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-   -   Operation East Wind 7 March 8-16 2014 (https://airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=159744)

Aswayze October 28th, 2013 14:14

Operation East Wind 7 March 8-16 2014
 
Announcement:

Operation East Wind 7 dates and location have been set. *

When: March 8th - 16th 2014

What: Operation East Wind is a 9 day long 24 hour per day immersive milsim event set in the closing days of the Cold War. *From the moment you arrive till the moment you leave, you are surrounded by and living in the life of a soldier deployed on an alert in the Cold War. *

You may choose to be part of either the NATO forces or the Warsaw Pact with each side having it's own specific options, *requirements, advantages, and disadvantages.

At East Wind, you are involved 24 hours a day for the entirety of the event.

You will know the feeling of walking out on a multi day patrol, the sound of a truck delivering your hot food *(if you are lucky) and the sights and sounds of dark forest seemingly teeming with the enemy around your little patrol base in the black of night. *You will use night vision, you will use mines, you will ride in military trucks and armored personnel carriers, you will be supported by armor and you will use period correct comms equipment. You will know the boredom of a 03:00 TOC shift and the sinking feeling in your stomach when that shift suddenly STOPS being boring. * You will know the true value of a hot drink on a cold rainy day, you will learn to lament T-rations, you will know the joy of walking into the mess tent and smelling hot A-rations. * You will know how lonely the world can be when your little outpost is under attack and you know that the nearest help is way too far away. * You will know how piercingly bright a parachute flare is on a moonless night. *You will know the smell of a canvas tent on a sunny day. * You will know how nice and cozy a stove is on a cold wet day. You will know what it is like to transition from peacetime, to alert, to war. *


Who may participate?
Attendees must be 18 years of age or older unless pre-approved by event administration. * *

How much does it cost?
The fee structure for Operation East Wind is broken into two categories:

The cost for participants attending for up to 4 total
days is $215. *For those attending from 5-9 total days the cost is $250. *All attendees are provided with all meals, including snacks and drinks for the duration of the time they are in attendance. * Additionally, attendees are allowed to check mission equipment out from the supply tents including correct night vision systems, flares, IR systems, Claymore and POMZ mines, radios, telephone systems etc. *

Sign up is now open and will close on Feb 1st, 2014. *At signup, a non-refundable deposit of $50 is required with the balance due on Feb 1st *2014. *

Where is East Wind 7 being held?
We are proud to announce that East Wind 7 will again be held at D-Day Adventure Park in Wyandotte, Oklahoma. No doubt, there are a great many of you who have played at D-Day before. *It is an amazing facility with a lot of really impressive infrastructure. * *You might be tempted to think that you even know the D-Day Adventure Park pretty well... * You will be quite surprised to see how much more there is to that property than you ever imagined. * We will be operating on a 1000+ acre playing field with 45 miles of roads and trails. *There are towns, an airfield, steep hills, green valleys, streams, ponds, and lots upon lots of space. *If you have played at OK D-Day before you have probably seen a little bit of it but I assure you, it's just the tip of the iceberg. *

Why 9 days?

We run East Wind events for 9 days because in order to put together a quality event there is a certain minimum amount of time it takes to get everything all set up and settled in. * If this was a weekend event, we would spend all day and night Saturday setting up and getting everyone settled in and then all day Sunday endexing. * By running for 9 days we maximize our field time and get the most value out of our week's vacation time (or spring break for you guys in school). *If you cannot attend for the entire time, that's fine; you can attend for as much or as little as you can fit into your schedule.

Why this degree of insanity/attention to detail? *

Sure, we could camp in civvy tents instead of GP Mediums or real Soviet tents. *We could use a Ford Tempo with a plywood turret instead of a real Diamler Ferret. *We could move guys around in a short bed Chevy pickup instead of a M35A2, and we could certainly cook flapjacks on a 2 burner Coleman stove instead of using period correct field kitchens. * Where would the fun be in all of that? * At East Wind we seek to get everything right down to the smallest detail because this is how we immerse you into the event. *You do not attend East Wind, you are part of it, you are inside the world that we create for you, you can 'feel' this event.

Why the expense?
When you look at the cost remember that you are getting food included as well as the use of a lot of really top notch gear. *When we say food, we are not talking about just MREs or hotdogs cooked on a Weber grill. We have cook staff who are professionals in their field that are cooking nutritionally balanced meals that are also era and nationality correct. Doing this right is not cheap and we refuse to skimp on quality. *You could not eat at restaurants for a week on a $250 budget and get the quality of meals you will get at East Wind and that's before we even talk about the other stuff. *It is not an average game that a real BTR-152 comes down the path at you or that you get to face off against a real FV-432 APC with your RPG. *It is not an average game that you show up to the supply tent before your night mission and get Gen 2 and 3 night vision equipment issued to you. It's not an average airsoft game that sends you scrambling out of your camp when an AH-64 Apache shows up skulking around. *Yes, East Wind is expensive, but value wise, it is impossible to beat. Come and see, we'll make a believer out of you by day 1. *

Why should you choose to go to East Wind 7?

This one is easy. *Since the inception of this event our motto has been 'Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.' * You should be going to East Wind because you are looking for a challenge, an experience. * If you are looking at the full experience, you should be going to East Wind because you are ready to live an event 24/7. You should be going to East Wind because you have asked yourself, "Is East Wind right for me?" and said yes. *

Why should you NOT go to East Wind? *

If you think that it is a hassle to get the correct gear, if you are scared of the rain, if you are too proud to know when you need to learn something or if you are just looking for 9 days of solid "3,2,1, go" *speedball action you had better just stay home and play X-box. *East Wind will not be your thing. * *We frequently say that "East Wind is not for everyone, we made it that way for a reason." * The world is full of events that are for everyone. *We choose to break the mold...

This event is not easy, we don't want it to be easy and if you are coming then you should not want it to be easy either. * We say this not to pass judgment on those who should not attend but to allow everyone out there to pass judgment on East Wind and decide if what we are doing fits with what you, yourself, want to do. *

What do I need to know to be successful at East Wind events? *

East Wind offers challenges unrelated to most airsoft events. *It naturally goes without saying that knowing a little bit about airsoft helps but far beyond that remember that you are living in the field and actually doing a lot more field craft type work at East Wind than you are likely to encounter at an average game. * You will likely find yourself adapting a lot better if you spend some time out in the woods in inclement weather since East Wind stays tactical regardless of weather conditions. knowledge of your equipment goes a very long way as well since you will be living and working in it 24 hour a day for 9 days. *Obviously, there are a variety of technical skills that are helpful to know as well which is why we run training events monthly covering a variety of skills that will make your East Wind experience more enjoyable as well as provide an online library of training materials in order to assist you or your group in training up for the event. Apart from that, the most important thing you need to know to be successful and have a good time at East Wind is how mentally tough you are. *If you are willing to give something 105% and not quit, this is the event for you. *It will blow your socks off and you will love every minute of it. *


East Wind isn't just for those in the US either. For several years now, we have had people join the East Wind community from outside of the US with an ever growing team heading down from Canada and players even coming across from Europe to take part in the experience.

