Had the opportunity to play this last Easter Sunday with Semper Fidelis at their Paradise Compound. I want to say thanks to all the guys with Semper Fidelis for a great day of Airsoft jungle style.

Despite the rain and the wet terrain it was great. I will definitely be back for more fun in the jungle.

Game 1, there I was laying and waiting for the opposition to hunt us down. Kinda reminded me of my past days of Airsoft and paintball when I used to play the sniper role. Sometimes 45 minutes or more before I even hear a potential target. Here I am now at Paradise Compound laying in the jungle listening to the birds chirping, the insects flying, and the sounds of nature with the distant rolling thunder, was reminiscent of the forests of Washington state.

Although I must admit the jungles of Paradise Compound is a little different from the forests of Washington State. The biggest difference would be the absence of the color brown. One welcome change is the lack of pine needles, thank goodness. In my sniper days I can remember being bit many crawly things, but by far the worst was those pesky pine needs that seem to get everywhere, and to make it worse always combined with pine sap, turning that would be pesky pine needle into a recurring hindrance.

In the jungle I have to admit I was WAY out of my element. Its been over 10 years since I have stepped foot in the deep forest to play Airsoft, and sad to say it shows. From the moment I could hear, masks down I could not see anyone, and in most cases not even my own team, almost as if I was in the jungle alone just waiting to be hunted. I know my team is around me somewhere, but for the most part I could not see them.

Every time I got shot I did not see the guy who shot me, I knew approximately where the shot came from but on all but one occasion I did not see the person who shot me. Being used to concrete and cement, rooms and buildings and 10 years away from jungle (forest) ops and now here I am a sitting duck in the jungle. But it sure was fun.

My favorite game was when we were moving as a four man fire team looking for the opposition. I felt as though I at least stood half a chance of engaging a target. Back in my team element I felt comfortable, being used to the team environment, I must admit I did feel much better knowing I have at least three others I can see nearby in the fire team.

The point man in our team went forward without the aid of cover fire and no notice to the rest of the fire team, suddenly bam, he was out. Instinctively I dropped and looked for the opposition that just eliminated one of our team and as usual I can’t pick him out of the foliage. My training from the past kicks in and I instinctively want to form up with the remaining team and blast the area with a heavy concentrated burst of fire power. I check left and then right and from the looks of it that’s not going to happen. Instead of forming up the remaining team has split up, now more than 20 feet apart.

I knew then things were going to turn bad quickly. We are about to be picked off one by one by a ghost, an invisible assassin that we can’t see. I know we are going to be picked off one by one now because I knew if it were me on the other side of the coin that is exactly what I would do. First I would eliminate the point man silently, let the rest of the fire team wonder what just happened and sit in fear of who will be eliminated next and then one by one with small bursts so the remaining team cannot get a fix on my position I would eliminate them. And from the looks of things, the guy eliminating my fire team now knows the same techniques I would employ. Trying to jog my rusty memory and get a spark of information regarding my counter sniper tactics. For the moment its not helping, best I can hope for is I get a lucky shot.

Bits and pieces of my jungle (forest) training were coming back to me, reconnaissance by fire, ah yes I remember. I can at least simply recon the area to flush out the opposition with small bursts in the general area. I try to make eye contact with the remaining members of my fire team give the basic hand signal for cover fire and the area I will direct my fire to. Not sure if they can even see my hand or not, I turn to the area and begin to fire. 3 rounds 2 o-clock, then 3 more 1 o-clock, 3 more 12 o-clock and so on till I get to my 10 o-clock, and nothing no movement. The left team mate fires like wise and then, “hit?he’s out. I think, “oh great, this just keeps getting better and better.? I look to the guy on my right, whistle to get his attention give the hand signal for him to cover me when I break cover to fire. I count down with my fingers, 3, 2, 1, I pop up fire 3 bursts and back down. I look over to my right and nothing, he did not move. Evidently he can’t see my hand signals.

Again I try to communicate with hand signals letting him know I am coming over and to cover my movement. I count down using hand signals again, 3, 2, 1, I pop up fire at the general position I think the opposition is and run to my remaining team mate.

Neither one of us can see the sniper shooting our team. I decide to move forward our position and instruct my team mate to cover my movement, this time he covered me thank goodness. I get a basic sitrep from him and let him know I am going to try to move forward to get a better angle on the opposition.

