Team Identification

[Komissar]

Here is a note I recently received concerning team identification on the field.

"I was watching an episode of Wreckreation Nation and they were filming a paintball game. They were wearing different color tape on their arms so they could tell the difference between teams. Not sure if you have come up with an idea yet. Just thought I would pass that on."

I am still of the idea that we can have the teams wear different uniforms for designation.
ie Woodland vs. Sand or OD vs. all others.
It does require that we bring more than one uniform to OPs so that we have the option of changing for scenario balance.
Any other ideas out there?

[Sarge]

i think it would be nice if we could mark helmets or something. that way people could wear what ever BDU the came with and there is not the arm tape falling of crap that we have dealt with in the past

[Edric]

I actually like your multiple uniform idea. I know I would really like my ODs to see some use.

[SCRAMBLE]

Tape on the arm (or helmet) did not work at the SAC AIR game off STAR BEND ROAD because it was too difficult to identify a friendly at distances or during brush busting. Another problem is when not all of a figure is visible and checking the tape is not an option like when sneaking through presidents rock or sniping in the trenches. Personally I prefer the uniform idea because it makes target identification simple at distances and up close even when one can only see a leg, and secondly teams distinguished by different uniforms looks very professional and overall just cool. The only problem with using different uniforms is that it makes shuffling teams difficult because only players with multiple uniforms (with them) can change sides.

[Flapjack]

Tape on the arm didn't work out so well at the Sac Air game because it kept falling off or the tape was covered by the brush so you couldn't tell who's team the opposing person was on. Besides, silver tape is not easily visible against woodland camos. If the tape idea is going to be used, we need florescent colors like red, green, or blue to stand out against the camo uniforms. The brighter the color the easier it is to tell the team. If we had a brightly colored strip of Velcro than it would be easy to take on and off and it would be reusable. The problem still remains when the people are in cover and their arms are covered up. Multiple uniforms is a better idea but is still unrealistic seeing as most people have 1 set of camos except for the few of us who want to blend into every environment. Shuffling teams with multiple uniforms is hard because you would have to swap uniforms to fight on the other team so that is an unrealistic solution. If we had helmet blanks, (those plastic inserts that go into pot helmets), we could paint a symbol on each of the helmets to signify teams. Maybe a hammer and sickle for one side or red star, and the other side a white star. Those helmet blanks I believe can be bought from army navy for little cost. Swapping teams would be as easy as taking off a helmet and putting a new one on. Those helmets are lightweight so they won't bog players down. And their heads are often the first thing we see of an opposing target. Team distinction should be less confusing this way because players could see the clearly marked symbols on the helmets.

[SCRAMBLE]

Helmets are a good idea; except for those of us who wear paintball masks.

[Sarge]

What about the poncho thing they had at the snow game. what if we had vests or ponchos for teams?

[Phoenix]

Historically "team" identification has always been a problem in the real world of warfare (and so it must be in the real world of Airsoft). In the 18th and 19th centuries, "civil" warfare allowed England to set their team color as red and France as blue. In the American Civil War, the Union had to tell the New York militia to change their finely tailored GREY uniforms because, well they were a target in all the chaos. Uniforms in general have always been identifiable as the enemies because they weren't what "we" were wearing With all that being said, I can't think of a full scale war where both sides were wearing full BDU's. Vietnam, the VC wore whatever the hell they wanted for camo and still had a generic fatigue style BDU. Korea same thing. I don't know what the Brits faces in the Falklands, (but it looks like non-SF combat was OD vs OD) nor what NATO faced in the Balkans.

My solution: If the problem is there to the extent that we all feel the sides need to be clear cut identifiable, then make it so. US often has the OPFOR in civilian clothes when training terrorist encounters, and really all we would have to do is take off our BDU shirts and just run in whatever t-shirt we wore under it.

I think what our real steel counterparts are employing is better communication and planning. I've only been to one battle at DRAEX, but at WW1, if was really easy to ID the OPFOR...they were the ones coming towards you. That leads me to believe that if a team is having a problem with friendly fire, they need to pull back, regroup, redeploy.

[Komissar]

Words of wisdom. Thank you Phoenix. I see the situation similarly. I agree that there are times when problems arise, however your words are a very new and true view of the situation. Any other solutions out there? Anyone?
The "big guys" use uniforms for team ID, and it seems to work for them.

[Tank]

the tape idea was good i made armbands for one game and it worked pretty well i made them about 3 x 4 in and each one was a neon color so it worked well for combat but not for snipers i think the uniforms was a great idea, but i do agree about the bringing multiple uniforms that is a problem. phoenix does have a point to about the US civil war there were some northern states that wore gray and some southern states that wore navy blue identification has always been a problem maybe for certian ops (for example if we do an op using UN vs. OPFOR) we could have a certian people call in and every other one will be opfor and every other one will be UN and we could have a few extra shemaugs to give to the people who show up.

[Komissar]

I like the shemaugs idea, and had only found them for around $15-$20 each. Too much money to provide one for each player.
However, I could get some cheaper cloth and have some sewn up in olive drab and coyote tan. Then they would be worn by the operators as a head or neck wrap? The cost would be less if I can find some time to invest. They would still cost me a few dollars each. At this time my "extra time and money" is going into the new SILO building. Keep me posted on the ideas.