The next morning, we woke up at 0700 and get ready for the kickoff of the event at 1200. Getting into my mutilcam was a weird experience. With the exception of just trying on the trousers, blouse, and utility cap, I hadn’t worn anything resembling a uniform in over 15 years. I opted not to blouse my boots, though I felt funny with my trouser legs just dangling onto my boots. Sure, I hadn’t been in for so long, but sometimes, no matter how long it’s been, it doesn’t feel right when you know it’s wrong.
At 1100, we rally and form up in rank and file by company and squad for the final briefing before the event starts. They bring the trucks around that will take us from the staging area to the CACTF. Our squad of five, Bravo 41, which was the smallest of all of the squads, was on the first truck in. It was about a 45-second ride into the CACTF, which was a group of approximately 28 buildings. During the ride in, our squad and one other were told to get out and take Building 4, The Embassy. The other group went left, and took Building 18.
The second truck that came in had Alpha Company players. They thought we only took Building 4, so dropped off to get into Building 18. As you could imagine, they never even got to the front door. They were taking fire, not only from Building 18, which they tried to storm, but they were dropped close enough to Building 4 that they were also taking fire from our squads, as well.
Since this was military simulation, once you take a building, you don’t simply go running around like a mad man, looking for someone from Alpha Company to shoot. You hold your position, and defend your building. As it turns out, with snipers on top of the Embassy, and many other buildings still unoccupied, our building wasn’t exactly a top priority, even though Buildings 4 and 18 were worth more points than any of the other buildings there.
We held position in Building 4 for much longer than anticipated, and no one was coming for us either. A lot of looking out windows and thinking that people were coming, and waiting patiently. Once relievers came in, we got new orders to take the church. Before anyone gets too up in arms, a church is not a target according to the Geneva Convention, unless you’re taking fire from that church. We were taking fire, so it was a valid target.
I ran (as well as I do) across the street to the church, but on the way, something happened that started as horrible. I fell, and started rolling forward. I have my brand new airsoft guns, my new gear, and my new goggles. And I FALL! But it turned awesome, because something happened to me that has never happened before. I rolled and came up on my feet! I don’t know how it happened, it was all so quick, but it felt awesome. I had a witness, too. He said it looked cool, but he wasn’t sure why I did a combat roll out in the open. The short answer: Because I’m an airsoft ninja.
There was a time that I realized I didn’t fully understand the medic rules. I was, myself, the medic, so you could see how this may have caused an issue. When moving between the church and the building next to it, I got shot from somewhere, called my hit, and stood there with my red rag flapping in the wind. When I hit my “bleed out” time, the rest of my squad had made it into the building we were advancing on, and I wasn’t too sure what to do, so I went back to the entrance of the CACTF. I figured that since I was medic, and they would eventually get shot, we’d see each other at some point.
I didn’t realize that since their medic was MIA, that they kind of absorbed into another squad, and that they were able to continue playing. I didn’t see them again until I saw them getting trucked back into the CACTF. I got my gear back on, and headed to the building where I thought they had been dropped off – back at Building 4. I was wrong. The good news is that there was another Bravo Company squad there, so I didn’t immediately get shot.
To be continued…
