Campaign Lore
OPERATION ENDURING SPEAR
17th Ranger Battalion
Lythium Province
“Rangers Lead The Way.”
LYTHIUM
For nearly two decades, the mountains and valleys of Lythium existed on the periphery of the war.
Coalition forces maintained a presence throughout the region, but geography, tribal influence, and an extensive network of mountain routes made permanent control difficult. When pressure increased, insurgent fighters disappeared into the mountains. When coalition forces withdrew, they returned.
Weapons moved through isolated passes.
Money changed hands in crowded markets.
Couriers traveled between villages carrying messages that never touched a radio.
Men who appeared to be farmers during the day became fighters after sunset.
For years, none of this was unusual.
Then something changed.
THE QUIET WAR
Over the past six months, coalition intelligence has recorded a significant increase in coordinated insurgent activity throughout Lythium.
Weapons caches have grown larger.
IED attacks have become more sophisticated.
Previously independent fighting groups have begun sharing equipment, intelligence, and personnel.
Coalition patrols operating hundreds of kilometers apart have encountered identical weapons, explosives, and tactics.
Someone is organizing them.
The question is who.
Intelligence agencies disagree on whether Lythium is experiencing the emergence of a new organization or the consolidation of several existing groups.
What is known is that money, weapons, and fighters are moving through the province at an unprecedented rate.
Somewhere inside that system is a command structure.
Finding it has proven difficult.
Every captured fighter knows a commander.
Every commander knows a facilitator.
Every facilitator knows a courier.
And every courier seems to lead to another name.
The organization has been built deliberately so that no single individual understands the entire network.
Coalition intelligence has therefore stopped trying to find the man at the top.
Instead, they intend to dismantle the organization one piece at a time.
THE BATTLESPACE
Lythium has been divided into five operational areas.
AO VIKING encompasses the northern population centers and surrounding terrain.
AO APACHE covers the western and northwestern mountain regions, where coalition presence remains limited.
AO RANGER contains the central valley and the primary north-south transportation corridors.
AO SABER covers eastern Lythium and its network of settlements, valleys, and mountain approaches.
AO BASTOGNE encompasses southern Lythium and the primary coalition support infrastructure.
Coalition forces maintain several positions throughout the province, but their ability to operate beyond established routes remains limited.
The southern airfield has been designated Marauder Airfield and will serve as the primary staging location for incoming Ranger forces.
From Marauder, the battalion will project combat power throughout all five AOs.
THE MISSION
The 17th Ranger Battalion has been ordered to Lythium.
Officially, the battalion will conduct direct-action operations in support of coalition efforts to disrupt insurgent activity throughout the province.
Unofficially, the mission is considerably simpler.
Find the network.
Identify the men moving the weapons.
Find the people paying them.
Find the couriers carrying their messages.
Find the commanders protecting them.
Then follow that chain as far as it goes.
Operations will include airborne and air-assault missions, helicopter-borne raids, mounted interdictions, reconnaissance, sensitive-site exploitation, personnel recovery, raids against high-value targets, and deliberate assaults against insurgent strongholds.
Intelligence will drive operations.
Operations will produce intelligence.
That intelligence will identify the next target.
Every compound matters.
Every detainee matters.
Every cellphone, ledger, photograph, map, radio, and scrap of paper recovered during SSE may provide the piece of information necessary to identify the next man in the chain.
THE ENEMY
There is currently no single confirmed enemy commander in Lythium.
Intelligence indicates the presence of several Pashtun fighting groups operating throughout the mountainous regions and a growing number of Uzbek fighters operating throughout the valleys.
Historically, these organizations have maintained separate leadership structures.
Recent intelligence suggests that may be changing.
Weapons captured from one organization have appeared in the possession of another.
Known smugglers have been observed traveling between territories previously controlled by competing groups.
Money is moving.
Weapons are moving.
People are moving.
Someone is bringing them together.
Whoever they are, they have made one mistake.
They built a network.
Networks can be mapped.
And once they can be mapped...
they can be dismantled.
ENDURING SPEAR
The deployment is expected to last approximately ten weeks.
There is no expectation that the 17th Ranger Battalion will pacify Lythium.
That is not why they are being sent.
The Rangers have been given a narrower mission.
Enter the province.
Find the enemy.
Destroy the network.
And leave whoever remains wondering where the next helicopter is going to land.
Operation Enduring Spear begins now.