How to Not be Useless when Playing Soldier
 

How to Not be Useless When You Play Soldier (PDF file)

Posting this with no extra commentary of any kind....

If you have an issue with the contents and have Something To Say, don't tell me, go tell the Internet!

Wow! And a facepalm moment................ this is all news to many players.

Sigh.

Awesome...passing a test based on that information should be mandatory before you're allowed to sign up for a game.

This was all commen sense to me before hand lol very helpful :)

Common sense and airsoft don't always go together. :rolleyes:

I did like... "we spent hours stealing"

A very useful read, thanks for putting this together Don

There's a paper I wanted to write titled "How stopped pretending to be a special forces soldier and learned to just have fun playing Airsoft" but somehow I could never shorten the title enough to make it worth writing the paper.

I like it.

A dummy army manual. The perfect noob starter.

I'm working on a dead serious version of this hehe. I like the little 3Dish graphics. I might borrow the idea.

Ummm, DonP found it online, he didn't write it himself. Guess I'm one of the few observant ones around here.

CDN_Stalker, the spotter, the sniper, the legend.:)

Its good basic, but some how I get the feeling, it will become another example of leading the horse to water.

At least it's almost as funny as giving a 7 year old a trick math question (brilliant by the way, I laughed hard and shared it).

And, I'm shocked to hear some of the things that make me "a legend", makes it hard for me to keep up with at times.

Yes sadly this is true for the majority that reads it, well no not really because the majority of the people that read it will be people that already follow these simple rules. I dont know how many times I have told people to shut the fuck up, yet they just keep on talking. :banghead:

My banghead seems to be less than impressive.

[cough]Ronan[/cough]

Well, in my limited experience, I've generally concluded 'once a tool, always a tool' or to summarize my favorite Tom Hanks movie character 'Momma always said, stupid is as stupid does...'

We developed quite a bit of material, in more depth, back in the Wolfpack days. Morbius was a fucking fiend when it came to documenting that kind of stuff. The CQB manuals we created back when we built that killhouse in my basement would probably get us all sent to Quantanimo for a chain link sun tan. Ah those were the good ol' dayz *sniff*....

Yeah you know that really is not far from the truth these days, look at the Toronto 18 or whatever they are called. They did allot of illegal shit and no doubt are scum bags, but the terrorist training camps consisted of playing "war games" and "obstacle courses". This of course was mixed in with a bunch of anti west bull shit and how to make detonators and bombs, all of witch can be found on the net. Allot of games I have been to use "explosives timers" Its a fine line in the time at witch we live, as this type of thing is acceptable until you add illegal activity to the mix and then its a terrorist training camp.

Note: I do hear Cuba is really nice this time of year.

hahahahaha gold.

They had also purchased a lot of ammonium nitrate, so it's not like they were a bunch of mislead landscapers that had crazy ideas and got caught playing paintball in the woods.

But you are damned right, some of what we do based upon creativity for the sake of more enjoyable realism, is up to the individuals creting stuff to think "What would the cops say if they found I made this?" and then up to the field owner to pass final judgement on such and such being used. A few years ago I designed and made (prototype) a simulated time bomb to play with, a digital egg timer that triggered a 110dB personal keychain alarm.................. and I knew very well it could have been viewed by the paranoia cops as a possible bomb detonator............ because I knew with some mods it could have been used for that....... but in the same way, it could be used to turn on a coffee macker.

Yes, one does need to be careful now a day. Even getting caught with the homemade air-bomb grenades could get ugly. These are the times we live in I suppose. Gone are the days of experimentation with internet recipes....well doing it out in the open any way. In many cases I guess you would say it is political correctness run a muck, not to say I don't support LE's effort to curb terrorism and all. I guess you gotta wonder where do you draw the line. Imagine the world of shit that those guys would have caused with that big of a nitrate bomb.
There are a thousand relatively harmless things you could make for airsoft to add some realisim, and if thats all you used them for that would be fine. But like you said, that same item could be used for a much more sinister act than a prop in a grown up version of what I did as a kid, play "ARMY".

I just shoot them. They can talk all they want on their way to the respawn, and three things will happen after :

1-They avoid me, which is fine
2-They come back and shut the fuck up.
3-Being dumbasses, they get shot again

there is a difference between gameplay and training.
I would love to train to be deadly and have a team and kick some ass with them, but the truth is that the people that are trained or 'in training' are not doing the same thing than people trying to have good gameplay and a good time.

for instance, take a CQB facility full of paintball greasy sand and put in a mix of tactical teams and skirmishers, the TT guys are going to complain all the time :)
In the same facility, a game with only TTs is going to be a completely different deal, just as a 100% skirmish game.

I must admit that the games I've had the most fun ever were Silverthorn's Zombie games, and they are 100% not tactical: the ambiance is very happy and the action is intense.

