TDG 14 Recap and Analysis

Another tough situation with no perfect options, TDG 14: Personnel Recovery hit you with ethical decisions as well as tactical decisions.  We have an imperfect plan cobbled together without force multipliers, an enemy with unclear capabilities, potential compromise, and on top of all that we have something of a moral commitment to our action.

Due to the situation we have a limited set of options available to us.  It is, however, not as limited as some readers may think.

Option 1: Proceed with the attack as planned

We do not, after all, know for certain that the drone is 1: controlled by the hostile force, or 2: is able to PID us.  Although the chances are high that the drone is looking down at us, it’s entirely possible that we are sufficiently covered or camouflaged enough that it hasn’t been able to identify a threat yet.  If we wait the remaining 5 minutes we may see if the enemy goes on alert.  This course of action seeks to get more information before we proceed, cautiously watching for a response from the enemy.

The only downside to this course of action is that if we are compromised, the element of surprise is lost.  We will have surrendered the initiative to the enemy and we will be forced to react to their actions rather than making them react to us.

Option 2: Begin the attack early

This course of action assumes that we are compromised and seeks to seize the initiative before the enemy can react.  We can start by sniping the lone guard, shooting the drone, maneuvering to a different position, or any combination of the three.  The point is that we take action to deny the enemy a timely response to our discovery.  Depending on what we do or how we do it, we may even get the NPT guys to help us by opening fire early.

We must be very careful here, however.  Our lack of communications is an obvious limiting factor.  We do not have radios and there is no time to send a runner.  Thus we must proceed in such a way that our actions communicate our intent to the NPT guys.  There are other ways we can communicate as well, such as smoke signals (not a joke, color-coded smoke grenades are incredibly versatile), flares, or whistle blasts.  Just because we have no radios doesn’t mean we have no comms.  Hopefully we arranged these forms of signal in advance.

Option 3: Withdraw

If we assume that we are compromised we may decide that the risk to ourselves is too great, and we pull back.  There is no need to stop the NPT from opening fire as planned; if anything they’ll be covering your retreat without knowing it.  Once you’re back at the ORP you can send a runner to the NPT to tell them to abort.

This is the safest route we can take for us.  Unfortunately, there is the problem of Kelly.  Withdrawing under observation will no doubt lessen the chances of a rescue in the future.  The enemy could use that time to strengthen their guard, dig fortifications, or relocate entirely.  Even if we are able to come back say a week later to try again, what do you suppose would happen to Kelly during that week?

Conclusion

There come times when the tactically correct decision may not be the right decision to make.  The facts of this scenario require you to make a decision that is not only tactically sound, but ethically sound.  If our ethics/morals require us to commit to this action, we may be forced to accept a greater amount of risk than we usually would.  On the other hand, emotionally accepting a ridiculous amount of risk on an action that is unlikely to succeed may be worse than doing nothing.  In the end, the best course of action depends on your assessment of the risk involved and whether it is worth the chance of success.  I was pleased to see some readers debating the moral issue, as that was mostly the point of this exercise.

A secondary point I intended to convey was that suppression by drone is a real thing.  The drone in this scenario is not armed, and yet its very presence forces us to change our plans.  Keep this in mind if you have a small drone in your inventory, it can be a psychological weapon as well as a practical tool.

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5 Comments

  1. Sand Sock June 15, 2022 at 10:37

    So first question we need to ask on anything. Why are we doing it this way? Is there a better solution? Low hanging fruit gets picked twice and makes you predictable

  2. American Yeoman June 15, 2022 at 12:14

    Tactically, with no nods, no comms, minimal intel and manpower, working with people you haven’t worked with (NPT) it’s a shit sandwich from the get go. I understand the whole, “It’s a woman etc…” thing…But nobody said being a leader was an easy job. The morality of getting a bunch of people killed- friends and family, on a half assed operation weighs pretty heavily with me vs. storming the castle to rescue the Princess. Sometimes, that calculation means you land at Pointe Du Hoc, other times you withdraw. Hard decisions are going to have to be made and the consequences lived with.

  3. SOG June 15, 2022 at 13:01

    snipe the guard, snipe the drone, cut power, if power exists.
    Kelly has been tossed like a salad by the whole gang, another week of abuse and slavery doesnt sound like a plan and her hubby is a MAG member, you have to execute and engage, the bad guys are in the house they will likely come out and or be firing from windows. hopefully your crew has scoped rifles. additionally they wont assume this is a recovery they may think you are just another band of opportunists looking for their resources

    now the fact they snatched her makes me assume they been watching your homestead in this scenario and found an easy target wondering. so dont assume they wont be back for more

  4. Chris June 15, 2022 at 22:31

    I come here to LEARN and Learn to Think. And Both, I Do with much appreciation.

    Thank You isn’t enough but will have to do sir.
    Hat Tip and a Raised Beer to you.

    Signed..
    Just a Civi.

  5. Smith June 15, 2022 at 23:27

    Crap sandwich from the get go, what’s wrong with trying to communicate with them, ask for her back. If it goes sideways burn the place to the ground. The chance of rescue if her intact with a direct assault is likely zero, and due to the terrain the assaulting force was going to replicate Picketts’s Charge. In the event of WROL, one person not following safety, in this case may result in a dozen families without fathers-which could be death sentence. Keeping the supporting force as a distraction would be a good thing-if it could be stopped in time and used for a withdrawal. End of day if this is the way things turned out in this AO, if no example is made it will happen again. Throw the parley in, you might just find out it’s just a bunch of BS.

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