Re: Level of Detail?

[jdc@taligent.com (Dave Croyle)]

>In a message dated 97-04-15 03:35:18 EDT, you write:
>
>>> ....Radio codes and phrases on paper....
>>
>> Ugh! NEVER write those things down! Talk about asking for trouble. Unless
>>you want the players to have those written down so the PD *can* cause
>>trouble..... :)
>
>Dave-
>
>   Even the Army & Marines use code books made of paper.  These are called
>CEOI, or Communications & Electronics Operating Instructions.  These booklets
>are issued to Officers, Platoon Sergeants, and Squad Leaders.  Every fighting
>vehicle has one.  These are indispensible.

[serious detail snipped]

 OK, that can work for MP inter-unit actions. For typical play situations
though, things are a bit different- at least in my experience.
 The teams won't need codes very often. Maybe just a few key words
(including panic phrases.) Or possibly codes to verify their ID to other
teams. But probably not enough to rotate through a long list of written
codes. I've never seen an MP team use or need a system like this, but I
could imagine other campaigns where it might be needed.
 Given the minimal need for codes, it was rather a simple matter for my
teams to memorize the few codes they did need. Therefore writing them down
became an unneeded & unwanted security risk.
 Hey, Gary also listed map covers & grease pencils (presumably for maps).
For security reasons, SAS teams don't mark their maps in any way, the keep
everything in their head. They only fold their maps back the way they came,
so that a captor cannot determine which area they were interested in by the
way the map was folded.
 I always had MP teams involved in very small unit operations, closer to my
SAS example than your Army/USMC example. Other campaigns will of course be
different.

Dave


                                                 Dave Croyle
                    jdc@taligent.com  (w)      dave@broadsword.com (h)
                              LGPD Disaster Aid Response Team 3V737
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