17 minute read
GAME REPORT: UK
ACTION THIS DAY… AND NIGHT!
IT’S ALL ABOUT “OPERATIONS AGAIN” AT LAST, AND WITH GAMES LARGE AND SMALL MOST DEFINITELY “BACK ON” OUR RESIDENT MILSIMMER JASE BRINGS IN A REPORT OF “OP CABRIT” RUN BY HIS FRIENDS FROM SEO… AN OP THAT BOTH JAMES AND JIMMY MAY HAVE HAD A LITTLE BIT OF A HAND IN TOO!
So Christmas and New Year has been and gone and the only thing left on the calendar worth noting other than my eldest’s birthday was SEO’s OP Cabrit. The gang at SEO are a great bunch, and I’m lucky to say are good friends and teammates of mine; not only this but James and Jimmy from Airsoft Actions own ranks were running the pyrotechnics for this OP with the help of Ben. Things were looking pretty good!
This OP was being played out at Dogtag Airsoft’s site near Gatwick; now this site is about an hour and a half away from my home so I chose to travel up the night before and camp out with my boys in callsign “Spartan 2”. So with the car prepped (and yes, for the avid readers who read my article ‘’When it all goes wrong’ will be happy to know that nothing was lost, misplaced or broken!) I set off to Dogtag’s site. With the tunes banging out some 90’s classics I rolled up at about 2100 with my pitch all ready for me next to my Welsh wingman Spencer. While I unpacked the car Spencer got the stove on and rustled up some homemade pulled pork with the most amazing sticky BBQ sauce! This is one of the things I adore about our sport, the camaraderie. I’m lucky if I see my teammates three/four times a year of late but when I do, it’s brilliant! I also relish making new friends and this OP didn’t fail me there either.
After a good shuteye, 06:30 came around way too soon and bodies started moving around me; about time I got out of my pit! Now Spencer knows I’m not a morning person, so by the time my feet had hit the floor a coffee was placed in my hand… he knows me too well! Suited and booted and with a well-known fast food chain breakfast in my belly I was ready for a full-on 24hrs of naughtiness.
WARNING ORDER
SITUATION
Hostilities between an E-Bloc country and the local Government have been escalating for the last few months. A Private military contracting company known as Aegis Defence Ltd have been working in the Peski region to support the training of the local defence force (LDF) for around nine months.
The E-Bloc has increased the volume of sporadic rocket attacks from home soil, firing medium range Missiles from launchers at targets of military value around likely points of infiltration.
G2 intelligence indicates that a confidential contract between Aegis and The Bloc’s FSB has been signed and recently leaked by a trusted source. This leads to concerns of a supported invasion over the border.
Aegis Defence Ltd employ prior-service personnel with military service from UK and Australian Special Forces who are renowned for their professionalism. This is a highly proficient unit that will conduct similar land warfare tactics and techniques to current Special Forces doctrine.
PRIMARY MISSION
Meet and negotiate a deal with the team leader of the company known as Aegis Defence to leave the country. This will include ground exploitation of the area of operations via Recce Patrols, Covert Observation posts and Close target Recce.
Possible escalation to Deliberate Ambushes, Night raids, Full Ground War.
Sam (Havoc 1) and Liam (Havoc 2) were running the Task Force side and Terry and Mikey the OPFOR. We were called in for our briefing. I find the SEO’s briefings are really well thought out and I know Sam puts a lot of work into getting this right, not only looking good but to give you the players the immersive feel we look for in an OP. Our call sign was Spartan 2 and consisted of G (TL), Noodles (2IC), James, Steven, Ryan, Harry, Spencer and myself, some new faces and some old.
With all this out of the way, we set our squad up for the first STAG of the event. My role within Spartan 2 was the team Medic, so for the first couple of hours I was making sure the welfare of the squad was ok, basically the tea bitch, ha ha! Once all our boys were squared away I took 5 minutes for myself and sat down next to Spencer. Within seconds of my butt hitting the bench our FOBs Air Raid siren went off, the air was filled with the sound of a Cold War siren (Red Cell James, Strike One!); a chill raced through me, we were under attack and rockets were inbound. Luckily for us the base had an active Sky Saber system and within seconds it fired off a load of rockets to intercept the incoming missiles from the
E-Bloc. Emergency averted (and James, Strike Two!)!
With various other scenarios playing out it kept us on our toes with the dynamic playing environment we were in. Somewhere in the 150 acre site Task Forces own negotiator Captain Saunders (Ben) had been taken hostage and his position was unknown!
