Reserve Civil Defense Exercise

The pre-recorded messages were the first warning that the drills are on. Starting with the Qamdo, Nagcu and Nyingchi districts, the reservists of National Defense Corps started receiving their alert messages on their telephones and mobile phones. The alert caught almost all of the people in surprise as nobody expected an alert call like this to happen at this peculiar hour, 2:30 in the afternoon. 

However the vestiges of training in Royal Cochin Defense Forces and the refresher training in the annual reservist duties ensured that an orderly transition from civilians to militia was achieved. The first task for these reservists were to get to their assigned Reserve Arsenals. The same alert message that called up these reservists also gave warning to the local police officials to prepare for emergency duties, among which priority was to facilitate this movement.

At their Reserve Arsenals the National Defense Corps reservists drew the arms and ammunition for their duty and maintain station according to preplanned Local Area Attrition Doctrine protocol. However by this time additional orders had come up indicating that this was to be a live fire drill. 

An armored assault is coming towards the Kingdom and their provinces would have to bear the brunt of the assault while the Royal Cochin Army sent its forces to throw out the invaders. Jomda County, in Qamdo District is expected to have a full Brigade sized armored force coming through it. All around the town of Banggaidoi, the principal town of Jomda County, the reservists are setting up static defenses against the approaching invaders. There had been barely any intelligence warning, no time for stronger defenses to be readied, only the training of their reservist soldiers and Police forces to dare to stop an armored assault. The roads were blocked off my cars and trucks, hastily assembled explosives were placed as Improvised Explosive Devices to further delay the tanks and all the ad-hoc pill boxes were manned.

Underground telephone lines started conveying scattered indications that the Border Guard Brigade East of their County has suffered heavy attrition in the first two hours of assault and is now picking its way towards the rear. Scout units among the militia, those ex-soldiers who had service in Royal Cochin Special Forces or those who had excellent knowledge of the terrain, like local herders were scattered around the roads to detect the advance.

The dust plumes of a group of BRDMs driving at full speed down the road and countryside were the first thing the scouts saw. Seeing the distinctive coded flags brandished by these APCs the National Defense Corps soldiers realized that these are the retreating soldiers from the Border Guards Brigade, withdrawing at the imminent collapse of the Border defenses. These border guard soldiers replaced the reservists manning the defensive weaponry and re-established communications with the rear, orchestrating further support.

The presence of these hardened soldiers of Border Guards, doing one of the toughest jobs in the whole Royal Cochin Defense Forces bolstered the confidence of the part time soldiers who went about in preparing the defenses with greater vigor. 

The first Artillery rounds that fell on the road leading to the town changed the gravity of the mood. The hulking turrets of the enemy tanks soon started showing up, their presence heralded by the tongue of flames upon which heavy shells landed upon the defenses to the town. As they watched the trucks and cars placed as impromptu defense blown away, the defenders hunkered down. The sober confidence of the regular soldiers calmed the tenseness amongst the reservists some who were about to start firing their weapons in panic at the first sight of the enemy.

As the enemy tanks started approaching a town that is obviously hostile to the so called "liberation" the camouflaged IEDs were detonated to cause as much attrition as possible. A determined enemy assault would then encounter a wave of TKM2 ATGMs that would sail in from various buildings and secure pill boxes around the town. The enemy infantry who attempt to clear these pillboxes would be engaged by the many machine gun nests and sniper teams stationed at strategic points. The reservists also started pouring mortar rounds to the enemy locations from mobile mortar stations inside the town. As and when helicopter gunships and low level attack bombers start to appear, these would be engaged by the MPS shoulder borne SAMs and the SD2 and SD2R batteries now released by the Reserve Arsenal. However in a few hours the defenders found themselves unable to slow down the attacking force considerably, when the invaders decided to go around the town rather than through the town. The knowledge of all the populated areas along their advance being on a similar war footing could give them a pause, but depending on the brutishness of the enemy, it is most possible that they would choose to wipe out the town and its population for expedition.

As the fortress town started to girdle up its assets to continue oppose further advances, however help would start arriving in the form of barrages of artillery from the District Artillery Reserve Battalion. The DARB which had by now positioned itself to support the defense of Banggaidoi started pouring in volumes of fire upon the enemy positions using targeting information received from the satellite recon and forward Border Guard soldiers. However after their initial volley the DARB would start receiving country battery fire from the enemy which would cause attrition if they did not maintain mobility. They should also take care to ensure that they do not get outflanked by enemy units who may race closer to take them down. One such platoon of tanks is reported to be racing to their position by the scouts near the roads. As the reserve gunners of the District Artillery Reserve Battalion started readying their guns to move them fast, tracer rounds started falling around them from the lead tank of enemy platoon. A subsequent tracer HE round would seemingly wipe out the entire crew of one 155mm Field Gun. However this very same tank would then find itself blown apart as the armored forces of Royal Cochin Army have arrived in strength to repulse the invaders. 

Units from the 9th Armored Cavalry Regiment from Nyima have just arrived on the scene. Racing past the jubilant reserve artillery gunners the T150s and BMP3s of the battalion would race towards Banggaidoi to counter attack the enemy forces. With the full regiment coming close on the heels of this scout force, the Royal Madras Hussars have finally arrived with their tanks, SPGs and helicopter gunships. A few hours later and a full blown armored battle later, the straggling elements of the invader "liberation" forces would find themselves racing to the simulated border positions to escape from the fury of Royal Cochin Army.

With the last of the "enemy" remotely operated T100s destroyed, the massive LAAD training exercise had concluded. The entire enemy force was composed of remotely operated T100 tanks and Mig29s and Piranhas of Training Command firing blank ammunition with selected vehicles firing live ammunition for a realistic feel of war while the defenders were issued live ammunition. The actual Border Guard Brigade stationed at Jomda County were not involved, however Training Command units simulated the retreating Border Guard Brigade personnel. The NDC personnel in all the exercise region of Tibet were not informed that this would be just a drill. 

The assault at Banggaidoi in Jamdo County was one among several concerted armored and infantry assaults around the whole of exercise region, ie the Qamdo, Nagqu and Nyingchi Districts. The First and Third Brigades of the the 9ACR were deployed to the Nagqu district as Second Brigade was deployed to Qamdo district and Fourth Brigade to Nyingchi.