04 U.S.A.S.O.C. by Hector Ordoñez

U.S.A.S.O.C. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; THE MAGAZINE United States Airsoft Special Operations Command

C o n t e n t s: Letter from Editor: Pg. #8 Testimonies: Pg. #9 N e w s: P g . # 1 0 Interview: Pg. #38 Reviews: Pg. #51 Tactics: Pg. #66 Laws and Safety: Pg. #93 SPECIAL! TAPSS : Pg. #102 P h o t o s: P g . # 1 1 2 P h o t o o f t h e I s su e : P g . # 1 1 4 Upcoming Events: May-June Pg. #115 Learning from the Professionals: Pg. #128 Teams: Pg. #136 Airsoft Websites: Pg. #140 Op Idea: Pg. #143 Final Thoughts: Pg. #145

Letter from Editor: Well here we are again. Time really flies since it’s already our fourth issue! In this huge, 140+ paged issue, many things are discussed. For one, we review the Tactical Products Group’s ACOG scope. Also, we review the GB AK47S, courtesy of AirSplat (www.airsplat.com). I know we said in our last issue that we were going to discuss room-clearing for the “Tactics” section, but we received a great article by Richard Gallant about planning and conducting nighttime airsoft events, so we decided to hold off on the room clearing for now. It will be discussed in upcoming issues so don’t worry. I highly suggest you check Mr. Gallant’s article out. We also interview Mike Force Tactical Airsoft Club, whom as may of you know, conducts the “famous” Recondo School. We have some more great news, photos, teams, events, op idea, etc for you all as well. Also, Operation Eagle Claw is discussed and reviewed. Finally, we have a special article written by Mr. Nagle on TAPSS (Tactical Airsoft Pistol Speed Shooting). As we do in every issue, I would like to thank everyone who has supported us in any way (spreading the word, listing us on their website, etc). Please continue to do so! We appreciate any and all help. So we hope you enjoy the fourth installment of U.S.A.S.O.C., and feel free to send us your comments to: usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com or by visiting us online at: www.officialusasocmagazine.com. ENJOY! Nick Petrus-Owner/Main Editor

Testimonies: Here are just some of that great emails and posts that U.S.A.S.O.C. has gotten over the past month or so. A special “thanks” goes out to the writers of these, and all the members of U.S.A.S.O.C. appreciate them a lot! Keep sending them! “Thank you so much. I like the articles, and it saves me from having to go to Barnes and Noble and spending money to buy an airsoft magazine.” “Right on! Now I have a good reason not to get any work done.” “Great magazine; I will be putting your site on my favorites list, and am now currently reading the previous issues. Having a magazine will really bring the sport to a national level. Thank you for all your hard work.” "AH! Another one!? I haven't finished the first two... and chock full of content!? I need to find more reading time! Thanks to everyone at U.S.A.S.O.C. for the great magazine you all put out!” If you would like to send us your feedback, please send it to: usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com or visit us online at: www.officialusasocmagazine.com. It’s always nice to hear from the fans so don’t be shy if you have something to say!

N e w s: Classic Army’s M14 – Out Now!

RedWolf Airsoft now has the new Classic Army M14 Match (long version) and M14 Scout (short version). The M14 Match is priced at $239.00, and the M14 Scout is priced at $259.00 – what a steal! They should give Tokyo Marui a run for their money on this gun. Check them at www.redwolfairsoft.com today!

Note: All photos of individuals holding weapons in the following photos are actual airsoft replicas. They are not bullet firing weapons nor can they be modified in any way to do so. Alright, in the last issue, we let everyone know about Real Sword and their products coming out. Well, we received a lot of emails asking a lot of questions about them; so thankfully, Real Sword was able to send us some more info on them and their AEGs. Enjoy the following of what Real Sword sent us.

New Member to Players’ Collection RS Type 97, 56, and 56-1 series AEG

RS International Industry Hong Kong Co., Ltd. specializes in researching and manufacturing high-end airsoft products. In 2007, RS obtained exclusive authorization from necessary organizations to introduce the "RS 2007, Year of China Airsoft" Chinese series AEG. Brand new to the market, those AEGs complete airsoft weapons collection. Nowadays, both the airsoft industry and players are more critical about the external realism. Some senior players even custom their AEGs with original parts. Committed to the guiding development and manufacturing principle of “faithfulness to the original”, RS develops the AEG internal basing on the external size of real steel original. This commitment makes RS products the ultra realistic one in current market. At the same time, RS products also creatively display the maintenance and disassembly function of the original parts. All these innovations bring players extremely true vision and touch, reproduce the charm of real steel, and add more fun when enjoying and operating the AEG. We strictly choose our materials and control the processing techniques, so RS products have reached the utmost reliability and durability. RS is not making high-end products only for a few people but is dedicated to bring all airsoft players high-end items at good price with sufficient product supplies.

The first series products ---- RS type 97, 56, and 56-1 AEGs will launch in May.

RS type 56 & type 56-1AEG Type 56 and 56-1, Chinese version of AK47 and AK47-S, were manufactured basing on all-round support and technology introduction from former Soviet during Cold War. All these enabled these two guns to stand at the same level as the former Soviet. The fascination of Kalashnikov was perfectly displayed on 56 series. All materials and techniques of RS type 56 series AEGs are faithful to the real steel, and external steel parts and wood parts are identical to the real steel. T2 gearbox developed by RS fits type 56 series internally. It allows 56 series AEGs own a receiver 100% size as real steel, which breaks away from the tradition that original size of real steel must be changed to fit the gearbox. Pictures for 56 series: 1. RS type 56, 56-1 AEG. (P01)

2. RS type 56: field stripping and components. (P02)

3. RS type 56-1: field stripping and components. (P03)

4. Multifunctional portable tool can be used as flat blade screwdriver, cross point screwdriver, and sight wrench. RS exclusively developed it for 56 series AEG, convenient to take and use. Sight wrench is used for sight adjustment. (P04)

5. Steel muzzle adapter: 12mm to 14mm anticlockwise muzzle. It is compatible with all types of sound suppressors. (P05)

6. Red muzzle device and protective cap. (P06)

7. RS type 56 bayonets. Upper is the aluminum bayonet for collection, sold separately. Lower is the plastic bayonet that comes with the AEG. While it is silver, same as original parts, it was colored red here for distinguishing purpose. (P07)

8. Steel rear sight base, adjustable rear sight, and spring leaf are identical to original parts. The exclusive sight tool can take apart rear sight easily. (P08)

9. RS 56 series steel receivers are processed with oxidation treatment. The reliability and solidity of AK rifle are perfectly displayed by RS 56 series AEG. (P09)

10. The end of RS 56 outer barrel is designed with a gibbous part and inward-slope positioning slot, which counters the pull from the inner and outward press. Outer barrel firmly attaches to AEG body. (P10)

11. Steel one piece barrel and its components are combined by interference fit techniques.(P11)

12. Multifunctional portable tool can be used to take apart Hop-Up system. (P12)

13. RS 56 100% original size steel receiver adopts heat treatment to enhance its rigidity. Original markings with unique serial number. (P13)

14. From side view, even the little pins have been reproduced in the frame. (P14)

15.

Gearbox firmly fits in frame. (P15)

16. RS type 56 series adopt the special T2 metal gearbox, which contains air seal nozzle, reinforced piston, special high strength gear sets, and spring release device. Such optimized design makes it work reliably. (P16)

17. The stock of RS 56 is a faithful replica of the real steel counterpart, real steel standard wood stock, and the same processing techniques. (17)

18. Small, multifunctional portable tool enables quick detachment of butt plate and battery in the filed. (P18)

19. The RS type 56-1 has a spacious battery chamber underneath the upper receiver. Large batteries can be used. Type 56 has a special power supply circuit design that enables large batteries to be placed in both stock and below receiver top to increase the power supply. (P19)

20. Remove the grip to release the reversal stop latch for gearbox maintenance and care. (P20)

21. RS 56-1 original steel folding stock with inside and outside catch which is dealt with the same treatment as real steel. The bumper pad is retained on the shoulder plate of stock as real steel. (P21)

22. RS 56 series magazine is compatible with most brands of AK magazine in the market. Original 150rds double-column BB magazine has nearly the same shooting time as real 30rds magazine. Made of steel, it is extremely solid which makes airsofters truly experience the thrill of battlefield reloading. (P22)

23. The materials, structure, and surface finish of the RS magazine differ from other brands. It applies the same oxidation treatment as the original AK and is lacquer-free. The more it is used, the more charming it becomes. (P23)

24. At right is the RS magazine; on the left are other brands. It is clear that the front & rear catch, and reinforced board, of the RS magazine apply the same welding technique as real steel. This truly displays the features of real steel. (P24)

25.

Cleaning rod can be used as charging rod. (P25)

26. A real steel standard oil can comes with AEG: convenient for maintenance; gun lubricant will not leak even falling off. (P26)

27. Install the cleaning parts to the cleaning rod. Thus the cleaning function of original part was brought into the AEG. (P27)

28.

RS assembling line (D)

RS Type 97: Over time, the mysteries of Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s small arms have been unveiled. Type 97 5.56mm assault rifle, together with 97B short assault rifle, and type 97 light machine gun are the second minor caliber weapon of China. Since then, China has stepped into the important historic phase of self developing and owning independent intellectual property rights. Its performance makes it ranked to the world advanced level.

RS type 97, the first type 97 AEG in the world. Type 97 has a smart shape. In order to have the exact same shape and size as real steel, we successfully developed the brand new RS T1 gearbox to fit internally. The gearbox makes perfect integration of external realism and internal function! The exterior design, materials, techniques, and even accessories are true to the real steel. The external parts including the front sight, rear sight, upper and lower handguard, receiver, grip, metal body are identical to real steel parts. And the disassembly and assembly are the same as well. All these details have shown our R&D principle---faithful to the original. Pictures for type 97: 1. Brand new RS type 97 full-metal AEG, 100% real steel size, and nearly same weight as real steel version. No screws are used to assemble the external parts, and they fit in the same way as the real steel version. Removing the two lock pins to do partial disassembly. (S01)

2. Press the pin to take apart stock. (S02)

3. Pull upward to remove upper handguard. (S03)

4. Remove another pin to take apart lower handguard. (S04)

5. Upper handguard, lower handguard, and stock are identical to original parts and fit in same way to body as real steel version. (S05)

6. One piece barrel and its components are all steel parts. Barrel and other components are put together by interference fit techniques which, again, means they will never loosen or wiggle. Surface

treatment dealt with chemistry complex film and black-oxide same as real steel version. (S06-1; S06-2)

7. Hop-Up system: easy access for precise adjustment. (S07)

8. Gearbox fits firmly in receiver. (S08)

9. Brand new RS T1 7mm bearing metal gearbox fits into the limited internal space caused by the original size design and makes the frame 100% real steel size. It has a special high strength gear sets, air seal nozzle, reinforced piston, and spring release device for easy care and maintenance. Gearbox tail is designed with quick

detachable spring guide base for easy spring replacement. Some components are compatible with parts in market. (S09)

10. Frame made of real steel factory standard, high strength duralumin forged frame, CNC processed; same size as original parts. It was processed with hard coat anodizing and same anticorrosion properties as the real steel version. (S10)

11. Accessories coming with the AEG are: oil can, red muzzle device, protective cap, assembling tools, and BB charger. (S11)

12. With assembling tools, front sight can be adjusted conveniently. (S12)

13. Connect the assembling tools to clean barrel. Steel tools are wrapped in rubber to avoid scratching the barrel. (S13)

14. Work with the BB charger; assembling tools can be used to charge 130rds magazine. (S14)

15. Oil can comes with the AEG for easy maintenance and care. (S15)

16. Red muzzle device and protective cap. (S16)

17. RS 97 field stripping and components. (S17)

18. Type 97 AEGs in RS factory. (SB)

19. RS type 97 pictures for advertisement. (SC; SD)

So there you have it. I hope this clears up some questions, and also has gotten some of you fans out there excited for the Real Sword product line. Like they said, they plan to start releasing in May of this year (this month!). I would like to thank Real Sword for providing us with this information and photos.

Interview with Mike Force Tactical Airsoft Club :

Part One: U.S.A.S.O.C. - The Magazine: How did Mike Force Tactical Airsoft Club come to be? When did it start? Who started the club? Where are you guys located, etc. Dr. King: From 1987 to 1997 I had been playing paintball with my son and friends. Our Mike Force club grew into a 120 members here on the central coast of California. The Mike Force Club was named after the Mobil Interdiction Force in Vietnam, which was a rapid reaction force for Special Forces. Most players who played against our club had difficulty because they would spray and pray (and their prayers were not answered) and camp out behind a tree or obstacle. Using my Special Forces (Green Beret) training, I had trained our players at these games on how to fire and tactically out maneuver the opposing players. In 1997, I bought my first airsoft gun at a gun show and took the gun to my fellow players with the intention to change the club to Airsoft. This did not go over well! Only my best players saw the potential of Airsoft. During that time I started to meet members of the Northern and Central California Airsoft community. There were two serious clubs in existence at that time and they sounded like they

knew what they were doing. I invited those clubs out to one field in Los Lomas for a game. We had about 120 players at that game and only six were from my club. The scenario was set and the teams picked and to my surprise we had to really prod the players of those clubs on my team to be aggressive enough to play a tactical “Hail Mary” ambush on the opposing team. We were successful and wiped out the other players under five minutes. This quick and decisive victory left all the opposing team stunned and the guests on our team totally amazed. The players were no better then the average paintballers camping out and spraying and praying. At lunch I was asked if I would teach them how to be tactical so we spent the rest of the day in small platoons firing and maneuvering on each other. I was invited to another game with those clubs and the same thing happened. I then invited the members of the clubs out to my home field in Moss Landing, California for training. These players needed individual skills such as marksmanship and a lot of team work. I went through two different names for the school based on Special Forces Unconventional Warfare training we use as Green Berets but I settled on the name Recondo. U.S.A.S.O.C. – The Magazine: I, as many others, have been wondering what your "Recondo School" is about and what it means for those who don't know. Can you explain some details about it and the certain phases? Dr. King: Like I said, I chose the name Recondo: Re = recon, Co = commando and Do = Do boy. This name was based on our school in Vietnam where units sent their brightest and best troops for specialized training for recon type missions. Taught by Green Berets from our 5th Special Forces Group many of these graduates went on to successful and distinguished service for our country during that war. The course was an intense three week course with the drop out rate of 75% in the first week alone. Graduation from the course required a six man team mission (with a Green Beret advisor) deep in enemy territory. After surviving the mission you were awarded the distinctive Recondo Arrow Head and certificate. U.S.A.S.O.C. – The Magazine: Who started the "Recondo School?" Dr. King: What I did was set up the curriculum based on the

