OPERATION CURSED FUTURE - AFTER ACTION REPORT (24 MAY 2016 @ 0313)

OPERATION CURSED FUTURE - AFTER ACTION REPORT

PREPARED BY: SGT Constance Makhandule


SITUATION

o Enemy Forces:
 - 3x Thin Men, 3x Floaters, 3x Sectoids, 1x Outsider

o Friendly Forces
 - CPL Constance Makhandule (South Africa)
 - CPL Ghaith Khadem (Egypt)
 - CPL Lara Jordan (Australia)
 - SPC Simone Ribeiro (Brazil)
 - PFC Wushun Zhu (China)
 - PFC Leigh Fahey (United States)
 - PFC Maurice Vos (Netherlands)


MISSION

o Strike Team deploys to Alberta, Canada, 24 MAY 2016 @ 0313 hrs, IOT clear and exploit a downed alien scout craft.

EXECUTION NARRATIVE

The mission alert came in at 0230, and we were wheels up by 0255. We touched down in Alberta at 0313. After taking some time to observe our surroundings, I moved the squad toward the barn, as the nearest heavy cover, with Zhu taking an overwatch position on a silo. Moving into the barn was uneventful, though we heard movement in the darkness. It wasn't until Vos and Zhu took up positions in the silo that we saw the first of the enemy, a trio of Thin Men who'd taken position on the roof of the barn.

They attempted to surround us, both in the loft and below. Before they could get into position and fire upon us, SPC Ribeiro had taken the one in the loft, while Jordan and Vos took down the one outside the barn door. The third attempted to burst in on us through the side door, and was taken down by massed fire. Apologies to the science team for the condition of this specimen. Khadem and Ribeiro were caught in the noxious cloud as it died. I had myself and Jordan move to overwatch positions outside, and we waited until they'd recovered from the poison.

Then we assaulted the downed UFO. I knew it was likely from reading other reports that confronting the command element, probably one of those energy beings they call the "Outsider", that the rest of the crew would come running, so I ensured my assault team and my overwatch element had sufficient cover before we went in. The assault element, consisting of Horus, Athena, SPC Ribeiro  and PFC Fahey stacked on the side of the craft, while Zhu, Vos and myself remained back on overwatch. Ribeiro peeked the right side of the UFO, getting eyes on the Outsider while the rest of the team moved around the left. Horus, Athena and Ribeiro pinned it down while Fahey charged in for the close range flank, and killed it.

Once the Outsider was eliminated, the squad reset for the assault. It started with a pod of Floaters in the field. PFC Zhu was the first to spot them, and managed to cripple one of them, and I followed it up with a rocket that finished the job and wounded another. That survivor began to fire wildly at me, peppering my position with plasma, while the other rocketed into the sky, landing somewhere on the other side of the barn. A pod of Sectoids, attempting to take advantage of our focus on the Floaters, tried to flank, but PFC Vos scattered them to cover with his SAW. 

CPL Ghaith saw the rocketing Floater and fired at it, drawing Jordan's attention, who maneuvered to assist. Fahey charged forward and eliminated the Floater that was pinning me down, which freed me up to blow the Sectoids that Vos had spotted into bits. Jordan reached cover where she could see the remaining Floater, and put it down with a precise shot to the head. 

We cleared the remainder of the site, meeting no further hostiles, and called for the site exploitation team. 


LESSONS LEARNED

o Sustain:
 - Massed Fires
 - Use of explosives against clustered enemies

o Improve:
 - Don't move into a Thin Man's poison cloud
 - Higher OPTEMPO may yield more Meld