The Wild World of TB!

So this is the post that so many people are looking for, my assessment of the Viper Blanding event. And it will be truthful, brutally at some points, but realize that I have talked to the people mentioned or I have calls into them.

So let’s start off on this trek shall we?

First off it is a long damn ride to Starke Florida from Texas, even more so when you are pulling a 14 foot trailer packed to the rim with stuff for a paintball event. We (Nudi and I) left out from MT Pleasant around 3 pm and made the trek in the rain to Houston to pick up Cookie and Viper. We loaded up and then got on the road and after meeting up with Mia and Jud to pick up some additional gear we left Houston. It was a long night, that’s for damn sure but we got into Starke about 6:00 pm on Wednesday and took showers, grabbed food and went to bed.

Got up bright and early Thursday morning and headed to the site. Got to meet Mr. David Silverman, the site co-coordinator for Blanding and I learned something really cool. While he was a civilian now, he used to be a recruiter (quite good at it from the medals and such) and before that a Hawk Missile Battery Operator in the Marines. I knew there was something I like about him. Then out to the site, and there we met up with SFC Scott Hall, the man who controls the site. ;)

We got right to work and thanks to a lot of people who showed up to play like I did, but decided to help out to make things better for everyone. People like Jammer, Gary Nees, Elliot Nees, Other members of Hardball, Hawk from 1 MG, Nudi, Ninja and the rest of Odyssey, Sean Scott and the guys from Smart Parts and more. If I forgot realize that I was very tired after trying to help get everything set up and running around for Kerry. If it wasn’t for players like you, Kerry would have had a hard time running the game.

We did the same thing Friday in a mad rush to get everything finished. Kerry walked each objective off. He paced off the tape lines to make sure they were fair, he walked off the distances from the bases to the back tape lines, he walked off the insertion points (roadside) to the bases to make sure that they were the same and then he walked the field for every bunker placement making sure that both sides would be able to use the objectives with and against each other. He did all that he could there to set the game even, and this is what he always does. The field is a MOUT site and it is not mirrored, so all you can do is play with what you have and do the best you can.

Friday night was the Commander’s meeting; imagine my surprise when no Special Ops has shown up yet. Even more so when I get word that they aren’t setting up anything major because this wasn’t a serious event for them. Then we get told that the XO and radio operator for Special Ops will sit in the command meeting. My stomach started to turn; this was not shaping up well at all. I already knew that going into this, they had more tanks then we did, they had (to most people) stronger tanks then we did, and they were up by 70 people. The names on the other side read like a who’s who of Florida legends in scenario paintball. Half of our team was people who didn’t register for a side, they got placed with us. Everyone who wanted to be Special Ops was Special Ops; no one was moved to that side.

I walked the field with Sean and we talked about that. We talked about the plans and the Field Commanders and the fact that we were at serious disadvantages. When they decided to allow the Special Ops tanks to inert middle field, I felt like we were going to lose the event. There were too many things in opposition. Was it Viper’s fault? No! Could he have fixed it? I am sure he could have, but people would have cried and been upset. So WE took it in stride and formulated what to do to get where we needed to be.

At the Commander’s meeting (which Thomas from Ragtop really should have attended to get an inside look at things, just so he could be unbiased and not making wild ass accusations) I sat in silence as the command staff minus the commander for the Blue side started to make excuses for their side. There were commander led missions to be led by the commander that meant that Chris (Blue Commander) and Sean (Red Commander) had to leave the base with the mission card, run the mission and turn the mission card in to get extra points. The exact comment went; we are at a disadvantage because our commander hasn’t taken this game seriously. We need to have the ability to double tape someone else to run his missions. He is just here as a figurehead and to poobah. The reply from Viper was he is the commander, he must run the missions. They then told Viper that they had been trying for several weeks to get plans together but Chris didn’t appear to try and make it a priority to build a strategy for the event.

I knew then that they were in trouble, even as Viper told them the specifics of the game. He even asked me to go over the different rules between the GSRP and his rules. Why did he do that? Because I know the rules, I read them every game. I even read the GSRP just to see where it is going. He handed out the first 4 mission in envelopes in code to the command staff. He went over each one as people decoded them to make sure that they knew what they were doing. He asked them were there any questions, they said no and they left. Kahuna even thanked me for giving them the differences and offering to help anyway I could BEFORE the game.

We then had our Field Commander Meeting, I wasn’t too happy because Viper stayed in there and based on my past with MXS, I wondered if he would keep the game true. They always wanted to know the plan as Blitzkrieg and then tried to fuck the plan as MXS. But he didn’t do that and the meeting went off as planned. Each Field Commander was assigned a zone that they needed to take and then there would be a rotation. If you have read the “what it takes to command” articles further down in this site then you know about what I am talking.

But here are some quick snapshots of the plan as put together by Sean and me.

