Imperial Grunt

Or HBO portraying "Generation Kill" as an authentic documentation about the 1st Recon Battalion.

I have suggested to this Steve before and I think that if this level of functionality could be added to the scenario editor, it would be truly great for the game.

How about the 13th MEU? There is not a 3rd MEU in existence. Not every mission should be about the MEUs as well, as they are really for their specific mission sets. An amphibious MEB would be organized for more sustained combat operations. In the campaign, the 26th MEU(SOC), the core unit, is attached to the 2nd MEB, the main Marine combat element. The 15th MEU remains afloat as theater reserve and SOF support. There is plenty of information how the Marine Corps organizes its Marine Air Ground Task Forces (MAGTF's) on wikipedia and other sources.

I am pretty sure that that the survivors of the ambush that were not captured did not just "drive away". As the lead Marine unit pushed towards the ambush site, they found and recovered those survivors, who I believe were hiding in a trench or something like that. Also, the entire raid to recover Jessica Lynch was possible because of intelligence that was gathered by a Marine patrol. A CA Marine was informed by an Iraqi civilian (a doctor I think) about the location of Jessica Lynch. The raid force had Marines in support, and there was a diversionary feint attack by Marines as well. Still, a mini-campaign of 4-5 scenarios for a Battle of An Nasiriyah would be great.

Chow is morale!

Oh, and another great book I just read and I recommend is "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10" by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson.

