A Week in Binh Long - The forever AAR

[Jason Petho]

Turn 6 - 1st/16th Infantry
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The convoy of 1st/16th is making progress. So far, no losses have been reported for the convoy as any of the mines/roadblocks and IED's along the route have only triggered the occasional disruption.
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Alas, the same can't be said for B/1st/16th Infantry. While securing the abandoned airfield in the southern part of Area ALASKA, the 1st Platoon from B Company ran into an IED and suffered the first casualties, sending half a squad to a MASH unit. Alas, nothing can be done about that except hoping for the best that we don't run into a lot of IED's. Due to the nature of the scenario/campaign, I will not be able to replenish losses to my core battalions. The losses will remain as such throughout the week.
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To the north, there is A/1st/16th Infantry in their helicopters, with some support from the Loaches and some Snakes. I will perform the air assault next turn. I didn't have enough Action Points to drop off the infantry and get the helicopters off the ground again, so I decided to wait a turn. As my helicopters are few and far between, I cannot be frivolous with them at all.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 6 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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The only thing of note is that the Jeep/Duster Task Force as completed the duty by checking the road for the 1st/16th Infantry convoy and have turned around back to QL13. They will spend the next handful of turns heading back to Lai Khe.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 7 - General
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This provides a pretty good summary of what's been going on during the last turn. I have found some IED's, which have caused some casualties, one of the platoons have recovered from the disruption though. My engineers south of Loc Ninh are making some progress in clearing QL13. Three Headquarters had unlucky die rolls, although I believe two of them are moving in the 1st/16th convoy, so that makes sense. You'll notice that the National Police unit has been building some Improved Positions. Basically, if an ARVN unit is in a hex and fixed without an improved position, they were tasked with building one.
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Turn 7 -2d/28th Infantry
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Let's start over in the west by the border. My first LRRP section has landed. It will operate north of the LZ LOUISIANNA 5 Firebase. Since it moves the quickest, hopefully we can secure the locations pretty quickly. I am concerned about ambushes against the LRRP unit, but I'm rolling the die to see what happens.
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To the south, the Aero Rifle Platoon has secured the first hamlet with a few more to go. You can see how close we are operating to the border.
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Here is the operating area for B/2d/28th Infantry. This is the northeastern part of Area LOUISIANA. I am expecting some resistance here, so will have to be a bit cautious.
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C/2d/28th Infantry will meander along the southern edge here of Area ALABAMA before crossing the area boundary (the red = signs) and starting the clearing of Area LOUISIANA.
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To the east of Loc Ninh, we can see A/2d/28th creating the ridge and securing the plantation in the area. There are still additional objectives to the east of the ridge, but so far, so good.
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The Dozers and Construction Engineers have arrived via Chinooks, which have stopped off in Loc Ninh to refuel before heading to LZ LOUISIANA 5.
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And lastly, the very slow progress of the highway clearing along QL13 from An Loc to Loc Ninh. This will take the majority of the day for the Engineer Task Force.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 7 - 1st/16th Infantry
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Further to the south at An Loc, we have A/1st/16th after it performed a Combat Assault into LZ ALASKA 1. Fortunately, there was no resistance, and I was able to spread out the platoons to start securing the area. The Snakes and Loach are still on station while I will send the Slicks to An Loc to refuel.
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At the southern boundary of Area ALASKA is where B/1st/16th is operating. They didn't run into any resistance, but one of the platoons stumbled into an IED (punji sticks, etc). The rest of the company started to fan out to secure the Rubber Processing Plant and the hamlets in the area. This will make a good secondary airfield for helicopters, so I'll make sure I keep this fairly secured in the future.
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Down south, the convoy is making progress and is well organized. This will take the majority of the day to drive up QL13 through Chon Thanh and on to An Loc. Unless this convoy is ambushed, C/1st/16th Infantry will be having a quiet ride north.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 7 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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With the headquarters units lounging around Lai Khe, the Jeep/Duster Task Force had completed the mission for the day and has started the trip back to Lai Khe. Once back in Lai Khe, this sector will fall off the radar unless something of note happens around Lai Khe.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 8 - General
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A bunch of helicopters need to find an airfield, but with all the movements, that's not surprising. Most of the Slicks I'll send to An Loc to refuel and then decide what to do with them after they have finished. Some more Improved Positions are being built by the stagnant ARVN and my a few headquarters are still out of supply as they continue the journey north.
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Turn 8 - 2d/28th Infantry
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Starting over in the west by the border, we have the Aero Rifle Platoon of D/1st/4th Cavalry continuing to secure the hamlets in the western edge of Area LOUISIANA.
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The LRRP unit is double timing along the trail in hopes of securing the area as quickly as possible before it is sent over to Cambodia to hunt down some supplies.
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B/2d/28th Infantry has almost cleared its area in northwest Area ALABAMA and has started to cross the boundary into Area LOUISIANA.
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C/2d/28th Infantry is not having a very effective last few turns. They are all spread out and all in the wrong area. I am still collecting them and preparing them to advance into Area LOUISIANA. Hopefully the company will start being effective in the next few turns.
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At least A/2d/28th Infantry is being more effective. They have started to go into the valley towards the hamlets in the Suit Tom Buor Valley. Here's hoping they don't take a lot of losses.
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The Engineering Task Force is still stuck on the highway. But that should be remedied soon.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 8 - 1st/16th Infantry & 3d Brigade Headquarters
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A/1st/16th Infantry has spread out around LZ ALASKA 1 and will be securing this part of Area ALASKA over the next dozen turns or so. No contact yet.
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At the bottom of Area ALASKA, B/1st/16th Infantry is doing the same, spreading out and trying to secure the villages northwest of the abandoned airfield. One platoon is heading east to clear the main plantation road.
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The remaining of 1st/16th Infantry has nearly arrived at the intersection of Route 301 and QL13. It should be clear sailing after this. If you have a good eye, you will notice the Duster (blue icon on QL13) and the escorting Jeeps have swung south and will head back to Lai Khe to the 3d Brigade Headquarters. The rest of the headquarters is still hanging around Lai Khe, shoveling sandbags. Note the Engineer trucks at the very top left of the image. This truck is carrying dozers, which will join this convoy as it heads up to An Loc.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 9 - General
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The Viet Cong turn was pretty quiet, and as you can see things are a bit better. I do have a loach that needs to return for refueling though.
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Turn 9 - 2nd/28th Infantry
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Starting with the Aero Rifle Platoon, two of the three targeted villages have been secured and it is patrolling down the trail to the third. So far, no resistance has been spotted.
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A little to the north, the LRRP team has made some good progress along the trails should be able to secure this portion of Area LOUISIANA with relative ease. The LRRP will venture into Cambodia after its adventure in Area LOUISIANA.
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B/2d/28th has entered its operating area around the eastern side of Area LOUISIANA. It is spread out nicely, a kilometre or so between the platoons.
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C/2d/28th Infantry hasn't been tasked well. It will take a few turns to get them organized where I would like them. They are too far away from the Victory Point locations to be very useful, but that should be remedied in a few turns.
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A/2d/28th Infantry continued on with clearing the eastern slope. D/2d/28th and the Engineer Task Force are still south of the main crossing on QL13. I neglected to grab a screenshot unfortunately.

