How to Lead & be a good NCO or Officer

Leading in the context of FPA is an issue that we deal with on a mission-to-mission basis. There are plenty of operations where it is absolutely necessary for the players to organize as a group, and a hierarchy, that will cooperate to achieve mission goals. This is a certain fact regardless of the seriousness of the mission, or whenever it is a Sunday or a non-Sunday mission.

Within this page the basic outlines of Squad and Platoon Leader behavior will be described and demonstrated via practical examples. Keep in mind that the concept of leadership is very dynamic and requires a thorough understanding of warfare, something that, despite us playing a video game, must always be considered. Arma is, regardless of what people say, still trying to emulate modern conflicts, and as such it requires modern approaches to warfare.

Team-to-Team Coordination

The core of every military organization is a squad. This group, regardless of how big it is, acts as the most numerous and the most basic formation that are then further supervised and organized into bigger elements, like platoons, companies, special forces, etc. However, commanding an entire squad for an individual NCO is not an easy task, as a result of the responsibilities the squad leader has to bear. As a result of this, squads are further subdivided into teams.

In the context of FPA, our squads are almost always divided into precisely two teams, with some exceptions. These teams are typically commanded by two Team Leaders, one of which may be the squad leader as well, though that is always subject to change depending on the context of the mission, especially if it's not a Sunday mission.

What a Team Leader does

Team Leaders, or TL for short, enjoy a special privilege that is not available to other NCOs and Officers, and that's the ability to exert authority and fight in a battle without the need to know the bigger picture. A TL as a result of this has a much lower burden of obligations compared to an individual squad leader or an officer, or a specialist.

The TL always has at least 2 people under his command, but sometimes it is possible to have even more. These people should traditionally be assigned during the planning phase or in an ad hoc fashion during the course of a mission. This is necessary as individual teams are the most likely to suffer casualties, and circumstantially may have to divide or consolidate themselves to achieve proper coordination. That way, TLs can properly issue out effective orders to their subordinates without fracturing the squad as a whole.

How to utilize Team Leaders

As a benefit stemming from their lack of deeper knowledge about the situation in the mission, TLs have the ability to increase their immediate tactical knowledge by focusing on only the situations relevant to their individual squad and the specific team they're leading. As such, some actions can be effectively undertaken by them:

• Reacting to threats. A TL that keeps his team cautious and keeps track of what's ahead can easily respond to any threat, and due to the small nature of a team, this makes it easier for them to form an offensive or defensive response.
• Holding Bases of Fire. An effective BOF is one which a team detects and utilizes efficiently. TLs can seek these BOFs and coordinate with the other team(s) in their squad as a means of pouring more fire into the enemy.
• Maneuvering. A TL can easily commander a team or squad vehicle, or organize movement on foot through what they find ideal terrain pertaining to their situation. They can also execute bounding maneuvers on an individual basis, or with other teams.
• Completing lesser tasks. A Squad Leader can assign a task to a team pertaining to a specific issue. Perhaps a house needs to be occupied or a position has to be entrenched. On that basis, the TL collects his team together and organizes the action independent of their squad leader's input, managing only a portion of the squad, but much more effectively.

Squad-To-Squad Coordination

Nobody likes a Squad Leader(SL) that doesn't keep good tabs on the situation or refuses to get involved with deep problems. As a person of leading authority on the ground, you're tasked with deciding the fate of an entire group of people during a single operation. Of course, in the consequences of a video game, there is no problem if you perish, but the stakes are high and you don't want to give your riflemen a quick death.

There is however an art to decisively lead in combat, and that lies in proper coordination with other squads. The coverage of a squad is particularly small when only one cover a singular objective, limiting your intel, field of influence, volume of fire, and the ability to deal with the enemy.