It's probably not as difficult as you'd think and the community will try to assist where at all possible to ensure that those coming from afar can do so as smoothly as possible. If you have any worries or concerns, we should be able to answer all of your questions about coming to the US for East Wind, after all we've got attendees who have done it and can offer you the advice and assistance you need to make it happen. *English fluency is not a requirement. *We are an event set in Europe, working with different languages is part of what we do already.



If you would like more information about East Wind please feel free to visit our East Wind forums here: http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php

I hope to see some of you out there! *

Aswayze October 28th, 2013 14:15

Pictures speak a thousand words so here are a few photos from past East Wind events to give you guys an idea what we do out at East Wind. *

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8252/8...e9b26776_c.jpg

UK Infantry moves out with a FV-701 Ferret armored car on patrol. *One US squad holds a key intersection they will be passing through, another US squad has their right of line once they begin moving towards contact, a US M114 armored scout will accompany the Ferret as they screen ahead, while a West German unit stands ready to react if they hit contact they cannot handle. * Missions are in depth, planned well, and long duration. *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6...af03f389_z.jpg
A West German Jager light infantryman prepares to step off at an East Wind training event. * He's carrying not only his ruck with the gear to sustain him for the next 24 hours at this winter event but also a SEM-52a radio (slung across his chest) and a Zeiss Orion 80-1 night vision unit (slung below the radio). *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7425/9...c9e3ff24_c.jpg
Soviet motor recon troops make use of their BTR-40 to scan NATO rear areas on an offensive recon patrol. *The area they are overlooking is a 210 acre valley that is the primary infiltration route for NATO troops heading towards the border. * Figuring out the routes being used is the first step in being able to take action to disrupt NATO activities in the border region. * *


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6118/...92cb4d2e_z.jpg
An NVA (National Volks Army) patrol moves out on a snowy muddy morning during East Wind 3. *This was just the start for the days weather, by the end of the day there was an additional 4 inches of the white stuff on the ground. * They are cold, they are muddy, they are tired, but they are prepared. *We stay tactical 24/7 regardless of weather. *When you look at our PCI lists and wonder why we require so many things, this picture shows why... *


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8405/8...0edd0476_c.jpg
A US squad leader on duty in the TOC managing incoming radio traffic using period correct US comms gear. *He has his notepad out and is copying traffic as it comes in. *Once the message is copied, he'll decrypt it using the SOI cards hanging in front of him then either reply or take action as needed. *

This link takes you to a vid of Soviet troops using their R-159 radio to call their allies the East Germans after a successful assault to take a town. *Notice how the guy has a hard time with the map? *That's because the maps are not garden variety generic maps, they are exact replicas of the proper Soviet pattern maps and are different than the US maps he worked with in his US Army service. *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7...f2e43aec_z.jpg
Soviet and East German troops load up in a pair of UAZ-469 utility vehicles for trip forward. *These little trucks are the workhorses of the Warsaw Pact motor pool delivering troops and supplies 24/7 regardless of weather.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8114/8...ceb4a08e_c.jpg
A Canadian Forces soldier carefully removes a PNM-2 mine (Made from a Madbull Powdershot mine) from a section of the border. *The night before, his unit discovered this Warsaw Pact minefield the hard way, now they are back to get these things cleared out so that nobody else has to learn the same lesson. * *You can see that he has carefully cleared out around the mine and probed under it to try to mitigate the risk of anti-handling devices. *This is nerve racking work. *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7258/7...ff5ebb6edc.jpg
A US Squad Leader, exhausted from an all night patrol contemplates the fact he has to push on to assault a key town towards the end of East Wind 5. *6 hours later, he was one of the last troops to die of radiation poisoning, having clung hard to his little toe hold. *Here are vids of both Warpac and NATO troops expiring from radiation:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3641/...cbda8301_z.jpg
An NVA patrol, just returned from a cross border mission, is debriefed by the Soviet HQ staff. *Notice the wierd blue interior of the tent? *That's actually a period correct Soviet tent they are in. *The map they are pointing at is a near perfect replica Soviet style map of the AO they are working in.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3608/...7cacee6e_z.jpg
A Soviet patrol prepares to move out on a night recon mission. * East Wind runs 24 hours a day.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5094/...8106000e_z.jpg
A Soviet soldier looks out into the failing light of the day from the ruined building his section holds. *He fought hard for the town he's in right now and he's got a long night ahead of him making sure he keeps it. * He know's NATO will come tonight, he know's there will be blood sweat and tears before the night is through, it's just a matter of when. * When the next dawn broke over an even more battle scarred town this soldier was one of a pitiful few live Soviet troops that pulled out of town. *They had held the line.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7179/6...d1d2d202_c.jpg
A Soviet Soldier during the last battle of East Wind 5 races along the edge of a burning forest to get himself into an assault position for the final push. * The final battle was set in the closing stages of a large scale nuclear exchange so we worked with the local volunteer fire department to do a controlled burn of the site the same day. * The effect was staggering. *

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8244/8...b22e3c72_c.jpg
A US Army soldier at a OP prior to the beginning of hostilities takes notes on the activities of the East German border guards posted on the opposite side of the border from him. *Do they have any routines? *How often are they fed? *Do they have a supply cache nearby? *Are they avoiding any particular areas on their side of the border? * What are they using to communicate with higher? * Do they appear to be well organised? *How does their morale look? * Less than 24 hours later anyone who did not know why this sort of thing matters probably wasn't alive to know it. *


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8387/8...063f1e60_c.jpg
East German Grenstruppen, growing progressively more bold and provocative walk literally right up to the border and examine NATO positions with binoculars. *A Canadian Forces trooper moves up opposite of them just outside the concertina wire on the NATO side of the border zone matching them move for move. *The rest of his section is positioned, watching and waiting. *As the afternoon wore on, tensions continued to rise until a NATO officer who had grown a little too accustomed to walking up to the border and yelling at the East Germans took a 7.62 round to the chest. *Moments later, the two border guards seen here were riddled with 5.56 and the Soviet troops who were driving up to the border in their APC to show the flag suddenly had an entirely different mission. *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7120/7...a6e9315408.jpg
A US soldier takes a moment to brush his teeth after a mission. * You're out there for 9 days... *That means eating, sleeping, pooping, washing and shaving in a combat environment. *

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8020/7...24eeff549d.jpg
Canadian Forces patrol moves out on a dark moonless night. * 50% of East Wind happens at night so you soon grow used to trying to pick out what the blurry images in your night vision are.

QKLee11 October 28th, 2013 19:33

Price looks good, atmosphere and realism looks good... getting time off will be a factor...wanted to go last year, see what I can do this year

Aswayze October 28th, 2013 21:05

That is always an issue.

It is for me too!

