[shahadi]

TURKEYS’ LIGHTENING SHIELD OPERATION – 1ST ECHELON BATTLE.
LSO Phase 1.

Files attached: LSO_1stEchelon_Battle_485.zip
Slot: 485.

Abdullah and his family are Syrian Turkmen as are nearly three quarters of Syria’s 22 million people. The Syrian Turkmen families are Syrian citizens of Turkish descent whose ancestors settled in Syrian provinces bordering Turkey, the former Ottoman Empire centuries ago.

"Their tanks surround the Sunni villages and fire on them, and then the soldiers come into the villages, harass the people and beat the men and sexually assault the women," he said. "They take any man over the age of 12 with them." Abdullah broken and in tears told his story to aid workers in a camp just across the border, not 5km from his farming village of Kafar Houm.

Upon hearing this report and other similar stories, Recep Tayyip Erdogan the prime minister of Turkey immediately ordered General Erdal Ceylanoglu, commander of the Turkish Army to dispatch sufficient forces to secure the welfare and evacuation of civilians in the village of Kafar Houm that sits on the Turkish border. General Ceylanglu turned to the 2nd Army headquartered in Malatya to execute Lightening Shield.

The 2nd Army picked Captain Yuzbas “Batman” Baturaip Bravo Co 2nd Abn Bn commander as leader to block Syrian forces from entering the village of Kafar Houm. He is regarded as a fast rising “young Turk.” His father, a Turkish national is a physician teaching at the University of San Francisco Medical Center, while his mother, an American by birth lectures public policy down the Bay Shore freeway at Stanford. Batman spent a semester at his mother’s school auditing a management course before completing a rigorous field course with honors at the US Army Combined Arms Center at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. There, while enrolled in the International program, he met an Oklahoman cowboy commanding an airborne company by the name of Percy. Batman and Percy hit it off from the “get go.” As their friendship grew, Percy introduced Batman to country music while Batman showed Percy how to brew strong black Turkish coffee. As Batman mounted his helo, he gave a “thumps up” to his pilot. The pilot smiled, in acknowledgement , flipped on the radio, dialed up all the helos in the company and played Batman’s favorite, now the company’s motto: “That’s the only way I know, don’t stop till everything’s gone straight ahead never turn round don’t back up, don’t back down full throttle wide open!”

Now in the air, while everyone was “pumped up,” Batman jokingly reminded the platoon leaders of the importance of killing all Syrian mortars within in the first ten minutes (five turns) before Syrian scouts communicate 2nd Abn positions to their mortars. As he calmly tasked his mortar PLs with destroying Syrian fires immediately, he flashed a smile at his FOO as he said a third time, “ID those damn mortars as soon as possible.” Batman knew that the lives of his men depended on “shutting up” Syrian mortars.

As the helos maintained “full throttle” speed at minimum altitude, his mind raced through NATO, American, and Turkish doctrine. He recalled numerous conversations at CAC, Ft Leavenworth with Percy and others. Suddenly, slapping his thigh he quipped, “Bingo!” He smiled as the ‘lights came on.” Taking his command com in hand, he dialed up his childhood buddy riding “shot” in the Rangers platoon, relaxing finally as 2nd Abn crossed the LD, resolved knowing he had the answer brought an eerie calmness that only battle commanders and good soldiers display before combat. Batman realized that the Syrians will hear the whirl of 2nd Abn rotors, they will undoutedly dismount, fire smoke along the rideline, and advance aggressive with infantry rather than motor in along the road. The smoke fires will give 2nd Abn a good fix on the Syrian mortars.

“Hell.” He thought aloud, the attrition rate at NTC was 47% for commanders in the first hour of the fight. “This will be over in thirty, we ain’t backing down, no way, no how.” His FOO was still nodding his head and patting his foot to the beat of “The Only Way I know” as they sped to the fight willingly, taking the odds, and the cards dealt to them as warriors.

Gameplay: A Turkish defend Vs Syrian advance with force balance of 1:3 respectively.

Although victory flags are not important point wise in this scenario -as they are primarily used to aid the AI in the control of Syrian units- designated buildings must be protected as well as civilians. To simulate mission objectives, civilian units and designated buildings carry a cost of 999; therefore, it is paramount that civilian units are trucked out of harm’s way. We made the buildings objectives in this scenario by placing buildings on top of ordinance units and increasing the costs of each ordinance unit dramatically. While we cannot design unit dismounts we mirrored real world tactics by placing dismounted units ahead of their vehicles and decreasing the speed of the vehicles below that of the infantry units. At some point in the game, follow-up Syrian armored vehicles and tanks will enter the fray with their speeds unthrottled. The scenario should only be played from the Turkish side.

Designated buildings: The College Admin and Aggie Labs, the Administrative Courts, the Central Mosque, the Roman Catholic Church, and the District Hospital must not suffer damage; nor, should any of the civilians. Failure to secure the welfare and evac of the civilians will result in a humiliating defeat. Additionally, to mirror the Turks drive to evolve a modern, mobile, combined arms land power force, and to simulate the objectives of the 2nd Arbn in this scenario, platoons and helo unit costs are increased 350 to 550 respectively. "Everybody comes home," therefore, do not loose these units, as they are needed to complete Phase Two of LSO.

This scenario “Turkey Lightening Shield Operation (LSO) 1st Echelon Battle” depicts a blocking maneuver by a light infantry force to inflict maximum degradation upon enemy forces in sector. Bravo Co, 2nd Abn represents the light infantry force. The 2nd Echelon Battle is Phase Two of LSO where a heavy tank BCT arrives to destroy remaining Syrian 1st Echelon forces and kill the Syrian 2nd Echelon units composed of the 3rd Army Corp’s 19th Mech Infantry Brigade out of Aleppo, Syria. The 2nd Echelon battle is in active gameplay testing.

Formations

TF 1-39 BCT
1x Headquarters
1x FOO
1x AB-412
Note: In the 2nd Echelon Battle, TF 1-39 BCT rides in an APC begining in turn 15

Bravo Co, 2nd Abn:
1x Airmobile section
1x FOO
1x AB-412 helo
INF Platoon (3):
3x Airmobile section
3x AB-412 helo
1x HMG
1x ATGM
1x AGL
1x AB-412 helo
Wpn Sqd (1):
1x INF SAM Team
2x Sniper Team
1x ATGM
1x Ab-412 helo
Mrtr Platoon (1)
6x 81mm Mortars
1x AS532UL Cougar

Ranger Abn 1st/Zulu Co - 2nd Abn (Independent)
1x Airmobile section
1x Sniper Team
1x AB-412 helo
1x Airmobile section
1x AGL
1x AB-412
1x Airmobile section
1x ATGM
1x AB-412

Spotter Plane:
1x UAV