23-25 MAY - Jump to Destiny - WWII Airsoft Simulation

[hellmutt]

WHAT: Jump to Destiny
WHERE: Randle, WA
WHEN: 23-25 MAY 2008 - Memorial Day Weekend
COST: REGISTER BY APRIL 21 - 3 DAY(Fri-Sun): $90.00 2 DAY(Sat-Sun): $70.00
REGISTER AFTER APRIL 21 - 3 Day(Fri-Sun): $120 2 DAY (Sat-Sun): $90.00


ABOUT THE EVENT:

Participants will be housed and feed with period-styled rations and military tents for the weekend. There will be 3 playable sides: German (OPFOR ROLE*), American and British.

We will have strict uniform requirements and weapon rules for the event. The focus is on realism and will include 24 hour operational awareness. You can be attacked at any time. Night operations will be part of the event. Participants will face realistic challenges and combat situations. There will be a complete immersion into the tactical situation of June 1944 in Normandy. Including a chain of command, adjacent units and period realistic camps and objectives.

This is a 500+ acre Area of Operations with grass land, thick forest and a river! The event will be simulating airborne and ground units fighting in Normandy in the days after D-Day. Uniforms and weapons will be available both for purchase or rent. If you have nothing WWII but have the desire to experience the best WWII airsoft simulation you are more then welcome and we can equip you from the ground up. If you are a re-enactor or living history buff, we will have airsoft replicas for you to use in case you want to get in on the action!

We will have blank fire re-enactment at the event as well as simulation artillery, mortars and other simulated explosions. This event is a unique blending of traditional blank fire re-enacting and milsim airsoft. This will be an event UNLIKE ANY OTHER you have attended wether you are a re-enactor or an airsoft player.

So mark your calendars, brought to you in the tradition and standards of Battlesim - we will re-live the fight and honor our greatest veterans this Memorial Day weekend!

Here are links to a couple photo galleries of our last WWII Event "The Long Winter":





http://www.charlespeterson.net/longwinter/





http://www.gwagdesigns.com/

Here is a link to the video produced by the News Tribune on 2007's Long Winter Event:

YouTube - Battlesim's The Long Winter

[Sergeantmajor]

cool video.

looked like a great game.

[White_knight]

will you be able to provide rental guns for Canadian players, since we aren't legally allowed to bring our guns back from the states. i have have a friend that would defiantly be interested in this.

EDIT: just google mapped this, your on the other side of the country.

[Juice Weasel]

Sounds like a blast, it would mean comming half way across the continent for it which could be rendered moot if there are no AEG's to rent.

Out of curiosity where did you get the MG34?

JW

PS: I've been to your store in Tacoma, very nice selection. Been kicking myself that I did not pick up more stuff.

[Bowers]

its on my birthday too

[hellmutt]

New Promo video up at youtube!!

YouTube - Jump to Destiny - Battlesim.com WWII Airsoft Sim tacoma

MG34 is a custom made by Schmitty. It is a demilled real MG34.

[hellmutt]

Photographs by David 'GWAG' Hintze - gwagdesigns.com

More images to come. . .

[Yannos]

Awsome picture dude, keep up the good work its awsome

[Drunk_Albertan]

haha sweet, does the sten work? FJ's look like they're getting a little wet!

[youonlywish]

I was waiting for pics of this event, thanks hellmutt.

[MrEvolution]

My Favourite.

[leecas]

I always look forward to your pics and they never disappoint... great as always! Your events look better each year. Mountains in the background add a lot to the pictures. The Airborne boys are looking sharp, even if they are 82nd!

[hellmutt]

Thanks guys!

Sten works (Schmitty has two!) and there was a FG42 working as well!

Some more:

[Drunk_Albertan]

Yet again more good stuff, also gives a guy who's trying to put a kit together some valuable resources.

[hellmutt]

The Pathfinder Group in formation
Me in front, L-R Gil Butler, Charles(ChezzyCAB) Aaron, David Coreless(Chigster) with LT Brian Clarkson(BinaryPunisher) in back

My AAR:
FRIDAY:

A B17 flew over us while we downtown and that was pretty friggin cool. We made a leisurely drive down to Randle which was about 2 hours away and had lunch along the way. The mountains were beautiful and it was a great ride and view. We arrived in camp got settled in a large tent with our gear and sleeping bags and chatted and met up with others. I met a lot of people I had only talked to on forums and they were really great the staff and other players were very welcoming and a great group of people. So Friday night was mostly a social get together.

game:

