http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil
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Team Kamikaze 'Shoots'
for First
by Sgt. Chris Eriksen
United States Marine
Corps
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa, Japan - Their
mission was to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy with fire and
maneuver. Their tactic was simple: lay down suppressing fire and
close the distance between themselves and the enemy fast. It was
with ‘the luck of the Irish’ that Team Kamikaze, Camp Kinser, came and
conquered all.
Marines from several camps recently
came together on the field of battle at the Habu Hill Paintball Range here
as part of the Single Marine Program’s Leprechaun Shoot paintball tournament.
The tournament included servicemembers from several camps to give them
a chance to practice infantry skills against one another.
“The purpose of the SMP paintball tournaments
is to allow the Marines and Sailors that participate an opportunity to
enhance the training they have received such as cover and concealment,
hand and arm signals, etc.,” said Sergio Morales, SMP coordinator, Marine
Corps Community Services. “This also allows Marines from different
units the chance to ‘bond’ and work in teams. It was also a great
morale booster for the Marines and Sailors.”
The tournament consisted of six five-man
teams in single elimination format, according to Morales.
“Originally we had planned on having
six 10-man teams. Due to the low turnout, we changed it to six five-man
teams which actually worked better than the 10-man team format,” Morales
said. “The games were faster and ammunition was no longer an issue
due to the speed of the games.”
Each team received 2,000 rounds at the
start of the tournament. This limited supply made planning and tactics
an important part of each teams strategy, according to Juan Garcia, Team
Kamikazes.
“We had to figure out what kind of strategy
we were going to use so we could come out ahead,” the Donna, Texas native
said. “Before each match, we planned out what our plan of attack was.
That helped us out a lot because we went through the whole tournament with
only two casualties.”
The team’s success depended upon good
use of infantry skills, according to Adam Camacho, Team Bofa.
“Low crawling, flanking movements,
suppression fire, as well as good communications with hand signals played
a pivotal role in winning and losing,” the Millersburg, Ohio native said.
The competition was tough between teams
Kamikazes and Bofa who both went into the final round of play undefeated.
This resulted in the two teams playing a best-of-three series to decide
the winner of the tournament.
“Bofa was the most challenging
team we faced,” Jason Fetter, team Kamikazes, and Pittsburgh, Pa., native
said. “They were the only team to give us some kind of competition.”
The event was successful even though
the turnout was not as planners had hoped, according to Morales.
“We were expecting 60 Marines to participate
- 10 from each of the six camps. Unfortunately some of the camps couldn’t
make it,” Morales said.
Organizers noted that aside from having
fun shooting things, players of varying paintball experience were able
to apply their basic infantry skills and become effective teams.
“It's interesting to see the level of
play amongst the teams that participated. Some of the participants
were skilled paintballers, a few were there for the first time, and others
were just there to ‘shoot’ at something. When placed together, the players
became a team and had a great time,” Morales said.
The players enjoyed the chance to use
their basic infantry skills and build leadership skills as well, according
to Loren Schaefer, Team Kamikazes.
“Overall the competition was all right,”
the Denton, Md., native said. “It gave an excellent chance to exercise
squad and fire-team level tactics that all Marines need to be fluent in.”
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