I know a few officers who served in that battalion during the war, who had vastly different opinions. The ground truth might be in the middle, but its not where the author and his primary sources paint them. As far as politically biased, what I meant was that the book is "slanted" to portray the Marine Corps a certain way, the way a Rolling Stones reporter wanted to portray it as an organization. Here is a "rebuttle" to the book by someone else who was there: GENERATION KILL, NON-FICTION, YEAH RIGHT! I was the Operation Chief for Bravo Company 1st Reconnaissance Battalion and traveled with the Company Commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom I. I arrived in Bravo Company about a week before the war kicked off because of an incident with the Company's 1st Sergeant and a Master Sergeant. The former Operations Chief was promoted to 1st Sergeant and I stepped in as the Operations Chief. If Bravo Company or the Battalion didn't bring something with them to the combat zone, I.E. LSAT, a lubricant for the heavy weapons, or multiple rechargeable thermal batteries, then it was too late at the point that I assumed responsibility as operations chief to get any. I know we have heard the story of the goose that lays golden eggs but I have never heard a fairytale about the gunny that lays LSAT or batteries for that matter. So you can see how ignorant this sounds when it is the focus of my faults. This book is stated to be non-fiction yet it is filled with lies and much of the writing is from the point of view of a Marine that would have normally been kicked out of the unit, but during time of war we need every body that we can get. The Marine Corps has a name for Marines like Corporal Person, " ****bird". In the book he is depicted as the, "True Recon Marine". You have got to be kidding me, his true Recon Marine means that the Marine has the 0321 military occupational specialty, it takes years of training and a number of schools to be considered a TRUE RECON MARINE by, "True Recon Marines" that have dedicated their careers to the reconnaissance community. So not only are their multitudes of lies but the book is written from the point of view of the Marines that befriended Evan Wright. Evan Wright created characters for his book, a book that can only be categorized as fiction. PAGE 73: Introduction of this mythical character Evan Wright calls Casey Kasim. The incident where he says that doc Bryan was almost shot by a senior enlisted Marine as he comes through the bushes never happened. Here is what did happen. Bravo Company is tasked with setting up a linear defense at the, "Mother of all Battles Canal". The vehicles are supposed to be 500 meters apart and all on line. Iraqi troops are walking along our side of the canal, not the other side as written, and are said to have gave up the fight and are going home to Nasariah. There were a lot of them moving through our lines and there was not a good accountability of them exiting the far end. I was checking the line and could see that about 1000 meters away there were heat signatures of people in the brush approximately 40 meters behind our lines. I could not tell who they were because I was using the ANPAS-13 Thermal Imager that is not a very good thermal optic. There was no vehicle to their front and the ANPAS thermal imager does not have depth perception so the personnel in the brush look like they are somewhere between two of our vehicles. I had the vehicle in front of me conduct a communications check with the vehicles to his left down the line. He tried to contact Sgt Lovell's team that was supposed to be in the second position down the line, the team didn't answer. 30 minutes after no communications with them I had another vehicle go down to check out what was going on and who was in the brush. As the vehicle was driving along the canal I used my PEQ-2, I.R. pointer, to show them where the heat signatures were located. The vehicle team moved down the canal and confirmed that it was Sgt Lovell's team; they were digging in their position instead of having their vehicle on line with the rest of the Company. Corporal Jacks passed them the word that they were never told to dig in behind our lines and that they had to get their vehicle up on line with everyone else. I never even went down the canal to where Sgt Lovell's team was so this part about coming through the bushes and almost shooting someone never happened. Sgt Lovell, the team leader for the team that this incident was written about has confirmed what I have written. PAGE 73: It says that I am one of those, "Rear-echelon" men in a support position that normally wouldn't deploy with Recon Marines. Now this is the funniest thing I have heard so far. That deployment to Iraq is my eighth with a Reconnaissance unit, and the first in a Company Staff billet. I probably have more reconnaissance deployments than any other Marine in the Marine Corps at this point in my career. It states that my job is to keep the men supplied with batteries, water and chow. Actually my job was Operations Chief, assisting the Company Commander in his decision making process. Which I will later discuss when it comes to more events that happened and those that didn't. PAGE 74: The book says that I failed to bring enough batteries for the PAS-13 which is not as good of a device as depicted in the book. At a distance of 600 meters you probably couldn't tell if the enemy had weapons or not. As for bringing enough batteries, that was a shortfall at the Battalion level. I handed out all the re-chargeable batteries that the Battalion gave us evenly between the two platoons. That was all we were getting there was no re-supply of thermal batteries during the first three weeks of fighting. PAGE 74: Here is a good one, how am I telling Doc Bryan this stuff about enemy infiltrators when he is 1000 meters away from my position? If you remember he was in Sgt Lovell's team that wasn't on line with the rest of the Company 1000 meters away from me. I was standing in the Vehicle to my front at the time and I was the one that said that it is probably just rocks or the most disciplined Iraqi's we've seen so far, but to check it out anyway. As a gunnery sergeant I can do this, I am in the position to give orders, and I did. As a, "Joke", I said that it could be a well-disciplined RPG hunter killer team. You see we do that sometimes to try and relieve tension, their called jokes. Also as for Doc Bryan being better combat trained than the Marines we can check his record book and verify that he was not. He no doubt is better medically trained because he is a Navy CORPMAN. It also states on this page that he could have chosen to be a Navy Seal or join a Recon unit. I think there is a school called BUDS that you must pass first before he would get to make that choice, but you would have to ask a Navy Seal for verification on that. Maybe they just let you be a SEAL if you complain a lot and make up stories for reporters. PAGE 98: This combat stress class that the Marines received before the war, which I the rear-echelon guy that normally doesn't deploy with Recon Marines gave, actually states that 25 percent will have to urinate or defecate, not that they will urinate or defecate on themselves. I guess it sounds funnier the way Evan Wright explains it though so you can get this silly picture of Marines running around trying to go to the bathroom before engagements. I gave this class with a PowerPoint presentation and the class contents can be verified. Page 137: Colbert talking about stress related reactions in combat. The first time Colbert heard anything about them was when I gave the class before departing Kuwait and I talked extensively to Evan Wright about this during the deployment. Once again it wouldn't sound good