Mordarski J.A. October 30th, 2013 05:37

I've got two months of banked OT at the moment....boss has been harping on me to take time off....oh yes, time will be taken for this :D

winterpeg October 30th, 2013 17:27

My boss surprise because I hand in my vacation form for March 2014

Aswayze October 30th, 2013 22:09

Actually for once I am off the hook on that front this year. I am getting laid off on Dec 31 and will still be drawing severance pay throughout March.

Just have to be careful not to find a job till after East Wind is over. ;)

QKLee11 November 9th, 2013 15:16

Banked OT
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordarski J.A. (Post 1845377)
I've got two months of banked OT at the moment....boss has been harping on me to take time off....oh yes, time will be taken for this :D

What do you do to bank all that OT J.A.? I would like to go to this.

Gato November 9th, 2013 18:31

I'm still trying to source some of the O.D. gear in my sizes and stow some $ away, but I've managed to get hold of real C7 hand guards, had to call in a favor though :P

Work continues towards my C7 build. I now have a legit Elcan C79 and Hand guards for the build, just need a gun and trades! :D

Ricochet November 9th, 2013 23:35

This event looks outstanding, and fun as hell. It's great that you can create an experience like this for airsoft. Has anyone from ASC attended the full event, as in all nine days? For me, it doesn't look like the mental and physical endurance would be a problem, albeit challenging, but it looks like it would be a lot of airsoft to take in at once? I'd love to hear some testimonials from players that have stuck it out the whole way. Was it a case of "It was a great experience, but I got it out if my system", or was it more like "I'm gonna attend this bitch every year if I can"?

Gato November 10th, 2013 00:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricochet (Post 1847510)
This event looks outstanding, and fun as hell. It's great that you can create an experience like this for airsoft. Has anyone from ASC attended the full event, as in all nine days? For me, it doesn't look like the mental and physical endurance would be a problem, albeit challenging, but it looks like it would be a lot of airsoft to take in at once? I'd love to hear some testimonials from players that have stuck it out the whole way. Was it a case of "It was a great experience, but I got it out if my system", or was it more like "I'm gonna attend this bitch every year if I can"?

There's a bunch of guys from out west who've gone to the past few I think, they represent the CF element. I'm hoping to join them for the nine days, in the next few years if I can get kit and finances nailed down. If you're interested too, head on over to the EW forums and check out the posts on gear for whatever team you're considering! :)

winterpeg November 10th, 2013 08:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gato (Post 1847470)
I'm still trying to source some of the O.D. gear in my sizes and stow some $ away, but I've managed to get hold of real C7 hand guards, had to call in a favor though :P

Work continues towards my C7 build. I now have a legit Elcan C79 and Hand guards for the build, just need a gun and trades! :D


Armyissue.com you can find all the sizes of OD combat shirt,pants and some requirement kit for Canadian force in EW7

Cheer

Mordarski J.A. November 10th, 2013 09:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by QKLee11 (Post 1847450)
What do you do to bank all that OT J.A.? I would like to go to this.

I work for the Government of Manitoba. Unfortunately, the office I currently work out of (Brandon) had only myself and one other person, so we racked up OT pretty easily. I'm on the verge of a transfer back to Winnipeg so I won't be able to pick up as much OT next fiscal year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricochet (Post 1847510)
This event looks outstanding, and fun as hell. It's great that you can create an experience like this for airsoft. Has anyone from ASC attended the full event, as in all nine days? For me, it doesn't look like the mental and physical endurance would be a problem, albeit challenging, but it looks like it would be a lot of airsoft to take in at once? I'd love to hear some testimonials from players that have stuck it out the whole way. Was it a case of "It was a great experience, but I got it out if my system", or was it more like "I'm gonna attend this bitch every year if I can"?

Twice, EWVII (2014) will be my third. EW ruined all other airsoft for me, no matter how hard I try to avoid it I find myself comparing every other event to EW in terms of length, depth, excitement value, and overall cost. I have vowed that only death will keep me from attending each year (if I'm dismembered I'll take a staff position in the TOC).

The event itself feels more like the real military in terms of no guarantee of "trigger time". Units/squads are sent on missions and *may* come in contact with the enemy. I personally think that being on edge like that heightens the experience. For example, my first EW I used one mag throughout the entire event, and that was during an ambush wherein we were chasing down a Soviet squad (I got dead). At my second EW, we (the Canadians) expended every round of ammunition we had on us when the East German border guards shot the NATO commander (which set off hostilities for the event). EW allows every person attending to have their own amazing experiences, no matter what side of the border you opt for.

Some of the other things I love about EW:

- Line units only (no SF), means specific weapon restrictions and no crazy loadouts
- Period correct equipment such as radios and night vision
- Period correct vehicles and a field sizeable enough to warrant their use
- Hot meals prepared in the "flying kitchen" (MKT) more often than MRE meals
- An incredible camaraderie between participants
- The personal challenge to soldier on and work towards a common goal
- The 'Cultural Exchange' at the end of the event

NATO Wiki: http://operationeastwind.com/wiki/NATO_Forces
WARPAC Wiki: http://operationeastwind.com/wiki/WARPAC_Forces

QKLee11 November 11th, 2013 20:40

Usa milsim
 
I agree John, I go to most of Blacksheep 6 MILSIM's. OP Pine Plain and OP Cove. Have not encounter a MILSIM event in Canada that compairs...especially OP Cove...2 40 man Platoon fighting, Patroling against one another in high altitudes with adverse weather (rain, fog, dampness, cold)....good missions set...very challenging, ppl didn't "pack it in because of the weather"

I want to go EWV because it reminds me of West Germany NATO Exercise Reforger...in 1988 I was a young and new Infantier augmentated with 3 RCR, that Operation was a big eye opener for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordarski J.A. (Post 1847535)
I work for the Government of Manitoba. Unfortunately, the office I currently work out of (Brandon) had only myself and one other person, so we racked up OT pretty easily. I'm on the verge of a transfer back to Winnipeg so I won't be able to pick up as much OT next fiscal year.



Twice, EWVII (2014) will be my third. EW ruined all other airsoft for me, no matter how hard I try to avoid it I find myself comparing every other event to EW in terms of length, depth, excitement value, and overall cost. I have vowed that only death will keep me from attending each year (if I'm dismembered I'll take a staff position in the TOC).

The event itself feels more like the real military in terms of no guarantee of "trigger time". Units/squads are sent on missions and *may* come in contact with the enemy. I personally think that being on edge like that heightens the experience. For example, my first EW I used one mag throughout the entire event, and that was during an ambush wherein we were chasing down a Soviet squad (I got dead). At my second EW, we (the Canadians) expended every round of ammunition we had on us when the East German border guards shot the NATO commander (which set off hostilities for the event). EW allows every person attending to have their own amazing experiences, no matter what side of the border you opt for.

