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Full Version: The rise in Friendly Fire incidents
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Three nights in a row I've been killed by friendly fire, twice when I was clearly identifiable as a friendly.

I know that things like that can happen, I've been guilty of this myself. However, the frequency is getting a bit ridiculous. Three times in three nights is not fun anymore.

Therefore, I would like people to remember the following things:
  • Just because you aren't leading a mission doesn't mean you don't have to be aware of the situation. Know where your friendlies are. Listen to what your team leader tells you. 
  • If you are unsure and not immediately threatened, take some extra time to positively ID your target. The incident in the Entebbe mission is such an example. I was looking the goddam other way and pointing my gun the goddam other way, so could whoever shot me remind himself that in such a situation, you only pull the trigger when you are absolutely sure that you are not firing on friendlies.
  • Sometimes, the excuse brought forward is "I was on thermals". Then switch to bloodydaylight mode and make sure that the camo of the vehicle doesn't match your own. "I was on thermals" is NOT an excuse.
These are pretty simple rules and it should not be too much to ask to follow them. Some people tend to be lazy and not read the briefing nor listen to situational updates, and that is a no-go. You do not play this game for raking up a kill counter. 

If you kill a friendly, you spoil the fun for them for the rest of the round. A round can be pretty long, so you are potentially looking at ending someones evening prematurely. You owe it to yourself and your fellow players to be a bit more careful.
The thermal thing really is inexcusable. My own personal SOP on that is I will not take a shot in thermal. Thermal is a tool for finding possible targets, you then use your Mk.I eyeball or at worst NV to engage. You can't readily ID a target in thermal, it's too dangerous to engage in it.
The biggest friendly fire challenge is for armored vehicle gunners. Therefore, if you feel unsure as to how friendly vehicles look like, and think there's a viable chance for you to fire on friendlies, DON'T take the gunner seat. 
If you do, take the time to look at other friendly vehicles and note their shape and camouflage. If that means alt-tabbing and googling the vehicle model, because they start in a different point then your vehicle then by all means do so.
Lately it seems the friendly fire incidents (ff) are increasing again. Luckily I have not been a frequent victim but I have been a perpetrator before (although it has been a while) Wink

In preparation for this thread I have looked at the SOPs again and there is lots of good information there. However they are rather lengthly, so here is some suggestions (mostly taken from the SOPs) in a concise matter to decrease ff in the future. They are not meant to point fingers at individuals or certain groups but obviously some of these things went wrong. Maybe you guys can add to it (/edit: or rectify) and we can post an announcement for everyone before next session:

individual responsibilities:
- know what your friendly units look like and check your targets before you engage
- if in doubt, hold fire and have someone with binos, magnified optics check for you
- remember if you open up on friendlies their initial reaction might be to return fire before being able to identify who is shooting at them
- keep track of information where friendlies are and notify your team if you spot friendlies close by
/edit: - stay with your team and notify your team if you get lost

teamleader's responsibilities:
- update your location and let other teams know where you are
- if in doubt ask other teams where they are
- update your teammembers where other teams are
- keep your team together, make sure you don't loose people (but also don't bunch up, but that is a different discussion)
/edit: if you lost people and it takes longer to regroup than expected notify other teams

missionleader's responsibilities:
- keep teams in formations where friendly fire is unlikely
- check in on teams to see if they have reached e.g. a phaseline before stepping off to the next one
- update your teams on other team's locations in case you see danger of ff on the horizon
- with higher player numbers (=more teams), ff is more likely and planning needs to account for that.

mission maker's responsibilities:
- consider using blueforce tracking in your mission /edit and gps+binos for TLs
- consider using enemy factions with differing camo patterns & weapon types
- make mission leading easier for high player counts (large mission, many teams)
I want to add to the individual's responsibility:
  • If you see a contact and are unsure whether it's an enemy or not, consider the threat this contact poses. If he doesn't look/aim at you, don't immediately shoot. Take your time to ID your contact, and if you are 100 % sure he's an enemy, let him have it. But seeing something doesn't mean you have to twitch shoot it right away.
I have a point on this. If someone says "Check Fire", that means stop firing. Not Check what you are shooting at and potentially keep shooting, but just stop.

And another little thing is a little drill we refer to as RTR:
Return fire
Take cover
Return appropriate fire.

Meaning that on contact, you fire a couple of rounds in the general direction, to give you enough chance to Take Cover. Once you are in cover you can properly assess the situation a bit safer, work out where the fire is coming from and then work out whether you need to unleash hell or call for a check fire (also known as Return Appropriate Fire). Being in cover gives you a little bit of breathing room to think properly.
And one important thing as I did it...Don't leave your team and take positions without letting your team leader know about it. 
Team leader - Let anyone know in such cases that one of your team members is in his current position.
Other team leaders - Let your guys know about it as well and confirm they understand. 

And I also agree with Verstanden on `consider using enemy factions with differing camo patterns & weapon types` as it helps a lot
Benchmark Wrote:And one important thing as I did it...Don't leave your team and take positions without letting your team leader know about it. 
Team leader - Let anyone know in such cases that one of your team members is in his current position.
Other team leaders - Let your guys know about it as well and confirm they understand. 

This is another problem I discussed briefly with Variable yesterday. Some people have a tendency to go off on a tangent and not stick with the group. The team leader orders to disengage, they don't really do it at all and just keep shooting. This is the place when usually people get separated from their group, with nobody knowing where they actually are. We saw that yesterday as well in the Malden mission. People getting separated is a surefire way of getting yourself shot by friendly fire, and there is nothing the team leader(s) can do about that because they are not sure themselves were their people are.

One could argue of course that it is in the responsibility of the team leader to make sure his team is following, and I would say no it isn't, because the team leader has other shit to take care of. He's the guy that plans the movement of his team, and the others have to implement this by following his orders. 

Another issue is team leaders failing to tell their team that they are moving. Especially when observing, people's attention is elsewhere (as it should) and not on their team leader. If the latter just moves, those in his immediate vicinity may move with him, but unless the TL announces that they move, some will miss it. In this case, team members should look around and say what is up. We had that situation yesterday, we had one "straggler" from a different team with us when we moved and our TL didn't say anything (or rather, mixed up the radios), and at one point I realized we were only three.

Quote:And I also agree with Verstanden on `consider using enemy factions with differing camo patterns & weapon types` as it helps a lot

This helps, but it cannot be a solution to a problem that has its root elsewhere. We had plenty of situations were we had entirely different camos and were still shot by friendlies. I remember one incident were the enemy was AAF and we were FIA, very distinct from each other, and still got shot at.