Although I have played scenario games for a number of years this is my first time to take on the role of medic - something any number of my teammates on the Pukin' Dogs have done through the years. Through observing them, it has become apparent that a medic will generally run his ass off. Probably just what I need...

Day 1

Getting geared up to go.. It helps for a medic to have his hands free.. A lot of people who play the role will go armed only with a handgun for self protection, and holster it while working. I wanted a little more firepower and opted for the A-5 with a short barrel and vertical tank. Compact firepower on a sling, heh heh. I also attached a SAW ammo pouch to my web gear to hold my medic supplies. I bought the SAW pouch at a surplus store. It has both a snap and a velcro closure making it convenient to use.

Just before game start I report to our team's base camp and get taped. Instead of an orange strip of duct tape each team member receives as an armband, I get a white strip denoting I am the medic, with a small piece of orange on it. In my SAW pouch I have cards and a pen with which to record ID numbers. Every player has an ID card and I have to write down that number when I heal them.. I have a limited number of cards, each with a limited number of slots. If I run out of slots, I can't heal any more. I also brought some paper towels since part of my job is to remove any visible paint from the players I heal.

The game starts and our General orders a group of about 20 players to go immediately out and attack the enemy base. He tells us he's not concerned about the first mission of the day - as he wants to make sure we're the first to overrun a base. The troops, including the contingent of Pukin' Dogs attending the game, move out through a wooded part of the field. I fall in behind them, knowing that the medic needs to stay alive in order heal the wounded.

After a few minutes of walking we meet up with the enemy in a field of tall pine trees. The trees are spread widely apart in neat rows. They're thin and provide little cover with any appreciable foliage being at least head high. I sling my gun and pull out the pen and cards in anticipation of the calls for help. The firing gets intense. Almost immediately an eliminated team mate walks from the skirmish line toward the rear. One of the other players yells "we had a medic - you should have called him". The eliminated player walks toward me but I wave him off saying it's too late for him. Wounded players are not allowed to move until the medic gets to them, and once they call themselves eliminated, they're gone.

From the left I hear the call for medic. I take off in the general direction not knowing exactly who called. Usually when the call goes out it's echoed by several players. I have a minute to reach the victim before he has to call himself out. "Who called a medic? - who needs the medic?", I yell.

"Over here" comes the reply from the front line, where I find a tall player standing behind a thin tree. With paint flying all around me, I slide in behind him, "Where you hit?" He points to his shoulder and I wipe off the paint, jot his ID number down on the pad and yell "get out of here!, go go!". We both take off and I get a few bouncers on the way out. I get the ref to check me for hits and I'm clean. My first successful save as a medic!

The battle continues and I heal a few more guys, but our casualties are nothing like what we are inflicting on the opposition. Maybe those guys don't have a medic? We continue to push them and I heal another guy or two, narrowly escaping getting eliminated myself. This stuff is rough and I am losing track of the other Pukin' Dogs, as I run back and forth along the skirmish line. I feel like I am running blindly towards the calls - "Medic!!!!!" - not paying attention to the game, enemy positions, etc., just zig-zagging through the trees trying to get to the wounded. More calls go out than I can answer at one time. Some of the players I heal have taken multiple shots. One of our guys I have to tell to take a hike when I find a substantial amount of paint on his facemask. Medics can't heal head shots.

As the battle rages on the enemy brings in some reinforcements and starts to push us back. Some of our guys call themselves out without thinking to yell for the medic and just walk off. The enemy is hitting hard and we're starting to loose ground. Calls for reinforcements are coming over the radio. I just get done with one player and another "Medic!!!" yell goes out. The paint is flying wildly as I try to reach the player and I return fire. Running with a pen and cards in one hand and the A-5 in the other, I take advantage of the reactive trigger and let off a long burst at the closest enemy player. It's enough to make him put his head down, but as I start to attend to the wounded teammate, the enemy guy comes up firing. I get the paint off the wounded player and tell him to "get out of here" as I start to return fire again but it's too late. The enemy player finally zeroed in on me. The medic is dead.

