Archives: Gazette Magazines

by Capt Bruce I. Gudmundsson, USMCR

The Situation

Since we landed eight days ago, the operation has been going well. We quickly gained air superiority. Our mobile forces-mounted in light armored vehicles, well-equipped with a new generation of precision-guided weapons, and acting in close cooperation with our aircraft-are moving rapidly inland. Indeed, we would already have destroyed the enemy’s conventional forces were it not for the fact that so much of the country was heavily wooded.

You are the commander of a Marine infantry battalion (four companies, without attachments) serving as part of the follow-on forces that must “mop up” the pockets of resistance bypassed by the mobile forces. You have only your organic vehicles. As a result, you and your men must move and fight largely on foot. Worse yet, the density of the woods in which you operate-which remind you more than anything of the places in Quantico where you got lost trying to learn land navigation-makes the use of the new long-range precision-guided munitions almost impossible.

Thus, for the past week you have been marching and fighting the oldfashioned way. Fortunately, resistance has been light, so that you and the battalions on your flanks have been able to move about 25 kilometers a day. While there have been no wholesale surrenders, groups of enemy stragglers have been giving themselves up on a regular basis. Those enemy units that do wish to put up a fight have seldom tried to hold their ground. They have generally been satisified to drop a few trees and fire a few shots before fleeing.

Today, however, as you and your battalion, near the end of a 23-kilometer march, were entering the supposedly secure town of San Miguel, you were surprised by three enemy light armored vehicles that burst out of the woods and onto the road. One was quickly dispatched by a hail of fire from your grenade and rocket launchers. The crews of the other two vehicles surrendered in time to avoid the same fate. You were lucky this time. Although the vehicles had working machineguns and plenty of ammunition, the crews neglected to fire on the tempting target offered by your battalion on the road.

As night falls, you find your billets in San Miguel. At 2200, you receive your orders, and a home-made map. from regiment.

“We are continuing the work of securing these roads through the woods,” the order read. “Your job is to clear the stretch of woods between road number five and the Marquesa Creek, inclusive. I’m giving you no deadline; take whatever time you need to get the job done. Remember, however, we have to maintain the tempo of this operation. We don’t want to give the enemy time to reorganize itself.”

As you ponder your map, your staff gathers. The first to arrive is the supply officer, who tells you that your request for additional night vision goggles (to augment the 50 sets that you already have) has been denied.

The Requirement

Discuss your intent, the concept of operations, and the guidance you will give the staff concerning the order to be issued to the battalion. Include any plans for the use of supporting arms, an overlay of any schemes of maneuver, and any further communications you would make with battalion. Then give a brief explanation of your rationale. Send your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, Tactical Decision Game #91-10, Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the December issue.

by Capt John F. Schmitt

This scenario is the continuation of TDG #91-3, “The Attack on Narrow Pass,” published in the March 1991 issue, and is based on a common solution for that scenario submitted by several players.

The Initial Situation

The initial scenario, described in detail in the March issue, is summarized here: You command a reinforced rifle platoon guarding the left flank of the battalion as it advances north through Narrow Pass to relieve a helicopterborne force encircled at Sanctuary City. As you parallel the battalion, your point squad chases off an enemy listening post near Checkpoint 37. About the same time, the battalion gets involved in a significant firelight near the bridge. The time is about 2030. You spot two enemy machinegun positions on the outcrops to Narrow Pass that are opening up on the battalion. You contemplate taking some sort of action to assist the battalion, but you decide that your orders to guard the flank are explicit and that you had best stay put. You decide to try to suppress the westernmost gun position with an attached machinegun squad, and you let battalion know you can adjust supporting arms on the easternmost position. But beyond that you will stick to your original mission. You set your three squads in a blocking position in the trees along the east-west road near Checkpoint 37, preparing to repel any enemy approaching from the west.

The New Situation

The enemy machineguns fall silent as you suppress with supporting arms and your own machineguns. Battalion has successfully outflanked the enemy and is advancing north again. Your platoon engages an enemy patrol of about squad size approaching from the northwest; the enemy patrol withdraws hurriedly from whence it came. Checking out the scene of the firefight, you recover two enemy corpses. Artillery impacts several hundred meters west of your position. That was about a half hour ago; you have had no enemy activity since then. Suddenly, battalion comes under heavy fire as it nears Narrow Pass. The enemy machineguns that you engaged open up on the battalion again, this time from either flank. It is apparent that the enemy has a sizable force at the pass. From the radio traffic you discern that battalion has been hit hard: two companies are unable to advance and are taking casualties. Anxious to help, you contact battalion to offer your services. “Just wait out,” the S-3 snaps agitatedly. “We’ve got other things to worry about right now.” The time is now 2200. What do you do?

