Counterinsurgencies, Should We Keep them "Short and Lively"?

In the last entry of his blog, Dr. Jack Kem (US Army Combined Arms Center) has a great recoup on how the armed forces of Sri Lanka had defeated the Tamil Tigers, who controlled vast regions of the country's north.

A side note: Dr. Jack's blog is listed in this page at the "blogs of interest" section. I encourage you to visit Dr. Jack's blog frequently, the information and insights there are superb. Please also check his entries on design applied to operations planning, this concept is very new to US Army doctrine.

Long story short, there was a decades-long insurgency that was defeated in a couple of years after a politically-backed strategy was put in place. The armed forces also changed tactics accordingly. Hasta la vista ... Tamil Tigers.

This is a conflict that I definitvely need to dig more into. Any pointers from the readers will be appreciated. But the speed by which this insurgency was defeated is impressive.

Frederick the Great once said that wars should be "kurz und vives" (short and lively). This is an approach the Germans have been very keen to as they ravaged Europe during the first two years of World War II. What would a "counter-insurgency blitzkrieg" look like?

Cheers,

Armed Assault 2 (Arma 2): Preview at Eurogamer.com

Armed Assault 2, the sequel of the award winning first person shooter, is close to being released (there are reports of ArmA 2 being shipped in Europe right now). This simulation engine is almost the same as the one used by VBS2, the military-grade simulation.

Eurogamer.com has a preview of this simulation.

The wait for us in the USA is on.

Cheers,

"Apache" by Ed Macy: Modern Attack-Helicopter Missions Recounted by a Real Pilot

"Apache" by Ed Macy, recounts the author's missions as an Attack Pilot of the British Army Air Corps deployed in Afghanistan.

The author has managed to write an action-packed book without compromising a military-level narrative of his missions.

At least for me, "Apache" felt somehow a miss-guiding title for this book. Certainly the attack helicopter is a very important part of the story. Yet the stories of the men flying them into battle are what makes this a superb book. The war against the Taliban is a nasty business. The sacrifices of the British forces in Afghanistan are enormous. The enemy is always elusive and merciless. The soldiers and airmen in "Apache" are portrayed at the level of deepness that only brothers in arms can get.

The climax of the book is the rescue of a Royal Marine, which went MIA in a Taliban stronghold. For this mission, Ed Macy and his flight members received the Military Cross for Bravery.

For the flight simulator enthusiast (yes, you flying DCS Black Shark), this is a must-read. Even when the helicopter is not the one you are flying in the virtual skies, you will find plenty of valuable information here. How to make a rocket-run, how to ingress to a hot area, employment of weapons, fuel economy, deconflict of indirect fires, you name it. The book also has a map section and pictures of the target areas that make following the missions even more engaging. The most detailed chapters of "Apache" are the ones where missions are recounted. These parts of the book are a detailed, button-press to button-press, narrative. It is almost like being in the cockpit with Macy.

Ed Macy has written the ultimate debriefing, the one describing his life-changing combat experience in Afghanistan.

Cheers,

Biohackers, an Imagined Threat Brought to you by the Mainstream Media

The possibility of an enemy using bio-weapons against us is no joke. There is a threat out there. How big it is I don't know.

William Lind's latest "On War" column features a commentary about amateur scientists (biohackers) having acquired an edge sharp enough that it can hurt us now or in the near future. This commentary is based on a front page story ran by the Wall Street Journal on May 12, that plainly implies bio-hackers have accumulated enough know-how to create bio-weapons.

Before I go any further, some clarifications about my background so to add more credibility to this entry. I have a Ph.D. in molecular biology. I have published in peer-reviewed journals, including a book chapter and two reviews. I've been a professional scientist, a mix of microbiologist, cell-biologist, geneticist and biochemist, for the last 15 years.

The story ran by the Wall Street Journal is a disgrace. It falsely puts science enthusiasts, with the cool name of "biohackers" at a level of know-how enough to create a bio-weapon.

Science reporting in mainstream media has gone from mediocre to just plain bad lately. I don't know what's happening. Maybe it's because the sorry state of science education? We live in a media-driven world where the image of a scientist is closer to a character from the TV series CSI than to any of the thousands of great scholars this country has produced.