The medic is dead tired. I had run my ass off and walking back to the reinsertion point is the most I can do now. Still out of breath from running the skirmish line, I can't help but thinking we're going to loose the battle, especially without a medic to keep bodies in the game. About half way back to reinsertion I notice a squad of about 6 guys coming in to reinforce us. I wave and try to pick up the pace a little as I head back to the base camp. Once I hit base camp I am officially reinserted into the game (it's open reinsertion). I turn around, still a little out of breath and head back toward the tall pines where the battle was taking place.

The reinforcement squad I encountered on the way out must have helped. Our guys are no longer at the tall pines, apparently having pushed across them in into the more jungle-like area beyond. I can hear some firing going on in the general direction of the enemy base, and the radio chatter indicates we're all over it. I catch one of the Pukin' Dogs on the radio and he says they are behind the base attacking it. I need to catch up in case those guys need a medic. Besides, they can't take the enemy base without me.

Having played this field a year ago I vaguely remember the way to the enemy base is down a trail that leads into the jungle and across a bridge. I start down the trail, with the A-5 at the ready, still hearing a firefight off in the distance. Whack! "What the hell?" -Right in the back of my head as I hear an enemy player asking if I am hit. I call for ref to check but quickly find the paint with my hand and up goes my arm. I'm out. How did they get behind me? Crap!. All the way back to the base camp for reinsertion again. A good 3 to 4 minute walk just to get there. I smile and wave as I pass the enemy players. (As it turns out, since our guys had indeed taken the enemy base, the crew that ambushed me from the rear had been allowed to "hot reinsert" without having to first check in at their base)

Good thing I have a Camelback. That's the brand name of this water reservoir I carry on my back. It has a tube which runs around and easily fits under my mask so I can get a sip of water during long on-field excursions in scenario games. The water in the tube is warm but once you get past the initial sip it's ice cold. Here it is less than an hour into the game and I have already run close to exhaustion, have been hit multiple times (mostly bouncers) and eliminated twice. Wow, this medic thing is fun!!

Another round trip to the reinsertion point and I call up other members of the Pukin' Dogs on the radio trying to locate them. The Dogs are splintered at different locations of the field. I decide to head towards the guys that took part in the base attack. By now they have moved on from the enemy base. Game rules allow them to hold it for a maximum of 15 minutes.

As I walk toward the tall pines someone on my team notices I am a medic and tells me of a mission where I might be needed. The mission is to hold an area in the tall pines where a large wooden fort is located. I arrive at the area and a battle is already underway. I announce loudly that a medic is on the scene and the announcement is echoed by other players.

The enemy has some numbers but are not overly aggressive. For a while it seems as though a lot of paint is exchanged but no one on either side is eliminated. Our guys are sticking to their mission and holding down defensive positions. I am getting bored waiting in the background, and a little apprehensive at not being in the fight. That would be the hardest aspect of being a medic - trying to stay alive for the good of the team.

"Ahh, screw this". I see way too many opportunities here. I move wide right and start looking for lanes and angles. Using the evenly spaced pine trees as visual obstacles, I go into my sneaky bastard mode and start angling in on enemy players, crossing a road into a field with smaller pine trees. I wind up ion the side of the attackers and fire off a burst with the A-5. I discover just how cruddy the accuracy of this short barrel is at range. The balls are all over the place. However, a wide pattern isn't so bad when you can fill it with paint...

I catch an enemy guy by total surprise and he gets up and walks off. Unfortunately that move draws the attention of three others who return a hail of fire my direction. I take about 4 steps backwards to avoid the onslaught yelling "hey, hey, .. Don't shoot the poor medic" . No one thinks that's funny but me as the balls continue to fly my way. I wait a few minutes for the action to subside then try again. Ha! They're waiting for me this time and almost nail me. I need to move around a little.

As I am harassing the flanks of the enemy my reinforcements show up. "But I had it all under control", I lie to myself as the reinforcements start to push hard on the flank. The guys running the mission get in on the act too and suddenly the enemy is on the run. I go back to being a medic and pull off a few more front line saves, including another medic who is hit while trying to make a save himself. Shouldn't I get special credit for that? Yeah, I get something special for it - thumpity-thumpity-splat-splat-splat-dammit! Sorry guys, the medic got himself whacked again..

What a paint magnet. I head back toward the base, but not without stopping by the field insertion point to ask a couple of people to inspect me for paint marks. I know I took multiple hits that last time. I do my best ballet-esque spin with arms up. "Yeah dude.. You got some here... and here... and here... and over here.."

