Readers Respond: DMX 08 Solutions
Two plans for the dilemma at NAI 17
Editor’s note: Below are reader solutions to DMX 08: Sometime the Wolf. Looking for another rep? Stay tuned for DMX 09, out soon!
2ndLt Robert Gortner is a platoon commander in Animal Company, 1/7.
I really enjoyed this TDG. I showed it to my squad leaders, and even though we aren’t a scout unit, it provoked some very interesting discussion on ethics/morals in a dangerous, time compressed environment where the rubber is really meeting the road.
As for my solution, I felt pulled toward the Hippocratic oath, “first, do no harm.”
My orders: “Team, I think the enemy patrol is a scout unit sent to assess the fordability of the river/our defenses in the area. They are going to spot our friendlies to the west any second now. We are going to conduct a hasty ambush on the enemy scout patrol IOT allow the friendlies to make it back to our lines. DM initiates the ambush and destroys the radio operator, 320 fires into the troop concentration, riflemen destroy targets of opportunity. Doc+ 1 rifleman: once the shooting starts, the friendly patrol isn’t going to know what’s happening. You two link up with them to get them to cover. Start assessing casualties/their mobility once the shooting stops. After we defeat the patrol, we are going to escort the friendlies back to our lines.”
When we discuss mission-type orders, we make it clear to our small unit leaders that their tasking may become irrelevant as the situation unfolds and that as long as they are acting to achieve the commander’s intent, they are making the right decision. In this case however, doing what I think many would agree is the “right thing” (saving the friendly unit by ambushing/attacking the enemy patrol) requires us to violate both our tasking and the intent behind it.
We have been tasked to reconnoiter this NAI IOT alert the battalion defenses to enemy units, with specific focus toward mechanized units. We cannot very well do that if we compromise our position. At the same time, we cannot in good conscience stand idly by and watch a friendly patrol in distress get gunned down if we could have done something to stop it, regardless of what our tasking is.
While this interaction with the enemy may reveal that they intend to use the ford site (they have sent a recon patrol of their own to assess it) it does not accomplish our mission. We have gained no information as to the disposition or intent of the enemy mechanized units. Yet, that is a decision we will have to live with and that our HHQ will have to adapt to.
Our reconnaissance team is just one asset in the battalion’s defensive scheme. We have to trust that they will be able to cover down on this new gap.
At the end of the day, I believe that as Marines, we have an obligation to protect our brothers when they are in need. “Military logic” does not override the duty that one rifleman has to another to do everything in their power to help their brothers get home.
Mr. David Redpath is the former Chief Instructor at the Recce and MG Division, UK School of Infantry.
Mortar the enemy squad, it doesn’t give away your position, but gets them to go to ground – quick fire mission using airburst, this gets your missing unit safe and does not compromise your team, you are still looking out for the enemy mech, that is still your primary mission.
Write a message quickly and attach it to the quadcopter, which is going to be flown low to the squad by the river, it should tell them to ford the river further SW, away from the enemy, and you can send a 2 man team (Doc +1) to guide them across / help them across, by a back route from your OP.
Report all to higher when you get a chance, but the fist thing should be contact report to alert them to the enemy presence, possibly (<50%) certainty) that it is a recce party.
Think you’ve got a better plan? Make your case in the comments!