Shoot Out At Joe's

This past week-end I made my first trip up to Joe’s cabin in Gastonia. The cabin is set back way off the road with a heavily wooded area immediately to its rear that seems to go back several acres. The terrain, lush green low vegetation and tall trees, which provides a shading canopy over the forest floor, reminded me of fields I have played in Pennsylvania like Poco Loco and Skirmish USA. The canopy makes summer play less of a bear since you are not in direct sunlight.

There was a good crowd of Boxers present, both human and canine, all enjoying the good eats, family atmosphere, and a great day for paintball!

First, CONGRADULATIONS to Joe on the new family addition and THANKS for hosting the get together!

Sonic-X and I arrived before the first game started but did not make it out onto the field. Runaway quickly briefed me that we would be running variations of a rescue the downed pilot scenario. It was a great small scenario and he added a lot of nice small twists and turns that made the game more challenging. Since I didn’t play in the first game, I’ll start with game 2.

Game 2 AAR
The second game flipped sides with Bam Bam’s team tasked with rescuing the pilot, while Yellow Jacket, MGB, Seoul, Sonic-X and I inserted first to defend against their efforts.

We moved out in a line formation to make it easier for us to search for the pilot while moving towards the objective. About 10 minutes in (give or take) MGB located the pilot. Since I was unfamiliar with the terrain and field boundaries I had to get feedback from MGB and Yellow-Jacket on the best way to deploy.

After getting their input I decided that Bam Bam's team would most likely move along the high ground on the right side of the field (if you are looking back towards Joe's house). We set up in an L ambush with MGB being the short leg at the bottom with eye's on the pilot. Sonic-X and I was located at the turn in the "L", with Yellow Jacket and Seoul making the up the long leg of the L with Seoul on the high side. My intent was to suck the other team into a pocket where we could attack them from 2 sides simultaneously. Since Seoul was the farthest forward and we didn't have radios I told him that if I yelled out "Irene" he should circle back behind us and attack up the middle of the field towards the pilot.

Our strategy almost worked to perfection. As expected, the other team attacked in force along the right side of the field, which made sense since that side gave them more room to maneuver and would not put them in a low ground position that would allow us to attack them downhill. A sound tactical decision. The key to the fight would be who saw who first. This is where the game turned. First I thought I saw movement around the pilot, which must have been a mirage since Run and Bam Bam stated they did not have anyone down there until much later in the game. I’m not sure who fired the first shot but I know Yellow Jacket started exchanging fire with someone. He started to move back but I signaled him to stop after he had moved about 15 feet backwards, at which point the firing stopped for brief time. Prior to that I heard random shots on the low side near MGB but guessed that the other team had put 1 or 2 flankers on the low side for security purposes who were just reconning by fire. A few minutes later I thought that I saw someone actually picking up the pilot at which point I decided to initiate contact. I started Yellow Jacket and myself moving forward. I called to MGB to see if he could put fire on the pilot but he did not respond. I could hear Yellow Jacket taking fire when I came into view of Bam Bam who opened up on me. I also saw that the pilot was still in place. I retuned fire and was going to start working with Yellow Jacket to flank when Yellow Jacket got taken out. At this point I started moving towards MGB’s last position hoping to hook up with him at the same time yelling out the code word “Irene” for Seoul to circle back. My thought was to consolidate our 3 guns on the low side to cover the pilot and potentially attack an exposed flank of the other team. Well Seoul never responded although I could hear a burst of heavy fire coming from where I had initially placed him. One of the guns firing was clearly Runaway’s dual A-5 so I assumed Seoul was engaged and wouldn’t be coming. All the while I’m exchanging shots with Bam Bam who was behind a tree about 40 feet in front of me. I decided to try a speedball bunkering moving on him by aggressively attacking his position while firing on the move to keep him pinned. However, I did not see Cameron above his right shoulder who took me out with some well aimed shots. I then heard Runaway talking to Bam Bam about securing the pilot which confirmed that Seoul had been taken out as well. Since I had not heard from MGB I figured he had been eliminated also. Bam Bam began to search the pilot but had some difficulty locating the other props. Cameron then completed the search game over.

Overall this was a well played game. Bam Bam’s team deployed with a very sound tactical approach, putting the bulk of their force on the high side where they could maneuver while placing flank security on the low side. This turned out to be key as MGB later stated he had eyes on their whole team but could not move without exposing his position because of the flankers. This is also why he did not respond to my call. He took the flankers out but by then had been spotted by Bam Bam in doing so.

Also, because of my phantom ghosts, I triggered the ambush to early. Based on Bam Bam’s comments I not sure they saw me until I started us moving forward. I know they saw Yellow Jacket because they were shooting at him but I was behind him on the low side prior to that. Had I not triggered the ambush when I did we might have caught them in a crossfire.

Finally, Seoul took Runaway by surprise but that dual A-5 quickly gave Run fire superiority and Seoul could not respond. Also, because of the noise and our positioning, Seoul never heard the code word for him to redeploy as we had discussed an held his position until he was taken out

As it was Bam Bam’s tactical deployment was the key to their success. The low side flankers prevented MGB from hitting them in their flank which might have turned the game. Especially if Seoul could have hit them on the other side while Yellow jacket and I closed the Box. Second, that dual A-5 when properly employed will cause problems for anyone on the business end.