Back at the base camp there is nothing going on. There's maybe a ref and one or two other players, but no impending missions. I pull my barrel plug out of my gun, signifying I am once again an active player and try to raise some of the Pukin' Dogs on the radio as I head back toward the front. Rusty hears me and guides me toward him. We meet on far end of the tall pines where a group of players from our on team almost mistakes us for enemy players. "Hey, don't point that at me, I'm on your team"

Action soon starts toward the other end of the field and in no time and am back into full-medic mode. Most players don't know their ID number and have to look at their card. I don't have time to wait for that. In order to speed things up a little, I yell to the wounded players as soon as I see them.
"What's your number?", I yell from a distance.
"What?", he yells.
"Your number, your ID number on the card" as I slide in behind them, "where ya hit? (wipe)-- you're clean, go!!"

About 3 saves later I'm trying to write down a wounded player's number when -thump!! My head rocks a little and I see the paint streaks covering my peripheral vision. "Hit!!!" and my hand goes up as I scramble to get out of the area before I am hit again. Walking away I see Rusty and ask him to get a picture of me - I collect pictures of Pukin' Dogs head shots. Rusty and I walk to the rear of the lines and I hand him my digital camera. We're far enough back not to get hit.. No we're not!! A hail of paint hits both of us and Rusty is out too! Oh great! The medic has succeeded in getting one of his own team eliminated. I'll surely be kicked out of the paintball medics association for that one! (No there's not such a thing.... at least to my knowledge)

Rusty and I head back to reinsertion and I continuously apologize for getting him whacked. Not very considerate of me at all. As we cross the wooded area which leads to the tall pines, we pick up radio traffic and begin to hear firing connected to a battle up ahead. Were coming in on the left flank of an enemy group in the tall pines who are engaged with an unknown number of our team further out of sight. We try to sneak up closer as we wait for the enemy flank to pass by - they're advancing on our guys. There's only two of us but we can do a lot of damage if we can drop in behind them. About the time we're ready to make a move, the enemy squad starts taking fire from across the field on their right flank. It's Pukin' Dogs Johnny, Tony, and some other team mates. Rusty and I move up and we see other players from our team attack from yet a fourth angle... It surprises me as to just how completely we had them surrounded as our team starts to bleed out from every corner of the tall pine field. Not pretty at all. The enemy squad is obliterated.

No enemy in sight, there's a lot of us here and once again our team has the hots for taking the enemy base. We head to the edge of the jungle encountering some light resistance. Johnny takes a hit and I head for his spot. He's down behind some brush and warns me that the guy that shot him has an angle on me. Sure enough a couple of shots come through dense overgrowth. I am able to move out of the way just in time. I return fire in the general direction but really can't see the guy. It's thick in there - extremely thick. After trying another burst I go low, take Johnny's number, wipe the paint and he's back in.

Our team starts into the jungle, a lot of the players yelling and encouraging others to move forward. I am up at the front of the lines exactly where a medic shouldn't be. Doesn't matter to me though.. I don't feel like enough people are pushing and I can't resist the opportunity at close-in heavy brush fighting - one of my favorite styles of paintball. In this environment, the short little A-5 rocks. As I move forward I spot two enemy players off to my left side, in front of my team mates. I let out a burst on one of them and he bolts right into the path of my teammates, who quickly dispatch him. I swing on the second player and let off a burst in his direction as I move toward him. I see his hand go up. Then a few shots come from behind me and I realize in my pursuit of the last enemy player I have crossed into the path of my teammates "Orange up here.. Don't shoot.."

The enemy is totally defensive now, stuck in their positions while we are mobile. We continue to move and haven't lost any players in the immediate area - no need for a medic yet. We run into a series of swampy creek areas that have to be crossed. There is a bridge off to the left, but it's too out in the open. I have a team mate to my left, Pukin' Dogs Johnny and Rusty off to my right and just ahead of me. I whip out my camera and snap a few pics. I don't think Johnny and Rusty want to continue forward across the creek, which is more than ankle deep at this point. It can suck to play with wet feet. I see the teammate off to my left head across and figure I might as well go for it.

