Bastich AAR/ Debrief:
Present were myself, Steel, Mustang, Preacher, Giggles, Evil Dave (Saturday only), Evil Nun, and "Kevin" - who wants a team name and has so far been dubbed "PW" pending future review. Sadly, last minute family obligations prevented B'alrahg from attending as planned.
DFWAP - pretty cool site. Spread out over some REALLY interesting terrain, especially the village by the dry pond. Lots of nice thick woods, decent trails, nice assortment of man made cover, creek beds, etc. My only negative comment related to the location had to do with the "facilities" - only two crappers, one out of order and the other plugged up with a wad of paper. Fortunately, not crisis situation arose from this - MRE's didn't kick in till after I got home.
BTW - Preacher laid out some change for the MRE banquet. Excellent idea, well-executed, outstanding support for the troops. Preacher, give me a couple of weeks and I'll get you some MRE relief. Thanks for the chow, and the ordinance instructions.
I showed up about 0630, spent about 15 minutes setting up the totems and table and stuff like that there, and maybe 3 minutes setting up my sleeping quarters (Van - just had to unfold a cot). Geared up, guzzled some water, and headed to HQ2. Hung out for a while till game started - there HAS to be a faster method to register and chrono and gas up. I personally only played in 8 events, missing the night shoots due to tired sore feet and apathy. I also ended up designated "Medic", an interesting position if you like being a walking target (these allies apparently had not heard of the Geneva Conventions, but then again this medic was toting an A-5 with Apex and was doing my damndest to take out Allies).
Game 1 - A capture the flag scenario that represented the Allied paratroop into German territory. Two big damn fields with a road through the middle and tree lines at the far sides. Krauts guarding three flags on either side at the tree line, Allies had to start from the road and take flags. They failed, and were pretty much cut down. I was guarding the middle flag, north side and after a few minutes realized there was little threat of the Allies getting anywhere close, so I moved up and started lobbing rounds long range with the Apex. The only Allied I am reasonably sure I hit was the guy in the Kilt, who stood and waved himself out after a volley I lobbed into his position.
Game 2 - Krauts had to hold a city - forget the name of the town that it was supposed to represent. We lost, but made them earn it. I spent the first 2/3 of the shoot on the island lobbing rounds at people out in the lake and along the road, including one ballsy guy that danced a jig in the dry lakebed while dodging rounds. He was, of course, shot out, but not by me. I ended up moving to the front when the Allies got into the edge of town. Towards the end, Giggles came tear assign through announcing the island had been compromised, about the time my rifle gassed out. I was attempting to hold my position with my side arm when the Allies over ran the island and I was blown away.
Game 3 - Hell's Gate. Krauts had to take a fortified wall with one gate in the middle, two towers, and light cover in front. While I "died" twice in this one, I took 4 with me. Started out supporting a push up the creek on the north side, along with Evil Nun, Evil Dave, Mustang, and a few others. Got into some pretty good shooting along the creek, while Mustang and Evil Dave tried to work around. Got shot out while attempting to perform medic duties. On my return trip I stumbled into a push to take the fort from center position, led by Giggles. After doing some minor damage in that attempt I was shot out, more from a lack of support from the schnitzel bloated krauts that didn't want to put their expansive posteriors in the line of fire than anything else. Giggles was expressing a degree of frustration during this push, and I can understand why. On my second return, I was summoned back to the creek for medic duties, and got Evil Dave back into play. He scooted off to get a better angle, and I worked with Evil Nun for a few minutes taking out three Allied shooters guarding the creek flank (she got two, I got one, but I did get to startle one of the allies making him fall over and flail about while Nun painted the tar out of him - Nun did good, aggressive and accurate, be happy to shoot with her any time). We all moved up at that point and were within grenade throw range of the fort when Giggles dashed in and won the round for us. Minor dispute erupted about shooting within 10 feet from the Allied side, not sure what that was about but it looked like it was settled.
