5 July 2006, 11:44 PM
I know when before I lat-moved to the airwing we practiced with a variant of the airsoft rifles. They fired paintball rounds about half the size of a normal paintball, and most of the time (the few times I got hit) it hurt worse then a frozen paintball. Fun stuff.
We were using variants of the m16a2, and the CQB heavy m4. Alot of people liked the m4 better because it was lighter and easier to carry (the collapsing buttstock was cool too), but I still prefered the m16, mostly due to the fact that the weight is a plus, especially when your going for distance and precision targetting. A nice milspec reflex red dot sight helped a whole lot. Keep in mind that this was an exact replica of the weapon I was to take with me later.
Here's how my day on the MOUT course went: Two small fireteams: "Rapier 1-1" and "Rapier 1-2" comprised of four people each made their way down the city block, both groups in long spread out columns. It was hot, real hot, so hydrating meant the difference between staying in the game or dying. I was the third person back in 1-2, so we were on the right side of the street. 1-1 made their way to the crest of the first intersection and I heard a thwack. The pointman made a halt motion and we took a knee. Less then a minute later that single thwack turned into a hail of fire. We were ordered into a house on the corner that luckily had two floors. Clearing the first, we headed up the stairs to the second and set up a good spot for cover fire. That is, until our point man was taken out by sniper fire. The prick radios weren't working so contact with 1-1 was all but impossible. Pusing the set of bunk beds in the room against the wall farthest away from the window I layed on the top one, the muzzle of my 16 laying on the day pack I had found.
Your taught as an expert marksman to follow a muzzle flash to the source, but with these rifles there was no flash. using a sharp eye I scanned the horizon to adjust my eyes, then focused on a point and defocused. Slowly but surely my vision picked up some subtle movements in a building a few blocks away. Quite an achievement for these rifles. I sighted in, dialed in the dope (elevation, windspeed, checking my breathing etc) and squeezed off a round. No luck. One more time. No more fire. I got him. We packed up and moved out with the three of us fifteen minutes later and happened to run smack dab into Rapier 1-1. We kept moving, running with all our gear and dragging the casualty who was still returing fire, despite the fact that he was having a less then fun time. We rounded the next corner and I took one to the leg (it made it bleed!) and it knocked me off my feet. I got up and started limping to the 7 ton sitting on the corner, my teammates running next to me. We got the hell out of dodge and complete the exercise with kudos from the detacment CO. Turns out we did way better then they thought we could have ever, something I'm still proud of.
Airsoft is fun stuff, great training, and material for bragging rights.
We were using variants of the m16a2, and the CQB heavy m4. Alot of people liked the m4 better because it was lighter and easier to carry (the collapsing buttstock was cool too), but I still prefered the m16, mostly due to the fact that the weight is a plus, especially when your going for distance and precision targetting. A nice milspec reflex red dot sight helped a whole lot. Keep in mind that this was an exact replica of the weapon I was to take with me later.
Here's how my day on the MOUT course went: Two small fireteams: "Rapier 1-1" and "Rapier 1-2" comprised of four people each made their way down the city block, both groups in long spread out columns. It was hot, real hot, so hydrating meant the difference between staying in the game or dying. I was the third person back in 1-2, so we were on the right side of the street. 1-1 made their way to the crest of the first intersection and I heard a thwack. The pointman made a halt motion and we took a knee. Less then a minute later that single thwack turned into a hail of fire. We were ordered into a house on the corner that luckily had two floors. Clearing the first, we headed up the stairs to the second and set up a good spot for cover fire. That is, until our point man was taken out by sniper fire. The prick radios weren't working so contact with 1-1 was all but impossible. Pusing the set of bunk beds in the room against the wall farthest away from the window I layed on the top one, the muzzle of my 16 laying on the day pack I had found.
Your taught as an expert marksman to follow a muzzle flash to the source, but with these rifles there was no flash. using a sharp eye I scanned the horizon to adjust my eyes, then focused on a point and defocused. Slowly but surely my vision picked up some subtle movements in a building a few blocks away. Quite an achievement for these rifles. I sighted in, dialed in the dope (elevation, windspeed, checking my breathing etc) and squeezed off a round. No luck. One more time. No more fire. I got him. We packed up and moved out with the three of us fifteen minutes later and happened to run smack dab into Rapier 1-1. We kept moving, running with all our gear and dragging the casualty who was still returing fire, despite the fact that he was having a less then fun time. We rounded the next corner and I took one to the leg (it made it bleed!) and it knocked me off my feet. I got up and started limping to the 7 ton sitting on the corner, my teammates running next to me. We got the hell out of dodge and complete the exercise with kudos from the detacment CO. Turns out we did way better then they thought we could have ever, something I'm still proud of.
Airsoft is fun stuff, great training, and material for bragging rights.