@SemlerPDX:
**Hey there! I’m the host of the VG BMS 24/7 Public COOP (PvE) KTO Campaign Server
I’m not sure that these forums here are best suited for such hourly updates.**
Aside from our own Discord channel, a lot of pilots will meet up and schedule flights on different servers through the F4BMS Ready Room Discord, and then move to and plan a flight or package(s) on a server where they will recon, plan, schedule, and execute missions. Our server provides AWACS to flights even when no AWACS flights are active due to the casual and “come-as-you-are” public nature of our server, meaning that in-operation intel is available to flights without any need for FAC(A), or even a tasked AWACS in the AO.
If you would like to provide this service to a package, it would be best to find some folks who are willing to learn and understand it, and participate. A post or guide, or reference to any manual or section of the manual(s) that describe this operation, and what pilots could be expected to do to participate. I’m not sure if you assume the use of FAC(A) is something we train in on the VG BMS Campaign Server, but it is not. Not sure about the proper mil-sim VFW communities dedicated to realism and simulation in BMS, but the VG Server is the most basic entry level multiplayer COOP server in BMS by design, so new pilots have a place to start out if they want, before continuing with casual BMS or moving on to a proper mil-sim VFW group.
I’ve asked you for information in Discord, private messages here on the site, and now again in this forum post. RSVP re. dedicated Ops on my server. I’m interested in this FAC(A) aspect, I think it could make for a fun and interactive layer for those who’d like to participate, but I’m all tumbleweeds right now and just hoping for a little enlightenment on the core concept, and also how it applies to a BMS Campaign such as ours. Like I said, I’ve asked around and nobody seems to know what this is, and what it entails, or where I can learn more. Spent 20 minutes on the wikipedia page as I’m not ex-IRL jet pilot, and came up empty in BMS manuals searches. Probably much easier for you to just brief and/or train us here.
Not sure if you are a proper ex-pilot in an Air Force, but as a casual server, there are plenty of IRL SOP’s and concepts that we do not simulate for reasons ranging from lack of knowledge/experience to the fact that we are a casual server where flights/packages are welcome to fly as loose or strict with regards to mil-sim IRL SOP’s as they want. Of those regulars, I’ve not gotten any feedback on how we’d interact with an FAC(A), and so I’m asking you again.
Please try not to repudiate us for not understanding your method, and please take a second to assume we are trained BMS pilots, many with a decade or more of sim/BMS experience, and willing to learn something cool and new if you’re willing to provide information that we can understand, rather than assuming we are already trained/briefed on your FAC(A) method, or assuming that because we don’t know how/what to expect from you, that we are somehow lacking in essential training or knowledge in this sim we’ve flown and trained in (some of us) more than ten years.
Before you to assume that we are an unfriendly lot, or that the regulars in the BMS Community or on the VG BMS Server are unfriendly and unwelcoming, you might take the initiative to explain what you are doing, how you are doing it, and what we can do to participate (or to kindly let you know when we are not interested in participating, i.e. training a friend, going out with a few folks for a specific pre-planned op, etc.).
Just don’t go off all half-cocked because one or two pilots do not understand this thing that you haven’t explained or provided any learning materials for, or references to learning materials, and craft up some fancy guide if none exists - you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.
You would have to be mistaking me for somebody else, every single time this question was raised I have been explicit about it:
tha FAC(A) pilot adapts to the CAS pilot training type.
Not the other way around.
That is why pilots have to declare from the beginning of contact if they are CAS qualified or not, or just say what they have experience doing, and the FAC(A) pilot is supposed to adapt to that.
It is easy to adapt to a simpler level.
In the beginning I tried talking in very simple terms to joining pilots and I was immediately attacked for that in a public discord, for not “following correct procedures”.
So now I am not pretending to be making some very simple briefings, I will just put a briefing of what I will be available, codeword etc, and thats it.
CAS pilots checking in have the responsibility to declare what they are experienced in doing and what they can follow, if they have experience with bomb-on-coordinates, or if they need to be talked-to with bullseye calls.
I have never once in BMS complained about anyone’s training, what I have experienced is catch-22: if I try to make it easier to check-in CAS pilots, I risk having someone attacking me in some discord about “not following the 12 steps of FAC(A)”, and if I try to present a simple yet complete briefing of the FAC(A) mission, I risk people not joining for some unfounded “fear of being criticised for not knowing all the details”.
Exactly like in real life, the FAC(A) or JTAC person has to adapt to whatever pilot is checking in. Not every pilot has the same training and that responsibility is on the CAS pilot to explain what he is comfortable with, and for the FAC(A) pilot to adapt to that.
There is no excuse for a CAS pilot not to join if he wants to attack ground targets in that FAC(A) area of responsibility and control, and not excuse for the FAC(A) pilot whoever he is not to adapt to whichever training the checking in CAS pilot has.
But the CAS pilot has to declare honestly what he is comforable with right from the beginning.
The only reason for a FAC(A) pilot to reject a CAS pilot is if the CAS pilot is clearly not following the most important procedures which are respecting the clearances IN, and then HOT, or not Egressing correctly and immediately after the pickle.
If the CAS pilot is not being safe, regardless of training level, then the FAC(A) pilot has to abort the mission.
There was never any restriction to joining my FAC(A) missions as far as what your training level is or what you are comfortable with doing.
I’ll be posting more of my briefings soon.