Hi all,

I just finished reading this excellent book about a British JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) in Afghanistan:

Fire Strike 7/9

If you want to know exactly how a JTAC does his job, this book is for you.

One thing I didn't know before reading the book was that instead of requesting air assets due to a contact with the enemy, the assets are often assigned to the JTAC's ROZ (Restricted Operating Zone) continuously over a given time period, even before contact with the enemy. As one asset runs out of fuel, another arrives, and so on - with the actual platform assigned being pretty random.

There is a great story in that book about a time when the JTAC was assigned a Predator Drone whilst his unit was pinned down by enemy fire. Though armed with 2 "Hellfire" missiles, a JTAC normally only uses the Predator as a "recce" asset, to find targets to be hit by more suitable assets such as F15s. He describes how the operator of the Predator is probably some "couch potato" sat in an office in Nevada. With no choice over his available asset the JTAC tells the Predator operator to hit a Taliban position with one of the Hellfires. The operator is taken aback, and asks for the request to be repeated several times, saying that he has never used a Hellfire before. Eventually the operator is persuaded that he won't get into any trouble and launches the missile, killing something like 13 Taliban. The contrast with the JTAC in the field and the "couch potato" operator in Nevada taking out the Taliban almost like in a computer game was really interesting.

For FoF, it would be fun if some scenarios had a random air asset assigned, and if it was randomly determined if it was either a) on station the whole game, b) arriving in 1-3 turns, or c) departing in 1-3 turns. You could even have one leave after the first couple of turns, then a gap of a couple of turns, and another random asset arrive. The random element would make the game a bit more interesting in my opinion.

Several of the scenarios have something similar already in the OEF book - the asset you get when you call for support is randomised, (and in some scenarios, different assets are available on different turns.)

Also some of the Fog of War cards handle exactly this, like Shuffling the Stack and a few others.

Still would be fun to have some more JTAC-centred scenarios. Fancy creating us some please?

_________________
Wargamer's Cleavage - Shane's wargaming blog

I didn't realise some of these aspects are already covered in the OEF book. I have the book but haven't read through all the scenarios, so I will have to take a fresh look.

I might very well consider trying to write up some scenarios based on the book.

There is one incident in which a british company moving through the Green Zone in a kind of platoon column gets ambushed and then completely surrounded as hordes of Taliban move in for the kill. The situation is so bad, the JTAC author of the book announces over the radio net that the unit is "Broken Arrow", meaning that they are about to be overrun. This effectively tears up the rulebook and allows bombs to be called in virtually on top of the unit. The JTAC calls in what he calls "bugsplat" strikes, in which the platforms fly over the unit dropping 500 and 1000 lb bombs barely 25m away, hoping that the momentum of the bomb away from the unit will cause the blast and shrapnel to miss nearby friendlies.

I liked also how the differences in nationality affected the way the platform behaved, and this could play a part in a scenario. For instance, in one incident a pair of French Mirage pilots flat-out refuse to drop their bombs, their rules of engagement being so strict. This contrasts sharply with a pair of US Apache AH-64 pilots, who after taking small arms ground fire let rip big-style without any control from the JTAC, despite there being a British platoon out on patrol in the area. The JTAC keeps shouting down the radio net, "What the hell are you shooting at", only to be ignored. Apparently the US pilots' rules of engagement allow them to fire on anything they see as a threat, so as soon as they take a few bullets of ground fire they can do pretty much whatever they like without being guided onto a target by the JTAC.

The book is full of useful information such as typical call-signs. For instance, Apaches have call-signs like "Ugly One Five" and "Ugly One Seven".

I was also amazed at how low some of the platforms fly. The JTAC sometimes asks for a "Show of Force" run at an altitude of about 60m! I always thought pictures of FoF battles showing F15s just above the table on flight-stands were unrealistic until I read this. I imagined they would be at 15,000 feet or something all the time. I also didn't expect planes like F15s to be used in low-level strafing runs, but this happens in the book a lot too - the 30mm cannon being the safest weapon to use when friendlies are very close to the target.

All in all, this was an outstanding book, and something which I hope to make use of in future FoF games.