I move 20 feet forward his position now ready to turn to give another command to set up a bounding over watch and suddenly I hear, “hit.? Now I am alone with an unknown number of opposition and I can’t even see them. Again I try to flush him with 3 round bursts in the general area.

I move back to the cover of a thin tree with hundreds of vines reaching from the top down providing an element of cover. I figure if my opposition can see my team mate well enough to shoot him when he was here, then I should be able to see my opposition from here. A few minutes pass, I continue to recon by fire, in the distance to my right I hear more gun fire, and no movement from in front of me. Not sure if the shooter is still in front of me or not I begin to look around, fire a few times for my own peace of mind. Clearing my goggles, shooting 3 round burst and still can’t see him and no movement.

I hear the shots and at the same time out of the corner of my eye I see the first white flash as the BB whizzes by me, followed by another that clearly hits me in the ribs just left of my tactical vest, then a few more rounds hit the tree and vines. I called out, “hit?and as I get up I look to see who shot me, and tell the ghost it was a great shot and congratulate him, since as expected I can’t see anything but the beautiful serene jungle with no clues that I can recognize that indicate there is a ghost hunting my team down.

Walking back to the neutral zone rubbing my rib making a mental note, “I need tiger fatigues, and a better chest rig, and while I’m thinking about it, I should get mesh goggles also.?
A few basic lessons I learned that day.

Lesson number 1: Sig 552 is great for CQB/CQC and not much more than a pretty ornament in the jungle environment.

Lesson number 2: my brand new low profile Daisy ballistic goggles with the amber shooter lenses don’t mean a darn thing if I can’t see because they keep fogging up.

Lesson number 3: thin black t-shirt might look good but it doesn’t do much to slow down and minimize the impact of the .2g BB at 450 fps. “ouch!?

Lesson number 4: teamwork as usual is mandatory to increase the survivability of you and your team.

Tactics from my old days slowing creeping back to me.

Under normal conditions I am accustomed to sitting and waiting for my intel team to arrive with valuable information. We spend a few minutes to finalize the plan of attack, form up, and take the building down. However that is not always the case here in the Philippines, when the Marshal gives the command to begin the teams make a mad rush in looking for any type of cover and start shooting. LOL?

Having played Airsoft for over 15 years now and teaching tactics including small unit tactics for over 10 years, I have a strong reluctance to go into a combat zone without intel; however since I am a guest and I love to play, I don’t mind going in blind, however in the best case scenario I would have had sent in two 2-man scout teams to scout out the area and then report back with intel on opposition numbers and locations.

The Team leader will brief the team of the area, the terrain, the possible high risk areas, areas most likely for an ambush, and counter ambush areas.

Then the team leader will decide on the appropriate formation the team will use to move through the jungle. The team will then get into formation and move in with the appropriate small combat units to clear the areas. (it is important that the team be familiar with their IAD and SOPs so your team knows what to do in each scenario and can regroup quickly. It is easy to get lost and separated in the jungle.)

The jungle has inherently many blind spots, and lots of natural concealment, when moving it is difficult at best to see your opposition, however with a sniper/scout team as forward observers it is possible to have human intel about your opposition. With some intel about the possible location of the opposition it would be easier to pick the best formation to engage them.

One effective tactic to use is deception. When your opposition expects you to come one way and you change up and hit from another direction; which is the case at Paradise Compound. The players are so familiar with the terrain and their usual tactics this approach would be a lot more effective and can eliminate the opposition a little quicker.

It is fun to just hunt and eliminate the other team, however for me I like the challenge of a life size chess game, thinking things through, strategizing and utilizing effective tactics, maximizing my teams strengths and exploiting my oppositions weaknesses, ensuring my team returns in one piece. This helps to foster teamwork, team unity, and multi-dimensional thinking for all team members, working as a team to overcome the opposition.

Kinda like adventure racing teams. As a team they must overcome overwhelming obstacles and endure hardships most normal people would never want to experience on purpose. The team must navigate, and mountain climb, bike, swim, row in a kayak or canoe, rappel, cross a ravine on a rope bridge, or on a zip line. The ultimate goal is to stay alive and cross the finish line as a team. Adventure racers are the ultimate in team sports, and I think airsoft can be in the top in team sports as well, it certainly has all the right elements.

An example of the basic jungle bunker (this is a BASIC design so as not to disclose any tactical secrets Semper Fidelis might have)