Recondo School and our Project Delta orientation course minus the ability to call in air strikes (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA). I set the Airsoft course up to benefit the weekend warrior to give them the edge in play. Three phases were set up, each phase designed to improve the players survival rate in a game. Phase one is individual skills, phase two â&#x20AC;&#x201C; buddy skills and three - team work. Each phase of training is eight hours long and the students sleep well that night after training. Since I was calling the school Recondo, I went to one of my Special Forces Association members and friend Butch Fernandez who taught at the Recondo School in Vietnam to compare subjects. He was amazed how much material was to be given to these weekend warriors minus the air strikes. A little tweaking to the requirements for graduation and Butch and I were happy with the results. The final examination consists of a real mission within a Mike Force game where the candidate must complete all given tasks by the Special Forces advisor or Recondo instructor, successfully complete the given mission, and not be shot out of play. Should the candidate fail any of the afore mentioned requirements, he must return to Recondo school for another eight hours of instruction before being allowed to retest. Those who complete their mission are awarded the distinctive Mike Force Recondo Arrow Head and certificate. I want to stress that this is not a weekend event that re-enacts the Recondo School in Vietnam and everyone who attends receives a certificate and Arrow Head patch just for attending. U.S.A.S.O.C. - The Magazine: Who is allowed to come and enroll in the "Recondo School?" Is there an age limit? Dr. King: The youngest to complete the course was nine years old and he did so on his first try with an impressive eleven opposition force kills with one thirty round magazine. The oldest is a grandfather at fifty six (years of age) being an Army Vietnam veteran of as well. There are those who take up to four tries before graduating. There are also those who do not complete the course mostly because of their perception that it is too hard. If a nine year old and a grandfather can do it, then anyone who puts his mind to it can. I have been told by many a Game Master and event promoters that a Recondo plays well and is highly respected by their fellow Airsoft players. Our members of the local Special Forces Association Chapter XIV are

proud of our students and enjoy sharing their experience with the weekend warrior. U.S.A.S.O.C. - The Magazine: Are there any basic rules for people who want to apply? Dr. King: There is a uniformity requirement found on our web site www.mikeforceairsoft.org which can be downloaded; each student must be willing to learn and be put through the pace of training and know the rules of safe and sane play, which I have also on our site. To start phase One, a new student need not to have everything on the equipment list but will need everything by the final examination. U.S.A.S.O.C. - The Magazine: Thank you Dr King. Dr. King: Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re welcome Dr. King is the current vice president of the Special Forces Chapter XIV Monterey California, a Doctor of Chiropractic, father of four and grandfather to eight so far. Game master and Founder of the Mike Force Tactical Airsoft Game club, Recondo School chief instructor. Dr King has been teaching Okinawan Karate and Aikido since 1966 and is currently the chief instructor of the Tenchi Kai. Part Two: Hello, my name is Matt Smith; I belong to the Mike Force One Delta detachment of the Mike Force Tactical Airsoft Club. I currently am in charge of all web, branding, and advertising for the club. I also answer a good amount of questions from players. I am a Design Director and Senior Graphic Designer in the SF (San Francisco) Bay Area and absolutely am obsessed with airsoft. Q. On your website it says that there are two teams in the club. One is "Mike Force One" and the other is "Red Star." Can you explain what both are about?

A. Matt Smith: This is a multi-answer question. There are four Detachments the club has so far. The Main two groups these fall under are Mike Force and Red Star. Each of these two teams has an Elite player element. The Mike Force One team is Dr. King’s hand picked players that he expects to perform at the highest level in the club. This is the SFOD A team of five members. Our sixth man is deployed in Iraq currently. The other elite members are very skilled and head up the Red Star team. Guests and general club members who have not graduated Recondo School fill in the Red Star "Fire teams" and Mike Force "Fire teams.” This gives every player a chance to compete against, or work with, The Red Star and Mike Force One team. The guests can see how and when we use certain tactics. This is great for beginners. Since this is a tactical airsoft club, if you do not use tactics, you will have a very difficult time completing your day’s objectives. The website gives short description on each of these two team elements. The Mike Force One team wears ACU most of the time. Even though in certain environments you can be highly visible, it seems to have an effect on the opposing force because they know we are coming. Q. Are there special rules unique to the club? A. Matt Smith: Well, we require that every player commits to his “Hollywood” style death when he shot out. The more dramatic, the better. It is really neat to see a foot patrol of four players scream and fall to the ground dramatically when wounded or killed. Another player and I once killed twelve players in an ambush because they forgot to place a rear security man. There were players flopping all over the place (and) still gives me the giggles when I think about it (hehehe). We give awards and other items to players who perform acts of valor. I recently gave my personal side arm to a member that had never once complained over a period of three years of playing, even though some of the days were pretty rough for him and downright awful in some cases. Our medics often drag a player to safety then attend to his wounds while risking their own welfare. Yes! We have medics that have to perform a series of tasks to bring a player out of shock within a three minute time table. It’s amazing to see the commitment they have. The rules are adjusted if we notice issues that come from suggestions or unforeseen circumstances.

Membership rules are unique: if you choose to become a member of the club, after three consecutive games you will receive a membership card that entitles you to discounts from Airsoft Extreme and special events the club operates. Embedded Photographers: We give them a PASGT helmet and a black vest. They carry a video and digital camera on the field. We allow two-three per event and try to write them into the OP. This is a new program geared towards parents who want to see how the game works without participating at the skirmish level. It also helps with new content for the website each month. Q. Does your club have sponsorship? A. Matt Smith: Yes we do. Airsoft Extreme has just sponsored us. Our club has had a great relationship for years with AEX and we now promote them exclusively through our club outlets and games. The guys at AEX are the best! Q. Do you guys have any upcoming events? A. Matt Smith: Tons! We have one or more ops every month including special events. Our Operations are a continuous story line that morphs depending on the outcome of each event. We request every detachment submit an AAR we can put on the website so everyone can feel each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take on the event. This helps move the storyline along as the years go by. Outside of the club, Mike Force will be at Operation Lion Claws VI as a MARINE detachment. The MF team will consist of thirty players from the Elite Red Star and Mike Force One squads. The Best Of USA Marketing events are always a blast, and this will be my third LC event in as many years. This will be my second year in a squad leader. Q. Is Mike Force One or Red Star recruiting new members, or to put it differently, how would one become a member of either team?

A. Matt Smith: Mike Force One is a selective group picked by Dr. King. The Red Star and other two detachments are always looking for the serious players to add to the core squads of elite players. You have to really put your best into every game to get placed on the team, but it is well worth it. We also have organized teams that play at the clubs field. They have the advantage of already being familiar with each other and they get to compete with the other experienced teams like Mike Force One, and Red Star Detachments. Q. What kind of land do you guys host on (forest, valley, desert, plains, etc)? A. Matt Smith: Broad Range of fields. The Moss-Land field is spectacular. It has a reed maze, dense woods, open areas, a strawberry field, and a large hill we call "South Mountain". It has a bit of everything. Other fields include: Redwood forest in a very steep valley that has some dilapidated cabins that were once used by Scout organizations. We have a field that is horseshoe shaped with a large 50' x 50' crater at the center with dense scrub brush and pompous grass. This is a very difficult field to fight in because of the funnel effect the trails that lead to the crater leave you in. As point man, I get the worst of it. Thank goodness for medics. The Clubsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 805 detachment (OPFOR Stars) have a few fields south of our location that are on military bases with bunkers, old missile silos and radar stations - very cool to say the least. Many times proceeds from the 805 events go to charity. The 805 detachments are a very important part of our club. They travel three hours or more to attend the monthly events and Recondo School. Q. Do you guys have a website for fans to visit? A. Matt Smith: yes: www.mikeforceairsoft.org and www.mikeforceairsoft.blogspot.com. I also send out four-five monthly newsletters and reminders with large graphics that describes the

event details. Gives you a level of emersion many clubs do not have. This version of the site is only six month old now, and has helped bring new players to the club. I should have enough content within the year to populate the team pages with their own propaganda that helps the story lines. Nice to have OPFOR rivalries! Q. If one was to contact you guys, what would be the best way? A. Matt Smith: through the website. There are a few ways to reach myself or Dr. King directly. Q. One final question: what's the best piece of advice you can give to the airsoft community, whether tactics, safety, etc? A. Matt Smith: Treat the sport with respect. This is a real transitional period for airsoft, and I personally try to contribute as much as I can to anyone who asks for my help, as a Design Director and Senior artist here in SF Bay Area I have resources that can help our community worldwide. Play with honor above all, because it is like giving another person your word as an adult, that you are an honest honorable person. Have Fun! Make the events you run as real as possible. Q. I behalf of all the members of U.S.A.S.O.C., I would like to thank you and Dr. King for allowing us to interview you and Mike Force Tactical Airsoft Club. A. Matt Smith: Thanks for letting us fill a few pages of your magazine! If you are ever in the area give us a holler and we will get you out to the field, gear or not! I would once again like to thank Dr. King and Mr. Smith for allowing U.S.A.S.O.C. to interview them. They sure have one heck of a school out there, and I know, that if Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m ever out there, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be honored to attend the Recondo School. When emailing back and forth with Mr. Smith, he was kind enough to outline their current structure. It goes as follows:

“We have four detachments manned by very experienced players. Each detachment has a six man squad. Every elite team member has graduated Recondo School and performed honorably in the field. • • • •

Mike Force One SFOD 831A (Elite club team) SFOD 831B MF or OPFOR SFOD 831D MF or OPFOR SFOD 805C - Vandenburg Detachment MF

Red Star consists of the OPFOR members of the four detachments specified through a rotating schedule. Eventually everyone is RED STAR for a game or two. This keeps everything competitive and the inexperienced player will be able to patrol with every detachment over the period of the year. Mike Force Recondo detachments are students in training. Red Star Recondo Spetsnaz detachments are in training as well. We look at the club as the big picture and any money brought in from registration goes into props and patch creation for each member. Dr. King and I have been restructuring the club since August of last year to help organize the events better and give anyone who is willing to put in a little hard work a stake in the cub, so to speak. This way, the club is owned by the all the players that attend nine games per year. (This) makes everyone more responsible for their actions on the field.” I suggest to each and every one of you out there that if you are in their neck of the woods to check them out. There was a very key and important sentence that Dr. King said that I would like to repeat again: “There are also those who do not complete the course mostly because of their perception that it is too hard. If a nine year old and a grandfather can do it, then anyone who puts his mind to it can.” That goes for anything in life. If you put your mind to a goal of yours and really commit yourself to it, you’ll most likely achieve it. Case and point: don’t give up on things that really matter to you. As stated before, the Mike Force Tactical guys are great. They are very friendly and very knowledgeable, not to mention great airsofters! It was an

honor to interview them. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll leave you all with some photos that Mike Force Tactical Airsoft Club allowed us to use. To see more great photos, I suggest checking out their website: http://mikeforceairsoft.blogspot.com/search/label/gallery.

Reviews: Tactical Products Group ACOG Scope

Ever want an ACOG scope but without the expensive price? Who doesn’t, right? Well, the guys over at Tactical Products Group came up with one for all of us. Let’s get into the review, shall we? This was another Christmas gift that I requested of the family, and upon receiving it Christmas morning, I couldn’t have been happier. I had heard great things about this scope so I couldn’t wait to try it out. The first impression was: wow! The box was a little heavier then I thought it was going to be…I was excited to say the least. I opened it up, and there it was…exactly what I was hoping for.

There are a lot of pros towards this scope. These include: itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fairly heavy, the adjustable red-dot for correct alignment and brightness, the price, the quality, made of metal, how easy it is to mount on a rail, the look of the scope, and the very good battery life span. It is fairly heavy (metal) for a scope, yet less then a pound. As you all know, I like heavy things because when I think heavy, I normally think good quality and durability, and that is exactly what this scope is. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve dropped it once by accident, and nothing happened to it at all. I gave it a few days to see if there were going to be any challenges with it, but there were not. Unless you drive over it with a vehicle or break the glass, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see this thing breaking easily (but I never know with some of the stories I hear about some of you guys and gals out there).

The adjustable red-dot is one of the best things about the scope. TPG really did great with this feature. Not only can you adjust for how bright you want the red-dot to be, but you can also adjust for correct alignment: up and down and side-to-side! Great feature! The price of the scope is another great thing about it. I have heard some people say that it is pricey, but I really don’t know what to think of those people. For $64.99 at Shorty USA (where I got mine from), I think it’s a steal! When the real ACOGs cost close to $1,000.00, if not more, common’…you can’t beat it.

Photo Note: the focus of the camera was on the actual scope, not the target location. When looking through it in real life, it is not out of focus. Also, the red-dot is off. Like I said before, the quality of this scope is amazing. TPG really put alot of time and effort into this scope. I think this goes without saying if you own one. Basically, buy the scope, and you’ll know what I mean about the quality for this price. Mounting instructions: one, take out of box; two, unscrew the nuts to have it fit on your rail; and three, tighten nuts to secure the scope.

That’s it! It really couldn’t be easier. Another great feature TPG put into it. The look of the scope goes without saying. It’s one of the best looking scopes we’ve seen.

And lastly, the battery life span is great. I couldn’t tell you how long they last because TPG doesn’t let anyone in on it; and two, because mine hasn’t run out yet.

Now for the cons: there are none about the scope that we could find! The only thing that would have been even more helpful would have been an information booklet about the details about the scope included with the box. Other then that, we think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just about perfect. Great for you CQB fans out there. So in the end, we here at U.S.A.S.O.C. would recommend everyone who wanted an ACOG scope to buy it. It is an amazing scope, simply put. We were not disappointed at all, and you will mostly agree. If you have a review of your gun or gear and want to see it in U.S.A.S.O.C., email it to us at: usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com or visit our website: www.officialusasocmagazine.com. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll leave you with some specifications on the scope. The TPG Red Dot Sport Sight is constructed completely out of metal yet weighs less than a pound. It is fully adjustable for windage and elevation and can be mounted quickly to either a Weaver Rail or a 3/8 inch Dovetail. The 32mm objective lens has an amber coating which really gives it that Special Ops look. There are five intensity levels that the red dot can be set to so the Red Dot can be used in daylight or twilight. Powered by two 1.5v button batteries (included).

