Mountain Post - November 2009 Issue

If you are a World War II history buff or have Codemaster’s OFP/Dragon Rising game then you will recognize the outline of one the latest island terrains heading to the

ArmA II gaming community.

It is the island of Kiska; the island is in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Island chain of Alaska. Renamed "Skira", the

(Continued on page 7)

INSIDE THE SKUNK WORKS—BY REDHAWK

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST :

We are not responsible for the cost of the server. Please donate what you can, the server cost $60.00 per month, due the first of every month!

Remember trainees to keep practicing as your Grad Mission is soon coming!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE :

A THANK YOU FOR ACTIVE DUTY AND VETERANS !

2

IS IT A COLD OF THE FLU?

4

PREVENT SWINE FLU

5

INTO THE DRAGON ’S MAW

6

JOINT SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND

1 NOVEMBER 2009 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3

THE MOUNTAIN POST

ON POINT…. BY REDHAWK First off, I would like to personally and publicly thank the Sealz and Randy for assisting us and allowing us the privilege of utilizing a 50 Slot server at no charge. As the 1st of November 2009, we must now pay for our own ArmA II game server. Our new server is

rented from the very same company the 50 slot server was from, DefCon Gaming Servers. It was selected because it was the cheapest, has an acceptable customer service record and accepts PayPay. Therefore we can expect the same level of customer service as we have

received in the past. I also want to thank those indi-viduals in the 10th SFG that have donated the past two months. Your donations have build up a buffer and allowed us to get an idea of what we believe will be at least the minimum average


THE MOUNTAIN POST

donation level we can expect in the coming future.

Unfortunately, there will be some degradation or loss in server response as we had to re-duce the number of available slots from 50 to 30. This is due to the fact our average monthly donation rate is approximately $65.00 a month and the cost of the server is $60.00 a month. Please note we are entirely re-sponsible for the bill, so it is more important now than ever before, please donate what you can! The monthly donation col-lection window starts on the 1st day of every month and ends on the last day of the month. The server bill is due the first of every month as well. Remember with-out making the minimum dona-tion goal of $65.00 we will be forced to forfeit the gaming server.

10TH SFG CANDIDATE SCHOOL

I’m glad to see that training has been stepped up for our new candidates and I hope they are finding the way we do training worthwhile and productive. For those candidates who cannot at-tend training regularly, please make every effort to do so when you can. On the nights you can, seek out a 10th SFG member and ask for them to train you. All personnel need to remember; full fledge 10th SFG members have the ability to train, this is NOT the sole responsibility of the Training NCOs. Many of the candidates are reaching the point

(Continued from page 1) where they will be required to teach a class with a 10th SFG Member present to hear and evaluate their instruction is an-other opportunity as well to learn.

Some of the 10th SFG Candidates are fast approaching the last two steps in Candidate School. They are the Graduation Exam and the unit’s Team Evaluation Score. Over the weeks of training you have been scored and have been given points based on how well you did during training. These have been recorded on an Excel Spreadsheet, and the sheet has been sorted by the total points scored by the candidates. It is available to all to see, and is in the Candidate School forum on our website. Many of you have noticed that to past Candidate School you have to have a mini-mum score of 900 and the Maxi-mum Score it 1200. Don’t try to game it and plan on scoring 900, because the last two hurtles are designed to bite those individuals and are the only areas where a person can generate a negative score. Yes, I said a negative score!

I cannot stress how important these last two hurtles are to gain-ing your Green Beret. They in essence sum up all of what you have learned and hopefully been practicing. Some of you are wondering what are the Gradua-tion Exam and the unit’s Team Evaluation Score.

The Graduation Exam is a mis-sion that candidates in their final phase of training will run on their own. This mission will be as realistic as possible, NO 10th SFG

ON POINT…. BY REDHAWK—CONTINUED

PAGE 3 VOLUME 1 , ISSUE 3

member or those that have par-ticipated are allowed to give any specifics regarding it. Even I can only give you a broad overview of it, suffice to say that those 10th SFG members that have earned their Beret will only observe, evaluate, and score your actions during this mission.

You will be required to complete certain objectives in a set amount of time. Some of the objectives will require the entire team to complete; others less. Some objectives have to be completed at the same time; others not. I can tell you, your opponents will be a combination of human and computer AI. The human play-ers will not be from our unit; therefore they will no doubt be coming at you with everything they got. This is Robin Sage!

