A Week in Binh Long - The forever AAR

[Jason Petho]

Turn 18 - 2d/28th Infantry
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B Company is still spread out to much, but I am slowly consolidating the forces. I'm pushing the most southern platoon of the company towards Hill 171 where I know there is a Viet Cong force located there. I will just keep the platoon close by, but it won't attack the hill until I have some reinforcements.
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C Company is operating much closer together, and as you can see the other LRRP team operating on the left side of the screen shot is doing well in securing more distant locations. The platoons need to cross the Prek Tatee in order to continue their clearing operation, but there are some Viet Cong overlooking the river.
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A Company has nearly secured all of Area ALABAMA. One of the platoons has started towards the Loc Ninh airfield in preparation of flying out.
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D Company, that was escorting the engineers, along with the Logistic elements of the battalion have arrived to the south of Loc Ninh. They should be starting to park around the airfield in the coming turns.
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The Engineer platoon of the above task force is still on QL13, clearing the road. I may provide some security, but I want to organize a defence of Loc Ninh first.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 18 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A Company is operating west of An Loc and is starting to consolidate towards An Loc itself. I suspect I should have these areas secured in the next 10 turns or so, providing ample time to complete the mission before the end of the day.
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B Company has completed securing all the objectives in its area of operations and all the platoons are continuing to advance towards the abandoned airfield. One of the platoons is still disrupted, it seems it has been like that for a handful of turns already.
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Here you can see the rest of 1st/16th Infantry as they are driving up QL13 east of the abandoned airfield, which means they are almost in An Loc! There have been a lot of mines and blocks on the road, which have really slowed down the movements.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 18 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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Down at Lai Khe, things are still quiet and the Heavy Machine Gun platoons are still digging in. You'll notice all of my Chinooks are just north of the airfield here, they will land and refuel and eventually load up the Dozer and Construction engineers that are at the northeast end of the runway. I will fly them north to Chon Thanh and have them start building fortifications there for tomorrows operations.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 19 - General
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While there was no action from the Viet Cong, the first message that pops up is good news saying that I have build the Firebase in Area LOUISIANA. What does that mean? It means I completed two trenches in the area designated for the firebase and I gained 500 points for doing so.
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Here is the Command Report for Turn 19. Nothing too much to note except I need to land some helicopters. You can see the Construction Platoon is the one that completed the trench at the Firebase.
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Turn 19 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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The Aero Rifle platoon continues it's meandering on the western side of Area LOUISIANA. This is the last objective here that it needs to focus on.
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Here you can see that the two trenches necessary for the Firebase are completed, now I just need to move the correct units to the area. LESSON LEARNED: I built a trench on the paddies hex where the LZ is, which means I can no longer drive in that hex as the trench blocks the road. That means my dozers will need to be driven out towards the nearest Landing Zone in order for me to return to them to Loc Ninh. Ugh, but valuable to know.
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My LRRP team operating on the northern part of Area LOUISIANA is nearly complete its mission. IT will secure these last couple objectives before being loaded up into a helicopter and flown over to Cambodia.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 19 - 2d/28th Infantry
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B Company is scooping up the outlying points, especially in the north, while one of the platoons continues to move into position near Hill 171.
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Here we can see the plan for C Company and how I plan to maneuver the platoons in order to attack the Viet Cong position. I am trying to avoid being in their ambush zone and surround them. This will take a few turns, but I should be successful at it.
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A Company has one platoon nearing the airfield at Loc Ninh and the other platoons have started their return trip. This company will be air assaulting to help with the attack on Hill 171. That's the plan anyway!
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The convoy has arrived in Loc Ninh and has started to spread out in the plantation around the airfield. I'll organize some defences in the coming turns, but I still need to keep the Engineer performing its task of clearing QL13 all the way to Loc Ninh. That will still take a handful or more turns to complete.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 19 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A Company continues its progress. So far not many mines or IED's in this part, although I suspect I will run into some along the roads. I may start moving off the main roads as I have the time yet to do so.
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B Company has started digging in just south of the Abandoned airfield, well, one platoon has. The other two platoons are making their way across the plantation to join this platoon.
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Here is the rest of the battalion convoy. You can see it is on the east side of the plantation and only about five kilometres to the south of An Loc.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 19 - 3d Brigade Headquarters.
