Aces High Bulletin Board
Special Events Forums => Friday Squad Operations => Topic started by: Dux on August 30, 2002, 06:15:02 PM
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Hi all,
Would you veteran TOD Frame COs care to share some of your experience and knowledge for the benefit of people, like myself, who would be willing to step up to the plate when the scheduled COs can't make it, but lack the first clue about what to do?
What is the process that you go through? Any checklists? Things to avoid?
I'm sure it's not rocket surgery, but where do you begin?
Thanks in advance
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Think big picture. Timing has won me a few frames. Knowing what "squads" do "what" well helps. I like to write down the squads I have availble with there projected numbers on a piece of paper. Then write down the AC types and restrictions you have available. Next, write down your objectives. Match it all up. Consider fuel consumption, time to target, escorts needed, bombs needed. Include maps, and color coding for the real dense squad CO's (like swoop) when you sned out orders.
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I don't see getting the orders out on time listed there ammo.
;)
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Getting the events web pages back up and running would certainly help with preparing the orders.
Maybe it's just me, but I spent a lot of time just trying to sort out who the squadrons were, numbers per squad, available aircraft, available ordnance, constraints, etc.
Is there a schedule that shows who the CO will be for a given frame? It would be nice to know in advance that I'm on deck. Sure... there was a message identifying the COs for BoB but it was buried here in the BBS. I missed that.
In retrospect, I should have told Skernsk that I couldn't do the CO job this week and that I could not find a stand in. There would have been a great rending and gnashing of teeth, but I'm certain the orders would have gotten out by Wednesday instead of late Thursday/early Friday.
I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the frame tonight. Hope it went okay.
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Originally posted by fnaqzna
Is there a schedule that shows who the CO will be for a given frame? It would be nice to know in advance that I'm on deck. Sure... there was a message identifying the COs for BoB but it was buried here in the BBS. I missed that.
That info was in this thread. It had drifted down to page 2.
Maybe the TOD CM's can email the FRAME CO the emails of the Squad CO's ?
Jordi
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Friday Tod -- Final Roster
Here are the sides. As usual I could not make all of you happy, so we will do our best to give you first dibs next time around.
ALLIED
332nd Flying Mongrels
56th Fighter Group
The Flying Zoo
412th FS
457th BG
Groverats
Shillelagh
Rougue Squadron
880 Squadron
Arctic Storm 11th Air Force
MAG-33
AXIS
FDB's
AK's
Nightmare's
Nighthawks
Marine Air Wing
Airmageddon
3/JG2
Damned
FRAME CO's
Frame 1 --- Starbird(allied) AKNimitz (axis)
Frame 2 --- Sandman(allied) PropMAW (axis)
Frame 3 --- Ripsnort (allied) Jordi (axis)
Frame 1 CO's, your orders have been sent.
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Originally posted by daddog
I don't see getting the orders out on time listed there ammo.
;)
Oh that will leave a mark;)
I only had a one day turn around this last one, TYVM:)
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Who are the Groverats? Did I leave someone out?
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If you keep that up ammo I will not have anything to insult you with. ;)
Jordi is right that information is posted here before all the TOD's giving everyone a week or more notice. As far as the web pages that exile is leaving up it is up to the Squad C.O.'s to keep that up dated.
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On the web pages, I can see my own squad dossier... no one elses.
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the one thing that is not visble, (at least I havent seen it) is squad strength. Would be nice to have.
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They usually include that I think in the roster breakdown, but Skernsk did this one and well, he sucks.
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One bit of recommendation I have is never to micro-manage individual flights down to the "Fuel load out, Ord load out" level. Squadrons generally know what the fuel requirement is, and once assigned a target, will bring the ordnance required to do the job. Give em a target, assign them a plane type (with options if its available), and let them do their "squadron thang". :)
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No argument there Rip... I don't hand out ord/fuel assignments. Instead, I make assignments based on the mission. It makes little sense to send an attack aircraft out on a strike mission if the scenario doesn't give you eggs. Little details like this can foul up a plan.
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Just jump into it, and ask under the way;).
The CO in the other squadron you wil become CO for is experince CO and wil be glad to help you under the way, inkl. me;) if you can call me a veteran CO :rolleyes: .
My advice, jump into it, and when you get your first CO orders, ask for help under the way and we wil help you.
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One more piece of advice.
Always check the thread that the TOD CM posts as to who is assigned to what side, for example:
http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=62129&referrerid=3203
Then, go to either the Friday TOD Squad dossier or the Sunday Squad dossier and email the orders to each of the squadron CO's, the emails are on the lower left hand side of each respective squad dossier. Below are the links to the squad dossiers and if you plan on being a frame CO in the future, I recommend bookmarking the links below.
Sunday TOD Squad Dossier and email lists (http://events.simladder.com/tod_squaddossier_sat.php)
Fridays TOD Squad Dossier and email lists (http://events.simladder.com/tod.php)
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I find that assigning one of my squadies to watch radio traffic is very helpfull. With so much going on, it's easy for a side CO to miss things in the green, especially if you have set up a CO channel (I like to set up a seperate channel for the squad COs to communicate with me, but sometimes it's overkill) but having an extra set of eyes going over the text really helps. Also, the great thing about TOD is the squad support structure. You can generally trust the squad COs to choose the best loadouts to accomplish their missions.
Lastly, and it doesn't apply to this camp so much, if you have moving targets (ie, incoming raids, or carriers) I like to print out a large map on 8.5/11 paper with the grids on it. It really helps me keep track of what is where, especially when you have limited or no radar.
-Sikboy
-Sikboy
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punt, good info in here if you volunteered for a frame CO...
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Just a reminder, when I give TOD objectives to you as a Frame CO, I almost always group the squads together to form pretty much equal flights (based off of minimum commitment).
So if I give you Flight A, B, C, and D, you can pretty much be sure that those are equal flights on paper. Of course, there's no telling who's going to actually show up on the min and max sides of their commitments so things can get FUBAR fast.
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Originally posted by Nifty
Of course, there's no telling who's going to actually show up on the min and max sides of their commitments so things can get FUBAR fast.
Although it's not a perfect system either, I like to use last weeks headcount to project this weeks numbers. I think it's a little more accurate than going by the broad commitment numbers, but it can still be a bit off.
-Sikboy