Section Leading

Gunfights are basically chaos; the more study and prep you do, the more you reduce the chaos and impose your will on the outcome.

I have other documents that delve into organization, mechanics and, tactics. This doc is intended more for human management, aka "Soft Skills".

Don't lose sight of the fact that, as a team leader in a game, you are providing content to your players. Keep them informed about the bigger picture as much as you can. The "why" behind what you are doing can assist in keeping them pulling in the same direction.

If you find your element is under employed, advise higher that you need a tasking. GM / Zues players can get swamped as well.

Humor can be used to wrangle players into cooperating.

Hey, when you are at work do I come in and jump on the bed? Let's get ready to move.

On issuing orders

Keep your cool

Leadership freaking out leads to chaos and the element breaking down.

Maintain your cool, deal with what you are looking at, and carry on.

Do not engage in recreational bitching with your section unless you want to hear it all the fucking time. You do not.

Only shout for communication, never emotionally.

Don't be harsh

Video game leadership is strictly dealing with volunteers.

That said, maintain the expectation that when you issue orders, they are to be executed rapidly and without debate. Debate can be invited after the After-Action.

Tell them twice

If you have players who are resistant to orders or repeatedly fucking off on their own, let them. Tell them once, tell them twice, after that don't bother with them. Consider them lost and carry on.

Fixating your efforts on players who are not playing along is a disservice to the players who are on the team.

Not a democracy

A rifle section is not a democracy. Resist the urge to consult with your players about what to do. You are leading the section, Lead it.

Keep orders simple, direct, and unambiguous

Avoid:

"Let's go that way."

Prefer:

"Section, baseline on me, facing northeast. Prepare to move."

Preparatory Orders

Get into the habit of issuing "Preparatory orders" in advance of actions. Particularly after periods of idleness or waiting. This gives your players a moment to finish whatever grab ass they may be doing.

Stuff like:

Section, prepare to move.

Then a moment later:

Section, arrow on me, heading east.

Giving your players this moment of think time can be very useful for getting the team in sync.

Types of Players

All of these character types can be employed well, but some may take more management.

The Volunteer

Wants the fun to be provided to them. Can require more active tasking to remain interested.

The Cooperative Gamer

Real team players. These guys make up the majority of any milsim unit imo.

The Experience Seeker

Want to be a part of the spectacle. Normally quite co-operative as long as shit is happening.

The Lone Wolf

Not a natural team player, can be created through negligent leadership. Lone wolves will have to be paired with a fireteam buddy with similar levels of daring, but keep track of them.

Winning tends to encourage them to run with the pack. Once they have the lightbulb moment that a rifle section works they normally transition to Cooperative Gamer, or leave. Either case works.

The Adversarial Gamer

Driven by competition, goals, and achievements. Give this guy the AT weapon and keep count and he will love it.

The 4Fs

A refresher on the core of fire and maneuver fighting:

• Find: Find the enemy
• Fix: Hold the enemy in position by using suppression and accurate fire
• Flank: Have one team be base of fire, while the other flanks the enemy
• Finish: Finish the maneuver and mop up

Managing the After-Action

Some players will take an AAR as an opportunity to talk or bitch at length about whatever. You can limit this by establishing the practice of "Sustain and Improve".

• Sustain: state one thing that went well, perhaps unexpectedly
• Improve: state one thing that could be improved

Anything beyond these two things, approach me after the op and we can chat.