The Requirement

Within a five-minute time limit, prepare the fragmentary order (if any) you would issue to your squad leaders and attachments, including the intent of your plan. Include any plans for the use of supporting arms, an overlay of any schemes of maneuver, and any further communications you would make with battalion. Then give a brief explanation of your rationale. Send your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, Tactical Decision Game #91-9, Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the authors’ and other solutions in the November issue.

by Capt James R. Finley

The Situation

You command Company K, 3d Battalion, 4th Marines. As part of a multinational operation, you are patrolling a rural area in the nation of Generica with the intent of destroying the local cocaine-trade infrastructure. Company I is patrolling 20 kilometers to your east. The rest of the battalion is aboard the USS Tarawa 10 kilometers offshore, 40 kilometers west of you, with Company L in heliborne reserve.

You are reinforced by the battalion air liaison officer, an intelligence officer/linguist from the Defense Intelligence Agency, a Generican Marine officer with a bullhorn, and a radio operator with an AN/PSC-3 satellite radio providing UHF communications with the Tarawa. At the Generican Government’s request you are on foot, but you have an AN/MRC-138A radio vehicle for HF communications with a Generican Marine company patrolling 20 kilometers west of you.

Your mission is to destroy coca crops and processing facilities and capture traffickers while avoiding collateral casualties and damage as far as possible. No artillery or fixed-wing air support can be used. Four AH-1W Cobras armed with miniguns, rockets, and Hellfires are on strip alert at a FARP (forward arming and refueling point) 25 kilometers south of you. You have first priority for their support.

Moving north along a dirt road, you stop at 1300 as you emerge from moderately dense forest to check in with battalion. A steep hill mass is ahead; your map shows that the road leads to a village in a saddle on the hill mass, but you cannot see it from where you are. The battalion commander tells you real-time satellite imagery shows about 20 people loading cargo onto a large airplane at an airstrip near several sheds amid coca fields northwest of the hill mass. You know the traffickers usually take off at dusk, about 1730. People are also in the village, in the fields of potatoes, corn, and sugarcane southwest of the hill mass, and on the road west of the village.

The battalion commander orders you to capture the plane with its cargo if possible and destroy it otherwise, capture any traffickers you can, and destroy the airstrip, processing facility, and cultivated coca. Because of the desire to show goodwill toward those uninvolved in the drug trade, you are not to fire any weapons in or at the village atop the hill mass unless fired on from the village, and under no circumstances may you use mortars or rockets against targets in the village.

The Requirement

Within fifteen minutes, prepare the fragmentary orders you would issue your company. Include plans for use of supporting arms, an overlay, and a brief explanation of your rationale.

Send your frag order and rationale to the Marine Corps Gazette, TDG #91-8, P. O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the October issue.

by Maj Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR

You are the commanding officer of 3d Battalion, 2d Marines (three rifle companies) reinforced with a tank company, a platoon of TOWs, and a platoon of combat engineers. Close air support and artillery fires are on call for you. Your battalion’s mission is to create a gap for friendly mechanized forces. Using a variant on Rommel’s tactics, you organize the battalion into assault, suppression, and exploitation elements and carefully rehearse the operation. Every man knows his job.

Your attack, preceded by carpet bombing and feints, is launched at night and is successful but costly. By the early morning hours, your battalion has seized one of the enemy’s second-line defensive strongpoints, threatening two other strongpoints from the rear and putting you well out in front of the rest of your friendly neighbors. You can easily place fires on forces entering or leaving the other strongpoints, but the reverse is not true. Since you have captured two enemy messengers bearing orders for the enemy battalion that had occupied your current position, you assume that the enemy is uncertain about your position and strength.

When you report your success to regiment, you are told that the follow-on force has been delayed and may not be able to move before daybreak, (when movement will be much riskier). Through your starlight scope you can see about 200 enemy soldiers leaving the strongpoint to the southeast.