Letting this story out in the front page of the WSJ without checking facts first is irresponsible. Sure, the so-called biohackers can grow bacteria and bacteriophages (virus that attack bacteria) in a makeshift incubator. Biohackers can amplify a few hundred base pairs in a thermocycler bought from EBay (the equipment at the bottom of the closet in the picture shown at the WSJ's article). Biohackers can buy a few thousand base pairs of DNA online.

So what?

Biotechnology is both expertise and capital intensive. There is no chance these enthusiasts will ever come out of their closet with an engineered organism. Even a biologist equivalent of the genius tycoon that built himself an Iron Man suit, with no shortage of money and ideas, would have trouble to do something as humble as such a bio-weapon. Scientific research is a social activity, not the lone wolf venture the WSJ is reporting about.

Mr. Editor of the Wall Street Journal: thanks for alarming and making us dumber,.

Cheers,

2009 Joint Services Open House: Assorted Images (Part 1)

The Joint Services Open House is held every year during the second week of May at the Andrews Air Force Base in MD, USA. It features both a great airshow and static displays from the US Army, the US Air Force, the US Navy, the US Marine Corps, the US Coast Guard and also civilian organizations.

I visited the show on May 16th and took some pictures of the static displays. Unfortunately, the ceiling was very low and many of the air performances were delayed to times after my departure.

The C-17 Globemaster, a gargantuan transport.

The AC-130's arsenal is nothing to kid about

The AC-130's target acquisition system. You can run, but you can't hide ...

Nimble and versatile. What's not to like about this classic?

The cockpit of the air-assault heli above


A USMC's AH-1W Super Cobra

Another angle of the Cobra ...

Rocket launchers of the same Cobra

"The pilot's office". USMC AH-1W Super Cobra.

More to come in a future entry. Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Panther Games Offer an Unrivaled Command Experience

Panther Games is a small war games developing company based in Australia. They developed a series of war games in which you command troops at a level of warfare situated between the tactical and operational (divisions and brigades) during WWII.


The games from Panther are not your average WWII war game.

To start with, the representation of time and space in this series has no pre-set boundaries (no hexes, no turns). The games are also historically accurate and the mechanics of real-life combat and movement are exquisitely modeled.

But in my opinion the most revolutionary feature of this game series is how it implements a command structure in which you can delegate tasks to a virtual staff that will carry them on. Carry them on very efficiently, I must add because the artificial intelligence of these series is outstanding. You can order a brigade, a battalion, a company (whatever your choice down to the smaller unit represented, the platoon) to move, probe, attack, etc., and the virtual staff will execute such orders, moving accordingly all the units involved. No need for you to push around every single icon in the map.

It doesn't end there: you staff will need time to execute your orders. If you order a battalion to attack a hill, they will need an hour at best to organize themselves for such a tactical mission. If they are under fire, or if you have been giving too many orders (simulating staff overload), it may take even more. This orders delay system is unique and forces the player to think ahead on time about how the battlefield is continuously changing.

Panther Games newest production, "Battles from the Bulge" is in advanced beta-test stage right now. The release is planned for this year.


Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Tactics Primer (Part 2)

10 Rules to Live By (continued)

Rule #4: New Area=Danger Area
Every time you enter a new area, assume that every tree is hiding an enemy anti-aircraft system.

Rule #5: There is no such thing as too much reconnaissance
Taking advantage of your helicopter's maneuverability and powerful optic systems, thoroughly recon any new area you are about to enter. Use terrain to mask your position: initiate a hover from a covered position, then slowly and progressively bob-up until you can scan all the new area. During this bob-up, get ready to descend in case you are detected or fired upon.

Rule # 6: Identify your targets
The modern battlefield is very dynamic. The position of enemy and friendly forces can change considerably in a very short time and without notice. Given the mobility of mechanized and armored warfare the concept of front-line is obsolete. Identify your targets based on type of equipment, their spatial orientation and the briefing.

Rule #7: Preserve ammunition
It is useless to arrive to the objective with the cannon as your only weapon available. Focus on the mission objective. Avoid decisive engagements with opportunity targets if doing so means risking the completion of the mission. Also, remember that once you completed the mission you may need ammo to fight your way back to base.

