Early one Saturday morning, after the thunderstorms had subsided, twenty-eight paintballers dragged themselves out of bed sporting a mixture of long clothing and foolhardy shorts and T-shirts. Meanwhile, an Emmanuel-PRISE OTC officer cadet who wished to remain anonymous lay peacefully sleeping. In need of their tactical spearhead, the group made the decision to wait, and a good decision it was.
The low calibre paintballs used promised a “light pinch” for those unlucky enough to find themselves in the firing line (which was everyone). This was quickly disproved (p = 0.01). The combination of a small indoor area and large group made for a dense battle-ground with little room for hiding in the short rounds. A shout out has to go to Andrew for a clean headshot on the aforementioned sleepy PRISE fellow despite both being on the same team. Additional points go to those responsible for a heroic dual-wield rampage and four members of the colours team who cornered and clinically dispatched your correspondent as it dawned on him that he was the only member of the red team left standing.
Both teams left at the end with all grudges presumably settled, thoroughly in need of a shower and with a set of bruises corresponding nicely to bravado, short-sightedness and how much they had irritated their fellow research village members over the preceding weeks. A huge thanks must go to Dan for organising the whole trip and making it such a success.
