I was browsing EBSCOhost tonight and came across a couple of airsoft stories that didn't involve some kid almost getting shot by the cops, or a kid bringing a gun to school. No, really, they exist!
I'd link to the actual articles but seeing as these are several months old they've probably hidden them behind some kind of username/password setting. Instead I'm cut/paste-ing the articles as they appear on EBSCO, which I've accessed using my Chester County Library Card via the PA POWER port. Not a waste of taxpayer money, if you ask me.
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War without wounds: Using realistic weapons and BBs, airsoft allows militarylike gunplay with little pain, no paint ~~~~~~~~
Dennis Fiely
Aug. 26--Bullets flew, but they were plastic. Bodies dropped, but they were bloodless. And the enemies called a cease-fire to share lunch.
If only war were like this.
Airsoft is something else -- boys with toys playing a grown-up version of Army.
The rat-a-tat of automatic-weapons fire filled the air on a recent Saturday morning at Fran Bar Park in Pataskala.
Dressed in camouflage, dozens of young men prowled the commercial paintball site to fire plastic BBs at one another from replica Uzis, M-16s and AK-47s.
"I like the thrill I get out there with all the shooting going on around me," said Sam Lewis, 15, of Blacklick -- who has played since age 12.
The 90 pseudo-commandos were engaged in "Crimson Dawn," an operation during which U.S. forces were ordered to occupy a terrorist stronghold, rescue hostages and dismantle a nuclear rocket.
The sophomore at Gahanna Lincoln High School volunteered to portray a bad guy because "I saw they were outnumbered and I liked the challenge."
The 91 st Ohio Wildcards, a Columbus-area team, devised the scenario and sponsored the event.
"I always wanted to be in the military, but all four branches refused me for medical reasons," said the Wildcards' commanding officer, Zak Wolkan. "Airsoft was the next best thing."
Despite safety concerns, the "pursuit sport" is taking the state by storm.
Airsoft Ohio, a Web site for players, lists 120 teams. Retailers are stocking guns, grenades and accessories to serve a growing market.
"Our business has more than tripled in the last six months," said Paul Cross, owner of the AirsoftSMITH store in Upper Arlington.
Airsoft Arms, in Milford, opened its second store last year in Westerville.
"Airsoft is really picking up this year," sales associate Alan Saul said. "A lot of people are switching over from paintball. This is the closest thing to being in the military without joining it. You can't be killed."
Retailers credit the explosion to renewed interest in the military, sparked by U.S. engagements abroad and the popularity of combat-style video games among teenagers.
"This is a chance for all those kids who have grown up playing video games to take what they have learned into the field," Cross said.
Older players include lawenforcement officers and veterans.
A former Marine, Mark Giumenti of Westerville participated in the Crimson Dawn mission with his three sons, ages 12 to 14.
Airsoft, he said, "teaches gun safety and gives them some understanding about what I went through in the military."
After 14 years in the Army, Jason Mount, a guard at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, began playing three years ago "to keep my skills sharp."
Airsoft often draws comparisons to paintball, but the biggest difference -- among several -- involves the weaponry that gives the recreation its name: Airsoft is a colloquial term for guns that shoot plastic or ceramic BBs.
With their authentic action and appearance, the guns are routinely used in military and law-enforcement training.
"They enable us to simulate a gunfight," said Deputy Al Cook, a training officer for the Franklin County sheriff's office. "We can put an officer in a situation where he has to recognize a threat and return fire."
The guns' realism is also one of their dangers.
Earlier this year, Florida police fatally shot a troubled 15-year-old boy during a standoff at a school after they mistook his airsoft pistol for a real gun.
"The realism to actual weapons is nearly 100 percent," said Cross of AirsoftSMITH. "You have to treat them like real guns. You keep them in cases and unload at the event."
Last year, a police officer in Muskego, Wis., drew his gun on a group of young boys who were playing with the weapons.
Though legal in Ohio, airsoft guns have been banned in New York and other parts of the United States because of their realism.
Federal law requires that the guns be sold with orange-barrel tips to designate them as toys.
But many users cover or remove their tips to protect their camouflage.
"We only do that during an event on a closed property," said Ryan Coady of the Wildcards. "I don't ever have my guns out in public."
Coady learned his lesson the hard way.
"I had the cops called on me twice for having my guns out," he said.
Powered by springs, gas or electricity, the guns are made in Asia and cost $25 to $6,000 (for a replica Gatling gun).
They can project tiny plastic pellets up to several hundred yards.
