Standard Qualification 1

Standard Qualification 1 (SQ-1) is a certification that aims to teach some basic skills necessary to play Arma with others. It is part of a series of 2 certifications which are part of advancement in the Arma unit. It is followed by Standard Qualification 2.

Standard Qualification 1

Certification Information
Created by	Sirdog
Certification Checklist	[ Link]
Contributors	Fleff
Description	The basic information the Endurance Coalition believes is needed to play Arma with others. Required to progress to cadet.

Quick note to new members

Work has been put into trying to condense this as much as possible, and the entire reason SQ-1 and SQ-2 are separated is to try and reduce the amount of information you have to absorb at once. But, if you are new to Arma or simulated military play, this is still a lot to take in. While EDC does demand you be certified on the information in this course before you participate in non-casual operations, this doesn't mean you are expected to be proficient in all skills — especially while under fire — immediately after certification. The point is that you are exposed to the information and, when prompted, can recall it.

Getting proficient in these skills takes time, and that is all right.

Ethos of play

In EDC, while not many in number, there are a couple of things which are expected from members that could be called it's ethos.

Role expectations

Members are expected to play within their role once it is selected and finalized at mission start and/or through a sign-up sheet. This means that, even should resources be made available — such as through an (un)limited arsenal — resources that are not in line with the spirit of your role are not to be taken. For example, an ethos of EDC is that binoculars are restricted to very specific roles. This is to avoid large groups of players remaining idle with binoculars out — instead of their gun — when it isn't appropriate. Even should you possess access to binoculars, unless you have reason to believe it is intended or approved, do not take them.

Character roleplay and immersion

While EDC is not interested in pretending to be true career military professionals, the general idea is to immerse ourselves as being soldiers and using our skills to achieve the goals set by the mission creator to the best of our abilities. In this manner, as a participant, you should be pretending — to a degree — that you are a soldier and not a person playing a video game. To maintain this quasi-immersion, certain behavior is discouraged.

• Do not refer to the enemy AI as AI, but rather "the enemy", "OPFOR", "contact", etc.
• Do not discuss mods, weapons that are out of universe / beyond the time period of the operation, or other things which overtly and clearly break the suspension of disbelief.
• Discussion relating to when an operation is going to end, either in general or because you are "vibing" that it's close. For genuine concerns of an operation going on too long, contact a Zeus privately, or as a last resort whisper covertly to your immediate "superior" in the operation (e.g fireteam leader, squad leader, etc).

Basic interactions

Use of ACE interact on a supply crate.

In Arma, the default means of interacting with the environment will be the scroll wheel. This is how vehicle inventories are accessed, door are opened, vehicle engines turned on and off, and so on. Once the desired option is highlighted, use Space Bar to make the selection.

ACE interact

EDC (and a lot of Arma units) makes use of an addon known as ACE. It's difficult to describe what ACE does succinctly (and it will be referenced frequently), but one of the many things it does is introduce an interaction system. This is accessed via holding the left ⊞ Win key. Movement of the mouse will move the cursor, slightly move the camera, but any interaction options available will remain in place. When you are close to an object that can be interacted with an interaction option will appear in the form of a circle. Hovering over it will expand into further options (if applicable). To select an option, hover the mouse over the option, and then release the ⊞ Win key.

ACE interaction is used for many things, including:

• Opening a crate's inventory
• Entering and exiting vehicles
• Knocking on certain vehicles
• Joining someone's group
• Passing a magazine to another player
• Tapping a player's shoulder

ACE self-interact

Use of the ACE self-interact feature.

ACE similarly allows interaction with the self. This is done by holding LCtrl+⊞ Win. This will work in most any situation, including while your map is opened. This is used for many things, including:

• Checking your medical state
• Clearing a jammed gun
• Changing your team color
• Renaming your group
• Quick detaching/attaching attachments
• Dig a trench
• Insert and remove hearing protection
• Repack magazines
• Enabling the light to see your map at night

ACE interact settings and keybinds

There are certain settings that ACE provides which may be pertinent to look into changing. These are not required but highly advised, and knowledge these settings exists is required for certification.

