Against the Trigonian Aggressor?

[Vespers War]

An odd bit of mostly-forgotten history is that from 1946 until 1978, the US Army had a dissimilar combat training force, known as Aggressor. An extensive back story developed over time, with Aggressor being formed by post-war fascist regimes in Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy, ruled by the Circle Trigon Party. Multiple invasions happened in this fictitious universe, with Aggressor holding parts of the Southeast, California, Alaska, and New England on some of the maps I've seen. Entire campaign histories were given an overview in later editions of the FM30 Aggressor manuals, and their military was highly detailed for vehicles, uniforms and insignia, and organization. Army units portraying Aggressor may have received some training in Esperanto, which was the official language of Aggressor.

Many of the manuals are freely available on the internet these days, allowing a peek into a very weird alt-history that existed before the Krasnovians became the Army's dissimilar threat training opponent.

Has anyone ever considered putting together an alternate universe setting for Twilight based on Aggressor?

[Homer]

I’d heard of the Circle Trigons, but never knew there was doctrine!

The snappy helmet crest and DIY uniforms would have had me! It seems like there was as much of a premium on acting as there was on tactical training.

As a former member of the Cortina Liberation Front I definitely feel like somebody in Big Army put a lot more effort into the Circle Trigons, but I wonder who actually read all that stuff. And it was a lot easier to taunt BLUEFOR when you didn’t have to try to do it in Esperanto!

[Vespers War]

I’d heard of the Circle Trigons, but never knew there was doctrine!

The snappy helmet crest and DIY uniforms would have had me! It seems like there was as much of a premium on acting as there was on tactical training.

As a former member of the Cortina Liberation Front I definitely feel like somebody in Big Army put a lot more effort into the Circle Trigons, but I wonder who actually read all that stuff. And it was a lot easier to taunt BLUEFOR when you didn’t have to try to do it in Esperanto!

There were five manuals with multiple editions of each over the years (for example, FM30-102 has editions of June 1947, August 1950, March 1951, September 1955, February 1959, June 1960, January 1963, May 1966, October 1969, and June 1973):
Aggressor: the Maneuver Enemy (FM30-101)
Esperanto, the Aggressor Language (FM30-101A or FM30-101-1 depending on edition)
Handbook on Aggressor Military Forces (FM30-102)
Aggressor Army Order of Battle (FM30-103)
Aggressor Army Representation, Operations, and Equipment (FM30-104)

There was also a referee's rulebook as FM30-105. According to the U.S. Army Military History Institute's bibliography of sources on Aggressor, Fort Riley (which was the main base for the program) had an Aggressor Supply Catalog, Aggressor Drill and Ceremonies, and Aggressor Rear Services pamphlets.

[bash]

Esperanto would make for a great coded language for in the clear transmissions. In one game the characters would use Jive, as seen in the cinematic masterpiece Airplane! It made for some hilarious radio chatter.

[Raellus]

Thanks, VW! I was unaware that Trigon was ever a thing. Reminds me a bit of the US Army Special Forces' Robin Sage exercise held four times a year in "Atlantica" (a.k.a. North Carolina) and "Pineland", but on a much larger scale.

https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=6545&highlight=robin+sage

Esperanto would make for a great coded language for in the clear transmissions. In one game the characters would use Jive, as seen in the cinematic masterpiece Airplane! It made for some hilarious radio chatter.

Pig Latin might also work for sending "coded" messages in the clear, for a little while.

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[Homer]

There’s some world building still going on.

The JRTC scenario writers ginned up a whole story about the “Isle of Aragon” in the middle of the Atlantic with the countries of (neutral) Victoria, (pro-US) Cortina, and (big bad) Atlantica (later changed to Acadia). There was roleplay and some propwork to support the fiction, a road to war backstory, and varying OPFOR portrayals (the terrorist like LUG all the way to the mechanized hordes of the PDRA). At the end of the day, the focus was on stressing the RTU against a series of threats using the sandbox of Aragon as an enabler. The basic building block for the JRTC OPFOR were extremely well trained and locally familiar fire team sized units under decentralized junior NCO leadership (LGOPs); it wasn’t unusual for four g-men to fix a platoon or disrupt a company. Operations above the squad size were rare for most of the LIC phase and were mainly scripted or O/C directed as part of training objectives (i.e. Plt ambush of the GAC along the Artillery Road MSR or a Plt raid on the BSA).

