A Week in Binh Long - The forever AAR

[Jason Petho]

Turn 20 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A company of the 1st/16th only has a few objectives left before securing the rest of Area ALASKA. The Company should be able to be complete the tasks in a dozen turns or so, before nightfall. Why so slowly? Well, I am going to try to avoid mines and move off the road as much as I can.
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B Company continues to move towards the Abandoned Airfield and will be setting up some defences there for the day. One platoon has already started digging in.
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The rest of the battalion is just to the east of the Abandoned Airfield along QL13. The roads have been mined and blocked, so the advance has been slow, but the battalion should be in position around An Loc in a handful of turns.
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While not necessary, the supply vehicles from the 1st/16th have arrived close enough to An Loc to trigger the supply message. I will have to keep the supply vehicles in the area for 5 turns before I collect the additional supplies.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 20 - 3d Brigade Headquarters.
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The Chinooks have landed at the airfield and I will start to transfer the dozers to be ready to be flown north. You can see some additional Improved Positions have been built on the eastern side of Lai Khe, and the heavy machine guns have moved to the next location to start digging in.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 21 - General
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As we are still early in the game, things are pretty quiet during the Viet Cong turn. I have a lot of headquarters low on ammo, but that is due from all the movement, mostly. Looks like only one unit is low on ammo and that I have successfully cleared a mine or block along QL13.
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Turn 21 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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Trekking through the jungle, the Aero Rifle platoon is doing its best to get back into the fray before it is sent back to An Loc.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 21 - 2d/28th Infantry
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With the Firebase at LZ LOUISIANA 5 being completed, I just need some Chinooks to help out with the movement. The dozers are heading to LZ LOUISIANA 4 for transportation, although if the road is clear, I might just keep them heading along the road. That might be tedious though.
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My LRRP team along the northern border has finished its tasks and is now loaded on some slicks, ready for infiltration into Cambodia. Even if I don't kill anything, I'll gain points after every set amount of turns for being in Cambodia.
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B Company is nearly completed its mission of securing and there is one platoon at Hill 171. You can see I have brought some helicopters from 1st/4th Cavalry for support against an attack on the hill soon enough.
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C Company is across the river, which takes extra long because of the fords, but they are going to be in position in a few turns for the assault against the known Viet Cong positions in the area.
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A Company is almost back at Loc Ninh. I will send some of the battalion trucks to pick up the straggling platoon
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Here is the overall situation at Loc Ninh. The battalion is all there, just need to move and organize the battalion and start building some defences while I start shipping the companies out to the firebase.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 21 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A Company is starting back to An Loc. I'm still trying to avoid IED's by going cross country, but alas, there are some objectives on the roads. Ugh.
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Most of B Company is trying to cross the river in the plantation, then they will double time to the abandoned airfield for the rest of the day. Thinking positive that they will get there in time to be useful.
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The rest of the battalion is almost in An Loc. I'll start building up the defences of the town and organizing the field task force in the coming turns.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 21 - 3rd Brigade Headquarters.
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One of the Chinooks loaded up the Dozers and will head north. I suspect An Loc for the start of the next day. The other Chinook flight is waiting for the Construction Engineers to be ready to join them. With a new improved position completed, the heavy machine guns have started on a new spot on the eastern side of Lai Khe.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 22 - General
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Another quiet turn by the Viet Cong, as expected. The Viet Cong detachment at Hill 171 remained in place and didn't fire. Otherwise, the start of the new turn brought some good news about an Improved Position being built at the abandoned airfield south of An Loc. There are a lot of headquarters out of supply as many of them are still moving.
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Turn 22 - D/1st/4th Cavalry
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The Aero Rifle platoon has started to follow the trails into the middle of Area LOUISIANA on its way back to a Landing Zone to be picked up and flown back to the Loc Ninh Airfield.
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The helicopters for D/1st/4th moved towards Hill 171 and engaged the Viet Cong position there. Utilizing the Loaches to draw enemy fire, which was successful, and then moved in closer with my Hogs to rain death from above. Targeting the Viet Cong machine gun as priority, I am feeling confident it was reduced.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 22 - 2d/28th Infantry
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Over at the Firebase at LZ LOUISIANA 5, we are waiting patiently for the 2d/28th Task Force to start arriving. The Construction Engineer is here waiting for some Chinooks while the Dozers are meandering to the next Landing Zone.
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On the northern boundary, the LRRP was unloaded from the helicopters and then secured the two objectives on the boundary. NOTE: With the 1.21 UPDATE, these two objectives are INCLUDED with the Area LOUISIANA zone, since they are on the boundary. Prior to this they were not and would have flagged an error. I will need to adjust the Objective Point value though from 0 to 1 in a future update.
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It seems I forgot to take a screenshot of B/2d/28th. Nothing new to report as the two platoons in the north were continuing to clear their sector while the 3rd platoon is on the southwest side of Hill 171 waiting for the opportunity to strike, as shown in the screenshot of the previous post.
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C/2d/28th is preparing for their assault on the known Viet Cong position that is highlighted below. It will take a few turns yet and I will bring in some additional gunship support to help. It is important I keep my casualties low in this scenario as there is A LOT to do in the coming days.
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A/2d/28th has one of the platoons already onboard helicopters and flying towards Hill 171 (right side of the screenshot). I haven't yet decided if I will land at LZ LOUISIANA 2 (left side of the screenshot), or continue on to the firebase. It will depend on how confident I feel with the Hogs doing their job.
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The remainder of A/2d/28th is closing in on the airfield to be airlifted where the platoons are needed.
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The rest of the battalion is setting up shop. I have highlighted a few locations that I will be building defences to help protect the important base at Loc Ninh. Remember that I will need to keep the heavy weapons, logistics and main headquarters here in Loc Ninh, so need to ensure it is protected against any Viet Cong attack.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 22 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A/1st/16th continues clearing the northwest area around An Loc. It won't take long to have Area ALASKA cleared at this rate. You can see I am moving my platoons off the road, hoping to save casualties until I can get some engineers in here to clear the roads.
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B/1st/16th is heading towards the western side of the Abandoned Airfield in Area ALASKA and will find a good location for additional defences. You can see the new Improved Position created at the southeast side of the airfield.
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The rest of the battalion, including C/1st/16th has arrived at An Loc and I am dispersing the units. I will come up with a defence plan next turn.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 22 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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I loaded up the final Construction Engineers to fly north with the Chinooks, the other flight of Chinooks have almost reached Chon Thanh. I have to decide where I will fly them to. Maybe An Loc? Maybe leave them at Chon Thanh? I'm not sure yet. I will decide next turn. The rest of the units continue to build defences, slowly but surely.
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