P13-185 Pre/post-mission Briefings

How to use this procedure

This procedure outlines the pre and post deployment checklists and briefings to be conducted by the deployments Intelligence Officer (IO) that is, the person(s) who's mission is being executed. The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that all members of mission support teams are reminded of both unit policies and deployment specific parameters before commencing activities. It's vitally important, in order to avoid mistakes which affect the entire deployment.

The IO should gather the mission support team, and conduct this ~5 minute briefing, filling in the gaps and including optional sections where relevant, before every deployment.

The scripts should be read verbatim (or at least in a way that content is not missed), however the Green Text indicates prompts so that those with more experience can be cued, opposed to reading it word for word. If a member of the mission support team joins late, they should be made to read this document and or briefed by another member of the mission support team.

 

Definitions

• IO - Intelligence Officer (the person in charge of the MST for the mission)
• FL - Field Leader (the leader in charge of the deployment)
• SA - Server Administrator
• GM/SGM/AGM - Senior, Assistant and Game Masters
• RP - Role players
• MST - Mission Support Team (all GM/RP collective)

 

Post-join briefing script

IO to brief full MST

“I am the IO for this deployment, As the IO I will oversee this deployment, you must not do anything in this deployment without stating it first - this is so I can intervene if needed - to ensure the deployment goes as planned.

 

Supervisors (if assigned) _________ is supervising today's deployment / I am supervising _________ on today's deployment, in this instance, the supervisor may overrule the IO at any time should they feel the need to do so. 

Game Masters (if assigned) My game masters today are _________: as GMs you are permitted to take actions and operate within the parameters that I have and will give you throughout this mission, but you must still communicate all your actions at all times.

Assistant Game Masters (if assigned) My assistants are _________: as AGMs, unlike GMs you must not take any actions without first getting my authorisation. This does not prevent you from making suggestions or giving ideas.

Roleplayers (if assigned) My roleplayers today are _________: as RPers, like AGMs you must not take any actions without first getting my authorisation, I will assign you characters and units to remote control throughout this deployment and I will also specify specific behaviours - you must operate within these parameters and if you are unsure - ask. I may also instruct our GMs and AGMs to do the same. This does not prevent you from making suggestions or giving ideas.

 

LAMBs AI We are using LAMBs AI, so ensure that you are not issuing vanilla waypoints and employ dynamic targets and LAMBs movement and action modules, per SOP to command the AI - if you are unsure or have not used this before, please ask.

Remote Control As a general note when you remote control units you must communicate this to the entire MST and you must not purposefully target, engage or shoot at players, unless under specific instruction from me, that is within SOP.

Mission Situation The brief premise of this mission is _________, the enemy faction(s) we are using today are _________, you can find them here _________ on the spawn menus. The general behaviour and movement of the enemy will be _________. You must only use the units which I have specified, if you are unsure you should ask me.

CIVPOP There will be _________ civilian presence and the civilian faction is _________, the civilians are _________ towards the friendly forces.

INDFOR There will be _________ independent/friendly force presence, and the INDFOR/BLUFOR faction is _________, the INDFOR are _________ towards the friendly forces.

 

Server Performance The most important responsibility we have is the enjoyment of all players on this deployment, server performance is critical to that. I  will monitor server and headless client performance through UNITAB, and will ensure it remains above 30 wherever possible. It’s also important that we keep the number of AIs present across Headless Clients below 150 at any one time, and I’ll monitor this throughout the mission. Do not spawn lots of units at the same time and wait 10 seconds before issuing commands to spawned groups, communicate the spawning of these so we are not overloading the server between us. If the players can’t see it, we should ask ourselves whether it really needs to be there - so don’t spawn, especially AI, too far ahead in the mission - at the same time, never place anything in plain view of the players line of sight.

Teamspeak Please remember as the players join, that you have teamspeak muted when you are not using it so that none of us are broadcasting what we say here.

JIP Plan The plan for technical disconnects or re-joins is _________. Where needed, please check in with them so they are not waiting at base alone.

 

Equipment Issue As the MST we are not permitted to give any equipment or items to players without the express authorisation of the Field Leader and today’s Field Leader is _________. Even if instructed to do so by them, we must not issue any equipment or items which are not permitted in SOP, intended for the role of the player in question or not part of the approved faction equipment or load outs for this deployment (this includes our own loadouts) - so, If in doubt - ask. And if a player asks you (irrespective of rank), you must tell them to ask their OPCOC as we only take instruction from the field leader.

Realism Finally, I want to remind everyone that everything we do today must make sense within the confines of this deployment, it’s campaign and the plan agreed between myself and the Field Leader - remember if in doubt, ask.

The most important thing you can do throughout this deployment is state what you are doing, as you do it.
Are there any questions, before we start?”

 

Post briefing checklist

• Give specific instructions to GMs/AGMs/RPs (such as specific AOs)
• Deal with any late joining MST members by reminding them of the above information
• IO check in with the Field Leader for any queries

 

Post mission debriefing script

IO to MST

“Thank you everyone for your help today, I think the things that went well were _________ and some of the things that didn’t go to plan, or could have gone better were _________, but I’ll review this with the field leader, once all the AARs are submitted.

WHIZSIZ Please remember that unit policy states that what happens in Zeus stays in Zeus (WHIZSIZ rule) so anything you’ve done here today must not be communicated nor can you reveal anything not observed by the players themselves. You can find details of this policy in our Mission Support SOP.

Debriefings The players are obviously now debriefing and I must remind you that you are not permitted to join those debriefings in general, but if you do wish to listen in you must first request permission before entering the element leader of the debriefing that you are attending - they are not obliged to permit this, but if they do be reminded that you are not permitted to speak in them. Specifics of this policy is linked in the ENDEX ping.

I will attend a debriefing later with the Field Leader on behalf of the MST, so if you do have anything you want me to bring up please let me know - if you witnessed any violations of unit standards please let me know as well, and I’ll pass this onto the Field Leader - if you do want any feedback, please contact me in the coming days.”

 

MST is Dismissed

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CREDITS
This SOP has been contributed to by 1 editors:
Major James

REFERENCES
UNITAF Standard Operating procedures (SOP) are adapted primarly from US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). Our written and audio procedures are a combination of the following primary source materials, as well as our own learnings, modifications and adaptations:
- US Army Techniques Publication, Infantry Platoon and Squad (ATP 3-21.8)
- Soldier’s Manual of Common Tasks Warrior Leader Skills Level 2, 3, and 4 (STP 21-24-SMCT)
- The Warrior Ethos and Soldier Combat Skills (FM 3-21.75 / FM 21-75)
- Leadership Development (FM 6-22)
- Dyslexi's Tactics, Techniques, & Procedures for Arma 3 (TTP3)

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