps a platoon - and we planned to try to overrun it 
with the Advance Guard and then try to maneuver the 2 lead battalions of the 
main body through the resulting gap.  (In retrospect we would have done better 
to enter where we did, and then drive across the Sisberg and into Ufhausen, 
instead of south into the twon at 645265 and then west to Ufhausen.  However, we 
were worried that this would expose us to ATGMs we knew were near 
Schenklengsfeld.)

  The Advance Guard's attack went very poorly; it swiftly lost all its BMPs.  
However, the infantry survived and was advancing, so we slung the Main body 
battalions into the same attack.  It might have worked very well, but the enemy 
opened up the Maw of Death on us.

  Apparently NATO paid 70% of their available points for their 7 Cobras - and 
they were worth every point.  7 helos times 8 Hellfires = 56 dead T-62s.  And 
the rocket pods proved effective as well!  We are under the impression that the 
bulk of our 77 dead tanks were killed by the Cobras.
Our HINDs were committed to trying to kill some of the Cobras, and died in the 
process.

  Our force struggled across to Ufhausen, by which point it numbered a 
reinforced battalion.  We decided to continue the attack, hoping that we might 
have moved fast enough that ground troops were not in our way, and that the 
Cobras were out of ammo.  Neither was the case; the enemy had their M60A3 
company sitting near 58/27 to kill us, and the Cobras had a bit of ammo left.  
By using our BMPs in travelling overwatch we killed most of the M60A3s, and the 
Cobras ran out of ammo, so we eventually slipped a reinforced tank company and a 
BMP company off the SW corner.

  The US force had let some of uas through and had taken a beating; however, our 
Regiment was gone and the force was small.  Jerry ruled the scenario a marginal 
US victory.


  Lessons learned:

  1) Read the briefing.  8)  It may be 20/20 hindsight, but I think if I'd paid 
more attention to the definition of "corner" we might have run the recce 
differently, and therefore might have attacked differently.  (Then again, it 
would not have changed our losses to the Cobras.)  [Cor and Bill insist that I 
note that *they* could have read the briefing more carefully too.  Quite right - 
but I was in charge, I ought to have read it carefully, and IMHO I'm most to 
blame. - James]

  2) Helicopters are sudden death (or suddenly dead).  A more covered attack 
route would have reduced our losses on the drive to Ufhausen.  On the other 
hand, tank tend to be vulnerable to infantry in close terrain and it would have 
meant driving across terrain we had not recce'd.  Plus, the helos would have 
simply pounded on us in the next valley over.  If we had moved more slowly we 
could have gotten a better SAM front set up, but probably paid for it by meeting 
more enemy ground forces - probably, in the event, a better trade.

--------------------------------

And NATO's point of view:

AAR for CPX Dec 5, 1998
Rick Nelson - Nato CO


To start with - kudos to all involved.

To Jerry Hall for an interesting, well run CPX.  I appreciate the effort it must 
have taken to keep the two sets of NATO players separate at the beginning by 
spliting the sitreps and taking orders on two Nato channels. The admin details 
gave it a realistic feel.  Tank company reinforcements took an hour to arrive 
and additional time to change their arrival location. 
Cobras available in ten minutes, on station for an hour (I think) and only after 
sighting a battalion of Opfor. A more subtle effect was the northeast to 
southwest axis of advance for Opfor.
All my planning was biased towards defending against an east-west advance. Nice 
touch! 

To the Opfor crew for keeping us worried and confused.  We spent a lot of time 
discussing what they were going to do next. Even when we'd spotted a couple of 
battalions and figured out their general axis of advance, I still wondered if 
there wasn't some suprise coming up. After the Desant assault, what next?

To Basil (commander 8th ID) for locating and attriting the enemy.
He had enough OPs set up so we usually knew where Opfor was.

To Bill and Nic, Troop commanders, for taking care of their sectors and the 
necessary details in a competent manner.
And for their useful advice and suggestions during the game. 
Definitely a case where the CO was the least experienced.

