16AA

16 Air Assault Brigade [16AA] is an online gaming unit playing a variety of games, specifically Armed Assault and Americas Army. In the past it has played Joint Operations : Typhoon Rising, Battlefield 2, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 : Ravenshield, Ghost Recon : Advanced Warfighter and SWAT 4. It is a multi national unit based out of its website. Its operating language is English.

Aims and motivations

[16AA] was set up to bring together individuals who are looking for a more realistic, teamwork driven and team focused approach to online gaming in first person shooter (FPS) scenarios. It aims to provide a good compromise between completely real tactics and tactics that work in game to maintain its core values of teamwork, friendship, realism and the drive to succeed.

[16AA] requires members to use their real name and aims to provide an environment of friendship and family for all members. Unit members are encourages to bring personal, real life and gaming problems to the attention of other members and those of higher ranks in the hope that [16AA] can help solve members problems and provide good advice from a membership with a broad experience base.

Formation and subsequent growth

[16AA] was formed on the 29 August 2007 by ex members of the online unit 75th Ranger Regiment with the intention of creating an online unit that follows realistic army tactics and doctrines and to provide an enjoyable gaming environment for gamers who want to play in a similar way. With a starting membership of 10 at it's formation [16AA] consisted of one platoon of 2 sections lead by Second Lieutenant Hutson and Sergeant Andersson.

Since then the unit has continued to operate, emphasising commitment and shared philosophy and goals above skill and ability.

On 26th October 2005 with a ballooning membership of 26 and a highly active recruit section the decision was made to expand from a single platoon to a company with 2 platoons. A Company was initially commanded by Lieutenant Hutson and Staff Sergeant Reilly, with A Company 1 Platoon commanded by Sergeant Andersson and A Company 2 Platoon commanded by Sergeant Moffat. On 5 November 2005 Corporal Hollow and Sergeant Moffat were commissioned to the rank of Second Lieutenant to lead 1 Platoon and 2 Platoon respectively while Corporal Harlow was promoted to act as 2 Platoons Sergeant. Following a slow down in recruitment and a number of members retiring or moving to reserves due to outside commitments A Company 2 Platoon was disbanded on 6th June 2006 and [16AA] entered a period where members moved to reserves or retired at a rate roughly equal to new members joining. This lead to a very large reserves list and a relatively small active core of members.

After a complete member review in November 2006 which removed all inactive members, retiring the majority of the reserves and brought the rest back to active duty the unit was reinvigorated and motivated to expand and improve on it's solid base. Following the release of Armed Assault in Germany on 30 November 2006, a successful advertising campaign to encourage new applicants and the streamlining of the recruitment and training process the unit went through a period of rapid expansion, bringing in a large number of active, skilled players from the Operation Flashpoint and new Armed Assault Community, many of those with military backgrounds being drawn to the professional nature of [16AA].

[16AA] continues to expand and take on new recruits, particularly since the release of Armed Assault in the UK. Recruiting from across the globe the unit now has a solid core of dedicated members with wide ranging experiences from military, law enforcement and civilian life.

[16AA] also maintains contact with a larger community of ex members who have left the unit on good terms. These members are considered retired and have the option to return to active duty as privates after going through a refresher course on tactics but without the need to go through the entire recruitment process.

Current and future expansion plans

With the growing number of active members over filling A Company 1 Platoon and the continued improvement and success of both basic and company training, [16AA] is planning to reform A Company 2 Platoon by the second half of 2007. The unit is also looking at possible future expansions to form specialist sections under A Company once A Company has a basic complement of 3 Platoons of 3 Sections each (a minimum of 62 members). These specialist sections could include an air corp, and organic reconnaissance section and a land vehicles section.

Structure and Organisation

[16AA]'s unit structure is based around that of a "standard" British Army Brigade. It is intended to expand from the bottom up, with promotions only being given out as expansion requires it and merit deserves it. This structure provides both meaningful and practical organisation with the chain of command being utilised to ensure every member has someone they can turn to for help with in game, administrative and real life issues. It also ensures that the burden of work is evenly spread out and that command in game is well understood and defined.

Currently the unit consists of 3 full sections forming 1 platoon commanded by Second Lieutenant Moffat and Sergeant Southern which in turn forms A Company, commanded by Captain Hutson and Staff Sergeant Mason. Additionally there is an HQ Section containing Lieutenant Hollow and Sergeant Harlow, who command the Recruitment and Retention non combat office, and Corporal Van de Kamp, who commands the Base Maintenance non combat office.

