Gear. or what the hell is that?

Airsofters have many thing s in common: The love of the game, a team, guns,  but one is more prevalent than any other: Gear envy. and Gear Pea cocking: Gear Envy being jealous of someone elses load out, or even not feeling adequate in your own load out. So many time have I seen someone with a really awesome gun or piece of equipment and then seen someone else drooling over it like a blood hood looking at a steak on a hot July day. Its cool jealousy is engrained in us. I'm pretty sure its biological, but lets face it its does not do much for you. On to my other term in the is blog: Gear Pea cocking we all know how showy a peacock can be and we all know how the other birds just want to punch the peacock in the face. Lets face it we have all heard oh yea I have Brand X and it cost my Y dollars. or my personal favorite oh my gun is really pricey so its really good and so  am I. Now without going into a huge argument about brand names and prices etc. Let get something straight right now: GEAR MEANS DICK IF YOU HAVE NO SKILL. It's like putting a baby in a lumber jack competition with the best chainsaw on the market and expecting him to win, Its probably not going to happen. Asserting your skill level via the amount of money your spent or have does not do anything for you except make you look like a jerk. I have no name brand guns. All of my stuff is built from the ground up. Yes I use brand names and yes I spend money on quality parts but I don't think that's what makes me a good player. Another is just having way too much stuff to take on the field, Yes airsoft is about simulation and being like a solider but hey if you don't know what something is on your rig you're probably not going to use it. I see it all the time 9  800rd mags, the guy never reloads, grenade launchers never fired, pistols with 6 extra mags never drawn because the player its too scared to get into a close quarters situation. Now I love gear just as much as the next player and I love showing off stuff too, but you can reach the limit to where you are the peacock, Remember  to K.I.S.S. That's all for now.

New and old: Expierence and Noobism or The Old Dogs and the Green Horns

I have been airsofting for a LONG time now. Ten Years. In ten years I have learned alot of things.Team work, tactics, controlled breathing techniques, diplomacy,that I am not a sniper, Airsoft is more than just shooting your gun, and of course there are always going to be conflicts. Recently I went to a sponsored game, I will not name names but lets say they are in The Central California Valley and they do ALOT of business. Either way the crowd was diverse, newbies with cheap gun to the diehards with their x amount of dollars brand specific gun and such. Everyone was there to have fun. Or so I thought... During my time on the field I heard alot of complaining from the Veterans: "oh that guys is not calling their shots and so on" ok I get it shots no being called yes its lame and annoying but come on its a game. Move on lets not hold up the whole day. Bleh. During one match a rather colorful outburst started between two players One claiming 12 years of operator experience, the other I personally knew had little more than about 2 years. The senior in this situation had been accused of not calling hits (lame) by multiple players and was not owning up to it (also lame) or so i heard. Late in the argument I heard well i have been playing for twelve years, to the challenger replied so you think you are better than me he replied yes. A arrogant choice of words. I know all of us think in some way that we are the bee's knees when it come to airsoft., but really what we need to realize is we're not. There are some many people playing with so many skills levels in different areas no one should be able to really say I'm better than you, especially in a "fun" setting. this is a quick rant so lets move on like we should have in the game. No one cares how good you are just play.  

Operation Assyian Spear Head: or what I learned about Airsofting in the dark.

So I have been airsofting for quite some time (10 years now), and alot of that time was spent at night at public schools and churches.For the most part I have been playing during the day, (early morning through the afternoon) So when  I was that Edric at  Diamond Corps (diamondcorps.com Check them out) had posted this op (also his first op)  and noticed that it was a overnight op I was excited and scared, My thoughts were night time cool tac lights and night vision, of course on the other side it was holy crap darktime in the forest what if I fall and die!? Eventually I thought it over and with the encouragement of my wife I decided and declared "I'm going!"  I had  a couple months to prepare while attending other ops at other fields and of course some at Draex Field . The entire time I was meticulously memorizing as much of the field as I could. I printed maps made a tac light and tried to find night vision ( a horrible failure I will go into this later.) I posted on my facebook group page (Butte County Regional Airsoft) about the op and go many of the members wanting to go. So the February 10th finally  came. I gather up my things checked my list and checked them again I was ready. We arrived at 6pm,the was a fear of rain and dark was settling in and there was a camp fire going I was pretty stoked, I had not seen a camp fire in real life in years. So the easy up went up I set up shop and did what I need to do (I had some sales to attend to and raked in a tidy profit) finally the op was starting our brief was very brief and somewhat lacking info. My teammates where grumbling and I was a little worried. We were told no lighting that was our dead marker this REALLY worried me. I had to remember that this was story based and Edric's first op so we had to ride it out, and ride it out we did. The game as such we are insurgents we have limited resources and were pretty pissed off. We sat nd sat and sat some more it was dark way dark. I had night vision but it basically robbed me of my night vision so I ditched it. Finally action started I started the usual sneak method. using my own night vision and creeping no less than 6 inches of the ground no falls! WOOT!. I encountered forces and was eliminated a sad end to a huge build up night op over. But wait! there was a informal spot light tower watch game going on to. watching all of this while participating got the gears turning in my head. I thought about it and made my suggestions to Edric maybe perhaps for his next op. Now It was bedtime. Wake up breakfast work on gun and then the day portion of the op was launched. I will be totally honest I had more fun during this part ( partly because I could see) Then this happened: Sneak, sneak, sneak sneeeeeaaaaaak, and the ! (this is the sound of panic and dread in the  Metal Gear Series video game) I forgot to silence my phone. My wife my beautiful wife had texted me good morning. I dropped to the ground and took a picture message: the picture at the top. I was more successful in this portion of the op. Unfortunately we had some things we need to take care of so we had to pack up and cut out early. All and all this was a great experience and I would do it again with out hesitation but with the suggestion I had made. Edric great job and thank you.   

Starting out

Ok so this is it my first time doing something I don't think I am very good at (writing), about something I know alot about (airsoft). Either way this is my airsoft blog,and really It should be titled: "Have Guns, Gear, Tools, will travel". My name is Justin, I am 26, I have been airsofting for about 10 years, I build, buy and repair guns, I'm married and have two dogs. I run a loose knit airsoft group out of Face Book ( Search: Butte County Regional Airsoft) I run StierCo Industries. My company focuses on customization and airsoft service. I will post field, products, and service reviews, interviews, and other related materials here. Keep in mind these are my opinions and are only backed by the research that I have done. It is in no way final and always subject to revision. So this is it lets begin.