=============================================================== What happened 

A Troop had the north half of the map, and B Troop the south. 
They were to move eastward until contact was made with the enemy.
C Company (M60A3s) were to enter an hour later at about the mid point (N-S).  
The Aerorifle Troop was to act as mobile scouts to provide advance warning.  The 
plan was to make contact with A or B Troops and manuever C Company and the 
Cobras to block Opfor's advance.

Once we made contact with 1/8th ID, it was obvious that the Aerorifles weren't 
needed as scouts since Basil had a lot of OPs out.  I put the Aerorifles in 
locations to observe places in the line where Opfor scouts might slip through.

We immediately ran into the Desant force who had taken the hill vic 60/24.  
After the initial contact, I intended to bypass them. 
However the commander 1/8th ID said he didn't feel comfortable with the force 
behind his position, they would be able to fire on his troops if they fired on 
any force advancing from the east into Ufhausen.

After the initial attack on the Desants, it became obvious that it would be very 
difficult to dislodge them.  We decided to smoke them and bypass them.  We 
planned to smoke their positions again when the 1/8th ID forces in Ufhausen 
fired on any advancing forces.

Opfor forces contacted the OP at several locations along the west edge of the 
map. We had a lot of discussion about where the big advance would come.  There 
were some Opfor forces that made it across the hills at the north edge of the 
map vic 62 Easting so Nic located A Troop to watch that area.  B Troop 
positioned an OP on the south edge vic 635 easting to watch that area. One of 
our main concerns was that the Opfor forces would get through along one of the 
edges.

When 2 tank battalions were sighted vic 650290, the Cobras were called in.  They 
were to arrive in ten minutes. For a while we weren't sure if they were going 
west or south west.  They went southwest and into part of the minefield.  We 
could see that they seemed to be moving southwest to Ulfhausen.  

Bill (B Troop) did some last minute movements to get ready for the assault on 
Ulfhausen.  We smoked the Desault force.  The Cobras arrived and I kept them 
moving and doing pop ups to minimize exposure to SAM's.  There had been at least 
one SAM with the Desault unit, but it evidently had been eliminated. The Cobras 
waxed the leading tank company approaching Ulfhausen.  We also smoked the area 
vic 630260 to keep the following units and Hinds from supporting the forward 
assaulting units.  

C Company had arrived and had been moved to the woods vic 572251.
The plan was to place them in a location where they could sit behind smoke and 
pick off the Opfor units moving west from Ulfhausen.  By the time Opfor reached 
the west edge of Ulfhausen, B Troop was pretty much ineffective so Bill took 
over C Company.

The Cobras had pretty much run out of ammunition, so they were withdrawn while C 
Company moved to Eiterfield in order to intercept the Opfor remains. Nic had 
moved A Troops tanks down to 585265 to fire on Opfor's flank.

At this point, an earlier omission and "friction" came into play.
I had overlooked setting the SOP for the M60A3's to smoke after firing or being 
fired on when they entered the map.  In the confusion of the final minutes, that 
wasn't communicated to the umpire.  We were smoking Ulfhausen, but a lot of 
Opfor tanks and BMPs weren't covered.  I'd figured that 17 M60A3s times 4 shots 
per minute times the 3 to 5 minutes for Opfor to transit the open space would 
equal no Opfor. But that didn't happen.  12 of the 17 M60A3s were eliminated in 
the last few minutes, resulting in a minor Nato victory, instead of an 
overwhelming one.

Lessons 

1. Watch the details.  The lack of smoke on the M60A3s doomed them.  Only the 
umpire knows for sure, but I think that the attention to smoke during the 
assault on Ulfhausen increased Opfor casualties.  I also think it is important 
to move helicopters frequently.

2. Don't think N-S and E-W.  My planning was based on Opfor moving from east to 
west, not at a diagonal.  I expected them to move straight west from Ulfhausen 
and not southwest.

