This Saturday we're running Op Gorgon, a mission featuring a lot of moving parts with a pretty exciting infantry assault supported by a couple Su-22 Fitter fighter-bombers that are expected to put in real work to help them out.

Well, we always say that for as relaxed as we generally are, the air-ground interaction is one of the areas where we get pretty neckbeardy and we like to see people who take those roles really know what they're doing. But we can't simply demand that without offering people the opportunity to learn How Do and practice it. So it's time for another JTAC and CAS-with-a-JTAC training session. Also note that this is being offered before the lottery for this weekend's game is decided, so if you attend this and you decide you'd like to try it on Saturday, you'll be able to sign up for a lottery slot.

These have in the past been rather a lot of fun and people have come away surprised at just how much they learned and how much it changed their perception of how to work with air support or be that air support. So if you're even remotely interested in learning how either of these roles work - we'll be teaching both aircrew and groundpeople at the same time - please attend and say so in the comments below!

Let's go with 8pm US Eastern Tuesday evening / 0000 UTC Wednesday. Check it in your local time with this link.

Not super helpful for the Euros, I realize (sorry!), but if I'm able we'll do a repeat, say... 2000 UTC Wednesday, local time here. (No promises I'll be able to do this second one, but I'll try.)

Official-ish details:

This will be a training session for people interested in doing a JTAC role and for those interested in doing the CAS flying working with a JTAC.

It will not cover teaching you how to fly or use a Su-22's weapons. You must do that on your own before this session! (You can't learn how to work with someone to blow things up if you don't already know how to blow things up. And it seems reasonable to ask you to do a little of your own prep work learning if I'm going to be teaching you all this extra stuff.)

It will also not cover other forms of aircraft, just the Su-22 we'll be using on Saturday. Much of that knowledge is transferrable, but we're only going to be practicing with that one aircraft.

It is honestly a lot of fun, and while parts of it can be challenging, it is a really interesting sort of challenge that can be very rewarding. And we always want to give more people the opportunity to do this stuff in games, but to be able to do it in any useful way, you really do need a structured environment like this session first.

So! If you haven't done this before, please consider showing up and giving it a try! (Also please comment here as such, so I have an idea how many people might be coming.)