From: john@kennel.FIDONET.ORG (John Hamilton)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.paintball
Subject: Get Off the combat thing.
Date: 12 Oct 92 15:53:34 GMT
Organization: Fido's Kennel, Cupertino CA

Monday October 12 1992 05:22, Alexander Franklin Rose wrote to All:

 AFR>    Please refrain from comparing our sport to actual combat the two are
 AFR> completely unrelated.

Totally false. We should never project the link to the non-playing public (as
you aptly point out below), but the lineage is undeniable. We use flanking
tactics (originated by a Celtic general 3,000 years ago and used ever since).
We use squads with different roles (standard modern force differentiation).
We win by eliminating the opposing players and "taking ground" (the flag, etc.)
It is because combat and paintball are so alike that we need to down play the
relationship lest those of misplaced sensibilities be upset. The difference is,
we don't plan, nor do we attempt, to injure anyone. A paintball game is the
most civilized and humanitarian form of combat, but one team will win at the
expense of another, nonetheless.

Take the worse aspect of combat, firing upon the enemy, and even this is
closely related in paintball. In combat, the intent (at the strategic level)
is to remove the enemy soldier from combat, not to kill him. In paintball,
a mark anywhere removes the player from the game. The only difference is the
lack of deadly force (thank God!).

 AFR>     I have attended every anti war demonstration that I am able and been
 AFR> arrested for it several times.  I am also on one of the best teams to
 AFR> ever grace grace our sport.  This however could never get me aim a real
 AFR> gun at anyone.  Better a good run than a bad fight.  And I have never
 AFR> seen a good one.

There are no good fights, but there are good paintball games. The only
difference is you ostensibly do not risk your life or well-being on the
paintball field, and the only thing you win or lose is the game. That is
why paintball is "good" and combat is not.

What is the difference between paintball and football, when you get right
down to it? Logic demonstrates that there is much in common. Football, soccer,
chess, hockey, paintball, the list goes on and on. All share common threads
which require the defeat of the opposition within the constraints of the rules
of the game. Each is acknowledged to contain similarities to combat, at least
in the manner in which the individuals relate, at most in the tactics and
methods employed.

Are you telling me the Ironmen do not take the field fully intending to
defeat the opposing team? :-)

 AFR>     You will probably call me an un American pansie, liberal, commie,
 AFR> but I love this country and I love this sport, and it is attitudes such
 AFR> as the ones posted on this board that are standing in the way of this
 AFR> sport and major corperate sponsorship.

Not true, Zander. Gross commercialization is what will hurt paintball. Massive
sponsorship of a few teams will inhibit growth of other teams. This has been
proven in many other sports and hobbies. Remember slot cars? When factory-
sponsorship of big bucks racers got out of hand, youngsters quit coming into
the sport because they couldn't match the big bucks racers. Modern r/c car
racing has solved that by organizing a rules body (ROAR) that sets a level
playing field (one motor is the same as the other) all the way until you
reach the "expert" level of racing. Even then, the "field" remains at least
balanced, if not level. If the sport fades, it will be because a few people
have too much money in their pockets and the rest of us can't compete.

 AFR>     My team was given shoes by Nike but could not wear the patch or
 AFR> advertize outside of word of mouth due to their support of the anti
 AFR> handgun lobby.

Irrelevant.

 AFR>     Think about it...Keep your war stories on the war stories billboard.

Why, when the tactics to be studied in "war stories" have relevance? You use
them, even if you don't know it or won't admit it!

 AFR>         Zander of the Ironmen

This is not intended as an insult, or a flame, rather, I disagree with your
logic, since the Ironmen epitomize an infantry squad's actions when they play.

John

--  
John Hamilton                  uucp: uts.amdahl.com!kennel!john
DoD #0327   ToT #11            internet: john@f8.n143.z1.fidonet.org
ZX-11 From Hell.               arpa: john@kennel.FIDONET.ORG
She said, "Its either me or that ZX-11!" Too bad, I'll miss her.