11 minute read
LEGION EVENT: OP CABRIT
SEEING THE FLIP SIDE
THE AA CREW LIKE TO PLAY AIRSOFT FOR SURE, BUT THEY’RE INVOLVED IN FAR MORE THAN JUST PLAYING! IN ISSUE 138 WE BROUGHT YOU JASE’S REPORT ON “OP CABRIT”, BUT WHILE HE WAS BUSY OUT “ON TASK”, BEHIND THE SCENES TWO MORE OF THE AA CREW WERE MAKING THINGS WORK IN RELATION TO “SPECIAL EFFECTS” AND NOW JIMMY REPORTS BACK…
Mid-March saw my attendance of my first MilSim event, not from a players perspective though as Mr Spencer, my fellow AA Red Cell member, had asked if I could join them and help with the effects side of the event. Gladly I accepted his offer without an inclination of what lay ahead…
I had little or no equipment for spending a weekend out in the wilderness (not really the Wilderness, it was a forest in Surrey!) so naturally I put out a call to the group and ended up getting my hands on some pretty good gear with a sleeping bag from Posh - and cooking/admin kit too! My bed for the weekend though sadly sat 4” off the ground as it didn’t appreciate 16st, so I pretty much slept on the floor but in all honesty the weather was fair to us so it wasn’t too bad…. suffice to say I have now invested in a decent military cot-bed though!
On Friday evening myself, James (Spencer) and our mate Ben (CS Sharpy) set off for the hour and half drive up to Dogtag Airsoft, a nice little site which I have previously visited several times before so I already knew the lay of the land which helped with manoeuvring around at the dead of night in the pitch black (we had head-torches, but I’m trying to set a scene here okay!). We arrived on site to be greeted but a small number of chaps, mainly the organisers who were going to be part of the Task Force, and slowly over the course of the evening numbers started to increase. It was nice to see familiar faces turning up, Ryan M (I love airsofting with Ryan as I know he appreciates my love for a drum mag and a good full auto story… NOT! Haha), and Harry T my barista for the weekend; I say barista but actually I forgot coffee and I discovered he had brought a fine blend and quite frankly went on to consume most of it over the course of Saturday and Sunday, thank you Harry you sweetie!
These are guys who I have played alongside in the past and are a joy to be around. We set up camp down the bottom end of the FOB; we had three sleeping bays, a technical operations room and a kitchen all set up in the hour. After that we had a quick scout of the site so the other Ben and James had an idea of where to set up the effects for certain ops. Then it was a case of chill out for the evening have a few adult beverages with the guys and generally mingle and get to meet some cracking people.
Smooth Jase, my good buddy whom I have known for over fifteen years (and who I once mocked for playing airsoft and choosing not to come cycling of a weekend, oh how the tide has changed and here I find myself in the same boat!) introduced me to a few of his fellow Milsimmers, very nice chaps indeed, and one guy I will not forget! Spencer S was an especially nice chap and that is due to the fact he rustled up the most fantastic sweet BBQ pulled pork rolls! Oh my gosh I have never tasted anything so delectable in all my life so much so I am now hooked on pulled pork. Funny thing is I never used to like pork…
It felt very “Pre-Op”, guys turning up setting out their gear and sleeping equipment, checking mags, cleaning rifles, sorting comms, but the obligatory banter a completely different feel to setting up in the Safe Zone at a skirmish where everything feels rushed; these guys had their sh1t together!
ZERO DARK THIRTY
Saturday morning would see an early start and we were up around 0700 ready to get setup for the first ambush in the dark. Myself, James and Sharpy wandered off into the forest and set out a series of bangs on one of the main roads. During the placing of said bangs James’ wire cutters all of a sudden disappeared which had us all completely baffled as he had just had them in his hands. We made do with what we had to hand, finished all the connections and bimbled back to the FOB just in time for the first set of briefings.
James had his Sabre Rocket System (the build of which you’ll find detailed in our Back Issues on the website) all loaded and ready to go for the first push. After the briefings Sam (the “OC”) approached me and asked if I could play the role of a civilian in need of aid after stepping on a land mine later in the day, and in fairness for us though there was a fair but of down time in between Tasks which gave us the opportunity to get the next part set up in time, and still get involved where needed to ensure the game ran really well for the players
During the Saturday there were Sabre launches against incoming missile raids on the Castle during the “Rescue the Hostage” (other Ben) Tasking and James set up a series of explosions and flashes to simulate mortar fire. There was to be a briefing for the Task Force back at the FOB which saw another air raid, which was met by another Sabre rocket launch!