(You are in strongpoint B on the sketch; the enemy soldiers are exiting strongpoint C.) The company outpost at the northern end of your position then reports noise and dust, possibly a column of enemy vehicles moving in column on a road or lanes through suspected minefields toward your position, very roughly estimated to be 10 kilometers away. Knowing enemy doctrine, you suspect a tank-heavy counterattack by local reserves. You report your suspicion to regiment. The operations officer says the regimental commander is considering shifting the focus of main effort away from your battalion, and asks if you can hold or withdraw. How do you respond? What orders do you give to your battalion?

Send your frag order and rationale to the Marine Corps Gazette, TDG #91-7, P. O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the September issue.

by Maj Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR

You are the lead infantry platoon commander in an Allied tank-mech company in Europe in 1944. Your company’s mission is to seize a nameless small town set among hedgerows, which typically line all of the roads in the area. In most places, there is a ditch between the roadway and the hedgerow. Roads are narrow, barely wide enough for two vehicles, and hedgerows comprise dense, ancient growth four- to six-feet high.

Your company commander has decided to continue to move after dark because the company is behind schedule. Since speed is vital, your troops mount the tanks and the company forges ahead through the night, breaking through German lines before the Germans realize what’s happening. Mistaking Allied tanks for German tanks, a German tank pulls into the column, only to be destroyed from the rear by an Allied tank. A few hundred yards from the town, the lead tank stops for no apparent reason, and the rest of the column also comes to a halt.

From your position on the third tank, you can now hear German voices on the other side of the hedgerow, about 10 feet away to your right. You immediately throw a hand grenade and command the nearest squad to open fire. The tank commander accelerates, moving out of immediate danger to a position 200 yards down the road. Hit by an antitank rocket fired by the Germans, the tank behind you bursts into flame, lighting the nearby roadway.

You deploy your troops in ditches along the road. There are now only 3 tanks, 22 riflemen (each with 3 or 4 grenades), and 2 Browning automatic riflemen left in your mini task force trapped between the burning tank and the town. You do not know what happened to the eight men from your platoon who were riding on that tank. Since the main body is stalled a quarter mile to the rear, the company commander orders you to rejoin the main force. You wonder how to do this. It is physically impossible for the tanks to leave the road, which is still partly lit by the burning tank. Your platoon can squeeze through the hedgerows into the fields beyond, but that is where the Germans are. Although you can only see a few Germans near the burning tank, you believe that you are surrounded by the enemy. The Germans can fire through the hedgerow, but only with limited accuracy. They can also fire over the hedgerows, but must expose themselves to do so. Some of your men have been in combat for only a few days and are near panic. You outrank the tank commander, who is another lieutenant. What are your orders?

Send your frag order and rationale to the Marine Corps Gazelle, TDG #91-6, P. O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the August issue.

by Capt Bruce I. Gudmundsson, USMCR

You are an officer serving in a large Marine air-ground task force (MAGTF). The ground combat element (GCE), a “mech heavy” force that includes a battalion of M1A1 tanks and an infantry regiment mounted in assault amphibians, is advancing toward the east. Its present position is some 50 kilometers west of Highbank River. Your mission is to seize the 70-ton bridge over the Highbank River and hold it until the GCE can complete its advance and link up with you. The expected time of linkup is 1200 on H+6. (It is currently 1200 on H+5.)

For this mission you are given one rifle company reinforced by an attached Dragon section (eight teams) from the battalion’s antiarmor platoon, sufficient transport helicopters to lift this force, and four AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships.

The intelligence officer gives you the following information: “As far as we can tell, the enemy has yet to cross the Highbank River with major units. The bulk of his force consists of light armored vehicles that can cross the river at many places, so he doesn’t need the bridge for his own purposes.”

Your plan is simplicity itself. You intend to land at Landing Zone (LZ) Hawk and set up a perimeter defense around the bridge.

On the last leg of your flight toward LZ Hawk, your force flies south along the path of the Highbank River. Just north of the Eastbank woods, you see 10 enemy light armored vehicles travcling south along the road. What do you do?

Send your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette. TDG #91-5, P.O. Box 1775. Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the authors’ and other solutions in the July issue.

By TBS Staff

You are the company commander of Company D, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. Your company is mounted in assault amphibious vehicles.

