I am always saying to myself "Teddy why don’t you try and put all the helpful things people mention in war stories threads in one place so we can all having something to discuss at the beginning of an Op while Platoon is coming up with a devious plan for the operation?" So here it is!
Please use this thread to gather helpful hints that you have you have just discovered or you think it would be a good idea to remind everyone of, nothing is too obvious. I’ll get the ball rolling.
Anti-tank Soldiers generally stay at the back of the formation so that they can fire their rocket and their is less chance of someone being behind them (always call out "Clear back blast" though!) In addition if you get suprised by an enemy vehicle there is less chance they will die in the first burst of HMG fire!
While travelling to the area of operations in a vehicle as a passenger remember to be quiet as the crew and command will probably be using the radio. Chatting means they might not hear important information and get lost or dead.
While talking to or near someone in command remember they might also be trying to communicate over radio and will have trouble doing that if you speak over stuff. Either lower your volume (default is hold TAB and scroll the mouse wheel), move away or wait until they give you the all clear.
343 short range radios accurately represent walkie-talkies on sale at your local toy shop and can suddenly stop working if used in built up areas like standing next to a cardboard box. Remember this and repeat (in direct chat) messages sent through these radios if you think your fire-team members might not have got that message. If you are giving orders try shouting them or using a runner if people fail to respond.
Because of the variable power of short range radios when you do hear an order over the radio it’s fun for everyone to acknowledge that order by saying "COPY!" or repeating that order so the person sending the order is happy knowing everything is okey dokey.
Great idea this thread Teddy! I’ll add a couple things myself on situational awareness:
Avoiding friendly fire –> know where friendly units are by frequently looking at the map & by leaders informing their subordinates of what is happening around the AO & where it isn’t safe to fire.
Keeping your mates safe –> the ShackTac is a wonderful tool, use it! Look where no one is looking to maintain security & take initiatives in the areas you cover. This is especially true when performing large sector coverage (360 & 180) & in MOUT.
A Couple from me:
1: Radio protocol for long ranges (or even SR radios the way they are used here) is super important for clarity of communications.
[indent] A: After thinking about what you are going to say…Start with the Station you are trying to reach.
B: Give your Callsign.
C: Wait for the station to confirm they are receiving your message.
Example: "Platoon this is Alpha. pause" "Alpha, Platoon. Go ahead"
D: Following A and B, then give your message as succinctly as possible.
E: If the message is extended you can break it up, but use some sort of indicators to do so. I, personally, use "Break"
to show interrupts, but anything that makes it clear that you have more to say "Message continues".
F: Alternatively, a station that is busy might say "Wait X" (X being an estimated time before they are not busy). Wait one is most common. Without the situation being urgent, try and wait out the estimate before attempting to bring them back up over coms.
E: If you have something that is urgent, break in with "Break, Break, Break".
Bonus: You can be even more sure that you are getting a message sent with the UK style and say "Hello Station, this is Callsign"…because radios can drop things as the transmission warms up (IRL that is), the "Hello" gives a throwaway word that not only says "I’m trying to reach someone" but provides a buffer from lost coms.[/indent]
2: Buddy up. Find someone in your fireteam that you are going to watch after and they are going to watch after you. Let them know this. AARs and ARs are a natural fit, so you’ve got the line to divide on. Cover them when they move, keep an eye on them, and if they need help know it. Watch their backs and they’ll watch yours. Don’t think of Buddy teams as a unit, however…two man teams can get some things done in close with the other part, but you never want to divide down lower than your fire team levels.
Avoiding friendly fire –> know where friendly units are by frequently looking at the map & by leaders informing their subordinates of what is happening around the AO & where it isn’t safe to fire.
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Great tip. In addition.
Have a good look at your team mates in different elements so you know what their head gear is, if their uniform is slightly different (check what pilots are wearing, you do not want a rescue mission to go fratricidal) and what kind of AT the MAT team is using.
When you are told friendlies are moving a certain distance away have a look so you know what we look like at a distance and how we might blend into the current terrain.
Ask someone with a vector (FTLs, AARs, SLs) or other optics to have a look at the potential friendly.
If you come under friendly fire do not return fire. This may result in everyone getting into a fire fight with friendlies and everyone who joined in can blame you.
When under friendly fire yell out and use the radio to call "BREAK BREAK <Unit Name> under friendly fire" or just "BREAK BREAK FRIENDLY FIRE!" if you do not have time. If you hear this over short range immediately repeat it over long range. If you hear it over long range immediately repeat it over short range and yell it. If you hear it on short range or yelling then cease fire. Do not worry about who is shooting or where or at who just pass along the message and cease fire.