Some of the other things I love about EW:

- Line units only (no SF), means specific weapon restrictions and no crazy loadouts
- Period correct equipment such as radios and night vision
- Period correct vehicles and a field sizeable enough to warrant their use
- Hot meals prepared in the "flying kitchen" (MKT) more often than MRE meals
- An incredible camaraderie between participants
- The personal challenge to soldier on and work towards a common goal
- The 'Cultural Exchange' at the end of the event

NATO Wiki: http://operationeastwind.com/wiki/NATO_Forces
WARPAC Wiki: http://operationeastwind.com/wiki/WARPAC_Forces


Aswayze November 12th, 2013 08:47

You’re in luck QKLee, it happens that Reforger was exactly what I had in mind when I first came up with the idea for East Wind years ago.

Trigger time is a question that comes up a lot.

We do not go for trigger time pretty much at all. We’re generally working on different goals generally more related to shaping the battle space and figuring things out.

We get theater level intel “from higher” but we do not get any info on our own local situation so if the command staff want to have any idea what is happening in the AO, it pretty much comes from recon and actionable intel gathered in the field by participants. That tends to keep everyone pretty busy doing tasks that are a great deal more interesting that shooting wave after wave of just respawned enemy anyhow.

Here’s a story from East Wind 4 that gives a bit of an idea what “lack of trigger time” is all about:


Night raid on Colleville from the perspective of a single US private:

13:00 hours. With unit sitting on border in peacetime. High Soviet activity level on opposite side of border. Command does not have effective comms with higher.

13:07 hours. Soviets push across border en masse. Your unit, backed up by British armored infantry are holding the line but just barely.

13:15 hours. Local commander decides to commit his armored scout car to the fight. Knowing that by doing so he's potentially loosing his only effective runner to higher HQ.

13:20 Hours. Ratelo finally gets through to higher. Word is reinforcements are coming.

13:35 hours. Your unit is down to 40% You've lost contact with the Brits but things don't sound so good over there. An RPG just took out the Ferret so you're only wheels are now a burning wreck. Ammo is getting critical.

13:37 hours. You hear the familiar roar of a deuce rolling up behind town. Troops dismount and begin to sweep forward.

13:40 hours. The situation is not advantageous, Reinforcements push up to the Brits and get them then everyone hastily withdraws from town. It was a bad fight but managed to break contact pretty well and at least you're not leaving anyone behind.

14:00. You're back at camp and after grabbing a pile of ammo and making good your reloading, you grab some lunch. All the leaders are in the TOC, something is up.

15:00 Two other squads push off to probe the enemies defenses and look things over. Your squad, who's been up since 0:200 hits the rack for some sleep.

20:00 You get up from bed and grab a quick meal. An Opord is being issued at 22:00 and you are told to prepare for a night raid. You check your rig for jingly things and tape over anything that shines then wait...

22:00 Opord is issued. It will be a full company raid on the town we left earlier today. Recon says that the enemy is set up primarily in two main buildings. Estimated 2 full sections of Soviet troops, no vehicles present. One squad's got near security to make sure the doors open to get back out, the Brits have got far security to make sure that no help gets to the towns garrison once we hit. Another squad's got the church, your squad gets the larger of the buildings. You'll be going in hard and fast. Zip in, kill some Ruskies, pick up priority intel, grab any important prisoners and zip out. Mission will kick off at 02:00.

23:00 You draw a set of nods, camo up your face and go through your rehersals with your squad. Who's on our left? Who's on our right? What's the recognition signal when we head back out through our near side security? How far can we advance? What buildings are ours and which ones do the other squads have? What's our rally point if things go haywire? Information is pouring at you and you are working hard to digest it all.

24:00 the entire company gathers for a rehearsal. Mini glow sticks show the layout of the town and you run through each step so you understand how it's all supposed to go down. You're squad leader is concerned about the 75 meters of open ground you'll be crossing to get to your building. If the Soviet's are up and lively that's going to be pure murder. The CO hopes that you'll be across that ground before the Soviets can react. You dearly hope so...

01:00 final checks. Nod batteries are good. Mount is straight right? Have you shot with nods before? No? Crap get with Gallion over there and have him walk you through the basics! You double check your mags, double check your gear, double check your everything. Everything is dark dark dark now, the whole unit is lights out right now so eyes can adjust. Tension is really high. The single German blurts out a quote from the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. "Master Blaster rules bordertown" Morale is high.

01:15 3rd squad pushes out to sweep the road ahead and link up with the recon team that's been keeping eyes on the Soviets for the last 6 hours. You are jamming as much coffee down your throat as you can stand. You're beat, you did not get enough rest and you know you've got a hard night ahead.

02:00 everyones on the trucks for the movement forward. Slowly, the trucks grind their way into the blackness, the moon is not yet up and it is seriously dark out.

02:25 the truck slows to a halt at your drop off point. A member of 3rd squad is there to act as your guide to get your squad up to your assault position. The units break up and disappear into the inky blackness. You move forward adjusting yourself to the green glow of the nods and the feeling that every stick that snaps, every stumble, every breath sounds like the loudest rock concert. How are we supposed to sneak up on this place?

02:50 You're guide got you lost and you're coming up on show time but your unit is not to your assault position yet. If they kick off the attack with us not there, we're screwed! There's no way we'll cover that ground!

02:59 You reach assault position with little to no time to spare. Your SL waits for the signal to move out...

03:07 No signal but you hear a volley of fire from another squad and see in your nods as the race forward. SHIT! You know you're screwed now but your squad leader yells "let's go!" and over the berm you go running forward with all your might watching the distance close to your objective. Almost immediately, you find yourself running into an enemy position. Silhouettes move in the blackness, waking and stirring, grabbing weapons, reloading. You fire as you move killing several but knowing that you cannot afford to get bogged down here. A machine gun opens up from the upper floor of the building you're headed for. Rounds zip through the night you hear some of your squad mates go down. Forward... Forward you run, nothing but death here, you've got to get to that building.

03:08 grenades flash in the night (pea grenades) there's a lot of yelling and violence. You make it to the building and race in finding yourself face to face with a room full of guys. You rifle cracks and you clear them out one by one. About the time you've got the last one down you notice the familiar shadow of a PASGT helmet and realize you just wiped out a good portion of the US squad that was supposed to be taking the church across the street. They had heard the fighting over here and had raced over to help disregarding the plan. You're pissed that this happened but the flash and boom of a grenade just outside the door reminds you that you've not got time to focus on that crap now. The machine gun upstairs starts hammering away again. The one guy left that you did not kill screams in your ear that we need to get up there and get that machine gun or we'll never get out of here. You nod and the pair of you round the corner heading towards the stairs. Suddenly, almost in slow motion a grenade arches down the stair well. You grab the lead guys Y harness and pull him hard back towards the door but just end up pivoting him into the doorway where the grenade detonates right in front of him. In a flash he is gone and you are alone.

Alone... There is firing everywhere rounds are impacting the building and zinging through the windows, the machine gun upstairs hammers away again and some unseen target and all you can think of is two words that seemed so foreign to you when the operations officer mentioned them in training just a few days ago. Combat Isolation....

