Suribachi '09
After Action Report: Phase1, Phase2

My role was the Controller for Green (this year almost all of Green was Bad Karma, except for G-man and myself).  For those not familiar, in Rangerball a Controller is a combination of player, referee, safety monitor, advisor and scenario guide.  Jared Bronson, as team leader of Bad Karma, is very experienced and has a good grasp on things.  As the Green Commander, he was clearly very capable.  I pretty much stayed out of his chili, and gave him only a few words of tactical advice here and there.

As I mentioned, there were “play balance” issues that Badfinch (Blue’s Controller) and I had to work out on the fly, so a few times I put on my “Controller hat” and asked Jared to move Green back, but I don’t consider that tactical or leadership advice.  That’s also a topic for another post. Anyway, I stayed near Jared, or in voice/radio contact with him throughout the first two phases.  In phase 3 that got tougher, and in phase 4 we got split up early and I was pretty much on my own.   But, in phase 1 and 2, I basically had the same views of the fight as Green’s Commander.

Here's a shot showing the basic layout of phase 1. Blue has to move all their players through the "chokepoint", between the two green flags, then take Objective 1 (blue flag), within 45 min. Blue can't pass over the orange lines, but Green can pass over and back without restriction. Both can shoot over the orange lines. Distance between the green flags is about 160ft.  Rita1 and Lucy1 are steep hills.

Phase 1, (45 min) 1045-1130:

Based on my advice, Green set up their initial defense well forward of the “chokepoint”.  They split up into two squads, defending the right and left sides of the wash.  One guy (Matt?) set up just to the left of the wash, but I don’t remember anyone defending in the wash itself.  So, with about 16 players, Jared placed 7 or 8 on each flank. Also, he organized two lines of resistance on each side.  When guys in the first line were hit, they were supposed to fall back behind the second line, regenerate, then set up a new line.  Essentially, leap-frogging backwards.  Green started out with a 5-minute regeneration rule. 

The little rise of rocks and brush, the “rocky knoll” on the front right (below Rita 1), has good cover and commands the wash below.  I think 4 guys started out there.  Another 3 guys took the higher rocks on the left flank.  And there were players backstopping both these groups. 

Here's the setup, as best as memory serves, of Green's initial defense. Green dots are rough positions of the defenders:

Blue made their initial push, mostly to the left and up the wash (from what I could see).  There may have been a push on the far right, but I couldn’t see over that far.  In any case, Blue stalled early, on both the left and in the center.  Jared and I stayed above some high boulders in the center/left, where we could fire down into the wash, and I never felt threatened from the center at all.  Our one sniper down low by the wash was taken out eventually, but I think he got several kills from the semi-prepared position there.  Basically, Blue’s center push crumbled quickly. 

Update: Here's an input from Marv, aka "Reverend", the BK heavy gunner (not a sniper, actually) that Jared assigned to the position down by the wash... "I was set up down in the center of the wash and I would use suppressive fire to keep Blue's heads down and let my team mates punch in from the side. (I think he means from the rocky knoll)  I don't know how many kills I got there, but I am sure that there were a few assists.   One guy willing to throw the paint can keep people engaged at the hairy edge of kill range and let the riflemen pick them off singly." 

Their left side did push up into the rocks on the left, and threatened our guys there.  I went over to help that flank, took out 1 or 2, then got a little careless and got hit as I stuck my head up over a rock.  As I pulled back behind the orange tape to wait for regeneration, I saw a couple other Green players pulling back w deadrags on, but the defense was holding nicely.  Bad Karma had things very much in control. 

Blue advances, a few Green players are eliminated but the defenses hold as Blue bogs down:

As I respawned behind the tape and came back up front, I could see that Blue had basically gathered in a “floating deadzone” below the rocky knoll.  The way I remember (I might be off on the time), at that point Blue was almost totally eliminated, and Green had time to reset their defenses, and wait for Blue to regenerate.  Somewhere in here, I also made my first of two bone-headed moves of the day, and shot one of our own guys (remember, friendly fire counts in Rangerball).  He was falling back away from Blue pressure, so he looked like he was an advancing enemy.  I should have double-checked before firing.  Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

When Blue respawned (I’m pretty sure that was their first, at 1100), they made a mass push with all players, back across the wash and up into the rocks on the left.  It was an all-out assault on the left flank.  I was a little surprised by that, because it was so easy for us to see and set up for.  I was expecting them to push hard against the rocky knoll on the right (that’s what I would have done).  As they schlepped across the wash, it took a long time for their attack to develop, and Jared had plenty of time to readjust the defenders. 

