"WE WERE SOLDIERS:" Paintball facility simulates famous Vietnam battle

You might not have heard the choppers Saturday, nor heard the pop-pop-pop of weapons fire, nor seen the trucks loaded with the casualties, but a major battle took place in Gonzales County over the weekend.
The battle involved some “soldiers” from as far away as New Zealand, as well as others from closer to home. Some of the combatants were grizzled veterans, some are currently active-duty military members, and others were 12-year-old kids.
And as the sound of battle faded Sunday, they could all say that, for a short time, “We Were Soldiers.”
“We’ve been here for five years now and put on like eight large events a year, but a lot of people in the county don’t even know we’re here,” says John Harris of TacticalPaintball, a 120-acre spread of mock battlefields situated just north of Interstate 10 off FM 794 in Harwood.
“We’re very unique,” he adds, “in that we do military simulations, almost re-enactment type stuff.”
On this particular weekend, some 400 paintball enthusiasts from around the globe gathered at Harris’ spread to simulate the battle of la Drang Valley, made famous by the book We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young by LtGen. (Ret.) Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L. Galloway. The book was turned into a 2002 movie, We Were Soldiers, starring Mel Gibson.
For this simulation, participants were divided into “American” and “Vietnamese” camps, with each given specific roles to play and rules of engagement.
“Remember, don’t shoot the ‘helicopters,’” Harris reminded the “Vietnamese” prior to the start of the game. “They’re immortal, and if you shoot them all you’ll do is make them mad.”
Harris has spent five years and thousands of dollars developing his property as one of the finest military-simulation fields outside a military base. He says the field has hosted training for everyone from the Gonzales Police Department to U.S. Army Special Forces.
The layout includes several mock villages, “fire bases,” and other amenities. some of the past simulations have included a “Raid on Entebbe” and even a spinoff of the sci-fi movie Starship Troopers -- there’s even a leftover paint-spattered “bug” to greet visitors.
The site also features a campground with ample room for both campers and vendors of various paintball equipment manufacturers, as well as a “Post Exchange,” a station to re-fill and check air tanks for the compressed-air paintball guns, even a field mess hall.
For the We Were Soldiers simulation, Harris used several modified trucks and vans as “helicopters” to ferry the “American” forces onto the playing field. The “Vietnamese” forces hopped on a refurbished prison bus and were trucked all the way around the property to enter it from the opposite side.
As combatants were “killed,” they were directed toward casualty staging areas by the game’s referees. They returned to the base camp, and in short order were re-inserted into the game.
“This is a very unique field,” Harris emphasizes. “Most paintball fields are leased and you have old spools and barrels and pallets everywhere to simulate things. We bought this land for paintball, and we’ve built everything out here.”
The property has many of the buildings wired together with surplus military “312” land-wire phones. Harris also has a 2x2 cargo truck to help move players around and one building, which will eventually be mounted on a semi-trailer rig, is set up inside to simulate the inside of a C-130 aircraft.
“During the Raid on Entebbe game we actually used that to drive vehicles off,” Harris says.
Since paintball guns can fire their projectiles at high speed -- in this game, the air-pressure is limited to 280 feet per second -- safety is a major issue. No one enters the well-marked perimeter of the playing field without face protection.
TacticalPaintball features a fully-operational field hospital, run by volunteer emergency room Dr. Robert Allen, a former air Force special forces doctor. Among the regular participants is a group of emergency medical technicians from San Antonio who play paintball as “Team MAST (Medic Assault Special Tactics).” Allen crediots the EMT’s with helping save at least one life in prior games, a man who had a bed allergic reaction to a fire-ant bite.
“That’s probably the worsdt injury we’ve ever had out here,” Allen says, “although we’re equipped to handle just about anything.”
Like Allen, “most of the people who work out here are volunteers,” Harris notes.
While the battle of the la Drang Valley took place in sweltering tropical heat, this simulation takes place under sunny -- but very cold -- skies. Most of the participants arrived just prior to a cold front which moved through the area Friday, and camped overnight both Friday and Saturday.
The popular notion of paintball tends to center on younger players in bright uniforms in role-playing or “tournament” scenarios. Harris says the “milsim” (military simulation” players are a different breed.
Commanding the American forces in this simulationw as Sean “SPYRO” Riggs of Atascosita. On Friday, Riggs buried the ashes of his father, who fought in the actual la Drang campaign, on the field.
“Most of these players have seen the movie, or read the book, and have studied what actually happened in the battle,” Harris says. “It’s still a game, but it gives you a hands-on view of history.”
Indeed, many of the players on this day are schoolkids.
“I want to go into the military when I graduate,” says Robert Frederick, a student at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, who on this day is attired primarily in Marine Corps camoflauge. “This is my third year of playing paintball, and I think it will help prepare me.”
Dock Mullins of Blanco was on hand with two of his children, and said that military-simulation paintball has become a fun hobby for his family.
“We got into this a couple of years ago with a couple of old Brass eagle paintball guns from Walmart,” he says. “Now, I’d say we’ve got around $2,000 invested in our ‘toys.’”