OPERATION FIRST FLAME - AFTER ACTION REPORT (05 MAY 2016 @ 0244)

OPERATION FIRST FLAME - AFTER ACTION REPORT

PREPARED BY: CPL Beatrice Rydberg


SITUATION

o Enemy Forces:
 - 15x Thin Men, 2x Seekers, 1x Chrysallid, 1x Sectoid

o Friendly Forces
 - SPC Beatrice Rydberg (Sweden)
 - SPC Clarisse Poncelet (Belgium)
 - PFC Ana Lucia Mardones (Ecuador)
 - PFC Svetlana Petukhova (Russia)
 - PFC Ghaith Khadem (Egypt)
 - PFC Simone Ribeiro (Brazil)
 - PVT Joosef Hintikka (Finland)


MISSION

o Strike Team deploys to Lhasa, China, 05 MAY 2016 @ 0244 hrs, IOT meet a Triad informant and obtain the alien device.

EXECUTION NARRATIVE

We received the Mission Alert at midnight. The squad was assembled in the Skyranger, and we took off by 0023, and landed near the designated meeting area at 0244 hrs. We made our way through the city to the graveyard and found the contact, who offered the device on condition that we took him with us. It was then that the X-Rays attacked, though the contact showed quick reflexes as he put the Sectoid down with a pistol. Per guidance from Central, we agreed to bring him with us.

PFC Khadem was the first to move, advancing forward until he made contact with the enemy, consisting of a Thin Man and a pair of Seekers, one of which went into stealth as soon as he spotted it. I yelled at the contact to get behind cover and keep his head down as the squad moved to cover positions. Khadem fell back, and we braced for the assault. The Seeker flew forward and the squad cut loose, but we were unable to do more than graze its armor. Three more Thin Men moved into view, taking cover positions, and we heard more movement in the darkness beyond, suggesting a much larger force.

I gave order to fire at will, and our opening salvo killed the Seeker and a Thin Man, and wounded another. Mardones charged forward, and took out a Thin Man no one else had seen as it tried to move to flank us. That was when the second Seeker re-emerged, going for the contact. Khadem was on alert, and took it out before it could attack. Several Thin Men tried to take him down in retaliation, but he'd ducked back behind cover in time, and was unharmed. He then took a moment to aim, and eliminated one of his aggressors.

We exchanged fire with the X-Rays, with Ribeiro managing to kill one, covering Mardones advance to eliminate another, revealing still more Thin Men in the process. The Thin Men started to use their poison spit in response, but as I'd directed every trooper to carry a medkit, this did not slow us much. The medkits had been calibrated to stave off the worse effects of the poison, but the noxious clouds still made it harder to see. After some less than effective fires, we regrouped and waited for the poisonous gas to clear.

Once the clouds had dissipated some, the squad counter-attacked. Khadem and PFC Petukhova eliminated a couple Thin Men, clearing the way for Mardones to advance, flank and destroy another Thin Man. This in turn opened the way for Ribeiro to kill another that I designated for her. When another Thin Man literally dropped in front of our positions, PVT Hintikka blew it away without a moment's hesitation, followed immediately by PFC Ribeiro taking out another. I ordered the advance, shifting right to support Khadem and Hintikka, while SPC Poncelet advanced to support Mardones and Ribeiro. When a Thin Man attempted to flank the left team, she took it out with a quick burst.

Khadem, holding position on the far right, reported a single "Chryssalid", as they've been dubbed by the Research department, and took a shot, wounding it but leaving it still standing. No one else had a shot on it, so we held position, while Poncelet's team advanced cautiously on the left. When the Chryssalid advanced right up to Khadem's position, PVT Hintikka took it out from close range before it could strike. Petukhova, who had been lining up her shot, finally took out the entrenched Thin Man, clearing the last of the known enemies.

Poncelet's team advanced toward the back of the graveyard, and held position while I ordered the informant to advance on the left, where it had been thoroughly cleared. My team advanced on the right, with Khadem on point and Petukhova on rear-guard, while they covered the entrance to the graveyard. A Thin Man advanced on the right, but Khadem made quick work of it. When a single Sectoid appeared beyond the graveyard, PVT Hintikka eliminated it with accurate reaction fire. Upon exiting the graveyard, a single Thin Man attempted to prevent us from getting to the LZ, but combined fires brought it down quickly.

We encountered no further resistance, and managed to get the contact to the extraction zone safely, with no injuries or incidents. The contact, calling himself Shoujie Zhang, is requesting to join our fight against the X-Rays. My observation is that he follows orders well, and maintains his bearing under stressful conditions.


LESSONS LEARNED

o Sustain:
 - Eliminating enemies to open paths for advancement
 - Use of medkits to offset Thin Man poison

o Improve:
 - Use of explosives could have ended stalemates earlier
 - Situational awareness, even in seemingly non-combat situations