The unit’s Team Evaluation Score is the score given by the Unit members it is based on the membership’s observation of your actions over the course of training, Co-op mission, and Joint Operation Missions. I have seen people that were cocky get shot done here and others who were sure they were sunk make it. I have every confidence that each and everyone of class 09-01 are capable of making it, if they put forth the time, effort, and practice what was taught to


THE MOUNTAIN POST

them. Once class 09-01 graduates, there will be some minor changes to the program to bring it more in line with other units and rep-licate the real Special Forces Training Pro-gram. We will be seeking everyone’s input and assistance to improve it at that time.

TRAINING MISSION

One of the mission’s of the 10th SFG is to train other units. Recently, the commander of Unit 19 “Dutch” has requested our assis-tance in training their personnel on such things as LandNav. I have given that permis-sion verbally and will soon draft a support agreement to help spell out those services requested by Unit 19. Additionally, the Lt RockSteel has requested we train a few of his personnel in the art of designated marksman. So in the near future you will be training other unit’s personnel, I expect each and eve-ryone will put forth their best effort and show our guests that we are indeed truly profes-sional.

HOLIDAYS

(Continued from page 3)

ON POINT….

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is. While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary

infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu): 1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications). 2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1


PREVENT SWINE FLU - GOOD ADVICE


“PLEASE BE SAFE

DURING THIS

HOLIDAY SEASON!”

We are entering the holiday season, and real life takes precedence over this game. With that being said, please let us know when and for how long you will be out of pocket. But more importantly, PLEASE BE SAFE DUR-ING THIS HOLIDAY SEASON! Do not over extend yourself and think you can drive 3000+ miles straight without resting to visit your relatives. It is simply not worth it, you are not replaceable. Don’t drink and drive, the cost and penalties are much too high; call a cab or a friend to pick you up it is much cheaper and is the right thing to do. Also be on the look out for people that are driving under the influence (DUI), and drive defen-sively.

THANKSGIVING DAY— All personnel or off for Thanksgiving Day. Please spend some time with your family and friends! Be thank-ful for what you have.

Ok, I will admit it. I reserved a copy of Operation Flash-point: Rise of the Dragon (OFP/RD), for the PC from GameStop on the hope that it may contain some of the old spark of that the old Opera-tion Flashpoint (OFP) series contained. What can I say; I grew up on Operation Flash-point: Cold War Crisis and I loved it so much I got the “Red Hammer” and “Resistance” expansion packs as well. The game play, graphics and diversity were second to none at the time this old warhorse was re-leased.

When I look at or judge a military game, I look at the following areas; Storyline, Environment, Playability, Graphics, Accuracy, Equip-ment, Artificial Intelligence, Multiplayer Options, Mis-sions, Support (Company and Community) and adaptability.

The Storyline

The storyline is important; it should be as it sets the stage and helps draw you into the game. OFP/RD storyline is not bad, it takes place on a small, fictional island called Skira, which is based on the island Kiska. This island is located near the western end of the Aleutian Island chain. The fictional island of Skira has been contested for many times in its history and now has been brought back into the world’s focus due to a massive worldwide fossil fuel shortage.

Since China’s economic ma-chine is starving for oil and natural gas, the communist hardliners in China seize the opportunity and take over the island from Russia. This of course starts a Sino-Russian War. Because Russia is em-battled with Chinese forces on the Asian continent, Russia asks the United States to in-tervene and take back the island while they deal with the Chinese mainland forces.

So you play role of a U.S. Marine tasked with capturing the island, on behalf of the Russians, from the Chinese military. I don’t think it’s very likely that the top three of the world’s leading nuclear superpowers would be going to war over a small five mile long by fourisland without it resulting in nuclear fallout at some point. There can’t be that much oil and gas there,

but it does have some inter-esting future possibilities when you consider that Japan and Korea are very close and it is a game. So for a score on storyline, I would give it a four on a scale of one to five. To me the storyline in Armed Assault/ArmA II was much more realistic and believable.

The Enviroment

To me the environment is more important than even the storyline. I break environ-ment into two different cate-gories, one being Terrain Environment and the other Playing Environment. I de-fine Terrain Environment, as the actual terrain as a player must fight and move upon, in this case it is an island called Skira.

The island of Skira is volcanic, and is approximately 5miles long by 4wide or 8 km x 6 km for our metric using folks. The terrain is varied with a volcano at one end of the island, numerous lakes and small waterways. Skira is sparsely populated with some towns and isolated houses and settlements and like in Armed Assault/ArmA II doesn’t have a lot of people. It is very pretty, and diverse. But Armed Assault/ArmA II came with two different ter-rain maps and I think at least one of the maps is bigger in the Bohemia’s creations. So I feel I have been short changed here, my score 2 out of 5.