My feet sink in the cold water and I can feel it go all the way through my boots and socks, but in a way it kind of feels good, refreshing. Heading up the bank I can hear the enemy in their base. They're talking about us and where they need to set up defensive positions. Ha! They don't even know we're here, just a few feet away!

The teammate next to me lets loose with some aimed fire toward the base. He is on a little higher ground and can obviously see something I can't. Pop-pop-zip-zip - the sound of paint flying past my head as I quickly turn toward the right and see three players firing at me. I return fire but it's too late - they've got me covered. The medic is dead -again.

I exit toward the rear and see Johnny and Rusty still on the other side of the creek returning fire at those who took me out. I'm running low on paint and a little washed out. Time to leave the field for a bit..

Back to the campsite for a reload on paint, drink of gatorade and to sit down for a few minutes. The game has been underway for nearly 3 hours and I've lost count of how many times I've been shot out. No that being shot out is real important in a game with open reinsertion, but the walk back to the base camp each time is kicking my ass. That's ok.. Maybe I'll loose a few pounds..

Speaking of losing, I lost my pen somewhere in the swamp. Tony is back at camp and lets me borrow another one. Soon Johnny and Rusty show up. I'm am exhausted. Good thing the weather is a mild 70 degrees. If this had been a hot day I'd be dead. Give me about a half an hour or so to rest .. Or maybe an hour.. Yeah, that 'll work.

We hear on the radio that the enemy is crossing the large pines and making a push towards our base. Can't let that happen. Everybody rested up? Ready to do it again? Jump up, grab the gear and go..

What base attack? We arrive, reinsert and stand around, seeing and hearing nothing. What we thought was an imminent attack obviously isn't. There is some firing off in the distance, but nowhere near the base. "I need bodies down here - NOW!!", calls the frantic voice on the radio. Our team is losing ground in a battle near a wooden fort at the far end of the tall pines.. "We need people -We need a medic!!"

Hey that's me! I take off at a pretty good pace in the general direction of the battle and several guys are following me. I hope I can get there in time. As I head toward the battle I realize that I am approaching it from the side. Instead of trying to get to my team and be the medic, I decide I'll attack the enemy flanks.. I go in firing, some of the guys following, and the enemy starts to withdraw. My pinned team mates take the opportunity and advance. Together we push the enemy back down the field. More of our guys show up on the flank an it's another route. With enough guys I can now go back to concentrating on being a medic.

"Call for the medic" I loudly remind the guys on my team. The opposition starts to receive reinforcements and the fighting gets heavier. The calls start to come in- "Medic!" to the left and "Medic!" to the right and I am on the run. Two of our guys on the right corner both take hits and start calling. Paint continues to fly in their direction and I can't get to them. I've only got a minute. I see the guy firing at them, put some trees in between us and get as close as I can before popping out and letting loose on him with the A-5. Surely I must have hit him but he doesn't call himself so I let off with another burst. He looks around, confused - he doesn't know where I'm at. He still hasn't called out so again I'm on the reactive trigger for about 10 to 15 rounds. I have to clear this guy out to get to my team mates. A nearby ref sees the action and begins to run toward him, but the enemy player breaks from his cover and calls himself out. I sling the A-5 and go heal the two players who are positioned less than 3 feet apart, working as quickly as I can. My handwriting on the medic cards is almost illegible.

Another player about 10 feet away calls and I start toward him. Two steps out and I take a hit that glances up my right forearm "Medic!!" .. I yell as I look around. There's never a medic around when you need one. Put the barrel plug in pal - you're dead again.

I take off back toward the base running. I am too old for this, but if I move too slow, the corner could fall before I get back. I tag up with the base, pull the barrel plug and head back to the fight. My physical condition is limiting me to a fast walk.

Well nothing's changed here since I left, despite the time it took to make the reinsertion route. The battle still rages on and a medic's work is never done. How many more saves can I pull off before getting toasted? I know, I'll stay lower this time. I fight my way in, wipe some paint, jot down a number, and struggle to get out. I am still getting a lot of bouncers, and some of them hurt "Hey ref, check me again" I'm starting to recognize some of these ID numbers. There's Tony. Saved him for the second time.. And what's up with Johnny? He keeps getting head shots. I can't heal those.