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The primary thing of note at Lai Khe is that the Chinooks have landed and will be preparing to refuel for the return trip north. As these are my only Chinooks for the entire scenario, it is important I am careful with how I use these, and where.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 20 - General
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A pretty quiet turn during the Viet Cong turn, mainly because I have stayed out of Line of Sight to the known Viet Cong positions. But, the new turn brought some good news. I have finally have some airstrikes on station!
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Here is a reminder on how the battalion sized task forces are expected to be organized during field operations. As shown, the core task force consists of the task force headquarters, the infantry companies (excluding the mortar transports and an attached artillery battery. These are the core units that are intended to be in the field, while the heavy weapons company, supplies and primary headquarters will stay back at the nearest large town.
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The B Company platoon has finally recovered, so should be able to move south faster towards the abandoned airfield south of An Loc. Otherwise, things are pretty normal with some Improved Positions being built and a mine being cleared on QL13.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 20 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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The Aero Platoon of D company has successfully captured the most western objective in Area LOUISIANA. The platoon will start heading back along the trails to a landing to head back to Loc Ninh. The rest of D/1st/4th Cavalry is being organized to provide aerial support against Hill 171.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 20 - 2d/28th Infantry
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The Firebase at LZ LOUISIANA 5 has been completed. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and after all the years of building trenches, I hadn't come across this particular situation. If you build a trench, the trenches will negate any path or road type that goes through it, meaning that any unit will use the movement cost of the general terrain of the hex. In this case, the dozers could not drive into a flooded paddy, so I have to send them down the road to the nearest Landing Zone in order for the chinooks to take them to the next destination.
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The LRRP that has been operating along the northern boundary has cleared most of the objectives and will be heading to LZ LOUISIANA 1 in order to be picked up by some slicks before operating in Cambodia.
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South of there is B Company, continuing to secure the northern villages within Area LOUISIANA. One of the platoons are moving into position around Hill 171 in order to keep an eye on the known Viet Cong position there.
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C Company is moving into position to ambush the other known VC position know just to the northwest of the Prek Tatee label on the screenshot. It will take a few turns in order to be in position, but there is progress being made.
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The first platoon from A Company has arrived at Loc Ninh. The other platoons are on the way to join and then will assault close to Hill 171 for a final attack there before heading to the Firebase.
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The rest of 2d/28th Infantry has arrived at Loc Ninh and I will organize some defences of the town.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 20 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A company of the 1st/16th only has a few objectives left before securing the rest of Area ALASKA. The Company should be able to be complete the tasks in a dozen turns or so, before nightfall. Why so slowly? Well, I am going to try to avoid mines and move off the road as much as I can.
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B Company continues to move towards the Abandoned Airfield and will be setting up some defences there for the day. One platoon has already started digging in.
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The rest of the battalion is just to the east of the Abandoned Airfield along QL13. The roads have been mined and blocked, so the advance has been slow, but the battalion should be in position around An Loc in a handful of turns.
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While not necessary, the supply vehicles from the 1st/16th have arrived close enough to An Loc to trigger the supply message. I will have to keep the supply vehicles in the area for 5 turns before I collect the additional supplies.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 20 - 3d Brigade Headquarters.
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The Chinooks have landed at the airfield and I will start to transfer the dozers to be ready to be flown north. You can see some additional Improved Positions have been built on the eastern side of Lai Khe, and the heavy machine guns have moved to the next location to start digging in.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 21 - General
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As we are still early in the game, things are pretty quiet during the Viet Cong turn. I have a lot of headquarters low on ammo, but that is due from all the movement, mostly. Looks like only one unit is low on ammo and that I have successfully cleared a mine or block along QL13.
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Turn 21 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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Trekking through the jungle, the Aero Rifle platoon is doing its best to get back into the fray before it is sent back to An Loc.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 21 - 2d/28th Infantry
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With the Firebase at LZ LOUISIANA 5 being completed, I just need some Chinooks to help out with the movement. The dozers are heading to LZ LOUISIANA 4 for transportation, although if the road is clear, I might just keep them heading along the road. That might be tedious though.
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My LRRP team along the northern border has finished its tasks and is now loaded on some slicks, ready for infiltration into Cambodia. Even if I don't kill anything, I'll gain points after every set amount of turns for being in Cambodia.
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B Company is nearly completed its mission of securing and there is one platoon at Hill 171. You can see I have brought some helicopters from 1st/4th Cavalry for support against an attack on the hill soon enough.
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C Company is across the river, which takes extra long because of the fords, but they are going to be in position in a few turns for the assault against the known Viet Cong positions in the area.