Setting Location	Setting Name	Rationale
ACE Interaction Menu	Always display cursor for interaction	Detaches movement of the mouse from the camera for the default ACE interaction, making it function similarly to self-interaction.
ACE Interaction Menu	Display interaction menus as lists	Instead of having the options be a circle, it'll be a list on the left or right (see first image of this section). Some members prefer this to the circle.
ACE Interaction Menu (Self)	Move to root	Allows moving certain interactions from a sub-menu to the main list that is immediately visible when beginning self-interaction. Advise adding Clear Jam, Earplugs In/Out, and Wipe Goggles to root.

Some default keybinds are...

• Wipe Goggles is LCtrl+⇧ Shift+T.
• Take Prisoner is ⇧ Shift+F1.
• Show Names is LCtrl but it's advised to re-bind to LAlt so it matches the free look key. There is no downside to doing this.

Basic weapons

Firearms

While moving, to lower your weapon, press LCtrl x2. This will also reduce your stamina usage while moving which will be described further later. Do LCtrl x2 again to raise the gun back up.

It is advisable to enable your weapon's safety, primarily when tabbing in and out of the game to mitigate an accidental discharge of your gun. The default key bind for this is LCtrl+` (Tilde). Use the bind again to remove the safety, or simply change the fire mode with F.

Some firearms may have a scope that also has a red-dot or iron sight. To switch between the 2, do LCtrl+Right Click.

HUD icon for a rested weapon.

HUD icon for a braced weapon.

In Arma, a weapon may either be braced or rested. A weapon is braced when a tripod attachment is used to "mount" the gun to cover, or the ground. This dramatically increases the stability, and decreases the spray intensity, of the firearm. This must be done manually by pressing C. A weapon is rested when Arma detects that you are holding the gun over cover, in which Arma simulates you "resting" the gun and/or your arms on the cover. This increases stability, and decreases spray, but to a lesser degree than properly bracing would. As has been insinuated, this is automatic, and requires no manual engagement from you. Whether a weapon is braced or rested is show visibly at the top-right of your HUD.

Certain firearms may jam. To clear a jam, use ACE self-interact.

Grenades and smokes

The ACE grenade throwing interface.

Grenades and smokes are a staple of infantry warfare. By default, a grenade can be thrown by pressing G and switching between the various grenades in your inventory is done via LCtrl+G. Certification requires that you go into your settings and unbind the default grenade throwing key, or set it to something far more difficult to use, such as having to press G x2. Without doing this, it is far too easy to throw a grenade negligently, would could be catastrophic to group play.

The advised way of interacting with grenades at all is via ACE, done by pressing ⇧ Shift+G. This presents a graphical UI showing the anticipated arc of the grenade, a clear visual of the grenade you are holding, and clear button prompts on how to interact with it. This same interface is also used for smoke grenades.

Smoke grenades tend to be used as long-range signaling, such as giving an air asset your location to pick you up or giving said asset a location of a target to engage with heavy firepower. Smokes come in a variety of colors. Many Arma units standardize the colors unit-wide, meaning any usage of a particular color in any operation the unit engages in has the same meaning. EDC does not do this. Whether a grenade color has any significance will be determined by the operation leader or otherwise someone in the chain of command in the operation. If you are ever confused about a particular smoke grenade color that you spot, do not hesitate to ask someone. You may just spot an enemy smoke.

Basic ACRE

The various colored bars which represent speaking volume. Level 0 is a whisper whereas level 4 is shouting.

This certification will not explain the installation of ACRE2. For that, please see the appropriate documentation. You should not perform a manual installation, and instead use the workshop addon. You may of course ask any willing EDC member for help.

Another very popular addon that EDC uses is ACRE2 (colloquially called just "ACRE" among members). It is an addon that hooks into TeamSpeak 3 and with it creates a proximity chat environment. Voices will be heard directionally, you will only hear voices in your vicinity, and, the feature it's really used for, it realistically mimics radio use.

As an simple example, the AN/PRC-343 (colloquially called "343") is a short wave radio and will barely clear a kilometer in range. In contrast, the AN/PRC-152 (colloquially called "152") can easily clear 5 kilometers. Terrain is also a factor in a radio's effectiveness. While the 343 struggles to clear a kilometer, it might do so trivially in perfect conditions and with no terrain interference. By contrast, the 343 could struggle to transmit only 200 meters away if there is some solid Earth between you and your recipient.

So long as the man on the bottom remains lying down he will not hear the man above him. There is no line of sight for the radio, and the radio cannot travel through multiple meters of Earth.

