February news is here! This past 2 months was very busy for S.O.G. Prairie Fire. The amazing success of our second Charity Event with the Military & Veteran Gamers and Friday Night Fight, our first tests with a 64 Player Mike Force, new Prairie Fire Merchandise with Teespring and finally, more videos with the amazing MACV-SOG veterans.
1. DLC News
Mike Force with 64 players
In early January we started testing a new version of Mike Force with up to 64 Players. This was done with DigbyTathamWarter in which we took a more organized and strategic approach to Mike Force.
Teespring merchandise
Since the release of the DLC, we have received many requests from the community to create some merchandise - and it’s here! We have a Teespring shop in which you can buy shirts, hoodies, posters, mugs and much more, with our unique designs which you find in-game. You can visit the online store here:
https://www.sogpf.com/store
1.2 content update
Another free content update is in development for the DLC, but as usual we cannot confirm what will be included, nor when it will be released. We can say that we are very pleased with what is planned, and we hope you enjoy it when it arrives!
In the meantime you can watch this Savage developer interview, where SOG legend John Stryker Meyer poses some tricky questions sent in by the community. Members of the S.O.G. Prairie Fire developer team were on hand to give their insights into a 3-year labor-of-love.
2. Veteran News - SOG Charity Jungle Run II
In this event, lasting just under 2 days, the SOG Prairie Fire community raised $15,926.95 for the Military & Veteran Gamers charity, an amazing veteran-operated organisation which brings together veterans and serving military of all ages through online gaming, to share peer-to-peer welfare support. MVG has a mental health team and funds gaming PCs for veteran members so they can join in. We hope everyone enjoyed the event and congratulations to those who won the raffles.
If you are a veteran and interested in taking the ARSENAL survey, to improve your resilience to stress, please visit the team at MVG on their discord.
Our MACV-SOG Military Veterans sent these personal words of thanks to the team, the community and the streamers who helped raise the funds:
John "Tilt" Stryker Meyer - "Just hearing about your team’s effort blew my mind. I knew you had many folks working on the project, which in itself takes time and dedication. But, to hear the actual details, the “creative tension” and your studs who stood tall. Truly amazing, sir. Please thank each and every one. You’re getting our story out there in a faithful way I never dreamed of. Continue to march!”
Don "Ghostrider" Haase - "I had a blast the whole time. The Covey pilots would have way more air assets to manage than we had today. They would scribble notes in grease pencil all over the windows. But that said Drah, Sam and Rob did a magnificent job today. A special thanks to Whiplash and the many people who made this charity event a huge success!"
Ken “El Cid” Bowra- “Special thanks for all that you and your team did to make this event the great success it was. Well done. Proud to have been a part. I am honored to assist with your efforts to remember our U. S. and indigenous members of MACV-SOG and the brave men who supported our operations. Preserving their legacy for future generations of Special Forces soldiers and others is so important. Lest we forget.”
Dick “Dynamite” Thompson - “I want to add my thanks too. Rob and the team did a fantastic job! I appreciate everyone's effort to preserve the SOG legacy and the heroic work of the members of SOG.This weekend was also a major push to encourage vets to take advantage of the additional support that is available to them. We tried to remind everyone that the ARSENAL is not just for those who might be experiencing difficult times but also for those who want to take their performance to the next level. I use it with elite military groups, SWAT teams, law enforcement, firefighters, nuclear operators and other in high stress jobs. Thank all of you for your commitment and effort to take care of our vets and first responders.”
3. Veteran welfare podcasts
Working with the MVG Charity, former MACV SOG officer Dick “Dynamite” Thompson is recording a series with us on managing stress and anxiety, and improving your overall resilience to stressful events in life, based on his deep knowledge of Special Forces psychological training.
You can see the videos from our first charity event which explain how the ARSENAL tool works, and how to get access via the MVG charity:
Dick hopes that these podcasts might be useful for any gamers or veterans out there, looking to improve their welfare and wellbeing. The next in the series is out here:
4. MACV SOG “in conversation” podcasts
We’re pleased to release 2 new podcasts from our first charity event in which we had 6 MACV-SOG veterans share their memories and stories of operating in the secret war across the fence in Laos and Cambodia. Along with our usual MACV SOG military advisers, we were honored to welcome Russ Mann and Nick Brokhausen to the conversation:
We’re sure you’ll agree, these podcasts with the SOG veterans offer fascinating insights into the world of special operations during the Vietnam war. We have more scheduled in 2022, and we can’t wait to share them with you!
5.Community Screenshots and Artwork:
Our favorite community screenshots this month feature the Navy SEALs, ARVN and a really cool painting of a Huey supply drop in Mike Force:
TacticalQuaker via Discord
herky34 via Discord
Anthrax via Discord
5. Highlighted Mods
We are really pleased to see our gear being used in other factions outside Vietnam, and these featured community mods add a number of cold-war era factions to Arma 3.
A cold war faction mod which adds several interesting 1950’s to 1980’s factions which can give you a lot of mission ideas to play with your units and friends. 3 cold war factions included are North Korean Army, MEC, and Soviet Army, as well as Iraq army (1990s).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2722844295
“A lightweight CUP, CWRIII, and SOGPF-dependent mod which adds a number of Opfor factions from the Cold War period. Factions have been well researched and are created as historically accurate as possible.”
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2723434750
6. Highlighted missions
It seems that the SEALs 1.1 update really captured players’ interest, as both featured missions below take you into battle as Navy SEALs.
“January, 1965. US Navy UDT scout swimmers conduct a commando raid in North Vietnam in response to guerilla attacks in the south. Operate from the shadowy depths in the early days of special warfare.”
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2709098168
“May, 1966. US Navy SEALs and South Vietnamese LDNN Commandos are tasked with clearing out Vietcong guerillas along an important trade route in the Rung Sat Special Zone (RSSZ). Time to get your hands dirty.”
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2733296985
7. Technical news
This month has seen a migration of Mike Force servers onto new hardware, provided entirely free for you the community, by Open Group Management (formerly called Armahosts). We offer our continuing thanks to Justin Waters and the team at OGM for their generous support to the SOGPF community.