Reviews: GB AK47S Beta Spetz

Alright, so in the last issue, I reviewed GB’s MP5-SD6 model. This time, I will be reviewing GB’s AK47S Beta Spetz. Why, you ask? For one, I wanted to do a review that wasn’t a M4/M16 or MP5 variant for this issue. Two, AirSplat (www.airsplat.com) was kind enough to send us this MPEG! So on with the review… Background of the Real AK47: “The AK-47 (shortened from Russian: Автомат Калашникова образца 1947 года, Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947; English: Kalashnikov's machine gun, model of the year 1947) is a gasoperated assault rifle that was used in many Eastern bloc nations during the Cold War. Adopted and standardized in 1947, it was designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov and produced by Russian manufacturer Izhevsk Mechanical Works. Compared with the autoloading rifles used in World War II (the StG-44 aside), the AK-47 was generally more compact, with a shorter range, a smaller 7.62 × 39 mm cartridge, and was capable of selective fire. It was one of the first true assault rifles and remains the most widely used and known. More AK-47 rifles have been produced than any other assault rifle; production continues to this day. “During the Second World War, Germany had developed the concept of the assault rifle. This concept was based on the knowledge that most military engagements in modern warfare were happening at fairly close range with the majority happening within 100 meters (110 yd). The power and range of contemporary rifle cartridges was

simply overly powerful for a vast majority of engagements with small arms. As a result, a cartridge and firearm were sought combining the features of a submachine gun (high-capacity magazine and fullyautomatic fire capability) with an intermediate-power cartridge that would be effective to a range of 300 meters (330 yd). For the sake of reduced manufacturing costs, this was done by shortening the 7.92 × 57 mm Mauser cartridge case and substituting a lighter bullet to create the 7.92 x 33 mm Kurz. “The resulting Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44 or MP44) was not the first rifle to use these features; it was preceded by earlier Italian Cei-Rigotti and Russian Fedorov Avtomat designs. The Germans, however, were the first to produce and field a sufficient number of the type to properly evaluate its utility. They fielded the weapon in large numbers against the Russians towards the end of the war and this experience deeply influenced Russian doctrine in the years following the war. “Mikhail Kalashnikov began imagining his weapon while still in the hospital, after being wounded in the battle of Bryansk. He had been informed that a new weapon was required for the 7.62 × 41 mm cartridge developed by Elisarov and Semin in 1943. Sudayev's PPS43 submachine gun was preferred to Kalashnikov's design. “Despite circumstantial evidence, Mikhail Kalashnikov denies that his rifle was based on the German assault rifle. It is best described as a hybrid of several previous innovations. To support his position, the AK-47 owes more to the M1 Garand Rifle than any German design. The double locking lugs, unlocking raceway, and trigger mechanism are clearly derived from the earlier American design. This is not surprising as millions of Garand rifles had operated reliably in combat around the globe. The safety is surprisingly similar to the Browningdesigned Remington Model 8 rifle. “The genius in the design of the Kalashnikov rifle is in the simplification of those contributing designs and adaptation to mass production. The AK-47 can be seen as a fusion of the best that the M1 Garand offered combined with the best aspects of the StG44 made by the best processes available in the Soviet Union at the time.” (Wikipedia)

General Overview: Although I wasn’t too sure about the AK47S at first - I’m not a big fan of the AK series, plus it was MPEG – I kept hoping for the best. Well, the best is what I got. Compared to other GB guns I’ve seen, this one is by far superior. I would say that about 3/4th of the gun is metal. Also, the parts that aren’t (example: the handgrip and the fore-grip) are made of a type of composite material that is very nice. It’s not plastic whatsoever. Inside the box were the following: the AK47S, a small bag of .20 BBs, a battery and charger, a sling (nice feature), a cleaning rod, and the manual. The box is also much nicer then other GB models.

The Stock: Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start at the rear. The movable stock is a nice feature. It is made out of metal as stated before. Also, the part that rests against your shoulder is movable too (See photos below). I really liked the feel of this gun against my shoulder; it was compact, yet it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel like I lacked any control. To adjust it, simply push the button that is on the left side of receiver where the stock meets the receiver inward and pull the stock down. As simple as that.

Look: The look of the gun is great. It looks just like the Tokyo Marui model. The only thing I don’t like is the blazing orange tip at the end of the gun. Yes, I know it is a law to have an orange tip, and I’m not disputing that. I just wish it was a few shades darker, that’s all. Again, I think it looks great and pretty dead on in relation to the real thing. Feel: The feel of the AK47S is excellent! It’s not too compact, yet not too unwieldy. It makes for a great CQB gun as well. I didn’t, though, like the feel when the stock was in the down position. That is the only time when I felt like I didn’t have total control over the gun. Some say that when it is down, they have more control. I think it’s just personal preference.

Performance: The gun shoots amazing well for a MPEG. I was quite impressed. It does reach the range that is stated, and I hit seven out of ten targets on a nice spring day with about 5-10 mph winds. For a newer player or a person who can’t afford a high-grade AEG, this is a great choice! I would only recommend shooting it with .20 BBs, because all others make the gun shoot way off (as expected).

Special Features I Liked: I think one of the best things about the gun is that there is a “ready to use” rail on the fore-grip for any kind of accessory: vertical fore-grip, lasers, flashlights, bipods, etc. As you can see below, I attached a vertical fore-grip and a bipod for show.

Pros: The things that I liked about the GB AK47S Beta Spetz are the following: great feel and handling; really polished look to it; one of the best MPEG out there for performance that I’ve seen; most of it is metal and the parts that are not are made out of a great composite kind of material; the price ($99.95!); and the rail that is already attached the gun. I truly like this gun a lot. Sure, it’s not top of the line, but for a MPEG, I’m extremely impressed. Cons: The only main thing that I didn’t like about this gun was that the battery took forever to put in. As you will see below, the battery stick fits in the upper part of the receiver’s body. It has just enough room to fit in there, but in the end, it does. Other then that, I really can’t find anything wrong with the gun.

Overall, I was extremely happy with the gun in every aspect. I would recommend this to all newer fans of the sport who like the AK series. And for the price of only $99.95, it’s a steal! It is a great weapon in general. I would like to thank AirSplat, once again, (www.airsplat.com) for giving us this gun. They are really a great bunch of guys and have amazing products. There’s a reason why they are one of the largest airsoft retailers in the nation. I’ll leave you with some specifications of the gun: - AK47 Spetsnaz Spetz Airsoft AEG (Automatic Electric Gun) Rifle. - 350 FPS (0.2 g BB) / 150 - 200 Feet. - Full Metal Gear Box. - Adjustable Hop Up. - 250 Round High Capacity Magazine Included. - Safety Eyewear Included. - 8.4V 1500 NiCD Battery and Charger Included. - Completely Tokyo Marui Compatible (Magazine and Upgrades). - Made in China.

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Tactics: Planning a Night Airsoft Game:

Planning a Night Airsoft Game: By Richard Gallant Disclaimer: Use information at your own risk. You reading this understand this and will not hold U.S.A.S.O.C. and/or any of its members responsible for any injuries, property damage, and/or arrest(s) that you and/or others receive. To be certain, night airsoft adds a whole different dimension to the game; it is far more intense and requires a whole different mindset. With more and more Mil-Sim events running twenty-four hours, games are running into the evening and night. With that in mind, this article will give you an idea of what you need to consider to setup and participate in night airsoft. Many of the topics covered will be familiar to those who have setup large day events, but for a night event you must insure you cover all the bases. Before we get into actual night gaming considerations, the most important thing to consider and remember is safety. In the dark with little or no light, it is far easier to engage at too close a range, trip over an unseen obstacle, or have any one of a hundred small things

that would not happen in the daytime happen in the dark. Always be aware of safety concerns, and your games will run smoother. I have listed the basic considerations below in point form; I will expand on these when I go through the sample plan. Pre-Planning: Night games should only be played on private property with the ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consent in writing. Have a contact number for the property owner; insure they will be available in the event of a problem. Make sure the local police are aware of your game and the time you plan to run the game for. Make sure you have phone numbers for local emergency services and either a cell phone or land line that works - it is unlikely you will have a serious injury, but always be ready if one occurs. UNDER no circumstances run a night game on public property, because you will have the police attend, and they will not be happy. Is Your Play Area Suitable for a Night Game? Is it confined by fences or obvious boundaries? If not, you need to mark the boundaries clearly. You can use yellow caution tape and yellow glow sticks. Are there hazards that need to be marked? The best method here is to use yellow caution tape and yellow glow sticks to keep things consistent. Try to plan your games for a half moon or clearer nights; this will let most people see reasonably well. Have some form of alternate lighting in the event of bad weather. Have light for your setup area and make sure you have some method of providing warm liquids to players. Cold, wet players will not have fun. Make sure you have a good system of making sure all the players are accounted for at gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s end. People can get lost or hurt far more easily at night. A solid check prior to the gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

start and a check out at game’s end. No one should leave without checking out. Walk your field in the dark prior to planning a night game to see how long it takes to get from point A to point B. You need a lot less space for a night game. The points above may seem obvious, but they require careful thought before trying any night game.

Players & Gear: Players: If you are going to be involved in a night game, find out how far you can see in the dark. Not in your backyard but in a dark field and clump of woods. Many people are night blind or partially so. It can take for ten to twenty minutes to get your maximum night vision, so be patient. Go over all your gear; know where everything is and insure it can not just fall out. If you are part of a team, you may want to consider having similar locations for magazines, ammo, etc. If you have limited numbers of magazines, have a loader other than the tube loader; the standard plunger loaders work well. Prior to going to the field, check every single piece of kit. Make sure all your weapons function, batteries are charged, etc. It is much harder to fix problems in the dark. If you do not have Night Vision gear and plan on using a TacLight, make sure you have a remote switch so you can have momentary light. A light at night is a “shoot me” sign. Good solid hiking boots or military style boots are a must for outdoor games at night. Running shoes or similar footwear are not suitable. Finally, unlike many day games, radios are a big advantage at night. A group who can manage their team via radio is going to be very effective.

Weapons: Engagement ranges will be very close at night due to reduced visibility. You must insure that all players are aiming for the chest when possible and proper eye protection is worn. For night games, I recommend sealed goggles rather than ballistic glasses. Use Low or Mid-cap magazines only with exception of SAWs. This tends to make people more careful about the number rounds they fire to engage a target lessening the chance of an injury. Snipers with high powered rifles, 450+ FPS, who do not have night vision, should not be allowed; their engagement range will be far too short. Vision Aids: Night Vision: have set rules for type and Generations allowed, although it is unlikely that more than one or two people will have better than Generation 1+, at least in Canada. They are those who have spent thousands on Generation 2 and better. If all the higher generations are all on one side, it will highly unbalance your night game. Flashlights: have a very solid rule on where flashlights can be pointed. Pointed directly at personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes is dangerous because of both the momentary blindness and in some cases, of the intensity of the light itself. People shining lights directly at the head should be removed for the game. A light can/may hit someone's face as it passes, or as it is activated, but there is no good reason to keep it there. Other vision aids such as glow sticks on objectives, trail markers, IR beacons, etc need to be clearly visible and not tampered with. Players must have a glow stick of a specific color to indicate when they are hit. Red is commonly used for hits. When players are using night vision, the use of flashlights and other light sources can be damaging to the Night Vision itself. It

is up to the individual using the night vision to be aware of the risk to his equipment and manage that risk themselves. A momentary bright light is not as damaging as it used to be, and the simplest protection is to move the lens out of line with the light. Flashlights should be fitted with colored filters; they reduce the effect of using the flashlight on your night vision. This can even be used as a team ID. For example, one team is red while another is orange. Blue filters are nice but are more visible than red or orange. Communications: Have at least two frequencies per team. Your radio must be located where you can reach it easily. A headset of some sort is a requirement, whether you play at night or during the day. A PTT (Push To Talk) switch that can be located on your gear is very handy; if you do not have one, then have a radio pouch that has an opening to get to the push button for the radio. Keep all messages short, to the point, and clear. If you need specific types of reports such as enemy contact, situation reports, etc use the military reports and tailor them to your team needs. Make sure everyone on a given team can use the same frequency ranges. Insure everyone knows the administration frequency. Conduct both a team and administration radio check to make sure everyone can transmit and receive on those frequencies. If you are using call signs, keep them short. It may be cool to have a call sign of 'dragonslayer one-two' but it takes a lot longer to say that than â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;12alpha.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

General: Although it breaks game flow, stop the game prior to last light, and bring your teams in (or bring them to a central team area) and go over the night rules. After the briefing, have players go over their gear to insure it is secure, and they have everything they need. Players should have all their gear attached and very secure; dropping a dark object at night means it is very likely lost. Cheating in night games is difficult to control. But if you have complaints about a player, I would suggest taking them out of the night portion. A good ID system, that works without having a light on, is reflective tape that is cut into a pattern (circle, square, triangle) attached to a specific shoulder. Scenarios: You must have good clear objective for both teams. Simple â&#x20AC;&#x153;run and gunâ&#x20AC;? games do not work very well. The structure of the game has to be objective based: patrol into this location and capture a person or thing, are good choices. You will have people who have very poor night vision. Giving them an objective to defend allows them to play.

Details: Personal Gear: Boots: real hiking or military issue combat boots. Running shoes or similar footwear will not cut it at night. What you are looking for is good ankle support. The chances of placing a foot

down on something that will move at night are much higher than during day time. A good pair of boots will prevent, or at the very least, reduce the amount of injury to your ankles from bad footing. As a bonus, you will have a good set of boots for regular games as well. I recommend military style boots as they are generally designed for use in a wide range of environments, as well as being waterproof. A decent set of boots will run you between $40.00 and $100.00+. In Canada, about the same in CDN dollars. Lower body: you want a good set of pants and warm socks. As we all know, the temperature drops at night, and depending on where you are, it can become very cold at night. While it is easy to layer your upper body, it is far more difficult to layer your lower body. My best suggestion is to go out at night around the time you will be playing and stay stationary on the ground for about half an hour. If your legs and feet stay warm, you are most likely fine; if not, get warmer socks and wear some light weight thermal long johns. To quote my old SGT Major, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Any idiot can be uncomfortable.â&#x20AC;? Upper body: you can layer your upper body quite easily. The trick here is to have a number of light layers. I start with a tshirt, followed by a green sweatshirt, and then my combat jacket. If I start getting too warm, I lose the sweatshirt. If that leaves me too cold, I switch off the t-shirt for the sweatshirt. I have some cargo straps that allow me strap the sweatshirt to my LBV, and the t-shirt just fits into a large pouch. The other thing to remember is a lot of the cheaper camo gear is made of very light weight materials, so you may have to adjust the clothes you wear. I use actual surplus camo so this combination works very well. Head and neck: these are the most difficult areas to layer due to the requirement to provide proper eye protection. The simplest solution is a neck scarf and bonnie hat. Helmets, while they have a good cool factor, need a decent liner to keep your head warm. With the scarf, if you start getting cold, just use it as a head wrap under the bonnie; if you are over heating, remove the scarf. You can also use the scarf to cover just your ears.

Hands are the easiest to keep warm. A good set of lightweight gloves will do for most people. If your hands tend to get cold, get a second set of gloves made for hunters and pop them into an extra pouch on your LBV. A light weight 'Ranger' blanket is also handy if you are playing at night as part of a Mil-Sim in which you may have some downtime. They rollup into a small bundle and add an extra layer of warmth while you catnap.

Vest / Webbing: No matter if you use a LBV or a web belt with pouches, working at night requires some careful planning. The first thing to consider is, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do I have enough space for my extra clothing?â&#x20AC;? This can either be an additional pouch attached to your current gear or a redistribution of your current gear. I personally go with an additional pouch. I have my LBV setup for regular play so my load stays the same; I just add certain items to take care of night requirements. When packing your pouches, know where everything is. There is nothing worse than trying to find a misplaced item in the dark. Pack light; only load what you really need in your ready pouches. It will be easier to access your gear, and the risk of losing something is much lower. Magazines for your weapons: put them in the pouch base up if they are full. When you put a partial or empty magazine back, put it in with the base down. This will let you tell, by touch, if you getting an empty or full magazine. This is also a good tip for daylight use. .

