Articles
Confessions of a MOUT newbie
By Dale Ford
May 29, 2007, 22:19

The purpose of any military organization is to kill people and break things in the pursuit of protecting their country's national interests.  To ensure that they're at the top of their game in this endeavor, the military is constantly training their troops so that when the time comes to kill people and break things, they're prepared to do so with as few casualties as possible. 

Some of the most dangerous fighting to be found is in a city environment.  The military uses the acronym MOUT to designate the tactics and doctrine for operating in a city.  MOUT stands for "Military Operations Urban Terrain", and the facilities used for this training are often referred to as "MOUT Sites".  Several years ago the commanders of a facility near Starke, FL opened up Camp Blanding for use by the scenario producer MXS to run a game on their MOUT facility, and paintball took a giant leap forward.  Other MOUT facilities are now allowing games to be held on their sites as well, but the Blanding site is the one that everyone knows about.

One of the many things I've yet to do as a paintball player was to play a MOUT game, and when Viper announced that he and his crew would be running a game Memorial Day Weekend, I decided it was time to experience a MOUT game.  The idea behind this article is to give players an idea of what to expect the next time a MOUT facility opens up them to the paintball world. 

While living in the Midwest, I had the opportunity to play a Viper game, so I knew that owner Kerry Rosenberry was a more than competent scenario producer.   The game held Memorial Day Weekend 2007 was based on the video game "F.E.A.R.", and pitted the Smart Corps (appropriately playing the bad guys) against Special Ops Paintball.  To be honest, I could have cared less what the storyline was, and while it was important for me to play with/for the 'good guys' for a change, it was secondary in importance to me getting into the city and shooting many, many people. 

I'll go through my experiences at this game and use that as a guide for players wanting to play the next Blanding game, or a MOUT game at another facility in the US, like the MOUT facility near Anniston, Alabama.

The Site

Given their purpose, it's a given that a MOUT facility is going to be fairly isolated from the civilized world, since tanks running around and soldiers firing automatic weapons tends to make the neighbors jumpy.   Camp Blanding is situated in North Florida, roughly between the cities of Jacksonville and Gainesville, in the center of the state.  While Starke is normally referred to as the closest town, in reality the town of Keystone Heights is within 10-15 minutes of the entrance to Camp Blanding.  However, if you're not into camping and prefer to have a hotel room to go to at the end of your day, then Starke is the place to go.  It's roughly 15 miles north of the site's entrance. 

Since Camp Blanding is a military facility, they don't just let anyone on their property.  When you turn into the entrance at Blanding, you're greeted by a soldier who politely asks to see your driver's license while asks you a couple of questions about what you're doing.  If for some odd reason he thinks you're shady, he'll ask to search your vehicle for weapons, drugs, or alcohol, all of which are prohibited on military properties like a MOUT site.  If you want to get on the property, you'll submit to the search if the soldier asks you to. 

Once you get your pass to enter the facility, you drive up a very rough road for about a mile and a half to the parking area. The facility itself is on the left, and seeing it for the first time I was immediately reminded of Challenge Park Extreme's facility in Illinois.  While CPX's town looks almost habitable, a MOUT city is made mainly of cinder blocks and some walls are made so that they look like they've been partially destroyed.  Blanding's MOUT site also has a sewer system that allows soldiers to train for an underground invasion of the city, but for this game the entrances were blocked off and players prohibited access.  The tallest building at Blanding is 4 floors, which makes for spectacular views of the field below.

The Paint

The military is very strict in what they allow on their facilities as far as paintball is concerned.  The paint for Viper's "F.E.A.R." was manufactured by ZAP Paintball to their guidelines.  The shell was a light gray color, and the fill was gray as well, but very watery, which eases the cleanup of the facility after the game by the producer. 

Unfortunately one side effect of the watery fill is that it's hard to tell sometimes if the paint broke on target, and for those who don't like the idea of walking off the field after being shot, wiping is greatly simplified.  Since it's extremely difficult to wipe a bullet hole or the annoying screeching beep of MILES gear, the military doesn't have much of an idea of the concept of wiping a paintball hit. 

Another consequence of the strict guidelines is an extremely harsh stance on bringing in non-event paint.  Players were warned repeatedly during the player's orientation that there was only one penalty for being caught with off-field paint:  the offender was immediately ejected from the game and escorted off the property by Military Police.  If you happened to leave you car, gear, tent, etc. behind in the process, too bad.  Better hope your buddies would be kind enough to bring your stuff to you, because you were NOT getting back on the site to get your stuff.   Despite the numerous stern warnings, we heard of several individuals and teams being escorted off the site.  The best advice for dealing with this issue to get it completely out of your mind.  You WILL be caught, and you WILL be escorted off the site. 

The Game

I was fortunate in that I was running with a team with previous experience at Blanding, so I wasn't completely in the dark as to how things would go.  The bases for the opposing teams were roughly equidistant from the city, which would prove to be the major center for action, which is completely expected.  However, the woods portion of the course is actually very playable, and during our first insertion, the Rabid Woodpeckers and me had a grand old time repulsing an attempted base assault in the woods before I ran out of paint and had to come off field. 

The next insertion we all decided it was time to visit the city, and after checking in at the base, we made our way to the streets of MOUT City.  The base was located roughly 100 paces from the city proper, and the city is separated from the woods by a large ditch that can be crossed by a bridge, but most players simply ran through the ditch to get to the buildings. 

One thing to watch out for inside and out of the buildings are the "Murder Holes" which were used to great advantage by players looking to sneak a shot out to take out the uninitiated, or to toss in a paint grenade to clear a room.  Murder Holes are holes in the walls at around foot height that offer good cover for someone shooting out of them at targets outside, but it is possible for those with patience and accuracy to use them to catch players inside buildings in the feet without overly exposing themselves to those shooting from windows. 

Another thing to watch for is paint on the steps, which makes it possible for a player to experience a nasty fall.  The best advice for those vertically inclined is to take your time walking up the steps. 

All in all, playing a MOUT game is an experience that I won't soon forget, and I plan on attending them in the future.  So long as you're willing to follow the stricter rules that come with playing on the military's property, the experience is something that I feel every paintball player should experience.

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