03:10. This is a mess. You're whole squad is gone, you killed the squad that's supposed to be holding the church across the street and you can see that the squad that supposed to be covering your way out is engaged in a fierce firefight with the guys who are upstairs. It's time to get the F out of here while hopefully everyone is looking another direction. You crouch and peek out the door eyeing the woods that long 75 yards away. You take a breath and sprint for all your worth. Running, running, running... The machine gun hammers and you’re just waiting for the rounds to stitch you the back but they don't come. You bust into the wood line and dive over a low berm.

03:15. You catch your breath and peer over the berm across the battlefield. The firing from the near side security team has ceased and you hear Russians yelling back and forth to each other. The woods crunch and pop with movement and you know you are in serious trouble. You slowly begin to make your way south to the rally point.

03:22. You stop suddenly when you hear the familar "Click-pop" of squelch breaking on a PRC-68 radio. You scan and spot a shadow in the darkness. You challenge the shadow and get the correct reply. It's your squads ratelo. He's working his way back as well. He tells you he thinks there's a sizable Soviet force moving through the woods just north of here and you guys need to make tracks.

03:45. Slowly you ease your way into the rally point. Nothing much to see... Creeping forward slowly, looking. Suddenly a quiet voice with a British accent comes out from the darkness. "Over here mate" You close up meet with the supply sgt who hearing the fracas on the radio decided to move a truck up to help evacuate everyone. He sets you off on the perimeter to pull security for a while till we get everyone gathered up.

04:15. Nobody else comes... The supply sgt gathers up all who are present and loads everyone in the truck. The engine cranks and the truck creeps back home.

04:45. You are back. Tired and dejected. You know that raid was a disaster. The Brit guy next to you in the truck referred to it as a "dick dance".

05:15 More units return on foot. Many tell stories just like yours, darkness, violence, confusion. You are exhausted. You meet up with some other members of your squad including your squad leader who finally tells you to go get some sleep.

05:20 you are fast asleep.

The next morning, a recon team clears the town. The Soviets obviously cleared out in a hurry just before dawn, mags are strewn about here and there as well as the odd bits of East German and Soviet equipment.

Once the event is over you learn the whole story of the disastrous raid. Turns out that most of the NATO force got out ok. In fact your friendly fire rampage killed almost as many NATO guys as enemy action. The guys that were just up that stairwell turned out to be the last remaining Soviet troops in the town. All that crunching and scary noises you heard in the woods was just other NATO troops heading back. All the Russian yelling was just the Soviet guys calling out to see if any of their other positions had survived the attack. (they hadn't). The guy upstairs, a combat veteran of the Russian Army who was wounded in Chechnya says of that battle: "McClane and I were ready to fight to the last BB! That was one of the most memorable moments at EW for me."

So... Out of the 16.3 hours tracked here. 40 minutes involved fighting. The rest was spent doing other activities leading up to the fight or supporting the fight. Our protagonist was lucky that he actually even got to catch some z's even. The point here is that East Wind is not a high action event. We don't just Yosemite Sam charge the enemy without a plan, respawn 5 minutes later and do it again. When you head out on mission, there's a lot involved. All of that "lot" requires attention to detail and interest in what's happening. If this is your thing, you are going to LOVE East Wind. If it's not, than you probably are not. It's important to us to make sure that we convey that to people looking at the event since we want the people to attend to have a great experience and a big part of that is making sure that we are up front and honest about what we are providing so that guys can make the decision as to whether East Wind is something that they are going to enjoy.

Aswayze November 12th, 2013 08:48

Specifically related to intel gathering and recon here is a follow on story:



After the previously mentioned night raid gone awry, I went out with a few other HQ guys supported by the Ferret armored car to conduct some light armored recon. We slid up to the edge of town in the famous Ferret run silent, run deep mode and I dismounted along with the cook to go have a lookie around town. We moved in hard and fast moving from cover to cover and quickly/quietly sweeping all the danger spots in town before signaling the Ferret to move up to a point where it could both provide some fire support if we encountered enemy troops moving up and also a rapid egress if needed.

After the fierce night fight, we had rightly assumed that the Soviets would probably bail out of town and all evidence seemed to indicate that they had peeled out of there prior to dawn. There were mags here and there that had obviously been missed in the dark and the general disarray in the East Germans position seemed to indicate that nobody had particularly "cleared" that spot before pulling out. The truck that picked the remaining troops up was small and traveling by itself with no dismounted escort so obviously there were not that many troops remaining in town when they lit out of there. We did not venture far tracking where it went, we just knew it went somewhere into East Germany as one would clearly expect.

From there we decided to go have a sneaky peek at several other likely border crossing points and look for signs of recent Soviet activity. This is not as easy as you would think since Oklahoma is mostly made of dust, flaming grass and rocks. None the less, with a little effort, we managed to track down some choke points that were damp and loamy enough to leave tracks and after a little skittering about happened upon what looked like actionable intel.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8329/8...9b01d71cd3.jpg

The above pic shows a section of the border we had code named "Dave". While not a likely avenue of approach, the road marked 25 on the map here did travel directly into NATO territory from somewhere in the deep dark communist forest and therefore could be used by enterprising vehicle drivers to get units moved up to the border. Several of us had long suspected that this was possible but many felt that the extremely steep and rocky hill leading up from the extremely steep and rocky valley 400 meters or so across the border from here would prevent vehicle traffic. When we arrived on scene, the cook and I again skirted the road forward up towards the hill and in a damp spot encountered a very narrow lug treaded tire track. Initially, we assumed it was from a motorbike but a little further down we encountered another spot that was soft enough to see the track width. It was something small, but definitely a 4x4 vehicle. Looking at the patterns of tracks, it had been moving slowly but had wandered a bit on the roadway often clipping some of the vegetation on the sides of the road in spite of it's small size. No signs of dismounted troops at all. The Ferret driver suggested leaving some squares of toilet paper in a few high traffic spots so we could tell when new tracks arrived then we gathered up all of our notes and slipped off to try to put together all the pieces.

Once safely back in camp, we sat down and tried to make sense of it all. Small vehicle, traveling erratically, on a rough minor road... We talked a bit about the other roads in the area and how this one was different (other than the obvious parts like the fact it starts, ends and goes to different locations) and the only thing we could come up with out of all of this is that this particular road was one of the few that traveled in an area almost completely bereft of light pollution. Most other roads had some silly ass farmer dusk to dawn light off in the distance flickering at you when you drive on them. Most of the NATO guys drive with Gen 2 night vision so this does not prove to be much of a hassle to them but as far as we knew, most of the Warsaw Pact driver night vision was either Gen 0 (Active IR) or Gen 1. Perhaps the Warsaw Pact was using this route at night to bring in recon teams? From a security standpoint it made very good sense. It would not be considered a likely avenue of approach, it traveled straight where they would want to go, there was little light pollution to interfere with driving, it was mostly in a valley so they could use active IR drive lights and not really be broadcasting to the entire world, and most important of all, the entire approach run to the border was screened so NATO troops directly watching the border would not see them coming from miles away.