3. You can't have too many OPs.  Knowing where the enemy wasn't is as important 
as know where there are.  Basil's (1/8th ID) numerous OP enabled us to keep 
track of Opfor's movements.  Of course that didn't keep us from worrying that 
James was going to slip something by us :-)

============================================================== More than anyone 
probably wants to know about our plans:


Orders from the umpire:

OPERATION BICENTENNIAL

Task Organization

1/11 ACR (-)
                    Squadron Control    
     A/1/11                        
     B/1/11                   TOC (2 Cmd Ele, 2 M577)
                         TAC (1 Cmd Ele-, 1 UH-1) D/1/11 Air Cav Trp (-)
                         Howitzer Battery (Off-map 155 btry)
                         ADA Platoon (2 Jeep, 5 Redeye SAM)* *Jeep=HUMMV; Redeye 
SAM=CN Javelin SAM)


A & B Troops TOE:
     HQ Plt: 2 M60A1
     1,2,3rd Platoons each:   Plt HQ: 1 M60A1
                              Scout Section: 4 M113, 4 Inf Sct Teams
                    Tank Section: 3 M60A1
                    Inf Squad: 1 M113, 1 P9 Inf Sqd, 1 P2 7.62mm MG Team
                    Mortar Squad: 1 M125 SP 81mm Mortar

     Note: Ground Cav Troops can fight as 3 combined arms platoons as above, or 
task organize ( Cavalry Scramble ) into 4 platoons: 
     1st: Scout platoon with 12 M113s and 12 scout teams
     2nd: Tank platoon with 12 M60A1s
     3rd: Inf Platoon with 3 M113s, 3 Inf Squads and 3 MGs
     4th: Mortar platoon with 3 M125s

D Troop (-)
     HQ: 1 UH-1 used as command bird for squadron TAC
     Aeroscout section: 2 OH-58A unarmed scout helos (simulated by UH-60s)
     Aerorifle platoon:  4 UH-1, 4 P9 rifle squads, 4 P2 7.62 MG Teams (UH-1 
simulated by UH-60s)

Situation: On 4 July, 1976, Warsaw Pact forces launched a surprise attack across 
the inter-German border. The Fulda Gap was a prime avenue of approach. The 11th 
ACR fought a hard covering force battle to allow the 8th ID to occupy its 
defensive positions. After defeating first echelon Soviet forces, the 11th 
conducted a rearward passage of lines to a tactical assembly area to 
reconstitute. Second echelon Soviet forces attacked the 8th ID on 5 and 6 July; 
the 8th ID defeated the second echelon forces, but was itself rendered 
ineffective. The area to the north of Fulda is a vacuum now, as remnants of the 
8th ID retreat westward, and remnants of the Soviet second echelon retreat 
eastward.

     Soviet Naval and air interdiction have slowed US reinforcements, and the 
11th ACR has been given the mission of conducting a movement to contact to the 
east to restore the defensive lines the 8th ID was holding along the 63 N-S 
gridline.
1/11 s mission is to conduct a movement to contact through 1st Brigade, 8th ID s 
sector, represented by Map 900. 

     There has been no contact with 1/8 ID since 5 July. This is believed to be 
a result of effective Soviet jamming and the EMP of a tactical nuclear device 
detonated over the Fulda Gap before the Soviets attacked. All attempts should be 
made to contact any elements of the 1/8 ID remaining in sector, and to enlist 
them in the squadron s mission.

     There has also been no contact with the I German Corps to the north and the 
2nd Brigade, 8th ID to the south. Attempts should be made to make contact with 
these units at the following contact points:
     I German Corps: 590319
     2/8 ID: 585211


Your units can enter the west edge of the map in any formation desired at 0700 7 
July 76. 

Enemy Situation: Vague, but it is expected that a second or third echelon Warsaw 
Pact MRR or Tank Regiment will attempt to penetrate Map 900 and continue 
westward as far and fast as possible. Second or third echelon regiments will 
likely be equipped with T-62 or T-55 tanks, and BMP-1 or BTR APCs. Poor weather 
and heavy losses make enemy air attack unlikely.