Speaking volume in ACRE can be set manually by doing Tab ↹+Scroll Wheel with scroll wheel up increasing your volume and down decreasing your volume. There are 5 speaking levels (starting at an index of 0) indicated via colored bars.

• Level 0 is a whisper
• Level 1 is speaking softly
• Level 2 is regular speaking volume
• Level 3 is a raised speaking volume
• Level 4 is shouting

The advised default speaking volume is 1 and should only increased if situationally appropriate and necessary.

While communicating with your fellow members, there are some things to keep in mind.

• All radios in Arma are what is called "half-duplex". In simple terms, this means it is not possible for 2 people to transmit on the same frequency at the same time. If attempted, anyone listening will hear the signal which is strongest the best along with plenty of static. With this in mind, radio messages should generally be brief.
• If a leadership role asks who needs ammo, please do not reply with "not me".
• If anyone invokes the term "combat comms", or contact against OPFOR is made, all non-relevant firefight communication should cease immediately (even if mid-sentence) and only resume once all contact is eliminated or disengaged from.
• Some operations may have limited to no radio use. In such situations, it is useful to parrot — that is, repeat out loud — orders given by superiors. This way it is more likely the entire element will hear and be made aware of the order.

ACRE mix settings

Some people have difficulty hearing one another while using ACRE2 despite utilizing the intuitively obvious options, like adjusting the volume knob on the radio or turning up or down global volume. ACRE2 allows you to adjust in it's settings the audio of someone when they are speaking in your proximity (Pre-Mix) and when they are on the radio (Post-Mix). If you can't hear someone next to you, or they are too loud, adjust your Pre-Mix volume. If you have these issues for someone speaking on radio, adjust your Post-Mix volume.

Radio manipulation

The AN/PRC-343 with the channel knob, handle, and volume controls identified.

For the purposes of SQ-1 the only radio that is pertinent is the 343. This radio — presuming the operation is in a modern setting — is the default radio given to all infantrymen in a squad for inter-squad communication. It is likely you will spawn into an operation with this radio already on your person.

Speaking on the AN/PRC-343 will likely be your PTT1 key for ACRE2. This by default is ⇪ Caps Lock.

To manipulate the radio, use ACE self-interact and select the radio by name. Once selected, a 3D model of the radio will appear. The right knob changes the channel you are on. This can be left alone, defaulting to channel 1, unless you hear otherwise from operation leadership. The left knob adjusts volume in increments of 20% with a maximum of 100%. Volume is entirely preferential, though it obviously should be loud enough to be heard whenever a transmission is received. Both knobs are adjustable by left and right clicking the knobs themselves with your mouse.

The AN/PRC-343 with the block knob exposed.

If you click the handle an animation will play and you will be shown the channel block knob. Here you can change the block of channels used. By default, your 343 will be on block 1. Block 1 has 16 channels which directly correlate to the 16 possible options on the channel knob. If you switch to block 2, this creates an additional 16 channels. In other words, channel 2 on block 1 is not the same as channel 2 on block 2, and thus 2 different squads could have the same setting on the channel knob but have isolated frequencies.

ACRE troubleshooting

A visual of the plugin tab of TeamSpeak 3.

Sometimes ACRE2 will appear to be installed correctly both on your TeamSpeak client and in Arma, yet when you join the Arma server and are in TeamSpeak, you will hear everyone speaking as if you are in a voice call. In other words, ACRE2 is not simulating directional or proximity based audio. This can also sometimes present itself as you being unable to hear anyone regardless of their proximity to you.

The general order of operations for troubleshooting this is the following:

1. Reload the addon on TS3 (see visual aid to the right).
2. Relaunch TS3 entirely and re-join the TS3 server.
3. Reload the addon again.
4. Exit back to the role selection screen on the Arma server and load back in.
5. Reload the addon again.
6. Relaunch Arma entirely and load back into the server fully.

If all of the above fails, it can't hurt to also "repair" TS3 on the mod screen, or to reinstall the workshop addon entirely. If nothing works, and you are sure you followed the steps above, report to someone you know is a Zeus for the relevant operation or the person on the server with administrator privileges.

Pinging Zeus

Zeus is a real-time mode that allows spawning units and props, editing units and props, and otherwise flying around and having powers like the Greek God Zeus would theoretically have. It is used to curate the experience for operations in real time, similar to a Dungeon Master in Dungeons & Dragons.