We provided our findings to the operations officer and he asked me to provide a portion of the situation brief for the OPORD he would be issuing to US first squad who drew the short straw and got selected to go out on ambush that night to see if our hunch was good.

Some 8 hours later, 1st squad moved up to Point Dave to deploy. 3rd squad screened the route ahead so 1st got to travel in the relative comfort of a deuce arriving just before last light. 1st squad moved down the path to the ambush site selected about 2/3rds of the way up the hill and began setting claymores and trip flares. They had heard the briefing but were quite sure it was bullshit since nobody in their right mind would drive up that road in the daylight much less at night on nods but in true soldier form they set up as ordered.

Let me take a moment from the story here to talk about ambushes. For those of you who have never sat in one, it is hard to explain how pointless and dull they are. 90% of ambushes net nothing and even the ones that do generally do not net you anything real quickly. The ambush site is always too rocky, too muddy, too ant infested or something unpleasant. The weather is almost always balls cold and it's generally at least threatening to rain on you. In short, everyone hates ambushes. In normal airsoft, ambushes are great fun since you know that the way the event is scripted or due to the simple mass of people involved someone will most certainly bumble along any old minute now and you'll be having a jolly old time riddling them with bullets but as we have already mentioned, East Wind is not that way so here sat a tired and dejected 1st squad... The day before had seen them chased out of town by a Warpac attack, the night before their raid had been a disaster and now here they are guarding what might as well have been a cliff as far as they were concerned because some pencil neck things trucks can drive here at night...

Camoed up, they crouched in their shell scrapes taking turns watching the road and dozing off. Of course the next great thing about ambushes is that nothing ever happens till it happens and when "it" happens, a whole lot of "it" happens all at once. As it happened this time around, nothing went on for hours on end till one guy had to go pee. He quietly got up and wandered off a bit at the same time, an armadillo came trundling on down the road in typical oblivious armadillo form threatening to set off all the trip wires while at exactly the same time the rumbling drone of a truck engine descending the opposite end of the valley hit everyone's ears.

Pants buttoned back up, dive back into the spot, sticks tossed at the armadillo finally ran it off without it setting off the trip wires. Waiting... Waiting... Intel guy said no signs of dismounted troops but everyone is straining in their NVGs looking for them anyhow. The truck groans as it begins it's ascent up the hill, the blacked out headlights play over the kill zone, it drones on... Blam! Blam! two claymores strike the truck followed by a fusilade of rifle fire and 1st squad tastes it's first success at East Wind 4.

As I said, 90% of ambushes net nothing... The other 10% however generally do and when they do, they are typically a pretty good score. In this case, a nice tasty Soviet troop truck loaded with 2 full sections of troops. In another typical yet ironic twist of fate, the truck was supposed to have stopped and dismounted it's load of infantry at the bottom of the hill but the driver was feeling nice and thought he'd drop everyone at the top of the hill to save them some effort. Had that happened, 1st Squad would have had quite a different fight on their hands.

QKLee11 November 12th, 2013 20:40

Battle Procedure
 
True Battle Procedure with con current activity to get ready (planning) for the Mission

Yeah alot guys who never been in the Military would find it hard to comprehend this, but a week long operation in simulated battle enviroment is realism...good TRG

Plus ppl would see how RECCE/RECON really works, eyes and ears of the unit...RECCEING routes in and out of an objective, setting up RV points for future use, RECCEING objective for attacks, suitable Fire Base, Line of Departure (for the attack), cut of Teams etc...or even just gather intel on the terrain...yeah I want to go to this.

Q

Aswayze November 13th, 2013 09:31

You’d think it would take guys a while to really fall into the system but in all reality guys tend to pick up on all of that pretty fast as soon as you put them into a longer duration environment.

“There’s guys over at point x!”

“Let’s just go get em!”

12 hours later they are still at newly secured point X with no food, low water supplies, clouds closing in, a long cold night ahead while they are still dressed in their basic combat uniform.

After they get massacred to a man trying to exfil from point X, they tend to have a greater interest in the entire process.

:)

Mordarski J.A. November 14th, 2013 06:41

March 2012 (EW5)....

I attended as a Canadian, my role within the section was straight up "rifleman". More specifically, I was point man on every patrol. My job entailed knowing all the passwords, running passwords, light and number recognition, etc. so that while on patrol if we came in contact with another patrol (or the enemy) we had less chance of a blue-on-blue contact. This worked out pretty well until about day eight when I was tasked with leading a two-man day recce mission across the border fairly deep into enemy territory.

I had to give a warning order, write and conduct an O-Group, as well as provide all of this in writing to my higher command.

Our mission was pretty simple: Get eyes on a known junction and look for signs of enemy movement. We needed to have eyes-on for a minimum of four hours.

I planned the route with input from my number two man, conducted the O-Group, bombed up with the essentials (2L of water, rifle with one mag, binos) and we set off.

We made it to our OP and set up for the required amount of time. Unfortunately, though we saw signs of use on the road, we did not observe a damned thing by way of enemy movement....until just before we left the OP. We could hear a vehicle moving. In the distance, we saw a UAZ lumber out from a wooded area, moving left to right, and deliver a four-man Soviet patrol to a suspected enemy infil point. While observing the enemy, we took note that their weapons were pointed up beside them while they drove, and they appeared to be joking when the dismounted from the vehicle, as though they felt safe and were not expecting contact. Their morale appeared high. The UAZ then returned on the same route, suggesting a level of confidence that they were not being observed.

The enemy infil point looked dangerously close to our original exfil route. Armed with this vital tactical information - previously we (NATO) had recce'd north and west of the enemy infil area, which decisively narrowed the possible locations of the Soviet camp - we made the decision to exfil down an MSR which bordered a wooded area. If we came under contact, one person would hold off the enemy and/or risk capture to allow the other person to safely return to camp and deliver the information to NATO command.

The distance on the map indicated roughly 500m to the road, 1500m down the road, and another 500m into camp. Unfortunately, I made a mistake reading the map and didn't account for the elevation....what was 1500m 'as the crow flies' was closer to about 2500m up and down.

This lesson caused me to plan distances more accurately :P

We made it back to camp tired, but without making contact with the enemy. The information was passed to higher, and then on to the troops deployed to the field. It also changed our (the Canadian contingent) role as we left being recce troops and prepared for a fighting patrol that night.

This particular mission made me step out of my usual role and assume that of a patrol commander, and gave me a greater appreciation for Battle Procedure. If this sounds appealing, EW is definitely for you!

Aswayze November 14th, 2013 09:18

A couple of comments on Josh's story there worth pointing out:

#1 Had his patrol been wiped out, that intel would not have made it back. "Dead men don't talk" includes intel too...

