Creating a Team

I'm thinking about making the rag-tag group of guys i play with into an airsoft team. One thing I should mention is that I am the oldest, at 16, and the rest of them are closer to 13 years old. There are four of us, maybe five. Because our team would start out so small, what position would you put each of your players at? I am the sniper, AGM Spotter is my spotter/lead rifleman. Both of the other guys have AEG's.
One last thing; we aren't trying to make a hardcore group that competes at national tournaments, just trying to have a little fun.

Now that all the background info is there, a few questions.
a. Would setting up a team be a bad thing, since we're so young?
b. If we set up the team, should we consider purchasing a SAW and training someone with it?
c. Whats the best way to train a group?
d. Should we set up a system of leadership, i.e. have a second commander, a third etc.?

Thanks for all your help in advance

Your questions are answered in your alphabetic order.
a. Participating at field events under the age of the magic 18 requires your parents to sign waivers. If your players are younger than 10, the parent must play with them.
b. When you establish the team I would look into getting a SAW or MG36 early on, yes.
c. The best way to train a group is to be active in tactical/field craft conversations that way you can spread your knowledge to the rest of the team.
d. Our team does not use a system of one commander. however for the small size of your group you'll be ok. Our team, instead of having just ONE commander each group (Assault, CQB, Sniper/scout, Defense, and Special) each have 1-2 leaders, these leaders work together with the rest to carry out a plan made before the game.

Practicing as often as once a month should be ok. I would try looking for other groups and such. Maybe even a field to register your team at.

good luck

I was thinking that as far as leadership goes, we could do something like rotating the leadership. I would be overall commander, but maybe I could have one of the guys be team leader for a month, then switch it up. Anybody tried that yet?

As far as practice, we have a huge wooded area behind my house with a 200 by 200 yard open field (perfect for sniping ). we can practice as much as three times a week.

Can anyone suggest a good SAW for decently cheap. As of right now we're not looking for anything really high end, we just want to get started.

Even a E1 saw is going to put you in the ball park of $400- $500. You might want to try and combine money with every other player to buy the gun.

I would try looking for undeveloped areas and start asking people around, "Hey I have this airsoft team and we've looking for a place to practice at" Stuff real casual like that.
Old buildings suffice too, but they have to be structurally sound before I would want to send my team into it.

400 is a lot of money for a group of 13 year olds...
Can we get by without one during smaller scale games or are they deffinently worth the 500 bucks?

You can get by without one for smaller games. However once you find the kid who just a has a incessant trigger finger and is good at lying down fire with his M4 or w/e he is your likely candidate for support
and $400 is not that much if you combine. The reason why these guns cost the way they do is because they need the internals to give you your ROF at 360 FPS. Reinforced Mechboxes, Hi-speed gears, - Metal Bushings...ect.

makes sense. I guess if i can get five thats eighty bucks a piece. Not bad, but like i said its a bunch of 13 year olds.
I think for now we're gonna play without one, but i'll put it on my list of things to get.
Does anyone have any specific training excersises? Past experience that has proved good for the team?

Well for training excercises its just a matter of getting out and playing.
A key to a team is being able to work together. Effective communication by hand for your small group would be good you could create a game to get familiar with the hand signals. I'll see what I can come up with later. (usually I just make these up on the fly, but they are perfect for learning how to communicate by other means) Radio has its own quirks too so once you can afford those we'll get some exercises you can practice with on here.

As for shooting. Directing fire on key targets while avoiding other distractions is key. This is the easiest way to train a sniper. You have a few stands with White targets on them out behind a tree line lets say about 10'. You put some riflemen in the field that lay suppressive not directive fire on your position. Your job is to take out the white targets before moving on with the riflemen. If you fail to do so the riflemen move up on you and tag you. Once you get to where the riflemen are having to run to tag you out before the targets are gone is what I call skill.

Obviously playing stealth games like manhunt w/ airsoft guns can better your field craft and teach you how to conceal yourself quickly and effectively. CTF is a example of a good objective game. however your group may be too small to divide teams.

NOTE: Developing experience in skill and tactics will take alot of trial - error before your team will be so efficient that the enemy won't know what the h*** hit them. I would recommend trying to pull in 3 more members to have a team of even number. Letting your members bring friends and lending the good guns is the secret to growing a team.

Untrue Lone wolf my heavy gunners first SAW was 200$ on kappowee is was a high rade not a premium ut its served us for a while and now that its finally died after years of use hes buy an AK but the point you can get an effective SAW for under 300$. By the way you did mention rag tag so I would keep you as commander and train a SIC.

Yes you're correct. sorry 'bout that. should've looked first.

so for 5 that would put you $40 each minimal

sorry but what is an SIC?

Second In Command (SIC)

Gotcha. Wow now that you say it, it seems blatantly obvious oh well

hey try a h and k saw they have paratrooper and normal versions here are some links plus they are fairly cheap.
http://www.airsplat.com/Items/ERM-AK-M249-MKI.htm
http://www.airsplat.com/Items/ERM-AK-M249MKII.htm
http://www.airsplat.com/Items/ERM-AK-M249PARA.htm

Just so we can clear this up, the symbol between the A and the K is this: &, SHIFT 7 is how you get it. Done!

I really don't think you need a SAW gunner in an early stage. Try working on stuff like communication and have the whole squad drill for aggressive moves, try a "progressive" leapfrog to start out then go for advanced techniques. I was lucky enough to find a US Army Ranger handbook at a local used book store. Its not that great on tactics but I know how to repel with just Paracord! Any of the US(or other I guess) military handbooks are great sources for simple organization. I'm not necessarily talking about squad based tactics but more of a reference for patrolling or easier ways of room clearing.

Successful tactics are only gained through experience, it is also hard to have set rules for tactics. Just try things out in different situations, if it works that doesnt mean it will always work. You need to always think as though you were the enemy; it helps alot if you treat everyone as an equal player on the team. Now you shouldn't play your whole team or expect them to play as well as your best player. Instead take the old saying as LAW. "you are only as fast as your slowest man".


I can only give you advice about what I have found to work in the past, I can tell you that being as Dynamic as possible is the best way to succeed.

sticks

oh sry about that i will do that from now on lol

Where did you get the army book? Im really interested in picking one up

Just go online or you could try like boarders or a another book store

I tried barns and noble, the only book store i could think of around her, and nothing popped up. Ill talk to the library, maybe they have something

ya or maybe try a army surplus or a store that has like military books.

I want to start a team in my rural area,with no leagal fields and few serious players. I still want to bring airsoft to the area. should i procced in the spring or just scrape it

you should continue your idea of creating a interest. My reccomendation is to first make a field out of a portion of your property using numerous freebies. i.e. palletes, fox holes,...ect.
Second try to give your friends who are serious about airsoft to form their own teams that way you can begin hosting small leagues.
As friend tells friend it grows pretty quickly you just have to be able to play at least once a week. and have a gun capable. Getting a website created doesn't hurt either.

All of which on this thread will help you in creating an airsofting team , its what we did .

Hey man I agree with that killyuono5 guy I have just recently purchased a UTG L96 Digital sniper and from the look of it I have read about it and watched vids on it its a good gun for a real cheap price and mypiont is is that airsplat.com is a great website to find good meduim grade guns for cheap prices. They are good shipping ant but about $15 to.