Individuals with Zeus access enter it by pressing Y. By default, anyone who presses Y without access "pings" the Zeus. The Zeus will see your name in a box on their screen and hear a specific sound. This is used for getting help when the game acts in a manner which is contrary to the experience that is attempting to be had. For example, a tank exploding due to an AT round and it unrealistically flying around and then landing into a friendly squad. The Zeus can then use their tools to bring the situation to an acceptable status quo.

Zeuses are advised by EDC leadership to only take a ping seriously if there are 2 in a row. This is because we are all human and hitting the key on accident is expected. This means, however, that you should not press Y twice in a row unless you think there is a genuine need for assistance that breaks the 4th wall. The point of operations is to suspend one's disbelief and be immersed in the military simulation. A Zeus' presence is incompatible with this, and they should only be summoned if needed.

Basic drill

While the following concepts are more cerebral they are nonetheless important for play with EDC — even as a basic riflemen — and are likely going to serve you well in other units or groups.

Common formations

There are a large theoretical group of formations that exist which have arguable uses depending on the circumstances. For SQ-1, we are going to go over 4 of them. Generally speaking formations are decided upon by the fireteam or squad leader. The idea is to know them so you can fall into the formation with minimal assistance. Knowing their uses is also good for your general education and allows you to anticipate a situation your leadership may be expecting.

Wedge

A visual depiction of a wedge formation.

A wedge is a good all-around formation that has favorable utility in most situations. The wedge is simple to form and the ability to shift the formation to more adequately engage contact is easily accomplished. This formation is advisable for when moving around areas where enemy contact could come from any direction.

Unless stated otherwise, the default formation is a wedge.

Line

A visual depiction of a line formation.

A line is a good formation for moving towards a position known or anticipated to possess OPFOR and bringing the maximum amount of firepower to bear in as quick a time as is possible. The major downside is that there is little to no means to ward off being flanked, and if the formation is too tightly controlled, players may focus so much on maintaining the formation they fail to give adequate focus on the position they are going towards.

A fireteam pushing in a line formation with an acceptable amount of deviation.

That said, it is natural for a line to not be perfectly straight and sorta morph into a mini-wedge as the advance progresses. Again, trying too hard to maintain a straight line can be detrimental. Focus on the idea of what the line is attempting to accomplish — maximum firepower as quickly as possible — and try to maintain the formation to meet that goal.

Column (standard and staggered)

A visual depiction of a staggered column formation.

A standard column — that is, a column which is not staggered — is functionally a line formation but instead of being side-to-side everyone is back-to-back. Put another way, you simply follow the leader. It is incredibly easy to make and maintain, requiring little brain power, and so it's useful for quick traversal.

The staggered variation as shown in the above diagram is simply a standard column but half of the line shifts to the right or left, creating 2 parallel yet unequal columns which head in the same direction. A staggered column is classified as marginally safer than the standard variation given there is less cross-fire by it's nature. It is very likely going to be the formation used when traveling on a road.

A column regardless of type is extremely vulnerable to attacks from the direct front and rear, given the inability for everyone to quickly engage due to cross-fire, but it is fairly resilient to attacks from the sides since everyone can engage without risk of cross-fire.

Spacing and interval

A visual depiction of the HUD showing the orange icon indicating violation of desired spacing.

Various members may refer to this as "spacing" or an "interval". The terms are the same. It is the distance you are maintaining between yourself and the other people in your fireteam. It is advised, for everyone's safety, that you maintain 5-10 meters of spacing between yourself and any other member of your fireteam. This limits the effectiveness of ordinance with an area of effect, such as grenades or artillery.

A very good way to see if your spacing is appropriate is to look at the HUD at the bottom middle of your screen. When in a fireteam or squad, you will see arrows representing your fellow soldiers that showcase their approximate position relative to you and where they are looking. These icons are white unless changed to another color at the direction of leadership. When you are too close, both you and the other person's icon will turn orange, and it will be abundantly clear you are both overlapping. This should be corrected immediately unless there is a valid reason for it (e.g you are carrying a downed person).

A visual showcase of a high-low utilized by the men on the left. EDC does not use this tactic.