Rule #8: Know the operational situation
Pay very close attention to the briefing: it contains all intelligence available at the time of take-off. Depending the type of enemy forces you will face, arm your helicopter with according ammo and counter-measures. Pay close attention to the climate report, it may be important to determine your approach to the objective area. Off all combat aircraft, the attack helicopter is the one that operates more close to land forces. Try to understand your mission objective in the context of the operations of the land forces your are supporting.

Rule #9: Attack the enemy from your maximum munition range and on its flanks
When you attack frontally, you expose your helicopter to fire from all the enemy line. Attacking on one flank the amount of enemy weapon systems that can fire at you are reduced.

Rule #10: Patience
Lack of patience is a killer. When you discover enemy units at a rate higher than the rate that you can destroy them, re-think your approach.


Source for the "10 Rules to Live By" entry:

"Gunship Academy", by the great simulation-guides author Richard Sheffield.

Cheers,

"The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War"

Every human in earth knows wars as catastrophic events. Why we humans engage in them anyways?

This fantastic book by Dr. David Livingstone Smith offers a somber hypothesis from the perspective of evolution, anthropology and psychology: evolution may have shaped our human brains in that way.

According to the author we have a strong and intrinsic disgust for killing each other, yet through evolution the brains of our ancestors have acquired the trait of being able to deceit others and even ourselves. Surprisingly, this self-deceit process appears to be even unconscious. Add to that our ability to imagine threats and the list of ingredients for the recipe of the "Most Dangerous Animal" is almost complete.

To explore the possible roots of our same-species violent behavior and to find an explanation to it, this book will take you back and forth in time and space, from a cave millions of years ago to present day Iraq. Well documented, accessible to the lay reader, this is book written in an engaging style.

A small warning: this book is not a light reading neither it has a happy ending. The vignettes of wars and other violent acts are very graphic and quickly brings the point to you that we tend to sanitize, romanticize and glorify war. The book wraps it up with a final chapter explaining why, alas, there is apparently no end in sight for the terrible custom of war.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Tactics Primer (Part 2)

10 Rules to Live by (Continued)

Rule #2: Fire munitions from their maximum range

The farther you are from your target, the less possible it will detect and fire back at you.

Shkval view of an enemy tank engaged with an anti-tank missile from a distance of 1.7 km. At this distance, enemy tanks can shoot you down very easily.

Shkval view of an enemy tank engaged with an anti-tank missile from a distance of 5.3 km. At this distance, the enemy tanks will have a hard time detecting and firing at you.

Rule #3: Avoid the "Dead Man's Zone"

The crest of hills are the worst places to be hovering or flying. Remember to use terrain to mask your helicopter. Fly around hills, not over them.

(Click on the image for an expanded view)

(Click on the image for an expanded view)

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Tactics Primer (Part 2)

10 Rules to Live By

All forms of combat require an agile mind able to adapt to the continuously changing challenges of the battlefield. In tactical combat, there are never absolute truths or optimal solutions and speaking of "rules" sounds like out of place. The "rules" discussed here are actually guides that are valid in most situations. Take these "rules" as a framework to think about your own solutions to the tactical challenges you will face.

Rule #1: Never fly over the objective

... or over any area in which you know or suspect there are enemy troops. Remember, under your aircraft is one of the places where you cannot see or aim your weapons.

(Click on the image for an expanded view). During un-guided rocket runs is when most of virtual pilots make the mistake of over-flying the objective.

(Click on the image for an expanded view)

(Click on the image for an expanded view). An ideal un-guided rocket run.

(Click on the image for an expanded view)

Cheers,

Real Life Interruption. Will be back soon though!

Dear readers,

I'm in a business trip and will be back posting very soon. Stay tuned!

Cheers,

"No Enemy, but Peace", a Comic About Real Heroes

This has to be my oddest find ever. In a comics store I found a comic written by a US Marine about a real-life story of heroism and courage during the battle of At-Tarmiyah.

Very good reading and illustrations. You immediately note that the author knows what he is writing about.

There is a more extensive comic coming out in the near future.

Please support this small operation by buying the comic here.

Cheers,

War Gaming in the Military

The Training and Simulation Journal has an article about war gaming in the armed forces around the globe.

