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fandomhigh2009-11-18 11:48 am
furious-maximus.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2009-11-18 11:48 am
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Infantry Tactics [Wednesday Second Period]
As students arrived for class they'd notice a large stack of assorted equipment. Very, very assorted equipment. Most of it seemed to be focused on specific sorts of environments: climbing ropes, snow shows, rain coats, water-proofed boots, and just about anything one could imagine. "Today we're going to be discussing and working in difficult terrain. Grab what you think you need from the stack and we'll get to the run." He grinned just a bit as he very carefully didn't tell them what terrain they needed to prepare for. "Remember that you should try to carry everything you need without carrying anything you don't..." Just seeing who grabbed what was going to be interesting.
"You are free to coordinate with one another on who's going to carry what. You have one minute," he added, waiting patiently for precisely sixty seconds before turning and beginning the run.
"Many irregular units are trained to handle difficult or uncommon terrain," Max explained as he ran along. "Mountains or desert or snow or forests. Many are trained to handle more than one. This is extremely important because the entire point of irregular forces is flexibility. If you have to move your teams through the same predictable easy terrain that regular troops move through, then it becomes easy for your enemies to intercept them. Having a flexible force allows you more freedom of movement which allows you to move your irregulars around pretty much at will, or forces your enemies to devote resources defending far more locations either of which is a very good thing for your side."
"For a lot of missions an irregular force has time for planning and proper equipment selection. You can look at maps and pick routes and then select gear based on those plans, but often that's not an option. Sometimes you don't have time because the opportunity to strike is short. Sometimes your plans have to change at the last minute. And sometimes you just don't have access to the equipment you want, and so you have to improvise."
With a quick grin over his shoulder, Max turned abruptly from the trail they'd been running on and into some trees. After a few hundred feet he led the group right into a swamp. Pausing on a relatively dry and firm section of land, Max looked back to make sure everyone was keeping up. "You have five minutes to take a breather and prepare for this terrain. The water is cold, but only dangerously so if you stop moving. It gets deep in places, so keeping your equipment dry may be difficult at times. Feel free to drop anything you don't want to carry through here."
Once the allotted time had passed, Max was back on the move. "Swamps are, as you can tell, nasty terrain. Because of the way they're made it's basically nasty water every way you look. It's usually dirty so judging depth is hard. During warm times there are all sorts of nasty bugs and animals to bite you, and during cold times the water is painfully cold. Basically no one wants to fight in a swamp. No one even wants to have to move through one. Which means that knowing how to do so effectively can be a very useful tool: most people won't expect it."
Eventually he led the way out of the swamp and the group arrived at the base of a sixty foot high cliff. That was a pretty unlikely thing to find next to a swamp in the real world, but that was one of the great things about the Danger Shop: Max could put lots of improbably tough terrain right next to other improbably tough terrain. "Five minutes again," he announced. "I'll go up last so that I can keep an eye on you from down here."
After the short break Max waved them at the cliff. "Cliffs are team terrain. While one person can climb this sort of thing alone, it's inevitably safer and faster with a group. I know most of you don't have training for this sort of thing, but usually the most experienced climber leads the way in order to find the best holds and point them out to the people who follow. It's also a lot easier if anyone remembered to bring any rope. Especially if you managed to keep it dry through the swamp."
Max watched everyone climb, making sure no one did anything too dangerous and ready to step in if anyone fell. The Danger Shop was programmed to prevent serious injuries, but he didn't like to take chances. Once everyone was up, he scrambled quickly up behind them and grinned at the site that they'd already been greeted by: snow.
"Snow is another terrible terrain to work in. It's cold, it's wet, and it's almost as hard to move in as water. Plus, when it's actively snowing like it is now your visibility is much lower than usual. The snow here is a couple of feet deep and is mostly freshly fallen. That means it's loose and you can sink into it pretty easily." He grinned slightly, "Though usually being smaller helps in a situation like this, so most of you are in pretty good shape there."
"Anyway, you have five minutes again. Dump gear you don't want weighing you down, swap with other people, and work out some sort of plan."
Five minutes later he was leading the way across the snow. "Another reason that snowy terrain is aggravating is that when it's not actively snowing it's really obvious that someone has moved through an area. Your tracks usually stay in place for days, and that means that you risk detection even if you're long gone from an area. Sometimes that's just fine, but sometimes that can be disastrous for your mission."
Eventually the snow ended and they were... right back where they started class. Except that now there was a table withmoddable hot beverages. "Warm yourselves up and then you're free to go," Max told them. "I don't want any of you getting sick from hiking through the snow while you were still wet from the swamp."
"You are free to coordinate with one another on who's going to carry what. You have one minute," he added, waiting patiently for precisely sixty seconds before turning and beginning the run.
"Many irregular units are trained to handle difficult or uncommon terrain," Max explained as he ran along. "Mountains or desert or snow or forests. Many are trained to handle more than one. This is extremely important because the entire point of irregular forces is flexibility. If you have to move your teams through the same predictable easy terrain that regular troops move through, then it becomes easy for your enemies to intercept them. Having a flexible force allows you more freedom of movement which allows you to move your irregulars around pretty much at will, or forces your enemies to devote resources defending far more locations either of which is a very good thing for your side."