Game 4 - This one is where we broke down and sucked. Our instructions were to take and hold a fuel dump, which we did pretty quickly and with only minor casualties. What we didn't know was there was also a radio tower that needed to be held, and our (no radio) fearless leader failed to communicate that to us. I heard lots of communications bouncing around about this and never heard a clear answer come back, and we got split again into several small units, which reduced our effectiveness. I started out with Giggles and PW, lost them during the fuel dump capture, found Mustang and stuck with him for a while trying to hold a road, then returned to the fuel dump when radio com instructed us to hold the fuel dump at all costs. Mustang stayed and went up a hill for a vantage point. When I got there to the dump there were 8 or 9 Krauts already there, mostly sitting in the shade gossiping. There was only one Allied sniper way off on the side and being held off by two or three Krauts who were sort of half assed lobbing rounds without much interest - no threat at all. Then I got a call needing a medic, which turned out to be a real medic not just a field resurrection. Turned out it was Mustang, who I left on the hill to guard a position that was already guarded. Should have stayed with Mustang. I left the field with him; Steel joined us on the way out with a bum leg and fubared rifle. Since they had called 15 minutes till end of play we went ahead and returned to camp exhausted - unfortunately, they extended play and continued for another hour or so and the Allies were eventually driven out of the radio position and out of the city they were using for base camp. Would have liked to join that but we were pretty much dead at that time, dehydrated and worthless. Preacher was already at camp, his rifle having failed him as well.
NOTE: This really pissed me off, I thought it worth discussing in it's own little paragraph. When I got the call for medic and was trying to ask where the emergency was, several people kept chattering on the radio, making jokes and preventing me from getting a location. Even when I asked for the chatter to stop, I still got jokes back and was warned that the Allies were just trying to lay a trap. I ended up having to follow an Allied runner to the position. I didn't recognize any of the voices that were chattering up the airwaves, but common safety protocols are pretty clear - Emergency situations = SHUT UP. There were already referees and an actual medic on scene, but still - when an emergency is announced, radio chatter needs to fucking stop. If a more serious situation had occurred that kind of crap can have serious repercussions. Nuf Said.
Night game - sat it out. Steel and Mustang were sound asleep, Preacher and Evil Dave were zoned, and I was half dead. PW drove by and called to us but we mistook his hollering for heckling and ignored it. A couple of us were probably in good enough condition by then to rejoin, I could have if needed, so we missed an opportunity there. Allies won, had the Krauts outnumbered, we may have made a difference - too late to worry about that now.
Game 6 - Back to Hell's Gate, same scenario. I stuck with Preacher coming up the North flank along the creek. Adair was there also - pure adrenalin - him and Preacher made up most of the advance force on that side while I provided cover fire. Got a few Allies out, and made it through without getting shot. Once more I found myself within 50 feet of the fort surrounded by smoke when Giggles got in and won it for us. I personally think there was some outstanding teamwork in play along the creek bed both this event and game 3 above. Excellent cover fire and support, coordinated forward movement, and aggressive position acquisition. Can't comment on any other areas, since I wasn't there.
Game 7 - reversal - we had to hold the fort this time. I personally disagreed with plan, to place all personnel forward with light side cover and no rearguard. Almost immediately we were set upon the creek flank, which took heavy fire the entire time. We also had to deal with a few loners trying to come up from the rear. I ended up on the south flank facing the road holding off several people with just Slinky (MVP, Krauts, BTW). Despite repeated calls for back up, we got none. Once that bunker by the road was taken, they had a clear field of fire down the inside wall - which is where Giggles took it, followed by me, then Slinky. We were out of play at that point and don't know the final outcome, but there was some controversy about that too. Don't know details, but it sounded like the Allies failed to hold position during a ref called hold.
Game 8 - bomb the bridge. I was over by the bridge side with Giggles, trading fire with Allies who had already taken the creek bed and the bunker overlooking it. Took a round in the face and was out. Was sitting in the shade on the sidelines when the whistle blew, which turned out to be a false call. Preacher had low crawled up to the bridge and placed the bombs, but had taken a round doing so. Allies won.