INTO THE DRAGON ’S MAW . . . . BY REDHAWK

THE MOTTO OF FIELD CRAFT IS

"TO SEE WITHOUT BEING

SEEN"

PAGE 6 THE MOUNTAIN POST

island is used as the setting for Codemasters video game “Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.” The fictionalized version of the island is relocated closer to Russia and China. The island's topography is replicated near-exactly with some elements of the game designed around it, instead of vice-versa.

The ArmA II, version is currently in develop-ment by Randy, Ali Fish, and Fallujahmedic. I have been fortunate enough to be given a look at this piece of real estate. The island is cur


INSIDE THE SKUNK WORKS—(CONTINUED)

takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

(Continued from page 5) 4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.* 5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in

Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption. 6. Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

PREVENT SWINE FLU - (CONTINUED)


rently being called Skirkiska. The island is about 22 miles long and varies in width from 1.5 to 6 miles. The island is volcanic in nature and has a volcano located at the North-ern end of the island. This volcano is a stratovolcano, 5.3 mi × 4.0 mi in diameter at its base and 1,221 meters (4,006 ft) high. At the time of this article was written the island of Little Kiska was not part of the terrain, but there is talk of adding it back and possibly even another island as well.

Although it is in its very early stages of devel-opment, it is looking quite promising. It does not currently contain any trees, shrubbery and there are no completed towns or villages at this time. The developer’s currently plan to keep its environment in a rural or wilderness state versus having many cities or large towns. Current plans are to develop an Altiport which is an aerodrome for small airplanes and heli-copters; situated on a high mountain. There


“BUT FROM WHAT I HAVE

SCENE FOR FAR THIS PIECE OF

TERRAIN WILL BE WORTH FIGHTING

FOR ! ”

The Playing Environment is where the rubber meets the road so to speak, it is highly important to me; some peo-ple call it game play. To me it is the sum of the programs ability to replicate the real world, receive and send in-formation to me, entertain-ment factor, multiplayer ca-pability and replay value.

As one would expect the graphics are stunning and I personally think they are not on par with Arma II. The Skira map is just too brown, at least Chernaus looks good. Codemasters has chosen to use visual cues, as a prime means of relaying information to you the player. The diffi-culty levels are differentiated not by changes in AI intelli-gence/tactics, weapon dam-age or your capabilities, but by the amount visual informa-tion given to you the player.

So at the easiest level, stan-dard First Person Shooter (FPS) information is given to the player about weapons, ammo, squad health, compass direction along with cross hairs via a heads up display (HUD) this includes the loca-tion of enemies who have been spotted by the AI player's squad. No really a big difference here between Armed Assault and ArmA II at the lowest difficulty set-ting.

But as the difficulty is in-creased more information is removed from the HUD until none is left on screen. So at the highest difficultly level ammunition count, team-mate’s health must be re-membered and when engaged the locations of enemies must be determined by listening to your AI squad mates or using other visual cues like the di-

rection your squad is firing. At high difficulties visual effects become more important, par-ticularly at long range where smoke or dust can help to identify areas of contact or danger.

At any difficulty level the player may be killed by a single shot, although one can be wounded on an occasion.

There are, like Armed Assault and ArmA II, a lot of weapons and gear in this game and the ballistic system seem real enough. Many of the weapons can be modified and equipped with optics, grenade launchers, laser sights and suppressors. But I feel that Armed Assault and ArmA II have more stock weapons, OFP/DR just has three things that does not come stock with the Bohemian Creations, a usable Knife, Anti-personnel and Claymore mine. Unit animation is like reloading a weapon, placing it on your shoulder and other movements or animation have been motion captured using soldiers who have been trained to use the equipment in real life.

There are different land, air and sea vehicles including heli-copters, tanks, boats and APCs along with a few vehicles/weapons which cannot be used directly, but which can be called in a support role, such as fighter jets and artillery. So if you are a jet jockey just forget it.

INTO THE DRAGON ’S MAW—(CONTINUED)

PAGE 8 NEWSLETTER TITLE

“I HAVE DONE MY BEST TO KEEP AN OPEN MIND

ABOUT OPERATION FLASHPOINT : R ISE OF THE DRAGON . ”

are plans for one paved road to link the airports, bridges, and main harbor together. Secondary roads will be gravel, and side roads will be dirt.

