Preparing for a game takes some time. About leisurely 4 hours a week. What I mean by leisurely is that I can do something else while doing this, like watch tv or talk to my wife.
There are 3 groups of things you prep, if you don’t include the guns. They are Safety, Supplies, and BDU. When I’m preping, I usually imagine or fantasize what I will be doing in the upcoming game. Visualizing helps me think of tiny details I may want to prepare for.
SAFETY: As it is the most basic and a requirement before playing, lets deal with safety.
- Eye Protection (Balistic goggles) – Any pontential risk should be weighed against the Life Altering Consequences of Eye Damage. So Splurging on Ballistic Lenses, Contact Lense, etc are acceptable. Heck, you can use these things when cooking: cutting onions or fried food. Being a little paranoid about your eye safety is worthwhile. As i’ve said before, most basic priced eye-wear protect up to 400fps x 0.2g 6mm bb (1.24 Joules). Wire mesh don’t protect against BBs that shatter to smaller pieces. Eye protection can be bought up to 7joules or ballistic goggles designed against shotgun scatter.
- Facial Protection (Balaklava, Lower face mask) – BBs can scar, so cover up your face. These also serve to protect your ears!
- Joint Protection (Knee and Elbow Pads) – the knee and elbow pads are a god-send when crawling through natural terrain. The knee pads help in kneeling, especially in long periods of time. In my personal experience, I can dive on concrete as long as my KEpads are secure and I land on them. If you twist your knee, the knee pads act to compress and restrict blood flow and prevent inflammation.
- Manipulator Coverage (Gloves) – protect your hands from the dirty earth or garbage, and from thorns and sharp edges. Since you hands are also your last defense to protect your face, it would be nice to protect them.
- Thick clothes (counts as clothes) – light clothes (top and bottom) weight about 2lbs or less are very thin. BDUs are twice as heavy. My BDUs are 4lbs.
- Redundancy! Always have a spare, If something essential BREAKS in the middle of the game your out. Have a spare, anyway as you buy more gear to see if it fits you best you’ll always have some stuff that isn’t quite as awesome that can be handy having around.
BDU. Battle Dress Uniforms
- BDU should suit your environment and weather. If it is too hot, use the shirts and shorts. Remember that heat needs to be ventilated away from the body for it to cool. Covered head to toe, just builds up heat. In rest periods, strip off unnecessary gear to cool. Don’t let heat accumilate, heat exhaustion is too high a price to pay for the hobby.
- BDU fit – experiment with best fits and know your movement. Keep notes about any recurring problem that comes to fitting. Mine was how the torso rides up!. the last thing I want is my but crack or waistline exposed as I’m crawling and getting shot. So I asked the tailor to add another 6-8inches to the torso length. It may look long like a Hauberk but the two layers of crotch and ass protection won’t hurt when I’m being shot at.
- Shoes. Hi-tops with ankle support is ideal since its a joint that is relatively small and easy to break. Although soft-soled shoes are great for sneaking in comfort, always weight them against ankle protection (since these are usually tennis or running shoes). Never bring unfamiliar shoes without a spare. Remember to spend a day or two testing the shoes, like bringing it to work (as they can look like regular black leather shoes) to see how they fit for extended periods.
- Load Bearing Gear. I have to emphasize that this gear is the best way to store stuff while being very active. Personal and critical items, you just can’t leave with your other things, to the extra mags, and emergency kits. Don’t put them in your pockets. Pouches have redundant securing measures and its hella hard to look for stuff if you drop them.
- Suspenders and Belts. I use suspenders because I hate it when crawling causes my pants to ride down. Its another layer of complexity but its worth it, it makes .
Supplies.
- Hydration Pack – The amount of people dying in the running events in the philippines is enough to sternly remind oneself to hydrate properly, even if the weather may be cool. Inside your BDU, that may be a different matter entirely. Fill it up only to half, because you never know if you will find yourself slammed back when you dive backwards for cover.
- More water – Bring for team mates, and some extra. You may not want to be helpless when someone just faints or is complaining about the heat and thirst. Its a team sport and covering your buddy is part of the experience. Styro coolers cost 250 in SM grocery. Recycled Plastic Bottles will do just fine.
- Change of Clothes – change of clothes are an after thought, but are neccessary. You don’t want to stink up the commute, your friends car or your own car. take a bath in alcohol and have a towel handy because even after dressing up you might still be sweating like me. Towells are one of the most essential survival tools anyway.
- First Aid Kit – I have painkillers with me for a worse case senario. The last thing I want is discomfort making me unbearable or unable to think straight while I weigh my options. A complete first aid kit is better, anyway statically they are very useful.
- Plastic Bags – I use the XXL garbage bag because, being tired I can’t think straight and throwing all my clothes in is much simpler.
Organize them all. I separate them with plastics bags inside this huge P200 bag just so that I can keep each group in check. Have the checklist printed out in an easy to see place, and personally check and inspect everything. Put a date and add personal comments to file. Never rely on your own memory, rely on ink and paper because the discipline and the meticulous care and habits of preparation will be very handy for other things: like vacations or trips out.
Misc.
Radio is my only out of category item. they should really be with gear and guns group. right now I’m trying to make my own head set that works with my Crappy radio. after learning more about the batteries for airsoft, I realized that I should inspect radio battery if it is the type that eats up a lot of juice. “Funny” Radios have a listed range designed for the most unrealistic ideal conditions… the type of radio our team fell for 🙁 Since it will bust our budget to buy one (6-8k!) and it competes with my next years budget I think I’ll just find a way to fix the radio .
Guns… I’ll tackle that in another post.
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