ON MISSION
Shortly after things had calmed down Spartan 2 were called in for a briefing, the rescue of Captain Saunders. With new INTEL from ground call signs and drones, Sam briefed us on how our call sign and other elements were going to INFIL to the area, position up and attack directions. With notes taken and routes confirmed, we geared up and moved out on our first mission of the day. Movement to target was slow and methodical as we had no idea what was waiting for us and to what tactics the “soldiers of fortune” would be using. We had been blessed with the weather as it was sunny and HOT for a day in mid-March. Silence was our friend as we skulked up to our holding position and waited for go time.
Once all elements were in position a line was formed and all call signs started to push up to the target building where Captain Saunders was being held. After about 100m the loud booming voice of Havoc1 broke the silence ‘Contact front, weapons free, push up’. It was well and truly GO time! Spencer and I bounced our way up the right hand side to the target area. As we got closer to the fire fight, it intensified and a few of our boys had gone down and yours truly was staged with medic duties. On my third revive, my mouth was dry, heart racing as I jumped from player to player. ‘JASE, on me’ came out of the smoke, Havoc 1 had secured Captain Saunders and I had been tasked with getting him onto the stretcher and hauling him back to base. Once the HVT was loaded and strapped in, we were off like a scalded cat, all of about FIFTEEN feet before we were all taken out by a well-placed bang! I was gutted, hanging, hot and thirsty, and we had failed. We had well and truly lost the Captain… With that, we waited for our bleed out time and moved back to our holding area where we received the info that the mission had failed. As we readied our call signs for a retaliation attack from Aegis, nothing came, so we were RTB. I was so glad to get back to the FOB and get some liquids down me, having used up what water I had on the mission. After a short spot of down time it was business as usual, back to the Ops tent for another briefing by Havoc 1; this time our mission was
to head out with Havoc3 and recce a building that could possibly contain some long-range comms kit. If our mission was successful, we were to deploy IR glow sticks to mark our infil and exfil route for what would be the second half to this mission, destruction of said equipment after dark.
NIGHT OPS
As the spring sun started to tail off, we headed out of our FOB under complete silence and under the lead of Havoc 3. Once again our movements were slow and methodical and the only communication was done by hand signals because our intended route brought us very close to enemy lines. Down hills, through streams and up hills we finally reached our intended location, just out of sight of the objective area. Once we had set up a secure perimeter, the TL was tasked with taking some covert photos of the base. Unfortunately for us, Mother Nature was not playing ball and the setting sun was causing issues for the photographer. After hanging on for some time the TL managed to get the photo he was after, confirmation of the equipment, that could only mean one thing, some night time antics, my favourite!
Our EXFIL route took us back the same way with Havoc 3 dropping IR markers in strategic places ready to light our way come the night. Once back and INTEL was given to Havoc 1, we were stood down and told to rest up until we went back out to destroy the comms equipment. Quick spot of dinner courtesy of an MRE (stew if you were wondering!), then it was time to get a spot of shut eye.
When I awoke, the inky dark night sky greeted me with open arms!! G, our TL had woken me up to say that we had a briefing to attend. Once out of my pit, I headed to the Ops tent. Havoc 1 informed us that Icom chatter had been intercepted and it was very likely that Aegis were going to hit us very soon and that an ambush on a known route would be the best course of action. This was the part of the Op I was looking forward to as I had a new toy to play with, a shiny Tokyo Marui MP7 with mags stuffed with Nuprol Tracer rounds to light up the battlefield.
Once all call signs were ready, we headed out into the night to take up positions along the ambush route, and with my NV on it made for easier movement through the woodland. Once at our position, we hunkered down into the foliage ready for the enemy. For once on the Op nature was my friend as I was joined by a spiky little friend who I named Horris; Horris the hedgehog. This little fellow was having a good old sniff around me as I waited for the action to kick off. Thankfully, Horris had enough of my stinky boots and scooted off into the woods, it was a nice little distraction to pass the time.
Through the murk of the night, figures started to appear into the clearing and walk into the ambush area. Moments passed when ‘BANG’ the claymores went off and ambush lights went on (James again, Strike Three!), the Aegis mercs were like rabbits in the headlights; no one knew what was going on, I started to thump BBs into targets as ‘HIT’ filled the night air!! Within moments it was all over and the ambush
lighting showed the aftermath of guys with hands held high, not a single OPFOR soul remained in game, amazing play by all. Task force call signs returned to base as excited chat filled the air of the ambush, and yet we still had another sexy night op to come! Time to get some food down me… and prep for more “night action”!
Not long after I managed to get something hot into my belly ‘Stand To’ was blasted into the air, cutting it like a knife. Helmet on, plate carrier donned and MP7 in hand, I darted off to the rear of the FOB with Spencer as we tried to make head or tail of what was going on; a counter attack was well and truly on! Tracer filled the darkness as it rained down into the FOB, orders pierced the air as shouts of acknowledgment rang about. From our new position, front left of the base we could hear all of the battle raging on, but oddly nothing came to greet us, and we even got the nod as part of a four man group to venture out to the area in front of the base to see what was about… but nothing, everything was happening to the rear of the base. So we stood our ground and waited for the battle to subside as the enemy’s assault tailed off. I chalked that down as a solid win.