"For a lot of missions an irregular force has time for planning and proper equipment selection. You can look at maps and pick routes and then select gear based on those plans, but often that's not an option. Sometimes you don't have time because the opportunity to strike is short. Sometimes your plans have to change at the last minute. And sometimes you just don't have access to the equipment you want, and so you have to improvise."
With a quick grin over his shoulder, Max turned abruptly from the trail they'd been running on and into some trees. After a few hundred feet he led the group right into a swamp. Pausing on a relatively dry and firm section of land, Max looked back to make sure everyone was keeping up. "You have five minutes to take a breather and prepare for this terrain. The water is cold, but only dangerously so if you stop moving. It gets deep in places, so keeping your equipment dry may be difficult at times. Feel free to drop anything you don't want to carry through here."
Once the allotted time had passed, Max was back on the move. "Swamps are, as you can tell, nasty terrain. Because of the way they're made it's basically nasty water every way you look. It's usually dirty so judging depth is hard. During warm times there are all sorts of nasty bugs and animals to bite you, and during cold times the water is painfully cold. Basically no one wants to fight in a swamp. No one even wants to have to move through one. Which means that knowing how to do so effectively can be a very useful tool: most people won't expect it."
Eventually he led the way out of the swamp and the group arrived at the base of a sixty foot high cliff. That was a pretty unlikely thing to find next to a swamp in the real world, but that was one of the great things about the Danger Shop: Max could put lots of improbably tough terrain right next to other improbably tough terrain. "Five minutes again," he announced. "I'll go up last so that I can keep an eye on you from down here."
After the short break Max waved them at the cliff. "Cliffs are team terrain. While one person can climb this sort of thing alone, it's inevitably safer and faster with a group. I know most of you don't have training for this sort of thing, but usually the most experienced climber leads the way in order to find the best holds and point them out to the people who follow. It's also a lot easier if anyone remembered to bring any rope. Especially if you managed to keep it dry through the swamp."
Max watched everyone climb, making sure no one did anything too dangerous and ready to step in if anyone fell. The Danger Shop was programmed to prevent serious injuries, but he didn't like to take chances. Once everyone was up, he scrambled quickly up behind them and grinned at the site that they'd already been greeted by: snow.
"Snow is another terrible terrain to work in. It's cold, it's wet, and it's almost as hard to move in as water. Plus, when it's actively snowing like it is now your visibility is much lower than usual. The snow here is a couple of feet deep and is mostly freshly fallen. That means it's loose and you can sink into it pretty easily." He grinned slightly, "Though usually being smaller helps in a situation like this, so most of you are in pretty good shape there."
"Anyway, you have five minutes again. Dump gear you don't want weighing you down, swap with other people, and work out some sort of plan."
Five minutes later he was leading the way across the snow. "Another reason that snowy terrain is aggravating is that when it's not actively snowing it's really obvious that someone has moved through an area. Your tracks usually stay in place for days, and that means that you risk detection even if you're long gone from an area. Sometimes that's just fine, but sometimes that can be disastrous for your mission."
Eventually the snow ended and they were... right back where they started class. Except that now there was a table with
Sign in
Re: Sign in
Re: Sign in
Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation
Re: Sign in
Re: Sign in
Grab some gear
Re: Grab some gear
Re: Grab some gear
Re: Grab some gear
was afraid, very afraidlooked at the equipment and frowned. What were the chances Centurion would allow her to transform and fly over the trail instead of running it?With a sigh, she grabbed some rope and wrapped it around her waist a few times. She put on a jacket to help keep it in place better. She was already wearing a good pair of sneakers, but a quick glance at the other students' preparations had her switching to a pair of light (and actually kind of cute) boots and tying her own (totally cute) shoes around her neck.
The swamp
Re: The swamp
She sloshed through slowly, holding as much of her clothing out of the water as possible and choosing her way carefully, to avoid anything especially gross. It was just as she was about to reach the far "bank" that fate decided she needed to step unexpectedly into a depression, stumble and nearly fall into a giant floating pile of muck.
"EW!" There was massive flailing as she tried to get her footing back. She climbed out, covered in... swamp stuff. "EEEEEW!"
Re: The swamp
The cliff
Re: The cliff
Dear Kaoru, You really need to look into taking this class. It's perfect for you. Today we ran, wearing boots and carrying heavy stuff like ropes, through a DIRTY SWAMP and then CLIMBED A CLIFF! You'd love it. P.S. Send takoyaki.
Re: The cliff
The snow
Re: The snow
Re: The snow
There's a reason why they conquered nations in this boots.
Warm back up
Re: Warm back up
Re: Warm back up
The TAs
Re: The TAs
Re: The TAs
Though the snow was total fail just because it was cold. Ew, cold.
Re: The TAs
Re: The TAs
"Me?" Ino asked. "Enjoy it too much? I don't know what you're talking about, Centurion!"
Talk to Max
OOC
Re: OOC
Re: OOC