The Army realized that the new generation, or Generation Y, is a significant percentage of the Army and that it learns more efficiently using a game than with PowerPoint, said Don Toliver, operations director at the National Simulation Center (NSC) at the Army Combined Arms Center and Training at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Tactical Landing ... Sorta

1.5 km away from the runway

Runway is getting closer ...

Gear down!

The runway gets buried under the nose. Thank Lord for TrackIR!

The dive ...

From the cockpit, closely watching the airspeed ...

Pulling the cyclic like there was no tomorrow

Finally level flight

Touchdown!

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Tactics Primer (Part 1)

This series of entries are focused in attack helicopter tactics at the individual level. Off course, attack helicopters almost never take-off to combat individually. At a later time, I will expand this series to tactics to be used at the platoon level. On the meantime, the tactical principles in this primer will help you to fly as a part of a formation.

This series of entries are based in stuff I gathered on the web. I condensed and adapted most of the stuff found and I encourage you to check those original sources. The sources will be cited at the end of each installment.

Flying to the objective

Compared to fixed wing aircraft, the attack helicopter doesn’t have the luxury of being able to fly very high or fast. It’s almost ironic that these two apparent shortcomings of the attack helicopter are actually its two advantages: being able to both fly extremely slow and at a low altitude that allows it to evade enemy anti-air weapon systems. In addition, the attack helicopter has a very high maneuverability that allows it to change the flight regime in small space and time spans.

Unfortunately, the advances in radar and infrared detection technologies are always a threat for the attack helicopter pilot. The biggest challenge for the attack helicopter pilot is to fly towards the objective avoiding detection. The best way to avoid detection is using terrain as cover.

If you are a virtual pilot of fixed-wing combat aircraft, it’s time for a paradigm shift. You are used to dive majestically from the blue with your wings pregnant of fire and the arrogant attitude of a God that entertains himself dealing death to the poor earth-laden mortals. Those times are gone. You are now like a hero of the ancient Greek mythology, half-god and half-mortal. The earth where the soldier lives and dies is now your life and death. The eternal paradoxes of tactical land combat are now your salvation and perdition. Being pilot and soldier at the same time will require the most from your abilities and intelligence. This is your time of greatest glory.

One way to avoid detection by using terrain as cover is the so-called “nap of the earth” (NoE) flying. In NoE flying, the pilot flies at approximately 6-7 meters above the ground and at a speed of 90 Km/h. The vast majority of modern radar systems cannot detect targets flying at a very low altitude. In addition, Doppler-based radars are designed to ignore returns moving at speeds of less than 100 Km/h in order to avoid detecting civilian traffic. During a NoE flight, the pilot chooses a route that allows the maximum terrain cover. The base of hills, around (not over) elevations and behind crowded terrain is ideal for NoE flying. In mountainous terrain, attack helicopter pilots usually fly at an altitude that is halfway between the base and the top of the mountains.

As exhilarating as dangerous, NoE flying requires a lot of concentration.

NoE flying is not problem-free. The slow speed and the low altitude expose the attack helicopter to small-arms fire and un-guided rockets. An alternative to NoE flying is “contour-chasing” (CC) flying, which is done at higher altitudes and speeds. CC flying is used when the presence of enemy anti-aerial or aircraft is less likely. For a CC flight, the pilot maintains an altitude of 12-15 meters and a speed of 150 Km/h. The pilot doesn’t fly around the hills but rather maintains a straight course, keeping a constant altitude above the ground.

CC flying has the advantage of higher speed at the expense of concealment

Coming up next, “10 Rules to Live by”

Source for this entry:

http://www.101st.org/Data/5.27.htm

Cheers,

Battle Group Commander: Episode One

In a previous entry, I shared the news about a sale at Shrapnel Games.

Thanks to the sale event and the coupon I mentioned in my previous entry, you can get "Battle Group Commander: Episode One" for $12.49.

Sure, this game features only four scenarios. Yet I can assure you will be hooked and get hours of gameplay and tactical goodness out of this game. If you have been in the fence about this line of war games, this a golden opportunity.

Cheers,

FM 3-24.2 Tactics in Counterinsurgency

After being published and quickly taken off from the US Army Combined Arms Center last April, copies of the manual appeared in several blogs and websites.

Now it is available from the "Small Wars Journal" website.

It is very exciting to witness doctrine in the making.

