Thoughts about keeping unit structure even after respawns

[jsae]

The guys on Airsoft Canada had a good discussion about how to maintain squad cohesion during games. You can read the details here.

Highlights

So far as having guys link back up it's always a good SOP to never have a single guy go anywhere. Dead guys can head back to respawn together...live guys can head out together to regroup. A little bit of C&C can go a long way....linking guys back up with their squads, tagging them into other squads for a bit until they can hook back up, etc..

if you have to head back alone...it's not a bad idea to either set the RV point to be...the place where you died (the other guys can lay low and wait)....a designated spot (maybe where your squad has stashed their packs/extra gear/etc...)...or an RV that your squad sets as you move along. Might be a designated feature...i.e. the bridge...the makeshift fort....the "big pine" (old FTF landmark). Whatever you set it to....both the squad and the respawning guys have to know to meet there...and how to get there.

Reorg after every assault. Reorg after every move.

if your group is reduced to 50% strength withdraw, and RV with your respawning players. If you can hold.. do so until relieved,

Establish Fixed RV points where Respawing players can move to, out of engagements but close to the action so your unit can disengage, swing back and pick up your guys and re-enter the fight. Or you can call them in to your location from the rally point

Fight through the objective with what you have left in the squad, if you are killed respawn together. If you succeed hold the position and wait for the teammates to return, radio command for other reinforcements if you are thin on the ground.

The way I see it, squads do things together. If you need a serious flanking manuver, call another squad to do it. That way, you are not left with a push of 3-4 guys with a flanking manuver of 3-4 guys.

When taking casualty, dead mens lay down and await being medic'ed. The livings should defend the "deads" or bring them back for treatement. If it's not possible, the whole squad, even the living, should go to respawn together. They should also report to command that they are no longer at fighting strenght and medevac'ing their dead.

If an Objective can't be left, the dead mens are brought to the objective to be held by the living. All hold untill releived by a stronger force.

There should be no "Dead man walking". Only "Dead squad leaving".

-More than 50% loss, the squad go back to a safer zone and wait the guy from the respawn to get reinforced. They hold a position and secure a perimeter (they still a threat for the ennemy mostly lone wolf who try to flank.
-If you dead, go back to the respawn and wait for another guy from your squad.
-Never go back on the field alone.
-Be assured you have the position of your squad before leaving the respawn (no erratic search on the field).

It is the squad leaders responsibility to constantly be setting RV points. If you don't have medic rules and its a traditional "go back to spawn come back", instruct your troops to stay at the RV until the squad can reorg. As Brian said, always reorg after an assault or when casualties start mounting. The section member should make every effort to be aware of the location of his section, and try to stay with them at all times. This means not fucking off on your own to rambo, or go to the safe zone (or tim hortons) without telling anyone. This is my biggest pet peev:, when you're leading a squad and your 4 random dudes just fucked off by themselves and got lost. As much as it is the squad leaders responsibility to maintain cohesion, the section member must show discipline in sticking with his squad and following orders. This is airsoft not the military, so trying to command untrained civilians can be frustrating.

As a new player, I find it super frustrating to respawn and then trek across the field searching for my squad - a term I use loosely. I don't have a team, and I plan on buying a radio but I don't know if the investment will be wasted. I'm sure there's a thread somewhere for buying radios - not the point.
This weekend, when I got tagged, a couple more senior players hunkered down and said they'd wait for me where they were. We'd made some good progress together, and I thought it was a nice gesture. They got that I was new, and would likely wind up wandering lone wolf, frustrated and likely as not to shoot a teammate.

Sorry I completely disagree, get your stuff together. A live man in field who has eyes on a section of the field WHERE YOU GOT SHOT is an incredibly valuable asset. He should not be leaving just because the rest of squad is dead.

What you are going give up a section of the battlefield because your teammates got killed and you want to stay together.

Dig in observe and report, regroup with your squad when they respawn. Or stay put and continue to report if it is of more value. Knowing where , how many and what the enemy is doing has real value, far more than keeping a squad together.

And by the way comms are critical, I spend a great deal of my time doing recon. With scattered sniper teams on at least 2 occasions we knew every move the enemy made as they made it. And reported using radio,those things are not fashion accessories.

I rarely see a squad or group set rally points on the move... one of the most fundamental AND critical SOPs out there. They are super useful and will help you rally up.

The situation will most often dictate the action. Squad of 5 loses 3... you may withdraw, you may hunker down and observe, you may fight on. You have to have faith in your leader and follow them whether you agree or not. Otherwise, you are not an asset, you are a liability to the group.

As for the methodology to 'hooking back up'. Get on your squad channel. Communicate with your guys and direct them to an RP that makes sense. Yes, this may involve some walking. Sorry. But immersing yourself in what you are doing and the bigger picture will help you enjoy the game on a deeper level. Don't look at it as humping it all over the field, look at it as medivac'd out, patched up and now you're tasked with a stealthy re-insertion to hook up with your brothers in arms.

The major issue is the respawn and return.

If you take that out of the equation, you get a cohesive squad by default.

So how can you make that squad respawn without screwing up game dynamics?