Note that the 5-10 meters of spacing is a guideline, but not a rule. There are some environments where it simply cannot be helped, or maintaining it is more risky than not. A very common example of this is clearing an urban environment. With so many possible hiding places for enemy troops, it is better to remain in what little cover is found — even if bunched up — than to maintain spacing but be in the middle of the street.

Peripherally related, a common military tactic seen in media is to have one riflemen stand while another crouches in-front of them, then they both shoot in the same direction. This theoretically allows double the firepower to be aimed in a direction while costing the same amount of space. However, the odds of this resulting in a teamkill or cross-fire is much higher than you think it is. Yes, even higher still. Thus, this tactic — sometimes referred to as "high-low" — is strongly discouraged in EDC.

Pacing

There is a theoretical pace faster than sprinting, which is sprinting with your weapon fully put away by pressing 0. This is idiotic in most situations and highly discouraged, bordering prohibited.

Stamina is a major factor in Arma. How you are moving (e.g pacing), the terrain you are traversing, and the weight of your kit all contribute to how fast your stamina depletes. When your stamina is fully depleted you will lose the ability to move at any speed other than a walk. The lower your stamina, the less precise you will be, as your character will realistically react to being out of breath in a manner that makes it difficult to aim or focus. You generally lack control over the terrain you cross, or what your kit is (to a degree), so it is imperative you learn to properly manage your movement pace.

Your stamina is represented by horizontal bars that are beneath the area of your HUD where your weapon bracing or resting was discussed. At full stamina, the bar is invisible, and denotes you are fully rested. As your stamina depletes, the bar will slowly become visible. Once reaching dangerous levels, it will begin to morph into a shade of red before denoting full depletion.

There are a total of 7 states of movement speed. The faster you are, the faster your stamina depletes. Your weapon being up depletes your stamina faster than not, regardless of speed. These factors stack.

The 7 (with an index of 0) states of movement are:

Speed Level	Name	Use	How to Engage
0	Walking, Weapon Lowered	Roleplaying.	LCtrl+C to get to Walking LCtrl x2 to lower/raise gun
1	Walking, Weapon Raised	Clearing interior structures.
2	Combat Pace, Slow, Weapon Lowered	General purpose movement pace out of combat.	LCtrl+C to get to Combat Pace C x2 for Combat Pace variants LCtrl x2 to lower/raise gun
3	Combat Pace, Slow, Weapon Raised	Getting to cover while maintaining fire at OPFOR.
4	Combat Pace, Fast, Weapon Lowered	General purpose cover-to-cover movement.
5	Combat Pace, Fast, Weapon Raised	Cover ground quickly but don't want to exert stamina that will be lost by sprinting.
6	Sprinting	Traverse massive danger zone quickly to get cover or concealment, such as an open field.	Hold ⇧ Shift

For certification and being a good basic riflemen, the speed levels to really know are 1 and 2. Getting comfortable switching between and using the others comes with experience.

Situational awareness

In a warfare simulator, you are never really safe. A mission creator is within their rights to have you spawn into contact — it's just rarely done. The point is, your head should always be on a swivel. By this, we mean you should be free looking by pressing LAlt liberally to continuously scan your environment for threats or anything else worthy of telling your fellow soldiers.

This doesn't mean you never rest your attention — this is still a game — but there shouldn't be prolonged periods of mindlessness. If you are walking in a column, chatting with your buds, and you are deciding what you want for dinner in an hour and have zoned out, you are likely messing up.

This applies even at a stationary place, like a compound, and you aren't one of the lucky ones clearing it. You should then be maintaining security of the compound's surroundings. This means you find a sector (e.g general direction) no one is covering, then cover it by focusing on it and scanning it for threats. If you notice everyone around you goofing off, it is entirely acceptable to politely remind your mates to find sectors to secure. This is important to avoid ambushes or contact getting close unexpectedly.

Something to become aware of, however, is tunnel vision. This is very common when actively engaging contact, where an entire's squads focus is on said contact. While the squad should be engaging to eliminate them, if no one is bothering to look around or keep in mind other sectors, that might spell disaster for the squad. This becomes progressively more important the higher on the chain of command you are.

Reporting contact

You have spotted the enemy. When you do, you should do the following:

• Alert — Notify your element you see contact
• Orient — Give a direction of the contact and, if they are close, an indication danger is imminent
• Describe — Give brief description of what the contact is
• Expound — Other information immediately useful to the element

First, alert your element. Some ways of doing this include yelling "Contact!", "Enemy!", "Red air!", and so on. If the contact isn't an immediate threat (e.g they are sky lining a hill multiple hundreds of meters away), you should still alert, but you can be less dramatic to set the tone. This sobers everyone up.