for my character to know anything about combat related stress since I normally wouldn't deploy with Recon Marines, What a joke! PAGE 152: The Company Commander does fire his M203 out of reaction to others firing but it was done while sitting in the vehicle and the round didn't even reach the first berm. He agrees that he shouldn't have fired without positively identifying his target and apologized for his actions. The funny thing here is that most of the Marines had the same reaction the first time they were engaged and they were not made out to be stupid. These very wise Marines that Evan Wright keeps quoting, firing their M-4's at the enemy who are well out of range for that weapon system, shooting every tree, bush, or window that was in view. The Marine Corps teaches suppressive firepower, which I don't totally agree with, I passed on to the Marines of Bravo Company that they should locate the source of the incoming fire then direct our fire back upon them starting with our heavy guns to out range the enemy. Funny concept which Sgt Colbert told me worked well for him while receiving fire from a direct laid antiaircraft piece, his team located the piece and adjusted their MK-19 on the enemy position for a kill. Pretty good idea for a rear-echelon guy that normally doesn't deploy with Recon Marines. PAGE 155: This incident of the Company Commander calling artillery on the RPG team and Lance Corporal Christeson being sure that he wounded one of them. Well I just happened to have the whole thing on video since I left the camera recording on accident. I also happened to capture Lt. Fick stressing out and not following orders that were given from the Battalion Operations Officer. I recently confirmed with now Cpl. Christeson that he never shot at these guys it was another incident that was mixed in, I guess it fit better here than where it actually happened. PAGE 156: Fick does run up to our vehicle stressing out because he is afraid, and he does ask what were doing there but in a little different tone than stated in the book. He is worried about getting shot at from across the street and doesn't think that we should be there holding that position. Fick states that this is not a mission for a reconnaissance unit and that we shouldn't be here doing this. Gunny Wynn was right there at his side complaining as well. I was fuming, I got out of the vehicle and into his face and told him, " This is our ****ing mission were going to hold this position so the rest of the convoy can move through just as other units hold similar positions for us". I started taking charge of moving their vehicles into positions to cover the main avenues of approach from the town across the street. Sgt Colbert was walking up to me at this time and I told him to calm down and get his vehicle in position, in a calm voice he stated that he was calm and moved his vehicle into position. A few minutes after this is when the Battalion Commander calls us and tells us to move our vehicles 500 meters south to cover from just before where the town starts. Lt Fick is complaining to the Company Commander ranting and raving about why he has to move his vehicles and that he can shoot more than 500 meters. The visibility was terrible, you could barely see 500 meters if not only 300. While this is going on I spot a two man enemy element with an RPG running out of a house to our East. Lt. Fick comes back to our vehicle stressing about having to move his vehicles at the same time as were trying to get artillery in on the guys to our East. As for the Company Commander telling Doc Bryan to measure the distance to the target that is a total lie. I have the blue force tracker in front of me and can tell exactly how far and give a 10-digit grid to the house that the RPG team came out of. Once it was too late to hit the RPG team the Battalion still wanted the fire-mission to go so that we would have a target reference point in case it was needed again. If Lt. Fick would have moved his vehicles as directed we would have had a better chance at catching the RPG team as they moved to our south and towards where the Battalion wanted us to have our vehicles. PAGE 157: The Company commander saying to Doc Bryan, "What's danger close" this never happened. As for Fick grabbing the handset out of the Company Commanders hand that never happened either if it had the Company Commander would have crushed him. Now as for Gunny Wynn saying sir this is ****ed up lets get the platoon in a defensive perimeter. Gunny Wynn is freaking the **** out, shouting that this is ****ed up what are we doing here. What he was showing is called fear; he is displaying fear in front of his men for the second time in combat. Gunny Wynn and Lt. Fick were doing this just before I told them that this was our mission and were going to hold the position for the rest of the convoy to pass through. Hmmm leadership? As for the artillery strike, the Company Commander was trying to keep them from firing the mission without getting himself in trouble so he took his time giving the Battalion information hoping they wouldn't fire the mission. We still received the one round and it didn't come close to anyone. It landed just behind the house. The two guys with the RPG got away and no one shot them as said in the book. I have this whole incident on video although you can't see everything you can hear it all. This is going to be great when the truth comes out. One thing about video, the one eye doesn't lie! PAGE 183: Gunny Wynn and Lt. Fick were never in trouble for trying to stop an artillery mission. They were being written up for being cowards, showing fear in front of their men and creating dissention amongst the troops. Fear breeds fear and that is how they ruined good Recon Marines, by instilling fear in them. They should have both been relieved, gunny Wynn who encourages his men to question orders will never be in charge of men in combat again. He did deploy to OIF II and worked in head quarters. Upon completion of the OIF II deployment he asked to be given a platoon again. He received orders to another unit. Like I said he will never lead men in combat again. God help them if he does. PAGE 198: We were missed by the BM-21 because the Company Commander decided to hold short of the intersection for two reasons. The first was that Sgt Colbert said that it was too muddy and the other was the rear-echelon Operations Chief that normally doesn't deploy with Recon Marines said that the enemy normally targets intersections the same way we do. This rational tactical decision really wouldn't look good in Mr. Wrights book. PAGE 217: This myth that Lt. Fick says that there ****ing flanking us and Fick requests an artillery strike, I am not sure but I think I have a Navy Commendation Medal with a "V" for valor that says that I did this. Oh I am looking at it right now, yes it does say that I did this. PAGE 339: The Company Commander never ordered anyone into a minefield, they were told to mark the minefield from the road so that the convoys that followed behind us would know were it's at. I have this whole story with interviews already completed about this incident. PAGE 351: Since when is a meritorious promotion one of the highest honors in the Marine Corps. Learn a little about the Marines before opening mouth and inserting pen Evan. PAGE 353: Gunny Wynn was never cleared of any charges because the Battalion Commander never charged him with anything, which is something to this day I still don't understand. Any leader knows that you don't tell your men to question orders. His dereliction of duty caused dissention amongst the troops that affected the Battalions efficiency. The truth will be known. Oh please check my background and verify this for yourself*. Gysgt. Daniel J. Griego, USMC Ret.