The enemy has landed forces east of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) and has been attacking west for the last three weeks. Far superior in numbers and equipment, the enemy’s advance has been delayed through deception and an almost constant rain that has turned the road system into a quagmire. Vegetation is relatively thick along the river, with cultivated areas farther inland.

Your regiment is fighting a withdrawal under pressure when you discover that an enemy force of battalion size mounted in armored personnel carriers has now gotten across the river at Eltham’s Landing and presents a threat to your withdrawal route.

Your battalion is providing screening forces to the regiment’s flanks. Prevention of enemy interference to the regiment’s movement for the next 24 hours is critical for its survival.

You are tasked with delaying the enemy force that landed at Eltham’s Landing until the regiment can reach its new defensive position. One artillery battery and a section of 81mm mortars are in direct support. What do you do now?

The Requirement

Within a time limit of five minutes decide what actions you would take to cope with this threat and prepare the frag order you would issue to your subordinates. Include an overlay and a brief explanation of the rationale behind your plan. Both the frag order and the rationale should be brief and to the point. Send your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, TDG #91-4, P.O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the authors’ and other solutions in the June issue.

by Capt John F. Schmitt

The Situation

You are the rifle platoon commander of 1st Platoon, Company I, 3d Battalion, 6th Marines. 6th Marines have been attacking north with the intention of destroying enemy forces in Sanctuary Plain and have already landed a helicopterborne company in the plain near Sanctuary City. The helicopterborne force has become besieged, and 3/6 has the mission of launching a relief attack into the plain to reinforce the helicopterborne force and continue the offensive. Implied in this mission is forcing passage into the plain. The terrain south of Sanctuary Ridge is generally rugged and undeveloped with thick vegetation and severe relief. The enemy you have been fighting is primarily infantry with small numbers of tanks. It is 2015, a full moon.

Your platoon-reinforced with two machinegun squads from weapons platoon and two Dragon teams (with night trackers) from weapons company-advances along the battalion’s left flank with instructions to guard that flank. Moving parallel to a narrow foot trail-but not on it-you cross a dry, rocky gully about 3 to 4 feet deep and 20 meters wide without making contact. But as you approach Checkpoint 37 your point squad makes contact with what appears to be a listening post that immediately flees northwest toward the Western Narrow Pass. Moments later a major firelight breaks out in the thick woods to your east. From radio transmission it is clear that the main body of the battalion has been halted by a significant enemy force and is taking casualties. Your best guess is that the engagement is taking place near the Narrow Bridge. From your position you can see several enemy machineguns on the ridge to your northeast opening up in support of the firefight. On the conduct of fire net you hear the battalion directing supporting arms onto the enemy position. Transmissions on the tactical net are somewhat unclear, but it appears the battalion is attempting a right flanking movement against the enemy position. Except for the listening post that fled, there is no sign of enemy activity in your area. What do you do?

The Requirement

Within a 10-minute lime limit, prepare the fragmentary order you would issue to your squad leaders and attachments, including the intent of your plan. Include plans for the use of supporting arms, an overlay for your scheme, and any communications you would make with higher headquarters. Then give a brief explanation of your rationale. Send your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, Tactical Decision Game #91-3, P.O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134.

by Maj N. E. Reynolds, USMCR

You are a rifle company commander who, together with the rest of the regiment, landed in the country of Aridia a few days ago. The regiment is part of a Marine expeditionary force whose mission is to deter aggression by Aridia’s hostile neighbors, who covet her riches and have large mechanized armies. It is general knowledge that, in Aridia, mobility is excellent for armor but not always good for wheeled vehicles. While no one is at war yet, there are threatening concentrations of armor along Aridia’s borders, and border patrols from each side occasionally fire at each other, usually without much effect.

Yesterday morning, a platoon of assault amphibious vehicles (AAVs), enough to transport your entire company, joined you, as did a squad of engineers. Otherwise, you have a standard table of organization. According to battalion’s standing operating procedure, the battalion commander will retain control of his TOW assets but will readily entertain requests from his company commander for support by other antimech assets at his disposal.

Early this morning, the battalion moved northeast along Route 1, screened by Cobra helicopters, and halted approximately 15 miles from the hostile border. The battalion commander called you to his newly established command post for a meeting. You ordered your executive officer to disperse the AAVs, put out some security, and recon the area to the north and northeast of your stopping place.

