A Week in Binh Long - The forever AAR

[Jason Petho]

Turn 15 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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The 1st/16th Task Force headquarters arrived to An Loc (just not enough points to land), I will send this helicopter (in orange highlighting) up north Loc Ninh and use that for ferrying the LRRP units into Cambodia because this is only a 2SP helicopter, not enough to carry a full platoon, but enough to carry some minor units.
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Down at Lai Khe, the Construction Engineer and Dozers are building some Improved Positions around the airfield, which it did complete a set already. It will continue until the Chinooks arrive from the north.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 16 - General
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No action from the Viet Cong, as expected this turn. My infantry platoons have recovered from their disruptions though. I believe I have one more left from 1st/16th in Area ALASKA that is still disrupted. My ARVN troops are doing quite well with their improved position building! Seems I have will have all the ARVN troops in some form of protection before too long.
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Turn 16 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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The Aero Rifle platoon continues it's advance along the western edge of Area LOUISIANA. After securing the objective, one of the NEW dialog backgrounds was displayed (this will be included in the 1.20 UPDATE). Hope you like them!
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At LZ LOUISIANA 5, the Firebase is halfway to being constructed, although if I was smart, I would have built the first set of trenches to the northeast of the current trenches, so I could have easy access to that landing zone. What was I thinking!?
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The LRRP, operating along the northern edge of Area LOUISIANA is making excellent progress along the trails. It should secure the last one next turn and can head to the landing zone to be picked up by the helicopters for its journey to Cambodia.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 16 - 2d/28th Infantry
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Here we can see that B Company (highlighted) is still spread out to high heaven. I'm going to continue to ignore Hill 171 for now and focus on securing the points. I will have to formulate a plan to get that company operating together.
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C Company continues along the southern boundary of Area LOUISIANA, scoping out the trails, looking for signs of Viet Cong. None so far, but don't count your chickens, as they say!
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A Company continues to outshine the other companies in the area, nearly completing its first mission. Maybe it is taking it a little slower now that it knows it is going to be flown to Hill 171 for combat. Or maybe they are eager? Who knows! We shall see.
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The D Company and logistical element of 2d/28th is making excellent progress, they are not too far south of Loc Ninh now and the road appears to be clear. Apart from a few mines, that is.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 16 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A Company of the battalion continues to effectively clear the northern part of Area ALASKA. Here we can see the plans for the coming turns for each of the platoons. Of course, that could change if there is any contact with Viet Cong platoons, but that seems reasonable to me thus far.
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Additionally, here is the plan for B Company on the southern part of Area ALASKA. As I mentioned, I'll try and build some Improved Positions around the Abandoned Airfield and secure it to use it as a forward operating base in the future.
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Here is the current progress of the rest of the battalion. That multi-kilometre long convoy continues meandering up the QL13 to An Loc. Only a few more turns away as well though, so that's good progress!
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 16 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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The Engineer and Dozers have started digging some additional Improved Positions along the airfield at Lai Khe. I am hoping it doesn't take too long to do so, of course. The other Heavy Machine Gun's are all digging in, but seem to be taking a long time to do so.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 17 - General
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No Viet Cong contact this turn although the Dozers at Lai Khe have been quite effective and built some more Improved Positions on the airfield. The rifle platoon in Area ALASKA hasn't recovered yet and there are a number of headquarters still out of supply. Helicopters will be landed to refuel while I see the notification.
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Turn 17 - 4th/1st Cavalry
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The Aero Rifle platoon is slogging through the jungle in an effort to go to the last western Objective in Area LOUISIANA. Don't forget that you can double time your troops through jungle if you are on a level plain or going downhill.
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A little to the north at LZ LOUISIANA 5 where the firebase is still under construction. No joy with the Improved Positions this time, so they are continuing to dig in while the Task Force HQ of 2d/28th Infantry is settling in for the night.
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Looks like my LRRP team was exceptionally lucky when it took that last Objective, as there was IED there. Note on the 3D screenshot where the arrows are pointing and you can see the punji traps.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 17 - 2d/28th Infantry
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Here is B Company scattered in the north, but I have drawn out a plan in order to move the platoons closer together and be in somewhat good cohesion.
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To the southern area of Area LOUISIANA, here is C Company and my plan for the platoons. I might not go that far west with the platoons, but we shall see how quickly the LRRP unit that is attached can secure the most westerly objectives in the screenshot.
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And here is the general plan for A Company to return to the airfield so we can perform a combat assault into Area LOUISIANA. You can see that Area ALABAMA is almost wholly secured.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 17 - 1st/16th Infantry
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Here we are to the west of An Loc where A Company is operating. It shall be making some good progress, I am just concerned about additional mines/IED's that can potentially cause additional casualties to my platoons.
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B Company has completed the mission it was assigned, the new mission is to send all the platoons to the Abandoned Airfield where I will dig in for the rest of the day. One platoon is there already, the other two platoons will take a handful of turns to get there though. I have a Loach on the airfield ready to conduct some additional reconnaissance missions.
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Here we can see how close the rest of the 1st/16th Infantry convoy is, with the Abandoned airfield to the top left part of the screenshot. The lead units did run into some mines and blocks, so that will bottleneck the whole column along this part of QL13.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 17 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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Down at Lai Khe you can see where I am currently digging in to build some improved positions. The Construction Engineers and Dozers are waiting for the Chinooks that are a couple turns away to send them north. I'll go over helicopter assignments next turn.
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[Jason Petho]

Now the 1.20 UPDATE is released, I can return to the AAR.

Turn 18 - General
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Nothing too exciting happened during the Viet Cong turn. There were no shots fired or movement that I noticed. Here is the summary for the start of the turn, the most concerning thing is that I have some helicopters that I need to ensure I land.
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Turn 18 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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In the far west of Area LOUISIANA, the Aero Rifle platoon continues along the international border between Cambodia and Vietnam, bushwacking through the woods in an effort to secure the most westerly Victory Point Locations. With the streams and forested hexes, it is a slog indeed.
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At the LOUISIANA Firebase, the Construction Engineer and Dozers have been doing some great efforts. I'm not too far away from finalizing the Firebase, collecting my points and sending the Construction Engineer and Dozers back to Loc Ninh. Just the trenches need to be build to finalize.
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The LRRP skirting the northern edge of Area LOUISIANA is making some good progress. I haven't found any additional IED's or mines in this area. They have gone unscathed so far. They will be heading towards the landing zone eventually to fly over to Cambodia.
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