However, there was no beating around the bush about threat doctrine- the OPFOR used insurgent or Soviet style formations, equipment (or vis mods) and tactics, with the 100 series Soviet Army FMs as a template. Capabilities would be varied in some cases to portray a certain threat set, or deployments and actions would be more heavily directed as required to support the rotational unit (RTU). We had Soviet style rank and branch of service, and different uniforms and kit depending on what force we were (OG107s with a boonie for the CLF, OG107s with a black beret (garrison) or stripped Kevlar for the PDRA, civvies for the LUG, black or tiger stripes for PSOF). Talking to some of the old hands around the unit, the early JRTC saw almost direct portrayal of a Cuban/Soviet styled threat force as operated in Africa or Central America. This realistic portrayal of the threat is very different from what I read in the older Aggressor era manuals, which assiduously avoided naming names!

The level of immersion in the Aggressor FMs is amazing. However, I can see where it would have been less than convincing without a dedicated OPFOR or training center to “set up” the world. Tasking B Co to put a green triangle on their tanks and drive them around the back forty during red cycle is probably less of a threat stressor for the unit than having to face a fully integrated formation that practices being bad guys full time.

[Vespers War]

From skimming a few documents from different eras, it looks like Aggressor's story shifted somewhat over time. Originally it was a Western European fascist movement, but later its location got vague and its backstory a lot more parallel to the USSR. It even had a split between Aggressor and "Hostilia" when Hostilia's Chinese-named leader had a different interpretation on "Akilo Petrovansi's" political philosophy than Aggressor.

For FM30-102 specifically, the 1969 version is the last one with fake history; the 1973 version is just a generic "these are the opponents" set-up. The history of the campaigns from 1946-1969 covers six pages. Tactical nukes are used by both sides starting in April 1952 in Texas, with nuclear and chemical weapons used intermittently after that.

[Homer]

At Fort Knox in the 90s they still had fictional unit histories for the 25th armored and 52d mech divisions on the walls. It looked a lot like some of the storylines in the aggressor background, including fighting a fusilier unit trying to take Godman AAF, stopping the “Petrovansi’s Own” tank division and their Pezo tanks at the Battle of Brandenburg, and breaking the defenses at Elizabethtown as part of the offensive to retake Fort Campbell. I always thought it was just some creative writing on the part of TRADOC, but I guess they were leftovers from the era of the Circle Trigon hordes!

[mcchordsage]

I've written up a timeline based on melding together the Circle Trigon campaigns from the early manuals, with some orders of battle for them. It's also how I discovered the Canadian Army had quite a few M10 units in the reserves!

[Vespers War]

At Fort Knox in the 90s they still had fictional unit histories for the 25th armored and 52d mech divisions on the walls. It looked a lot like some of the storylines in the aggressor background, including fighting a fusilier unit trying to take Godman AAF,

Fusiliers were any non-airborne "elite" unit, similar to Soviet units designated as Guards.

stopping the “Petrovansi’s Own” tank division and their Pezo tanks at the Battle of Brandenburg, and breaking the defenses at Elizabethtown as part of the offensive to retake Fort Campbell. I always thought it was just some creative writing on the part of TRADOC, but I guess they were leftovers from the era of the Circle Trigon hordes!

The Pezo was the late-1960s heavy tank of Circle Trigon, at 52 tonnes and carrying a 122mm main armament, with a top road speed of 42 kph. The 1966 and 1969 versions of FM30-102 have the Pezo. The 1960 version has a 54 ton heavy with a 35 kph road speed. I don't have a copy of the 1963 version to see what tanks it contains. That one and 1955 are the only two versions of FM30-102 I haven't yet found online.