"Medic!" - whoa - way over there. Hey buddy, overextended yourself didn't ya? Ok, what the heck? That's what I'm here for, right? I mean, after all, I volunteered for this... No big surprise -Just like a bridge too far, the player too far exposes me to a hail of paint and for what feels like the umpteenth time, I get clobbered. Not just hit now - clobbered. The dinner break is only a few minutes away now. That's going to be it for me for a while. Who wants to grill the burgers? I'm too tired. I'll see you guys back at the camp if I make it that far....

During night play every hit counts, therefore there are no medics. This medic decided to save some paint and take the night off.

Day 2

It's a cloudy morning and the forecast calls for rain, but at least it's not cold. The Pukin' Dogs are ready to go, guns chronoed, and gear on. We take our time walking to the base camp. Nobody is there but the General and a couple of refs. One of the refs approaches us with a map and starts describing the mission at hand as if we already knew about it. Mission? Ok, sure.. sounds good to me. I don't think I have been involved in an actual mission the whole game. We are to travel a specific route and hold an area at a destroyed convoy for 30 minutes.

We cross the small pines, the tall pines, and proceed into the jungle where we find the destroyed convoy. It's two old junked out cars but we know it's the destroyed convoy because there is a sign posted above them which reads "destroyed convoy". You can't fool us.

I take up a position behind one of the cars, with Coty just off to my left. Rusty watches the area back toward the enemy base, Johnny is on my right inside a patch of tall palmettos, and tony takes up a position on the edge of the jungle near the tall pines. I look over at the ref with the mission card and then at my watch. It's 8:30. Once we secure the area for 30 minutes the ref will sign the card and our team will have the points.

It's all quiet for about the first 10 minutes. We scan the area, looking for any sign of movement. The radios keep us from having to yell at each other and reveal our positions. "Everybody stay down and try not to draw any attention, if you see any enemy players, don't engage unless you have to."

"Was that 'do not engage'?", radios Tony.
"right, don't engage unless you have to.",  I am trying not to be too loud.
" I see a couple of guys over here", he says.
"let them pass, we've got about 20 more minutes", as I try catch a glimpse of them.

When I run a mission my primary goal is to secure points for the team. I'm hoping we can remain un-noticed  and get through as much of the mission time as possible before a firefight starts. In scenario games, two squads of opposing teams are often assigned similar mission objectives. Not that the game organizers would want to force a confrontation or anything, ya know? So I know it's coming, unless the other team drops the ball on their mission..

I look at my watch, look at the mission ref. About 15 minutes left and I hear firing on Tony's side. "What's going on up there?" There's a brief exchange of shots and Tony is gone. No calls for the medic. He knew I couldn't get to him. He'll bring reinforcements when he reinserts, though..

Looking in his direction I pick up at least two people moving left to right. They're too far away and there's too much jungle between us. "Johnny, at least two are coming you're direction" One shows up about 40 feet in front of me and I let loose with the A-5. He goes behind a large tree with some bushes, then pops out to return fire. I fire back, missing again - he's too quick. Meanwhile Rusty is standing at a tree about 20 feet behind me firing at him. Zip, zip, zip - Rusty's shots fly just inches over my head as we both try to hit guy. Johnny has dispatched one of them moving through the palmettos. I turn and try to fire some shots in the direction of the second guy who is stalking Johnny, then swing left back to the guy who is closest to me. I repeat the process again, each time letting off anywhere from 10 to 20 rounds.

"Coty, I need some paint" - I forgot to reload my loaders this morning. I was unintentionally playing hopper-ball! What a moron! Coty tosses me a loader, I stretch to grab it and then settle down behind the car and top off. The guy closest to me is still firing. He pops up for a few seconds, fires a few shots, then back down. His shots are hitting the hood and windshield of the car and some splatter is getting across me, dotting everything. Rusty is still returning fire and his shots are going right over my head.

About 5 minutes to go. Reloaded, I pop up and can only see the guys head so I take a few shots. I hear someone on the other team yell something about them having only 10 minutes in which to take the area. There's some commotion to the right. Johnny is shooting at a guy coming through the palmettos so I throw some paint in that general direction to support him, not really seeing a clear target, just moving palmettos. I hear the guy call out and say something about getting overshot and he and Johnny exchange words for a second. I yell an apology back at him. It's never my intention overshoot. (Later Johnny says he thought the guy was actually lit up by one of his own team members because of the direction from which he was shot.)

