Things I Wish I'd Known as a New 506th Recruit

[K. Knight]

Yeah, I've enjoyed nothing but enthusiastic support since day one. It's this kind of attitude that makes me want to contribute. Best gaming experience in 24 years.

[1LT (Ret) Garcia]

This unit isn't just another clan, it's almost like a family. I've met people I consider to be very good friends from this unit. Everyone is extremely friendly.

This is the best gaming experience I've ever had. The previous best was clanning in TFC (yeah I'm old) back in 2000, 2001.

As a group we all play Arma, but a lot of us play different games as well together. There's a real sense of camaraderie here.

If you're thinking about joining, you should.

[CPT L. McCoy]

This unit isn't just another clan, it's almost like a family. I've met people I consider to be very good friends from this unit. Everyone is extremely friendly.

This is the best gaming experience I've ever had. The previous best was clanning in TFC (yeah I'm old) back in 2000, 2001.

As a group we all play Arma, but a lot of us play different games as well together. There's a real sense of camaraderie here.

If you're thinking about joining, you should.

I'm going to go ahead and echo this for emphasis.  I've only been in about a month at this point, and even after reading everyone saying what a great community this is, I was still blown away at the level of camaraderie here.  In my opinion, its really hard (if at all possible) to actually put into words the kind of community that has been built here. 

[J Allen]

As a former member, I feel compelled to say a piece on this topic.

The 506th, while I was here, is one of the best gaming communities I've ever experienced and will likely ever experience. That being said, it wasn't perfect. No gaming community is perfect, mind you, but I still feel its worth mentioning some of the not so great stuff I encountered while I was here.

There's a very simple fact that I learned while I was here. And that's the more you rank up, the more that's expected of you. For many people, that also means the less fun you are going to have. Trigger time plummets with each rank you gain past SGT in official settings/operations. Honestly though, that's to be expected. When you are a leader, you have people to do most of the shooting and "Fun stuff" for you. As a squad leader, you will mostly be communicating and coordinating, with some shooting on the side. That becomes more and more true the higher you go. For some people, its fun, but for many its boring at best, incredibly stressful at its worst. Then there's all of the out-of-game paper work that's gotta be done. When I was here, it wasn't uncommon for many officers/platoon leaders to say that they didn't even fire a single shot or that they only fired a few during some operations. That doesn't mean they didn't have fun, but the guy that was deep in the shit almost certainly had more fun by most people's measure.

Another thing worth noting, is that not everyone here is friendly or welcoming. And it's generally not because they are assholes, but because they have better things to do than to talk to some PV1 that might not even be here in a month or 2. And on that note, expect to experience the disconnect between higher and lower (Company HQ and the enlisted folk). "Disconnect" might not be the best word to describe it but its the best one I can think of. Its the type of thing where as a SPC or even a SGT it feels like those above you have no interest/knowledge/apathy for the problems effecting enlisted members. You will feel it at some point during your stay at the 506th, but, at least when I was here, company HQ was taking steps to combat this problem. Because the truth is, they do care about what's going on in the lower ranks but "its pretty quiet up on the top" as 1SG Brewer used to say. Speaking of him, he might come off as very intimidating and unapproachable to you newer guys, but he's the one that started taking steps to close the gap between HQ and enlisted with the enlisted meetings. Don't ever think they don't care, because they do.

But on my final note, is that you will get stonewalled, counselled, ignored, and/or (hopefully not) berated during your stay here if you stay long enough and advance high enough. It happens to the best of them. Sometime's it does go too far, as I saw several of instances when I was here of criticism turning into outright personal attacks but they are rare. And if you honestly feel dissatisfied or stonewalled or anything of the things I just mentioned, you can go up your chain of command until you are satisfied with the matter.

And by no means should you let any of this convince you not to join if you are thinking about joining. I completely agree with all the positive things said about this unit and do not regret my time here in the slightest. Most of the problems with this unit are inevitable side-effects of having a unit this size and with this amount of professionalism and coordination. You'll make alot of friends that you'll never forget and have a ball of a time in the process. If you are thinking about joining, then do it. Even if you hate the official operations, the fun ops people arrange are absolutely worth sticking around for. Just keep in mind some of the things I mentioned so they don't catch you off guard as a new member.

