Fulda Gap : 2023 Mud and Rain Edition - By : Eric Engler
As I sit at home , not 10 miles from Command Decisions , I think back on the many times I would fly down from Vermont to attend this event , first as a vendor , then as the leader of the NATO forces , and finally helping support the staff in the background .
So many changes …. This year was different from the start . The field had been changed up . There were new bunkers and trenches , there were new buildings , and there were destroyed tanks in Sim City ! We also had new ‘ Merica and Custom paint that was MADE IN THE USA by Valken and considering the weather , it shot great . But the biggest change was that we had 2 new Commanding Generals and this had not happened in an very long time . Oh , and it was raining . This had never happened in the 15 previous paintball events .
Changes in command . Warsaw this year was being led by local home team commander Jason “ Reaper ” Mann of Paintball Soldiers , bringing 15 years of Fulda battle experience with him and NATO being led by Florida legend Dezi Johnson . Teams had shuffled , and there was a feeling of the unknown in the air . Well , that feeling might have been heat and moisture , because it was warm with highs in the mid-70s and WET , and not just a little wet , we are talking an inch of rainfall turning the field , parking lots and camping areas into 6 ” of mud WET .
The Real Fulda Gap
The Fulda Gap is an area between the Hesse-Thuringian border ( the former intra- German border ), and Frankfurt am Main that contains two corridors of lowlands over which tanks might have driven in a surprise attack effort by the Soviet Union and their Warsaw Pact allies to gain crossing ( s ) of the Rhine River . Named for the town of Fulda , the Fulda Gap was strategically important during the Cold War . www . paintball . media 029