Tactical Decision Game #96-8


Duke	NROTC	Last Month	Main TDG Page	August 1996	Solution A B C

Tactical Decision Game #96-8 August 1996

Air Attack Against the
Bridges of Madison County

by Thomas W. Rumping

View a map of the situation

Situation:

You are the flight leader of a division (four-plane) strike. The majority of II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) has landed near the town of Arnold in an attempt to halt the enemy's advance southward along the coast. The remainder of the MEF is being held in reserve aboard ships. The MEF has been given the objective to break the momentum of the enemy's advance along the coast as quickly as possible. The MEF commander has committed his main force in a shallow flank attack on enemy units north of Arnold. He has also decided to use his reserve forces in a deep flanking attack on the enemy's rear. This Marine force is to establish blocking positions at the town of Lemay, to cut off the enemy's major lines of communications (LOC) along the coast. The MEF commander hopes to force the enemy to withdraw or respond to the threat to his rear with his operational reserves. If the enemy reserves appear, he plans to destroy them with his aviation assets.

The aviation combat element (ACE) commander's concept of the operations entails holding most of the attack aircraft in general support to interdict the enemy's operational reserves or resupply convoys once they appear. The ACE commander plans to use a portion of his aircraft, including your flight, to aid the advancing ground forces by isolating the are northwest of the town of Lemay. Through the destruction of most of the vital bridges to the northwest of the trail yard, a direction our ground combat element (GCE) does not intend to go, the ACE commander hopes to begin to shape the battlefield for the advancing ground forces. The objective for your flight is to prevent enemy reinforcements from reaching the rail yard before friendly forces can capture and secure defenses around it. Your specific air tasking order (ATO) mission is to destroy the Madison bridge to the northwest of Lemay.

Part of each aircraft's ordinance load in your flight has been selected for the best probably kill (PK) factor for a bridge of this type, with the other munitions capable of performing an armed recce return flight. Your flight consists of aircrew capable of adapting to changing situations. You have full confidence in their abilities.

The ACE commander has planned his aircraft availability into a time window coordinated with the attack on Lemay. Your time on target is set in concrete, + or -5 minutes, and you are to comply with radio and emission silence.

En route to your target (Madison bridge), your wingman observes what appears to be the enemy's vanguard unit, a sizeable mech formation advancing on the road northeast of Lemay, already across the Madison bridge you were to destroy and heading southeast in the direction of the rail yard. It is apparent the enemy will arrive at the railyard prior to your forces. What will you do? Why?

Requirements:

You have 30 seconds to make your initial decision and take action. Remember, you are flying at between 360 and 420 knots. In 1/2 minute you will have gone 3 to 4 nautical miles (NMs) and have lost contact with the enemy formation. Describe your decision and the additional coordinating instructions-reports-requests, if any, you would make to the others in the flight or the other commands. Your comments should be in the form of radio transmissions you might send. Then, provide a sketch and a short explanation of the rationale underlying your decision.

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For more detailed information on the structure of Marine Corps units, Marine Corps equipment, and symbols used in Tactical Decision Game sketches, see Marine Corps Gazette, October 1994, pp. 53-56 and the modification reported in the January, 1995, edition on page 5.