Photos! Guardian from
TFI points at me and says, "Hey! You're
Enkidu, right? How things goin'?" "Great," I reply, "well...not great actually. Things are shitty, but I'm here, so not too bad!"
The US team heads out for a short tour of the field, plus a further briefing on the scenario and rules. On the right foreground is GK teammate
Motown, with the gorgeous gas blowback MG42 over his shoulder.
The other half of the US team. On the left foreground is
Kurt and to the right his son
Corey. Good dudes, honest players.
My squad, later deemed the "Tarantulas" head out on the first patrol into the woods, which was replete with rolling hills and twisty dried-up creek beds.
Back at the US re-spawn and FOB, Tarantula Squad leader
Kurt displays a battle wound on his face.
Back in the field, another squadmate,
Brian (I think...) surveys the scene. As a medic, I must healed this guy twice as much as everyone else on my team combined! That's what being point-man can get you!
Later in the day, with only an hour or two left in his work-abbreviated day,
Motown brought out the MG42. Here he is putting the integrated bipod to good use, emplaced and ready to fire upon any VC enemy. This thing was surprisingly skirmishable, aside from the weight, and it made the most incredible racket when fired. No other gun in airsoft sounds so astonishing.
Squad mate
Corey and I watched our six o'clock while we hunkered down at an objective and waited for the demolition squad to arrive.
That's me on the right, with an unknown Tarantula at left. We were unable to contact the demo squad via radio, and had to send a runner to fetch them. Sometimes a mil-sim game includes a healthy amount of waiting.
The demolition guys arrived in force, and reinforced our position. Here, one takes cover near the rear of the position.
The man with the explosive charges waits for the detonation timer to count down, and covers his sector at the same time.
Later, the objective destroyed, we regrouped, hooked up with the recon squad, and they directed Tarantula and Demo squads to a bunker complex. As we waited for another explosion, a marskman takes up his position.
Photo desaturated to approximate a "Saving Private Ryan" look.
The bunker destroyed, the victorious US team pauses for a victory shot atop the bunker complex.
Photo edited to approximate a Vietnam-era color photograph.
Another angle on the celebration at the destroyed objective.
Lunchtime! Bonfire-cooked hot dogs for some, but I ate only a granola bar and some jerkey.
Guardian actively solicited feedback on the event. He wanted honest criticism and it was clear he and his teammates were committed to improving the mil-sim gameplay for this event and for future ones. I found the candor refreshing.
Artsy shot of Tarantula Squad as they exit the canopy-darkened forest into a small clearing of brilliant sunlight.
After lunch the manpower-depleted US team consolidated squads, and together the revised Tarantulas secured a possible LZ for our choppers. Here we pause and try to raise the organizers on the radio.
Me again, with helmet decorations. One guy said it made me look like a drug-addicted clown. Fair enough...
We sent another runner, who communicated our map coordinates to the organizers and the demo squad, who brought up the airborne flag to mark the LZ.
Planting the flag.
With help, the airborne standard was raised and the airfield became a secondary re-spawn point for the US side. Hmm...this photograph looks strangely familiar...
Oh, right! It looks like Joe Rosenthal's historic photo,
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima!
See?Larger versions can be seen in a gallery here: www.enkidulives.com/TFIFree/index.htmlVideos! Here's a firing test of the amazing GBB classic MG42, wielded by GK teammate
ZorakHere's me dumping my CZ75 GBB mags at the end of the day, just for fun. The CZ75 is my favorite pistol, and creating this gun was the work of a few years careful diligence. Powered by duster gas with the use of the Airsoft Innovations Duster Gas Adapter.
Youtube cut off the funniest part of that last video, so I made an animated .GIF of it, for the lulz: