In the beginning...

I was watching the idiot box one Tuesday evening with my loving wife. This was not unusual considering we watch a steady stream of programs after I return from the workday. The channel of choice tonight was the History Channel - "Tactical to Practical" with Hunter Ellis. The program was covering the military and no military uses of light aircraft from the airplanes early days until modern day flight. Loving airplanes I decided to watch the program while my wife read. The thirty minutes went by quickly covering many light airplanes and scout balloons. The second half of the show was going to cover military training devices which peaked my interest. The show covered "True Action Markers" which are 1:1 replica weapons that shoot 6mmm paintballs, Paintball guns, TADS training units and finally Airsoft Rifles. I never liked Paintball due to the fact everyone just lobs as many balls of paint at each other until nobody is left standing or a flag has been captured. Not to mention the BMX style uniforms with the florescent colors...how cheesy. TADS united are military training laser devices attached to real functioning weapons. These are strictly for military training. The closest thing to this was “Laser Tag” which was a more futuristic approach using lasers and sensing vests in a confined area. Then the “Airsoft” information played on the TV. Set in the San Francisco Bay Area, a group called “BAASH” (Bay Area Airsoft Hobbyists ) showed the tools of the trade...real military equipment and tactics using 1:1 replicas of modern military weapons, from sniper rifles to Squad Automatic Weapons (SAWs). They were either spring, gas or electric depending on the particular weapon. These AEGs shoot 6mm plastic biodegradable bbs at about 400FPS (feet per second) with 1/6th of the velocity that paintball guns shoot.(less pain!) I thought “how cool is that!” wouldn't be great to “play army” again as an adult!? I quickly wrote down the name of the website that had been mentioned during the show. http://www.baash.org/baash.html