Reactores rápidos

As soon as the company or platoon commander finishes the short briefing, the characters can rearrange their load if needed, and as a squad they can decide whether or not to spend any of their money on extra kit. Once they are ready, give them each a chance for one last action, then begin the mission. This action might have a bearing on a personal problem, or dilemma in camp, and might include going to visit an NPC, writing a letter home, praying with the unit's chaplain, or some other personal activity.

Boarding the Chopper

This is the 1^st Cav, and the squad will almost always be air-lifted into a Landing Zone within its Area of Operations, typically with the rest of the platoon. The briefing will include a time of departure, either later in the day or maybe at dawn the next day. At that time the entire squad will be assembled at the flight line ready to be transported by helicopter. The platoon sergeant will usually give everyone a once over to make sure they all have the kit they need and that the safeties are on their weapons. Then he will march them to the flight line. This is a location on the Golf Course where choppers take off. A series of marker posts sits in the ground parallel to the flight line, and one squad assembles in a line at each one. At the appointed time the choppers lift off from their dispersal areas and fly low and slow along the flight line, touching down opposite a marker. The men at that marker climb aboard. When all the squads are on their assigned choppers they lift off and gain altitude, falling into formation (often a tight 'V' formation) for the flight to the Landing Zone (LZ).

The Landing Zone

You may think that a Landing Zone (LZ) is anywhere the pilot finds to put down the chopper, but in reality each LZ is chosen before the mission begins, both from maps and from the intelligence gathered by over flights of recon choppers. If part of a large assaulting force, the mission might demand several LZs for all the helicopters involved, or there may be an alternate LZ if there are problems with the first. An LZ is open ground, close to the objective, that is not too close to any observed enemy activity. There will probably be some cover nearby. A Pick-Up Zone (PZ) will also be designated if the platoon has not been ordered to return to the LZ for extraction at the end of the mission.

Sometimes LZs end up being fortified to sustain a lengthy mission that turns into an operation. Supplies are flown in, then tents and communications equipment, extra troops to defend the LZ, sandbags to be filled, barbed wire. Some are turned into firebases, receiving a battery of heavy mortars or 105mm howitzers (the latter hauled in beneath twin-rotor Chinook heavy lift choppers). In this way some LZs become permanent forward supply bases (FSBs), or fire bases, and can retain the prefix 'LZ'. They are no longer just jungle clearings however!

A Hot LZ

On a patrol, the platoon fly to the LZ in the company of two Huey gunships (the Red Team) and two recon choppers (the White Team). These overly the LZ trying to draw any enemy fire. If deemed safe the platoon is landed and sets off on foot. The choppers withdraw, either back to Camp Radcliff for the night, or, if an extraction is due later that day, to a pre-arranged laager, a secure LZ within an hour's flight of the Area of Operations. If the LZ is hot, or if the intel boys of the 1^st Cav know it's hot and are mounting a full combat assault, the escorts pair up into Pink Teams (one scout and one gunship), the scout flying low to spot VC activity or draw their fire, the gunship high, ready to dive in with minigun, grenade launcher and rockets blazing. Once the enemy is softened up (or ducking), the choppers carrying the platoon (the Blue Team) are landed, and the troops disembark rapidly, firing weapons and looking for cover as they do so. A hot LZ is a terrifying place to suddenly find yourself dropped into!

Gunships will stay on station, or be replaced by freshly-fuelled choppers, if the assault requires continued support. If there are casualties during the attack, they are brought to the LZ where medivac (also known as 'Off') helicopters fly in to take them away. The Dust-Offs aren't armed, and are marked with red crosses.

For those grunts on patrol, dumped in the field with a job to do, they are on their own. The 1^st Cavalry can often supply artillery support if requested, if there is a firebase within 10km.

If not, and if there are any in the area, the 1^st Cav can supply aerial artillery (helicopter gunships) which will fire rockets, grenades and miniguns into designated areas, continually flying figure-of-eight loops pounding the area with everything they've got for the brief time their fuel holds out. If neither are available, then an airforce jet may be available to conduct a tactical airstrike in support of the player's squad. Napalm or accurately dropped parachute-retarded bombs are extremely effective at demoralising or driving back, the VC. Sometimes, though, none of the above are available, and the grunts have to battle their way to safety without the luxury of heavy fire support.

Radius of Operation

How far away will the mission Area of Operations be? How long will it take to fly to the AO?

Will the radios have enough range to reach Camp Radcliff? This section deals with the basic question: where can the GM set a mission? The UH-1D transport helicopter could ferry troops out to 200km, and still have fuel to return with a reserve (the Huey has roughly a two-hour endurance). This range could take the troops east to Qui Nhon on the coast, west to the Cambodian border, south to the Darlac Plateau and north to Quang Ngai. But most missions will be closer, since the job of the 1^st Cavalry is to protect the Central Highlands, in particular the crucial passes leading from Pleiku along Route 19. Because of this few insertion flights will last longer than 30 mins.

