Critical Juncture 5: Civilian Encounter
Time Expired. Make your decision now.
Amid the dense foliage along the team’s route, progress is abruptly halted ~3 km from the Extraction Point by an unexpected figure: a young boy, his face a canvas of desperation and fear, standing directly in your path.
With hurried breaths, he implores your team for help, leading you off course to a nearby, makeshift shelter. There, you are confronted with a scene of raw human vulnerability: a family of five, including two parents worn by worry, an elderly grandparent, and another child — the boy's younger brother — suffering from a severe wound that has been grievously neglected.
Your team's Special Operations Medic quickly evaluates the boy. The wound's grim reality unfolds: it's not just a cut but a festering entry point for bacteria, with signs of systemic infection that could swiftly overwhelm the young boy's defenses. The surrounding skin is inflamed, hot to the touch and swelling, with streaks that reaffirm the infection's advanced stage. Without professional medical support, it’s clear that the infection from the boy’s untreated wound will progress to sepsis , potentially leading to death.
The family shares their story in muted tones, a narrative of resilience turned perilous due to their support for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) through acts as seemingly benign as the provision of food and water. Such acts, they explain, have painted targets on their backs, forcing them into hiding to escape the Tatmadaw's brutal retaliation. Beyond the fate of the youngest, this family’s situation is hanging in the balance and now in your hands.
Choose a course of action that considers the harsh dilemma of completing your mission while providing humanitarian support to civilians in need.
Explore the options below with your team. Select a tab to review each possible response to the civilian encounter.
- Option 1
- Option 2
- Option 3
- Option 4
- Option 5
- Option 6
Option 1: Evacuate Entire Family
Evacuate the entire family to the Extraction Point, giving them protection and access to urgent medical care for the young boy. This is the most humanitarian option, but it adds movement burden, increases exposure, and could complicate the team’s final extraction under pressure.
Option 2: Evacuate Child + 1 Parent
Evacuate the young boy and one parent, focusing support on the most vulnerable while limiting the additional load on the team. This reduces mission impact compared with moving the entire family, but it separates the family and still introduces operational risk during movement to the Extraction Point.
Option 3: Leave Them with Advanced Medical Supplies
* Only available if the team selected Advanced Medical Supplies in CJ1.
Continue to the Extraction Point without the family, but leave advanced medical supplies and hasty instructions. This offers immediate support while preserving the team’s mission timeline, but it leaves the family behind in a dangerous area with uncertain ability to use the supplies effectively.
Option 4: Request Separate Extraction for Civilians
Request a separate extraction for the family while the team continues its own mission. This attempts to meet the family’s urgent needs without absorbing them into the team’s movement, but it depends on available assets, coordination time, and the willingness to expand the mission footprint.
Option 5: Call in KIA for Support
Reach out to the KIA to support the family, drawing on their local knowledge and prior relationship with them. This may produce the most locally sustainable assistance, but it risks involving another armed actor and may expose the family to retaliation if the request is intercepted or mishandled.
Option 6: Keep Moving
Make the difficult decision to leave the family behind and continue toward extraction. This preserves mission focus and reduces immediate risk to the team and FALCON1, but it carries significant ethical consequences and leaves the young boy without direct support.
After reviewing the options above, your team must choose the best approach for how to support the family and complete your mission. Your team must wait until there are 2 mins or less remaining before selecting its decision.
Option 1: Evacuate Entire Family
Evacuate the entire family to the Extraction Point.
Click to Select Option 1
Option 2: Evacuate Child + 1 Parent
Evacuate the most vulnerable while minimizing risk.
Click to Select Option 2
Option 3: Leave Them with Advanced Medical Supplies
* Requires Advanced Medical Supplies in CJ1.
Leave supplies and instructions, then proceed.
Click to Select Option 3
Option 4: Request Separate Extraction for Civilians
Request backup support to extract the family.
Click to Select Option 4
Option 5: Call in KIA for Support
Ask the KIA to provide assistance.
Click to Select Option 5
Option 6: Keep Moving
Leave the family behind to complete the mission.
Click to Select Option 6