I pull back behind the car and look at my watch. It's 8:58 by my time. I look at the ref and he says a minute and a half to go. I radio the guys and tell them, and decide to keep my head down. I would be a shame to get shot out now, this close to completing the mission. We have to have someone in this spot and it looks like it's me. Sitting down behind the car, facing away from the enemy I watch the ref, listen to the shots being exchanged. The ref shoots me a thumbs up, signs the mission card, says "good luck" and walks away. I get on the radio "mission complete, mission complete!"

On the radio I hear the reinforcements Tony rounded up "Their mission is complete - they don't need us any more".
"let's go attack the base then"  another one says.

They're right to divert, we don't need them anymore. Our mission is complete. Hey, but the guys attacking us still have to get in here. "Let's see if we can hold this ground and deny their mission - they've got less than 10 minutes". I exchange some more paint with the guy closest to me, watching his pattern. I can see a clear shot of his head but can't hit it because he goes down faster than I can zero in on him. I stay up behind the car, taking shots each time his head raises. I have to hit him with my first shots or it will be too late. I peer through the red dot sight on my gun - why didn't I think of that before? I watch where the paint is going in relation the dot. He comes up again and I fire - missed!!! He didn't even take the time to fire back. He's just playing with me. Popping up and down. One more time, dude, one more time.. Bring that head up there.. Pop pop and he goes back down but this time he immediately comes back up - all the way up. He's outta there!

I look at my watch and it's almost ten after. The enemy squad's mission has been denied. I look around and can't find their mission ref, which means either their all eliminated or they've bugged out. Ha! Double success! Not only did we get our mission points, but their mission - whatever it was - failed. Cool.

The guys who originally intended to be our reinforcements are starting their attack on the enemy base not far away. We're already half way there - might as well help out. Down the trail in the jungle not far from the destroyed convoy our team is running into heavy resistance. The bridge across the creek has been taken but the attack has stalled just outside of the base. We're starting to loose people at a fast pace and nobody is calling for the medic. Maybe they are out of paint? Maybe just too outnumbered to keep trying? Two more of our players fall. It's becoming obvious to me we're going to loose this one. There's may be three of us left and the enemy has more reinforcements on the way. I turn to walk away and catch Coty on the way back across the bridge. We follow the path back out of the jungle and come up on a battle going on in the tall pines.. There's 6 ..maybe 7 enemy guys running around. Good thing we got out of the base - these guys could have back-doored us big time if they had come down the path.

But right now they are all facing the other way shooting at one of our players on the other side. It's Tony! . I look around and he's the only orange player I see. The enemy guys are so tunneled in on him they don't even notice me and Coty. We quietly sneak up to a "no-miss" range and take out the first two. Perfect marks right on their backs. They turn and look and realize they didn't stand a chance. Man, this is almost funny. We move up on the next two, and let them have a couple of shots. They call hit and walk out. One of them ask where we came from. "That's a good question, isn't it?"- I hate it when I'm accidentally a smart ass.

Another guy has great cover behind a man made bunker beside a tree. He's firing at Tony but suddenly discovers me and Coty.. He fires our way. Coty returns fire and I start to move to try to flank him..  Zip-zip-zip-thud-thud-splat!!! OW!! More enemy reinforcements from the base open up on us from the rear - we're surrounded. A few seconds and Coty and I are gone. Tony follows soon. The enemy is everywhere.

We leave the field and head back to camp, where we all reload our stuff. On the radio we hear the enemy guys we just encountered are pushing their way through the pine fields and heading toward our base. The calls are going out for help. There's no way we could make it back onto the field and to the base in time. There isn't much to stop it and for the first time in the game, our base falls to the enemy. "About time" someone yells.

All loaded up we take the walk back to the field insertion point. The refs are telling us we can "hot reinsert" here because the enemy holds our base. But by now they have had it for almost the maximum 15 minutes allowed, and our dead General decides to wait a few minutes before entering the field. Good. I'll wait too. That will give me a few more seconds to catch my breath and take a few more sips from the camelback.