#2 That snippet of info cost the Soviets a patrol the following night. Information kills, the rifle is just the end tool.

QKLee11 November 14th, 2013 19:21

Map Recce
 
J.A. as a young M/CPL I made a mistake like yours...I got my warning Order pretty quick so when I was doing my Intial Map Recce I didn't take into consideration on my 2nd leg on my "Route In" that there was slight elevation of 500m in dense vegetation (thank you Gagetown, on the west side of Summerhill if memory serves me correct)...it took my Ptl an hour and half to get through it...we did eventually approached the obstacle of dirt track which let me know by doing the initial map recce that I was 400m from Lawfield Corridor and 600m from the house I had to RECCE for an enemy OP...instead of having the mission finished by 0300hrs, my patrol got back to our Ptl Hide at 0530hrs with all intel and not being compromised...big lesson to me though because in Real Combat time is essential and a commodity...future missions and soldiers lives can be the difference in making your timings...after that a "detail" Map Recce (which is part of Battle proceedure when planning a real mission) I made all the time plus going out (if possible) and taking a visual look at the terrain where my ptl might deploy from...

Q

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordarski J.A. (Post 1848246)
March 2012 (EW5)....
I attended as a Canadian, my role within the section was straight up "rifleman". More specifically, I was point man on every patrol. My job entailed knowing all the passwords, running passwords, light and number recognition, etc. so that while on patrol if we came in contact with another patrol (or the enemy) we had less chance of a blue-on-blue contact. This worked out pretty well until about day eight when I was tasked with leading a two-man day recce mission across the border fairly deep into enemy territory.

I had to give a warning order, write and conduct an O-Group, as well as provide all of this in writing to my higher command.

Our mission was pretty simple: Get eyes on a known junction and look for signs of enemy movement. We needed to have eyes-on for a minimum of four hours.

I planned the route with input from my number two man, conducted the O-Group, bombed up with the essentials (2L of water, rifle with one mag, binos) and we set off.

We made it to our OP and set up for the required amount of time. Unfortunately, though we saw signs of use on the road, we did not observe a damned thing by way of enemy movement....until just before we left the OP. We could hear a vehicle moving. In the distance, we saw a UAZ lumber out from a wooded area, moving left to right, and deliver a four-man Soviet patrol to a suspected enemy infil point. While observing the enemy, we took note that their weapons were pointed up beside them while they drove, and they appeared to be joking when the dismounted from the vehicle, as though they felt safe and were not expecting contact. Their morale appeared high. The UAZ then returned on the same route, suggesting a level of confidence that they were not being observed.

The enemy infil point looked dangerously close to our original exfil route. Armed with this vital tactical information - previously we (NATO) had recce'd north and west of the enemy infil area, which decisively narrowed the possible locations of the Soviet camp - we made the decision to exfil down an MSR which bordered a wooded area. If we came under contact, one person would hold off the enemy and/or risk capture to allow the other person to safely return to camp and deliver the information to NATO command.

The distance on the map indicated roughly 500m to the road, 1500m down the road, and another 500m into camp. Unfortunately, I made a mistake reading the map and didn't account for the elevation....what was 1500m 'as the crow flies' was closer to about 2500m up and down.

This lesson caused me to plan distances more accurately :P

We made it back to camp tired, but without making contact with the enemy. The information was passed to higher, and then on to the troops deployed to the field. It also changed our (the Canadian contingent) role as we left being recce troops and prepared for a fighting patrol that night.

This particular mission made me step out of my usual role and assume that of a patrol commander, and gave me a greater appreciation for Battle Procedure. If this sounds appealing, EW is definitely for you!


Mordarski J.A. November 20th, 2013 20:39

Available spots are filling up quickly!

NATO

HQ Troops - 4 slots left
US Army - 24 slots left
UK Infantry - 8 slots left
West German Army - 8 Slots Left
Canadian Forces - 2 Slots Left


WARPAC

HQ Element - 3 slots left
Grenztruppen - 10 slots left
NVA Motor Rifles - 15 slots left
Soviet Recon - 13 slots left


If you are interested in coming out to EW, now is the time to get your deposit in! The deposit, $50 USD, secures your spot on the roster and the balance of the game fee is due on February 1 2014 (when registration closes). You can also opt to pay your full game fee instead, if you so choose. Game fees go towards things like food (cooked and MRE's) for the entire event, fuel for the vehicles and generators, batteries to power all the radios, night vision and lighting for tents, etc., etc. Check out the EW website for more information, and the EW forums for more discussion.

redmond November 25th, 2013 10:51

Awww man, I have the time available to book it off but i don't have the money for airfare. I'll try and plan to head out to the next one.

Aswayze November 26th, 2013 07:19

East Wind is one of those events that takes a little wind up time to make it to effectively. Getting all the kit, getting the time off, getting the travel $, just doesn't tend to happen overnight.

We'll keep the light on for you*. Perhaps we'll see you in 2015!









*Blackout marker light

Aswayze December 17th, 2013 09:21

It's been a busy season working on East Wind projects. Any of you who know an East Wind attendee have probably clued in on the fact that to many of us, this is not a once a year event but a year round obsession. At my house for instance, we rarely put in less than 40 hours a week working on East Wind stuff. On dedicated work weekends, it is not unusual for us to get up at 06:00 and work all the way round till 21:00 on projects hit the sack then do it again the next day... We stretch our goals then drive hard to meet them. Anyhow, without further ado here's what's new since July:

NATO Forces: *

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8104/8...a93de467_z.jpg
6001 at East Wind 6
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2844/1...5ff4f28b_c.jpg
M151a1 6001 is my personal mutt. *Some of you probably don't know me enough to know what a nut case I can be about gear but this is a good example. * 6001 was at East Wind last year where it did quite well. *I drove it around basically all summer and everything was fine apart from the fact it was getting a little hot on extended high speed runs most likely due to the MASSIVE amount of grass seed that was lodged in the radiator. * I set to work to take care of a few issues related to that and 1.6 cups of mission creep later ended up basically overhauling the entire engine and changing basically every single bearing, joint and seal on the thing. * Should be pretty good now I think... *

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3690/1...253c0a74_z.jpg
M151a1 6007 was almost ready for East Wind 6 but ended up being too much to take on at the time. * Gallion bought it earlier this year and has taken on the overhaul. *His attention to detail and desire to have it be as nice as he can within his limited budget has lead to a very serious structural overhaul with the help of his very capable stepdad Ed. * He's now got the straightest and strongest mutt of all out here. * Just need to pull out and overhaul the front suspension system get the brake system all installed, and wrap up some wiring issues and we'll be ready to rock the block with this one. *