I have my cake and eat it too.

We view airsoft as an outlet to be mall ninjas in an environment where it is totally acceptable, and we embrace it! We go full-retard on the wannabe military tactical shit and we LOVE IT. We ENJOY OURSELVES and that is all that bloody matters!

I blame Wolfpack and, in this case, that is a damned good thing. I miss you, old hardcore Wolfpack. :(

Its funny, you talk to the guys individually and most of them miss it too. But it was a lot of work as well and many have moved onto other past times, jobs, places, etc. Those of us who had an opportunity to run the team both enjoyed and hated it at the same time. It was very demanding, but when we got to a field and played as a unified force, it all came together spectacularly well. People enjoyed watching us interact and play - we had what I'd call 'groupies' (yeah, I know - ha!) who would tag along just to see the wacky shit we'd get ourselves into. Claymore was a magnet for a lot of the funniest stories we have to tell. I don't know what it was, his tendency to go head first into something, or just the complete lack of a politically correct bone in his body, but the experiences on and off the field are ones I will always remember fondly. Wow. That decade is gone, and its been over 10 years since the birth of that team. Time flies when you're stalking and shooting your friends.

If only more people thinked like the Wolfpack guys, it would be more enjoyable and easyer to organise things.

Come to Sudbury. ;)

Link broken

needs update

too many noobs these last 2 years :D

I think I still have the original .pdf. I'll put it back online later. Worth at least a good read.

Here we go :

English : How to Not be Useless when Playing Soldier.pdf

Français : Comment ne pas être un boulet au airsoft.pdf

Nice i have decreased my uselessness lmao that is a great "booklet" and tho it is all stuff i baisicly knew its a nice lil refresher course as the season is starting again. Definately should be required reading.

Shared this with all of our group just as a mandatory read through. It got some good laughs and makes some good simple points as reminders. Should be the minimum requirment to play our game.

Wasn't quite educated on anything other than the common sense stuff, but after my first round or two, I picked up on it pretty fast. It helped that I had some pretty tolerant players on my team, too.

I was at a game last Sunday and half of the people on my team should have read that first..they were completely useless....

Love the trench queers!! Posting this for my team to read. Got a lot of new guys and one really young guy like to young to play in any games. But good read and great for new guys or guys that need a wake up call from cod

Love it Scarecrow!

Can we sticky this post? This thread screams basic TTP's, alas it will probably fall on some really deaf ears. I think I will take this and have the members on my team read it.

JK

Corners in a CQB situation are the worst for players making errors, whether it be holding a corner or moving around them. Even online, I see hundreds of pictures of some goof holding or moving around a corner and it shrieks "WRONG - YOU'RE DEAD".

For example;

INCORRECT WAY TO HOLD A CORNER:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/...b605871d_m.jpg

CORRECT WAY TO HOLD A CORNER:
http://cqb-team.com/Billeder/cqb_top_billede1.jpg

Moving around corners are usually done incorrectly in the same fashion, with the muzzle of your weapon protruding first as opposed to making a wide arc so as to emerge simultaneously and ready to engage hostile targets. Even with larger rifles in confined spaces, most hallways and corridors allow for you to perform a proper sweep around a corner.

I beg to differ. Number two is fucking the dog. Staring lovingly into number one's neck hair.

One should take a knee, lean the corner, two should place his nuts on one's back, gun over gun, two eyes are better than one.

Number three is also fucking the dog, shit eating grin, ear to ear.

If the goal is to hold the corner, his eyes should be rearward giving security, this is all assuming a three man team like the picture.

In a four man, number three is calling the shots, and four is looking to the rear.

I was more pointing toward the position of number one, but I completely agree in regards to the others in the picture. Their failure to be actively monitoring their kill clocks makes them susceptible to Captain Buttf**k.

All three in the stack are clearly marked MP's so they are Capt Doggy ButtFkrs. No need to look for them. :) remember the smilie means you cannot rage me for calling MP's Capt Doggy Buttfkrs.

And as ShelledPants was mentioning, third man back grinning is bearing the moniker "Chunky Soup Sandwich" with gusto.

Your smiley renders any raging invalid, dear sir. Plus your avatar is tits, literally and awesome. :cool:

If I may in both pictures they seem to have the space to do it so they should not have their barrel beyond the wall because they'll need a half second or more to get in firing position and the guys on the other side may already be ready to fire.
I stopped counting how many time I shot people doing hugging the wall when there's no need for it.

And if you don't have space : Get a freaking bulpup already !

Right in the corner of the picture, you can see a leg, presumably Number 4 providing the mentioned rearward security. This is also a still shot, we have no idea what they were in the middle of. As Jeroon also mentioned, MP's.....

