Why is air soft so popular? Is it to do with the T/A?

[PEBBLE]

I play both.

Airsoft is cheap, you only have to buy a bottle of BB's for a fiver and that's all your ammo for the day.

Paintball, you have to have trucks of paint that have to be well cooled at correct temperature and rotated and all that other bollox.

I use paintball techniques in airsoft and it's such a fun day to shoot zillions of people with my dad and my bro. The airsofters that take it seriously , they look at me and think I'm a noob since I'm wearing the old style camp pattern and have a standard gun. Then usually I'm taking out 30 people for everytime they get me lol, I'm not trying to brag but having basic tournament level paintball skills will enable you to kick ass in airsoft. Its a nice break to get away from competive paintball, and to shoot a bunch of people that have watched too many war movies and play world of war craft.

Anyway, I'm going off topic, I don't really know where the TA comes into the subject since its the part time army that you get paid for and is pretty serious, where as paintball/airsoft is for recreational purposes only. (apart from a handful of pros who get paid)

 

[Cook$]

Join the TA: in case we have a war on a Bank Holiday.

 

[Reaver]

The reason that its so popular is due to more realistic usage of gear we use it to train force on force. BTW LONG TIME NO SEE PEOPLE

 

[STONESOLDIER]

I play both.

Airsoft is cheap, you only have to buy a bottle of BB's for a fiver and that's all your ammo for the day.

Paintball, you have to have trucks of paint that have to be well cooled at correct temperature and rotated and all that other bollox.

I use paintball techniques in airsoft and it's such a fun day to shoot zillions of people with my dad and my bro. The airsofters that take it seriously , they look at me and think I'm a noob since I'm wearing the old style camp pattern and have a standard gun. Then usually I'm taking out 30 people for everytime they get me lol, I'm not trying to brag but having basic tournament level paintball skills will enable you to kick ass in airsoft. Its a nice break to get away from competive paintball, and to shoot a bunch of people that have watched too many war movies and play world of war craft.

Anyway, I'm going off topic, I don't really know where the TA comes into the subject since its the part time army that you get paid for and is pretty serious, where as paintball/airsoft is for recreational purposes only. (apart from a handful of pros who get paid)

Just like he says pretty much if you have the basic paintball skills your automatically a pro Airsofter i would say 95% of the airsofters that play, play because they can get all trhe military gear loo the complete part with out actually geting killed fro real !

its a lot of fun totaly different than woodland paintball in my eyes, the airsofters take it so seriously its not just a game to them its WAR

I have played against TA/Army airsofters before and they cant really use it for training at all really, its really easy to sneak up on someone and snap shoot everyone there military training means nothing when you get up close against them.

 

[Game]

played airsoft today and well... it was fun and different more like being kids again

 

[Andy Steele]

Airsoft is popular, because its fun! There's not really another explanation.

For me, it's a good alternative to paintball, and a lot more relaxed.

 

[olliewidd]

Im in the Army and i can tell you now that airsoft has absolutely no military training benefit. You cannot simulate training when youre firing plastic pellets at each other and it makes my blood boil when i hear airsofters refer to it as "real time combat simulation". NO NO NO NO NO! Personally it makes me cringe when I see middle aged men running around dressed up like its call of duty, acting like theyre special forces. Quite frankly, the difference between tourney paintball and airsoft is tha the gear worn by paintballers all serves a practical purpose for the sport whereas no-one can say that airsofters actually require a rubber knife or medic kit. Im equally disdainful of mil-sim paintballers (sorry guys) as ive always believed you either stop playing soldiers when youre 13 or you carry on and eventually join up. In the end youve got to do what makes you happy but if im running round the woods when im 35 thinking im Andy McNab then im putting myself into therapy.

 

[Game]

on the other hand you can dress as a power ranger playing a pastime pretending its a sport played by total geeks (and thats how 99.99% of the population will view you )

both are about as geeky as you can get without a single drop off cool anywhere to be found outside off the people who play it

will play any off them myself and proberly the cheapest tbh now I have a house full off kids

 

[olliewidd]

Except tournament paintball is a sport....its played competitively with governing bodies on an international level. The same cannot be said for airsoft, I dont know of any international tournaments held for airsoft (although feel free to correct me if im wrong) The perspective of coolness is down to the individual entirely really. For example I dont find football or horse dressage as cool sports whereas I do with freestyle skiing, paintball and free running. Admittedly I cant imagine an opening line of "im a professional paintballer" will impress many women in this country (although in America it would be an entirely different scenario) but then neither would "im 35 and i play soldiers in the woods for a hobby" For the life of me I cant see why people consider airsoft cool but there will be some that do.

 

[CAMDENELECTRIC]

I don't get the STABs guys. They join the Stabs, because they want to do the army thing without giving up their day jobs, and then when they get a chance to turn fantasy into reality they shxt themselves. If you don't want to go to war - don't join the armed forces... The whole thing about the TA is that they may one day be called into action. They tell you this when you join, and its one of the things these guys boast about when they hit the pub - "yeah, you know I have to keep up with the training and all in case we get called up, and you know we have to train just like the regular troops, etc." - It all sounds so tough until they actually get asked to guard a few ammo-dumps in the Middle-east, then they run for cover (or switch to airsoft, apparently)

I disagree, granted there are many of those in the TA who will not go on tour infact I know a company commander who has never been on tour and turned up on Ex with a civvy daysack and a wax jacket. Im sure there are certainly Regular equivalents, however I think you are making a huge generalisation. I for one am going regular next year and will go on tour. There are many, especially young officers, that use the TA as a stepping stone to gain experience ready for a regular career. Infact 90% of my commisioning course already had dates for Reg Sandhurst booked. With the new Army 2020 the TA are becoming a much more operational outfit that can be deployed alongside their Regular counterparts, whilst what you said so bluntly may have been the case a few years ago, it soon will not be. I know plenty of TA soldiers and officers who have been on both Telic and Herrick (forgetting Tosca) who are very proffessional and briliant at their jobs. They're not Walts, as unfortunately many of the milsim and airsofters are.
James