When you arrive at the battalion command post, you find that the battalion commander has been called to regiment “for an urgent meeting.” leaving the S-3 to brief the company commanders. He tells you only that the battalion’s mission is to defend the area in order to deny the use of the coastal highway to the enemy and invites the company commanders to make overlays of the provisional boundaries on his map. Your frontage is small, about 1,000 meters, but it is astride Route 1, the coastal highway, about where the company is now. You notice that Route 1 is the only highspeed avenue of approach into the country in the area. You also notice that there are no discernable contour lines on the map. The S-3 promises more guidance when the battalion commander returns.

You drive back to the company, where your executive officer reports urgently that the recon patrol he sent down the road has just reported a large dust cloud “right front and left front, 8 to 10 miles” and “possible gunfire.” Looking around, you yourself notice a small dust cloud to the southwest, roughly where, you suppose, your neighbor could be setting in. The shape of that cloud suggests movement away from the front. You also notice that the dunes on either side of the highway form small linear ridges up to 10-feet high, much like gentle crested swells at sea. There is a moment of silence, broken only by a Marine 10 yards away muttering sometiling about “a speedbump.”

What are your orders?

Would your orders be different if you had more time to prepare your position?

by Capt Bruce I. Gudmundsson

The Situation

You are the commander of a Marine infantry battalion with the mission of destroying enemy forces that are attempting to move north through the Ardunes Forest (off the map to the west). Your battalion of four rifle companies, a weapons company, and a headquarters and service company are mounted in 5-ton trucks. The major exception to this is your heavy machineguns and Dragons, which are mounted in HMMWVs.

You are en route to intercept the enemy in Ardunes Forest. To protect the north flank of your move through Lucy Woods (southwest, along Route 26), you have posted Company A (reinforced with Dragons and heavy machineguns) in the village of Champs. The rest of your battalion-with Dragons, heavy machineguns, and 81 mm mortars attached to the rifle companies-is in column. Accompanied by an artillery liaison officer, your air liaison officer, and a forward observer from the mortar platoon, you are riding with Company B at the head of the column.

As you exit Lucy Woods, you see a single light armored vehicle entering the woods along the road that leads to Champs. You identify this vehicle as belonging to the enemy. A few seconds later, the road ahead of you is filled with explosions. As you dash back to the shelter of the woods, you see three or four helicopter gunships firing rockets. They seem to be aiming for you.

As you gather your wits about you and try to decide what to do next, you receive the following report from Company A: “Two enemy light armored vehicles emerging from north edge of Lucy Woods along road to Champs. We will engage.”

The Requirement

Within a time limit of five minutes, decide what actions you would take to cope with this situation and prepare the frag order you would issue to your subordinates. Include an overlay and a brief explanation of the rationale behind your plan. Both the frag order and the explanation must be short and to the point. Send your solution to the Marine Corps Gazette, TDG #91-1, P.O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. The Gazette will publish the author’s and other solutions in the March issue.

by Col Michael D. Wyly

With nearly a third of the Marine Corps deployed in the desert, opposed by a large tank threat, every Marine ought to be thinking seriously about how to fight tanks. Such thinking raises questions at a number of levels. Confronting a tank-heavy enemy with one of our Marine air-ground task forces (MAGTF) organizations is one thing, a problem to be solved by generals and colonels alike. There is a different set of problems to be solved by companies, platoons, and squads of Marine infantry and for combat service support Marines, problems of close combat against tanks that loom as overriding for a lance corporal and drive into insignificance any theories of fighting the MAGTF. Make no mistake: colonels and generals also need to be vitally concerned about combat at this level.

Marines are infantrymen. The Marine expeditionary force, combined arms force that it is, remains fundamentally an infantry unit. Therefore, Marines ought to be able to answer the question: What does infantry do against tanks in the desert?

Focusing on the company level, this problem is designed to begin a dialog in answer to that question.

Background

You are commanding officer, Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines (1/7). It is 0530, 12 December 1990. Mounted in amphibious assault vehicles (AAVs), you have been moving south to north across the open Southwest Asian desert, following an intensive but indecisive battle against enemy mechanized forces. You, Company B, 1/7, and Company A, 1st Engineers, have been placed under the leadership of commanding officer, 1st Tank Battalion (-) (+), following the battle. He is operating as part of Task Force Mauler, a combined arms task force whose mission is to find and destroy an enemy armored brigade.

