Swim with a Mission Paintball started as a survival game in the woods of New Hampshire . Forty years later an organization known as S . W . A . M .( Swim With a Mission ) continues that by supporting a serious cause , the help and very real survival of our veterans , and their families , once they return home .
What began as solely a charity swimming event for veterans by Phil and Julie Taub is now in its seventy year and has evolved to also include a Green Beret Challenge , a Navy SEAL Gold Star family tribute dinner and Paintball With a Mission .
Paintball With A Mission is an event hosted for the 5th year by OSG Paintball in Barnstead , NH . The event is an all day event that includes speeches by key speakers , a silent auction of SEAL memorabilia , a 24 team paintball tournament , and an awards ceremony . This year they were able to raise $ 1.1 Million dollars making it the largest charity paintball event ever .
Corporate outings are one of the most popular groups to attend paintball fields and SWAM takes that to the extreme . The event is a 24 team woodsball tournament with 312 different players who are all required to use the same equipment . Markers , masks , pod packs are all standard . The difference between the teams ? Their determination to win and the expert tactical coaching by a Navy S . E . A . L . With 28 SEALs on site , both retired and active duty , each team is assigned one .
Since the event is a few years in , there are some clear crowd favorite SEALs like Mike Donnelly who doesn ’ t miss a chance to be the star comedian . Coming on stage during the speeches by notable SEALs , such as Master Chief Rick Kaiser and Kag Caglioni , Mike started the day with a challenge for the SWAM board of directors . Could he hold a plank with a service K9 on his back longer than the time it took the board to eat a various mix of snacks including a whole pickle and twinkies . In the end Mike was still holding his plank while one of the board members was caught hiding a twinkie . I believe they would call it a tie .
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