FEATURE OUTDOORS
AN AIRSOFTER’S GUIDE TO TACTICAL OUTDOOR DEVELOPMENT AS 2021 MOVES FORWARD IT SEEMS LIKE THE WORLD IS FINALLY REAWAKENING AND, AS IT DOES, THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE HAS MOST DEFINITELY KICKED BACK INTO HIGH GEAR AMONGST THE AA CREW! AS A GROUP OUR AIRSOFT ADVENTURES HAVE TAKEN US ALL OVER EUROPE AND THE USA AND NOW, WITH OUR ESTIMABLE LEGIONNAIRES, EVEN FURTHER AFIELD. HERE, JON STARTS LOOKING AT GEAR THAT CAN TURN A GREAT AIRSOFT EXPERIENCE INTO A TRULY MEMORABLE ONE.
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020… What a year that was! I, for one, am glad it’s over as it’s given me time to sift, sort and de-clutter all my kit. It also gave many of us the time to kick back, relax, spend time with our close loved ones and work on areas of our lives that, maybe, we had neglected. One thing it didn’t let us do, was play our beloved airsoft. This time out became apparent when I wanted to use items I’d forgotten to take to a recent outing with my fellow Red Cell contributors and, even more so, when I used the Attack Sense System that had been set up there (No, I don’t want to talk about it and yes I AM the guy that will be writing a newbie guide to Practical and Competition Shooting)! All of the skills and drills I had learned over the years had gone out the window. While it was somewhat frustrating, I managed to pilfer those missing items from my colleagues and had a great day of airsoft. My utter unpreparedness got us recalling (as a group) all the daft things we had done over the years
at games - and there are many, MANY of them, especially when it comes to the years that the likes of Nige, Bill and Boycie have been involved with airsoft and where Nige and Bill’s travels have taken them! How we’d forgotten kit, over-packed and struggled to carry our gear through a scenario, got soaked to the bone and almost frozen solid. You know, light-hearted, generalised tales of misery, stupidity and most often, ignorance. That’s not to say we are arrogant or overconfident in our abilities, we (mostly me) hadn’t considered something and had to learn the hard way that we should have. It was an amusing conversation! That got us pondering on the common mistakes that we ALL make at one point or other during our time in the game. “We” decided that it might be an idea if “I” (notice how “we” became “I” there!) wrote a series of columns where “we” take a look at some common mistakes, misunderstandings, things that never cross your mind to take with you and how to have the best experience you can at a game day, a
“MY UTTER UNPREPAREDNESS GOT US RECALLING (AS A GROUP) ALL THE DAFT THINGS WE HAD DONE OVER THE YEARS AT GAMES - AND THERE ARE MANY, MANY OF THEM, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO THE YEARS THAT THE LIKES OF NIGE, BILL AND BOYCIE HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH AIRSOFT AND WHERE NIGE AND BILL’S TRAVELS HAVE TAKEN THEM!”
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SEPTEMBER 2021