If you have green smoke and come under friendly fire or you think it is a possibility (a CAS mission is happening near by) then drop green smoke on your position.
In addition to the other friendly fire avoidance tips, After giving out orders, I think it would be prudent for Squad Leaders to let their teams know what the other units are doing. For example, while you’re hiking to your next destination, if you’ve got time to, give a quick brief of where the other units are, and will be in relation to your own position, and what their tasks are.
Not only will this hopefully help avoid friendly fire incidents, but it has the bonus effect of more adequately preparing your subordinates to take over command, should you be killed. You can never be too well informed.
If you do not feel confident driving a vehicle make sure you get in a passenger slot! This can be difficult if people are jumping into the passenger slots and what you thought was your seat is suddenly filled and you end up selecting the driver. The best way to avoid this is wait until the driver and co-pilot/navigator is filled up.
Ground vehicles and water vehicles usually travel in a convoy so drivers and navigators will switch to a common channel (usually 343 channel 1).
Wait until the driver or commander of the vehicle has called out "DISMOUNT". Jumping out of a vehicle when it is still moving (or stopped and about to move because the driver thinks he may have parked illegally) is a sure way to run over.
When vehicles are stopped but still in operation be very very careful about standing close to them and especially careful about moving in front or behind.
Vehicle doors can be invisible and in different places for different positions. In addition each vehicle can be different. Ask for help.
One way to quickly get into most vehicles (but not all) is use the ACE Quick Mount in Controls>Configure Add Ons>ACE 3 Movement. Just look at a vehicle you are standing next to and use the key combination (no default key) and you will be placed into the "most important" empty slot. This will be driver then co-pilot and then the numbered passenger seats usually, so it is important to wait until reserved slots are filled be fore you use this if you want to be a passenger.
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[*] One way to quickly get into most vehicles (but not all) is use the ACE Quick Mount in Controls>Configure Add Ons>ACE 3 Movement. Just look at a vehicle you are standing next to and use the key combination (no default key) and you will be placed into the "most important" empty slot. This will be driver then co-pilot and then the numbered passenger seats usually, so it is important to wait until reserved slots are filled be fore you use this if you want to be a passenger.
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And if this doesn’t work for you, go into any game, hit escape, click top left ACE OPTIONS, change All Categories to Quick Mount and set Enabled to Yes. You can also set the prioritized seat to Passenger.
An easier way to open doors than using the vanilla interaction menu, is to use Ctrl + Space.
And, if you hold the keys down, and use the scroll wheel, you can open the door gradually. Handy for throwing a grenade through, and closing it again quickly.
Set your Zeroing UP/DOWN button to CTRL + Mouse Scroll Up/Down. It will help you zero your weapon faster without needing to take your hand off the mouse.
Ok, math time to anyone interested.
It is not quite mathematically correct, but it checks out as you multiply by 100 (metres to centimetres) and divide by 0.1 (4 mrads to 0.4 mrads), making a thousand, compensating for the transition from kilometre to meter.
In a unit circle (geometrical theoretical tool) with a 1 meter radius; something on the circumference at 1 meter away, having the size of 1 meter, corresponds to 1 radian (1m = 1m/1rad). Or rewritten; one millimetre corresponds to one milliradian (1m = 1mm/mrad). And if we upscale the equation by 1000 (multiply on both sides of equation), so we change the base unit to km instead of meter, it becomes 1 meter per milliradian (1km = 1m/mrad).
And that is the equation we use in the military: Distance (km) = Targets size (m)/Angle (mrad). You can change it up to show target size instead if you know the distance, if you, I don’t know, want to know the height of a building or length of a runway: Targets size (m) = Distance (km) * Angle (mrad)
I know you can play around with equations all you want. That doesn’t make it wrong. But what I want to point out is that the units on the binocular picture above are in tens. Ten mrad for each number. 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 mrads. If the binocular or scope is sufficiently high powered, it may show in one mrad per dot/line instead of 10, like the NATO/CSAT LRPS sniper scope I believe. Reading 0.4 mrads here is simply false though, and could lead to communication issues. So the example should be: 1.8m / 4 mrads = 0.45 km.
If you want the result in meters, you got to correspondingly go millimetres: 1800mm / 4 mrads = 450 m. I prefere the other.
It’s just a correction. Good tool you’re sharing Aether