On our end, the ambush was positioned perfectly but I triggered it to early. In any ambush situation patience is key, you must wait until the Opfor is clearly identifiable and within the kill zone. Also, there must be clear criteria for initiating the ambush, in the game above I could have set the initiation criteria as there must be 2 or more Opfor near the pilot or if the Opfor are about to uncover your position.. Finally, make sure you have good cover and concealment. I know both Yellow Jacket and I were too exposed and might have not been seen had we been lying prone (as opposed to kneeling) or were in more concealed positions.

Game 3 AAR
After a lunch break. We headed out for the third game, however, this time Bam Bam switched sides since Seoul had left for the day. It was MGB, Yellow-Jacket, Bam Bam and I against Runaway, Pete, Cameron, Mike, and I think 2 others. They had the numbers but we had the experience.

This time they went out first and we were tasked with rescuing the pilot. Runaway added new wrinkle in that in addition to performing basic first aid before moving the pilot we also had to fire off a rocket launcher to simulate popping smoke. Runaway moved out with his team while this time Yellow-Jacket lead our team.

Prior to moving out we talked about where we thought the pilot would be and the best formation for movement. After deciding that the most likely location for the pilot would be on the high ground MGB suggested we move out in an echelon right as we moved using the left tape line (facing away from Joe’s house) to screen our left flank. We even rehearsed the formation and immediate actions drills upon contact (just like I remembered it in the Corps!).

With our plan complete we moved out with MGB taking point, followed by Yellow-Jacket, then me, and Bam Bam pulling slack. A few meters into the woods we made initial contact. A classic Runaway tactic, defending in depth. MGB made contact with one or two of the OpFor but they broke contact before we could move to eliminate them. Our immediate action plan called for the two on the side of the contact to lay down heavy suppressive fire while the other two move to flank the threat.

We began moving again. A few minutes later Bam Bam made contact and we began to move against the threat. Using buddy rushes we were able to get into a position where I was able to lay heavy suppressive fire on one of the Opfor while Bam Bam maneuvered to eliminate him. I believe it was Pete who we had trapped. He was in a small depression in the ground laying prone. I could see the top of his head, back and legs. I laid down a stream of fire with the intent of keeping his head down so Bam Bam could take him out. He soon called himself out. I’m not sure who got him but I was pretty pleased with our use of buddy rushes and suppressive fire. Later on, Pete said the fire coming his way was so heavy he couldn’t raise his head to take a shot. That is exactly the result you want with suppressive fire.

By this time our formation had spilt, with MGB and Yellow Jacket on the left (high ground) and Bam Bam and I were on the right. After we took out Pete, Runaway made a the decision to rush Bam Bam and I. I heard him ordering his troops forward before I saw him. But once they came into view we opened fire. I took out Runaway with a head shot and I could hear Bam Bam banging away, however he then started to have gun problems. After Runaway went down it’s a good thing his team did not press the attack because given Bam Bam’s gun issues they might have been able to overwhelm us with a sustained attack.

About this time I believe MGB and Yellow Jacket found the pilot but now had to search for the rocket launcher. Runaway had stated that it would be within several paces of the pilot so they began looking but were not having any luck. Bam Bam seemed to have his gun sorted out so we held our position. The Opfor had retreated but we could occasionally see them moving off in the distance.

After several minutes of searching MGB called me to come help look for the launcher. I could hear Bam Bam trading shots with the remaining Opfor but he seemed to be in a good position so I moved up the hill. Runaway was sitting observing our hapless search for the launcher and laughing. Yellow Jacket finally found it as Runaway had stated several feet from the pilot, however, most of the launcher had been buried under leaves with only the yellow barrel condom showing.

So now Runaway really starts giving it to us, to complete the mission we have to fire the launcher but Yellow Jacket is struggling to get the thing to fire. The way Runaway had set things up, you had to fire the launcher using a remote line which meant you had to detach your line from your gun (making you defenseless), with Opfor still out there and active this was not a comfortable position to be in. This is a common military training technique where you had additional stress to the exercise to see how people will react under fire when faced with additional complications. After a few minutes of this and Runaway’s gentle encouragement I went up to see what the problem was. Yellow Jacket just handed the launcher to me and stated, “I should have learned to fire the launcher before earlier today.”

I unhooked my remote line and hooked it up to the launcher and then pulled the trigger. POOMMMFFFF! Mission over. In fearness to Yellow Jacket, I am very familiar with the MXS launcher and knew exactly what to do. But Runaway’s point was made. Under combat conditions even simple tasks can become very complex. This is why military units rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse and train, train, train, so that simple actions are executed without thought. Something for us to keep in mind.

We played one more limited paint game for kicks so I won’t provide any detail on that, but all in all I really enjoyed the day and reinforced some basic combat lessons for myself.

BIG THANKS to Runaway for setting up the games and coming up with some excellent ideas to make the games more challenging and interesting.