Second, orient your element to the direction of the contact. In order of preference, it's: cardinal direction (e.g "North!", "South east!"), clock bearing where element's direction of travel is 12 o'clock (e.g "3 o'clock!"), and then relative bearing (e.g "Right!", "Left!"). If the hostile is close enough to where it's an imminent threat, append any kind of phraseology that gives off urgency. This is normally done by yelling "Close!".

Third, describe to the element the contact type. By default, without this, it's assumed the contact is infantry unless there is context to the contrary. Examples of this include "Infantry!", "APC!", "Tank!", "Armor!", "Helicopter!", etc. The more specific you are capable of being, the better.

Lastly, expound on anything pertinent. What to add here will come with experience. You are doing more than fine as a riflemen if you consistently give an alert, orientation, and description. As an example for expound... is the contact approaching the element or going further away? If you spotted infantry, and your buddies are in a vehicle, do you see anyone with AT? Things like that. If you didn't give a range during orient, now is the time to do it — range is required, even if it isn't specific (e.g saying "Medium!" or "Far!" is fine).

Buddy system

In almost all situations, it's preferable to make use of the buddy system. This when you and a single other soldier decide to be "buddies" and enable the feature by use ACE interaction on one another. Once you are buddies, the idea is you keep tabs on your buddy, and they do the same to you, so that you keep one another safe. At a bare minimum, once a firefight concludes, you should briefly survey the element and verify your buddy is up and has received care if needed. The intent of this system is to mitigate the risk of a soldier going down and being left behind by the element, or a soldier who is overwhelmed or otherwise needs assistance never getting it.

Bounding overwatch

A popular means of advancing on a position while attempting to maintain the safety of friendly elements is bounding overwatch. There are 2 variations: successive and bounding. Note that both types are feasible at the fireteam, squad, and platoon levels. At a platoon level, elements are squads. At the squad level, elements are fireteams. At the fireteam level, elements are groups of 2-3 soldiers.

Successive

A visual depiction of how successive bounding overwatch works.

Successive bounding is when 2 elements approach a position by having Element 2 sit still and maintain security, then having Element 1 move up (i.e bound up) to a position ahead. Then Element 1 takes over security at the new position while Element 2 bounds up to Element 1 in a manner where they are roughly in line with Element 1 but not on top of them. This cycle continues.

This variation is slower, but grants a high degree of security, as there is always an element that can immediately engage a contact without risk of cross-fire.

Alternating

A visual depiction of how alternating bounding overwatch works.

The same principles apply here, except instead of maintaining a line with each other, instead, elements continually pass ahead of one another. So Element 2 holds for security while Element 1 bounds up. Then, Element 1 holds for security while Element 2 bounds up and passes Element 1 to another position ahead. The cycle continues.

This variation is faster, but security is sacrificed, given that cross-fire caused by being ahead or behind one another may reduce the ability to suppress contact.

Engaging contact while bounding

If contact occurs in the middle of bounding, regardless of type, the idea is that the element remaining stationary will put down heavy fire on the anticipated position of the contact so that the element in motion can focus on getting to the next area of cover. Then, once the element in motion makes it, they will assume putting down fire so the previously covering element can move up. Functionally, this results in bounding continuing, but the stationary element is always engaging.

The end goal is once a defensible position is reached that makes bounding no longer necessary, one element — usually one with an autoriflemen — will assume suppressing fire, while the other element maneuvers to flank and destroy the contact.

Medical

At any given time, EDC may make use of 1 of 2 systems to handle damage incurred on your character: ACE medical or the armor plates system. The remainder of this certification will be giving a very basic run through of how to handle yourself in both systems. ACE medical is used for operations where EDC is desiring immersion, whereas armor plates are more used in casual operations, or operations where a primary goal is speed of action. 9 times out of 10, if armor plates is not explicitly specified, an operation is using ACE medical.