Additional Forces:

You have ten points to spend on intelligence, reinforcements, or a combination 
of both. Possible purchases:

Intelligence (1 point)
Intelligence (1 point)
Intelligence (1 point)
Intelligence (1 point)
Intelligence (1 point)
155mm Arty Bttry (1 point)
155mm Arty Bttry (1 point)
Air Cav Troop (4 points): Aerorifle plt (5 UH-1, 4 P9 Squads, 4 MG Teams), 
Aeroscout Platoon (10 OH-58A) Attack Helo Platoon (7 points) 7 AH-1 Cobras M60A1 
Tank Company (2 points): 17 M60A1 M60A3 Tank Company (3 points): 17 M60A3 
Experimental tanks with thermal sights
German Leo 1 Tank Company (2 points): 17 Leo 1s

Reinforcements are requests only. Certain conditions have to be met before these 
forces are released, but they will be released.
You won t waste points.

=================================================================

I decided to use the points on reinforcements, especially Cobras.
I decided I could use the Aerorifles as advanced scouts to locate the enemy.  I 
gave the following orders to the Troop Commanders:

1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

HQ        TOC  2 Cmd 2 M577
          TAC  1 Cmd 1 UH 1
          155 battery

A Troop   HQ   2 M60A1

          ADA Jeep w/ 3 Redeye SAM
          
          1st Platoon
               HQ 1 M60A1
               Scout Section 4 M113 w/ Inf Scout Team `              Tank 
Section 3 M60A1
               Inf section 1 M113 w/ P9 Inf Squad, P2 7.62 MG
               Mortar Squad 1 M125 SP 81mm mortar

          2nd Platoon
               HQ 1 M60A1
               Scout Section 4 M113 w/ Inf Scout Team `              Tank 
Section 3 M60A1
               Inf section 1 M113 w/ P9 Inf Squad, P2 7.62 MG
               Mortar Squad 1 M125 SP 81mm mortar

          3rd Platoon
               HQ 1 M60A1
               Scout Section 4 M113 w/ Inf Scout Team `              Tank 
Section 3 M60A1
               Inf section 1 M113 w/ P9 Inf Squad, P2 7.62 MG
               Mortar Squad 1 M125 SP 81mm mortar

B Troop   HQ   2 M60A1

          ADA Jeep w/ 2 Redeye SAM
          
          1st Platoon
               HQ 1 M60A1
               Scout Section 4 M113 w/ Inf Scout Team `              Tank 
Section 3 M60A1
               Inf section 1 M113 w/ P9 Inf Squad, P2 7.62 MG
               Mortar Squad 1 M125 SP 81mm mortar

          2nd Platoon
               HQ 1 M60A1
               Scout Section 4 M113 w/ Inf Scout Team `              Tank 
Section 3 M60A1
               Inf section 1 M113 w/ P9 Inf Squad, P2 7.62 MG
               Mortar Squad 1 M125 SP 81mm mortar

          3rd Platoon
               HQ 1 M60A1
               Scout Section 4 M113 w/ Inf Scout Team `              Tank 
Section 3 M60A1
               Inf section 1 M113 w/ P9 Inf Squad, P2 7.62 MG
               Mortar Squad 1 M125 SP 81mm mortar

C Company (reinforcements)

          HQ   2 M60A3
          1st Platoon    5 M60A3
          2nd Platoon    5 M60A3
          3rd Platoon    5 M60A3

D Troop

          HQ   TAC  UH-1

          Aeroscout Section   2 OH58A

          Aerorifle Platoon   4 UH-1 w/P9 rifle squad, P2 7.62 MG

          Attack Helo Platoon (reinforcements) 
                              Plt leader     1 AH-1 Cobra
                              1st section    2 AH-1 Cobra
                              2nd section    2 AH-1 Cobra
                              3rd section    2 AH-1 Cobra

Mission:
     1. Conduct a movement to contact to the east to restore the
          defensive lines the 8th ID was holding along the 63
          Easting.