Once all call signs had bombed up and sorted out their kit, it was time for Spartan 2 and Havoc 2 to head out on foot to take out the comms equipment we had located in our previous afternoons op. We took the same route as before. The advance to the location was very slow but well executed with not a single word being spoken; it was again a great feeling to know that we had managed to make it all the way to the staging area without a peep. Once in position, we waited for Havoc 1 to give the op the go ahead. As we sat there in the dark of the night waiting, the sweat on back started to get cold and the heat from within my clothing started to rise up and mist up my safety glasses and NV, not ideal when poised for go time!
Thankfully for me, by the time Havoc 1 called for the assault to commence my vision was clear. Spartan 2 moved downhill towards the building we were set to assault, as we reached the bottom of the hill the enemy fire started to rain in on our position and a few of Spartan 2 called out hit. At this point for me, a human stoppage took place as one of my contact lenses had decided to leave its place on the front of my eye and take up position under my eyelid, which was very handy, now with my NV up, I couldn’t see anything as I battled to straighten out my issue! With that, I heard Noodles creep up on my left, I filled him in on my situation and he took my right arm and lead me to some cover so I could address the situation. Now from this point on, Spartan 2 consisted of three elements, Noodles, Havoc2 and myself as we could not ID the position of the remaining Spartan members.
AT CLOSE RANGE
We pushed up to the objective building with the odd exchange of small arms fire as Havoc 1 and Spartan
1 moved into the building securing it. Unknown to us James of Spartan 2 had pushed around further to our right securing that flank and now giving us a nice tight perimeter while Havoc 2 set the charge to blow the comms equipment. While under the dim light from the building, the charge was set off and within seconds a bright burning light filled the compound (yup, you guessed it… our man James again!) as the comms equipment was destroyed. Objective completed. Now it was time to head back to the FOB and get some shut eye and boy was I ready for it. 0600 arrived and a gentle wake up from Havoc 1 but no coffee this morning, it was up and straight into a briefing as Task Forces drone had gone down and surveillance had shown that OPFOR were making a move for it. Spartan 1 to 4 were to head to the area and provide a 360’ perimeter while Havoc 1 and 3 retrieved SSD and destroyed what remained of the drone.
Fast track to the drone site, under a cover of smoke, Spartan 1 to 4 took up position to move onto the drone. It had crashed in an area full of trenches and it was up to us to move uphill to secure it. As all the callsigns moved up, the enemy opened up and within minutes most of the call signs had been wiped out, and even after a strong second push towards the target it had been confirmed as lost, the OPFOR had well and truly fought hard to keep it, fair play!
Was it all too early in the morning to be doing this? Never, because not long after we had returned to the FOB and had got some breakfast into us, a recce patrol radioed in to report that Aegis were massing not far from our base and that an all-out attack was on the cards. I spotted the first of the Aegis mercs making their way to the FOB as a TAG round hurtled into the base; simultaneously the FOB was under attack from three directions and it was getting hit hard! Rounds pinged off the metal roof and the sound of ‘New Rain’ deafened the surroundings as we had to shout to one another to relay messages!!
The order was given to evacuate the FOB and that a Helo was inbound to our landing position to exfil the group. Spartan 2 were then tasked with finding a secure route to the HeliPad and to make it safe! Grabbing what gear we needed, we set off through the dense shrubs. On our way we did encounter some resistance from the off but Spartan 2 moved like a well-oiled machine pushing up and forcing our way to the HeliPad.
As we reached the pad we encountered a small group of Aegis fighters and a small fight took place. As I peered through the foliage I noticed some movement opposite my position, with my MP7 raised, I waited to ID the target; it was a member of Aegis alright, and the poor soul got a double tap from my MP7 clearing the way for Spartan 2 to move and secure the Helipad ready for extraction. Not long after this all remaining call signs RV’d with us and with the clock counting down for Endex, the end of the Op was called and I felt very satisfied with how things had gone!
SEO’s hard efforts had paid off; Terry, Mikey, Sam, Liam and the rest of the staff, along with our very own James and Jimmy did an amazing job, getting up at all hours to set pyro, plan missions and give us what we wanted in an immersive experience. I had a blast and will definitely be heading to another of their Op’s in the future. From what I could tell, both teams played with dignity and fairness, and it’s great to experience sportsmanship like this. Big shout to all of Spartan 2, it’s always a pleasure to run alongside you guys and the new friends made!
Until next time, Ciao! AA