0500 I got up while others were still sleeping and sat around looking at the mountains. Man they were awesome with a little snow on the caps still. Just beautiful!
0800 We got breakfast and started the day. We started out with getting our squads together and started training. I was assistant squad leader of the 82/505 pathfinders group it consisted of 6 guys. Lt. Brian Clarkson, Myself Sgt Dan Davis, Cpl. Charles Bennett, Cpl. Gil Butler, Pvt. Aaron Mitchell, and Pvt. David Corless. Yes we loosely followed a chain of command. No one got a big head and no one was a dick. I tried to check myself personally on this and I felt the LT was a little hesitant in "leading" people he didn't know so well and he did a great job. He needed to yell a little louder but we had Mercy for that :lol: They went through some drill with us how to come to attention how to march a bit and how to form up(I was really nervous about this as I hadn't done any of that crap in 15 years or so) It really was not as pretentious as it sounds and the staff made it go quickly and with some laughs. So after we cover the some basics we went on to tactics training. This was good training. Basic teamwork kinda stuff on a squad and a platoon level. I personal felt kinda fumbling during this but after awhile I and the others caught on I think. Mercy(from Black Company) really knew what she was doing with tactics and was very helpful. She yelled out what we were doing wrong and helped us correct it. We covered open ground and woods tactics but really concentrated on the open ground stuff which would prove most useful to me. During this time I pulled a thigh muscle my first injury and I was hobbling already. :lol: We had lunch and then covered Airborne training with PLF's(Parachute Landing Falls) and basics on parachutes and the vehicle that would be "dropping" us. The info on parachutes was very interesting but of no practical use at this event but I enjoyed learning about it. On to PLF's. We had a very competent staff of instructors with many many actual jumps under there belts to show us first hand how to jump how to land and roll. We did this routine a few times off of cargo boxes and then moved in squads to the box van. They showed us how to hook up and the commands of what we needed to do. We then practised jumping out the back of the truck and I got injury number 2. a sprain on the other foot. Not to big of a deal but I was really limping now and knew this would affect me the next day. After this we went over tactics again both in large platoons with the others and squad based. My squad the pathfinders were to be the first on the ground the next day and we were to be used as scouting elements for the larger group the rest of the day. Me and the LT were briefed by the staff on exactly what our mission was and we were then left to develop a plan of action. We were given intel as to what we were up against and what our primary objective once we hit the ground was as well as follow up objectives we would do afterwards. There were 4 landing zones Red, White Blue and Black along a large open field that was perhaps 3-5 football fields in length. We needed to decide where would establish beacons for the other troopers landing and to station ourselves in order to direct any troopers where the assembly area was and get them in the right direction. I worked with the LT to make a plan and we decide on two chalks of 3 one led by me(Aaron, ChezzyCAB, myself) and one led by the LT (David Corless, Gil, and LT Clarkson) My group was Chalk two and we were to set our beacon( a large chem light set atop a big wooden stake we drove in the ground and a roll out marker panel) in DZ White near an irrigation ditch that ran the length of the field separating DZ Red and White. We were to stand off the marker and direct any of our guys that came to it towards the AA and ambush any Germans that were curious and investigated it. We also set out 1 smaller decoy beacon in DZ Red to hopefully occupy the Germans. Chalk 1 led by LT Clarkson was to set up in DZ Blue just like us. We had dinner prepared by CheezyCAB and David Corless and a few others and we all ate. (Pathfinders first caused we cooked it) We hit the sack about 2000 hours and prepared to be first boots on the ground at 0230 the next morning and man did that come quick. It rained the night of the jump and soaked the field but we awoke to cloudy skies. We got up at 0200 and got our gear on and made our way down to the landing strip and awaited our time to board our transport. We were nervous and checked our equipment smoked and joked but tried to keep quiet we knew the Germans would be waiting for us once the transport started up. They rigged us up with static lines that popped free easily enough once you exited the plane. we boarded and the butterfly's started. I was really excited and nervous and anxious to get our main objective done. It was my main goal to complete our first mission then bail and lay down as both of my legs were really killing me now. They had the back door built as a replica of a C47 jump door area. the inside had the red/green light hooked up along with a central guy wire we hooked our static lines to and two rows of seats going the length. Chalks 1 and 2 loaded up and prepared. They had a sound system on board with a sub woofer and when we started out they taxied down a length of road turned around down another and took off. The soundtrack mimicked the real world sounds and the take off the went up about 60mph and then let off the gas and coasted which made it seem similar to taking off. It really was a very very cool effect and it is hard to describe the amount of immersion it added to the event. we traveled around in the dark and fireworks were set off