Again, Blue stalled, and Green didn’t have to work hard to hang onto that flank.  In fact, Jared started calling for his guys on the rocky knoll to cross the wash and “backdoor” Blue.  He wanted a very aggressive counterattack.  But for some reason, that took quite a while to execute.  He was yelling across, and making radio calls, but Green players over there were very slow to move.  Eventually, after 5 or 10 minutes, they cautiously crossed the wash and started engaging Blue’s right rear flank. 

Blue tries an all-out push against the left flank. Green sees it coming, and eventually mounts a counterattack:

I can’t remember the sequence of the last regeneration in that phase, but at that point it was clear that Blue was not going to reach the objective in time.  As the Controller, I told Jared to start pulling most of his guys back, to reset for the next phase.  I advised him to leave a couple players with me to guard Objective 1, and we’d hold off any final Blue push that materialized. 

Sometime after that decision (I can’t remember how many minutes were left), I finally saw Blue players moving around the old dead tree (the left flag marking the chokepoint) and slowly picking their way forward.  I had holed up behind a rock in the wash, and was reloading.  I started plinking away at them (I think I got one), and watching as the minutes ticked down.  Even in that last minute, though, they didn’t make a hard rush to the flag.  They concentrated enough fire on me and got me out, but time ran out immediately after and I called “end of phase”. 

Most of Green pulls back to set up for phase2, leaving just a few to delay Blue. Blue doesn't capture the Objective in time. Green wins phase:

Clearly, this was the best and most aggressive phase 1 defense we’ve seen at Suribachi.  Green set up well in front of the chokepoint, and totally stymied Blue for most of the phase.  If I hadn’t pulled them back at the end, Blue never would even have reached the chokepoint.  Granted, if there had been more Blue players -- the 2:1 ratio we wanted -- things might have been different.  But Bad Karma's execution was almost flawless. Even with extra players, I don’t think Blue could have reached the objective in time without a lot more aggression and better tactics -- like taking the high ground above the defenders.  Go here for phase2...

-- Ajax

Also, here's an email we received from the Captain of Team Inferno from Caliente, NV. They had 3 guys who played on Blue:

First off, let me say that this event was awesome. The weather was perfect for paintball. When we arrived we were attached to the Acid Reign team, These guys are great. They were more than happy to let a couple of outsiders join their ranks for the day. We got geared up and awaited the 'go' announcement. Looking at the hill and the flag the first objective, I thought 'this is going to be easy'.

I could not have been more wrong. We were pushed back several times by the defenders who seemed to appear out of nothing. Finally we regrouped and pushed the left flank and were able to make the first objective...but just over the time limit.  After a short break to catch your breath and reload it was back into action.

Again objective 2 could be seen from the start point and again I told myself, this looks easier that the first one..... again I was wrong. As the group I was in pushed the middle of the valley we were met with heavy resistance. we were moving up slowly when to our surprise the guy in the pillbox let us know he was there. He fought down to his last paintballs.. which came from his pump pistol. Who would have thought it would be so hard to kill a pillbox.... do they make a paintball flamethrower?

During the lunch break it was decided that the sides would be switched and now we, the blue team, now had to defend the hill. Again the thought of, this is going to be easy, filled my mind... again WRONG. The green team split off and attacked from both flanks. Boy those hills are steep when you are trying to hurry and reinforce a flank. We had a running battle with a group that tried to sweep clear around the right side of the hill which ended in a pretty good firefight in the flat where Objective3 was. While this battle was raging, one of the green team made his way up from the left side and with just seconds to go he reached the flag, some thought he was hit before, but a paint check cleared him and the flag was his. By this time some were running low on paint and air. The final push for the mountaintop was another hard fought battle that ran until just before the time ran out.

What a great day! Several things I learned from Suribachi: 

• Water is your friend. I felt like I had brought enough water to last all day, but a couple extra bottles would have been nice.
• Tactics Tactics Tactics. This is what made the difference.
• Communication. Before this event I had seen people with the radio sets and thought those would be nice but we don't need those. Wrong. The ability to communicate with your team was a major factor in this event.
  

With my legs feeling better now, I am trying to get my squad together and come up with some essential equipment and start running some drills and practice. To sum it up "THE ONLY EASY DAY WAS YESTERDAY" 

I would like to thank the Rangerball Regiment who set up this event and allowed me to see just where paintball could and should be. I would like to thank Acid Reign for letting a couple outsiders join them. Their advice and knowledge helped a lot. Great bunch of guys. I would like to also give my thanks to the guy from Adventure Plus who just happened to be open early that day so I could get C02. I hope to see some of you at the TRIAD in Eagle Mtn.

-- Randy Rowe, "Thor", Team Inferno