Standard Operating Procedure

 

 

Notes on Fire Discipline for all soldiers:

 

The Squad will be under a blanket engage policy at all times green, yellow, or red. (sometimes called stoplight monitoring)  The following rules borrow heavily (and sometimes word for word) from the game play style of Tactical Ops (more information on the LINK page at the end of the primer.)

 

GREEN (Sometimes called “Weapons FREE)

 

Team members may engage the enemy at will using their own best judgment, as to whether their primary personal weapons, or the addition of other team members’ firepower will have the maximum neutralizing effect on the enemy. If they choose to open fire, it’s good form to advise other team members that they are about to open fire and engage the enemy, effectively warning them to seek immediate cover.  (using a contact report)

 

YELLOW (Sometimes called RECON)

 

Team members may engage the enemy at will, ONLY if spotted or fired upon themselves. If they spot enemy forces, they should seek immediate safe cover and send a “Contact Report” , then await further instructions. However, if they see an opportunistic situation to engage and maximize enemy casualties without jeopardizing the mission goals, they may exercise their own judgment and go GREEN to engage at will. If they choose to open fire, it’s good form to advise other team members that they are about to open fire and engage the enemy, effectively warning them to seek immediate cover. Once friendly fire commences, Fire Condition GREEN automatically takes immediate effect.

 

RED (Sometimes called Weapons HOLD / this is a RARE condition)

 

Team members are in a “Fire Hold” condition and they DO NOT engage or fire on the enemy without a command order, usually from their Fire Team Leader. If they spot enemy forces, they should seek immediate safe cover and send a “Contact Report” , then await further instructions. If enemy forces fire in their general direction without seeming to know where friendly forces are deployed (often called Spec Fire), team members DO NOT return fire unless ordered. Once friendly fire commences, Fire Condition GREEN automatically takes immediate effect.

 

 

NOTE: The overriding principle to all of the above conditions is called COMMON SENSE . In other words, if at anytime the personal safety of a team member or themselves is jeopardized due to the enemy spotting or firing directly (no Spec Fire) upon the team, they should immediately engage with aggressive suppressing fire. Once the situation calms down, then they can send the appropriate “Contact Report” or AAR indicating current status. Once reactive friendly fire such as this commences, Fire Condition GREEN automatically takes immediate effect.

 

Notes on all movement for Soldiers:

 

Movement kills both you and the enemy. Whenever not attacking the enemy or defending likewise you will remain as still as possible.  Not moving means NOT showing up on enemy Audio, also much harder to make out a target if he stands still as opposed to run or walk.  If you come across a bigger enemy target that you cannot engage you will stop, drop, and wait for them to pass.  This is a standard technique for YELLOW fire discipline.

 

When moving, you will be like the water (Sun Tzu) and keep to the low lying areas while outdoors.  If you have to get up on a ridge, sneak up to it crouched, and cross over it quickly after a short scout.  Placing yourself in a position where you are silhouetted by the horizon makes you the easiest target of all time and you should avoid it.

 

Use the Buddy System.  This is sometimes called Binome Maneuvering.  BF2 facilitates this with use of smaller fire teams.  Whenever you move anywhere, be sure to stick closely to another squad member, better yet your whole squad.  But even when the whole squad is not there, pick a guy, tell him, ‘hey lets team up.’, and you guys STICK each other for the rest of the game and cover each others asses.

 

Always move behind Mechanized Units.  There is seldom a situation where you want to be in front of a tank or other armored unit.  So be sure to stay behind them whenever possible.  Getting in front of them just means they have to alter the spray of their fire, and makes them less effective.  Use THEM for cover.

 

Notes on Combat Maneuvers for Soldiers:

 

Shoot only when you have something to shoot at.  Do not waste ammo, do not make pictures on the ground, do not TK, do not knife friendly  units for fun while waiting for the enemy (code: NME)  If you have a target, and the code is GREEN, then shoot away, otherwise, keep your weapon LOADED, and at the ready, but quiet.

 

Cover the Cap.  The flag capture soldier MUST be protected at all costs when he is in the process of getting the cap.  You will engage the enemy in any way possible to delay the advance and create extra time for him to do his work.  You will NOT worry about getting the points for the cap.  Try to lure the forces away from the flag capture soldier even at the cost of your own life.  If worst comes to worst however, plant yourself between the FCS (flag capture soldier) and the enemy firing line and absorb every last bit of damage until you’re dead.  Fight back of course while you do so.  Flag captures under 25% done when enemy fire is heard will be stopped and the hacker will help secure the position.  Hacks over 50% done will be continued at the discretion of the FCS.

 

Give the enemy multiple targets.  When inside or outside, and an enemy is in site, if there is not a set defense plan (flag defense) make sure to give the enemy so many different targets that he cannot possibly shoot them all from his location.  The object is to have enough living at the end of the firefight so as to still take the cap.  Also, and more importantly, bunching up makes the old ‘two soldiers with one grenade trick’, less likely to go down.

 

Create ambush situations.  Let the enemy settle in at a flag that they think they are alone at, give them a small amount of time to become lazy, they’ll stop moving, get down, and focus on their map for a second.  That’s when you take them out.  This is player discression of course but it’s really fun to do.

 

Why we Flank…

 

Napoleon did it at Austerlitz, that’s why we flank.  Sherman did it, Patton did it, Rommel did it.  There are a TON of other instances of flanking maneuvers in history.  Macarthur in Korea being one of the most nasty.  My old man was there, landed in Pusan in 1950 and walked the whole damn country to the Yalu river only to be turned back by the Chinese and walk the whole damn country back again and get stuck.  Macarthur engineered a spectacular flanking maneuver and landed troops at Inchon and cut off the Southern North Korean troops and their supplies and helped lock up what is now South Korea.

 

Hell the ZULU learned to flank with the horns of the bull.  Flanking is the best way to attack a superior or equal to force.  If you are lucky enough to have the enemy outnumbered, a frontal assault is not a terrible idea, however anything less than a 3 to 1 ratio is not recommended.  And even WITH that number advantage, a dug in enemy is a pain in the ass to get out.

 

 

The shortest distance between any two points is a straight line.

The shortest distance to death is likewise.

The most often MINED area is directly between you and the enemy.

The most often COVERED area is directly between you and the enemy.

The most often BOMBED area is the one between you and the enemy.

 

 

The enemy look at your position and can easily calculate your attack pattern.  You leave your current base, and take what seems to be the shortest, most direct route to the enemy.  The enemy can easily see this without aid of commander satellite.  Simple logic tells them where the enemy will be and they will move to intercept and disrupt the assault.  By taking a small diversionary path between you and the target, you stand to better surprise them where they are not ready for you.  The enemy are DAMN SURE ready to fend off an attack on the spot where their front faces yours.  However, the far side of their forces are NEVER as well defended.  When in doubt, hug the edge of the map, and use the fact that 180 degrees of your personal space is covered by the edge of the map.

 

Flanking takes time, precious time that seems wasted by making a large loop around a battle.  The road less traveled MUST be sought out in order to not end up in the meat grinder.  In order to flank you will need several waypoints along a mapped out mission statement for the purpose for rallying and repair.  .  The team has to stick together and use a YELLOW mission statement so as not to attract the enemy to your master plan.

 

Always flank if you can, even if its just pulling off the straight line by a few meters, it will help the team survive in the long run.

 

 

 

 

 

 

S O P

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