Ranks, insignia and abbreviation

[16AA] uses British Army ranks and insignia for all members. The following ranks and their abbreviations are used:

Rank	Abbreviation
Private	PTE
Lance Corporal	LCPL
Corporal	CPL
Sergeant	SGT
Staff Sergeant	SSGT
Company Quartermaster Sergeant	CQMS
Company Sergeant Major	CSM
Regimental Quartermaster	RQ
Regimental Sergeant Major	RSM
Second Lieutenant	2LT
Lieutenant	LT
Captain	CPT
Major	MAJ

There are more ranks in the British Army, but as the [16AA] will never use them they're not listed here.

Recruitment Process

[16AA] has a formal recruitment and training process which all new applicants must pass through in order to attain the rank of Private. This procedure is the result of years of refinement and is intended to ensure that the unit only accepts members who will maintain its high standards and who are proficient at the basic skill set [16AA] uses in its combat operations. It is also designed to make new recruits familiar with as many members of the unit as possible and gives all current members the opportunity to be involved with the assessment of new recruits.

The recruitment process has the following stages, outlined in more detail below:

• Application
• Interview
• Recruit training
  • Phase 1 training
  • Phase 2 training
• Peer reviewed assessment

Application

The first stage of application to [16AA] is for a candidate to submit an application to the enlistment area of the [16AA] website. An application requires the candidates full name, date of birth, nationality and game of preference. A good application will also detail the candidates reasons for wanting to join [16AA], what a candidate can add to the unit in terms of skills, personality and experience, a number of references that the unit can use to query your gaming history, details of the candidates play style and some information on the candidate likes, dislikes and activities outside of gaming. [16AA] does not accept anonymous applications or applications from people under the age of 13. Candidates must only be mature, able to commit a minimum of 2 hours a week to gaming with the unit, possess and be prepared to train on at least one of Armed Assault or Americas Army, use Teamspeak and have a microphone and be prepared to adhere to the ethos of the unit. After submitting an application a member of [16AA]s Recruitment and Retention office will either initially approve the application pending an interview or decline the application.

Interview

[16AA] conducts an interview on Teamspeal for every new applicant. The purpose of this interview is to feel out the candidate and to give the chance to ask questions of the interviewer to ensure that [16AA] is the correct unit for them. The interview consists of a number of questions regarding playing style, responses to situations and the motivations of a candidate to join the unit. If a candidate passes the interview their application is approved and they are assigned the rank of Recruit and submitted to the Recruit Training Programme.

Recruit Training

[16AA] runs a Recruit Training Programme designed to bring a recruits gaming skills and understanding of the units tactics and procedures up to a basic level of competency that will allow a recruit to operate within a [16AA] section as a Private. It also allows a recruit to get a much better feel for how [16AA] operates and decide if they wish to pursue their application for full membership as well as give current members and command staff the opportunity to further assess whether a recruit will be a good fit in the unit.

Phase 1

This phase of training consists of a short session on Teamspeak with a Drill Instructor to familiarise the new recruit with how [16AA] operates, both in game and out. Drill Instructors will also ensure at this point that the recruit understands their basic responsibilities and has completed those actions required to complete membership, such as installing xfire and signing up to the [16AA] xfire clan listing.

Phase 2

This phase of training presents the Recruit with live fire and classroom exercises and lessons on contact drills, formations, FIBUA, defensive theory and several other key competency areas that any [16AA] Private is required to understand and be able to employ to fit into a section and complete their role in operations.

Company Training

[16AA] runs a number of Company training sessions each week to develop and maintain members skills. These include practicing basic tactics taught in Recruit Training, cross over training sessions to bring members up to standard on new gaming platforms and live fire exercises to provide an opportunity to test, refine and employ current and new tactics. Additionally [16AA] has a series of Qualifications courses which will allow members to gain additional competency in specialist areas. These Qualifications courses cover subjects from weapons familiarisation through to Reconnaissance operations, Flight training, NCO training, Map Reading, Vehicle operations and Signals training.

All training is designed to ensure that [16AA] can operate together in a realistic, effective and efficient way when in combat.

Community Activities

[16AA] participates in a number of community ops with a number of groups.

NATO Gaming Community (NATOGC)

[16AA] is a founding member of the NATOGC, an online organisation established to run large Armed Assault games once or more every two weeks. NATOGC operates using realistic procedures and a military organisational structure to coordinate several online groups from across the real NATO member states over Teamspeak 2 to play together in single server, custom co-op maps with over 70 participants at a time. Each operation is connected to every other to maintain a long running story line for the campaign.

The Real 16 Air Assault Brigade

[16AA] is based on a real British Army Brigade, The 16th Air Assault Brigade, which was formed on 1 September 1999 by merging 24th Airmobile Brigade with elements of the 5th Airborne Brigade to form a highly mobile rapid reaction force consisting of Parachute units and airmobile units which employ helicopters.