Game nine - I dropped my gear and decided to stick to straight medic this time, and ran my ass off. This is the event that really made me question the wisdom of being the medic, as I was a walking target and had to return to res point twice before the truck made it to the curve. Did get 5 people back into play, which may have helped. Once the truck passed the curve it was a challenge just finding the fire fights - damn war zone kept moving. It seemed I was always just a few dozen yards behind the shooting and each time I found it I had to scamper back under heavy fire. Not very satisfying, and damned tiring.
I have to offer salutes to:
Preacher, who took over as Field General Sunday and did his best to herd cats.
Evil Nun, who low crawled and threw paint picked up off the ground when her marker crapped out.
Steel, whose marker was a paperweight and his knee blown, who still stuck it out and did what he could.
PW, the new guy, whose name is still subject to change and was the only one of us with the stamina to play in ALL the games.
Mustang, who teamed with Steel for more outstanding team work.
Giggles - the guy that ran Hell's Gate TWICE, and did his usual sneaky devious head screwing (like stealing the enemies pods and running around with them, without a marker, just to keep them out of the enemies hands).
Had a great (if exhausting) time. Heat and humidity were serious considerations. Had the temperature been just 5 or 10 degrees cooler, we would have done a lot better. Looking forward to more of the same.
Bastitch - Bill Burks
Venus, Texas
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From Evil Nun:
Yes, I know I'm late on this, but school has been a pain in the butt.
Before Games- I ran a bit late with Gizmo (aka Dennis). We set up equipment and so on.
Game 1- It was a good game to get the blood flowing. Although the smoke bomb was perfect, it was disgusting to taste.
Game 2- I heard Giggles and Preacher ask if they could pick up the tubes. The ref said yes and the two said 'New objective. Come find the tubes.' Giggles sprinted down and picked them up, pushing them back up the hill.The runners came up one side while the others came from the middle and other side after the tubes. I saw Kiltboy or Skirt walk off to my left, but he was too far off. I tried to hit the 'dancing man' but he was too far off as well. After awhile, my gun ran out of air so I went and grabbed Gizmo's gun since he was out, dropped off my gear, and headed back out. I took out a few guys while covering Giggles who popped up behind me with the tubes. I turned back around to face the attackers and looked back to find that Giggles was gone. Skirt came around the bend that was roughly 10 feet away and was about to shot me as I lifted my hands up in surrendering and dodged.
Game 3- The gate game would probably be my second favorite game. I came up the side creek with a few others including Bastitch and an elderly member from another group who plays at the Irving field (Bochia, Boicha, something like that). Most of the guys with me, except for the elderly man. Bastitch came back and we picked off a few guys in the back. Then he disappeared again. The man and I got lost slightly, but we found our way back.
Game 4- My second most hated game. The three hour game sucked. I ran out of paint and air so I did a suicide run into the lake bed.... Nobody shot me.
Sunday- Gizmo and I got there appearently early. Game 1- While covering Giggles again, we fought off the guys in the towers. Took one or two out and watched Giggles make a mad run for the gate.
Game 2- I was told to not let ANYTHING go through the gate.... And that is exactly what I did. I shot the ref up alot, two or three guys, and a few leaves....
Game 3- My favorite game. I went down the hill with a few other men and cover one as he went and grabbed the shiny sliver case. Preacher grabbed the bomb and headed over to the hill besides the bridge. I followed and covered him. I accidently got into the mud puddle, sinking all the way up to my knees. I lost one shoe in it, but pulled myself out and went up the hill, once more covering Preacher. When the game was called, I had Gizmo pull out my one shoe and I headed back to the others, taking off both shoes and pack. Put on my other tank and got some paint then ran back into the restarted game. My air tank was busted so I started to throw my paint at people to try and get there attention. Mad Ivan congratulated me infront of the crowd saying 'Now that is what I'm talking about mud slinging.' Walked back without my shoes on. Skirt came over to talk with me. Cleaned up my shoes some and headed back out for the next game.
Game 4- My most HATED game. I still have the bruise where the paintball hit me in the left shoulder pressure point. Skirt got me good there. That game was rough.
Tons of fun and I would love to do that again. I heard I came in second for the MVP on the German side. Thanks very much for it, but I am happy that Slinky won, because now he has the final part for his new gun. Also thanks for all the compliments.
-Evil Nun
