Flashback ION 2007- USS New Jersey

Aside from this impending little bit of fun, it should also be noted that this was before VHOLDR one-touch hands-free helmet cameras. I had a Viosport helmet camera the size and weight of a roll of quarters, jury rigged on my mask. It was powered by 8 AA batteries with no ON/OFF switch or low battery indicator, and then I had it plugged into an 8mm camcorder as a recording device in a fanny pack. It was a miracle I got anything at all...the slightest bump in the wrong way would dislodge a battery or pop a connection out and I'd be shooting diddly squat and have absolutely no idea.
Fortunately everything worked fine and the result is probably the biggest paintball ass-beating ever caught on film. For those of you just joining us, this was at the invasion of Normandy Scenario at Skirmish USA. A bunch of us got into a bus and decided to "soften up" the German front lines before the ramps went down. I was pleased to see there was room for me in there, fool that I was.

Coming Soon: Part 2!

The SPbTV Crew: Doc!

When I was 16 at Christmas, my Dad came home with a handful of Splatmasters for us, and an insanely tricked-out PMI pump with a scope and wooden stock for himself. We had many crazy weekends of Saturday night deck hockey and Sunday morning paintball. I was often yelled at for not having any tactics by my father who had SF training during Vietnam.
Not much call for a good game while I was in college in NH, until I moved to CT and had my first Medic game at StrategyPlus in East Hampton. My job was to safeguard five cigar-chomping, gravelly-voiced Cubans across a murderous bottleneck and I got them all across safely. I was exhausted, but I loved getting the role and decided to play to my strengths.
My big test came during the 2005 Normandy Invasion where several people saw I was a Medic and made sure I had a human shield wall around me as I left Sword Beach. They frog-marched me off the boat and sat on me to keep me safe. When I went to work, slithering through the grass to get to somebody, I heard the call over the radio: "Doc's on the way!", which I thought was the most reassuring thing anybody would want to hear when things go bad. I had no real command skills, my screaming voice sounded squeaky, and I suffered from a handful of annoying medical conditions, but I found that I could override all that immediately when I heard the call: "MEDIC!"
Seeing players and teams from games since that time have inspired me to sharpen my practice, particularly at West Point games. I carry extra ammo, water, and bandages...anything I can do to keep players in the game, which lets people know that they can come to me for help, which they do.
On the field, you'll be looking for a guy in black armor with a Red Cross armband on. If I'm an active Medic, I may not be carrying a weapon but if I am you'd better watch your ass... particularly if I'm trying to get to a patient. I've got a BT-4 Delta Elite named "Monica", and a Tippmann SL-68 which I had converted into a SPAS shotgun.
My next game is March 19-20 at Paintball Chrleston.

Awards:
Franklin Pierce University 1995-1997: Safest Date
ION 2005: Coolest Gun contest winner (M41A Pulse Rifle from "Aliens")
ION 2006: "Nice job, Medic."
ION 2007: "Nice job, Medic."