     2. Attempt to make contact with the 1/8 ID at 585211 and the
          German I Corps at 585211.

     3. Attempt to contact any elements of the 1/8 ID remaining
          in the sector and enlist them in the squadron's
          mission.

Execution:
     
     A Troop

          1.   Enter the map at a point north of 265 Northing and
               proceed east to establish defensive lines along 63
               Easting and north of 265 Northing.
          
          2.   Attempt to make contact with German I Corps at
               contact point.

     B Troop

          1.   Enter the map at a point south of 265 Northing and
               proceed east to establish defensive lines along 63
               Easting and south of 265 Northing.
          
          2.   Attempt to make contact with 1/8 ID at contact
               point.

     C Company (reinforcements)

          1.   Enter the map between 25 and 28 Northing.

          2.   Move eastward, staying several kilometers west of
               the advance of A and B Troops.

          3.   Be prepared to support either A or B Troops once
               contact is made.

     D Troop

          1.   Establish OP with Aerorifles east of 
               Obermeisenborn (585265) to observe area between 25
               and 28 Northing to the East.

          2.   Keep Attack Helo platoon behind cover vic 565265
               until called on to support Troop A or B.

          3.   Use Aeroscouts to spot targets for Attack Helo
               platoon in support of A and B Troops when
               requested.

Discussion:

The squadron will be moving east to re-establish the defensive lines of the 1/8 
ID. We will most likely come in contact with advancing OPFOR units at some 
point.  There are also elements of the 1/8 Bde. that we may make contact with 
and use in our operations.

A and B troops are to move eastward while D troop watches the boundary between A 
and B. It's not very likely that we'll get very far before we run into OPFOR 
units, but we still need to plan where we'd set up defensive lines at 63 
easting.  The dividing line for the zones of responsibility for troops A and B 
is along 265 northing which roughly divides the large hill vic 624269.

The exact time and location of the arrival of the reinforcements is not clear.  
I elected to pick reinforcements (M60A3's and AH- 1's) instead of the other 
alternatives. I intend to be able to gather a lot of information with the 
Aeroscouts and AH-1's and think that we're going to need the extra firepower.

We are probably going to run into a MRR or tank regiment moving west. It may be 
in columns of battalions.  

================================================================= Nic, A Troop, 
decided to use the Cavalry Scramble organization and Bill, B Troop kept his in 
combined arms platoons. I intended to handle D Troop, and we had a third player 
who ended up not being able to make it who was going to take C Company.    

================================================================ A Troop

1/11/A ACR Orders 

Commander Nic Uloth (niculoth@iohk.com)

To&E

     Cav Scramble Reorganization as follows:
     A/HQ HQ Group       - HQ & ADA Jeep
     A/1 Scout Plt  - 8 x M113, 8 x scout team
     A/2 Tank Plt        - 12 x M60A1
     A/3 Inf Plt         - 3 x M113, 3 x Inf Squad, 2 x 7.62 MG
     A/4 Mortar Plt - 3 x M125
     A/5/1 to A/5/4      - 4 x scout detachments - each 1 x M113, 1 x scout team


Introduction
     The expected path of approach of enemy units is along the autobahn north
of xx29
     B troop will deploy to blocking positions centered on Schenklengsfeld with
a strong mobile reserve
     immediately west of the city. We will deny the enemy the city by deploying
our infantry there 
     and force him to bypass to the clear areas NW and south of the city where
the tank plt will engage and 
     destroy them.
     Scout detachments will move aggressively to make contact as early as
possible with the enemy by moving
     directly along probably enemy avenues of approach.
     A/4 Mortar, will deploy to west edge of LogBergWald (5727) to undertake
direct fire registration missions
     they will then redeploy to protected positions west of LogBerg.

