From Airsoft…To Combat

From Airsoft…To Combat:
Airsoft as a Military Application for CQB Precision Room Clearing
This Article was featured in The NAM Issue #9 Q1 2006
(Edited March 23, 2009)

By,
SFC Eynetich, Johnny R.
Platoon Sergeant
A Troop, 1-167th CAV
Hastings, Nebraska
Wolverine…Scouts Out!

I walked into the Grand Island Armory, and SPC Moran asked me if I was still looking to try and make training more realistic. He started talking about Airsoft, I told him, “…you mean those little spring guns?” I remember soldiers in my squad having “fire fights” in our hallways in Bosnia. He told me, “no, no!” These are just like the real thing. “Oh…yeah, I remember those from back in the 80’s. I had a Daisy Berretta 9mm replica with the ejecting shells even.” He told me, “No, these are better than that.” I started to listen to him, but blew him off. Really, I didn’t believe him. He told me that he would bring in some magazines from some manufactures the next day.

Sunday morning I walked into the Armory drinking my coffee, and SPC Moran asked if I was ready to see the magazines. I let out a sigh and said “Sure, let’s go in here.” He handed me a Classic Army and a Tokyo Marui catalog. After I started looking at the pictures, my jaw actually dropped and I think I started to drool!

I started drilling him with all sorts of questions. What is the weight ratio? What is the F.P.S. (feet per second) of the BB? How does the A.E.G. (all electric guns) work? Where can I get more information? How did you get into it? He started to tell me that he met a guy that started a team in the Lincoln area called Black Omega, and the team leader used to be in the L.R.S. (Long Range Surveillance). He said, “Call this guy, Nick Mass, and he will get you all the info you need.” Come to find out, we both served in the L.R.S. together.

For the next few months, Nick and I e-mailed back and forth. He got me up to speed and showed me the “ins and outs” of the sport. He helped me purchase my first A.E.G. from Airsoft Extreme. Those guys are awesome; my hat goes off to those guys. I immediately saw the benefits to using Airsoft to train with. Now I just needed to sell the idea to our C.O. (Company Commander) and the rest of the Unit.

In September 2004 was 1st Platoon’s brand new Platoon Leaders’ first drill. That Sunday we had just gotten done with a three day field problem in Halsey National Forest. He and I got to talking about sustaining that type of training tempo and asked me if I had any ideas. The first thing that came to mind was Airsoft rifles. I explained the concept and showed him some catalogs form Classic Army. He was very interested in the concept and was eager to use them in training. From our conversation, we decided to train on precision room clearing or better known as C.Q.B. (close quarters battle). Between the September and October drill, I was to get a class together.

In October, I started to set up the computer projector and bring in gun cases. The unit had no clue what I was bringing in. Most of the day was class room training, getting the fundamentals of precision room clearing. Towards the end of the day, I brought out the training aids. I had a Classic Army M4, M4 with a R.I.S. and an M24. Their eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning. Most of the new soldiers had never seen an Airsoft rifle. The rest of the unit had returned from Bosnia just 6 months prior and were shooting each other with little “Springer” Airsoft guns. They would open their room doors and hide behind them in the halls and advance on each other. It was a pretty funny site to see the halls turned into an obstacle course. Almost every one of them had never seen a high-end A.E.G. like these. I sat everyone down and started to explain how they worked and how we were going to use them in the next drill. After the class was done a few that could stick around after drill took them out back of our Armory to shoot at some pop cans. They were very impressed and couldn’t wait until the next drill.

In November, we went to the Greenleif MOUT Training site in Hastings, NE. Before the classes began, I went back over how the Airsoft rifles worked. I also instructed them on the importance of the training. I told them that there is still a war going on in Iraq and we could get called up at anytime. We had almost a picture perfect day, except the wind was blowing about 35 mph.

For our instructors that day, we had two S.W.A.T. team members, one from an entry team and the other was their sniper support, and I. The concept was to combine the military and S.W.A.T. tactics together and use what works best for us. The S.W.A.T. team members are also members of our Unit. The one down side for the day was that we were unable to use the Classic Army M24, due to the high winds. The wind was playing hell with the BB trajectory. But the wind had no effect on our precision room clearing classes.

One good thing about the military, we had all the gear we would need. No one had to go buy goggles or load bearing equipment for this class. While the rifles were loaded, everyone had to wear their eye protection. Most of the morning was running different room configurations. Our site has about ten buildings. Each building was a stepping stone to the next building which was more advanced. One of the benefits to using the Classic Army M4 was that it was almost identical to our real M4s. So we never had to say, “If you would have a real rifle, you would be doing this”. We never had to use the US Army’s favorite training aid, “simulate”. Once the teams had there drills down in all the different buildings, rooms, and stairs, we moved to the main house.

In the main house, a two story building with multiple rooms, we added a twist. The LT had purchased some full-size cardboard silhouette targets. The idea was to use them in “shoot, don’t shoot” scenarios. Some of these Airsoft Rifles were shooting 400 f.p.s. and for safety, we didn’t do any force on force. Most of the soldiers were complaining that they had to wear their goggles. I told them, “Wear them or you don’t go into the house; safety first! These BB’s will ricochet off the walls, fragment and may hit you in the face.” Reluctantly they put them on. I don’t think most of them realized how much power they have, all that was about to change.

The first team was up. They entered the first room and started blazing in the room. They never made it into the next room; everyone in the team was killed. We did a quick A.A.R. (After Action Review). I asked them what went wrong. First off, one soldier said that he got hit in the cheek. It took him by surprise that the rifles had that much power. Another soldier stated that they were much louder in closed rooms, and it was hard to communicate. Next, I showed them their targets. Only one person hit a target, and they all missed the target behind the door. The other three teams that went through had similar problems. By the end of the day, each four-man team was able to clear each room and even after having several different “problems” thrown at them. That was the first day in my military career that soldiers didn’t want to stop training. I ran out of batteries (no way to charge them) and BBs and we had to be up for training on Sunday in a few hours! I was told that using those Airsoft rifles was the best training they have had so far.

The Monday after Thanksgiving we got alerted that half our unit would be activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom. The next month at December drill, we would find out who was going. Over half of the unit that did deploy volunteered to go. Our unit had recently just gotten back from a deployment to Bosnia, so those people were exempt from going to Iraq. Everyone had their own reasons to volunteer for Iraq, but everyone did have one common reason, the guy next to him.

Shortly after we arrived at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, 1st Platoon realized how much the one drill with the Airsoft rifles helped them. 1st Platoon practiced room clearing techniques almost daily. Since we were going to a mainly urban environment, 2LT Misfeldt and I figured that practicing precision room clearing would be the most valuable training.

Through most of the training in C.Q.B., the soldiers would always refer back to that one day with the Airsoft rifles. They would say, “Remember when you came around the corner and that BB ricocheted off the wall? That is what we mean by a bullet being ‘rabbit’ down the wall. So, stay off the wall!” And the guys would go, “Oh yea, now I remember”.

Right before we went to N.T.C. (National Training Center, Ft. Irwin, CA); we found out that 1st Platoon was going to be the Q.R.F. (Quick Reaction Force) for the Brigade. What does that mean? We would be the 911 for the Brigade. Anytime a Unit would be in “trouble” they would call on my Platoon of 16 soldiers to come and bail them out.

As of the writing of this article, we have raided and cleared more rooms / buildings than I can even count or remember and have not lost any soldiers or gotten anyone seriously wounded. We believe all this hard work and training started for us with Airsoft rifles and the foundation that we laid so many months ago. We believe that training has contributed to our success as a Platoon and turned us into one of the best “ass-kicking” platoons within the Brigade.