Illumination & Vision Aids: Depending on your Mil-Sim requirements, there may be restrictions on your use of flashlights. You must have some sort of light in the event of an emergency, or in case you drop something valuable that your need to find. A basic Pentagon or Surefire tactical light with a scope mount, so you can rail mount, it will run about $130.00. You can, however, buy a basic rubberized blue Led light that can be mounted the same way for about $25.00, including the mount. The Led light will not carry very far, but it will get the job done. If you are part of team, some sort of team patch or team ID should be worn. You want something that can be seen with the naked eye at close range but is not visible at a distance. A small piece of reflective material, as used on safety vests, works well. If you have night vision, there are a number of other options but these are very restricted since 9/11. Some of the materials are available, and some are not. Your best bet in the United States is contact one of the vendors listed at the end of this article and ask them some questions. Another option is reflective material used by bicyclists; this comes in a number of colors, but a neon-green works best. When hit with any light, including IR, this material is highly reflective making it ideal for this use. In addition, some of the material comes in preset designs like bars, triangles, and circles with a sticky back. In Canada, a package with a variety of symbols runs about $7.00. Night Vision - this is great if you can afford it and play enough night games to justify the expense. The new generations are far better than the Generation 1 equipment, but the cost difference is significant, particularly here in Canada. But even Generation 1+ equipment will give you an edge. Find out if you are night blind. Simply go into a dark field and wait for thirty minutes. This is the build-up time for optimal night vision in humans, but most of the adaptation occurs within the

first five to ten minutes in the dark. You should be able to see a good distance on a clear night. What you are most interested in is how far can you see movement; go out with a buddy and have your partner walk away from you. Once they get to where they are hard to see close your eyes. Your partner then moves to a different place and stays stationary. Open your eyes. Can you see him? If not, have him move slowly. If you still can not see him, have him move closer until you can make him out. This will be your optimal unaided night vision range. It varies for every person, but you want it to be just inside your weaponâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effective engagement range. If it is closer than your weaponâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effective engagement range, it is worth looking into a Generation 1 night vision device for night games.

These images are of a standard helmet with a reflective strip on the back for ID. The first image is in normal room light with light source aimed at the helmet; the second is with IR illumination aimed at the

helmet at close range. The third is with IR illumination aimed below at close range, and the last image is at about ten meters away. Notice how visible the strip is even though the helmet is barely visible Weapons:

Generally your daytime weapons are going to be what you use at night. The main changes you need to consider are optics, mounting points for TacLights, and battery durability. You should have a sling for your primary weapon; at night, there are many times where you will need two hands. You do not want to put your weapon down where it can be stepped on, or where it will take you a few precious seconds to find. With a proper tactical sling, your rifle will be right at hand when you need it Pistols: have a holster that has a retaining strap for the pistol. If you have a Colt, Beretta, or similar pistol with a magazine release that can be bumped which causes the magazine to dropout, remove it from your pistol and put in an easy to reach pistol magazine pouch. Another option is to put some tape over the bottom of the magazine and sides of the pistol grip. The magazine cannot fall out by accident, but it is a little difficult to change magazine or reload. You do not want to drop a magazine at night; it is a very frustrating experience to find it in the dark. A lanyard is also very handy; this can be as simple as some green cord to a commercially made lanyard. It secures you pistol to the holster and avoids accidentally dropping your sidearm.

Lanyard out of storage. Note: you want a good length, so you can maneuver your pistol. In addition, the attachment point should be close to the holster to avoid the lanyard snagging braches etc.

Lanyard stored. Notice the bulk of the cord is inside the spare magazine pouch for the pistol. The rest is held under the pistol retention strap so it does not catch on branches. The cord will just pull out of the magazine pouch and can be basically just shoved in to get it out of the way.

Batteries: in a night game, you generally want enough battery power to last through the night. If your battery is iffy or does not tend to last for an entire day, get a backup. Once you have a backup, you will need to be able to change it out in the field. With the M4, P90, and G3 series, this is generally not a problem. Any weapon that requires you to remove a pin is a

concern: MP5s/etc. What I recommend is the use of either your kill rag or a similar light colored piece of cloth to place on the ground. Keep your weapon above the cloth and close to it when pushing out the pins. That way if a pin drops, it should hit the cloth and be easy to find. You will want to practice at home in the dark so you become good at this. Optics: your day scope may not be suitable for night use; generally high magnification scopes with small lenses fall into this category. You need either a reflex scope or a scope with good light gathering qualities. Scopes don’t gather light, as most people think, although the term “light gathering ability” has become accepted jargon. Scopes transmit available light through the lenses to your eye while always losing a bit of light in the process. The more magnification you have, the less light you get to your eyepiece. The larger the objective lens, the more you get through your eyepiece. Generally, your night engagement ranges will be close so a cheap red dot or reflex scope will suffice. To mount TacLights/etc, you will need some form of rail system. Avoid the temptation to load up your weapon with everything under the sun. In most cases, a single TacLight, or if it is allowed, TacLight and laser will do the trick. Mount these devices where they are clear of your hands, sling, and scope if you have one. The images below show a pistol, M4A1, a P90, and a VSR-10 rigged for night use. The VSR-10 has a night vision monocular with a 3x lens and laser to act as an aiming point.

Example Game: Now that you have the basics of setting up a night game, how do we put all of this together to have not only a series of challenging scenarios but also a game the players will be talking about for weeks after? I am going to use a local field as an example. We have an outdoor CQB field with a small village of seven paintball sized buildings and airfield. This field is privately owned and has weekly or biweekly airsoft events,; additionally, the local police and neighbors are aware of the airsoft games. In our test scenario, we want to recreate the action of the Rainbow Six series of video games. This requires a small group (four to five) Special Forcesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; soldiers to infiltrate an insurgent stronghold to complete a series of tasks. Depending on numbers we have, the ability to increase the SpecOps team is up to eight players. We have assumed a defending force of sixteen to thirty players. With this in mind our Special Forcesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; objectives are: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Team mission planning. Infiltration. Completion of three tasks. Extraction.

Our Insurgent force objectives are: 1. Team mission planning.

2. 3. 4. 5.

Patrolling. Setup and maintenance of OPs (Observation Posts). Setup of ambushes. Protection of likely targets.

We are considering one to one and a half hours to accomplish each task for a total game time of about four to five hours. Night tasks seem to either take forever or go at warp speed, and unlike a day game where you can move to the sound of the guns, it is far more difficult to do the same thing at night. This can lead to boredom on the part of the defending team. For this reason, it is important to assign both teams tasks to complete. Not only does this stop the boredom, but it also increases the alertness and fear factors. As you can see from the task list, each team will require a commander and some form of command and control, either via radio or runner. Unlike day games where you can get away with marginal communications, night games require good communications preferably via radio. Not only can you organize your team for the most effective response to the enemy, but you also cut down on the amount of friendly fire, which is why you want good team identifiers.

Field Preparation: The outdoor field we are discussing has no hazards that need marking, but there are ladders to second stories in three of the buildings; these will have a blue glow stick at the top and bottom. This provides enough light to see the ladder rungs without putting out excessive light. There are also several areas that have black mesh fencing; this has also been marked with blue glow sticks, about six inches off the ground and about every three feet. Although you would not likely be hurt running into it, you could damage your weapon or put your goggles in an unsafe position. The marking of the fences was checked prior to the game to insure the fence was marked, but no massive amount of light would be thrown. As there are fences on two sides and open fields on the other two, perimeter marking is not required. If we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a clear perimeter, we would use the same method to mark it as we used for the mesh fence: glow sticks every

five to ten feet, yet high enough up so they could be seen from a distance. This leaves us with lighting. This location has power so setting up some sort of lighting scheme is possible. All light bulbs have to be in protective industrial rated fixtures to prevent breakage; these can be found at local building supply locations for a reasonable price. All you need are hard glass covers. Make sure to test one with your highest velocity gun, and you are ready to go. Another option is to use rope lights. These are basically low voltage bulbs or LED's inside a soft rubber coating. We have decided on red and blue rope light to keep with the military feel. If you have no power supply, there are a number of options including white glow sticks that will work for four to five hours. These can be purchased in bulk for about $0.50 to $0.75 each. If you use glow sticks in this manner, you will need three to four per location and a method to turn them off. An old coffee can with a plastic lid works well for doing this. Drop the sticks into the can and put the lid on: lights are out. You can use a similar method for street or path lighting, except that the attackers will have to remove or cover the lights if they want to turn them off. A simple cloth cover with a drawstring or elastic would work well for this. A generator can be rented from most rental stores if you wish to use power. You will need to put in an â&#x20AC;&#x153;out of boundsâ&#x20AC;? sandbag or similar bunker to protect it from damage.

The images above show rope light loosely coiled to give mixed light and shadow. The two images with the glow sticks show placement on our mesh netting, and to illuminate ladder rungs for a ladder accessing the second floor of a building. Note: a glow stick at the top and bottom.

Route Markers: We have setup a series of patrol routes for the defending team, just to make sure that the players who are new to the field stay on task. These are simple to make and add to the feel of the defenders being in a new location. Each marker has a card symbol and arrow. The image below shows the SPADE route marker, indicating a right turn.

Detailed Plan for Each Team: I always like to go to the basic mission order the military uses as a guideline for creating a detailed plan. It covers all the information you need to set up a game; if you fill it in on a piece of paper or in a WORD processing program, at the end you will have all the information you need. If any one section can not be completed, your idea will not work well because you will be missing a vital component. Note: â&#x20AC;&#x153;not applicableâ&#x20AC;? is considered completion in this case. The object here is to give each team a clearly defined set of tasks for the

evening. At the end of this process, you will also have the task list to hand to each of the commanders. I also use this format for more complex day games. Basic Mission Order Format: -Situation: Friendly. Enemy. Attachments. Mission: -Execution: General Outline. Tasks. Coordinating Instructions. Timings. Movement & Control (Checkpoints/Contact points). -Service support: Re-supply Points. Medical Support. Handling of POWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Special Equipment. -Command & Signals: Frequencies and Call Signs. Passwords. Sync Watches. -Questions: This is a very simple version of a military ordersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; format, but for airsoft purposes, it works well for both planning and giving teams their orders for Mil-Sim events or events with specific tasks to complete. To go back to our mission setup, we will issue two sets of orders: one for the defenders and one for the attacker. Frame your information in each of the sections in point form; it is easier to read and to see if you have missed any points.

SAMPLE ORDERS: Special Ops Team Info: Your team has been tasked with investigating the activities of the Ragnorkian's at Firebase Gloria. Although a training area has been setup, the bulk of your tasks will have to be completed once you are on site. Your LZ is approximately 200 meters from the enemy encampment. There is a small building that can be used as an RV and setup location. Situation: Friendly: Due to increasing tension between our two countries, it is believed that the Ragnorkians are preparing for a preemptive strike. Your team will be inserted to confirm if this is true and the nature of their strike. Enemy: The Ragnorkianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forces in the area are expected to be the usual low quality troops with some elite troops present to stiffen their resolve. Firebase Gloria is a base left over from our previous conflict and was abandoned until recently. Attachments: 3rd Covert helos will insert and extract your forces. No other attachments will be provided.

Mission: Execution: General Outline: Three SFT (Special Forces Team) will infiltrate and determine the nature of activities at Gloria. They will neutralize any obvious threats and extract to the LZ TIGER. Tasks: Recce (Recon) area and determine nature of enemy activity. Satellite photos have shown a mobile missile platform that must be destroyed. See attached photos. Prior to destruction, the type of payload must be determined. Eliminate any technical staff; if possible extract one to LZ TIGER. Destroy any targets of opportunity, and gather any additional intel on Ragnorkian intentions; see the game info notes. GAME INFO: In game terms, you have two mandatory objectives: the Satellite and Technicians. The other objectives are selected from the list below, but you must have a total of 200 points in additional objectives. Once these have been selected, put the supplied cards in the envelope and seal the envelope. Failure to complete this step will cost your team 200 points.

Coordinating Instructions: Time: Does not start before 21:00. All tasks to be complete by 02:30.

Movement & Control (Checkpoints/Contact Points): GAME INFO: a parking location will be provided for your team vehicles. Please keep the number of vehicles to the minimum possible. A sign will indicate where you can go lights out. LZ Tiger will be your insertion and extraction point. You may move your team back to TIGER at any time to regroup and re-assess. GAME INFO: the game ends when all tasks are complete, when time runs out, or your team calls it quits. Service Support: All re-supplies will occur at TIGER; this includes additional ammo, getting additional tools, etc. A propane camp stove, coffee pot, and regular pot will be supplied at TIGER to make hot drinks with. Medical Support: As your team is a Special Forces team, each man will be provided a bandage. You may not bandage yourself. You can only bandage a teammate. If you are hit a second time, leave the field and move to TIGER. Once at least two of your teammates are at the current objective, you may rejoin the action. Any POW's must be extracted to TIGER.

Special Equipment: A number of props will be provided, including fake demo charges, tool kit, and other items required to complete your tasks.

Command & Signals: Frequencies and Call Signs: As per team’s SOP (Standard Operation Procedures) for basic frequencies, currently there are no restrictions other than the administration channel. Radio scanning and interception is available to both teams. Due to safety concerns jamming is not allowed. Administration Frequency is FRS channel 7/0. In the event of an injury, come on the administration channel and repeat “NODUFF” three times. Then give your team a “stand down and hold in place” order. The administration will instruct the other team to do the same. At this point await further orders. Passwords: As per team’s SOP. Field Entry Points: There are three possible access points to the field. There may be a fourth option, which will be confirmed prior to game day. Your team will need at least one pre-game evening or weekend to go over the entry routes. These will be marked on game day.

Map:

SAMPLE ORDERS END. The other advantage of this system is that you can break the action to have the team prepare for the evening/night portion in a realistic manner. By simply telling each team to break contact and move a specific location for orders, you keep the feel of a simulation while being able to control the preparation for the dark. If you have done your homework right, you should now have each team prepare for

night ops while you get any glow sticks and other markers setup. I would recommend at least one hour before last light. This gives the players time to go over their gear and get something warm to eat. Having all the players go back to the primary staging area to do this is fine, but just don't give any orders until they are back in the field. Also, be aware it is hard to get players back in the game once they start to relax near their cars. Once you are ready, give the commander his orders. Make sure he and everyone on his team knows the following: 1. Administration frequency - this must be the channel with the best reception. 2. Action in the event of injury - This is a simple phrase that can only be used in the event of an actual injury. The Canadian forces use to use â&#x20AC;&#x153;NODUFFâ&#x20AC;? repeated three times. If you have a group SOP, insure that everyone knows it. 3. His allowable frequency range. 4. Rally point in the event of an injury. 5. Check out procedure. Once this is done, give the commander his orders and his start time. The start time should be at least half an hour from the time orders have been given to allow for peoples eyes to adjust to the dark.

Special Ops Team: This team will in many ways have the more interesting time; they will be building a plan and executing that plan. As a result, their exact arrival time on the field will be unknown to the defenders adding yet another element of uncertainty. We will give this team three tasks: 1. Locate, disarm, and destroy the missile located at the firebase. 2. Locate and capture or eliminate the technical staff. 3. Destroy the base's communications facility. We have a large missile prop: communications centre and two dummies to represent the technical staff. To make life interesting, the

field owner is on the defending team and will relocate the missile for the defending team if they so wish. The techs must be in a building that has an additional light source, that is white light, as well as having our two computer props. The location of the communicationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; center is fixed and will be provided to the Special Ops team as part of their briefing. The additional missions are misc. tasks to insure the defenders must keep an eye on whole area. The main goal is to not have the focus all their resources just on the known targets. In order to keep the game on track, this team has been given a â&#x20AC;&#x153;no moveâ&#x20AC;? order for before and completion of the time. These are five hours apart. Most teams will want a totally open type timeframe, but this is not suitable. The defending team will, reasonably enough, get bored and not have a good time so you need to make sure that the attacking team moves in and gets something going before the defenders get bored, or it will be your first and last night game.

