Re: Age and Complexity

> Paintball is not wargaming. It is a sport. We're trying very hard to 
> erase any warlike imagery, but for the general public guns+shooting 
> at each other equals war. Sigh...

I haven't payed paintball in a few years. Used to play back around 10 
years ago with a team of regulars. I don't think most of us have 
played in at least 8 years. But on to the part that relates.

Paintball is not real war. Whereas it is true West Point uses it to 
train, and the military has developed a number of paintball rounds 
that will fire from real weapons (with attendant noise, recoil, and 
capacity to fire Full Auto) which are about a zillion times more 
accurate than .68 FWJ (Full Wax Jacket) as we liked to jokingly call 
our standard paintballs. Even having said that, the West Pointers 
know that the paintball gun has different behaviours, you can't 
really be killed, and the tactics you learn in paintball might well 
be suicide in a real engagement. Now, some stuff you learn is useful 
too - take cover, aim, if you are exposed MOVE!, support each other, 
etc - is valid. Cover from a paintball might well be permeable to 
7.62N or 5.56N however..... so the Team Coach for West Point makes a 
point to bring these differences out. 

I was a local Primary Reserve member in an Infantry unit. I went 
paintballing with unit members vs. a local comics store contingent. 
The unit was wiped out. Some soreheads carped that their C7s or FNs 
wouldn't have deflected off branches, etc. etc. - until one of my 
chums (a Sgt.) pointed out that if a civilian in purple coveralls 
with no military training could get close enough to score kills on 
the soldiers using a relatively inaccurate tool (paintball gun), just 
imagine what a trained enemy soldier with a rifle could accomplish. 
The guys that were smart enough to learn a lesson did - Experience, 
Fieldcraft, Teamwork, and Intelligence are the things that let you 
survive and win at Paintball, and those count for a lot in modern 
conflict too. So even though paintball isn't war, there are some 
lessons there for us all. And nothing gets the addrenalin racing like 
the snap of a paintball zipping past you.....

Almost uniformly the paintballers I have met are a courteous, 
pleasant lot, and most of the fields I've played at have been 
professional and well refereed. It's a real pity more folk don't come 
out and play at a good field with a sportsmanlike opposition then 
they'd discover paintball is a fun, safe (as most sports), and 
exciting (more than most sports!) hobby. It isn't a bunch of 
militant, gun toting, Rambo-esque Spec Ops Wannabees. 

T. 

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