OPERATION MOUNTAIN SENTINEL
DCS PERSISTENT CAMPAIGN SERVER · 163RD VFS
A persistent counterinsurgency campaign in eastern Afghanistan, depicting a fictional conflict against a bolstered Islamic State Khorasan Province ("ISIS-K", "ISKP"), set continually a few days in the future from modern day. Hosted by the 163rd vFS.
In February of 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed the Doha Accords, an treaty that would ultimately bring the twenty-years-long Afghanistan war to a close. In August of 2021, the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. Within weeks, the country returned to Taliban rule.
The Doha Accords stipulated explicitly, that in return for the withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban would make counter-terrorism commitments and never again allow Afghanistan to be used as base of operations for terrorist groups to threaten the US or the free world.
This campaign envisions an alternate reality where the the Islamic State-Khorasan Province ("ISKP" or "ISIS-K")is a much larger threat than in real life. In this campaign, the ISKP actively threatens Taliban Emirate governance in eastern Afghanistan and has overthrown the Taliban leadership of Jalalabad, Khost, and surround provinces.
Recognizing its commitment made in the Doha Accords, but perhaps more realistically fearing that the ISKP will destabilize and topple the young government, the Taliban Emirate has negotiated a backroom-deal permitting a small US force to return to the country to conduct limited, tightly-constrained operations against the ISKP. The US accepted the clandestine offer, and in the early spring of 2025, US fighter, cargo, and support aircraft descend again into Bagram Airbase to conduct operations against the Islamic State's Khorasan Province in "OPERATION MOUNTAIN SENTINEL."
Ground commanders deploy real platoons into the mission from a map terminal, track them on blue force tracker, and conduct presence patrols in villages to drive the conflict.
IMINT, SIGINT, and RADINT collections are requested, planned and flown to generate data. Analysts exploit the results and the AOC's targeting cell develops targets and nominates them for strikes.
Every real district has its own balance of ISIS-K, Emirate and US influence that changes with airstrikes, ground patrols, and other campaign SIGACTs.
Missions come from the Air Tasking Order: CAS, armed overwatch, ISR, airlift, strikes and more. The 609th virtual Air Operations Center builds it for the JFACC and tasks the participating units, each chopped to the 451st vAEW as an expeditionary squadron.
Ground units consume fuel and ammunition, vehicle losses must be replenished, and all equipment requires a steady stream of spare parts. All of it goes out by truck convoy or C-130. Logistics aircrew in OMS play a vital role to the campaign's success, from route airlift to wounded soldiers needing a MEDEVAC flight within the golden hour.
ISIS-K is run by players: cells, IEDs, weapons caches, an economy to pay for them, and villagers who report movements of blue ground and air assets. With people on the other side, no two days play the same, and the mechanics are built around what a mixed insurgency can really do.