So then we adjourned to the Team Captain meeting, they weren’t all there but the gist of the meeting was this. We were there to win, we were there to show Special Ops that while they may be woodsball, this was scenario paintball and they were in our house. And that we would teach them to disrespect our game by not planning ahead. No one came to me after the meeting to tell me they were unhappy with the plan, no one came and asked to do something different. Amazing how the stories that get told when the event is over, differs.

For those that have served with me or under me, you know the speech you hear it every game. Enemy ABT, Shoot it! No ABT, Shoot It! Wearing your ABT and acting funny, Shoot it! We talked about getting the foot on the throat and pounding them all weekend and they would either buck up and fight or they would take a beating. I even said if you don’t want to do this, that’s fine go play in the city or do whatever. But that if you followed our plan, we would win and we would dominate.

Within the first hour it seems that a Field Commander had his own agenda and regardless of what he says, the information that was passed at the FC meeting and opinions of some of the FC’s have come across in the teams that were loyal to them. Now I have to give props to the ones that help true to plan even when the plan went down. There was a Plan B and even a Plan C, however Sean was not made aware of it till it was needed. Michelle, his wife, made that call not me. However Plan B was to use the FC’s that I knew would follow me and the plan to the end. Hawk held the city, Ninja held the woods; Thunderstruck ran missions and did base interdiction as did Hardball. Castro and Bobio ran the armor and anti-armor and Wide-guy and Jet did a great job filling in. However the maestro of the madness was Sean, he took to it with quick learning and by Saturday afternoon he was running the show.

Because the game was so one sided, I spent almost 4 hours of the game off the field. I did help with radio comm. And buying supplies but I left the field command to Sean; he seemed capable of handling it. Otherwise it would have been worse and since there were so many Blues already starting to cry, I did what I could. I will not fall back or pull back but I will give them a breather to try and catch up.

Saturday night, we started back up. Thunderstruck on the base, once again those that know me know that I like to hit the base. I go after the morale of the other side and not being able to keep your base does that like nothing else. By 10 pm it was no longer a contest on the field, we had over 60 players they had less then 15. I know because Paco had found a blue card and was inserting on our side of the field when he got eliminated and then walking to the other side taped blue to do base security with Chris. He got told how much the general thought of my team, only to find out later who he was talking to when Paco finally at the end of the night killed him and walked off the field.

I went to Chris at 10:30 pm and told him that if they kept going there would be no way to win, he brushed me off. Say what you want, but we kept track of every mission we had. We kept track of the missions we busted and we owned 75% of the field. Mathematically speaking, the game was over. After the event, I looked at the command books (I always do to make sure I am doing it right and so can anyone else for that matter) and saw this. The game was over Saturday night at 11:00 when the game stood down, if the red side had not taken the field on Sunday and Blue got every mission, run the RP bonus, the money bonus and the final battle, we still would have won by 45 points. And yet their commander wanted to tell me that they were having fun, to keep bringing it. Well we did, now didn’t we?

Sunday was a better day, seems in the night they got some snap in their step, and they figured out how to fill out mission cards. That is another story in and of it. But in the end we still took it to them and we took the final battle 7 to 3.

We had the awards ceremony and Smarts Parts came out of the pocket big time for the winners. Now Special Ops on the other hand, not so much. Sean Scott had talked with Chris about what Smart Parts was going to do for the award winner; Special Ops it seems wasn’t there for that either. I really don’t know why they came out; other then to pick up what they thought would be an easy victory over ‘tournament-loving’ Smart Parts.

And then it was over, helping Viper take the field back down was the same guys who helped put it up plus some, like the rest of Thunderstruck. It says something to be part of a team who helps out people even when you just got done paying them money to play an event. Most of us didn’t get to go to the after hours party, however I hope Sean will spring for his XO and friends to get some steakage at a game soon.

People for the most part were clean, but the one thing that burned me up were the fools who shot the signs outside the gates with off-field paint. You fuckers should be lined up and shot, just that simple.

Tank and Archon did a great first run job, it was much better then PMI’s first foray and Tank has assured me that they will get the job right. Then again if they don’t Viper will make it right or make a move. He moved to Archon from KEE to make it better for the players.

I also know that he will fix the ref issue. As far as the game play issue, you people need to read the rules. You need to ask questions and you need to question your leaders. If there is something not being done, step up and do it. You aren’t in the army, you know.

There is something really cool coming down the pipe with regards to Blanding and Viper, and if it goes off as well as I think it will, I may just stick to doing games like it. I am tired of being told how I beat up on newbie’s. I guess everyone is a newbie right?

Except for the overwhelming whining when it was the command staff’s fault and the mini-mutiny, I thought the game was great. It was awesome to meet the movers and shakers at Smart Parts and the other vendors and my team.