Paintball Magazine April 2020 Issue | Page 76

poured into every event. The Black Ops field staff goes the extra miles for the player, whether it be for the birthday rental, the weekend warrior or the scenario/speedball elite, they have put all their heart and attention to detail into what they provide. They have comfortable facilities, indoor plumbing which should come to a shock for everyone, this is not treatment that paintballers are accustomed to. They have a fully stocked Proshop and an open grill with food any baller could love. They have a fully equipped speedball field and hyperball field, not to mention their tactical paradise that Bones and Ashes attendees can fully enjoy, caveat emptor. The CPX staff has for years brought exciting, action packed paintball to the players. They have games that expand the continental United States and in Hawaii. Their themed games are full of puzzles, detailed missions and territory holds. Many, many months of planning, developing and scheduling goes into building one game, CPX plans five games per year at five different facilities. That is coordinating with several fields, several commanders, vendors and travel agencies in a short time span. There are not many individuals, unless volunteering for a gauntlet run, that take more punishment than the Ref staff or the photographers. The Ref staff, being exclusively Solstice Law for CPX events, wears the brightest colors possible and parade around a field where everyone is armed with itchy trigger fingers just waiting to shoot the first thing that moves. They place themselves around the 50 yard line for any final battle, effectively and unfortunately, turning them into the old time shooting gallery game. These men and women do all of this for player safety and to maintain fair play, I assure you the compensation does not adequately cover the lumps and headaches from our more complainy companions. Lastly, but in no way least, we have the men and women that place their bodies and equipment in harm’s way to make us all look way better and braver than we actually are. They strategically place themselves in battles and in missions to give us a still, or a video, that will last for a very long time. These cameramen bottle memories, capture glory and provide them to use so that we make take these glorious moments and hold on to them. These people that were just described make paintball more than people running around the woods shooting each other, they make legends out of all of us. So remember when you are showing your photos to your family, telling lies around the campfire or setting your new social media profile picture to thank these individuals for doing what they do and for doing it well. Day two, the final day of the event, everything is left on the field, to the victor goes the spoils. The sides have been switched, but has the momentum, could Joe Perez’s squad continue to stack on the point lead that they rest so comfortably, will Eric Bryant’s army strike back with a swift vengeance and collapse their ivory tower or will CHAR break free of their reigns and unleash hell? The day started out as the first had, Red and Blue armies take a jolly frolic through the woods to Grandma’s house only to find the 076 paintball.media magazine