The Defending Team: This team will be performing tasks typical in a defensive position. These are: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Security patrols. Occupying defensive positions and observation posts. Protecting possible targets. Performing various tasks as assigned by the administration: aircraft refuel, moving fuel drums, running cable etc.

The first three sets of tasks are typical military tasks. The patrol routes need to be marked and set. The setting of patrol routes allows us to control the movement of the defenders and allows the Special Ops force the ability to watch the routes as part of their planning. The OPs (Observation Posts) and defensive positions to be used are left up to the defending team's commander. The other tasks are work projects to keep the defenders active and interested. Completion of the various additional tasks should be worth a small number of points, as they will confuse the enemy.

Resources: Night Vision: In Canada: http://www.gallantent.com/nightvision/index.php In the United States: http://www.usnightvision.com/index.htm

About The Author: Richard Gallant aka [FVA]Dirtbag, is the founder of Fraser Valley Airsoft in Mission B.C. He is a retired member of the British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own), a light armored reconnaissance unit of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve. He has twenty-five years of experience in planning both day and night operations for groups as small as six men to upwards of a full reconnaissance squadron. I would like to thank Mr. Gallant for writing this great article. I believe that since the sport of airsoft is becoming more and more popular, it’s time to expand our boundaries by not just doing games within the light period of the day. So enjoy and have fun trying out new things! If you have anything on tactics or things relating to tactics and want to see them in U.S.A.S.O.C., email them to: usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com or visit: www.officialusasocmagazine.com. Also, if you have anything that you would like to see in the “Tactics” section, please email or visit the website too.

Laws and Safety: AN AIRSOFT RESPONSE TO LAW ENFORCEMENT By Itsahak Wil Dorsett, Team BRASS, Virginia Disclaimer: Use information at your own risk. You reading this understand this and will not hold U.S.A.S.O.C. and/or any of its members responsible for any injuries and/or arrest(s) that you and/or others receive. The question is asked over and over again by airsofters world wide. “What should we do if the Cops come around during a game?” Should we run, stand around and look at them, assume they're a neighboring team coming late to the game, point our replica's at them, do what they say, or just simply ignore them in the hopes that they'll go away? It is an issue that has been debated at length over the internet, at game fields, in coffee shops and eating shops after games, over the phone and face to face many times. And it is, and should be considered, a valid concern! Let me take the time now to throw this in. You should never, ever, and I mean never, play airsoft in an area that is not a sanctioned field, a sanctioned Operation, or a private field that is either owned by one of the players or you have express written permission to play on. If you play in an area, such as private land, where you do not have permission (a school area, land that “no one” owns, or in areas and games that are not sanctioned), you will probably face a local Police Officer/Deputy Sheriff or SWAT team. And justly so, for those actions are not only illegal but also ultimately just not smart – for will lead to the end and outlawing of our chosen past time. Also, notifying the local authorities is a good idea, as it may help to diffuse these types of situations before they start. You should be able to find a contact person within your local Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) area to whom you can explain what you're doing, where you're doing it, and

approximate date/times you're doing it. Enough of the soap box, lets get on with it! So you're in-game, and for some reason the local Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) shows up. There are two responses you will most likely face. The first one is the Uniformed LEO response. The second is the full out, SWAT dispatch where you suddenly find yourself surrounded by men in black uniforms in real turn-out gear pointing real weapons at you! That one really raises your hackles!! In the first response, you'll see several LEO patrol vehicles suddenly come flying into your staging area. They exit their vehicles with firearms bristling from their persons! You will see duty pistols, shotguns, patrol rifles, and possibly, a submachine gun or two. Next, you find yourself staring down the barrels of the firearms and having commands shouted at you. As a responsible airsofter, your response here is critical. You're confused, scared, a little upset that they think you're a bad guy and, in some cases, downright indignant…What do you do now? First off, do what the LEO says to do. Nothing makes a LEO more nervous than giving a lawful order and having it either ignored or scoffed at. And in our position as airsoft players, it is vital to our personal safety and the continuity of our sport. When you're told to put your AEG down, do so. If it is hanging by a sling, lift it off by the sling, if at all possible. You'll be ordered to the ground, and most likely placed in handcuffs. They’ll start asking questions. These questions may vary, but in essence they are looking to ensure that the area is safe for them (as safe as an area can get for a LEO that is). Their questions will also be of the type to get the answers to WWWWWH. That means Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Who you are; what you are doing; when you do it; where you've been, either there or anywhere else; why you’re at that area; and how often you've done it. Answer all questions by the LEOs with honesty, respect, and without being irritated, arrogant, or seeming like their presence is a nuisance. This is the time you will get to explain what you’re doing, how many of you are playing and approximate boundaries. If you have a team game interrupt code, and if you're by yourself or a significant portion of players have not yet been accounted for, this is the time to politely inform the LEO of such and ask if you can implement the code either audibly or over your com's system. You may notice that the LEO are

possibly a bit gruff, and may not appear too pleasant. Look at it from their point of view. They are surrounded by several people wearing military gear, and sporting some of those dreaded “assault rifles.” In today's world of heightened terrorist awareness, that’s enough to make anyone in that field a little nervous. If you're legally occupying the playing field, the most you should get is a stern warning to be more careful and possibly a lecture on safety. If you're not there legally, expect to have your replica's confiscated and/or be arrested for trespassing. In the second response, you're usually unaware that anything is going on until you're looking down the barrel of a real rifle, pistol, or various other firearms. The big issue here is if it occurs in game, you may not be aware of the SWAT response and may treat it as another player. The obvious danger here is that you can inadvertently point your replica at a SWAT member who firmly believes he's being threatened with a real firearm. Any LEO faced with what he believes is a firearm, by anyone of any gender, age, race, dress, or creed should and WILL respond with deadly force. Every year there are reports from the LEO community of kids/teenagers/college students being shot and killed because of this type of misunderstanding. And again, this is the kind of thing that will get our sport banned. So what do you do? The first thing you will encounter is someone who is shouting their identification (i.e. – Police, Sheriff's Office, etc, etc). This will quickly be followed by a command to freeze, don't move, stop, desist…you get the idea. Your next move is critical!! Not only to our sport, but to your very vitality and safety!! DO NOT MOVE!!! Stop all movement, and freeze in that spot. For the next 30 to 60 seconds, only about a 6 to 8 pound trigger pull separates you from this life and discovering if your beliefs on the afterlife are right! The next command series will instruct you to lay down your weapons. Again, if your replica is on a sling, use the sling to remove it from your person. Other wise, set one end on the ground and let if drop. Yes, let it drop! I know you spent $300 plus on your favorite AEG but honestly, is it worth your life?! Keep your hands in plain sight and away from your gear and your body. Make no sudden moves. Do not attempt to explain your situation to the SWAT team. At this point their entire mindset is on controlling everyone there, controlling the scene, and their own safety. Your explaining will only add to the confusion and heighten the SWAT team’s intensity and anxiety. You will most

likely be commanded to prone out, or lie face down. Do so without complaining or hesitation. Remember to keep your hands in sight and away from your body and gear. You will most likely be handcuffed and your replicas taken. And so, it may not be done very gently. SWAT depends on speed, surprise, overwhelming tactics, and violence of action to pull off their missions. Don't hold it against them, they are doing their job. You will probably be separated from the rest of your playing group, just as they are separated from everyone else. Then you can expect the same type of questions as in Response One. Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Again, answer with honesty, with respect, and without being irritated, arrogant, or seeming like their presence is a nuisance. If you're there legally you should soon be released. You will however probably be advised to head home. This process may take some time, especially if the land owner is not playing with you. Even if you have it in writing (which is a smart thing to do) the SWAT team will want to verify that it is valid before releasing you. If your replicas are confiscated, do not complain. Go home and call an attorney. Does it suck? Sure it does, but you’re not helping your case by complaining, shouting, hollering, or downing the SWAT team. Now lets briefly discus a third encounter type. This one is usually what happens when you're in your car traveling somewhere and you're going just a little bit over the speed limit. Now keep in mind, I personally believe you should transport your replica(s) in a case and out of sight in the trunk. And again, I personally don't let anyone search my vehicle with out stated probable cause or a search warrant. But if it’s in the passenger compartment of your car, and especially if it’s in plain view, it becomes fair game to search the car. Anyway, the next thing you know, you're seeing flashing lights in your rear view mirror. Pull over as soon as safely possible. Keep both hands on the steering wheel. Don't grab for your wallet or try to cover your replicas now (and why are you transporting them out of a case and uncovered and not in the trunk anyway!!). Do not get out of your car. Once the LEO is at your window, he will tell you to put down your window, get your operator’s license, whatever. If the window is up, do what he says and put it down. Once the window is down, inform the LEO that you have a replica firearm in the passenger compartment. Stress that it is a replica and not real (especially if you’re underage)! Do what he says from there on in. Whether it’s to exit the vehicle, sit

in his vehicle (Virginia Troopers will have you sit in the front seat while they write your summons as part of their SOP's, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not too unusual.) Be sure to answer his questions respectfully and politely. Having an attitude is a great way to ensure that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re written a summons! Once the LEO is finished either giving you a summons or a warning, go on about your business and enjoy your day! It is possible that a lone LEO may pull up to your game and begin asking questions. Just ensure that you keep your hands in plain sight and away from your replica(s) and gear. Answer all questions with respect, politeness, and honesty. This response is not likely to happen. Usually it will be one of the first two responses discussed above. The key to coming out of an unpleasant meeting with LEO/SWAT is to keep your head!! Obey the commands given to you in a timely manner without back talking, cussing, or giving them an unnecessary hard time. Remember, they are only doing their job, and in more than one instance, your life may be on the line! For questions, comments, or more info contact Itsahak at itsahak@brassairsoft.com Thanks to Wil for this writing article. He had some really good, sound advice on what to do and what not to do. I abide by these rules, and I recommend you do also. Thanks again Wil! If you have an article you would like to submit, please email it to use either via usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com or via our website: www.officialusasocmagazine.com .

Laws and Safety: Many people are concerned that the realism of airsoft guns makes them dangerous. Parents need to be aware that giving an airsoft gun to irresponsible children can put their child in danger. In certain countries where real firearms are illegal the police, and others, may understand that children are playing with fake guns. In the United States, however, airsoft guns are regularly mistaken for real guns. Just as you would not brandish a real firearm in public, the same is true with airsoft guns. Airsoft guns are not cap guns or squirt guns. Be aware that if your child brings an airsoft gun to school, or any other public place, they may be arrested or, at worst, shot by a police officer. If you are a parent and are reading this, thank you for taking responsibility and being pro-active in learning about airsoft guns. To learn more about airsoft gun safety please read on. Not only do airsoft guns appear to be real, they also shoot plastic pellets. Many of the more expensive models such as AEGs are fully automatic. The speed at which airsoft bb's come out of airsoft guns is much slower than the speed that bb's are shot out of a traditional bb gun. Generally speaking, this speed allows people to shoot at each other with airsoft guns safely, under certain conditions. The first condition is eyewear. Never, ever, shoot at someone who is not wearing proper eye protection. Proper eye protection means eye goggles rated at least ANSI Z87.1 or paintball goggles. Proper eye protection is not military sun/dust/wind goggles, ski goggles, or shop goggles. Do not risk your own eyes or take on liability for your friend's eyes. Always wear proper eye protection when shooting airsoft guns! Read more about eye protection. Also, please be aware of the speeds at which all airsoft guns used in an airsoft game are shooting. Typical out-of-the-box airsoft guns shoot at ranges anywhere from 250 feet per second to 350 feet per second. Airsoft guns can be modified to shoot faster. Speeds between 375 feet per second and 400 feet per second are usually the maximum speeds US airsoft teams will allow. Make sure that anyone firing an airsoft gun over 400 feet per second is experienced, can accurately judge distance, and does not engage targets at close

range. Never mix real bb guns into an airsoft gun game. If you are unsure of an airsoft gun's firing speed, either buy a chronograph to measure the speed or simply do not allow it at a game. The simplest rule to remember with airsoft guns is to treat them as real guns. An accidental discharge at close range can have any number of damaging results including, but not limited too, broken teeth and damaged eyes. When transporting your gun to and from a game, carry it in a gun case. Not only is a gun case the safest means of transportation, it also naturally protects your gun (airsoft guns can be quite fragile) and makes a great place to store airsoft pistols and spare magazines. For many areas, a gun case is the only way to legally transport your airsoft gun. Remember, it is very difficult to visibly distinguish an airsoft gun from a real gun. Many people are concerned about the use of airsoft guns in crimes. A criminal is a criminal and will use whatever means they can to break the law. I would prefer a less dangerous criminal with an airsoft gun to a criminal armed with a real gun and the capability to kill innocent people. Don't let any of these safety issues scare you away. Airsoft is not a dangerous sport as long as everyone playing understands safety. If you can not follow these rules, please try another outdoor sport. When everyone follows the rules, airsoft is just as safe as paintball. In 3 years of playing, I never saw any serious accident. On a few occasions a BB at close range has drawn blood, but that is rare. I have played in games with 50+ people without incident. Last, but not least, before you play an airsoft game make sure that the airsoft teams you are playing with have strict rules concerning safety and feet per second limits for guns involved. Good Luck! (Source: www.AirsoftgunHelp.com)

Laws and Safety: â&#x20AC;˘ Under Federal Law, o Airsoft guns are not classified as firearms subject to the Gun Control Act. (However, in almost every major city and population center the definition of a firearm within their respected ordinances includes propulsion by spring or compressed air, thus subject to applicable laws.) o A 6 mm minimum orange tip must be present on the barrel end of the airsoft gun to identify it as such for any commercial sales or transport. Once you own the airsoft gun, you may remove the orange tip in most areas, but local and state laws do vary. o Airsoft guns' trademarks must be removed where the manufacturer does not have an existing license agreement with the "Real Steel" gun's manufacturer in the U. S. (Example: Classic Army has a licensing agreement with Arsenal Arms, so the trademarks can stay on imported replicas of Arsenal's SLR 105 A1. In practice enforcement is hit or miss. You might get an "unlicensed" gun through customs with Trademarks intact, while a Licensed gun might be held in Customs by an "under informed" customs agent.) o In addition, the similarity between genuine firearms and airsoft replicas is close enough to provoke interaction with local law enforcement personnel if an airsoft gun is carried openly in public. o If someone were to, for example, attempt a robbery with an airsoft gun, they would be charged as if the airsoft gun were a real firearm.

