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 2004 by former 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 Staff Sergeant Mason became the Company Sergeant Major. 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 bringing the rest back to active duty, the unit was reinvigorated and motivated to expand and improve on it's already solid foundation. 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].

Sadly, after incorporating so many people from different cultures and walks of life, ideas on direction and structure can clash. Due to a minor disagreement between the then CO and the owner of the domain, the site was pulled and the 16AA fractured into three groups; Group-17, 24SAS and The Misters.

With the release of ArmA2, interest in the game took hold amongst former 16AA members. Three of the founding members joined another highly successful ArmA2 unit, but quickly realized that their ideals and visions of how a MILSIM unit should be run did not match this group. This set in motion the reforming of the 16AA in March 2010.

News of the reformation spread throughout the three fracture groups quickly and ultimately saw the majority of the members of 24SAS and The Misters rejoining the 16AA banner.

Current and future expansion plans

The 16AA currently has 100+ active members split across Infantry and Pilot roles. Our immediate goals are to grow to a 3rd Section in a sustainable fashion as well as flesh out our Flight Wing.

Structure and Organisation

[16AA]'s unit structure is based around that of a "standard" British Army Company. 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 2 full sections forming 1 platoon commanded by 2LT Riordan and Sergeant Harlow which in turn forms A Company, commanded by Captain Hutson. Additionally there is a Flight Section, commanded by CPL Craig and LCPL Bigness.

Ranks, insignia and abbreviation

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

Rank	Abbreviation
Recruit		REC
Private		PTE
Pilot Officer		PLT OFF
Signaller		SIG
Lance Corporal		LCPL
Flying Officer		FG OFF
Lance Bombardier		LBDR
Corporal		CPL
Flight Lieutenant		FLT LT
Bombardier		BDR
Sergeant		SGT
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

The 16AA holds a weekly Company Training session every Wednesday, starting at 2000z. Potential new Recruits are invited on a case by case basis to join in on the training.

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.