The field manual is 300 pages long and I'm still reading it. Two stray thoughts about it:

• From the point of view of employing armed forces to kill insurgents/enemy combatants the US Army never suffered major tactical defeats in the recent past. This field manual not only revises the employment of troops for the destruction of enemy combatants/insurgents but also integrates such activity with wining the hearts and minds of the civil population and preserving the civilian infrastructure. This is not a trivial thing.
• Some parts are really eye catchers. Like this passage in section 5.2 (Characteristics of the Offense):

  The characteristics of the offense are surprise, audacity, tempo, and concentration. For COIN, an additional characteristic, flexibility, is added.

Wait a minute, I thought that flexibility was always a part of the offense ... :)

• Some other parts are surprising, at least to me. Like when the manual lists the types of offensive operations, one of them is "movement to contact", which includes search-and-attack and cordon-and-search operations. In my understanding, the greatest problem in battling insurgencies is that the enemy combatants always have the choice of when and where to show up. Movement to contact may be a bit too optimistic IMHO. But the actual surprise to me is that in the manual there is a mention of using reconnaissance forces to find the insurgents. Regular recce units?
  

Cheers,

Modern Military Thinkers: John Boyd

John Boyd had both the mind of the bold, daring soldier who never surrenders and that of a brilliant scholar whose thirst for truth uncovers new patterns in places where nobody thought there was anything else to question.

He is known mostly for his "observation, orientation, decision, action" loop (OODA loop). This is unfortunate because his contributions are as wide-ranging as the ones from titans like Clausewitz. It is also unfortunate because OODA is not a loop but rather a cycle. But anyway, most people's knowledge of Clausewitz doesn't go farther than "war is the continuation of politics by other means".

As I'm doing with every military thinker I post about, I will leave the task of exploring Boyd's theories to my readers. A little warning, you are in for a wild ride.

One of the spin-offs from Boyd's thinking is the so-called maneuver warfare, which was adopted by the US Marine Corps as a doctrinal framework. There is also a movement leaded by Chet Richards, that applies Boyd's thinking to business.


Boyd never wrote a book. His preferred way of exposing ideas were his legendary briefings, which lasted half a day. The text of these briefings can be found in the web. Frank Osinga recently published a book which is the ultimate analysis of Boyd's theories: "Science, Strategy and War". This book is a bit pricey from Amazon and I would rather recommend the print-on-demand service from Routledge.






One of the things that impressed me in Osinga's book is his analysis of the context in which Boyd formulated his ideas. According to Osinga, Boyd's experiences as a fighter pilot, his self education and the scientific ambiance contemporary to his studies are important to understand his theories. I also recommend the biographical book by Robert Coram "Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War".





Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Patch Delayed

Wags has posted some information on the official forums about the upcoming patch for DCS Black Shark.

The patch is in-work and we still hope to release it in the next month or two. In the process of fixing bugs and adding new features, we’ve had to go back and re-do some of the multiplayer code. This has led to longer than expected development time.

There is also information about other Eagle Dynamics products in this thread.

Cheers,

A Tank Platoon in the Defense, Part 2: Tactical Misadventures in Steel Beasts ProPE

Continued from here.

I played this scenario with some gentlemen from a very well-known simulation community. The identities of the players are withheld to protect the innocent. :) All tanks in the platoon manned by humans except for tank #3, which was handled by the computer. I played as commander of tank #2.

Our platoon commander decided to go as the FRAGO suggested: stay in BP1, inflict some damage, call for an arty smoke mission and reverse to the alternate battle positions.

We never got a chance.

The enemy attacked our right flank (yes, the flank I was holding) and overran my position. When we detected the enemy tanks, they were at a shouting distance from my position. The call for artillery-smoke from our commander was too late as the enemy was already near our position. The enemy moved to the back to our position and took my tank, then tank #1. Tank #3 got destroyed while it was trying to reverse towards safety. Tank #4 made an heroic attempt to eliminate the fast moving enemy tanks. He took 2 of them with him.

The mission went catastrophically bad.

Below are my thoughts on why I think we failed.

• The prepared dug-in firing positions at BP1 had good fields of fire on EA Dog. Good but not optimal.