Special: TAPSS Airsoft Practical Pistol Shooting Competition By: Caelyn Nagle (AKA BattlePriest)

Airsoft, as most of us know, is about simulation of some kind; therefore, I will start by talking briefly about what practical shooting in the “real steel” world is about. Practical shooting is FAR from simple target shooting. The basis of “practical shooting” is to test one’s ability to handle a weapon in a dynamic course. The course has multiple targets and obstacles. Some obstacles only obstruct your view of the targets; others obstruct your movement as well. The courses may be clearly defined; others may require choices of approach. Scoring methods vary depending on what system you are using. Basically,

you are scored based on time and accuracy, with adjustments made to your time for various reasons. Your adjusted time is your final score. Practical shooting’s roots began in the late 1950s with quick draw demonstrations and competitions, fueled by the popularity of Hollywood westerns. It evolved from there as people wanted to test new techniques learned, and as new firearms technology became available. In 1974, an international group of shooting enthusiasts held a meeting in Columbia, Missouri. From this meeting was formed the IPSC or International Practical Shooting Confederation. In 1979, John Bianchi founded the Bianchi Cup Tournament, which is now run by the NRA. In the early 1980s, the Steel Challenge was formed. The USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association) was formed in 1984 as the U.S. branch of the IPSC. As time went on, these original organizations become more of a sport, and much less “practical.” The various classes ranged from stock guns to highly modified and flashy guns that one could never wield as a defensive pistol on the street and wouldn’t ever be used as a weapon of war. This caused the formation of the IDPA or International Defensive Pistol Association. IDPA’s main goal is to focus on the same elements of speed, accuracy and power, but keeping to the use of service and self defense pistols. IDPA courses are designed in “real world” style layouts. In the 21st century, as airsoft GBB replica technology advanced, airsoft enthusiasts in Japan and Hong Kong took to adapting real steel practical shooting to airsoft use. Most usually referred to as bbIPSC, but often simply called IPSC by organizations such as the Hong Kong Shooters Development Union (HKSDU). Airsoft practical PISTOL events are apparently very common and very well established in Asian countries. In addition to bbIPSC, in Japan there are also quite a bit of airsoft versions of Bianchi Cup and Steel Challenge as well. From the videos I have seen online, they do their best to stick very close to the original rules and regulations of whatever real world system they are imitating. The airsofters in the Asian parts of the world aren’t the only ones to try airsoft practical pistol shooting; it has a small following in Europe, and there have been small outbreaks of it in the United States as well. But until very

recently, never even remotely on the organized level as seen in Hong Kong and Japan. I first started my track to designing Tactical Airsoft Pistol Speed Shooting (TAPSS) in the fall of 2004, holding my first event for my own airsoft team, in a two car garage with scoring done by hand. TAPSS was intended to be not only a competition system, but also a method for training with pistols to improve upon skills you can use on the skirmish field. From late 2004 to mid 2005, I did a lot of research on different styles of practical shooting and wrote down a set of rules to publish on my own web site. After some minor marketing tactics, I held the first retailer sponsored TAPSS event in May 2005 at Aggressive Sports Joliet (ASJ), a paintball and airsoft retailer in Joliet, IL. With seven participants, I considered it a great success for the first â&#x20AC;&#x153;officialâ&#x20AC;? TAPSS event. I also held two events in 2006 at the same location, and one more event in January 2007, which doubled as a training day in which I helped the staff of ASJ get ready to begin hosting their own monthly TAPSS events. In February 2007, the ASJ staff began hosting monthly TAPSS events. A good thing too, because I had recently moved to Ohio and could not continue hosting them in Illinois.

Even considering this minor victory for U.S. airsoft practical shooting, interest of airsoft practical pistol shooting in the U.S. has been a hard thing to lock down. Every single person who has participated in TAPSS has gone away smiling and speaking of the “next time.” Unfortunately, those who have participated haven’t been excessively open or vocal across the net about the great fun they have with practical pistol shooting. Other than my own reports on the results of each competition, only one or two of the competitors have ever given an After Action Report or even small bits of feedback online (the best media for passing the word). I would think this was bad news if not for the fact that these people continue to come back to TAPSS. There have been other forms of Airsoft Practical shooting popping up in the U.S., too. The Taiwanese company “Mad Bull” Began a marketing campaign in the guise of the USAPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association). The “organization” was apparently started by an employee of Mad Bull, to help market their new line of practical shooting accessories, which currently consists of metal “popper” targets, a hand held course timer, and a stop plate popper target. At least one U.S. based retailer has held a USAPSA event and produced a video for it, but at this time I do not know if that has progressed any further. I personally do not find the USAPSA system appealing, but many others do. Then, of course, there are those less organized practical events held here and there across the U.S., mainly in garages, consisting of simple “shoot the cans over” courses running purely on time as a score, or even simple side by side races. Among the few spots of genuine interest in airsoft practical shooting, there seem to be droves of “somewhat interested” airsofters. People that show some interest, or even seem to show great interest in airsoft practical shooting in online forums and communities, but for some reason never show up to airsoft practical shooting events. It seems, though, the biggest detractor to a successful and large practical shooting scene in the U.S. is the U.S. airsofter’s addiction to his electric rifles. A good 75% of replies to my posts on the subject consist of an airsofter asking if he or she can use their AEG. I have often told them that I am considering writing an enhanced system that

will include the use of AEGs, but only in semi-auto. As soon as I say this, that 75% seem to lose all interest. I try to explain how boring it would be using full auto in such a course, full auto making it too easy to hit poppers and too hard to score ring targets. But they simply donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to go without their AEG in full auto. Even so, I am not ready to give up trying to get these AEG users to TRY a GBB practical pistol event. (Target: not official size. Please email Mr. Nagle or U.S.A.S.O.C. for official size copy or read the print instructions on target below.)

My future plans are to continue with my quest to increase the United States’ airsoft practical shooting community through a mix of marketing, education, and demonstration. I have just begun talks with an Ohio based retailer to bring TAPSS to the Ohio airsoft community. I have plans to write an Enhanced TAPSS system, which will be rooted in the original TAPSS core rules, but will include the use of bbIPSC style dynamic poppers and knock over targets, as well as integrating a stop plate timer. The current TAPSS rules are written with only one class of pistol in mind. That is, there aren’t any specific classes. Stock and modified GBB pistols are used in the same classes, with the only limitation being that you can only use iron sights. This was done primarily so that TAPSS would be open to as many airsofters as possible. Enhanced TAPSS will consist of a set of well defined classes. Stock GBB pistol class, an unlimited GBB pistol class, a revolver class and yes…an AEG class. If you think you would like Airsoft Practical Pistol Competition or Practical Shooting in general, get your friends together and try it out in your basements, your garages, your barns, or if outside is your thing, try it out at your local Airsoft field. The TAPSS system rules are free for all to use. Anyone can set up a course with the information on the TAPSS’s page at Airsoft Specialists. Everything you would need to know is right there. USAPSA has their rules online as well. I am sure you could find the bbIPSC rules they use online somewhere, too, but you may have to learn to read Chinese or Japanese to use them. You could, of course, go to the IPSC or IDPA web sites and adapt the real steel to airsoft on your own. Do some reading, get started. Practical Shooting is fun, and I didn’t mention this before, but it is also the only CURRENT way to truly compete for prizes in airsoft. It is the only airsoft activity in which you can PROVE who won. By its nature, if organized and run properly, it is very hard, if not impossible, to cheat at practical shooting competition. Meaning… if you truly ARE the best, you can win prizes for your skill. If you are a team leader, a representative of a regional airsoft organization, or an airsoft retailer interested in hosting your own TAPSS events, and you have any questions, you can always contact me via my blog at Airsoft Specialists. I would even be willing to visit your site to help you set up and run your first event if I am reimbursed for travel and expenses. But really, it's not that hard. I expect any of

you could get a TAPSS league going in no time. You can find everything you need to know about TAPSS here: http://www.airsoftspecialists.com/articles/TAPSS/tapss.htm Remember, participants donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need fancy pistols to do practical shooting, all they need is a working GBB, a holster and safety glasses. Definitions and Links: IPSC = International Practical Shooting Confederation http://www.ipsc.org/ IDPA= International Defensive Pistol Association http://www.idpa.com/ USPSA= United States Practical Shooting Association http://www.uspsa.org/ NRA Bianchi Cup http://www.nrahq.org/compete/nm_actionshooting.asp Steel Challenge http://www.steelchallenge.com/ TAPSS= Tactical Airsoft Pistol Speed Shooting http://www.airsoftspecialists.com/articles/TAPSS/tapss.htm bbIPSC= BB International Practical Shooting Confederation HKSDU= Hong Kong Shooters Development Union http://www.hksdu.com/ USAPSA= Untied State Airsoft Practical Shooting Association http://www.usapsa.org/ Aggressive Sports Joliet http://www.aggressivesportsjoliet.com Airsoft Specialists Blog http://www.airsoftspecialists.com/blog/

Video of practical shooting is the best way to show what it’s like without actually doing it. You can find several good videos of airsoft practical pistol events on http://www.youtube.com and there are plenty of them for download from HKSDU. I also have quite a few TAPSS videos as well. The best of them are available at my You Tube page here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=BattlePriest From Owner/Main Editor: I would highly suggest checking out Mr. Nagle’s website and learning about TAPSS and airsoft speed shooting. I honestly never heard about this before Mr. Nagle notified us of his article, and I’m glad he

did. I learned a lot, and highly suggest for you pistol fans out there to start doing some speed shooting competitions. As you can see, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take much to start an event, and truly defines who has more skill then others. It would make another great addition to our sport, and hopefully, we would gain a new audience to the sport as well. I would like to thank Mr. Nagle for writing this extremely helpful and insightful article. If you have any articles you would like to see in U.S.A.S.O.C., please send them to us at: usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com or visit us online at: www.officialusasocmagazine.com.

P h o t o s: Thanks again to all who contributed to us this month. If you have a photo(s) that you would like to see in U.S.A.S.O.C., please send them to: usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com to see them in future issues. All of the photos of people without safety goggles or glasses in this e-magazine were staged. This meaning, the players were not playing airsoft at the time so that is why they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have on safety goggles or glasses. Please note that.

(Photo Credit: Elmer Cato / Filforce)

(Photos Credits: Mike Force Tactical Airsoft Club)

P h o t o o f t h e I ss u e : A special thanks goes out to the guys at Alpha Tactical Force for allowing us to use this great photo for this issue’s “Photo of the Issue.” If you have a photo that you think should be the next “Photo of the Issue”, send it our way to: usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com.

Upcoming Events: May-June Featured Event:

The security situation in Carriska has remained relatively stable over the past month since the vicious struggle between the Army and warring drug cartels. With the Army and government back in control, and the country reasonably secure, a small U.S. peacekeeping force has just begun initial deployments to the country after the brief violence over the past year, but thus far, only a handful of Marines and a Special Forces ODA are on site. The U.S. State Department has contracted a number of Blackwater Security Consultants to provide security for U.S. Diplomats and officials throughout the country, due to the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, intelligence reports on growing insurgent activity in and around the capital, Kascavich. This isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t apparent until 12 May 2007: SITREP: On 0845 12 May 2007, a convoy of two vehicles from Task Force Bear Claw, a Blackwater Security Consultant team, was escorting a U.S. State Department Official from the Kascavich Airport to the U.S. Embassy. At 0855, the lead vehicle in the convoy was hit by an IED, just one hundred meters short of the U.S. Embassy. An estimated ten to twenty insurgents then attacked the column with small arms fire and RPGs. The Blackwater Operatives fought off the first wave of assaults, and secured two of the enemy arms caches, but satellite intelligence indicates that more insurgents are on the way to join the fighting.

Operations: 1. Ambush Alley: The Blackwater Security Consultants will start at the destroyed vehicle at the village. The Blackwater Operators must escort the VIP to the U.S. Embassy without him being captured or killed; the VIP can only be revived by a medic three times. The Insurgents will start at locations on the other side of the junkyard and in between the Embassy and the Ambush site. They must kill or capture the VIP and prevent him from getting to the Embassy. Both teams will have infinite lives, except for the VIP, who only has three. The Insurgents and Blackwater security teams will have one medic. 2. Combat Rescue: One of the Blackwater Operators, who was wounded in the initial ambush, was taken prisoner by the insurgent forces. Satellite intelligence suggests that he was in one of the immediate buildings surrounding the ambush site. The Blackwater Operatives must search building to building in search of their fallen comrades, and extract them to the Embassy. The Insurgent team will start in the junkyard; the Blackwater Team will start at the Embassy. Each team will have unlimited respawns and must respawn at their respective points. 3. Improvised Explosive Device: The insurgents are planning to plant three IEDs made out of plastic explosives along three main routes to the embassy in an attempt to stop any re-supply and reinforcements. During the rescue attempt, the Blackwater Operatives found maps and intelligence on one of the dead insurgent leaders with the plans and routes of these IEDs. Satellite intelligence has confirmed that several insurgent teams are attempting to plant these IEDs. The Blackwater Operatives must stop the Insurgents from planting the Improvised Explosive Devices before their re-supply arrives in one hour. If the insurgents plant the IEDs, the Blackwater Operatives can still defuse them. The Insurgents must successfully have two out of three IEDs planted by the end of the hour. The Blackwater Team will start at the Embassy; the Insurgent team will start at the barrel fort. 4. Media Propaganda: Insurgents are planning to storm and take control of a local government controlled radio station. The Blackwater Force has been tasked with getting there first and

holding the position until Government forces can arrive. If the Insurgents are there, they must drive them back. Whoever has control of the radio station at the end of the hour wins control. The Blackwater Operatives will start at the U.S. Embassy; the insurgents will start at their respawn. The Insurgents must respawn at a spawn point and receive one respawn. 5. Arms Caches: Intel reports that the Insurgents are keeping several large arms caches spread throughout the town in attempt to gain a strong foothold and increase their presents among the population. The Blackwater team is tasked with eliminating at least two out of the three Arms Caches. The Insurgents must stop them. The Blackwater team will start at the Embassy, and the Insurgent team will start at the town. 6. Under Siege: The insurgents turn the tide on the U.S. Embassy with an all out assault in the largest insurgent offensive since February. This has caught the U.S. off guard and is slow to react. The militia must capture the U.S. Embassy within an hour before a large U.S. Quick Reaction Force arrives. There will be no medics or respawns for this game. All proceeds are going to the children of fallen soldiers fund. Visit: http://www.airsoftlouisville.org/ for more information and registration.

Note: For extended details and information regarding the event, please carefully READ through the event INTEL page. Veterans of past SAFARI STRIKE! Past events’ participants will also take note as a few rule and policy changes have been implemented this year. General Info Summary - LOCATION: Pinnacle Woods, Chardon, Ohio - DATE: Saturday, June 2, 2007 - COST: $50 per player - AGE: All players ages 16 years of age and older - U.S. UNIFORM: 3 or 6-color desert, desert digital, Multi-Cam, ACU, or any TAN based military BDU - REBEL UNIFORM: woodland, tiger stripe, digital woodland, or any GREEN based military BDU Operation: SAFARI STRIKE! 3 features: · Detailed and mission oriented scenarios! · LARGE commercial battlefield! · Scenario Props and Special Effects! · Special Edition Event T-Shirts! · Sponsor Prize Raffle! Last year, OPSS2 hosted 200 players representing teams and individuals from states including Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Virginia, New York and Georgia. This year, OPSS3 promises to be BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER!

