Snake Eaters-1st Cavalry

[dragoon500ly]

Special Forces are trained to work with locals to a much greater extant than regular troops. There are numerous stories of SF fitting in so we with locals that they even marry and raise kids, depending on how their first contact goes, I can easily see them working the 1st Cavalry. As far as taking their orders, again the SF are trained to interact with local military, but this will be along the line mms we of separate but equal. The team leader would not surrender his authority, it would cooperate with the troopers on certain missions.

As far as the cache goes, the team leader may release some information that may benefit the troopers, I certainly don't expect him to turn everything over, at least not until he gets in touch with his chain of command and gets an okay. In the post-War world, if the SF can't get in touch with their B or C team leaders, then there would be a good chance that they would cooperate with Lonestar.

As far as plot hooks, sky is the limit! Possibility of more in depth info on the Project, including hints at various bases; government stockpile locations; the real locations of the continuity of government bunkers; hidden research facilities; the location of Jimmy Hoffa's body; perhaps copies of J. Edgar Hoover's blackmail files possibilities are endless!

[tsofian]

One of the questions is how strongly will the SF guys argue that they own the cache and the files? If possession is 9/10th of the law MP owns them, because they have the exact location and the keys and combinations. The Civilian government of Texas will demand them. They don't really have a legal leg to stand on. The Cav will have a much better basis for getting the files, and so will the the SF folks. Morrow has no legal standing, except for the ownership thing, and also the fact that Morrow activities are what has knitted these groups together might carry some water.

I don't know anything about SF chain of command and TO&E and OBs.

I'm open to specific ideas for classified document plot hooks!

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

As far as the cache goes, the team leader may release some information that may benefit the troopers, I certainly don't expect him to turn everything over, at least not until he gets in touch with his chain of command and gets an okay. In the post-War world, if the SF can't get in touch with their B or C team leaders, then there would be a good chance that they would cooperate with Lonestar.

As far as plot hooks, sky is the limit! Possibility of more in depth info on the Project, including hints at various bases; government stockpile locations; the real locations of the continuity of government bunkers; hidden research facilities; the location of Jimmy Hoffa's body; perhaps copies of J. Edgar Hoover's blackmail files possibilities are endless!

[dragoon500ly]

Special Forces “Green Berets” or “Snake-eaters” are organized as follows:

An ODA or Operational Detachment-A or “A-Team” is the basic unit. It consists of twelve personnel (18A Detachment Commander-Captain, 180A Assistant Detachment Commander-CWO or CWO2, 18Z Operations Sergeant-Master Sergeant, 18F Assistant Operations Sergeant/Intelligence Sergeant-SFC, 2x 18B Weapons Sergeants, 2x 18C Engineer Sergeants, 2x 18D Medical Sergeant and 2x 18E Commo Sergeants. These eight men can hold ranks from SFC, SSG to SGT with one usually being of higher rank. This organization can be split into two 6-man teams for operational purposes.

An ODB or Operational Detachment-B or “B-Team” is the headquarters element of a Special Forces Company and is usually composed of 11-13 soldiers. The mission of the B-Team is to support the company’s A-Teams in field and garrison. A ODB is comprised of an 18A Detachment Commander-Major, 18A Detachment Executive Officer-Captain, 180A Company Technician-CWO3, 18Z Sergeant Major, 18Z MSG who assists the XO and technician in their duties, 18F Operations Sergeant-SFC, 18D Medical Sergeant-SFC, 2x 18E Commo Sergeants-SFC/SSG.

An ODC or Operational Detachment-C or “C-Team” is the headquarters element of a Special Forces Battalion. A ODC usually consists of three companies (A, B and C) and a Headquarters & Support Company. It is commanded by a LTC with a MAJ as XO and a CSM as senior NCO. There are an additional 20-30 SF personnel who fill the key positions in operations, logistics, intelligence, communications and medical.

A Special Forces Group is usually assigned to a Unified Combat Command or a theater of operations. Typically a SF Group consists of 3-4 battalions, supported by a HQ & HQ Company, a Group Support battalion and a Chemical Recon Detachment.

There have been 11 Special Forces Groups in the US Army, these are
1st Special Forces Group, stationed at Joint base Lewis-McChord, Washington, it is oriented towards Pacific region operations.

3rd Special Forces Group, stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, it is oriented towards operations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

5th Special Forces Group, stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, oriented towards operations in the Middle East, Persian Gulf, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa.

6th Special Forces Group. Currently Inactive. Was based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Assigned to Southwest Asia and Southeast Asia.

7th Special Forces Group, stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. This group is oriented towards the western hemisphere, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

8th Special Forces Group. Currently inactive, was responsible for training of Latin America in counter-insurgency tactics.

10th Special Forces Group, stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado with one battalion forward deployed to Panzer Kaserne, Boblingen, FRG. Oriented towards Europe, mainly Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon and Northern Africa.

11th Special Forces Group. Inactive.

12th Special Forces Group. Inactive.

19th Special Forces Group, a National Guard unit headquarted in Draper, Utah with companies in Washington, West Virginia, Ohio, Rhode Island, Colorado, California and Texas. Oriented towards Southwest Asia (with 5SGA), Europe (with 10 SGA) as well as Southeast Asia (with 1 SGA).

20th Special Forces Group, the second National Guard unit with headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, with 1st Battalion in Alabama, 2nd Battalion in Mississippi, 3rd Battalion in Florida and with companies and detachments in North Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Maryland. Area of responsibility covers 32 countries, including South America, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.

[tsofian]

Thanks!

There are ten FEMA Regions, but several are in the North East, so let's consolidate 1-3 and that gives us a total of 8 regions, so let's just say that Groups 21-28 are Snake Eater groups.