The ACE medical menu with a fully healed/non-injured player after pressing H

ACE medical

Once again discussing ACE, another thing it introduces which is very popular among Arma units is a medical system. Interacting with ACE medical can be done in 1 of 2 ways. You can use ACE self-interact, or, you can open the medical menu by pressing H. On the top left, right under "EXAMINE & TREATMENT", there are a row of icons. From left to right, these icons are:

1. Triage Card — Lists all prior treatment.
2. Examine Patient -—Checks pulse or blood pressure on the selected limb. You will only ever assess pulse.
3. Bandage / Fractures — Apply a bandage, splint, or tourniquet.
4. Medication — Inject morphine, epinephrine, or another injector.
5. Advanced Treatment — To perform CPR.
6. Drag / Carry — Gives the option to drag or carry the individual. Can also be done with ACE interaction.
7. Switch to self / Switch to target — Allows easy switching between looking at your own medical menu, or someone else's. Useful for when you need to see yourself but people are around you and so ACE keeps showing them and not you. You can tell who you are looking at by looking at the name directly above the 3D model's head.

Other aspects of the menu not discussed are not pertinent for SQ-1. When you are wounded, the medical menu will show your limbs as being different colors. In order of severity, limb color is: grey (perfectly healthy), blue (all wounds have bandages and/or are stitched), yellow (untreated wounds are present), followed by orange and then red, which indicate there are a lot of wounds and/or wounds present are causing considerable bleeding.

Supplies

In ACE medical, there are a variety of specific supplies.

• Bandages
• Tourniquets
• Splints
• Autoinjectors
• Sutures
• Personal Aid Kits (PAKs)

A visual depiction of ACE medical showing a wounded left arm. There is only 1 wound, medium in size, and it's type is velocity.

Bandages are applied to open wounds to temporarily seal them so bleeding stops. There are 4 types: field bandages (basic), packing bandages, elastic bandages, and quick clot bandages. As a basic riflemen, you are likely only going to have basic bandages and quick clots. When you select a wounded limb, in the "OVERVIEW" panel on the right of the medical menu, you will see a sub-section that declares the limb you are looking at, and then the screen will tell you the type, amount, and size of wounds.

When bandaging, you should use the basic bandages until only partial or small wounds are left, which you can then cover with quick clots. ACE medical will apply bandages in order from the largest wound to the smallest regardless of the bandage you select. So, for SQ-1, just understand quick clots cover a smaller area of wounds than basic bandages, and so they should be reserved for finishing up. If you only have quick clots, obviously use them, but alert someone that your medical supplies are low.

Bandages are temporary because, eventually, the bandage will break open and bleeding will resume. Wounds can only be closed permanently by a medic. If there is downtime after you have bandaged yourself, please ask for a medic so they can stitch your wounds.

Tourniquets can be applied to your arms and legs and, regardless of your wounds in that limb, all bleeding will stop. This is used to buy yourself time so you can bandage your head, chest, and then the other limbs you can't tourniquet.uy.

Splints address fractures and, functionally, return the relevant limb to it's non-fractured state. You may use them immediately upon observing a fracture.

You cannot inject morphine or epinephrine into a limb with a tourniquet.

Autoinjectors come in 2 forms you have to care about: morphine and epinephrine. Simply understand that morphine will reduce your pain and it should be used when your character's pain is so overwhelming that, without the morphine, you are not combat effective. Never take more than 1 morphine every 10 real world minutes, otherwise, you may cause yourself to have a heart attack. For epinephrine, simply understand that it's used on a player who has gone unconscious to increase their chances of waking up after they have been stabilized.

Sutures are not useful to you per say, but are on your person for use by medics so they can stitch you up and not have to carry enough sutures on their person for everyone they are responsible for.

PAKs are only used by medics, but understand for your education they take a player in a stable state and simply restore them to a state as if they had never gotten injured at all.

A standard load of medical supplies for a riflemen will be roughly 10 basic bandages, 6 quick clot bandages, 1 morphine, 1 splint, 5 sutures, and 1 or 2 tourniquets. Having a little more than this is usually alright, but if you have less than any of the aforementioned you should double check with leadership that doing so was intentional.

Self-assessment and treatment

When you have been harmed, it is likely occurring in a firefight. The primary goal is to finish the fight, as the number 1 way to reduce injuries is to eliminate the source of them. So, when you are harmed, quickly duck and open up the medical menu with H, ensure you are looking at yourself, and make a quick determination: can your wounds wait, or be tended too very quickly, so you can keep fighting? Or will you die imminently if you don't treat yourself and/or get help? A variety of factors play into this. Here are some helpful rules of thumb.

