[Suhiir]

Finally had the time to play the scenario.
Taking the advice of earlier posters I also popped smoke right off the bat. I'd say that's essential, because as a test I tried it without smoke a 2nd time and got totally slaughtered.

Maybe break up one (or two) of the Mujahadeen/Al Qaeda squads into smaller teams. They rarely have so many men in one place except during an actual attack. It will also give the player more targets to try to deal with.

Generally the FO unit in a Recon Team is the "zero" unit so it's ability to call in fire is enhanced, but I fully understand why you don't want the initial call to be too fast. Another option would be to make the artillery a reinforcement on turn 2.

I lost 2 men (1 from the HQ and an FO to my own artillery). Once the Mujahadeen/Al Qaeda ran out of RPGs the HUMMERS made useful light tanks for drawing fire and (minimally) suppressing them. The real heroes of the scenario were the snipers and their thermal sights.