WHO: Individuals/groups interested in participating in a Military Combat Simulation. Attendees must be at least 13 years of age. WHAT: ZERO HOUR will be an eight hour Military Combat Simulation occurring over the course of one day. All participants will sign up to be on one of two forces, designated as ARMY and MILITIA. It should be noted that no EAG Combat Simulationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (EAG) staff or members of EAG's special operations group (ESOG) will be participating exclusively on either force, thus giving neither force the "home court" advantage. Both forces will however, be observed by a group of advisors recruited from ESOG's cadre. One commanding officer, one executive officer, and two squad leader positions are available for each force and will be filled on a voluntary, first register, first serve basis. Both forces will be tasked with completing various duties as instructed by force command and will be deployed to achieve a number of major and minor objectives throughout the course of the simulation. Squads will be regularly scheduled to rotate duties to insure that each squad has the opportunity to experience all facets of the simulation. EAG staff and ESOG members will be on the field at all times during the simulation. Their role will be simulation support. It should be stressed that these individuals will not be competing to achieve objective points. These individuals are strictly simulation support, their role is solely enhancement of the simulation and they are not eligible to win any awards or prizes associated with the simulation. WHEN: â&#x20AC;˘ Saturday, 26 May, 2007, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. All participants are encouraged to arrive as early as Friday evening, to in process and meet informally with their force. Force leaders are required to do so. All participants are also invited to stay for open

play on Sunday. WHERE: EAG Combat Simulations located in Mill Hall/Lamar, Central PA. HOW MUCH: -NON-RENTALS (PARTICIPANTS WITH OWN EQUIPMENT): Participation in ZERO HOUR for non-renters will cost a total of $20, $25 or $30 - depending on when the registration fee is paid: NON-RENTALS registering for the 26 May, 2007 ZERO HOUR Pay on or before 14 April = $20 Pay 15 April through 28 April = $25 Pay 29 April through 12 May = $30 -RENTALS (PARTICIPANTS WITHOUT OWN EQUIPMENT): Participation in ZERO HOUR for renters will cost a total of $45, $50 or $55 - depending on when the registration fee is paid: RENTALS registering for the 26 May, 2007 ZERO HOUR Pay on or before 14 April = $45 Pay 15 April through 28 April = $50 Pay 29 April through 12 May = $55 SAFETY: All weapons to be used during the simulation will be chronographed. The velocity/engagement standards are as follows: • Three shot average of 0-300 with.25g: Targets may be engaged on full or semi auto at any distance (except point blank). •

Three shot average of 301-350 with.25g: Targets that are farther than 25' may be engaged on full or semi auto. Targets that are within 25' may be engaged with a single shot, below the shoulders.

•

Three shot average of 351-400 with.25g: Targets that are farther than 50' may be engaged on full or semi auto. Targets that are within 50' may be engaged with a single shot, below the shoulders.

Our insurance requires us to tell you that facemasks with ear protection or balaclavas are required. Facemasks with ear protection or balaclavas are required for all players under 18. All goggles must meet the following requirements: 1.

Polycarbonate lens construction that meets or exceeds ANSI Z87.1 or ANSI Z80.3 standards.

Goggles must set securely against your face. No gaps that a bb could pass through may be present.

Mesh goggles specifically designed for Airsoft are also permitted. REGISTRATION: Please visit: http://www.eaghq.com/ZHSIMULATION.htm.

Operation: Fire Blossom Recently, the United States experienced a computer malfunction that accidentally launched a prototype weapon. Thankfully, the weapon was disabled in flight before any damage could be done, unfortunately several pieces of the weapon have been scattered across a large area and must be recovered. Recovery of the weapon will not be easy. Currently, out-side forces are also seeking out the weapon, for what purpose is still unknown...though it is suspected that they are not doing so with good intentions.

Operation: Fire Blossom Info: http://ghillieghost1.proboards105.com/index.cgi?board=opfb1&action =display&thread=1176147541 Registration http://www.eventbrite.com/event/55036616 Things to Know: -115 acres of what has been described as "perfect for airsoft" in Arkansas. -The operation will be staffed by airsoft players. -There will be a vendor and demonstration area...space is currently available. -Primitive camping on-site for participants. -Toilets on-site. -Food and beverages will be available throughout the operation. -Saturday night cook out for all participants. -Primary, secondary, and bonus missions. -Individual and one-on-one competitions. -Night game. -Pre-registration and group discounts are available. -Force commander and role playing opportunities are currently available. ARRA reserves the right to refuse any registration for Operation: Fire Blossom, for any reason.

FREE TO PLAY NWAL Membership NOT REQUIRED Location: Donnahue Creek (Oregon). Larch Mountain Road (Off of Columbia Scenic Highway) Near Mile marker 6 (AKA: 937th's Lower Field) WARNING: Do not plan on taking the Corbett Hill Exit from I-84, it is closed for construction until July 15th! This event will be set up Tournament Style. Squad/Team Size: 6-12 People. Each team will be graded on: -Mission Execution -Time on Objective

-Mission Completion -Land Navigation (No more than 1K, must find objective.) -Teamwork There will be five objectives: -React to Ambush -Conduct a Raid -Infiltrate Lines -React to Contact -Conduct a Hasty Defence Raffle Prizes: Classic Army M177 TSD Type 96 Drop-Leg Holster Battery Charger Two Large Speed-Loaders Three CA T-Shirts. NWAL SAFETY RULES WILL BE ENFORCED http://www.airsoftpacific.com/viewtopic.php?t=11039 Please visit: http://www.airsoftpacific.com/viewtopic.php?t=9976 for more info.

Operation Viper: REGION: CENTRAL FLORIDA. Description: FA Rules Apply - You must be 18 years of age or older to attend. Join MGP on May 26th through May 27th for Operation Viper. Vietnam 1969 ‘You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.’----Ho Chi Minh Welcome to those thrilling days of yesteryear! Time to put away that red dot scope and hang up your Blackhawk super vest and put on the good ol' boonie hat and jungle boots and time to go back to 'Nam! The tide of the war has shifted. Support back home has become to waver and even the soldiers on the ground are losing hope. Now the Brass has ordered the 1st Air Cav back to Bin Kei. It’s been months since the Americans were forced to fall back from Firebase Chicago. In that time, they have been trying to recover from their loses at Bin Lao and the surrounding region. In that time, the Viet Cong have begun strengthening their hold on the region. The North Vietnamese Army is now being re-supplied from Cambodia and there is little the Americans can do to stop it. As B-52's perform their arc-light bombing raids, attempting to destroy these newly created supply lines, it is up to the grunts on the ground to retake what was lost. Come join MindGame Productions on Memorial Day weekend for a TWO DAY EVENT as we take you back for another tour of duty! Experience the urban warfare of Vietnam as you try to fight for control of Bin Kei. Go on night patrol while trying to find an enemy that blends into the darkness.

MindGame Productions in conjunction with Wayne's World of Paintball will be presenting a Two Day Event on May 26 and 27th 2007 Check out www.mindgameproductions.com for more information as well as a link to Wayne's World Of Paintball. Special Rules: Uniform Requirements: This event will requires specific patterns for each team. NO SHORTS will be allowed. Field Ammunition: Biodegradable BB's will be required for this event as per the field owner's request. If you bring your own bio-degradable BBs to the field, we ask that you leave them in sealed bags to be verified by staff. The bag of BB's must say "Biodegradable" in ENGLISH on the bag. BB's that claim to be Biodegradable but do not say them in English are NOT allowed. Help us keep the door open for future Wayne's World Events! Excel Biodegradable BB's will be sold onsite for $12/bag ($10/bag preorder) for .20g (1700 rounds/bag) by MGP Please visit www.mindgameproductions.com for more information Directions: Located at 4841 S. Pine Street (Hwy. 441/301/27). Entrance drive is located between Factory Direct Mobile Homes and Raintree Mobile Homes, directly across the street from the Ocala Drive-In Theater.

Learning from the Professionals: Operation “EC” Operation Eagle Claw: “What began as an already complex rescue mission turned into an even worse disaster…” Operation Eagle Claw was the code name for the rescue mission of the fifty-three hostages who were held at the United States’ embassy in Tehran, Iran on April 24th, 1980. Operation Eagle Claw was also called Operation Evening Light and Operation Rice Bowl. The operation was a complex two night mission separated into many parts. The objective was to establish a staging area inside Iran, near an Iranian town called Tabas. This “staging area” was called Desert One. The purpose of Desert One was to provide a refueling area for the C-130s, carrying the Special Forces and Special Ops troops into the area. Desert One also served as another refueling station for the RH-53D Sea Stallion helos that would then transport the men to Desert Two, the second part of the mission. Once at Desert Two, the Special Forces and Special Ops teams would proceed to a hidden area outside the embassy where they could monitor the hostages’ situation. On the second day’s night, the Special Forces and Special Ops would then proceed into the embassy and rescue and secure the hostages. Once secured, they would “high tail it” to a nearby soccer (or football for you U.K. guys) stadium and be extracted by the Sea Stallions outside of Iran to Manzariyah Air Base. Once there, the hostages would then be transferred back to the C-130s and flown to safety. In a perfect world, this is what should’ve happened. The men conducting the mission were the U.S. Army’s 1st Special Forces Operation Detachment-Delta (SFOD-D). As many know, a more common name for this group is “Delta Force.” There would also be one or two squads of U.S. Army Rangers from the 75th Regiment to provide protection for the Delta team members while they were in the embassy. There was also a team of USAF Combat-Controllers on site as well. A total head count for the men going on the operation was 132. The Sea Stallions were flown by U.S. Marines pilots.

This was a very risky operation for its time. This would be the first mission that Charlie Beckwith’s newly formed group, Delta, would participate in so everyone from Washington was watching them. Jimmy Cartier was the President at the time, and he was a little apprehensive about sending a force into rescue the hostages. He wanted to resolve it peacefully, but that wasn’t the case here. He had waited long enough, and even Beckwith approached him face-to-face about sending his men in to rescue the hostages. They had been training for this opportunity for the last four to five months. They could basically do it in their sleep if they had to. Beckwith knew he couldn’t blow this chance with the President, and he didn’t. The President gave him a green light to go. And interesting point is what President Carter asked Beckwith to do. “Carter wanted to avoid killing Iranians, so he had insisted that if a hostile crowd formed during the raid, Delta should attempt to control it without shooting people. The Deltas, among the rest of the SF and SO members considered this ridiculous and decided to do otherwise...The Deltas complained about this order to General Jones, who had said he would look into it, but the answer had come back “No, the president insists.” So Burruss had made his own peace with it. He had with him one tear-gas grenade—one— which he intended to throw as soon as necessary; he would then use its smoke as a marker to call in devastatingly lethal 40 mm AC-130 gunship fire.” (The Atlantic – www.theatlantic.com) It took about two weeks from the time the President gave the green light until Beckwith and the other Deltas were ready to go. Considering all the prep-work that had to be done, this was extremely fast. While Beckwith and his men were gathering all the necessary gear, he had two Delta teams already in and out of Iran. Their primary jobs were to scout the site for Desert One and where to hide their vehicles that were going to take them to the embassy. With sun getting lower in the sky, a lone C-130 carrying Beckwith and his men reached the coast of Iran on April 24th, 1980. This is what they all had waited for. A chance to show what Delta was made of, but unfortunately, that never happened. It was about this time while traveling over Iran at close to 250 feet of the deck, to avoid the Iranian radar, that the C-130 flew into a sand storm. From the pilots’ reports, it was close to 100 miles in length. It

took them roughly thirty minutes to fly through. The pilots and Beckwith knew that the C-130s would be fine, but not the RH-53D Sea Stallions. The sand would contaminate the Stallions’ engines and probably shut them down as well. In some sense, that is what happened. Of the eight helos that were on the mission, two never even made it to Desert One. One had to crash land, and the other, because of the sand storm, turned back. That left six helos, the minimum that Beckwith needed. If another was lost, the mission would have to be scratched. When Beckwith and the other Deltas finally reached Desert One, it wasn’t what they expected. When they landed and got off the C-130, a Ranger team went after a truck that crossed the airstrip. Beckwith and his men couldn’t believe it. What were the odds that a lone truck in the middle of a night would cross their airstrip? Well, as the Ranger team disabled the truck, another vehicle came into view. It was an Iranian bus full of people! The Rangers, at this point, shot an antivehicle rocket into the truck they damaged before, yet what they didn’t know was that it was a fuel truck, and now there was a huge ball of flame that was going to burn for a good deal of time. “In this sudden glow the bus now rolled to a stop with a leaking radiator and a flat right-front tire. Rangers had fired their weapons to disable it. Fitch, still confused, sent Delta machine-gun teams to both sides of the stalled, steaming vehicle, and led a group of his men to the front. Some Rangers were already aboard. Fitch mounted the steps and asked a Ranger sergeant, “What the hell is going on?” “I’m trying to get these people off the bus, but they won’t move,” the sergeant said. The passengers were clearly bewildered. “Should I fire a shot over their heads?” he asked. “No,” Fitch said. “Why don’t you just get off the bus, and I’ll get my people in here.” One of Delta’s specialties was handling hostages—herding them, searching them, securing them. In the next few minutes, Fitch’s men firmly and efficiently emptied the bus and searched the passengers for weapons. They then stripped the baggage off the top of the bus and searched it, finding no weapons. The passengers appeared to be poor Iranians, simply traveling through the night from Yazd to Tabas. The bus was decorated with placards and posters of the Ayatollah Khomeini. It had rolled into the wrong place at the wrong time. The question of what to do with the passengers was relayed all the way to the White House. The president and his staff were deliberately going through the late-

afternoon motions of a typical workday but secretly hanging on every update from the desert. Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national-security adviser, relayed the unexpected problem of the bus to the president, and Carter agreed that the only thing to do was to fly all the Iranians out that night on one of the C-130s and then return them to Iran when the mission was complete. Shortly after midnight things grew louder and busier as the second C-130 roared in for a landing, right on schedule, and taxied to a stop. Behind it were the three fuel tankers and the communications plane. As Burruss and his men came down the lowered ramp of their plane, they gaped at the ball of flame, the bus, and the passengers sitting on the sand. “Welcome to World War Three!” Fitch greeted them.” (The Atlantic – www.theatlantic.com) Around this time, the remaining six helos arrived. They were low on fuel, and the pilots were exhausted from the five hour flight through. Not only that, but their nerves were just about shattered because of flying blind in the sand storm and wondering if they were flying the right way or into a mountain. They, too, had to remain at 250 feet of the deck, if not closer, to the ground to avoid radar detection. The Stallions were refueled, and Beckwith and his team were excited. This was it…they finally had their chance to perform. Well that changed fast. The worst thing that could happen did happen. One of the remaining six helos couldn’t go on the mission because it had “mechanical difficulties.” What the crews were doing, both C-130s and helos, was leaving their engines running, due to when shutting them down something usually broke when trying to start them again. Well, sources say that the one of the Stallions’ crews “intentionally” shut down one of their engines to abort the mission. They were already on wits’ end from the five-hour blind flight through the sand storm as it was. Beckwith was furious. He had to abort. Washington gave him the chance to go on with the mission, but he would have to leave some of his men behind. He basically said that either everyone goes or no-one goes, and they aborted the mission. This is when the chaos starts. One of the Sea Stallions had to be moved because it was preventing the C-130s from taking off, but while taking off, the helo crashed into one of the parked C-130. In the crash, sixteen men died: eight service men, five USAF aircrew members, and three USMC aircrew members. It was the worst thing that could happen; everyone was stunned. They all still had to get out