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A Company is almost back at Loc Ninh. I will send some of the battalion trucks to pick up the straggling platoon
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Here is the overall situation at Loc Ninh. The battalion is all there, just need to move and organize the battalion and start building some defences while I start shipping the companies out to the firebase.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 21 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A Company is starting back to An Loc. I'm still trying to avoid IED's by going cross country, but alas, there are some objectives on the roads. Ugh.
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Most of B Company is trying to cross the river in the plantation, then they will double time to the abandoned airfield for the rest of the day. Thinking positive that they will get there in time to be useful.
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The rest of the battalion is almost in An Loc. I'll start building up the defences of the town and organizing the field task force in the coming turns.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 21 - 3rd Brigade Headquarters.
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One of the Chinooks loaded up the Dozers and will head north. I suspect An Loc for the start of the next day. The other Chinook flight is waiting for the Construction Engineers to be ready to join them. With a new improved position completed, the heavy machine guns have started on a new spot on the eastern side of Lai Khe.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 22 - General
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Another quiet turn by the Viet Cong, as expected. The Viet Cong detachment at Hill 171 remained in place and didn't fire. Otherwise, the start of the new turn brought some good news about an Improved Position being built at the abandoned airfield south of An Loc. There are a lot of headquarters out of supply as many of them are still moving.
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Turn 22 - D/1st/4th Cavalry
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The Aero Rifle platoon has started to follow the trails into the middle of Area LOUISIANA on its way back to a Landing Zone to be picked up and flown back to the Loc Ninh Airfield.
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The helicopters for D/1st/4th moved towards Hill 171 and engaged the Viet Cong position there. Utilizing the Loaches to draw enemy fire, which was successful, and then moved in closer with my Hogs to rain death from above. Targeting the Viet Cong machine gun as priority, I am feeling confident it was reduced.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 22 - 2d/28th Infantry
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Over at the Firebase at LZ LOUISIANA 5, we are waiting patiently for the 2d/28th Task Force to start arriving. The Construction Engineer is here waiting for some Chinooks while the Dozers are meandering to the next Landing Zone.
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On the northern boundary, the LRRP was unloaded from the helicopters and then secured the two objectives on the boundary. NOTE: With the 1.21 UPDATE, these two objectives are INCLUDED with the Area LOUISIANA zone, since they are on the boundary. Prior to this they were not and would have flagged an error. I will need to adjust the Objective Point value though from 0 to 1 in a future update.
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It seems I forgot to take a screenshot of B/2d/28th. Nothing new to report as the two platoons in the north were continuing to clear their sector while the 3rd platoon is on the southwest side of Hill 171 waiting for the opportunity to strike, as shown in the screenshot of the previous post.
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C/2d/28th is preparing for their assault on the known Viet Cong position that is highlighted below. It will take a few turns yet and I will bring in some additional gunship support to help. It is important I keep my casualties low in this scenario as there is A LOT to do in the coming days.
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A/2d/28th has one of the platoons already onboard helicopters and flying towards Hill 171 (right side of the screenshot). I haven't yet decided if I will land at LZ LOUISIANA 2 (left side of the screenshot), or continue on to the firebase. It will depend on how confident I feel with the Hogs doing their job.
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The remainder of A/2d/28th is closing in on the airfield to be airlifted where the platoons are needed.
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The rest of the battalion is setting up shop. I have highlighted a few locations that I will be building defences to help protect the important base at Loc Ninh. Remember that I will need to keep the heavy weapons, logistics and main headquarters here in Loc Ninh, so need to ensure it is protected against any Viet Cong attack.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 22 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A/1st/16th continues clearing the northwest area around An Loc. It won't take long to have Area ALASKA cleared at this rate. You can see I am moving my platoons off the road, hoping to save casualties until I can get some engineers in here to clear the roads.
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B/1st/16th is heading towards the western side of the Abandoned Airfield in Area ALASKA and will find a good location for additional defences. You can see the new Improved Position created at the southeast side of the airfield.
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The rest of the battalion, including C/1st/16th has arrived at An Loc and I am dispersing the units. I will come up with a defence plan next turn.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 22 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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I loaded up the final Construction Engineers to fly north with the Chinooks, the other flight of Chinooks have almost reached Chon Thanh. I have to decide where I will fly them to. Maybe An Loc? Maybe leave them at Chon Thanh? I'm not sure yet. I will decide next turn. The rest of the units continue to build defences, slowly but surely.
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