From: usbroad@memstvx1.memst.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.paintball
Subject: Re: Real Adversaries
Date: 30 Jul 92 13:46:04 -0600
Organization: Memphis State University

In article <64652@hydra.gatech.EDU>, gt9989a@prism.gatech.EDU (John Martin Chapman) writes:
> In the last couple of articles I've read replying to the evils of paintball,    there have been numerous references to trained soldiers and real combat.   One  mentioned that playing paintball would help you survive longer in a real war.   While this may be true, I suspect that it isn't - also the reference to real war was as though a paintballer would be thrust into it with no training whatsoever - come on, go talk to an armed forces recruiter.   They spend more time training than - well, like the comme




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> ial says "We do more before six A.M. than most   people do all day."
> 
> The other comment I saw was that people with combat training would easily wipe out paintballers.  This is drastically incorrect.   The root of the problem is   that you are seeing two guys with guns - one an M-16, the other a PMI-3 - and   you're setting them equal.   The fact is that in every instance I've heard of,  the armed forces teams get slaughtered by the paintballers to a man.   And I'd  be willing to bet that if everyone got out in the woods with real guns,   the   real soldiers would clean hou




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>    Even though the point is the same, that is   to shoot bad guys, the tools, strategies, and tactics are radically different.
> 
> Do a little research - you'll see.
> 
> John
> -- 
> John Martin Chapman
> Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
> uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt9989a
> Internet: gt9989a@prism.gatech.edu
	In all actuality I have to agree completely with John.  Let's look
at a couple of examples...
	1. A real gun will shoot longer,straighter and through more things
than a paintball.  A standard paintballer would have to adjust to having
less hard cover than usual and the lack of being able to see your oponent yet
remain out of range.  Whereas a soldier would suddenly be faced with a real 
limitation on his/her fire power and he would have to remember that a good 
thick brush will stop a paint ball where it wouldn't have stopped a bullet.
	2. The "hero" attitude: It is hard enough for me to find paintballers
that understand that when I say "cover me" I mean fire some shots so the 
opponents will keep their heads down.  As a consequence it pays to take a
chance and run blind to a better position in paintball, it is harder to get 
hit while running and if your shot...oh well.  If your opponents have real guns
I gurantee you are going to move slower and more cautiously because if you 
get hit its game over.
	3. The mentality one has to possess in order to go out and kill an
enemy is different from going out to paint up a friend.  There can be no
mistakes in real combat whereas you can make and learn from "fatal" mistakes
in paintball.  
	If you still have doubts find a vet who has come under live fire 
that also plays paintball, there are a good number out there.  Just ask 
then what they think and I'm sure they'll give you a good insight on the 
differences and similarities between real combat and paint combat.

	---Rob Broadhead
	   broadhrj@cs.rose-hulman.edu