• If your bleeding indicator says "moderate" or is more severe than that, you need to take time to address yourself, or you may bleed out.
• If your only wounds are on limbs you can tourniquet, simply tourniquet and return to the fight, even if some limbs remain without one. If after you tourniquet you still have "moderate" or worse bleeding from limbs, bandage until bleeding stops.
• If you have wounds on your head or chest, your bleeding is minimal, and they are just yellow, remain in the fight and address later.
• If your chest or head are orange or red, immediately duck down and call for help while you bandage.

If you do need to address yourself or a safe time has come to where you can, you should always treat yourself in the following order:

1. Tourniquet bleeding limbs.
2. Bandage wounds on your head and chest.
3. Apply splints.
4. Bandage wounds on limbs. Prioritize a non-tourniqueted limb to a tourniqueted one until all limbs are bandaged.
5. Remove tourniquets.
6. Apply morphine if needed and safe to do so (remember the 10 minute rule).

The above order-of-operations is a direct certification requirement. Remember it. Live by it.

Ally treatment

Checking for pulse while someone is doing CPR will result in a false positive. Checking for pulse on a limb with a tourniquet will result in a false negative.

As a riflemen, you should only be giving medical assistance to your allies out of desperation. If you are assisting a friendly soldier who is conscious, you should really only be rendering aid if they indicate that without someone else's assistance they will imminently bleed out or go unconscious. In this situation, listen to where they have indicated you need to bandage, and always declare the limb you are bandaging if you ever switch.

If you see a friendly soldier is unconscious, alert your element that the individual is down, tourniquet all injured limbs that you can, and then check their pulse. If you get no pulse, you need to yell this information and call for a medic. If you are not actively in a firefight, begin CPR immediately, then when the medic arrives listen to their instructions. If you are in a firefight, yell for the medic still, but then return to the fight unless you are explicitly asked to help by the arriving medic. If the person has a pulse, after you tourniquet and alert your element, return to the fight. Once the fight is over, the medic should be prioritizing them over everyone else, so you can let them handle it.

If for some reason which may exist you need to treat the person, ensure they have a pulse, then follow the order of operations from the self-treatment section on the individual unconscious.-

Armor plates system

The armor plates system, by design, is considerably simpler than ACE medical. In this system, the only pertinent supplies are:

• Medikit — An infinite use healing and revival kit used solely by medics.
• First Aid Kit — A single use healing and revive kit designed for use by non-medics. Your kit should possess roughly 5 of these.
• Armor Plate — A single use disposable plate designed to restore your armor.

A medic in this system is better mechanically at healing and reviving. A riflemen is physically incapable of restoring themselves or a battle buddy to a fully healed state. Riflemen can revive, but it's slower, and the revived person does not come back to full health.

An oddity of the system is that it's not possible to treat wounds in a vehicle, so you or the patient will need to get out in some way before treatment can be administered.

Self-assessment and treatment

Look at your health bar on the top right of the screen. If your health is over 2/3rds, you really shouldn't use a first aid kit, as you aren't getting much benefit — no matter what, you aren't getting yourself to a fully healed state without a medic. If it's below this state, consider the following:

• Is your medic close? Can they just quickly pop over to you and do it themselves?
• Are you actively engaging contacts?
• How far below 2/3rds are you?
• Do you need to imminently cross dangerous terrain?

If you determine it's best to heal yourself, simply use the scroll wheel and select the appropriate option. Your health bar will immediately raise.

Your armor is a blue bar that exists in rough proximity to your health bar. If your armor is below 1/2, you may consider replacing it with a new plate by pressing T. Doing this above 1/2 is considered inefficient, as the old plate will be wasted entirely, and the old and new plates will not combine together.

Ally treatment

The only time you even consider treating someone else without being a medic is if they are not conscious. Remember: medics are faster than you, can heal fully, and they can revive someone to a fully healed state. If a medic is nearby, and someone is down, you really should have them revive the individual. If a medic is not nearby, or God forbid the medic is down themselves, you then may consider reviving them yourself. You can do this using the scroll wheel or ACE interact.

In a situation where there are multiple causalities, and the medic is occupied, you can use the scroll wheel to press on a downed person's wound. This functionally just keeps the person from dying on the ground from "bleeding out", giving the medic time to revive them.