TDG Troop Leading Interactive Exercise Submission from Timbersour

The following is the submission of “Timbersour” for my recent TDG series in which students planned recon of an objective, received results of their reconnaissance, and drafted a final assault plan.  More of these will follow in the coming days.  Feel free to comment and discuss his answers.

Recon Plan Submission from Timbersour
I’m going to have 3 teams conduct reconnaissance.  Team 1 will consist of a a team leader and rifleman, Team 2’s me, and Team 3’s another team leader.
Team 1 will set up an OP within sight of the road to Oreokastro.  Their job is to find out “Are reinforcements coming from Oreokastro” and if so, to provide a SALT report.
Team 2 will conduct the recon of the fuel dump. Most of my questions are about this, which is why I’d go myself.  I want to know
-What is the layout of the fuel dump,
-How many enemies are there, what is their equipment, and where are their positions.
-Where are the fuel supplies we intend to destroy and how might we destroy them.
Based on your feedback from last week, I’ll also add:
-Are there enemy observation points; what is their field of view and what optical equipment do they have
-Will the ridge line, running from hill 219 to hill 239 provide concealment from observation while approaching the dump
-Are there any other obstacles/dead space/foliage that may help or impede the attack, particularly around hill 240
Team 3’s job is more open ended – I want to find out more about this civilian gas station
-Does it have fuel the Russians could use (ie, do they have diesel to begin with, is it in stock, do the pumps have power, etc) and if so;
-How can we deny it to the Russians
-Can we contact the owner
Team 1 will have a radio (I assume I’ve at least got 2, if I have a dedicated radio operator), NVG, and observation equipment.  Team 2 will have NVG and observation equipment, perhaps a radio if I’ve got extras. Team 3 gets equipment as requested.
Team 1 and 2 will leave camp and travel on the western military crest of the ridgeline until reaching hill 219.  Team 1 will break west, continuing through the draw south of 247 towards the direction of hill 318.  Tentatively, I want the OP 200 yds NE of 318, but I’ll give the leader latitude to move it for better observation, so long as he remains in that grid and south of the road.  Team 2 will continue north from hill 219, cross the road , and continue to follow the ridgeline as it turns east until I reach hill 240. I’ll make my observation from the NE slope of the hill.  Team 3 will its own beast; it’s unlikely that a traditional approach will get the information I need, so I want him to contact locals and see what he can find.  Assuming my soldiers are from the local area, he can start with them, and then begin trying to contact locals in the area.
 I hope that all makes some kinda sense – thanks for doing these TDGs, by the way, it’s made me look forward to Tuesdays and you seem to have really outdone yourself with this latest one.
-Timbersour
Recon Results from Mike
What’s up dude!
Team 1 sets up their OP at the military crest of hill 318 on the NE side.  Team 2 crosses the road en route to their OP, and note that they momentarily hear the sound of a diesel engine idling to the West, but it stops after 2 minutes.
Upon reaching hill 240, you realize that your view of the enemy position is blocked by trees.  However, you can see the civilian gas station, barely lit up through your binoculars:
Luckily, one of your squad members has an ACOG on his rifle, which is night vision compatible.  You hold your NVG in front of it and observe the below image:
There appears to be several wrecked civilian vehicles present, no movement that you can see.  You note that while hill 240 itself is very exposed, the woods East and NE of the hill provide excellent cover and concealment leading up to about 100m of the objective.
Since you can’t observe anything further from this OP, you head directly back to the patrol base to minimize the risk of a friendly fire incident from making unplanned additional movements in the dark near your other teams.  On your way back, you note that the draw NW of hill 243 is almost completely exposed up to the road, but the terrain and trees at hill 238 create sufficient cover/concealment.
Team 3 conducts a house call at the farm next to your patrol base.  The farmer says that he’s been hunkered down since the invasion and hasn’t been out and about.  However, he says that he heard a nasty explosion in the direction of the gas station on the first day of fighting during the air bombardment.
Team 3’s TL makes a decision to get eyes on the gas station from a distance, and proceeds to move toward Hill 243.  However, the treeline stops abruptly and prevents this, but they do have clear line of sight to the objective, which turns out to be 50m West of the gas station (and the symbol marked on the map).  Below is what team 3 sees through night vision, binoculars, and nvg + ACOG:
Team three notes that there is a 2-man detail walking around the objective in full battle rattle.  Team three also notes that they hear a diesel engine start and run for about 10 minutes every hour.
At 0334 a 6-vehicle convoy of thin-skinned UAZs and Ural trucks is observed by teams 3 and 1 passing through, but not stopping at, the depot heading West towards Oreokastro.  During a brief flash of the headlights from the convoy, team three reports that the sandbagged position at the West edge of the objective appears to be a PK series light machine gun.  All other information about the position you will have to gain from looking at the images above.
Team 1 reports no evidence of enemy reinforcement from Oreokastro.
Notes
– It is prudent to plan backup OPs in case your map recon fails you and your primary OP turns out to be a bust.  Fortunately for you, team 3 happened to gather the intel you wanted team 2 to gather.
– Movements at night are risky ventures, they’re even more risky when you have multiple groups moving simultaneously due to the risk of friendly fire.  You were clear in communicating routes to all teams except team 3, which I assume you gave a radio to coordinate all planned movements.  Still, even with radio communication I would personally have only sent one small team out with multiple OPs and objectives to minimize this risk.
– Good job keeping the teams small.  Other students sent out mini squads to do their recon, which would probably get them detected.  By sending out 2-3 at a time you hit the sweet spot for a covert recon team operating out of a patrol base.
Keep these results in mind when you plan your assault next week.
God Bless,
Mike
Dang, seems team 3 really saved my butt!  Thanks for the feedback, I’ve definitely got some stuff to work on.   Here’s my wag at the mission order – thanks again for doing this, I know it has to be a lot of work!
-Timbersour
Situation
The objective is a Russian fuel dump, located along a main LOC, south of a forested hill.  There is a civilian gas station 50m east of the objective, based on reconnaissance I assess it was destroyed by airstrike and is no-factor to the mission.  Known enemy forces at the objective consist of at least 1 2-man fire team, machine gun emplacement, 1 utility vehicle, and 2 fuel trucks.  The nearest red garrison is north in Oreokastro, the main force is well south.  Most likely COA is a red QRF from Oreokastro, Most deadly COA is an early arrival of the main red force from the South.  Blue forces consist of us, and the NATO lodgment to the north.  We do not expect support from NATO att.
Mission
The mission is to deny the fuel supplies at the objective to the Russian forces.
Execution
The unit will be broken up into 3 teams; fire team 3 will split into buddy teams to provide observation north and south of the objective along the LOC, look