[SFC (Ret) Lyon]

Okay now that I've been in the unit for a couple of years I have a few more-advanced concepts I Wish I'd Known as a New 506th Recruit.

-When your buddy goes down:
1). Kill the guy who just shot your buddy.
2). If the guy who just shot your buddy is inside a tank or ghillie suit, skip to step 4.
3). Make sure the guy who just shot your buddy is dead.  And his friends. They all need to die. 
4). Pop smoke.
5). Tell somebody your buddy just got shot.
6). Treat your buddy in place or drag/carry your buddy to a safe location.
7). Help treat your buddy until a medic arrives, then provide security.
(Note: Tea-bagging the lifeless corpse of the guy who shot your buddy is not allowed in the 506th (learned that the hard way.))

-Engaging Armor:
1). If you don't have an Anti-Tank weapon, your most effective weapon is your Vector rangefinder.
2). When you fire your AT, every enemy that can see you will start shooting at you.  Get down.
3). When your AT-equipped buddy fires, every enemy that can see your buddy will start shooting at them.  Pop smoke near your buddy and/or reference When Your Buddy Goes Down. 

-When driving a vic:
1). Picture two 18-wheelers between you and the next vic.
2). Stop our vic in cover or defilade.
3). FFS stop our vic in cover or defilade.
4). Cover. Defilade. Stop the vic in them.   
5). Stay behind your squad when they're dismounted.
6). Turn your engine off when stopped because your ass is loud as fuck and WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?. 

-When air assaulting, remember your training:
1). Eyes Aft on landing.  Wait until the soldier in front of you gets out, then get out.
2). Four steps(ish) then flat in 360-degree security.
3). Call up that you're out.
4). Move to cover as soon as the helo lifts off.  If no cover is available, stay flat and wait for orders.   

Immersion matters:
1). Be creative. Be immersive - it's fun.
1a). Your buddy isn't stopping to fix a keybind issue - he broke a shoelace.  Your screen isn't flashing - you're in severe pain.  You don't need to restart Teamspeak - you need to change the batteries in your radio.  Your buddy's down but you've got him, he's gonna be okay, it's just a scratch and you'll have him patched up in no time, don't go into the light. Be immersive and creative and everybody has a better experience. 

[D. Morris]

As a new recruit, the guy or gal this is aimed at educating, this is a good thread. It feels odd to be a recruit again and in a simulated environment as well! No dorm raids or locker dumps, no body screaming in your face. But strangely there is still an element of pressure like going to a new school as a kid. I will enjoy the experience and plan to use the information posted here so keep it coming.

[1st Lt Leib]

You're going to butt-heads with superiors. Your going to see decisions made that upset, irritate, or just don't make sense to you.

And you're going to be surrounded by good friends that make it all worth it as you all get together to have organized, high-quality fun every weekend. Your leadership wants to see you do well, you will never find yourself under-equipped for the tasks given to you during your time here, and if you ever lack information or resources then its a simple matter of asking away from remedying the problem.

[CW3 Zier]

The biggest piece of advice I can give to my past PV1 self is to offer to fill in any chance you can get. You won’t do much or learn much from sitting in TS by yourself waiting for someone to invite you. Be pro-active, look through the squad channels and see when they train and try and be available to ask if you can fill-in. The guys around here will teach you if you’re willing to step in and learn.

[De Lang]

SGT Lyon, this is exactly the same thing I had during my recruit training, I tried understandinf as much as possible and asked no questions. Now one of my goals is also to become a recruit instructor.

[ISAAC CHAVIRA]

I am a firm believer that 'no question asked is the stupid question'. I can give two f--ks about how green I sound. As a former leader in the Military (US NAVY, 1994-2010) I can say it really irked me when my guys didn't ask. I guess I have resting bitch face or something, LOL.

[1st Lt (Ret) Hardman]

I'm going to put these out here as some quick pointers, in the vague hope that someone will read them before getting started in the training pipeline:

- Use Push To Talk in Teamspeak
Learn it, love it, live it. The unit has a PTT policy - it ensures we don't hear you chewing, breathing, dogs barking etc.