of there so everyone got in the C-130s and took off. They left behind the last five Sea Stallions. They now serve in the Iranian Navy. Not only did the United States lose men, equipment, and failed the mission, but while evacuating, the aircrews left behind delicate, topsecret CIA documents on the CIA agents in Iran at the time. Basically, it was a total failure in all areas. “Another unofficial theory - based on tales heard from eye-witnesses of aftermath - about the reason behind the explosion of the C-130 and Sea Stallion is a disruptive attack by Soviet Air Forces to prevent dispatch of anti-aircraft and anti-helicopter armaments to Afghan fighters through the Tabas airstrip. After the Islamic revolution, and during the early months of the new government, Iran's control over many routes and air channels had weakened to a minimum and considering its several hundred miles of weakly monitored border with Afghanistan, made the abandoned military bases in the west of this country the best open routes to support Afghan freedom fighters with ammunition and intelligence support.” (Wikipedia) “Operation Eagle Claw seemed to have a dual agenda which was intercepted by the Soviets. When the Iranian militia forces, a.k.a. Basij-and Revolutionary Guards, reached the abandoned airstrip, they witnessed signs of an air raid with explosion marks on the ground and remaining Soviet bomb shells as well as dud Russian ammunitions around the airstrip. Despite the efforts by the new Iranian government to contain information, and due to weakness of the newly established military counter-intelligence, information leaked out and become the unofficial theory behind the disaster. Obviously neither the Democratic Party nor the Iranian government wanted the truth be revealed; Democrats did not want to be blamed for direct interference in Afghanistan, and the latter did not want to show dependence on Soviet's support. After the Sea Stallions were hastily transferred out of the location, the site was bombed by the Iranian Air Force to destroy any remaining evidence. This act would have been absolutely unnecessary because they could’ve blamed the sand storm as the actual force behind the disaster, and Iranian government could have turned the place into a museum showing how the United States was defeated by the act of their “god” (as they advertised this idea for many years). The list of CIA operatives handed over to the Iranians was not left behind at the scene, but was rather a perk

awarded by the Soviets for Iran's co-operation in covering up the story. In no military operation would such a list be carried to the battlefield nor would be left behind in an easily decryptable manner for enemy's counter-intelligence to use. The list revealed the Democrats’ influential people inside the revolutionary forces whose removal helped with closer ties between the Republican Party and the Iran's newly formed government. Republicans took the office back and Iranians easily returned the hostages in hope for future cooperation from the Reagan's office.” (Wikipedia) So what was the general outcome for Operation Eagle Claw? Well a failure is most sense, but it did help create a few organizations that are very vital to our military now. Because of how unorganized things were between the different military branches’ Special Forces and Special Ops units, Operation Eagle Claw led to the forming of United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). It also led the forming of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers) in 1988 or 1989. One of the main challenges in the mission was the lack of experienced pilots that had the skill and nerve to endure these missions. The hostages were released 444 days later on January 20th, 1981 – the day the Ronald Reagan succeeded Cartier as President of the United States. So as you can see, the mission was a failure even before it started, but it did help start organizations that are very important nowadays in the Special Ops community. If you know of an actual op that occurred and have details on it, please send it to usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com if you would like to see it in U.S.A.S.O.C. Again, with all user-submitted articles, you will be given full credit for it.

Debrief: Operation Eagle Claw Although it’s clear as day that Operation Eagle Claw was a disaster, I think many good things were created because of it, but let’s discuss what went wrong first. First off, the date of the mission should’ve been changed. From reports, everyone knew that it was the season for sand storms and knew it would be a high chance that they would have to contend with one. Second, the Rangers from the 75th Regiment should’ve held their fire instead of blowing up the fuel truck. This only caused them havoc and chaos later. I do understand what they were thinking though. If they let the truck go, the driver could’ve reported that foreign military aircraft had landed in Iran, which would’ve brought a lot of unwanted fire power down on all of the men in the operation. So in the end, I’m not sure that if I was in their position I would have let the truck go too. I think they had a hard decision to make and made a very legitimate one. Third, the lack of experience that the Marine pilots had, I think, was a factor. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen Marine pilots in action, and they are some of the best out there. What I’m saying is that for regular pilots at this time, Special Op missions were new to everyone. Fourth, when the mission was aborted and the Sea Stallion clipped the C-130, was obviously another fault. It could’ve been something mechanical or maybe it was the pilot. In the end, I don’t fault the pilot as much as the helo. All the Sea Stallions were having mechanical difficulties due to the sand storm. And fifth, which I think was one of the most important, was the leaving behind of those CIA documents in the Sea Stallions. Now for the positive. I think the United States’ military learned a lot from this mission, and I think they took the correct measures to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. As stated before, the mission led to the

forming of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers). So overall, even though the mission was a failure, and Delta would have to prove itself later on, Operation Eagle Claw led to at least two very important organizations, USSOCOM and the Night Stalkers; even though the mission was a failure, the hostages were released the following year as well. I hope you learned a lot from and about Operation Eagle Claw. It was a very interesting story. If you want to find out more about Operation Eagle Claw, just research it online.

Teams: Listed here are teams that we have found. If you would like to submit your team to be listed, just include: your teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name and any contact info (website, location, email, etc). Please send it to: usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com. AMSOG: Location: Tucson, Arizona. Website: www.amsog.com Airsoft Team Rhino: Location: Las Vegas, Nevada. Website: www.airsoftteamrhino.com BRASS: Location: Lynchburg, Virginia. Website: www.brassairsoft.com Contact Info (other than website): itsahak@brassairsoft.com Centurion Aisoft Club: Location: Northern California. Website: www.airsoftcenturions.com Cimmerians: Location: San Francisco, California. Website: www.cimmerians.org Cobra Company: Location: Walworth County, Wisconsin bordering Illinois. Website: www.cobracompanywi.com Fargo Moorhead Airsoft: Location: Fargo, North Dakota / Moorhead, Minnesota. Website: www.fmairsoft.com

Echo Squadron: Location: Southeastern Wisconsin. Website: www.echosquadron.com Fox Team Airsoft: Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin. Website: www.foxteamairsoft.cjb.net Ghost Strike: Location: Dayton, Ohio. Website: www.ghoststrike.cjb.net Iron Cross Elite: Location: Neenah, Wisconsin. Website: www.ironcrosselite.com Mobile Militia Force-Alpha: Location: California. Website: www.teammmf-a.com Morgantown Airsoft: Location: Morgantown, West Virginia. Website: www.morgantownairsoft.com North Alabama Tactical Airsoft Command: Location: Huntsville, Alabama. Website: www.natac-airsoft.tk Rangers of NC: Location: Wilmington, North Carolina. Website: www.home.ec.rr.com/hybridiscool/ai/ River Rats: Location: Elgin City, Chicago. Website: www.riverratsairsoft.com South East Airsoft Legion: Location: Dade/Broward/West Palm Beach, Florida. Website: www.southeastairsoftlegion.net

Strikers: Location: Ohio. Website: www.teamstrikers.com Task Force Delta: Location: Northeast Wisconsin. Website: www.taskforcedelta.com Tactical Airsoft of Cleveland: Location: Cleveland, Ohio. Website: www.airsoftcleveland.com Team Hidden Sword: Location: Texas. Website: www.myspace.com/hiddensword The Empire Corporation: Location: Virginia Beach, Virginia. Website: www.theempirecorporation.us Contact Info (other than website): theempirecorporation@gmail.com Toledo Airsoft: Location: Toledo, Ohio. Website: www.toledoairsoft.com 1st Recon Airsoft Battalion: Location: Mansfield, Connecticut. Website: www.freewebs.com/1streconbn Task Force Iron Hammer: Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin. Website: www.tfironhammer.com A.C.E.S. (Advanced Combat Engagement Squad): Location: Jacksonville, FL. Website: www.acesairsoft.web1000.com

SGAT (South Georgia Airsoft Team): Location: Douglas, GA. Website: www.southgeorgiaairsoft.com S.I.R. (South Island Rangers): Location: Victoria, BC Canada. Website: www.sirairsoft.com

*New Team* 1st-S.W.O.R.D (Special Warfare Operations and Recon Det.): Location: Pacific Northwest Region. Website: www.1st-sword.com

*New Team* Silent Ops: Location: Tennessee Area. Website: www.freepowerboards.com/silentops

*New Team* JOKERS: Location: Southeast Washington. Website: www.tcjokers.com

*New Team* Alpha Tactical Force (ATF): Location: Dallas, Texas. Websites: www.myspace.com/atfairsoft - (Current); www.atfairsoft.com â&#x20AC;&#x201C; (Future).

Airsoft Related Websites: Here’s a compacted list of airsoft related links. If you have one that you don’t see, please submit it to: usasoc_themagazine@hotmail.com. Airsoft Alaska: www.airsoftalaska.com Airsoft Arizona: www.airsoftarizona.com Airsoft Cincinnati: www.airsoftcincinnati.com Airsoft Colorado: www.airsoftcolo.suddenlaunch3.com/index.cgi Airsoft Hawaii: www.airsofthawaii.com Airsoft Iowa: www.airsoftiowa.com Airsoft Kentucky: www.airsoftkentucky.com Airsoft Louisville: www.airsoftlouisville.org Airsoft New York: http://asny.forumup.org/index.php Airsoft Ohio: www.airsoftohio.com Airsoft Pacific: www.airsoftpacific.com Airsoft Teams.net: www.airsoft-teams.net Alabama Airsoft Forums: www.bbgunmilitia.proboards77.com Colorado Airsoft: www.coloradoairsoft.org Fubar Airsoft: www.fubarairsoft.com/forums Florida Airsoft: www.floridaairsoft.com

Illinois Airsoft: www.illinoisairsoft.com Las Vegas Airsoft: www.lvairsoft.org Lonestar Airsoft: www.austinairsoft.com Minnesota Airsoft Association: www.mnairsoft.org North Eastern Airsoft Group: www.neasg.org Oklahoma Airsoft: www.okairsoft.com Seattle Aisoft: www.seattleairsoft.com South Carolina Airsoft Association: www.scairsoft.net Tennessee Airsoft: www.tnairsoft.com Texas Airsoft Organization (TASO): www.texasairsoft.org United States Federation of Airsoft Standards/FAST: www.fast-us.org Wisconsin Airsoft: www.wiairsoft.com Connecticut Airsoft Forums: www.airsoftct.com Jefferson City Airsoft (Missouri): www.JeffCityAirsoft.tk Airsoft Safety Association: www.airsoftsafetyassociation.com

Airsoft Insider: www.theairsoftinsider.com Airsoft Forum: www.airsoftforum.com Chat Airsoft: www.chatairsoft.com Airsoft Canada: www.airsoftcanada.com Arniesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Airsoft: www.arniesairsoft.co.uk

*New Site* DEFCON Airsoft: www.defconairsoft.co.uk

*New Site* Ottawa Valley Airsoft: www.ottawavalleyairsoft.ca

*New Site* Airsoft Retreat: www.airsoftretreat.com

*New Site* Airsoft Intel: www.airsoftintel.com

*New Site* Mike Force Tactical Airsoft Club: www.mikeforceairsoft.org

*New Site* North Texas Airsoft: www.northtexasairsoft.org

*New Site* C3 Airsoft: www.c3airsoft.com

Op Idea: Operation United Cause: Operation United Cause: The year is 2057. Total chaos reigns throughout the entire world. Following the United States’ victory in the War Against Terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, the supporters of the terrorists took up where they left off and now want to give the United States and her allies a kick in the gut. The United States and her allies won’t allow that to happen. This is their one chance to knock out any kind of threat the terrorists possess before they can really do damage. This is the United States’ only shot to wipe out terrorism once and for all. Will they do it, or will the terrorists finally succeed in taking over the free world? It’s up to you… Locations: Operation United Cause can be played at any of the following types of areas: • Woodland (forest, valley, etc). • Desert. • CQB Facilities. • A combination of all three. General Overview for Mission #1: • United States and Allied Forces: The terrorist group stole valuable biological data. They stole it from a biotech smuggler on board his ship, Miss Dame II, in the middle of the Indian Ocean. CIA has been looking into these guys for awhile now, and they pose a bigger threat to the United States and her allies then we thought. Find and recover that biological data, gentlemen. You have a limited amount of time to recover it because the terrorists are currently in the middle of transporting it from their trucks to their private Fokker-70 aircraft. The Thai government has authorized us to use whatever force is necessary to stop the terrorists from escaping with that data.

Intel: • Thai government is calling this group the Rittia Rouge. • Until now, they thought it was an inner city gang, but not now. Objectives: 1. Make contact with enemy. 2. Secure biological data. 3. Secure area. 4. Extract at Point Charlie. Plan: Our plan: insert via HALO at 0437 into the last known location of the terrorists: middle of the Thailand jungles. You will be about two clicks south from their main staging area. Make your way to the staging area and scout it out before attacking. Stealth is a PRORITY. The Rittia Rouge may be on the move, so be prepared to intercept them if you make contact with them. They should have the data in some type of sack or case. Recover that data at all costs. Once you secure the area and recover the data, retreat to Point Charlie, three clicks back to be extracted out of the AO by a MH-60 Black Hawk from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

Rules: • Team(s) need medics. • You get hit = you are down. Only a medic can come and revive you. You get one “revive” only per game. • Cheating gets you disqualified.

Final Thoughts: There you have it. I hope you enjoyed our huge fourth issue of U.S.A.S.O.C.! I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this issue once again. Now that’s it May, summer, or for most adults – the summer season, is right around the corner. Please, PLEASE, make sure to stay hydrated when it gets hot outside. Either bring drinks or make sure you have them supplied on site. I can’t stress that enough. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are some of the things you will want to look out for when it gets in the higher temps outside. I will be discussing the differences between the two in the next issue. I also, once again, just want take the time out and say thank you to all of our men and women serving, or have served, our country in the military, law enforcement, and/or fire/rescue fields. If it wasn’t because for them, we wouldn’t have the freedoms that we have now, not to even mention airsoft. Also, remember to treat anyone you meet from the military, law enforcement, and/or fire/rescue fields with the proper respect they deserve. I don’t care what they do, a cook or a Special Operations’ member; I treat them all with the same respect and praise they deserve. Remember, just because someone’s job may be more dangerous and requires more training then some other person’s job, doesn’t mean it’s more important. Once again, and this goes mostly towards the younger readers, make sure to treat all military, law enforcement, and fire/rescue personnel with the proper respect they deserve. Thanks for reading and the next issue of U.S.A.S.O.C. will be released on July 1st. Stay safe and have fun! God Bless! Nick Petrus-Owner/Main Editor Liz Petrus-Assistant Editor