I can't tell you how pleased the CiA team were with how things went last weekend and the 'thumbs-up' comments post-game have made all the effort worthwhile.
It's what we have been working towards, incrementally, for the past three years. A sense of 'being there'.
Not poncing about in gucci uniforms with realistic guns but treating them as mere working clothes and tools of the trade. Looking beyond the cheap and transient thrill of a blat in the woods. Forgetting about the airsofter 'how cool do I look' and 'who can I shoot next' but behaving like troops on the front line - a dangerous job to be done (whether you wanted to or not). Sometimes boring, sometimes gruelling but with a good dose of heart pounding whether caught under enemy fire or just hidden in the bracken as enemy feet walked past a couple of yards away.
My opening words to the British troops at the start of the event was "For the next six hours this is the 5th July 1940" and by gum, that's how it stayed. As gun after gun went down I was deeply impressed how chaps didn't rush to the car for a replacement but worked with what they had or could borrow. Not one person at this event was an 'airsofter' - we happened to be using airsoft guns for sure but this damn 'I'm just an airsofter' attitude has now been purged I hope for ever from attendees of CiA events.
So, we (well, you) proved it could be done. And that is how it will stay for Comrades in Arms events.
Thank you to all the participants for putting so much into the event, it makes all the difference!