The ping-ping-ping of the BBs could be heard colliding with semitrailers, trees, shed walls and other cover at Fran Bar Park.
"I'm hit. I need a medic! " Jason Fenimore, 18, of Pataskala cried during one firefight.
Does it hurt?
"It stings like the snap of a rubber band," said Matt Nungesser of Columbus.
The park required players to wear goggles; many participants also wore protective gear and clothing.
Unlike paintball, airsoft is based on an honor system that requires players to call out when they've been hit.
"It's all about sportsmanship," said Coady, who toted a $300 M-16 replica, accessorized with a scope and flashlight.
At times, the realistic action almost matched that of the weapons.
As U.S. forces cautiously advanced on the terrorist compound -- a chain of ramshackle huts in the woods -- periodic assaults interrupted moments of quiet dread.
"They're scared to death," Giumenti said of his sons.
Brad Choate, 25, of Yellow Springs took cover behind field brush.
"I'm trying to get into the woods, but right now I'm pinned down by sniper fire," said Choate (code name: "Charlie"), holding an AK-47.
Scenarios such as Crimson Dawn allow players to practice sniper moves and roomclearing and other maneuvers.
"This is a real strategic game," Coady said. "You have to be stealthy, quick, and have good eyes. That's what separates it from paintball."
Squads assume names and insignia, and assign ranks.
In the field, they communicate by radio and adopt language and personalities suited to their roles.
"America doesn't care about you anymore," said one of the terrorists, taunting hostage Sean Frey, who had strapped remote-controlled toy explosives to his waist.
Most of the players were gung-ho, but several lighthearted moments included holding a hostage in a dilapidated portable toilet.
John Mount, brother of Jason and a 28-year-old Army Reserve medic in Ross County, instinctively resorted to his training.
"I was grabbing these kids who had been shot and dragging them back to the woods," he said. "They looked at me like I was nuts. I had to remind myself that this was airsoft." dfiely@dispatch.com
Copyright (c) 2006, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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Combat zone: These weekend warriors stalk each other with BB guns and learn about life
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Matt Gleason
Jun. 11--William Sullivan, call sign Kashi, shoved the butt off his silenced, Maruzen APS-2 sniper rifle to his right shoulder and prepared to fire.
His enemies were out there.
The 17-year-old Kashistani sharpshooter with a ponytail and excellent marksmanship, wanted them dead.
Beyond Sullivan's dirt bunker lurked a nine-man special operations team, including one Brandon Robertson, call sign Pitt, a 28-year-old soldier known for tallying high body counts.
Robertson and company's assignment: rescue this captured reporter from the Kashistani bunker. Leave no survivors.
Sullivan, clad in Russian-issue camouflage and equipped with an AK-47 slung over his back and a Beretta pistol secured in a shoulder holster, didn't stand a chance of surviving, neither did his fellow Kashistani soldiers.
Of course, this was a war without bullets -- an airsoft war, a popular role-playing sport that originated in Asia before spreading to Europe, America and beyond.
And, yes, these guys take it all very seriously.
The game
The Airsoft skirmishes vary from game-to-game but in the first of two large skirmishes recently, Sullivan and his teammates were limited to two lives, separated by one five-minute timeout.
Robertson's team, however, could "respawn" an infinite number of times to save this reporter from the dastardly Kashistanis, whose fictional president, according to the written scenario, was concealing illegal chemical weapons and a slave-trading ring.
It all happened in Kashiland, 80 acres of Sullivan's family land at 3720 S. 273rd East Ave.
Out there, imaginations run as wild as the weekend warriors armed with fierce-looking BB guns -- although Airsoft players don't call them BB guns -- and plenty of bug repellant.
For a $10 admission fee, players spend every other Sunday -- check www.okairsoft.com
Copyright (c) 2006, Tulsa World, Okla. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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Real men play soldier in fake battle
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By Aline Mendelsohn
ORLANDO, Fla. _ The battle has begun, and insurgents in headdresses swarm the field while American soldiers in camouflage run across the tops of trailers. An explosion rattles in the distance, and in the village, an Iraqi civilian crouches over an injured man and pleads, "Breathe, my friend."
This is not a war thousands of miles away. This is a game of war, set in the safety of an Orlando industrial field and tractor-trailer storage yard.
This particular game is called Airsoft, a military simulation employing guns that shoot plastic pellets. A pastime that appeals primarily to twenty- to thirtysomething men, Airsoft offers elements of war re-enactment, paintball and live-action role-playing.
