Standard Qualification 2: Difference between revisions

While many operations have kits pre-made, sometimes the intent is for you to create your own kit. While a lot of decisions will be made by leadership, you still need to know how.[[File:SQ2-arsenal-ui-1.PNG|thumb|500x500px|A visual depiction of a portion of the arsenal UI.]]Kits are built using an in-game tool known as the "arsenal". The arsenal provides an interface to change your clothing, backpack, firearms, ammunition, equipment, and attachments. Interacting with the arsenal is done by ACE interacting<ref>For vanilla arsenals, you'd use the scroll wheel.</ref> ({{Key press|LCtrl|Win}}) on the container acting as the arsenal. Once you do so, you will see your avatar from the 3rd person and a UI appear.

On the left you'll see a list of firearm types, the clothing available, and the uncategorized equipment (e.g map, compass). On the right you will see the ''attachments and ammunition'' for the firearms, and ''what can be inserted into the various clothing types''. So, for example, if you want to add a grenade to your vest, you'd select your vest on the left and then select the amount of grenades you want from the right.

This is the total weight of your entire character. On the very bottom of the right, when adding items to your clothing, you will see a white bar.

This is a visual representation of how full the clothing item you are wearing (e.g uniform, vest, backpack) is in total. This bar will increase or decrease when items are added or removed.

When you have selected a firearm on the left, you will notice a small popup near the top left of the UI, to the right of the firearms list.

Operation leadership always trumps the kits listed in this section, and so if they ''explicitly'' overrule the above table ''that is fine''. However, again, in 99% of cases, failure to have the minimum amount of the above is likely an error on someone's part. If no one has made it clear that the above recommendations are being subverted, sanity checking leadership is fair. Similarly, if you make your own kit and it's in violation of the above, someone is going to metaphorically crack your knuckles with a ruler.

 

Many roles {{Emdash}} or perhaps it'll be defined by leadership for everyone {{Emdash}} have what is referred to as a ''march load''. This is the '''maximum''' weight a kit for that role should possess in that operation where going above it is not permitted. As discussed in SQ-1, it has likely been selected to try and balance stamina versus firepower. When it comes to this, once you have the bare minimum that your particular role needs, you should then make adjustments to your kit to reach the weight. While going underweight is (sometimes) an option, if a march load is set, you are likely setting yourself at a disadvantage in some way if you are substantially underweight.  

Sure, you'll have good stamina, but that isn't going to be relevant in a firefight you didn't expect to be apart of and you run out of the ''singular frag grenade'' that you brought with you.

At the time of this kit's creation, taking into consideration the weight of a light plate-carrier and light backpack that were worn by this person, the kit weights 59.7 pounds with everything added and 37.8 pounds with none of it added. Notice how most of the changes are from adding additional bandages, grenades, and magazines. Those, along with your vest and backpack, are the heavy hitters for your kit, presuming you are not a role that by it's nature carries heavy stuff (like {{Abbr|AT|Anti-Tank}}).

The above kits '''are examples'''. Ultimately, what to add in your kit is going to highly depend on the operation. Is it a casual operation? Is it in the modern day or World War II? All of this, along with experience in the field, will further hone your kit making abilities. The above are meant to give you a foundation to learn from.

For the purposes of the Standard Qualification series of certifications, the only thing you need to know is that EDC generally advises around 60 pounds for a basic riflemen. This knowledge is intended to be used in the event you are not given a march load and are making a kit. The advised poundage for the other roles, such as {{Abbr|AT|Anti-Tank}} or medic, will be discussed in their specific certifications.

Something EDC strongly advocates for is buddy checking. This is where a separate person quickly reviews your kit to sanity check it for errors, both for the operation in question and to compare it against the recommendations above. Things the "buddy" looks for include sufficient medical supplies, sufficient ammo, and basic equipment like, say, your radio.

 

A check is physically performed by doing the following.

[[File:SQ2-weapon-range.png|none|thumb|Screenshot of the top-right UI with the stance indicator portion omitted. The indication of the current weapon's range is highlighted.]]

All firearms in Arma 3 have an effective range. The current range of your firearm is specified at the top right of the UI as shown in the above image. This means when you aim down sights, or through the scope, not accounting for factors such as the Earth's curvature or wind, the bullet is expected to reach from your barrel to the conclusion of that range before bullet drop begins to cause it to fall.  

Certain firearms, especially marksmen rifles, have scopes which allow you to adjust this range. By default doing so is done by pressing {{Key press|Page Up}} or {{Key press|Page Down}} to set the vertical range and {{Key press|Shift|Page Up}} or {{Key press|Shift|Page Down}} to set the horizontal range. A vertical adjustment is to account for bullet drop; a horizontal adjustment is to account for wind.

For the purposes of SQ-2 certification you only really need to know that ranging exists in Arma, why you would do it (to increase your accuracy at different distances), and how to do a vertical adjustment. How to account for wind and all of that will be in a separate, more pertinent certification.

It is faster to pull out your sidearm than it is to reload your primary weapon. Thus, if you are in a firefight and go empty, yet the enemy is still within a lethal distance to you, it is advised you take your sidearm out to try and continue to be a threat to the enemy rather than reloading. Reloading is an animation which cannot be cancelled and can easily result in your death.

{{Note|To pass certification, the prospective member must be able to change volume and channel on the Baofeng, 148, 152, and 117f. Prospective member must then be able to change frequencies on the 77, SEM52, and SEM 70. If what is written below feels insufficient, click the hyperlink to go to the official ACRE2 documentation for the relevant radio.|type=reminder}}

In SQ-1, the only radio we discussed for brevity was the AN/PRC-343 (colloquially called "343"). For SQ-2, we will review all remaining radios.