How to Command a Mechanized Infantry Platoon in Everyday Life

The three armored vehicles carried two nine-person Mobile Infantry squads and two Indirect Fire Teams.

Amber and Major Randall rode with them.

(Mongoose 4 could carry eight passengers besides its driver and vehicle commander: three on each side, with two more in the middle.)

Amber formed an assault group with himself, the Mobile Infantry, and one Mongoose 4. They would attack from the front.

Major Randall served as temporary commander of the support group.

Following the route Amber had set, he would take the other two Mongoose 4s, both without passengers, around the left side of the battlefield.

The support group had to attack the Empire infantry on the village's left flank while providing flanking fire support for the frontal assault.

In theory, the support group should not have consisted solely of vehicles. It should have had infantry alongside them.

But the Mobile Infantry platoon was so badly undermanned that Amber had no one left to spare.

He also had to keep the frontal assault strong, so all he could do was leave Major Randall to fend for himself.

The Major responded with two raised middle fingers.

Isabel stayed behind in the Communications Relay Vehicle, directing electronic warfare and keeping the unit's communications running.

She also had to contact the Federation troops in the village as soon as possible and tell them to prepare a countercharge.

Those two unarmed vehicles remained in the staging area rather than joining the attack, but they were in just as much danger.

Every combatant had gone forward. Amber could not even scrape together a security team to guard the rear.

If Empire troops found them, their only options were to run and throw some electronic interference at the enemy. They had no other way to fight back.

Amber was a little rusty at commanding a mechanized infantry platoon.

Before coming to this world, he had been the commander of his guild's main fleet.

He had spent most of his time directing large-scale fleet battles.

It had been a while since he had fought as an individual soldier or commanded a ground battle.

But as the convoy started moving, long-buried memories of ground combat command began to surface.

A feeling both familiar and strange returned to him.

"All vehicle crews, switch to encrypted combat communications!"

"Assault group, we'll reach the assault area in two minutes. Prepare to dismount while moving!"

"Vehicle 4, activate air-search radar and look for enemy drones. Prepare for wide-area electronic jamming!"

Amber issued one order after another. By then, he had fully settled into the role of platoon leader.

As they drew closer, the drivers and commanders of the five armored vehicles could see the "assault area" and "line of departure" Amber had marked in their tactical displays.

These were not references to landmarks. An actual white circle and white line appeared on the ground before their eyes.

The AR modules integrated into their tactical displays showed the areas and lines Amber had drawn on the Tactical Map.

The markings were transmitted over the data link to every subordinate's Tactical Map and appeared directly in the view through their tactical goggles or Tactical Visors.

Just like now.

As the three standard Mongoose 4 Wheeled Armored Vehicles entered the circle Amber had "drawn,"

they slowed down and opened their rear doors.

The Mobile Infantry jumped out one after another in silence.

They quickly spread into combat formation behind and to either side of the armored vehicles.

Then the two Indirect Fire Teams jumped out, carrying their 120 mm mortars.

A route indicator in their tactical displays guided them toward the mortar position Amber had designated.

Amber was last.

After jumping out, he activated Optical Cloaking and sprinted ahead of the others.

Meanwhile, one Mongoose 4 continued forward alongside the infantry to provide fire support for the assault group.

Under Randall's command, the other two armored vehicles turned left, formed a column, and sped away.

Most people thought of Psychic Agents as something like special forces.

Infiltrating behind enemy lines, carrying out sabotage, and killing high-value targets—that was their kind of work.

But Psychic Agents were also often active on the front lines.

They conducted close reconnaissance for ground forces and assisted with both attacks and defense.

Their special abilities could often break a stalemate.

In this world, a lone soldier taking on an HCP was no myth.

As Amber sprinted, an electronic warfare technician aboard the Ultrashort-Wave Reconnaissance and Jamming Vehicle reported:

"Sir, two small Reconnaissance Drones spotted. They're circling in overlapping patrol patterns!"

The air-search radar had picked up two small, slow-moving targets. Visual confirmation through an optical camera identified them as personal drones launched by Empire troops.

Under standard reconnaissance procedure, they should have begun searching the skies long ago.

But at this point, many military drones had integrated warning systems that could detect radar scans.

Small, slow, low-flying targets were also difficult for air-search radar to detect.

So, to avoid alerting the enemy, Amber had decided to delay switching on the radar.

Amber glanced at the Tactical Map. The two small triangles representing the Mobile Infantry squads were about to cross the line of departure.

The two fire teams had also reached the marked mortar position inside the assault area.

Four Mobile Infantry soldiers were likely assembling the 120 mm mortars right now.

At H+8, the time Amber had set, the Mobile Infantry would cross the line of departure and begin their assault.

The two Indirect Fire Teams would have their mortars set up and be ready to register their fire.

Once he confirmed that everything was proceeding according to plan, Amber gave the electronic warfare technician his order.

"Start jamming. Blind them."

"Roger, sir!"

The technician immediately took manual control of the electronic warfare module from the vehicle's automated management system.

At the same time, the mast antenna rose high into the air.

Military drones primarily used microwave frequencies for control, whether they belonged to the Empire or the Federation.

The line-of-sight links of small, short-range drones generally used VHF, UHF, L-band, or S-band frequencies.

Once it entered electronic warfare mode, the Ultrashort-Wave Reconnaissance and Jamming Vehicle quickly locked onto the frequencies used by the two small drones.

The Empire's small military drones used frequency-hopping data links to resist jamming.

But drones that small could only carry data-link modules with limited power and processing capacity.

Against a dedicated ground-based electronic warfare vehicle, they had little chance of fighting back—or even surviving.

Through electronic reconnaissance, the Ultrashort-Wave Reconnaissance and Jamming Vehicle soon identified the lowest and highest frequencies used by the two drones' frequency-hopping systems.

Then the electronic warfare technician activated full-band barrage jamming.