Victory Point - Ed Darack [25]
Carefully monitored by the “Coyotes” of the base’s Tactical Training Exercise Control Group, who oversee, coordinate, and augment training, a small group of the battalion’s Marines known as the FiST, or Fire Support Team, positioned themselves on a small rocky outcrop about a mile distant from the target complex. Composed of a team leader, a forward air controller, an artillery forward observer, 81 mm mortar observer, and their respective radio operators, the FiST represents the “eyes” of the attack. Located a few hundred yards below the FiST, Marines of the “nerve center” of the combined arms assault—the Fire Support Coordination Center (FSCC)—would “deconflict fires” as the assault progressed. The concept behind the combined-arms attack—throwing a massive volume of coordinated “fires” onto a target as an infantry unit maneuvers onto that target—requires an extraordinary level of detail and tactical acumen to work the medley of platforms of air and ground elements into an integrated assault package. With so many muzzles about to flash, bombs about to drop, and arty rounds about to go downrange, the FSCC must carefully plan all aspects of the attack, including “deconfliction,” by vertical and horizontal offsets for aircraft so as not to cause a collision with a mortar or artillery round, deconfliction by time (shutting down mortars just before an aircraft drives in for an attack run), and of course, they must manage the battlefield to absolutely mitigate the chance of any friendly-fire “blue-on-blue” incidents.
About a half mile from the FiST—hidden within a cleft of two large boulders—a five-man scout/sniper team kept close watch on the target area, adding to the overall SA (situational awareness) for all elements of the attack. In actual combat, the snipers would scan for any enemy attempting to egress from or carry in more supplies to the target, and if confirmed by higher to proceed, they would interdict them—either directly through the finely rifled barrel of an M40A3, or through a call for fire from artillery, mortars, or even from an aerial platform. With all elements in place and in “good comms” with one another, the range goes hot, and the spectacle of a U.S. Marine Corps assault unfurls in a dusty, explosive drama.
With the Coyotes having developed a practice scenario where an enemy has both well-entrenched fighting positions and a small antiaircraft defense system, the Marines of the Fire Support Coordination Center begin the attack with both 155 mm howitzers and 81 mm mortars to suppress those air defenses, allowing the helicopters and jets to roll in unencumbered by a ground threat. Because both the arty battery and the 81 mm mortarmen lie in positions where they cannot see the target directly, their forward observers within the FiST act as their “eyes on.” These supporting fires are called indirect fire assets (because their users cannot typically see the target directly), and the Marine Corps maintains a strict doctrinal approach to utilizing them—including attack aviation assets, which are also considered indirect assets—where the FiST and the FSCC maintain tight control of them while they are in direct support of infantry.
Peering at a hulk that the Coyotes