I'm no expert and it was a number of year back, but I remember being explicitly told not to take a knee unless I had to to utilize cover, that the time it would take to get up and move, while minimal, was unacceptable.

Having done Simunition CQB, I've noticed more people taking knees taking rounds than those who remain standing.

While I'm no expert, not combat arms and not a CQB instructor, I did sit through this bullshit on SQ, a few other occasions and put it to use on one of the MAPLE DEFENDER. Each of those times, with the exception of utilizing low cover, no one takes a knee. If someone with REAL credentials wants to correct me, please do so, I'm always down for updating what I know, but COD, ARMA, Chris Costa videos and Lone Survivor type movies are not credentials.

I'll leave an excerpt of something mentioned on another forum I frequent:

"In close range reactive shooting, the marksmanship issue is not challenging. What is challenging is the time interval available to you for shooting, as well as evasion of the adversary's muzzle. The target zone is quite generous: think of the size of a man's torso at 7 yards.


So we give up things that will slow us down, and accept a lessened degree of necessary accuracy. Gone are the supported positions such as prone and kneeling. All shooting here is done on your feet. And those feet are moving...fast. As we learned in training and in battle...standing still when rounds are coming towards you is a foolish practice. And during all of this, we see a pressing need to hit he who is trying to kill us."

I think the pros and cons of kneeling can be explained in better context.

When in a close quarter urban environment, there are places that kneeling, as Gato eluded to, will likely get you shot quicker than if you were standing. I would be the first to agree.There are other places in that same environment that kneeling has advantages over standing.

If you are moving in a small group during a "low signature" movement inside a structure, taking a hallway corner can have advantages when taking it on a knee. Typically we anticipate movement at eye level, and sometimes a threat breaking cover from a low position can take us by surprise. The knee also allows a partner to pick up a position directly over top, so essentially you end up with two guns taking the corner simultaneously, as Shelled Pants mentioned in his post. This is also a current practice in some military and LE units, which has proven to be very successful.

When you lose the element of stealth and things are getting loud, the knee is even being practiced by some units in order to take a corner aggressively. I've already mentioned that breaking cover from a low point is not always anticipated. Now take into account that action is faster than reaction. By taking a corner aggressively, it causes a threat to react, which gives the person taking the corner the advantage. Sure, there's other factors involved that could deny the tactic, like an awaiting, defended and prepared position. If there was a 100% fail-proof tactic out there, everyone would be doing it. Unfortunately there isn't. We don't have chances until we take chances. That's fact.

As far as room clearing goes, kneeling can be used when you're once again moving quietly through a structure and need to slice the pie on a doorway. Some units drill this in a CQB environment, and will do this in tandem like I described how corners can be dealt with in hallways. The fatal funnel works both ways, guys. If you can slice the pie effectively on a door and come across a threat before he or she can react to you, you have an advantage. If you're 5 minutes into a gunfight, sneaking to the door may not be your best option. That scenario could potentially become an explosive, dynamic entry...if you even need to enter. Again, it's all in the right context. Is there a place for kneeling? Absolutely. Is it 100% effective all the time? Nothing is.

UK folks used to have an IA of taking a knee and transitioning to handgun on a primary stoppage in CQB. That's not a practice anymore. Kneeling inside a room has been replaced with lateral movement. Keeps guys mobile and in the fight. Their US counterparts are similar, but will still employ the knee on taking corners on longer angles, on occasion. Not a suitable technique for inside tight enclosures, but it's a technique in their repertoire nonetheless.

Most of this discussion is based on reactionary gaps. Time and distance equals a reactionary gap. In terms of shooting, distance and cover can permit you to kneel and/or plant to make sighted shots. Yet as we decrease our distance to threats, we decrease our reactionary time, and unfortunately improve our threats accuracy at the same time! So we have to know what is an acceptable sight picture at any given range. I believe an understanding and appropriate use of tactics also falls into this responsibility.

One last note on that picture above. I can't stand armchair generals, so I'll make some broad assumptions here.

Hugging cover is a cardinal sin. Rounds that don't impact you and hit your cover will tend to travel the plane of that cover and still tag you. Both horizontal and vertical cover. BBs can resemble a similar behavior at times. Bullets impacting cover can also generate spalling and debris, which can be equally deadly to you. Fighting off of cover minimizes the chances of ricochet. All that being said, if you take a corner and have time and distance and some advantage in your position, there's nothing wrong with taking up a supported position to make a sighted shot.

Well wrote, Viking. You have quite the astute approach on the matter.

Performing a bit of thread necromancy here. Wanted to thank the OP for finding this. I knew the contents already, but my son (12) is just getting into the sport and having a quick and short guide will be good for him to reference.

A dad can teach a lot of things, but having it in writing helps too.

Thanks for pointing to the resource.