[Jason Petho]

Turn 9 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A/1st/16th Infantry. The most southern platoon has found a sniper. Unfortunately, the first casualties from A Company were caused by the first shot from the Viet Cong sniper team. The Snakes were not very effective. I will have to move closer with the Rifle platoon to assault it, hopefully I can get close without taking more casualties.
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I did bring both Snake gunships over to take a shot. Alas, no joy. But I'm in a position to get closer next turn.
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Here is the overall situation that A/1st/16th Infantry has found themselves in.
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Further to the south, B/1st/16th Infantry isn't fairing much better. One of the platoons had triggered some IED's and have suffered a disruption and had some losses. Unfortunately, I suspect this will be the standard way of how things will go with this campaign. Damn Viet Cong!
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On the bright side, at least, the rest of 1st/16th is continuing north along Route 301 to QL13 with little issue. The convoy has been split into a couple of groups, but it is making good progress as a whole.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 9 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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3d Brigade headquarters is still digging in around Lai Khe, but the Jeep/Duster task force has turned south on QL13 to head back to Lai Khe. It is important for me to keep my units together, especially as the days go by.
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Turn 9 - 1st Aviation Battalion
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I have been shifting helicopters north though. I will be assigning three flights to Loc Ninh and three to An Loc. This will allow me to move one full company at a time in their specific area of operations. Hopefully this will lessen the amount of walking my troops have to do. But, I am limited in my helicopters, so I have to keep that in mind. Here you can see how the Slicks have been split up, one group heading north while the other remains on the tarmac at An Loc.
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