Paintball offers reality training

Story Spc. Dustin W. Perry
Photos by 1st Lt. Victor Hoffer
31st ADA Bde. Public Affairs

Staff Sgt. Sandra Washington fires her paintball gun from a prone position, using a large spool as cover.

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Her heart racing, a Soldier rushes for cover behind a bunker. She’s low on ammunition, and her comrades are pinned down 25 feet to the right. The enemy is firing relentlessly at her squad, unaware he is also being targeted. Taking aim, the Soldier fires and hits her mark in the side of the stomach, leaving him with a bright pink splatter on his uniform and a dime-sized welt that will be very sore the next day.

A group of Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade added a hands-on element to their weekly training by combining it with paintball tactics at Biggs Park July 23.

The first portion of the training consisted of combat maneuvering and movement classes detailing how to move under direct and indirect fire, where and when to take cover and hand signals and their use in various situations. Sgt. 1st Class Owen Moore, the Electronic Missile Maintenance Office noncommissioned officer in charge, was the training instructor.

“The sport of paintball is a new way of introducing battlefield combat training in a real-life scenario,” said Moore.
Moore has four years of paintball experience and a plethora of his own equipment including a pair of guns, a holster for extra paintballs – or “markers” – and even paint grenades that burst on impact. Although the point of paintball is to have fun, he said, safety was the most important issue. Before stepping onto the field, Moore gave a basic safety class on how to properly handle and use the paintball equipment.

“One thing you have to understand is paintball weapons and markers are not toys. They fire projectiles anywhere from 250 to 300 [pounds per square inch], which will do harm to the body,” said Moore. “If you do not have the proper equipment on your face and on your body, paintball equipment can cause injury or even death, depending on where you’re hit.”

After the classes were complete it was time to suit up and begin. Each Soldier was given required eye protection, a gun, an ammo bladder and plenty of paintballs, all provided by the Biggs staff. They entered the 100-yard by 60-yard playing field, dotted with manmade cover in the form of giant wooden spools and plastic tubing. The game of the day: capture the flag.

The steady thook, thook, thook of paintballs being fired back and forth from carbon dioxide gas-powered guns could be heard, stifled only by surprised shrieks from those unfortunate enough to be hit. This continued for several fast-paced rounds until ammo supplies were exhausted.

For most of the Soldiers it was their first experience with the sport, though they sounded like pros, trading stories between matches of painful hits or well-executed shots against a friend or co-worker. The value of the training was clear to all of them.

“It was way more realistic than any [Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System] training I’ve ever done because you actually felt the hit,” said Sgt. Christopher Young, executive administrative assistant, S-1 office. “I would highly recommend this training for any unit, not just a combat arms unit.”

Young added that most Soldiers who have only been in the Army a few years have only done basic training and Advanced Individual Training-type close combat training. “This is as realistic as you can get without being in an infantry or field artillery unit,” he said.

Biggs Paintball Park is open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. It can also be reserved during the week for organizational days or training. For information or to make reservations, call 568-8087.