"U.S. Military Will Not 'Rescue' Americans Trapped In..." Topic

… Yemen Because It Is Too Risky.

"* U.S. officials said rescuing the Americans could put the military in danger
* There are fears that al-Qaeda could stage an attack on U.S. personnel
* Americans are being given access to information on a website
* The State Department said it hopes citizens will find their own way back
* Muslim activists have filed lawsuits in a bid to get U.S. citizens rescued

The U.S. government has left hundreds of Americans stranded in Yemen because a rescue mission could be 'too risky' following the devastating Saudi-led airstrike which leveled dozens of homes.

The decision by the State Department came after officials decided that rescuing the Americans could put the U.S. military in danger from a potential attack by al-Qaeda.

Instead, the government has announced plans to give Americans access to information and regular updates online to help them find their own opportunities to leave the country…"
Full article here
link

Waf?

Amicalement
Armand

What if … they tried to rescue them? (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Pretty much any Zombie Escape scenario with many sets of rules. Just substitute 'Middle Eastern' buildings for some or most of the buildings, maybe a modern Mall or Apartment Tower. The player party have to get from their hotel/apartment/other to the pick up point – probably a wharf or dock with a boat, maybe a 'Contractor' base with a helicopter, or even both. If you don't get to the Chopper in time it leaves, you then have to go 'Plan B' and get to the boat or go back into hiding at your secure location.

Lots of potential fun/mayhem.

Kyote,

Yes. But a decision to launch such a mission must be made first!!!

Even so, the leak to the media about not having such plans may be deceptive on purpose, to get the enemy to lower their guard.

the rule set should include most or all of the following eventualities. And, as far as I know I can't think of one that covers these many possibilities, though they should.

I would assume the rescue attempt would occur at night and the team(s) should be SEAL or of a similar caliber – with experience in such missions and the proper equipment. But even so ….

Terrain:
Somehow you'd have to create a labyrinthine terrain, with lots of irregular alleys that may end up in dead ends. But for that type of terrain to be realistic, the rescue team could have incomplete or outdated satellite photos or, in the middle of a shootout, they may end up last minute turns without realizing the futility until too late.

Locations of Objectives:
In addition, the Intel on the locations may be faulty, or the stranded individual is staying over with a friend because it wasn't safe to remain where they were.

Or, in the case of hostages, the captors often rotate their locations or put them close to schools or markets to minimize chance of attack or to use any civilian casualties to augment the media sensationalism effect. At times the location may happen to be the same place where the enemy leaders meet or stay, again to make the most of propaganda in the event of an attack.

Or the source of the information isn't as precise and one would want or simply completely wrong and purposely misleading.

Or our female citizens may be right in front of you, but wearing native garb:

link

So, whatever rules you use, it should allow you to retrieve all, some or even none of your citizens.

Alarm Risk:
And, to top it off, to minimize raising an alarm, your team(s) must be small and use cover properly for concealment as you slowly make your way into the intricate network of streets and alleys, or as the go from rooftop to rooftop. At any moment anyone, even a dog, may prompt an alarm for that team or a wider reaction that affect all the teams.

Exit Strategy After Locating Citizens:
And, even if you locate and grab the citizen(s), you may end up losing them, either literally (being separated) or as casualties in shootouts. And, if shot, there's always a possibility that the wound is not fatal but may cut down the speed of your team, as they stop to stabilize the injury or carry the citizen out. And some of those citizens may be small children or weakened adults. And infants may end up crying and letting the entire town know where you are.

Any other thoughts?