Group 21 Region I-III
Group 22 Region IV
Group 23 V
Group 24 VI
Group 25 VII
Group 26 VIII
Group 27 IX
Group 28 X

My "Clan Freedom" gents are all that part of the Group associated with FEMA Region VI, making it Group 24.

Perfect, Thanks again

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by tsofian

Would the Snake Eaters accept that the 1st cavalry is a United States Army unit and a legitimate part of the Government of the Unites States of America? Will they accept the authority of its commissioned and non-commissioned officers?

In the words of President Reagan, "trust, but verify". I think it would be sometime before the Team would make themselves known to 1st Cavalry. First they would infiltrate the area posing as civilians like merchants, truck drivers, even labor to assess the opinions of the people within the 1sts territory. If they an pose as 20 somethings might even "enlist".

The SF even after making themselves known to the 1st would not be working for them. SF has a much shorter chain of command the regular "Big" Army. Often a Army or Theater (4 Star) asset and seldom going below Corps (3 Star). That is intentional so as to not waste the training and talents of specialists on local command recon taskers.

They will be happy in most situations to assist, train, and advise units of the 1st without making themselves subordinates. They're working for a much higher National Command Authority level HQ (NorthCom? 1st Army?, 3rd Army?) that would assign them tasks and from whom their expected support would be coming from. At the size of Snake Eater Teams (Operational Detachment Alpha) it would be reasonable to expect that throughout all of U.S. territory there is two, possibly a third, SF battalions. These are expected to be understrength too, given that SF never has all the personnel needed on any given day anyway. Where they will shine is in the quality of the volunteers.. Their four time volunteers already! Enlisted, Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces. A SF volunteer already has several years of enlisted time before volunteering for SF and selection making them older and more seasoned persons to begin with. Getting some to quit society (and they don't live in the "real world") facing life on the outside without job skills and adventurous souls staring 45 and 50 years in the mirror will be not so hard. Being frozen to be woken in a time of national crisis would be an easy choice for career soldiers that love their job and hate being forced out because of their age.

Originally Posted by tsofian

An additional issue becomes the massive amount of classified materials found in the cache. The players found a large amount of classified materials from the FBI, CIA, DIA and various other organization. I intend upon using this material for a number of plot hooks. It includes a large number of FBI files on Morrow, so it might have clues to the location of Prime Base.

The other files might have information on things like Damocles. The location of other strategic reserves and such.

How would the Special Forces guys feel about this HUGE amount of classified material. Yes, a lot of it is outdated, but a lot of the material is still relevant. Can they "read in" the Morrow Teams and the soldiers of the 1st?

Doubt it. I doubt that any except the 18A and 180A would give it any look. You can't reveal what you don't know. The first choice would be to give it over to their own command with an intent that this would make it to National command. 1st has no business and Morrow Project has absolutely none with this classified material.

[.45cultist]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

In the words of President Reagan, "trust, but verify". I think it would be sometime before the Team would make themselves known to 1st Cavalry. First they would infiltrate the area posing as civilians like merchants, truck drivers, even labor to assess the opinions of the people within the 1sts territory. If they an pose as 20 somethings might even "enlist".

The SF even after making themselves known to the 1st would not be working for them. SF has a much shorter chain of command the regular "Big" Army. Often a Army or Theater (4 Star) asset and seldom going below Corps (3 Star). That is intentional so as to not waste the training and talents of specialists on local command recon taskers.

They will be happy in most situations to assist, train, and advise units of the 1st without making themselves subordinates. They're working for a much higher National Command Authority level HQ (NorthCom? 1st Army?, 3rd Army?) that would assign them tasks and from whom their expected support would be coming from. At the size of Snake Eater Teams (Operational Detachment Alpha) it would be reasonable to expect that throughout all of U.S. territory there is two, possibly a third, SF battalions. These are expected to be understrength too, given that SF never has all the personnel needed on any given day anyway. Where they will shine is in the quality of the volunteers.. Their four time volunteers already! Enlisted, Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces. A SF volunteer already has several years of enlisted time before volunteering for SF and selection making them older and more seasoned persons to begin with. Getting some to quit society (and they don't live in the "real world") facing life on the outside without job skills and adventurous souls staring 45 and 50 years in the mirror will be not so hard. Being frozen to be woken in a time of national crisis would be an easy choice for career soldiers that love their job and hate being forced out because of their age.




Doubt it. I doubt that any except the 18A and 180A would give it any look. You can't reveal what you don't know. The first choice would be to give it over to their own command with an intent that this would make it to National command. 1st has no business and Morrow Project has absolutely none with this classified material.

Yep, the twin requirements: Clearance and NEED TO KNOW! Also if one wants more personnel for the snake eaters, a few AF Special elements of 2 Combat Controllers and 2 Pararescue might be added. This would give the teams 2 more medics/ marksmen and 2 more comm, demo personnel. IRL there aren't that many that such wouldn't be missed, but this is a game.....

[tsofian]

Clearance and Need to know, yes. However in the distant post war era a whole lot of things are going to go out the window.

The SF teams may want the classified material but to what extreme are they willing to go to get it? One of the issues will be that there are very few SF soldiers left. They have far fewer resources than either MP or their Texas allies and combined those two groups are far more powerful in all ways than the SF units. Not only that but Texas represents the most "American" set of survivors yet discovered. Can the SF troops go to war against Texas over this secure material.

Also the SF troops are good but are they better than the best of Morrow Project or the best of the soldiers in Texas? I always had a working class grunt's distrust of special operations troops, so I am biased.

I'm not sure how strong a hand the snake eaters have to play. They are pragmatic men, so what will they put on the table to control this cache?