TA&M

Great news. I might be able to help with the design/editing aspect of Tactical Airsoft and Milsim magazine this summer! For those of you familiar with the magazine, it's now taking subscriptions. I believe it's about $35 for four issues per year. WORTH IT, the guy who runs it really knows what he's talking about and is really informative. It's a great way for new guys to learn terminology quickly and it can even help you pick out your first, or next, gun. It offers tactics, ideas for drills and interviews with the guys that go into battle for real.

Seriously the issues have only gotten better since the first one. There have been a few US-based airsoft magazines before this one, but they all died. (One was run by the paintball industry, yuck)
Let's keep this one alive. A lot of the content is reader-generated, so it comes from airsofters, for airsofters. Check out the web site for more info...and subscribe!

http://www.tacticalairsoftmagazine.com/

Great day, late post.

SUNDAY MARCH 9th

Fort Riley Airsoft Group (FRAG) was gracious enough to allow KSUAT on their MOUT site, where we played alongside them for nearly five hours.

The site was comprised of two two-story buildings about 30 feet away from each other, and open field all around with the exception of a large tan shed just northwest of the northern building, and a small shed just west of the north building accompanied by a large propane tank.

Green team's mission: Secure all tan assets, including two green jugs (chemical weapons) and five small viles and blow up the enemy's energy source (propane tank, bomb is an ammo can).

The first part of the mission was to retrieve one chemical weapon within the first 30 minutes, which we completed with great difficulty and multiple attacks on either building from many angles.

The rest of the mission was without a time limit, so I decided the south building needed to be controlled for a base of operations.

After securing a tactical shield (made of cardboard...woot!) we moved in on the enemy, attacking from multiple points by entering in doorways and sending bursts of fire into empty rooms. Within the next 45 minutes the south building was under our control.

With the enemy sending reinforcements (respawns) every two minutes, we had to move fast, without hesitation. After the main floor of the north building was secure, and the basement entrances were being guarded, I began tactfully searching for the viles. I found four and returned to base to secure them before the enemy's reinforcements showed up.

A fifth vile was later secured by a teammate, as well as the second chemical weapon.

The final objective, which we did not complete, was the detonation of a bomb near the propane tank. We spend the rest of the time engaged in firefights, seemingly going nowhere until it was late enough we had to call the game.

AFTERTHOUGHTS:
It was really cool to play on a MOUT site like that, and I hope we get to do it again in the near future. Everybody behaved themselves well, n0 hit-calling problems to my knowledge and only a couple accounts of engagement-distance violations. (I forgive you Kyle, but my face still has a hole in it)

It was INCREDIBLY challenging to enter either building that seemingly contained unhittable airsoft-gun-toting shadows, but we managed through persistence and lead trigger fingers.

Bad turnout, good burgers

Not much to say about yesterday afternoon. I used my M16 and it performed well as usual, but the battery was nearly dead as I forgot to charge it.

I shot Greg, our president, where the sun don't shine, but he's alright as usual.

Considering only six of us showed up, we didn't have many options for scenarios, so we mocked the style of Counter-Strike.

My team, tan, decided to take a laid back less serious approach, while the greenies were still out in full force, so we lost because we really weren't trying all that hard. (I fell asleep while bleeding out)

Afterwards, the six of us went to Vista Burger for some deliciousness.

KSUAT rocks Rushville

Fireteam 4 (Delta Squad)

Leader - Brandon (me) Steinert

Sniper - Nick Massman

Communications specialist - Brent Keltner

Special Operations/Point - Tyler Campain

The morning of Feb. 16 started off a little rough, as the temperature was lower than comfortable. A few of the guys were worried about their batteries' lives in the cold, but it didn't seem to be a problem all day.

We didn't know what to expect while we were all standing around the fire warming our hands (and weapons) before the pre-game safety briefing. We might get destroyed, or we might destroy. Luckily for my squad it was the latter.

Our C.O. started us off on a recon mission to the northern part of the Rushville map. We were supposed to engage an enemy and pull back, avoiding any casualties if possible and reporting on enemy movements and positions. So without much waiting around we engaged, which kind of set the theme for the rest of the day.

In the first engagement we, fireteam 4, took out at least 5 enemy contacts, after which we were put on guard duty at the patrol post just west of the low ford.