Last month, 200 participants, some from out of state, came together for Operation Sandstorm, hosted by Airsoft groups Mindgame Productions and Demo Airsoft. Players took the roles of Americans and insurgents, while actors posed as civilians.
Ultimately, the Americans won, as they outnumbered the insurgents 3-1.
"We did set it up so it was very unlikely that Americans would lose," says co-organizer Robert "Mac" McLaughlin of Boynton Beach, Fla.
McLaughlin says he tried to design an apolitical game that represented a generalized scenario of the war in Iraq.
"We're letting them still have guns but in some ways giving them a little more," says McLaughlin, 37, who served in the Army for seven years. "There's a lot more to modern conflict than running around and shooting people."
Although McLaughlin says the game serves some educational purpose, in the end, "It really is about having fun."
PART OF CULTURE?
Battle play has been a part of American life for years. Civil War re-enactment, for example, emerged on the national scene in the 1960s.
"People were really divided about whether it was appropriate," says Jenny Thompson, author of "War Games: Inside the World of Twentieth-Century War Reenactors."
Still, in the past few decades, World War I, World War II and Vietnam War re-enactment have followed suit.
"It's an interesting example of the way war shapes a culture," Thompson says.
Many kids grow up watching war movies and playing with war action figures. Re-enactment is an adult version of war games that can give participants a sense of fighting a war.
"You don't have to go to Baghdad, but you can be in Florida and be a part of what that story is all about," Thompson says.
Most war simulations occur years after a war has ended, unlike the Orlando Airsoft game.
Some military units use role-playing and even paintball for training purposes, says Todd Bowers, a Marine reservist in Washington, D.C., who has worked with the advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
"I felt that it was a very good training," says Bowers, who served two tours in Iraq and was wounded by a sniper bullet that left shards of shrapnel in his face.
Bowers has no affiliation with Airsoft, but he approves of Iraq war simulations as long as organizers show respect to Iraqis and consult military representatives to ensure accuracy.
"It sounds like it could be a good way to convey to people what is going on," Bowers says.
McLaughlin says he tried to give players a view of traditional Islam through the civilian actors. Will Brown, a 35-year-old Muslim player from the Baltimore area who participated in Saturday's event, says the actors "played the roles extremely well."
But others see some potential hazards in games of war.
Becky Murphy, the local organizer for CODEPINK Women for Peace, did not see the Airsoft event, but she cautioned that it could "run the risk of trivializing the war and glorifying the pain, death and suffering."
A BENEFIT? WEIGHT LOSS
Gearing up for battle, the participants adjust checkered headdresses, clean their safety goggles, load their fake guns.
With black felt-tipped pens, some inscribe female names on their weapons_Celina Marie, Emily Anne_for good luck.
Although a number of the players are reservists or have other military affiliations, others simply take interest in the armed forces.
Years ago, Matthew Espina of Lakeland, Fla., considered joining the military, but his father, a Vietnam veteran, dissuaded him. Espina, 32, regrets not enlisting, but he says the simulation gives him a taste of the military experience.
His friend, Diego Villanueva, 21, served two tours in Iraq as a specialist in the Army reserves.
In combat, he says, "You're scared but at the same time your adrenaline is rushing."
Airsoft games reflect that adrenaline rush, though there is a defining difference, Villanueva points out: "You don't die or you don't get wounded."
As participant Nora Cordova of Virginia puts it: "It's a safe way to go out and see if you can kick someone's butt."
In the process, Cordova says, participants get a good workout: She has lost 30 pounds since she started playing.
Setting the scene
As the battle nears, the civilians take their places in the fictional town of Al Hazred. The makeshift village features a mosque area and a shop that is actually selling drinks, beef jerky and other snacks (for dollars, not dinars).
The actors have been briefed on their roles, outlined in a script.
Now they wait.
With the boom of simulated mortar rounds, the fight begins. Orange smoke signals rise in the distance.
Shots_plastic pellets_clink against the trailers or nick players, who then need to await a "medic."
Roadside bombs_firecrackers attached to pellets_explode nearby.
A civilian cries out: "Why are you doing this to us?"
There's another sound too: unscripted laughter.
They're just having a good time, a participant explains.
After all, it's not a war. It's a game.
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(c) 2006, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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"Call me a killjoy, but because this sport is not to my tastes, I don't think anyone else should be allowed to enjoy it either" - Marge Simpson
Hey guys, my name is Zak, also known as King and I am surprised to see our article posted on your forums. I ran OP: Crimson Dawn (the first article) and I am glad to read your opinions of the article.
-King
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Team leader of the 91st Ohio Wildcards.
