A question on FOB's for anyone with military experience

[manyeyedhydra]

I have a loosely connected sci-fi(ish) series set in a universe where a gateway has been opened into a parallel dimension and attempts are being made to explore/colonise it.

The backdrop for the current story (and maybe others) is a base some way from the entry gate. Would I be correct in referring to this as a Forward Operating Base? I'm guessing initial activities of the first soldiers stationed there would be to fortify the position and setup the infrastructure (manpower being even more important as electronics don't work in the new dimension).

I'm also guessing the base would be housed in tents with quarters for the troops, a mess tent, field hospital, etc. Would the barracks tents have beds, or would the soliders have to make do with ground sheets and sleeping bags?

I'm not going to go into great detail about the day-to-day duties. I want to make sure the backdrop sounds plausible and there's nothing there that will make a reader sit up and go "Eh!"

Thanks

 

[sr71plt]

You have lattitude on how established you want to make it (although it should be at some distance from the main installation, probably, to be considered a forward operating base). The longer one has been established, the more established it becomes. It should be pretty well fortified, though, if it's in hostile territory. And the fortications would have priority in getting a base established.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

The base is early in development. I have the main daily activities of the soldiers as digging out and creating the fortifications. So it's maybe one month or two after establishment. Sound plausible (taking into account they don't have access to the usual machinery)?

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Then, the fortification would always come first. Trenches, bunkers, caissons, sandbags, etc. Soldiers would sleep in the bunkers until the engineers finished the fortification.

Then they would started on the living quarters, that would still be bunkers mostly underground. No beds, but maybe cots. If you look at the 70lbs a soldier carries on his back into combat, you will find a sleeping pad and sleeping bag with a mosquito net among his equipment.

When I was in service the carving out of an airfield was down by Red Horse (the AF engineers) and a squadron of Security Police to secure the inner perimeter. The outer perimeter was was held by Marines or Army troops. We slept on the ground in foxholes until the airstrip was built. Once planes could land, then the perimeter fortification were built by Red Horse.

Each service has it own schedule of construction to establish a base as that base defines their mission. All are there to basically claim and hold ground, to sway influence over the surrounding countryside.

 

[TE999]

Here's Wiki on FOB's.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

If electronics don't work, the only machinery that would operate is diesel. Fortunately, that isn't much of a handicap as all the Engineer or SeaBee equipment (depending on whether the troops are Army or Marine) is diesel powered. So you don't have to have your soldiers revert back to the days of the Roman Legions for their fortification technology. Admittedly, except for the speed at which things can be erected, there isn't a lot of difference. About the only real change is the use of barbed or concertina wire instead of sharpened sticks.

 

[Tyro999]

A Forward Operating Base is implicitly some distance away from the Main Operating Base, and somewhat more strongly fortified than a mere outpost, but less than the MOB.

A typical sequence would be establishment of the first outpost, then main operating base near the "Gateway" in your story. Then the force would start establishing outposts as they scout further out from the Gateway. As needed, some of those outposts would be unneeded and abandoned, others would need strenthening into Forward Operating Bases to support new outposts as the force further explores/exploits the planet or what ever. Repeat as necessary until the job is done.

If the "Gateway" is the only way for the troops to get home from the ghods only know where, that Main Operating Base better be surrounding the Gateway and the strongest of all the operating bases.

[Do not take away any aspect of your story from Verhoaxer's "Starship Troopers" movie supposedly based on Heinlein's book.]

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Here's Wiki on FOB's.

Very good info there for FOBs where heavy equipment is available.

Now the question. How big is the portal? Can duce an half's drive through?

 

[manyeyedhydra]

Here's Wiki on FOB's.

That's where I went first. Wiki's great for getting the overview and terminology right. Not so good for getting a proper feel for the setting. Like reaching a point in the story and going, hmm, would they even have beds/cots here? Then it's best to ask around to see if anyone has first hand experience.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

Very good info there for FOBs where heavy equipment is available.

Now the question. How big is the portal? Can duce an half's drive through?

Not much bigger than human size, at least to start with. The physics of the new dimension are also very screwy. Equipment, especially electronics, doesn't really function correctly.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Not much bigger than human size, at least to start with. The physics of the new dimension are also very screwy. Equipment, especially electronics, doesn't really function correctly.

Then you are back to Roman Tech. I'd do a google search for Roman Legion Encampment. Those guys would pick up an 80 lb pack, march 20 miles and build a fortified FOB. Then they'd eat a meal of porridge and sour wine, go to sleep and do the same thing the next day. And people wonder how they conquered an Empire . . .

Think along these lines.

 

[Weird Harold]

The backdrop for the current story (and maybe others) is a base some way from the entry gate. Would I be correct in referring to this as a Forward Operating Base? I'm guessing initial activities of the first soldiers stationed there would be to fortify the position and setup the infrastructure (manpower being even more important as electronics don't work in the new dimension).

I think I would consider what you're describing as a "Firebase" -- an artillery emplacement/base positioned so that it can provide defensive fire for the gateway Fortress and extend the reach of offensive fire missions. Mortars would be small enough to pass through your gateway and have sufficient reach to make a firebase practical.

Other than that, I think SR covered most of the evolution of forward locations.

One other point: Two months would be far more time than needed for the initial fortifications, even if completey done by manual labor. If your gateway is big enough for bobcat sized excavators a fair-sized collection of sand-bagged bunkers and revetments could be completed for either a fire base, auxiliary fortification, outpost or a forward operating base, or whatever you wish to call it.

How much fortification is required will depend a great deal on the capabilities of the expected opposition.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Its been 40 years but ZEB is 1/2 right about Air Force FOBs. Back then RED HORSE and combat security police opened the ball by creating a site for an FOB.

Once the site is prepared other AF units come into play by transporting what we called 'a base in a box' to the site. That is, lotsa crates filled with about anything you can imagine: tents, field kitchen, medical equipment, airfield equipment, plus a gozillion diesel generators, refrigerators, fuel pumps, water purification wagons, fork-lifts, etc.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I think I would consider what you're describing as a "Firebase" -- an artillery emplacement/base positioned so that it can provide defensive fire for the gateway Fortress and extend the reach of offensive fire missions. Mortars would be small enough to pass through your gateway and have sufficient reach to make a firebase practical.

Other than that, I think SR covered most of the evolution of forward locations.

One other point: Two months would be far more time than needed for the initial fortifications, even if completey done by manual labor. If your gateway is big enough for bobcat sized excavators a fair-sized collection of sand-bagged bunkers and revetments could be completed for either a fire base, auxiliary fortification, outpost or a forward operating base, or whatever you wish to call it.

How much fortification is required will depend a great deal on the capabilities of the expected opposition.

Harold is right. If the portal is big enough for a bobcat, in two months the construction crews could just about erect a fully equipped base complete with movie theater for the troops entertainment. A swimming pool might take a little longer. As far as armament is concerned, you would be appalled at the firepower that is currently 'man-packable'. If you can move a bobcat through, you can move Dragons, TOW's, mini-guns and the like. If a GI can carry it, it can be there and you won't believe what the infantry can carry.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

A lot about how your FOB is designed will depend on the type and effectiveness of weapons available to both the defenders and the opposition. Also the environment, desert, wood lands, etc.

Other then that pretty much what the others said.

 

[Xelebes]

Is it Shipping or Destination?

 

[The_Fool]

The things they used to make us do with a fucking e-tool.