- Make sure your PTT Key is not CAPS
Caps Lock and T keys are used for TFAR (our radios in game) - so you'll need a PTT key which is separate to these.

- Be on time
"On time" means to be 15 minutes early - at least - you should be present in Teamspeak well before any of your official requirements, and this way your element leader (class instructor, squad leader, platoon hq etc) knows that you are present. In the case of the training pipeline, it means that the instructor knows that he has students today - and then the class can continue to run.

- Take advantage of your ability to fill in
This was already covered above, but make sure you hang out with some guys in the unit while you're still in training. If you're not sure what MOS you are looking for, what role in a team you're looking for etc, filling in with trainings is the perfect way to figure that out. Hang out with the weapons guys. Drop by Havoc 4. Chat with a medic. These guys can't approach you, so hang out with them and see where you want to go. Remember that you don't "lock in" your MOS until the very end of OSUT - so take a second to see what else is out there.

- Ask questions
I'm just going to say this again. Anything that comes to mind that you want to know, ask it. The only stupid question is the question you don't ask.

[CPT Drumheller]

- Be on time
"On time" means to be 15 minutes early - at least - you should be present in Teamspeak well before any of your official requirements, and this way your element leader (class instructor, squad leader, platoon hq etc) knows that you are present. In the case of the training pipeline, it means that the instructor knows that he has students today - and then the class can continue to run.

To clarify - This is not the case for the unit after the initial training pipeline. Once you're done with initial trainint, on time means on time. Not 15 min early.

Note to leaders: If you want your guys 15 min early, make sure to schedule the time for trainings 15 min early. Unit SOP for unit-wide missions is that when the clock strikes 2000, then and only then, are you considered late and you forfeit your spot to a fill-in.

It's very nice and convenient for members to be early so that leaders know what spots to fill, but it is 100% not a requirement. A lot of people schedule their daily tasks around unit things, and I certainly don't want to see them putting in X extra amount of time when it's unnecessary.

[CPL Price]

Communicate - even outside of the game. Let your TL or SL know whether or not you will or will not be at unit scheduled events and trainings. This can also help with the above mentioned issue of being on time - should you be late and don't want your spot taken, let someone know (most squads have a group chat that you would be able to access on your phone at all times; if you know a few days in advance you will be late, you can leave your TL a PM on the forums)

And in game, while keeping in mind that you need to talk as less as possible and transmit your information as clearly and succinctly as you can, while prioritising the information you choose to send out, make sure you do it. If anything feels wrong or you have doubts, communicate them. If the situation is not tense, feel free to raise your questions and concerns - and this goes times a thousand in trainings; that is the place where if you have any questions left after you're done, you did something wrong.

I hope my information was not in any way 'wrong', but I hope anyone coming after me will fix that, should it be the case.

[1LT (Ret) Mallory]

While the following is aimed more at helping prospective Warrant Officer Candidates have a better understanding of how to prepare for Flight School, it is by no means necessarily limited to just that pipeline:


-The entirety of this unit will return what you put into it. If you make it a priority to fill in, especially during FTX cycles and squad training, and you pay attention to those giving instruction and apply that knowledge as you perform within Arma, you are generally going to be ahead of the curve from those with similar time in the unit. The less effort the senior personnel have to expend on fixing things like your controls, or remedial topics that you should already have a basic understanding of, the more fun they can have, which translates into more fun you have. That is why we are all here, in the end.


-Speaking of controls, DO NOT be afraid to not only ask questions about other members' control mapping, but also making tweaks on your end to suit your needs. Everyone runs different setups, and work the controls into what best works for them. For instance, I previously used the Additional net transmit on TFAR as my alternate net to communicate with others, but now, after remapping and having to work & monitor multiple channels, I now use the Additional channel as my Primary, since it is far much easier to change a standard channel on the fly using the NUMPAD or CTRL/ALT+NUMPAD to change channel without having to reopen the interface and change it myself or change what channel the Additional net is on.