We made system for those really big fields where respawn is too far away.

Remaining squad members have to relocate to a proper clearing to simulate a helicopter drop off.

The dead just follow along from further away in a non-obstructive way.

Once the LZ is held after X time, the dead come back into play as simulated reinforcements with the squad.

If the squad is wiped out, it has to go back to the original respawn area.

You cannot respawn in another squad so squad integrity is assured.

The obvious problem to this is that respawn times can vary but default mesure is the original respawn so in the worst case, there is always the default respawn and time could be included in the time that the player walks to the default respawn to ensure the ''I hate waiting'' syndrome.

As far as game systems that enforce squad cohesion, I think this is a good alternative.
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Another tweak could be to add CO approved insertions so respawn time would depend on the avalability of the virtual helicopter.

In ex : Squad A is currently respawing. Co approves the respawn and sends the virtual chopper and sends the ETA ( in EX 10 min ). Another call comes in. Squad B requests respawn reinforcement . Squad B has to wait for squad A to finish respawning simulating that transport is currently unavailable.

There is a few things you can do. The easiest is invite only games. Basically invite teams that are organized, well established, with good attitudes. Secondly would be make radios mandatory. Thirdly, have force commanders who have direct comms with each team leader. Make sure "every" straggler was designated a team before game start, and if you have small or disorganized groups then you assign them a commander from your roster of admins, or well knowns.

I had a thought about this, unfortunately my local community has no appetite for change.
Every player carries some bandages 2-5 or whatever. They each can revive and if they run out of bandages they can simply harvest any from wounded teammates. At any time the squad can go back to respawn/command and remove the bandages, thus restocking them.
This would keep squads together and squads would be able to operate longer in the field. On the other end you would be forced to kill off a squad or risk their vengeance, also the bandage(s) may give be spotted easier.

I think it adds some cool dimensions and trade offs, similar to other medic rules and for the most part simple to apply in most settings and communities.

But to touch on your idea. That is something that has been used but one thing that works well that Trev does is he has length of cord (not too long like a foot long) attached to carabieners. He hands em out to each player.
When your hit you call out for a medic. Someone comes to you and ties a knot in the rope and your alive. You can change it up but for this example lets say you have two "bandages" (ie 2 knots can be tied in the field)
Once your two knots have been tied you are eithet out (use this for short skirms) or you have to go to base to pic up more bandages (ie untie your two knots) and re deploy. (for longer games)
Doing this makes teams work together to ensure the "no man left behind" motto is upheld. Always staying close to the downed men clearing the area and reviving the dead when alot of guys are on their seccond knot everyone extracts to the base/spawn point and unties existing knots and goes back in full force.
To add more dynamic to this you can make it posible to move injured players (say a player is down and you can get to him but sticking round to tie a knot will get you killed too. You get your squad to suppress get to the player put a hand on him or he puts one on you so you can shoot while you pull him back to beter cover to tie the knot. Note that using the dead player as cover isnt alloud. The live player should be between the enemy and the dead one and if the dead player is hit he should drop again allowing the enemy a chance to hit the live one too(say the suppresed enemy sent a flanking group that has a line on the live player but the dead one was in the way only fair they have the chance to kill the "medic")
Its not as complicated as i just made it seem.
Lemme rephrase
If you getting extracted and you get shot hit the ground till your touched again. Lol thats beter.

Personally I'm a big fan of having a squad net and a command net. One quick blast on the squad net of "you're in charge now" means that you'll get your replacement squad leader reaching up to command pretty darn quick.

After the respawn: having a radio connection on the squad net means you're much more likely to track them down and regroup easily.

I like the knots idea, but I'm usually pretty hesitant when it comes to field respawns. Especially when dealing with objectives or tight spaces.

Action on separation from your unit.

28. If separated and not hit. move to the last designated Re-organization point. Contact your unit by Radio with the codeword “lost Puppy” The radio message should be “A1 this is A5 -Lost Puppy. Your Unit will provide you with Joining instructions or you may be directed to make your way to their location.
If separated and HIT go to your respawn point and then report to the designated rally point and execute the “lost puppy” message.
The primary responsibility of any unit member that is separated from their unit for any reason is to re-join their unit.

CTCSS and low power (0.5-1w) Tx for squad comms should have been a must (just to talk to your squad in close proximity) and there should have been an inter-squad net in addition to command: so many times we weren't sure if a group was friendly or hostile, didn't have comms with them if they were friendly (no way to know which channel they're on) and couldn't raise hq.

Mobile spawns are great for keeping everyone together on a huge field though! But the biggest force multiplier for tan that I've noticed over the 4 years, is that everyone knows eachother. So I've got no problem joining up with Team7 until we run back into Team Swatt. Lots of guys will mix between platoons as they respawn, and although you're not fighting with the guys you trained with, everyone pretty competent, and everyone takes orders well, so the fighting strength is maintained.

What do you think?

Good bullet points all round, the importance of having a good coms net & a pre mission briefing, and SOP's for respawn & rendezvous all make sense. Again, the seven P's go a long way for cohesiveness.