"Generation Kill", just like the book, "Jarhead", is inaccurate, politically biased, and in my view, a pile of vile trash. I recommend "No True Glory" by Bing West, "My Men are my Heros" by Nathaniel Helms, and "The Savage Wars of Peace" by Max Boot.

I agree that most SOF missions are well outside the realm of CMSF, except as scenario "additions". SOF is being integrated into conventional operations and "joint" SOF-conventional ops are extremely effective when synched together. The USMC has been operating in the conventional-SOF "grey area" since the 80s. I would like to have SEAL and SF "squads" available for scenarios involving SOF supporting conventional units or vice versa. When I was a Marine Civil Affairs Tactical Team leader in Iraq in 04, I was attached to an Army light infantry unit and then to a Marine battalion landing team. I working with two different SF ODAs on separate occasions. I think there is going to be alot more SOF/Conventional integration at the operational level. Its really just common sense. I have been told by the real LtCol McKnight of "Blackhawk Down" fame, that much of the animosity protrayed in the book and the movie about the friction between the Rangers and Delta operators was mostly fiction and exaggerated. When I worked with the ODA teams, I detected absolutely none of that. While I am sure it happens and there are always egos and competition involved when you have warrior organizations work together, the bottom line is that we are all in the same fight together, spilling the same American blood on the battlefield, against a common enemy.

There is a big difference in firing a SAW effectively inside a room when you are shooting blanks as to compared to live-rounds. Live fire is more difficult to keep on target and the muzzle climb in much more pronounced.

I guess that is one of the problems about the book being about the reporter's views of some of the vocal junior Marines and not be historical. The book would probably have been better if it was balanced with some of the history and expand on the operations. The lead element for the RCTs was actually the LAR battalions for the most part. 1st Recon definitely led the way at times, but not all the time. In many cases they were shuffled in the order of march of RCT-1, just like the infantry and artillery battalions. I do not know if this is talked about much in the book, but 1st Recon operated in completely different manner in which the battalion normally operated. They were given HMMWVs and heavy guns, and made into a "desert rats" type force, since all the deep recon missions were being conducted by Force Recon or other special operations forces. The RCTs were simply moving too fast for any traditional employment of 1st Recon Battalion. Still, it is easy to look at any organization, find a few vocal malcontents, end your story with them and paint a picture of chaos, ineptitude, and failure.

