The scene: the African city of Ati has fallen. After the
remains of the Chadian Army withdrew from the immediate area, Azearian State
Fighters entered the city, raising their flags over Government buildings and
declaring the area an Azearian stronghold. SOTF Chad withdrew from the city
last year which in turn prompted new attacks against the Chadian forces.
Confirmation of the late former President, who was brutally murdered in the
streets of Chad, had allied himself with AS has only undermined any
International Relations with Chad.
A small advisory training team comprised of International
Special Forces from the US, UK Europe remains in N’Djamena and are continuing
to work with the small number of Chadian Uniformed Police at the order of the
UK government to help quell some of the unrest in the area but with the
Azearian State, Knights of Azear and Kanem Brotherhood now focusing all their
attention on N’Djamena, SOTF Chad has been diverted to reinforce the
International Special Forces stationed in the city.
On the weekend of 13th-14th August
2016 I was invited by Stirling Airsoft to attend their latest operation,
Operation Crucible at Caerwent FIBUA village in Monmouthshire, Wales to
experience all three of the main factions within their themed games – ISAF,
Civilian Population and my own team Chad Police. Let’s first talk a little bit
about Stirling and what they do: Stirling Airsoft are one of the UK’s leading
Airsoft events companies who bring together their varied backgrounds (including
ex SF instructors) to bring Airsofters highly immersive large scale, scenario
based 24 hour Airsoft events that challenge the participant both mentally and
physically.
The site they picked for Op Crucible is a site that is
rapidly becoming one of my favourite sites for MilSim Ops! MOD Caerwent is a
large military site which was formerly used as a Royal Navy Propellant factory
that was dedicated to the manufacturing of explosives and storage of ammunition
from 1939 to 1993. Since its closure in 1993 it is used for a variety of
activities from Airsoft to Field exercises and even car rallies. The site has
an overall gated area of 7 miles that encompasses over 400 buildings and bunker
structures but also the training areas own railway system. The terrain is
varied and ranges from open grassy areas to berms, hills, wooded areas, a
fully-fledged road system and of course the hundreds of buildings on site –
because of its diverse landscape it opens the options for different playing
styles from close quarters combat to long range engagements and sniping
opportunities. The site is around a 2 and a half hour drive from my home in the
Midlands and unlike other MOD sites such as Sennybridge FIBUA it is super easy
to find – being just off the A48!
After we arrived we signed in at the gates – booking at
Stirling is extremely easy and is done via the booking page on their website
and with prices at £85 per person for the event it is one of the more
affordable MilSim style ops, especially with the option to pay a £45 deposit
and the rest on arrival.
As soon as we signed in we set up our FOB in one of the
munitions storage buildings set deep within 3 hills, had some food and some
well needed rest before the start of the weekend. Stirling Ops last for 24
hours none stop, no safe zones and no breaks so any rest you can get before the
event is a plus!
In the morning we awoke bright and early, I donned my civvie
clothes and left the Police fob with my first port of call being the civilian population.
This element was completely new to me as playing a civilian within the story
requires more role play than I have previously experienced. For my role I took
on the part of a journalist for the local newspaper (The Chad Gazette) and was
escorted around the city by MJ, the local civilian leader in the city to meet
the local residents. The immersion is fantastic and it really feels like you
are in this world. As I was walking around the city documenting the day to day
life of Chadian locals, one thing became very clear – tensions were high
between the two sides and unarmed civilians being shot on sight by ISAF forces only
added to the tensions. Around every corner was unrest, ISAF and local residents
going toe to toe as the soldiers prevented the residents from going about their
daily lives and jobs. From this experience it was clear to see that the
inhabitants were deeply unhappy with the ISAF occupation of their city. I spoke
to a lot of the locals and the unrest mostly stemmed from the brutal murder of
their beloved president. I left the side under the understanding that something
big was happening, exited for what was to come in the next few hours.
For most of the Op I played with my own team – The Chad
Police, the Police forces team has one objective during these Ops and that is
to keep peace within the city and to quell any unrest/unlawfulness. Our duties
started with patrolling the city and setting up road blocks to monitor what
traffic was going in and out of the city and to check there was no contraband being smuggled in. As it became apparent to us that laws of the city were
broken we started bringing in locals for questioning to get to the bottom of
what was happening within the city.
One of the highlights of the weekend was the protest the
civilians put on in memory of their late president, as we got word a large
group were moving towards the ISAF camp we jumped into our vans and quads to
provide support. We formed a protective barrier between the protesters and the ISAF soldiers,
From the berm that overlooked our FOB we watched as the ISAF
camp got attacked on the hour, every hour of the night. From mortars, tag
rounds, pyro and tracer rounds. The sky was alive with light and colour and the
ground was aflutter with movement as the civilian militia moved in on the ISAF
camp and gave them hell. ISAF as always put up a strong fight and the orders
being screamed at the force could be heard through the site.
When light broke on the Sunday morning I donned my MultiCam
gear and jumped on the quad to the ISAF fob at the heart of Caerwent. Their fob
was a large munitions building surrounded by sanghars and hesco blocks, a
fortress – easily defendable but vulnerable because of the sheer size and
ostentatiousness of the building. As I entered the camp it was clear from the
expressions on the teams faces that the night attacks had taken their toll on
the force, however as soon as the order was given to mount the vehicles feet
hit the ground running and the troops were on their assigned vehicles and
moving out. I took a seat in the lead vehicle and watching the Saracen and
Wimmick’s roll out with dust flying out from under every wheel was quite a
sight, they were taking the fight to the heart of the civvie camp. When the
order was given the troops dismounted the vehicles and started engaging the
enemy forces, I disembarked and ran with a squad into the thick of it. One
thing that really threw me off whilst running alongside the Stirling callsign
was just how regimented the side is – there’s no running rogue and engaging
whoever and causing chaos as I’m used to. You stick to your taskings. This
means that the troops are a lot more organised and a force to be reckoned with.
ISAF fought hard from all sides during the last few hours of the Op.
Overall, I had an amazing weekend at Operation Crucible, the
immersion and roleplay at Stirling Ops is second to none. You really feel as if
you’ve been dropped into another time/place.
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