Your company includes detachments from the Dragon, TOW, and 81mm mortar platoons. In addition to your tables of organization (T/O) allocations of small arms, automatic weapons, and machineguns, your inventory of weapons includes:

2 TOWs (HMMWV-Mounted)

8 Dragons

6 SMAWs

8 AT4s

27 LAAWs

10 AT (antitank) mines

2 81mm mortars

1st Tank Battalion (-) (+) is the easternmost thrust of a number of multiple thrusts that comprise Task Force Mauler’s move north. As the leading element assigned to 1st Tank Battalion (-) (+), you have been performing reconnaissance and screening missions. The battalion commander, who habitually leads from the front, is moving with a small mobile command group some 1,000 meters to your north and west. Company B, 1/7, is moving slightly behind Company A, two to three kilometers to the west, The engineer company has been moving along with you. The tanks-approximately two companies of them-have been moving behind you.

Situation I: 0600, 12 December

Monitoring the battalion tactical net, you hear the battalion commander order the tank companies to halt. A logistic train is approaching, and it will rendezvous at their present position to refuel and perform maintenance. Though fueling and repair will be conducted as rapidly as possible, the battalion commander thinks it will be three hours before all his tanks are up and ready. All vehicles in the battalion are critically short of fuel, including your AAVs. Priority will go to fueling the tanks, but you must either accommodate the logistic train in your position or dismount and send your vehicles back to where the tanks are fueling, depending on the situation, as the fuel your vehicles have onboard will not last more than another hour. You discuss this over the radio with your battalion commander and halt your company in the position shown on the diagram. By the time you halt, the distance between you and the tank companies has widened to about three kilometers.

The battalion commander now calls you on the radio as follows:

The tanks are going to refuel and refit in their present position. The threat is still to the north. It’s possible that 50 to 100 tanks with infantry could be down here in less than an hour. I want the two rifle companies to protect us while we refuel. Alfa, You orient towards the north and east. You are the focus of effort. Bravo, you orient towards the north and west.

1st and 2d Battalions, 11th Marines are both in range to give us artillery support if we need it HMLA-369 is on the deck with 10 UH-1Ns and 10 Whiskey Cobras that can be in action here in less than five minutes. The wing has launched dawn patrols; if any enemy tanks materialize, you can expect EA6Bs and Harriers to attack immediately.

The terrain is fundamentally featureless desert, save the single ridge near Company A’s present position, shown on the diagram. This ridge rises to a maximum of 10 meters in height, is approximately 1,500 meters in length, east to west, and 200 to 300 meters in depth, north to south. Though otherwise featureless at the macro level, it does, of course, offer the normal indentations and depressions that individual infantrymen can use to hide and to afford themselves a modicum of protection. Although approximately level, there is a gentle slope, never more than 3 degrees, downward on either side of the dotted line shown on the diagram.

Requirement I

Who should determine at this point where and how you should position the forces that are at the disposal of Company A-the battalion commander or the company commander?

Assuming the role of either the company commander, the battalion commander, or both, submit your concept for employing Company A and its attachments. Where will they be positioned vis-a-vis the tanks?

Situation II: 0700, 12 December

In the morning twilight, dust plumes are visible on the horizon, following reports from aerial reconnaissance that at least 50 tanks are heading due south, directly towards your position. Aerial recon confirms that the tanks are T-62s. They are followed by as many BTRs, probably carrying infantry. Indications are that they are unaware of your location but are hopeful of locating you and surprising you. U.S. Marine attack air begins its attack 6-8 kilometers north of your position; however, enemy fighters are on the scene as quickly as the Marine planes arrive. You see two Marine Harriers go down, apparently from ZSU-23 fire.

Requirement II

Draw a separate, enlarged diagram of your company position, showing how you will emplace the additional weapons available to you. (See Background above.) Include enough detail in your diagram to show how these weapons are integrated with your T/O weapons and the infantry units of Company A, including, where appropriate, detail at the squad and/or fire team level. (Use of improvised symbols, numbers, or letters to identify weapons is permissible.)

Send your solutions without delay to the Marine Corps Gazette, TDG #90-9, P.O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134.