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I am hesitant about this series, and I did not read the book. 1st Recon was with RCT-1 during the push and I did come across them several times. (I was with 2/23, the third infantry battalion of RCT-1). I have a fellow Marine infantry officer whom I have known for a long time who strongly disagreed with some of the stuff put in the book and said that the book suffered from a few malcontent perspectives that were skewed negatively to the reporter that was embedded with the unit. The clips on the website did bring back some memories, until I heard the " L-T" line. That is just not heard in the Marine Corps, just like "sarge" is not uttered as well. I guess I will have to wait and see....

Something like this game would be really cool for DT 2. I think WWII is way overdone by this point. Fuel of War Fuel of War would be a great game, but it is just another first-person shooter with not much realism in terms of physics and tactical game play, like DT strives to be. But the premise of an East vrs West conventional war over resources is perfect for DT 2, and it would allow for the latest technology and some future technology to be in the game, for assymetric forces, unlimited terrain types, etc... A near-future modern game gives you alot of what DT already has, plus more realism. Even a 80s era NATO-WARSAW Pact game would be alot better than WWII. Does Clay still read the forum?

I would love to join, but between work and a two year old and a 6 month old at home, wargame time has been tight. I wonder if there is any chance of Battlefront considering modern era instead of WWII?

Ah, that is too bad. I prefer sci-fi to WWII.

A new Drop Team? Excellent! Here is my general game format wish list: -Asymmetric forces, with at least 4 different Space Viking clans (player custom-able clans would be awesome). These clans could have plenty of sub-tribes and alliances. (Just look at the Middle East for an example of this). -The return of Mu Arae forces (more powerful units, but very few in number) to reassert control of the Rim. -A campaign universe were victories/losses influence control in a planet system. -Random map generator.

I am working on it...just been too damn busy lately!

This is almost the exact weapons load-out that I originally proposed, with a few extra things. The improved ATG should fire out to around 500m, and have a little more punch. Ammo capacity should be 10-15 rounds. The bazooka should be a ATGM. Redcon already made an infantry ATGM and I think that should be the base model for the heavy infantry AT gunner. The AT gunner should also have a 10mm rifle as back up. 6 missiles is good. 1500m max range. Heavy infantry powered armor is jump capable, but shorter range than light infantry. It also emits a AM signal, just like a vehicle. The armor should be just less than a Paladin in overall capability. Heavy infantry squads cannot enter buildings or vehicles. Mines will affect heavy infantry squads, however, they can jump over mines.

I have been advocating for heavy infantry for quite some time, and I even got a promise that they would be coming, but that check is in the mail! This is what I think they should look like: There is already a 3DRT model of a mech that the game could use, here it is: Chimera Mk1 [ March 31, 2008, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Imperial Grunt ]

Roger that. I guess I got a little ahead of myself.

M1A1 Tank Commander, great work! These little details go far to add to the environment of the game. Thank you for your hard work. For the next version, can I make the following requests? -Add a random NVG monocular still mounted on a helmet, in the up position -Can NVGs be added for night battles? -Add a M-203 vest for grenadiers -Add a random mix of smoke grenades, extra 5.56mm bandoleers, bayonets on gear, and a part of a map sticking out of a cargo pocket (especially for squad leaders, platoon commanders, and FOs)? If weapons are going to modded, the old SAW needs an update. It would be cool to see guys actually humping AT-4s, MG tripods, etc... Thanks again for the cool mods!

Hello all, hopefully I will be getting back to the Sunday battles soon! I know we are all waiting for more updates and more units and maps to be added to the game. Many great concepts have been put forward, as documented on Poesel's wiki. I saw the below video, and now I am wondering if "mech" type vehicles should also be added to the game. The mech concept seemed really stupid to me, and I was glad that DT did not have any mechs in the game, but after seeing this video, it looks like "walking" vehicles do have some utility and just might be around sooner than later. Here is the video Big Dog What does everyone think? Hopefully DT will get the face lift it needs to become a little more popular. It is one of the best tactical "shooter" games that I know of in many ways.

Actually, I would like to see a modern day DT, like a FPS version of CMSF.

That would be cool. I have X-fire, which is like Gametap, but unlike Xfire, Gametap did not automatically search to see what games I already have. Does Gametap let you do that? I don't want to have to download DT again and pay for DT again just to play on Gametap's servers.