After that was where yours truly came in with something to keep OPFOR on their toes; COVERED IN (fake!) BLOOD I made my way to my POI to await my call. It was quite funny seeing the guy’s faces who were on point at the road into the OPFOR camp. I came wondering up the road with rifle in hand covered in fake blood said a cheery “Hi!” as I passed them and stomped through the woods; they must have known something was about to go down but what exactly had them baffled.
My task was to act as a victim of a land mine attack right on the doorstep of the OPFOR camp; after being rescued I was then moved to the camp where I received medical attention from guy called Jack and an interrogation of sorts to ascertain if I was in fact part of the Task Force. They were confused as to why I would purposely blow my own legs off with a grenade, so I kindly said “It’s supposed to be a mine injury and do you have any beer?”
During this time a raid occurred which caught the OPFOR by surprise a little as the focus was on me. After a good half hour of laying on the floor I was hauled into a vehicle, driven to the Task Force FOB and kindly dumped on the ground about 50mtrs off where a Task Force patrol would find me, detain me, and interrogate me further.
DARKSIDE OPS
This was followed by a bit of a lull which gave us chance to then setup for the night ambush which would be a series of explosions and blinding white light which was to be around 2000. A little wait and a chance to get some grub. As darkness set in we followed the Task Force out to a point to await a passing patrol. It felt like forever crouched down with my finger poised on the detonator. We crouched in cover in the pitch black; I couldn’t see a thing nor could I feel my feet as I had crouched in the most awkward of positions and for fear of being heard and giving away the Task Forces’ position, I literally couldn’t move. The patrol approached and OC Sam gave the order for us to let rip, which was
fast followed by a trade-off of fire between the two forces. I was hoping it was going to last longer but it was over in minutes. We let the guys bug out and make their way back to the FOB so we could reel up our cables and collect all the detonators before heading back ourselves.
We set up the same lights on the back of the FOB overlooking the chapel and positioned the mortars about 40mtrs off to the side. Conveniently there were two pieces of tubed framing which would be perfect. This was all set for a planned attack at around 2300. James set the lights off and I rigged up the mortars which were large roman candles; now we did discuss the mortars and we had guessed which way up they went as there were no distinguishable markings or instructions. At around 2245 it kicked off; Sharpy was to operate the lights and me and James hot-footed it to the mortar site. It fast became apparent that we had the mortars up the wrong way and it was a proper ‘oh feck’ moment as we now had roman candles firing at our feet!
How embarrassing! I leapt into action and flipped the tubular framing over so they were now firing over the FOB! We made our way back and it was getting quite full-on when Harry ran to me, threw his rifle at me followed by “fix it” lol. I had done some previous upgrades on his TM 416D where I noticed the base plate screw holes were damaged; not being able to find a replacement grip I attempted to fix it the best I could and managed to get it operating again as we had some field gaffer tape; not the prettiest fix but it got him through.
MORNING GLORY!
Following this at around 0100 Sunday morning myself and James needed to go for a bit of a hike and carry the power pack all the way over to “Spooky Woods” to The Castle and setup the comms panel. The power
pack was not light but we made it. I have seen these woods in the daytime and they’re not one bit spooky but at 0100 on the pitch black… yeah it’s spooky. Once setup we made our way back to grab Sharpy and take another hike, this time around 0230 where we would set up a downed UAV and a series of smokes which would allow the Task Force to bugout under a blanket of thick yellow smoke; we prayed that we had positioned everything at the right points!
It would be Sharpy’s mission to rendezvous at the trenches in order to set these off at 0600, and thankfully our positioning was spot-on! Task Force regrouped at the FOB and at 0800 it all kicked off again with a full on frontal attack from OPFOR which would see them seize control and push the Task Force out and make their way to the LZ for extraction. Before leaving the Task Force destroyed any evidence on the hard-drives which was an impressive display in itself.
James had set up a large number of explosives all around the FOB to simulate this attack and it was quite full-on seeing grenades, smokes and TAG rounds peppering the rooftops .It was at this moment that a TAG grenade landed at my feet and all I could do was just look at the thing hoping it wouldn’t scorch my socks! OPFOR entered the FOB, and swept for any remaining Task Force; quite exciting if I’m honest, this was what my expectation of a MilSim was and finally the moment had arrived, and even just watching the action my adrenaline was pumping by this point!
At this point our services were no longer needed so we started packing up, gathering all our gear ready to make our way home. All in a very good weekend with the exception of sleep deprivation! I’m glad I went and would like to thank James for inviting me, and his “special effects” certainly did the trick helping with the “event immersion”. Also a big thanks to the guys of SEO MilSim; I look forward to a Milsim sometime soon, and maybe next time I’ll get a little more “involved”. AA
