Correct US doctrine

[TheVulture]

I'm creating a scenario (the usual blue attack type thing), and am hoping to get the US force choice at least vaguely believable, so would like some input from someone who knows more than me about this (i.e. anyone who knows more than a month-old cabbage).

The US force is selected from a heavy infantry, combined arms battalion - the battalion has 2 infantry companies (bradley mounted) and 2 tank companies, plut mortars, recon elements, JTAC (don't actually know what that is to be honest) and other support stuff.

Terrain is rural- hilly farmland and a small village (long thin map).

The scenario concept is probably unrealistic, so comments on this will be welcome too. I'm thinking of an exploitation force that is one of the first units through a breach in the Syrian lines, and is tasked with finding the Syrian operational reserve and fixing it in place until more substantial forces can be brought to bear. Two of the bradley inf platoons from C company are sent to do recon (recon in force? yeah, I've heard the phrase, don't know how it applies) along different routes, with the 3rd platoon in close reserve. The scenario follows one of these platoons. Since I don't want a whole battalion on map (my computer probably can't handle that), I'm thinking that both recon platoons meet resistance at different times, and that the battalion resources are allocated piecemeal as the estimates of the resistance on each axis are adjusted as things develop.

So 3rd platoon ends up coming in to the scenario as they meet resistance first, but D company (the 2nd infantry company) get allocated to the other advance.

The scenario also ends up with a tank company arriving, one platoon about 5-10 minutes ahead of the rest of the company.

Is any of this even remotely realistic? Completely contrary to the way the army works? How would the organic 120 mm mortars be used? (I don't even know what sort of range they have). Would they be set up close to the line of departure of the recon platoons to support both? Or would they stay further back with the reserve companies and move up and deploy when the reserves were committed?

The other problem is that I have no idea how to set up an effective defence as the Syrians. I'm thinking in terms of no trenches - hasty defensive positions only (the reserve units are positioning to attack the US advance, and have had little warning of the approach of the battalion to this area, so have only had an hour or so to prepare). I'm just not that used to CMSF yet (as opposed to CMx1 games) and I just can't convince myself that there is enough good cover around for the infantry defence, or enough concealment. Pretty much anywhere I put defenders I look at it and think "they'll be spotted and killed from miles away before they can do anything". Any tips on what terrain provides decent concealment for infantry?

[Ricochet67]

I can't speak for US military doctrine but defensively, you'll want the Syrians positioned on reverse slopes and behind/among buildings or significant foliage. Negate the US's lethal long range advantage and force it to engage at point blank range. Add patches of swamp to bottleneck the advance.

Check out the Hammertime scenario for tips on how to be a ruthless Syrian bludger on defence.

Of course, what would I know. I'm only a 2 month old cabbage working on my first mission.

[Cpl Steiner]

I agree with Ricochet67. The main advantage the US has is long-range firepower, so the solution is to shorten the range any way you can.

You could use an old WWII German trick and place units just inside a built up area rather than on the edge of it. The idea is that the US forces meet no resistance entering the first line of buildings but then come under horrendous point-blank range fire from literally across the street as they try to get deeper into the area. Casualties will be heavy on both sides but that is exactly the sort of battle the Syrians need to fight in order to claim any sort of victory.

I read a good online Army Field Manual on how the US conducts recon but I can't find it again now. I was going to make a similar sort of scenario, in which recon elements arrive first, followed by the advance-guard, followed by the rest of the unit. The gist of what I learned is as follows:

1. Recon units don't operate in complete isolation. They are often augmented with other assets such as sniper teams, ATGM vehicles, and even regular infantry platoons if necessary.

2. They never leave the umbrella of their air and artillery support, so they will definitely have fire missions and airstrikes available. You don't need to know how far a 120mm Paladin fires - just assume they are in range!

3. The battalion recon units lead the way and hand off identified targets to follow on company recon units. Therefore, if your scenario features a company-level recon unit, they might already have an idea of where the enemy is.

4. Recon units aren't supposed to engage targets themselves. They are supposed to identify targets and then basically hide whilst artillery, airpower and follow-on units such as the advance-guard take out the target.

At least that's my understanding of how things are supposed to work based on my reading.

[EDIT] I have found the Field Manual I referred to now. It is referenced in another thread I posted in about recon Strykers, which you can link to here:

Old Recon Thread

[ October 16, 2007, 11:14 AM: Message edited by: Cpl Steiner ]