When we finished our only half-hour of non-combat, our group was sent on a search and destroy mission to seek out the enemy leader and kill him. So we went north to the top of a series of hills and crept around the enemy's rear.

We got orders from our commanding officer to "stir trouble". When these orders reached us, in an ominous tone Brent replied, "stirring."

We came upon a road and snuck accross it. While on the east side of the road I saw an enemy squad of 4 personell coming down the road from the south. I ordered my squad to take cover and they got down quickly...and we waited. The four enemies passed by us only 20 feet away and turned to their left. I ordered my squad up...they got up quickly and silently. We moved in on them and opened fire. They all went down in a few seconds. Our squad suffered 0 casualties during this engagement.

I ordered my squad downhill to the east to distract enemies hanging around out in the open, hoping it would give some of our comrades a chance to flank them, but then we got word that another fireteam was positioned at a very convenient third angle. We organized quickly and mounted a successful assault on a majority of the opposing team.

When the firefight was over and I received medical attention (somethin' jumped up and bit me), I got disoriented from the lack of a compass and was temporarily lost. After I got my bearings and the frustration wore off, we headed back to CP. We heard it was under attack and so double-timed it.

As we approached CP from the northeast, we came under fire. I went down for the second time and respawned as my fireteam joined forces with another and eliminated the threat.

When I returned to combat our team had been bruised but not beaten, and we moved out to finish the day...Civil War style.

Shoulder to shoulder we marched north on the main road, sending volleys from 30ish people at the enemy. As Greg and I walked ahead of the rest of the group by 15-20 feet, we went down together while lobbing plastic death at our foes.

I used my AUG throughout the day, and it performed amazingly.

Silly sniper, squads are for assault weapons!

I didn't charge either of my batteries for my full-autos, so I ran around with my rifle all day.

It's usually fun to be a sniper in most missions because I get to hide and be all sneaky, but today I wound up staying really close to a squad. It got me killed a lot.

The scenarios were fun for being last minute, as Jason and I ventured down the street to the ville instead of planning last Friday night.

The team seems to be getting more new guns than ever before, which is a really great thing for our knowledge of weapons systems and credibility as one of the nation's few (and maybe best) collegiate airsoft teams.

Completely unrelated - I watched "Man in the Iron Mask" for the first time tonight and I actually enjoyed it. Not too shabby, but I was a little dissatisfied with the performance of the actor playing Athos.

Killing spree, of the safe sort

Today was my new 700's first time to be used in-game. I have to say I am thoroughly satisfied with its performance.

We tried a new kind of scenario today. There were three items on the field, and the first to possess all three simultaneously was the victor. Sadly, my team was not fortunate enough to have come up on top.

Despite the loss, I think the other team captains and myself achieved our ultimate goal; to make sure it's fun for everybody.

Now to the fun stuff. My ghillie suit might be my best airsoft investment so far, as it has proven itself time and again, but today is the best example so far.

As I was laying down on the south side of the top of the hill on our field, two heads popped up and were bobbing on the horizon coming straight for me. I started to line up the shot but realized they were within my engagement limit of 60 feet, so I waited.

As they walked into safety kill range, 20 feet, I shouted "safety kill" twice and they simply stopped an looked around. Then I saw a third enemy coming up on their tails. He didn't quite know what was going on as his teamates were suddenly dead with no automatic fire.

For about 10 seconds I waited, and he walked up right next to his downed teamate and I finished off the fire-team with one last "safety kill!".

Now that we've started actually playing again I'm going to begin a "pick of the week" at the end of each post. The picks can be anything from a player to a spot on the field to a piece of gear.

This week I have to give my pick to my ghillie suit, which is sadly near the end of its life as the burlap is falling apart. I had to pick my ghillie because I rarely get safety kills, and today I got three within a few seconds.

Slow Sunday

No practice today. We had our semiannual meeting at Goodnow Hall on KSU's campus. We made a couple amendments to the constitution, nothing serious. There were a LOT of new faces there. That was amazing to see.

During spring break our team is hosting the first inter-collegiate arisoft scenario. We hope to soon form our own league and earn team status with the University. That means we would get automatic funding.

All in all it was a good day. Things worked out at the newsroom and I got to hang out with my airsoft buddies for a little bit. Check back next Sunday for a war story and an in-battle review of my new 700.

Thanks for reading,

KSUATninja