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Of course,
we're not using real guns. They're airsoft guns, which shoot plastic pellets.
And we're not trying to inflict serious injury, either.
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We have these "wars" most weekends at my church, the
Fellowship of Oakbrook.
The rules are
simple. Two teams stand on opposite sides of the room, wait for the signal to
go and then fire away. One hit and you're out. The team with the last men
standing wins.
Some stay
hidden behind barriers the whole time, while some are brave (or stupid) enough
to charge into the other team's base, hoping to hit someone with a barrage of
BBs. My strategy is to dive from barrier to barrier toward the other end of the
room, then peek up every once in a while to squeeze off a few rounds from my
semi-automatic pistol. I'm not very good at it.
While it's
perfectly safe, everyone has to wear protective goggles or paintball masks to
protect their eyes. No other protection is used. Sounds like a sissy
alternative to paintball, right? Not exactly. You'd have to feel a plastic BB
smacking your forehead at around 300 feet per second to understand.
People bring
all kinds of airsoft guns: pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles and everything in
between. While a low-end, $15 pistol is plenty of firepower for the
medium-sized room we play in, it's a point of pride to own a gun that leaves
welts. For the guys who play airsoft, it's all fun and games until someone gets
hurt. Then the bragging begins. It's always fun to show off your scars on
Sunday morning. It might sound kind of weird that a bunch of guys get together
at church to shoot each other, but it's just a fun thing we do to hang out as a
youth group. It's not a Bible study or a worship service like we have on Friday
nights. It's just a chance for fellowship, as our church's name suggests.