Rob “Part 67” and I (Doc) rented another Enterprise van for our trip to NJ Nam. It was my first NJ Nam, and Rob was itching to make up for his 1 ½ hour stint in the heat from last year. He had just picked up a new Invert Mini autococker that he was itching to try out in a real firefight. We would be playing with the rest of the ERSA on the Vietnamese side. We arrived at the USANA field in New Jersey at about 7pm, and met up with Bobby “Diesel” Nolan, his friend Jenna and his dog Diesel at their campsite under the neighboring power lines. The lines seemed to play up an electric charge throughout the camp, and we were psyched to see Brandon and the Red Raiders and Philly Paintball, waving a VC flag from their roving pickup and yelling some North Vietnamese propaganda. Rob had a straw VC hat that got many compliments, and it looked like it would be a good weekend. We set up camp and had a quick dinner before our player orientation. Ron James and “Rayhaws” of Philly Paintball would be the CO and XO for the VC side, and had some good plans laid out, but the Loaded Crows had decided to join the 3rd party “Cambodian” team, opposite the U.S.’s 3rd party “CIA” team. After going over the rules and point structure, we crashed pretty quickly that night.
We were up at 6am, had a quick breakfast and geared up for the morning game. I met up with our other players, Dylan “Hawkeye” Pierce, as well as Matt “Guinness&Geishas” Greeson, and Ryan “Deagle” Horton, with four of their friends. We had a good turnout, and everyone got set up quickly. As the horn sounded, the sun began to peek out through the fog and the temperature rose quickly. Diesel and I put some ice in our hydration packs to keep cool.
When TAPs entered the field, we pushed right towards the U.S. flank in an effort to reach one of our flags. The younger members did well: they were quick to push forward, following our other fellow teams in sneaky flanks as they pushed up on their bellies through the brush, shooting out U.S. troops up ahead. Rob and I were shot out pretty quickly, and the heat was getting pretty oppressive just as fast. We walked off to rehydrate before going back on, and re-entered the field about 45 minutes later as a single unit again.
Ron handed me a mission: locate a “black box with red X” somewhere in the open area of Qui Nan. I gathered a small force of TAPs, ZDF and some other troops, and we made our way around the back of the central berm towards the field. Rob took point with G&G, and kept lookout on top of the huge sand piles dominating the open area of the field, while Diesel watched my back. The rest of the group fanned out across the field. We found the box in about 20 minutes, and were able to double-time it back to the base, only worrying a little about taking it near the Cambodian border. We made it, an easy 50 points without even firing a shot. After the trek back, however, the younger TAPs and Diesel and I were just too hot. We took a break at the campsite while Rob and Hawkeye stayed on patrol, guarding the VC command post (Rob was shot out by Cambodians, who had begun causing trouble along the border).
The game was called on account of the brutal heat from 3-7pm, just as I was thinking about going back in. We were drinking gallons of Gatorade to stay hydrated. I had the other TAPs cool off in the shade, and G&G, Deagle and Hawkeye left early before the game restarted (it was getting pretty late). Rob and Bobby and I had dinner and took a rest that afternoon, barely moving in an effort to keep cool.
At 7pm we started the night game, and were looking forward to finally shoot some paint! The night game featured a reduced chrono below 250 fps, and bouncing rounds would still count as a hit. Rob, Bobby and I joined up with George’s Red Raider squad and the Triple T’s in pushing the U.S. back across the northern part of the field towards the CIA base. Rob’s new marker was working extremely well, and I had no complaints about the paint either, not having broken a single ball in my barrel all evening. We shot and flanked them well and pushed the U.S. back successfully, long enough for George's squad to complete a mission involving the CIA, until the U.S. received reinforcements about 1 ½ hours into the night game, and shot us back out. By then it was getting to dark to see, and lacking tactical gear like lights and night vision, we finally called it a day.
The next morning I was up at about 7am, and got ready for another round (the game started at 9am). Bobby was ready too—both of us had loads of paint left, and I hadn’t even shot any grenades from the launcher yet. Rob was still a little tired, not having slept well, and was not sure about playing. We broke camp and talked about leaving early. Ron then walked up, and told us that confidentially, he’d about had it with the Cambodians and fighting the battle on two fronts. He explained he was about ready to annex the place and call it Ronsville. I told him I’d been wondering when he was going to do something like that, and my excitement for the game shot up. Rob was itching for payback too. After finally watching me and Bobby getting geared up for a while, he stood up, said a few bad words, and went to get his marker.
We entered the field about ½ hour into the game, and found the annexation of Cambodia had already taken place. The VC team had kicked them out, and they had gone to join up with the CIA. The three of us hiked down to the open Qui Nan area where we had found yesterday’s prop, and I took out my first US player of the day from about 75 yards with a beautifully placed Scepter grenade (Rob nominated me for the Red Crosshair for that shot, Bobby was impressed too). That just made my day, even after the U.S. overran our position 5 minutes later. We explained the situation at the command post, and Ron sent us back down with the ZDF to push them back. The three of us hiked down with the rest of the VC, trading shots with the U.S. and pushing them back across the field. Our field medic and surgeon came in handy, and though we were all shot several times, we used them to great effect until Bobby and I finally ran out of paint and grenades. We left Rob on top of the sand berms again, gleefully shooting U.S. players between the eyes with his favorite new marker. We took a break and drank a few more gallons of Gatorade, then got the last of our paint for one more run.
Getting back onto the field, we found we only had 15 more minutes before they halted the game for a break. We did not own the flag position near our base (the U.S. was too close) and had to get it before the horn sounded. While Ron sent a “tunneling team” of VC to the flag, TAPs and the other present VC covered the left and right flanks, taking the heat off them until they finally flipped the flag. We continued to push the U.S. back for another two minutes before the horn finally sounded for the break.
The Final Battle would start in 30 minutes, but Rob and I had finally run out of strength, as well as paint. We called it a day. We packed up the site and said a heartfelt thanks to Bobby and Jenna for their hospitality (and A/C with freezer!) before heading back to NY.
NJ Nam has to be the hottest game of the year, in more ways than one. We heard the next day that the VC had won, in a huge battle against the combined U.S., Cambodian and CIA forces, and were proud to have helped in whatever small way.
