There is always excitement at the beginning of any op. If it is your first national op or an op with a newer producer, there can be those infamous butterflies. You just do not know what to expect and just hope that you do well. It may just be a game but you want to win and see your side triumph over that weekend's foe. Now for most guys, that is about as involved and personal as it gets. Milsim ops are mass warfare, so it makes sense that one could get caught up in the experience, but you can take it farther and there is something more out there.

Within the world of American Milsim is an opportunity to take your finely honed and prepared team into a Direct Action Mission (DAM). These are the missions players dream of getting at every op. This is the opportunity for your crew to make the difference with your skills and ability deciding how things come out. You might be asked to rescue a hostage, disarm a bomb, take down a high value target, etc. That is the beauty of an American Milsim DAM. The team does not know what their task will be, it might include doing all three of the afore mentioned tasks or other unknowns. So, you have to ask yourself, is your team rounded off well enough to handle any situation that could be thrown out?

At Operation Faded Giant 2, the teams who signed up for the DAM found themselves pushed into a full spectrum experience that pushed the milsim leading edge that regular play just could not do. . The GTI AO lends itself extremely well to these types of mission, already being location that real world operators use for training. The former nuclear materials refinery has a haunting atmosphere that quickly intimidates all who step in it. You could not ask for a better setting to create tension in the heart of any team looking to assault the maze of this facility. Somewhere in the bowels of this giant, there is a hostage and the bad guys holding him, so time to set whatever fear you have aside.

The team assembles in the briefing room and a quiet hesitation comes over a team that wonders if they are really ready. You have been training for months, trying to imagine every possible scenario the op could throw at you. Now, here in the briefing room you just do not know what is coming. As mysterious as the AO is, the briefing does not give you much to go on. You are told there is a hostage, there might be a bomb to defuse, there are several terrorists, and you need to detain their leader. Beyond that, you do not get many details to go on. It is now all on how you react to the unknowns as they come at you. You would like to imagine a detailed brief with all kinds of info but more often than not you get a little bit of info and have to be ready to adapt to situations as they present themselves.

The team leaves the brief and assembles in the shadow of the target building. Up three sets of exterior steel ladders your team climbs. It is going to be a top level breach down on to your target. Hopefully the terrorist will not see it coming. With the team assembled on the roof, you have two stories down a stairwell to go down before you reach the target area. At any moment the element of surprise and initiative could be lost if a enemy notices your team along the way.

With a successful entry into the building and the team rallied at your first breach point to the target area, you see smoke filling the area. AMS has literally created the fog of war and your team is at the edge of a plunge into the unknown. You quickly move to enter with the team funneling into a hallway that precedes a control room but also leads to a hallway to the right. A moment of pause in which the universe slows down and you have to decide as a team leader, do we go straight into our target or risk going around through the unknown. You can see your target in front of you but it just does not feel right. The decision is made to hold a team on the main door while splitting another team right down the unknown corridor. The first room is open and empty but then you are faced with a long hallway with rooms left and right. As you push your team forward the first contact is taken and the smoke-filled, low light environment makes it hard to know where the fire is coming from. Now, the team and your training springs in to action with guys reacting to immediate danger quickly.

Methodically, yet with aggressive speed, your team moves down the hallway from room to room looking for threats and a hostage. Threats are taken down but there is still no sign of your hostage or their leader. Having cleared the corridor your team finds a room at the edge of the control room, your secondary team is waiting to enter. But, before you can burst into the control room you find a trap door beneath you. You do not know where it goes and you do not know what kind of threat is down there. It is decision time again and you do not have a enough guys to keep splitting off from each other.

The decision is made to retake the control room, take out the threats and reconsolidate your squad before moving down the trap door. Simultaneously, both parts of your squad breach into the control room. It is a hail of gun fire in a dark, smoke filled environment where targets seem to be appearing everywhere. With all the targets down you cannot be sure they are really out, so a careful search has to be made of each body. A few terrorists react from the ground hoping to catch you off guard. You put two extra rounds in each of their chests to be safe and tie up living prisoners. With the room secured and all targets down you realize three things: there is a big silver suitcase in the room; you have not found the hostage; and the terrorist leader is still missing.

With security established and a few things still amiss, you turn your attention to the large suspicious silver case. You call up your EOD specialist to look at and possibly disarm what might be a bomb. He carefully goes to open it slowly cracking the case open assuming it is probably booby trapped. The case is filled with bomb making material but it is clearly a dud meant to distract you. That is when you remember the trapped door going down one level. So far the mission is not going as you expected and you can only wonder if you will be able to succeed. There is a hostage somewhere hoping that you come for him and a terrorist leader looking to finish your team off. You cannot discount the element of surprise anymore and you have lost the initiative.

You rally the team up and establish security as you get ready to push down the trap door. It is quiet and you know that it won't last for long. The team starts funneling down into a hallway with several cages and an open room at the end. As the team pushes through the tight hallways contact is made from the end. It has started again and your team is caught in a bad spot. Rather than fall apart you press the assault through the hallway. Then suddenly you see him, it is the hostage you have been looking for and he is bleeding. Before you can get to him you have a threat and a locked cage in your way.

With a threat in front of you and a hostage on the line, you have to make a choice. The leading half of your team moves on the threat and trailing half of your team goes for the hostage. You luckily brought bolt cutters so the lock was not really slow you down. As half your team clears through handling the threat, the rest work to render aid on the hostage that is bleeding. You have to stabilize him before you move him.

Pressing to the final room reveals the terrorist leader is trying to escape. Your team quickly moves to subdue him as he struggles, resisting to be zip cuffed. You stop for a moment to take stock of what has happened. Your team has found and dealt with the bomb. Your team neutralized all threats and captured their leader. You are leaving with a stabilized and secured hostage. The mission has been accomplished and it was your team's training and abilities that made it all happen. You have survived and achieved in an American Milsim Direct Action Mission pushing the edge of realistic milsim play.

Now, not every op can be a Direct Action Mission. This is why your team must train and know their tactics forwards and backwards. That way when the chance comes for your team to step up to the plate, and run a DAM, then you are ready.

Just one grunt's opinion,

Javier "Darkhorse"

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About The Author

Javier "Darkhorse" Franco, formerly from This Week In Airsoft, runs his own Airsoft Blog on Facebook called "One Grunt's Opinion." This article has been posted here with the author's permission.