I always look forward to attending a new event, and Operation Pine Plains III was no exception. Located at the MOUT facility on Ft. Drum, the area actually consists of three locations, the town, the mosque village, and the airfield which is home to 20 or so decommissioned helicopters.

Upon arrival the staff was very professional and allowed us to explorer the MOUT town. What I noticed immediately was that many of the buildings were constructed at odd angles to other nearby buildings. This increases the threat of being exposed to enemy fire when shooting from any one location. Teams would need to shoot, move and communicate constantly to stay away from direct enemy fire. I also noticed that the thick wooded area surrounding the town provided a perfect location to stage an assault on just about any outlying building. Since I was there as part of a scout/sniper team with my friend Ryan, I knew that we would find ourselves operating in the tree line from time to time.

On Saturday morning I spent some more time observing the staff. Just about if not all of the staff had military backgrounds. This made the event flow very well as they knew what needed to be done and did not wait to be told want to do and when to do it. The staff was very proactive and seemed well briefed. I knew right off that good leadership was to blame. I soon met Maj. Bucciarelli (BlackSheep6), and Tom O’Rourke (Crossfire) and was very impressed. I had done some research on the event in the month prior and realized that I actually owned the leadership book that Maj. Bucciarelli published called LEADERS ARE MADE! A Building Block Approach to Effective Leadership.

During the hours leading up to the start of the event, I attended a class where the staff taught the proper deployment of the Mortars which were to be used to destroy buildings. The staff member showed the mortar team how to deploy the mortar in under 15 seconds, receive a call for fire and discharge a flare for each round out. The ability to relocate a mortar and be ready for a new fire mission quickly was invaluable as the opposing mortar teams could target each other as well.

Once the event started the briefing was short and to the point. The squads were then escorted to their assigned buildings. From these positions we were to assault and control as many buildings as possible for the next 22 hours. During the next 22 hours squads would also be tasked to conduct special missions which were executed against the staff OPFOR team. These special missions often required the team to be relocated to the Mosque village or the airfield.  I can’t say enough about the staff OPFOR they were well rehearsed and their actions promoted the use of tactics by the assaulting squads. If they saw a major tactical error on the part of the squad the OPFOR would painfully illustrate it.

During our tour as a scout/sniper team we ambushed several teams moving within the wood line and exploited many buildings behind enemy lines by retagging them with our marking tape. On occasion we would work with another squad only to find that we were much more effective supporting the squad from a different location. We learned this lesson the hard way … several times. During the night we were tasked to work with a squad on a special mission involving a hostage rescue on a city bus.

Once on scene Ryan and I took up a position parallel to the bus on the second floor where we surveyed the contents of the bus while the assault squad distracted the terrorists with a spot light. I immediately noticed that the front and rear of the bus had provided the best view of the situation. All of the other windows in between were blocked exposing only the top six inches of each window. If the hostage was brought to the rear of the bus it would provide my best chance to remove the immediate threat to the hostage. If the other terrorist were distracted and at the other end we might be able to eliminate them before they got close enough to the injure the hostage.

At the very moment the terrorist brought the hostage to the back of the bus to yell at the blinding spotlight. The other terrorist were in the middle and front of the bus. This was it – I fired the first shot dropping the terrorist next to the hostage. Ryan put rounds towards the front of the bus to distract and kill any terrorists possible. The next terrorist ran to the back of the bus and yelled “You killed my brother and now you will pay … but hey that was a nice shot” It was everything I could do to not bust out laughing right there. However, I fired the second round dropping this terrorist the second he finished his statement.

I then noticed movement from a third terrorist from the middle of the bus where most of my view was blocked. I was afraid that this terrorist might shoot the hostage from a distance so I took a chance and fired a third shot which managed to pass through the six inch gap and strike the terrorist in the chest. We then yelled “GO, GO, GO” and the assault team swarmed the bus, removing the hostage from the area and insured there were no other threats. This situation couldn’t lasted more than 30 seconds.

I can’t speak for the rest of the team but the adrenaline rush drained me and there were many more hours to come. I was surprised that I was able to pull off three accurate shots from a spring bolt action 400 fps (.20) Sun Project M40XB in low light conditions at a range of 120 ft. It was a once in a life time opportunity and I probably couldn’t do it again. I did feel bad that the assault team didn’t get to do more, but that is often the case in hostage rescue scenarios where everything goes well.

The rest of the night went by in a roller coster of what was left of my adrenaline. We would support teams moving from building to building and get into CQB action sometimes whether we wanted to or not. On one occasion our task was to clear the roof of an adjacent building. Well Ryan was having his own fun as a full enemy squad felt it was time to retake the building we were in. We moved down to the second floor and Ryan was able to eliminate several enemy in the stairwell. We then moved down the hall where Ryan separated from me hoping that they did not know that there were two of us. Moments later they flash banged my room just after I had taken up a position inside the doorway out of view.

Ryan started firing as they crossed an intersecting corridor coming towards my room and team must have thought there was only one of us because they never clear my room they just stacked up  on either side of the hallway putting fire down the other corridor. I reached out my M4 and nudged one of the enemy team members ” Safety Kill”. Then the medic came to help him “Safety Kill”. Then another teammate came to his aid “Safe Kill” I said again. I knew I was pushing my luck when the barrel of a MP5 started to slice the pie into my room. However, never get within a foot of any opening with a weapon because your target can reach out a grab your weapon, and I did “Safety Kill”. At that point I gave myself up. I knew the game was up for me and I had no where to go.

Once daylight broke I was relieved that I had made it through the night without passing out. Unfortunately we still had plenty to do. They loaded up both teams and we had to assault the Mosque from each end of a horseshoe shaped village. It was a very hard fight and I was killed more times than I care to remember, but it was fun to get thrown over the wall of the Mosque into the enemy’s hands. I felt I’d been traded.

This was by far the smoothest flowing event I had been to yet. Just enough organization to keep everything going but lose enough to feel relaxed and focus on your missions. It certainly helps when the most of the staff, the team Commanders, and First Sergeants all have prior service skills. The squads moved effectively around the field under the direction these leaders. The staff was easy to approach and eager to share their knowledge and experience. If you want a challenge, this is for you. If you want to hang out with your buds after a day of playing airsoft, you will not do well here. However, if you give it a try, you might just get addicted. I did.

Visit OpPinePlains.com and join the forums today.