TDG 03: Cherokee Crossing

You are a light armored reconnaissance (LAR)/cavalry platoon commander on a screen mission in the desert.

If this is your first TDG, you may want to check out these instructions first.

You are a light armored reconnaissance (LAR)/cavalry platoon commander. Your platoon consists of four LAV-25s, organized into two sections, and a section of two LAV-ATs. The LAV-25s are armed with a 25mm main gun capable of firing high-explosive (HE) and armor-piercing (AP) rounds to an effective range of about 2,500 meters. The LAV-ATs are armed with the TOW antitank missile, which is effective to 3,750 meters against tanks and other armored vehicles. You lead 1st Section; your platoon sergeant leads 2nd Section.

You are fighting a mechanized enemy in an open desert environment.

The battalion is occupying a screen line about 30 kilometers west of the division. The mission is to provide early warning of enemy advance. Your mission does not require you to delay the enemy, but engaging the enemy is authorized as long as you do not become decisively engaged. Your company occupies three platoon positions on the screen line. Yours is the southernmost position in the company, with B Company to your south.

It is night. You have seen no signs of enemy activity in your sector. At 2330 hours, unexpected orders arrive to withdraw the screen line immediately. Something must be up. You pull in your sections and start moving east in column on Route Apache. Your vehicle is in the lead as you head toward Checkpoint 82, the designated company rallying point (RP) on the far side of Wadi Kabir at the Route Cherokee crossing. Wadi Kabir is a significant obstacle with a limited number of high-speed crossing sites, although there are a few other points where a unit could carefully navigate its way across one vehicle at a time. Cherokee Crossing is a major, improved crossing site; the next closest are Navaho Crossing 12 kilometers north and Iroquois Crossing 10 kilometers south. From the RP, the company will continue east another 10 kilometers until it conducts a rearward passage of lines through the main defensive positions. Your platoon has the greatest distance to travel, so you expect to be the last to arrive at the company RP.

Route Apache drops down a 25-foot escarpment before it merges with Route Cherokee about four kilometers west of Wadi Kabir. As you approach the escarpment you spot a formation of vehicles moving southeast on Cherokee below you. This is odd because the only unit withdrawing on Cherokee, according to the plan, would be 1st Platoon, which has already reported arriving at the RP. Moreover, 1st Platoon, with an attached LAV-AT section, would have six vehicles, and this formation has at least eight.

B Company now reports contact with a sizable enemy force near Iroquois Crossing 10 kilometers south.

You study the formation on Apache more carefully as you approach the intersection and realize you are looking at an enemy formation consisting of 10-12 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

What do you do, lieutenant?

Requirement

In a time limit of four minutes, make your decision in the form of any orders you will issue and/or reports or requests you will make.Then provide a sketch of your plan and an explanation of your rationale.