Click the image for an expanded view. Left: map, showing our initial positions. Right column: birds-eye view from BP1 towards EA Dog. Note the prepared tank positions in front of each tank. Tank #3 and #4 had good overlapping fields of fire, but tanks #1 and 2 were separated by a small elevation covered by a patch of vegetation and they ended up with different views of EA Dog.

A close up of the individual positions of tanks #1 and #2. Note the slight elevation that separates both, which resulted in non-shared fields of fire. Click the image for an expanded view.

• The withdrawal route from BP1 to BP2A and BP2B had no cover or concealment. We should have realized that if the artillery-delivered smoke would fail its purpose (as it did), the withdrawal towards the alternate BPs would have exposed us to enemy observation and fire.

The arrow indicates my withdrawal route, which featured terrain flat as a pancake. The thing in front of my tank is a prepared dug-in tank fighting position.

A bit off topic, I want to mention that my tank took 8 hits during this mission. The 9th was the charm ...

The red rods indicate the direction of the munition hitting my tank. Click in the image for an expanded view.

Cheers,

A Tank Platoon in the Defense, Part 1: Tactical Misadventures in Steel Beasts ProPE

One of the things I like about Steel Beasts ProPE (SBProPE) is that it forces you to think really hard about tactics. The virtual battlefield in SBProPE is fast and brutal and the only way to survive is to get serious about what you are doing with your tank.

This scenario I'm writing about today is part of the older scenarios in SBProPE. It features a platoon of M1 Abrams defending objective "Star" in a sector two kilometers wide or so. The enemy, a motorized rifle company is advancing from west to east.

The OPORD in this scenario is more like a FRAGO, which is correct I guess given the size of the scenario. In the FRAGO, the commander of blue forces orders us to avoid the enemy getting to objective "Star". The commander also has provided some maneuver and tactical guidelines which are depicted in the next map as operational graphics.


Two recon HMMWVs are in front of blue forces as combat patrols and will provide warning of the approaching enemy. Our M1 Abrams tanks are supposed to inflict as many casualties on the enemy by firing from battle position 1 (BP1) towards engagement area "Dog" (EA Dog). On order, we are to withdraw towards battle positions BP2A and BP2B under the cover of artillery-delivered smoke and destroy the remaining enemy forces in engagement area "Cat" (EA Cat).

Simple, uh?

Not quite.

For starters, the scenario is about using tanks, intrinsically offensive weapons, in a defensive role. The British military theorist J.F.C. Fuller, in his "The Foundations of the Science of War", suggested that the basic three actions of combat are: move, strike and protect. According to Fuller, in a typical weapon system, each of these actions influences the other. One soldier cannot fire (strike) as precisely when he is running (move). In addition, if the soldier is running (move), his cover (protect) is reduced. The tank is not exempt from these factors, yet it has a superior mobility (move) that can be used with little compromise of its firepower (strike) and protection against enemy fire (protect). The ability to "move strike and protect" at the same time constitutes the biggest advantage the tank has over other weapon systems. Renouncing to move your tank, as you would do in a defense scenario like the one detailed above, is giving away one advantage. And since the "move, strike and protect" factors seem to combine synergistically, loosing one of three is loosing much more than1/3 of your capabilities. Just staying alive in such conditions requires mastery and study. When tanks stay put in the battlefield with inexperienced crews inside, bad things happen.

FM 17-15 (Tank Platoon) has a whole chapter devoted to defensive operations. In chapter 4 there is this important paragraph:

The two patterns described in FM 100-5 are mobile and area defenses. A mobile defense is executed to destroy the attacking force by permitting the enemy to advance into a position that exposes him to counterattack by a mobile reserve. The focus of area defenses is on retention of terrain; defending units engage the enemy from an interlocking series of positions and destroy him, largely by direct fires.

Since in this scenario we lack a mobile reserve, in this scenario we will be conducting an area defense.

Continues here ...

Cheers,

Hardcore PC Wargames On Sale Right Now at Shrapnel Games!

ProSim's "Battle Group Commander: Episode One", 12% discount.
Get it from the Shrapnel Games Store. Offer is valid until May 12, 2009.

ProSim's "Air Assault Task Force", 13% discount. Get it also from the Shrapnel Games Store. Offer valid through May 2009.

Also, somebody mentioned to me that you could get an additional 5% off by using the coupon code: FFSAVE5P

Cheers,