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3803/1...4370132289.jpg
M151a1 6008 belongs to Switzer down in South Texas. *Over Thanksgiving weekend Curfman, Z, and I made a run down to help Switzer get the restore of this one kicked off. *After plenty of bodly welding getting everything structurally sound, Z got a coat of MERDC 4 color temperate Europe paint on it. *Still have some work to do on this guy but it shouldn't take all that much to have it up and rolling along. *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7439/9...48483279_c.jpg
M35A2 6015 got a set of new fancy radial tires. * These are a MASSIVE improve for the deuces and doa *great deal to reduce drive fatigue on long convoys down and back from East Wind. *

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/1...757097ef_z.jpg
M35a2 6019 is already converted to single rear wheel configuration. *David should have the 11.00-20 radials rounded up for it pretty soon then it too will be a radial truck.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7399/1...538b353b_z.jpg
M151A2 6021 got all of it's PMCS work done and it is currently deployed to D-Day ready for East Wind 7. *

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m151a1 6022, long the red headed step child, has a new owner now in David who is hard at work on the pieces he is able to get hauled back to KC to work on. * Shorty, as soon as either 6037 or 6007 clears out, 6022 will be in the depot getting some major body overhaul work done. *We may yet see this one in time for East Wind 7. *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7409/1...d2dc5da0_z.jpg
M35A2 6025 got an M66 gun ring installed on it. *Now we can finally keep those pesky Hinds at bay. *

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5516/9...f8848715_z.jpg
M151A2 6033 got all finished up earlier this summer and caught a ride out west to Ft. Riley on the back of 6015.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5509/9...aec5073d_z.jpg
At the Soldier Fort Stagg quickly set to work proving that normal cars are for squares. *6033 has been racking up the miles out there as both a daily driver as well as roaring all over the ranges amazing Stagg and others out there with what an M151A2 can do. *

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5534/1...d52ac929_z.jpg
M718 6037, our front line ambulance, is nearing completion. *Here Curfman shows off the new (old) ambulance top. *

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The biggest stumbling block for this guy was it's transmission. * It had a bad input shaft bearing which has now been replaced. *Just waiting on a seal kit and we'll have it all together and ready to stick back in. *

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M882 #707 just joined the family. *It's an ex-Missouri National Guard radio truck that was bought by Ready for East Wind duty. * As is usually the case with the M880 series, it needs remarkably little work to get into good order and should be all set to go fairly quickly. *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7332/9...dd00714f_b.jpg
Up north in sun baked blistering sands of of southern Manitoba, Rob Bye set to work building a pair of Carl Gustav launchers for our Canadian contingent.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...ps9833caa2.jpg
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Down south in the frozen pine forests of South Louisiana Mercy set to work getting resin/rubber SA-80 bayonets cast for our UK guys. * You cannot be commonwealth infantry without bayonets you know!

Meanwhile over on Warpac: *

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Stagg's Gaz-69M has been carted up to Wamego for service work. *This one really is in pretty decent shape so it ought to turn around really fast. *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7380/1...d6e9113a_z.jpg
In keeping with the general trend to containerise more in order to reduce set up times. *The Warpac has put together a new containerized supply shelter.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7351/1...6799fdf4_z.jpg
Warpac troops really got to work hard on drive train maintenance for their smaller vehicles this year. *For once, in a long time, it is looking like we may successfully deploy ALL of the Warpac vehicles next year! * Good work guys. *

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The BTR-40 spun a rod at East Wind 6 and has, over the summer and fall, been getting it's engine overhauled. *Here Art pressure washes out the engine bay prior to it getting a new coat of paint. *

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http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3750/1...3a2f98cd_c.jpg

Trucker and I took a weekend and did some long haul trucking pulling the Robur LO-2002 from DDAP down to Mobile Alabama for Doorman to begin overhauling. *Lots of little stuff to do on this one but none too crazy. *Besides, I think Doorman will probably be able to fund the entire overhaul by selling off the acorns that were stashed in it by pack rats over the years. *


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7358/9...3333a937_c.jpg

The SPW-152 is even moving along. * It's engine and transmission are installed. *The custom drive shaft is being built right now that goes between the transmission and the transfer case. * Once that's on there, it will move under it's own power. *We still need to get some of the this and that stuff taken care of like plumbing in the cooling system, adding some wiring and installing an air compressor for the air brakes but regardless, this big guy is well on it's way. *

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7381/9...9ece92f8_z.jpg
East Wind is a very recon oriented event. *The two sides literally get ZERO intel from admin and have to rely on their own assets to determine what is going on in the field. * That puts a lot of value on good optics. *Good fortune smiled upon our East Germans as a supplier here in the states put the VERY high quality original East German Zeiss binoculars on sale for $90 a pair (they are usually closer to $300) *Many of our East German sprung into action scarfing them up. * These binos should help a great deal in the field at East Wind 7 and beyond. *

http://bunkerseeds.com/images/PKM/PKMS/Img_7237.jpg
Not to be outdone by last years introduction of the tripod mounted MG-3 by the West Germans Coop out in Jersey has been getting a PKM set up for tripod operation as well. *In normal airsoft a tripod mounted medium machine gun is not match for a little fat kid with an MP5 and a high cap but when you start running 24/7, a medium machine gun quickly proves it value in the defense since you can preplan your fires and effectively support nearby positions that you cannot even see.

QKLee11 December 17th, 2013 19:44

looks good

Aswayze December 18th, 2013 10:14

Thank you, we've been hard at work to get where we are.

Juic3 December 22nd, 2013 09:00

One day ill attend East Wind ...

redmond January 7th, 2014 13:36

How many people attended EastWind in 2013? I'm just curious, some of my friends were asking, and I have no idea/can't find that information. Thank you.

**edit**

Nevermind, i managed to find something close on your forums.

Aswayze January 8th, 2014 11:05

For the sake of answering for everone else. We hit a total of about 80 for 2013, just shy of 100 the year before. This year we have 57 sign ups already and have not yet hit the "last minute rush" when many sign up so I'll wager will be close to 100 again.

We are not a "numbers" event. We do not want to be. I have to fully support every single attendee with support equipment, gear, food, etc etc etc so just piling on the numbers only dilutes the overall experience for everyone. Over the summer, we generally assess the equipment situation and determine what our maximum capacity by side is and make a build to that reflects what our drop dead max attendees number is. In the case of this year, NATO for instance has a max of 65. The Canadian Forces unit within the NATO group has a max of 12 slots with only two remaining open. We tend to have more U.S. Army gear (big surprise) so the U.S. Army has a total of 27 slots with 20 remaining open right now.

Aswayze January 16th, 2014 23:12

Payment and sign up deadline this year is the first of February.

We moved the pay date up so that we can better plan the event and so that we can set the roster in place early enough that you guys can work a bit at getting to know who all is in your unit prior to the event.

To that end, if you plan to attend this year and you have not yet signed up, you need to get on it because after Feb 1 you are out for the 2014 event. *

If you have a deposit in, you need to be fully paid by Feb 1. *

Sign up and payment links are here: *

NATO: http://operationeastwind.com/NATO/registration.shtml

Warsaw Pact: http://operationeastwind.com/EB/registration.shtml


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