Well it has been a while since my last post, mainly due to my computer being down. In that last post, I had bought my first skirmishable airsoft gun. Since that last post, I've acquired a bit of gear. We're talking things from 4 new AEG's to a plate carrier, and so on and so forth. The thing is, what good is gear if you aren't using it, right?
Well after a number of events including a job upgrade, getting a car, and other quality of life changes, I had been talking for the longest about trying to start an airsoft squad. Unfortunately a friend decided that he wasn't going to get into the sport. He hadn't bought anything yet, so no real loss for him. Me on the other hand, that's a different story. As enthusiastic as I am about the sport of airsoft, there was no way I was going to let anything stop me especially after the gear I've bought. It was going to happen, it was just a matter of when.
Well after my birthday, I heard that the weather was supposed to be unseasonably nice for January. I didn't have work interfering the day before, not did I have any errands to run. On January 18th, I finally got out and drove to the closest airsoft park I knew of in Edwardsville, Illinois. The Bing Field. I got up early and packed all my gear in the trunk of my car and headed on out.
The Google Maps navigator guided me there with no problem. I had no idea what to expect as I pulled into the lot. I could see cars already there with people hanging out loading magazines, talking smack with each other all decked out in their camo's. It was a little intimidating for the first time going but this was a day I was talking out just for me. I was not about to welch out on it now that I was there.
I popped the trunk and started putting my gear on. I had a plate carrier, hip pistol holster, thigh dump pouch and shemagh (outside of the required goggles and mesh mask to protect my lower face). I was going for a PMC contractor look for my first day out. I didn't have the stuff I wanted to actually try for an actual soldier with full camouflage gear. None of it was a prerequisite to play, that was just a thing i wanted to do. I grabbed my Ares Amoeba M4 CQBR (close quarters battle rifle) and started heading for the main building everyone was congregating around. Seemed like a logical place to go to register for the days events.
I headed in and was greeted with a long line of soldiers not getting their lunch but bb's and other such gear they needed beyond their registration. I made my way to the head of the line and registered and got my bb's. I immediately made my way out and started loading mags and I took long enough that I skipped the first game to make sure I was prepared and had everything I needed.
As I waited for the next game so I could get assigned to a team, I talked to a dad that was standing outside the field looking on with curiosity with his 2 sons who were also waiting to play in the next game. They were like 7-9 years old at my first guess. He looked intrigued and as I spoke to him, he admitted that it looked fun enough that he might have to get out there with his sons to try it himself.
The first game I got in was on the spool field. The first and overwhelming detail was the gratuitous amounts of mud all around especially in the wooded fields. I'm sure it's not always that way. It's WAS winter and there was precipitation recently. As we lined up for a Team Deathmatch and made the initial charge, we started the sprint to push as far forward as we could. It was during this sprint that I realized something.
When I was getting my gear on I loaded up on magazines filled to the brim with ammo. As I started the sprint, I realized that the drop leg dump pouch full of magazines strapped to my thigh was jostling back and forth with its extra weight and it slowed me down somewhat. That was my first lesson I learned and decided I was going to lighten that load on the next match. I got shot for leaving myself exposed on an angle that I wasn't thinking about, so I had to remember that too. I needed to think about angles of attack. As the dead pool filled up and we were allowed to respawn back into the game, I tried again. This time, I got outgunned and took a bb off the forehead. I had no other choice but to call my hit and laugh at the fact I got headshot in my first game. After that game ended, I went and put my drop-leg dump pouch in the trunk until I could decide out a better way to run it.
As the day went on, I realized how much I enjoyed using my Amoeba. It worked like a dream and then after a couple games I started to get low on ammo, so I decided to try some .25 gram bb's. I had been running the basic .20 gram bb's up to that point. I heard people talk about the heavier weight bb's being better for accuracy so I tried it. I was in Discovery Mode today. I loaded up the mags with them, and as we walked on the field to our team's spawn location, I took a couple shots and was surprised by how much less flight path deviation I had on my shots. The bb's were going to my red dot's reticule instead of my reticule's vicinity. It was official, I was a convert. After I use up my remaining .20's, I don't see myself really more. It's all about .25's now.
In one game, I decided to test out my DBoys G36C with electric blowback. I enjoyed trying to use it. That is up until my motor height adjustment acre in the pistol grip decided it wanted to move on me. The worst part was I left my tools in my dump pouch! I had to resort to only using my CO2 pistol which worked fine enough seeing as it was the weapon I had on me that was actually shooting. After the match ended, I went to the car and got it working again. I have had the G36 for over a year so I was not surprised. I just need to figure out a way to secure that screw without risky techniques (like super glue).
At long last, the day finally came to an end and I began the walk to the car and
put all of my gear away and started the drive home.
I probably had one of the most awesome drives home reflecting on taking a day just for myself and going to play Airsoft. The only thing that made the day even better was as I was starting to cross the bridge over the Mississippi river revealing the sunset, at that moment the solo from the Mastodon song "Oblivion" started up and I burst into laughter over how great the timing of everything that day panned out.
It was a good day and I would be going back in a couple weeks for the Operation: Arctic Assault...
And this time, I'm bringing friends...
*Cue dramatic music*
Until next time,
Darrick
