OPERATIONS ORDER
Operation Panther (1969), Whack-a-mole

--- OPERATIONS ORDER ---

Situation

Background Information
Air recon has identified several VC staging areas:

• The La Lay ridge and surrounding rock formations
• The Ko No Karst
• Xi Mi & Lang Hoan Tap rice fields
• Co Put Karst

An airmobile infantry platoon will insert, search and destroy via helicopter with Heavy Hogs as support. A Staging area has been prepared inside Khe Sahn Combat Base. Please refrain from leaving the area as this may impeed other USMC operations.

Friendly Forces
Airmobile batallion: Platoon Command Attached Comms element 2x Infantry Squad Rotary Wing: 2x UH-1B Iruquois Transport 2x UH-1C Iruquois Gunship 1x UH-34D Seahorse

Supporting Assets
No additional forces tasked at this time. Fire support from Khe Sahn Combat base can be retasked in emergencies.

Enemy Forces
Possible light vehicles and emplacements. Traps and ambush tactics. Light infantry, but large numbers. Possible patrols in the forests, but resistance will be concentrated around the staging areas.

Mission

Tasking
Find, Clear and destroy VC presence in objective areas

End-state
After clearing the objectives, exfill via helo and extract to Khe Sahn.

Execution

Commander's Intent
Purpose of the mission is to destroy enemy staging forces to prevent an attack on COP Khe Sanh.

Tasks and Sequencing
In order: Objective A - The La Lay ridge and surrounding rock formations Objective B - The Ko No Karst Objective C - Co Put Karst Objective D - Xi Mi & Lang Hoan Tap rice fields On objective A, the platoon will be dropped at LZ A and move on the the road towards the northern part of objective A. Whilst on the move, Guardian will soften up the objective before the platoon arrives with a CAS strike. BERSERKER 2 (marked in white) will move in from the south side, BERSERKER 1 will move in from the eastern part of the objective. After the northern part is secured, the platoon will move south towards the cave. BERSERKER 2 (marked in white) will move over and past the cave to the southern entrance of the cave. once both marked area's are secure, load up at LZ B Objective B & C On objective B, the platoon will be dropped at LZ C and move on the the road towards objective B. Whilst on the move, Guardian will soften up the objective before the platoon arrives with a CAS strike. BERSERKER 2 (marked in white) will move in from the east side of the objective whilst BERSERKER 1 will move in from the south of the objective. Whilst BERSERKER is clearing objective B, GUARDIAN will do CAS strikes on objective C. Once BERSERKER has cleared objective B, GUARDIAN will provide aircover for BERSERKER for pick-up at LZ D. Objective D On objective D BERSERKER platoon will be dropped off at LZ E, BERSERKER 1 (marked in white) will set up a BOF above the cave to cover BERSERKER 2 who will enter and clear the cave. After the cave has been cleared, BERSERKER will fallback to LZ E for pick-up and ENDEX.

Administration/Logistics

Resupply
LOGPAKs to be conducted via Lightning, on emergency LOGPAK, can be dropped on objectives but preference is to drop supplies at LZ A, C and E. Lightning 4 will act as ATC on COP Khe Sanh.

Medical
On MASSCAS emergency CCP to be created, if a MASSCAS is too big ARCHER will exfil casualties to COP Khe Sanh for medical personnel onsite to provide aid.

Rules of Engagement
In accordance with SOP

Fire Support Plan
In accordance with SOP

Close Air Support
GUARDIAN & ARCHER to provide CAS via rockets and doorgunners.

Command/Signal

Communications Plan

Callsign	Primary Frequency	Superior Frequency	ACTUAL
BERSERKER 9	40mHz	37mHz	MSP Jari Platoon Commander (≤45)
BERSERKER 1	250mHz	40mHz	MSP Dreolic Squad Leader (≤15)
BERSERKER 1-1	251mHz	250mHz	SP2 B.Miller Fireteam Leader (≤6)
BERSERKER 1-2	252mHz	250mHz	Cpl Bond Acting Fireteam Leader (≤5)
BERSERKER 2	260mHz	40mHz	SSG Hrusi Squad Leader (≤15)
BERSERKER 2-1	261mHz	260mHz	SP2 C.Angels Fireteam Leader (≤6)
BERSERKER 2-2	262mHz	260mHz	PFC minilurk123 Acting Fireteam Leader (≤5)
LIGHTNING 4	70mHz	43mHz	SFC Jenkins Logistics Support Chief

Considerations
Succession of Command BERSERKER 9, BERSERKER 1, BERSERKER 2 Signal - Purple Smoke grenades should be used in the event of MASCAS - Red smokes for requesting CAS, authorisation by Squad leader, targets specifications to be forwarded to BERSERKER 9.