War Pig

My breathing was hard and laboured, it's hard to breathe properly through the mask. It's hot and humid and the sweat is fogging up my sight. Using the underbrush to conceal myself the best that I could lest I be spotted, I tried to take a peek.

They whizzed past, two and three at a time. I ducked and waited for it to abate. After a while, it subsided. Looking up from my hiding place, I saw no movements. I got up and hid behind a tree and took cover. Still no sound. I turned slowly and tried to look out front again, strugging with the low visibility.

Once, twice, I was hit! Orange gooey paint on my shirt and just like that I was out. Dang. Yes folks, I went for my first ever paintball sesssion last weekend with some colleagues and their friends.

Me during speedball. Life4Hire, that's your cap that I wore (which you left behind at Sg Gabai that day, come and get it from me =P)

Since most of us were first timers, we were given a lowdown of the game and rules first before suiting up. First up was 2 games of speedball (where I got shot on the head in the 1st one, 'killed' 2 in the 2nd one before running out of pellets and got 'killed' myself), a fast paced game to capture the flag. Then we're off to the palm oil plantation nearby for woodsball. This is where the fun is for me.

I am a warbuff, I love war movies like Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, Flags of Our Fathers etc (yeap, mostly WWII stuff). Getting a feel of how it's like was a major adrenaline rush for me. At first I was apprehensive of really getting into the game, but when I saw how serious those guys get I let go of my own inhibitions. I noticed that from the word go, everything else becomes muted and blurred out from my field of vision. I guess this is how pro athletes feel on the field as well, focused on one thing and one thing only.

After a total of 5 games, I got shot 7 times and only managed 2 kills that I'm aware of. But hey, it's my first time! Truthfully, I did not enjoy speedball quite as much (eventhough that's where I was any good, with the kills) as woodsball/scenario. I guess with speedball there's no aspect of make believe that it's a real battle going on, hence less realism amounting to less fun for me.

Paintball came under fire (pun unintended) for glorifying war and killing, so they changed the terms and outlook a bit to deter such critiques. The guns are called markers, and you're target is to 'mark' someone and not to 'kill' them. Even the attire is made colourful and bright (not unlike those Motocross uniforms) to move away from the camouflage BDU look (which is still prevalent amongst woodsball/scenario enthusiast). That's all the more reason why I like woodsball more, hehehe.

I am hooked and I'm definitely going back for more. I'm on the look for my own BDU so I can blend better with the background (trust me, they work like magic in the heat of battle). 9600 boys, we should go and shoot the crap out of each other soon. Ada berani?