Dan
PS. But if there are really no intentions for the US to risk a rescue, you have to either scrub the above or you may simply replace the figures in your rescue team(s) with figures in Chinese uniforms (produced in 15mm by QRF and Rebels'). Now, wouldn't that be embarrassing! :)
They would love the media attention to pick up the gauntlet.
TMP link
TMP link

Yes, it's too bad it has come to this. The lunatic fringe of islamic fundamentalists, jihadis, terrorists, etc. has made things so dangerous, costly, etc…. And we don't want to use excessive firepower to suppress the enemy/area. We know in a rescue mission firepower must be very surgical. Intel must be very, very good. As we see you can kill both the bad guys and the people you want to save. Not to mention the collateral damage caused. As the bad guys hide among the local populus at times. As well as on occassion the "baddies" have local support, etc. …

What military evacuation is not a risk? When we went into Grenada we had to fight the Cuban military. When we went after Lynch and the other hostages in the GW there was risk. This is a bad excuse.

Very true … and I don't always support this trend of thinking. But it appears the paradigm has change,[if I may at the the risk of being DH'd], more so from a political standpoint than military. If you remember, there were a number of units available and willing to go into Benghazi for example … Before it was too late. And when the small group of Mil Contractors that did go, they had disobeyed orders, IIRC, and by that time it was too late. Of course, in this situation, if the Saudis were really good allies they would help to rescue the Americans. But it appears like many in the region. The Saudis don't seem to be up to the fight with any of the factions in Yemen. Let alone do anything else. Like I said, rescue ops are one of the most difficult missions to pull off successfully …

It would be cheaper if we offered rival contractor firms the opportunity, and tell them we'd pay a million US cash per head (figuratively). The rescued would have to be alive, of course.

Believe me, that would get the whole thing solved in no time. All they need is the right motivation and the knowledge that they have potential competitors.

In fact, that could be a neat gaming scenario. You could have teams from rival firms race in their search and rescue of the citizens, each with a different extraction plan and some arriving at the citizen homes just a little too late, or the citizens may not want to risk going with them at all. They made their choice to stay when conditions weren't too bad yet. It's only fair to make it their choice to take the chance to go with the mercs!

I'm all for promoting free enterprise. Plus it would be cheaper than an actual military mission, and it gives the President the plausible deniability option, as long as there isn't a clear paper trail. Perhaps use private servers to communicate with the interested parties.

Win-win!!!

Dan

I would play it using a Charlie Company style of game, where the gamemaster runs the opposition and the players assume the rescuers. A bit of the rpg feel in that it's not just "you vs me" and the GM has all the info but I feel it would handle things like hidden terrs and reactions better. Scale would be 1:1 and either Dogs of War, Recon, Face of Modern Battle, or any of those types (I like detail so those work for me). I am toying with picking up Skirmish Sangin if it's possible to use that for more than the 'stan and go retro with it (1980s-2000s). I like 28s and would do it on an 8x6.

Some apparently feel that there might be other interesting issues behind the decision, and some Americans there say they feel free to come and go:

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Dan
PS. Since drones seem to be the answer to most things these days, why not make a "skyhook" version? They'll get an amazingly wild rush while getting rescued:
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I like Striker's idea.

What about a joint venture with China?
They made the move few days ago!.

Amicalement
Armand

I don't have a problem with China rescuing these Americans. As long as they don't charge the US Gov't for it !

I see a two-part game.

Infil by Delta/SOF troops being made in the dead of night to the embassy or wherever the Americans were gathered. And it has to be done quietly…

Part two would be heliborne rescue by choppers flying in at dawn. A quartet of gunships escorting in several Ospreys- enough for the job + 2 spare.

Don't know which system would work best for this… but I'm sure it can make for some tense moments…

I just read through Force on Force and I like those rules, but for special ops guys I think I'll start re-reading Dogs of War tonight. The F-F sourcebooks are all on there way so I may change my thinking. Eureka has those modern Chinese and the FFL guys, those would be fun to have instead of the usual US/UK forces. The Mosaurians (sp?) from Eurkea make nice proxies for any asian red force without being tied to a specific time period. I need to pick up some Baker Co SOF guys and add to my TAG collection, especially the hostages. The old Recon game would work also, I'd just double the ranges for the change of scale, it moves fast but is an rpg+minis so the granularity is there. So many to choose from.