Radio Chatter Part 2: The Art of Keeping Your Mouth Shut Unless It's Important

So while I was at work today at my desk looking at Arnie’s Airsoft Forum for some tactically delicious treats, I decided that perhaps my time would be better spent doing work. Then I went to the bathroom, grabbed a soda, talked to the extremely good looking new girl (who I plan on mentoring), looked at some airsoft guns and decided it was more important to spend my time making this list of acceptable and unacceptable circumstances for radio chatter...

Request for a Sitrep-

Sitreps (situational reports) are an established form of communicating relevant information. In order to maintain radio discipline, sitreps should be communicated and requested by captains and squad leaders. This means your chain of command should be established and maintained prior and during game play. Situation reports should be clear and concise only relaying information relevant to the effectiveness of your team’s pre-determined strategy. Providing others with a clear picture of your squad’s situation, helps captains plan strategic movement according to the key factors presented in your sitrep.

Significant Strategic Movement-

"Hey we just crested a hill" and "Were going the long way around", does not constitute relevant strategic movement. What hill? Which long way around? If vagueness is something your into perhaps you should get into a new hobby, like a sowing circle or online dating. Strategic movement consists of your squad’s movement in relation to the enemy’s position. This includes...

• Distance to objectives
• Obstacles in the way of forward movement
• Alterations to your teams strategy

Enemy Movement/Position-

Relaying the enemy’s movement or position does not consist of information such as, "C2 the enemy is coming" or"C4 we see the enemy". Bland, irrelevant information such as that is best left for in-laws and family reunions. By relaying this junk you are creating more questions than you are providing answers. Information that you plan on providing should include...

• Location: Is the opfor moving from the north, east, west or south of your position.
• Intention:  Does the opfor plan on defending its current position, overrunning your position or going around you to complete an alternate objective.
• Numbers: How many guns in the opfor's squad, do they have any DM's or snipers, does the squad include any support weapons.

 So you're probably saying to yourself, "geez does this guy think were idiots? This stuff is simple and obvious." Well I'll tell you what I tell my wife when she asks me if she looks good in this dress, "sorry honey the kids need me I didn't hear what you said."  Haha, but seriously, I don't like to lie and the truth hurts sometimes. So if you are asking yourself this question I will just say this. You may be a pretty smart guy, but what is simple and obvious to you may be like giving calculus problems to a third grader for others. It is beyond their realm of understanding. If it wasn't, then there wouldn't be an issue and I wouldn't be discussing it in an intelligent and hilarious way.

Here is a tip, when deciding whether or not to transmit information, ask your self two questions...

Is what I'm going to say affect my teams strategy?

Is it significant to our overall objective?

If the answer to either of these questions is no, then do everyone a favor and keep a lid on it.