Most of the towns will be small fishing villages with one large port. The military im-portance of this island has been a topic of discussion among the developers. One thought is to place a PAVE PAWS site on the island as part of a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System/Missile De-fense System; this of course will require a few new mod-els to be built, none of the being very complicated. There is talk of adding oil rigs to increase the economic im-portance of the terrain as well.

The developers have placed been working on the lakes and ponds located on the is-land and work has begun on the road network, quarry and

(Continued from page 7) fishing villages. There is no doubt some of the terrain will be altered to help with the location of buildings and game play. But from what I have scene for far this piece of terrain will be worth fighting for!

For those that don’t know the history behind this island, on June 6, 1942, Imperial Japa-nese forces invaded and cap-tured the island as part of a diversionary tactic to cover their real objective of Midway Island in the mid pacific. The following day Imperial Japa-nese forces captured Attu Island.

It wasn’t much of a battle as the Japanese only found a 10 man naval weather detach-ment and a dog there. The military importance of this frozen, difficult-to-supply island was questionable, but the psychological impact upon Americans losing U.S. terri-tory was tangible. During the winter of 1942–43, the Japa-nese reinforced and fortified

the islands—not necessarily to prepare for an island-hopping operation across the Aleutians, but to prevent a U.S. operation across the Kuril Islands.

On August 17, 1943, an inva-sion force consisting of 34,426 Allied troops, 95 ships, and 168 aircraft landed on Kiska only to find the is-land completely abandoned. Allied Forces estimated Kiska would have a garrison of 5,200 men, based upon the earlier battle on Attu. But just prior to the battle, the Imperial Japanese navy was able to evacuate the island in heavy fog.

the development process, as game companies tend not extending the games capabili-ties much past what a console is capable of doing. I person-ally think that is what has hap-pened here. Its not bad if you what to play by yourself, on line you can only have 16 players max per side. The mission editor is just a pain to work with, Bohemia’s is

Now, I have done my best to keep an open mind about Operation Flashpoint: Rise of the Dragon. But I have to admit, I was not thrilled to learn that there are two con-sole versions as well, one for the Xbox and the other for PlayStation 3. Usually, when console versions are sup-ported, the PC game versions tends to suffer greatly during

much better.

My final ruling on it is its no OFP and can’t really touch Armed Assault or even ArmA II. There is some other fac-tors as well that holds it back as well, it’s the updates, and it looks as if you will have to

INSIDE THE SKUNK WORKS—(CONTINUED)



Our organization attempts to replicate the various military units for recrea-tional and simulation purposes only. This organization and website is in no way affiliated with the United States Military or any Government entity.

We use ArmA 2 the latest military simulation game for PC DVD-ROM from Bohemia Interactive. ArmA 2 is set in the near future, in a fictional post soviet country called Chernarus. Players will be sent as members of the United States Military to this country and others to prevent further civilian casualties and ensure ongoing stability there.

ArmA 2 is based on the latest generation technology, offering large–scale game world, authentic and extremely detailed modern units, weapons, vehi-cles and environments, challenging single player and vast array of multi-player options. We supplement this game with community created add-ons to make it more fun and enjoyable.

Our Mission

“Our mission is to provide the most realistic computer environment in which our membership can enjoy utilizing team work and military tactics to successfully complete Armed Assault and ArmA II game missions without

those sessions being ruined by immature players.”

Our Vision

“Our organization’s vision is to be one of the most respected and well known Armed Assault and ArmA II units in the gaming community.”

This organization and website is in no way affiliated with the United States Military or any Government

entity. It is for recreation and simulation only.

E-mail: [email protected]

JOINT SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND

pay to get extra material other than bug fixes. The editor is not very hard but you are limited to work in-side a very tiny area. So to me it looks like Codemas-ter’s OFP/DR is at this stage is a Flop even with the bugs that Bohemia has slipped through the Bohemia prod-ucts of OFP – Cold War Crisis, Armed Assault and ArmA 2 are vastly superior. Some folks I know that work at Gamestop, have said many of the PC versions of the game have been returned and as of last week they are start-ing to see the console version being returned or traded



"ONE TEAM, ONE MISSION"

“

W E ARE ON THE WEB ! WWW . JSOC - GAMER . ORG

Mountain Post - November 2009 Issue

Documents

Transcript of Mountain Post - November 2009 Issue