     A/2 Tank and A/3 inf are in covered positions and form a mobile reserve.
If the enemy main force axis
     is determined to lie to the south of Schenlengsfeld they will redeploy
along a covered path south 
     via Landershausen to positions on the LogBerg (5727). They will also
provide support to 1/11/B troop
     if necessary by deploying further south to Wolf
     (see graphic options1.jpg)


Initial Orders (see graphic orders1.jpg) 

     A/1 Move to Schenklengsfeld, deploy to in west half of city to deny the
enemy 
            passage over the autobahn from Schenklengsfeld west to Konrode

     A/2 Move to Konrode, deploy in hedgehog formation, position to allow
interdiction by
            fire of enemy units moving north or south of Konrode

     A/3 Move to urban strip between Schenklengsfeld and Konrode, deploy to
interdict enemy 
            movement to the north or south and to prevent enemy using the
autobahn between Schenklengsfeld
         and Konrode 

     A/4 Move to forrest SE of Landershausen. deploy for direct fire
registration missions NE,SE and E.

     A/5 Scout detachments to move aggressively to OP positions. 

  
         SOP: pop smoke, unload scout team and reverse if fire upon or firing

================================================================= B Troop

Orders B/1-11 ACR

1) B Troop enters west map edge three platoons abreast at following 
points:
    1st Platoon: 560253
    2nd Platoon: 560239
    3rd Platoon: 560236

2) March order is:
    Scout section
      (2000m interval)
    Tank section
      (200m interval)
    HQ and Inf Section
      (500m interval)
    Mortar section

    Troop HQ follows 2nd platoon at 200 meters

3) 1st Platoon moves via road route Wolf to Oberufhausen (610257). Scout 
section splits into two units of 2 M113/scout teams each. One team moves 
to establish OP on high ground at 626265, one team establishes OP at 
Unterufhausen 620250. Platoon establishes defensive positions vic 610257.

4) 2nd Platoon moves via road through Eiterfeld to high ground vic 607242 
and establishes defensive positions along W edge of hill. Scout section 
splits into two units of 2 M113/scout teams each and moves to establish 
OPs at NE edge of Soisdorf (vic 632244) and east edge of Treischfeld (vic 
620233).

5) 3rd Platoon moves via road through Liebolz to high ground vic 615229 
and establishes defensive positions on west edge of hill. Scout section 
moves first to attempt contact with 2/8 ID at point 585211.
Section then 
splits into and deploys at OPs on high ground at 631222 and 634217.

SOPs:

Pop smoke/stop if fired on, no smoke/reverse after firing.

At defensive positions and OPs, all units assume defilade and reduce main 
weapons ranges to 400m (tanks and APCs) and 100m (dismounted infantry). 
Report ranges and fire on order.

================================================================= D Troop

D Troop (-)
     HQ: 1 UH-1 used as command bird for squadron TAC
     Aeroscout section: 2 OH-58A unarmed scout helos (simulated by UH-60s)
    Aerorifle platoon:  4 UH-1, 4 P9 rifle squads, 4 P2 7.62 MG Teams (UH-1 
simulated by UH-60s)
===============================================================

- D Troop enter west edge of the map at 26 Northing.

- Aeroscout section proceed to FP 4 (566259), do a 15 second pop up,
     proceed to FP 3 (572282) and do a 15 second pop up.

If there's no SAM's fired, and no units sighted, then:

- 3 Aerorifle squads pass north of Wolf, one squad each to OP 1 (590280), 2 
(591265), and 3 (572258). 
- Stay NOE, elev 0, and behind cover as much as possible. 
- Aerorifle helos return to FP 4.
- SOP - evasive action if fired upon

- HQ and fourth aerorifle squad stay at FP 4.

- Upon unloading, squads take cover and fire control 200 feet.

=============================================================

If there's no contact or sighting of OPFOR then:

- Squad at OP 2 is transported to OP 5 (612252)

- Squad at OP 3 is transported to OP 4 (580232)

- Same SOPs

- Aeroscout section proceed to FP 2 and do a 15 second pop-up, if no enemy 
sighted or SAMs fired then:

- Fourth Aerorifle squad is transported north from FP 4, then east to OP 6 
(600298).

- Same SOP