Back to the base for reinsertion and we get word that the final mission of the game starts in 20 minutes. The refs are telling us that the team which has the most bodies in the tall pine field will get the points for the final mission. About a dozen of us start to head out but get no more than a few steps when some enemy guys open fire on us. They are left-overs from the base attacking crew. We don't have time to waste on them. If we don't get to the pine fields first, the other team will have a chance to get entrenched. The attackers are dug in good. Johnny goes wide right to flank them, while Coty and I move left, and several other players put some heavy fire into the thick brush. The enemy guys are overwhelmed and we move on to the pine fields.

At the pine fields there is some sporadic fighting but the enemy is pulling back... withdrawing. "What the hell?" A ref comes by and yells something about the final mission being at the speedball fields. The word starts to go up and down the line that the final mission has been changed - whoever controls the speedball field when the game ends gets the final mission points.

Well this is great. The speedball field is connected to the enemy insertion point and they already control it, having withdrawn their troops from the pine fields into it. The refs open up another insertion point on the other side to allow us easy reinsertion. The whole game is now focused on the speedball field and the wooded area adjacent to it. We will have to fight our way into the speedball field before we can hold it. Large numbers of us and them are now on the scene. I try to stay back out of the way, ready to perform my medic duties, and a ref comes by yelling "no medics the last hour - no medics". I look at my watch, seeing that it's 11:00 a.m. and suddenly I feel obsolete.

"We need bodies - more bodies -whichever team has the most people on the speedball field in the end gets the points. Get out there on that field, go, go, go!" Hey - I'm a body! Here's my chance to be worth something again. Several smoke bombs are thrown inorder to give us some cover to try and get on the speedball field. Smoke looks pretty but it doesn't stop a speeding paintball. It's a weird sensation seeing flying paintballs emerging from the smoke. Several of our guys take advantage of it and slide into the outside bunkers. We've got 2 and 3 guys crowding each back bunker, trying to hold ground. The enemy takes some out and we quickly replace them. Johnny gets to one of the back bunkers. He's putting out fire and hangs in a while until "whap!"- another head shot.  One of the guys at a back bunker makes a move forward and I decide it's my turn to slide in his former slot. It's starting to rain.

We own about half of the speedball field, but it looks as though participation is starting to drop off a little. We're not replacing our eliminated players fast enough and seem to be stalling. Two of our guys decide to make a mad push for the three-quarter mark of the field. One of them goes down but the other makes it. More guys push and we've got all but the corner of the field near the enemy insertion point. We've got over a dozen guys on the speedball field and finally someone dispatches the last of their players.

A number of the enemy players make a dash from their insertion out into the adjacent wooded area. They slide behind some of the larger man-made bunkers and start firing into the speedball field from the woods. I hear a roar of fire and look back to see 5 or 6 of our guys, including Johnny and Tony, pushing the flanks of the enemy guys in the woods. That takes the pressure off our guys on the outside edge of the speedball field.

Down to 5 minutes left and a couple of enemy guys try to insert onto the speedball field. One of them makes it to a structure on the far right but one of our guys immediately goes up and bunkers him. I'm up to the 50 yard line now. I reposition myself so I can guard the back lane. A player enters the field and I immediately put paint on him, the A-5 putting out big puffs of white smoke in the humid air. He leaves the field, does an about-face and tries again and I hit him again. "You're not getting in that way buddy." A second player tries and I hit him. Another player comes in and goes left sliding behind a bunker. I can't get to him but he last only seconds as several of our guys engage him.

Down to about a 2 minutes and the rain is falling harder. I am still expecting a big last second push from the enemy but it never happens. Just outside of the speedball field a player falls and is injured and the game is halted, but the time is up anyway. "Game Over!!! Game Over!!!"  and several people go to check out the injured player but he appears to be ok.

The refs tell us to stay where we are so they can count bodies on the speedball field and see who had the most.. It's a little obvious to most of us. I look down into my hopper and find I have less than 20 balls left. The ref counts at least 15 players on the speedball field for our team, zero for the other team. It's over. Time to get out of these wet clothes.

Aftermath
The final score had our team winning the overall game. I usually don't pay close attention to the outcome as long as I have fun. And I did. This was the first time I had tried being a medic. Despite the fact that it exhausted me and I eventually lost count of how many time I got shot out, it won't be my last time as a medic.