Artillery support can be called in if the squad or platoon is within 10km of a firebase. It can be considered unusual for a US patrol or assault to be dispatched away from a firebase. If new ground is captured, then typically a firebase will be hastily erected, and patrols sent out within the firebase‟s protective artillery „umbrella‟.

Radios have poor range. There are no satellite phones. A range of 6 km was considered good for a PRC-25. This would keep a squad in contact with its platoon commander, or might allow a radio request for an artillery barrage. The Air Cav operate radio relays in some UH-1s and in a number of Caribou prop planes, these fly high above the area and relay communications from platoon commanders back to battalion HQ. These high-flying relay planes are not always available though, the GM might decide to be mean, and have the platoon fairly isolated from headquarters!

Inside the UH-1

The UH-1 became a symbol of the war, and the 1^st Cavalry operates hundreds of them. It is essentially a transport or utility helicopter, with a military crew of four: pilot and co-pilot, crew chief and door gunner. The crew chief is a maintenance expert, and responsible for all passengers and cargo. Both he and the door gunner have an M60 mounted on the side of the door, for firing into LZs in support of troops getting on or off. There are large sliding doors either side, and in Vietnam, even in the air, these are held open with metal pins to keep everyone cool. Passengers (up to 10) sit on a bench on the front wall (behind the cockpit) and on the back wall (in front of the rotor housing. Crew chief and door gunner sit on seats tucked into the side of the rotor housing, and they are secured with a safety line. Both men are enlisted. The pilots are either lieutenants, or more likely warrant officers, men who joined the army to fly, without command responsibility.

The UH-1 (nicknamed the Huey by troops – a name which stuck) is vulnerable to small arms fire, heavy machineguns, even communist B-40 rockets fired while the chopper is close to the ground. Door gunner and crew chief wear „chicken-plate‟ armour, a type of knee length armoured jackets. Pilots also wear armour vests, and if they can scrounge any more, they lay them in the bottom of the cockpit to provide extra protection. In the passenger cabin there might be armour vests to sit on, some grunts sit on their helmets – although this contravenes the regs.

The Cav often refers to choppers as „ships‟. The different types have their own nicknames.

The troop carrying UH-1D is long and fast and known as a „slick‟ because it lacks heavy armament. The shorter UH-1B is slower, weighed down by rocket pods, a minigun or quad-mounted M60s, and sometimes a chin-quad-mounted auto-grenade launcher. These gunships are known affectionately as „hogs‟. Dedicated air ambulances are known as „dust-offs‟.

By 1967 the Air Cav was also using the Hughes Light Observation Helicopter (LOH or

„loach‟) for scouting and recon missions, the loach is a fast and agile bubble-canopied chopper with a V-shaped tail, typically flown by one pilot.

Extraction

Being extracted is similar to being inserted. HQ will give the co-ordinates of a nearby suitable Pick-Up Zone (PZ) and the platoon will have to hike there.

A smoke grenade is thrown and this gives the pilots an idea of wind speed and direction, and provides added security. The VC often pop-smoke in nearby LZs to draw in choppers and shoot them up, so the infantry pop

smoke and let the incoming pilots radio back with the colour that he sees. The slicks will arrive slightly behind scouts and gunships which scout out the PZ, watching for communist activity. When clear, the troops will assemble into columns of 10 each and move into the PZ, crouching low as the choppers come in a line-formation. The squads race aboard and the choppers lift off all at once.

If the PZ is hot, slicks may refuse to land until the enemy have been subdued by gunships or fast jets, but more often they will come in fast, flaring to a hover at the last minute, the door gunners frantically hosing down the treeline with gunfire as troops dash aboard. Wounded always go first, and they take up more space which might mean more than one trip, the grunts may have to defend the PZ until another chopper comes in. It is customary to pop red smoke if the PZ is hot (hot = under enemy fire).

Death, Wounding and After the Mission

Dead VC are usually left in the field for locals to clear away, although after a big battle (say outside of a firebase, the grunts will be ordered to dig a big mass grave). Most commanders, fearing civilian casualties (such things affect his mission success as well as the player characters‟!) will allow them onto medevacs if critical. While on patrols and assaults the grunts usually have neither the time or inclination to help civilians with their dead.

Searching VC bodies is crucial, documents, weapons and other equipment should be handed in, and it all goes in increasing the mission success. Money on the enemy often goes missing unless an eagle-eyed officer or platoon sergeant spots it first.

After the mission there will general not be a „debriefing‟ unless there was a serious incident (friendly fire, civilian casualties, unusually high enemy activity or weaponry, etc), in which case the squad will leave their kit and weapons behind, and follow the lieutenant and platoon sergeant to the base HQ for a short debrief with S2 (the intelligence officer) or the CO (commanding officer). Otherwise their kit is dumped in their GP „General Purpose‟ tent, they pick up their mess tins and head over to the mess tent for chow. They can expect another mission tomorrow, or perhaps a rare day off.