around the outside that sounded a bit like flak. The Jumpmaster stood up and yelled 10 Minutes, Stand up,(Chalk 1 stood up) Hook Up the Red light went on. Equipment check "3 ok, 2 ok, 1 ok, All ok Jumpmaster" The green go light came on and the Jumpmaster barked stand in the door "GO!, GO!, GO!" and Chalk 1 disappeared out the door and into the night. Our turn was next and we went through the same deal next thing I knew I was standing in the door wondering why the hell does it look like the ground is moving so freaking fast (It wasn't they slowed down to a very safe speed but it doesn't appear that way when you are standing at the door) "GO!" and I am out the door and forgetting my PLF :wink: Next thing is I am flat on my ass but basically unhurt just a little bruised ummm ego. :lol: and I see my other two guys come out right behind me about 50 feet off. We rally get our bearings and move off in the dark towards our objective. Aaron takes point and I loose sight of him for a minute and just as I think I have lost him altogether he comes back and tells me he has found the irrigation ditch up ahead. We drop of CheezyCAB with the decoy. He is to deploy the decoy once we know the Brit paras are dropped and then book it over to the irrigation ditch and hook up with us. Aaron and I leave him and make our way towards the ditch. We cautiously cross it in near pitch dark. I get one foot stuck and ungraciously fall but still somehow am able to save the VFC BAR that Schmitty from Battlesim loaned me for the jump(Thank GOD!) We huddle up on the other side and await to see CheezyCAB strike his decoy then I have Aaron run out and strike the main beacon and unfurl the marker panel while I cover him with the BAR. Soon CheezyCAB joins us and we locate each other by crickets. We huddle about 20-25 feet from the marker our backs against a berm on the side of the ditch. We are all soaked and it is really really cold. Damn Florida is a long way away :lol: We watch as the plane drops several Chalks The Germans have started engaging sporadically and using parachute flares over the field. One goes up near our position and we hunker down. The flare goes out and we are left in darkness and silence again. Suddenly I hear talk near the marker. CheezyCAB calls out Flash and we get an answer of Thunder and then someone shoots there is some confusion and then we hear someone in a German accent yell "FIRE!" and all hell breaks loose. There are a couple of blank firers amongst them that crack out but we are all firing blind and wild. I rattle off a hicap from my BAR before I am hit. A couple Germans were hit I think as they quickly disengaged us and we never saw them again. I pull out my casualty card which states that I am hit in a lower extremity (which in actuality I was hit near my foot cool huh) CheezyCAB crawls over to me and wraps my leg in a bandage and we wait for light. We never saw any lost troopers but we defended our marker and it was never taken by the Germans. Once it became daylight I and my Chalk limped out. Aaron was hurt as well but I don't remember how but he joined me in changing out of our freezing clothes and laying down. CheezyCAB went back into the fray for the rest of the morning. I was bummed that I had to lay out the last few hours but I was done for the day. I feel my injuries were part bad luck and part because I need to get in better shape. I probably wouldn't have pulled anything had I been jogging a couple times a week instead of walking like I do now. But chances are it could have happened to anyone. Just lucky I guess :roll:
The Brits that dropped right after us went on to take their main objective and destroy a radar tower and they scouted out an arty position for the main force for later. Chalk 1 of the pathfinders had had their beacon rolled up pretty quickly so I heard but reinserted and went on to fight hard and proud the rest of the morning. By 0900 or so the US forces had completed all their objectives well ahead of schedule and won the day. The staff had thought it would take longer. Everyone was soaked and tired. My group packed our stuff and said our goodbyes and headed out about 1100 promising to return again as we had a whole boatload of fun..next time in better shape I hope!

Afterthoughts:
I had a great time the travel to and from the event sucked hard but the staff was great. The players were awesome and it was a fantastic event. Hands down the best WW2 event I have been to or even helped produced myself(and I am proud of the events I have helped put on)

The Germans using our password was a bummer. I had suggested we change it to a standard Team Blackjack way of doing it but was told we should stick to the historical version as the German players would not be so crass as to use that against us. I had a chance to talk to at least one of the Germans in that group and he said that he had just responded with Thunder out of habit without thinking about it and was sorry about that we both laughed about it. I also learned that we had indeed surprised the Germans the had people running guard duty. Those guards saw some lights and were not sure what was going on. Their was some confusion and the higher ups in the German chain of command didn't get all the info the needed while the lower German ranks waited for the high command to issue order..Kinda like the real thing.

I really liked this event. Not everyone was perfect in impression but just about everyone made a good honest attempt and looked great. The use of actual tactics was impressive as well as the plane drop and Kublewagon and other props. I encourage everyone to try and make it next year as I hope they make this a yearly event. I know I will be trying to help lead another Pathfinder Chalk next year.