-For those prospective WOC's & future Rotary pilots, I cannot stress enough- PRACTICE. There is a drastic difference in candidate performance and knowledge retention between those who have flown, or are intimately familiar with flight fundamentals within Arma, and those who have not. This goes back to the first point I made, about investing the effort you want returned to you. Flight School, bother Rotary and Fixed Wing platforms, are long qualification and learning processes by default, with a lot of information that needs to be covered in a short amount of time. While you are encouraged to "test the waters" as a brand new PV2, I- along with the past and present members of Aviation- strongly recommend you be as well prepared as possible when choosing this pipeline. Look at it this way, you applied for this unit with the expressed intent of working in the professional environment we offer, so why not make the most of it by over-preparing for whatever pathway you may choose to play as, rather than waste your time on something you are unfamiliar with the commitment to? Again, we ALL want to have fun, not just the junior guys or the old guard, but everyone.


Flight School is, at a fundamental level- a test of two aspects of a candidate's capability. First, is is designed to test your ability to work at your own pace, responsibly. Secondly, it measures your aptitude for learning and applying the material through every medium of learning- the material readily available to read upon completing OSUT, which is located here (this goes for all MOS's, when you hit PV2, make it a mission to learn this forum very well, there is tons of information here that can be learned from), followed by the Flight School instructor both explaining and demonstrating the task to be completed, and followed up by the candidate (You) performing the task. So improve yourself whenever you can by taking whatever time you devote to the unit to practice, learn, rehearse, or ask questions- just remember that there are more than a few questions or bits of info that would be best left to either your respective chain of command during OSUT, or when you get to your first unit- for they are the best and most accurate source of information regarding most of, if not every question you may have. Don't be afraid to ask more than one person, chances are if you are getting different answers, the junior member doesn't know or is working off of incorrect information, and the senior person is correct.


Hopefully this hit a few points without retreading over already provided pro tips.

[SGT A. Hawkins]

You can be in combat pace while jogging with your gun down, and it's slow as fuck. If it looks like you are running with a stick up your ass and you can't keep up with your team, you're probably running in combat pace. Double tapping C will bring you out of combat pace.

Trying to drag someone but you can't move? Double tap "C" and that should fix it. Combat pace is often the culprit if your legs aren't medically fucked.

Below are some options that may feel more natural to use:
Esc -> Configure -> Addon options -> Ace Interaction Menu
Here you can check "Always display cursor for self interaction" and "Always display cursor for interaction" -This makes it so your character doesn't move around when ace interacting with things. I personally have "Display interaction menus as lists" checked as well since I find it a lot easier to navigate, but that's only a personal preference.

I also recommend using medical menu, especially if you're a medic. Under "ACE Medical" if you scroll to the bottom there is a box "Re-open medical menu" which means after you bandage someone the menu will reopen automatically. This is great for heavily wounded individuals who require a lot of bandages. The trade-off however is that some people feel the menu is less immersive than the 3d medical menu.

ACE Nametags: Disable player ranks. It looks so much cleaner and the ranks that show don't correspond to our ranks in this unit.

Now some keybinding things I think will help: Configure -> Controls -> Addons
ACE Pointing: I found it easier to change the keybind from shift+` to just ` so I can point without contorting my hand as much. This is a change that I highly recommend. Also you can never point to much. Pointing is love, pointing is life.

ACE Vehicles: Scroll until you find "fast rope" and bind it to a key. I have it set to my down arrow, but I recommend binding it to a key that isn't bound to anything. If you go through Air Assault School, you'll be told to do this. This binding allows you to fast rope out of helicopters with a keypress. NEVER TRY RAPPELING OUT OF A HELICOPTER LIKE I DID. IT HURT.

Base "Command" keybinds: I unbound all of these. I believe these are only used for single player missions. If you command squads in single player, don't remove these bindings.

Remember to have fun. Stick to your battle buddy like glue and always check up on him if he goes quiet. He's your responsibility and you are his. If at any point you are unable to answer "where is my battle buddy?" you are doing it wrong and you need to right that wrong immediately. Here in the 506th we never leave our buddies behind. We stand alone, together.

And one last thing, never let the bastards get you down.