Announcement:Operation East Wind 8 dates and location have been set.
When: March 7th - 15th 2015What: Operation East Wind is a 9 day long 24 hour per day immersive milsim event set in the closing days of the Cold War. From the moment you arrive till the moment you leave, you are surrounded by and living in the life of a soldier deployed on an alert in the Cold War.
You may choose to be part of either the
NATO forces or the
Warsaw Pact with each side having it's own specific options, requirements, advantages, and disadvantages.
At East Wind, you are involved 24 hours a day for the entirety of the event.
You will know the feeling of walking out on a
multi day patrol, the sound of a
truck sneaking through the night to pick you up after a long hard mission (if you are lucky) and the sights and sounds of dark forest seemingly teeming with the enemy around your little patrol base in the black of night. You will use night vision, you will use
mines, you will ride in
military trucks and
armored personnel carriers, you will be supported by
armor and you will use period correct
comms equipment. You will know the boredom of a 03:00 TOC shift and the sinking feeling in your stomach when that shift suddenly STOPS being boring. You will know the true value of a
hot drink on a cold rainy day. You will know how lonely the world can be when your little outpost is under attack and you know that the nearest help is way too far away. You will know how piercingly bright a parachute flare is on a moonless night. You will know the smell of a
canvas tent on a sunny day. You will know how nice and cozy
a stove is on a cold wet day. You will know what it is like to transition from
peacetime, to
alert, to
war. Who may participate?Attendees must be 18 years of age or older unless they are a prior event attendee who is pre-approved by event administration.
How much does it cost?The fee structure for Operation East Wind is broken into two categories:
The cost for participants attending for up to 4 total
days is $165. For those attending from 5-9 total days the cost is $200. All attendees are allowed to check mission equipment out from the supply tents including correct night vision systems, flares, IR systems, Claymore and POMZ mines,
radios, telephone systems etc.
Sign up is now open and will close on Feb 1st, 2015. At signup, a non-refundable deposit of $50 is required with the balance due on Feb 1st 2015.
Where is East Wind 8 being held?We are proud to announce that East Wind 8 will again be held at
D-Day Adventure Park in Wyandotte, Oklahoma. No doubt, there are a great many of you who have played at D-Day before. It is an amazing facility with a lot of really impressive infrastructure. You might be tempted to think that you even know the D-Day Adventure Park pretty well... You will be quite surprised to see how much more there is to that property than you ever imagined. We will be operating on a
1000+ acre playing field with 45 miles of roads and trails. There are towns, an airfield, steep hills, green valleys, streams, ponds, and lots upon lots of space. If you have played at OK D-Day before you have probably seen a little bit of it but I assure you, it's just the tip of the iceberg.
Why 9 days?We run East Wind events for 9 days because in order to put together a quality event there is a certain minimum amount of time it takes to get everything all set up and settled in. If this was a weekend event, we would spend all day and night Saturday setting up and getting everyone settled in and then all day Sunday endexing. By running for 9 days we maximize our field time and get the most value out of our week's vacation time (or spring break for you guys in school). If you cannot attend for the entire time, that's fine; you can attend for as much or as little as you can fit into your schedule.
Why this degree of insanity/attention to detail? Sure, we could camp in civvy tents instead of
GP Mediums or real
Soviet tents. We could use a Ford Tempo with a plywood turret instead of a real Diamler Ferret. We could move guys around in a short bed Chevy pickup instead of a
M35A2. Where would the fun be in all of that? At East Wind we seek to get everything right down to the smallest detail because this is how we immerse you into the event. You do not attend East Wind, you are part of it, you are inside the world that we create for you, you can 'feel' this event.
Why should you choose to go to East Wind 8?This one is easy. Since the inception of this event our motto has been 'Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.' You should be going to East Wind because you are looking for a challenge, an experience. If you are looking at the full experience, you should be going to East Wind because you are ready to live an event 24/7. You should be going to East Wind because you have asked yourself,
"Is East Wind right for me?" and said yes.
Why should you NOT go to East Wind? If you think that it is a hassle to get the correct gear, if you are scared of the rain, if you are too proud to know when you need to learn something or if you are just looking for 9 days of solid "3,2,1, go" speedball action you had better just stay home and play X-box. East Wind will not be your thing. We frequently say that "East Wind is not for everyone, we made it that way for a reason." The world is full of events that are for everyone. We choose to break the mold...
This event is not easy, we don't want it to be easy and if you are coming then you should not want it to be easy either. We say this not to pass judgment on those who should not attend but to allow everyone out there to pass judgment on East Wind and decide if what we are doing fits with what you, yourself, want to do.
What do I need to know to be successful at East Wind events? East Wind offers challenges unrelated to most airsoft events. It naturally goes without saying that knowing a little bit about airsoft helps but far beyond that remember that you are living in the field and actually doing a lot more field craft type work at East Wind than you are likely to encounter at an average game. You will likely find yourself adapting a lot better if you spend some time out in the woods in inclement weather since East Wind stays tactical regardless of
weather conditions. knowledge of your equipment goes a very long way as well since you will be living and working in it 24 hour a day for 9 days. Obviously, there are a variety of technical skills that are helpful to know as well which is why we run
training events monthly covering a variety of skills that will make your East Wind experience more enjoyable as well as provide an
online library of training materials in order to assist you or your group in training up for the event. Apart from that, the most important thing you need to know to be successful and have a good time at East Wind is how mentally tough you are. If you are willing to give something 105% and not quit, this is the event for you. It will blow your socks off and you will love every minute of it.
East Wind isn't just for those in the US either. For several years now, we have had people join the East Wind community from outside of the US with an ever growing team heading down from
Canada and players even coming across from
Europe to take part in the experience.
It's probably not as difficult as you'd think and the community will try to assist where at all possible to ensure that those coming from afar can do so as smoothly as possible. If you have any worries or concerns, we should be able to answer all of your questions about coming to the US for East Wind, after all we've got attendees who have done it and can offer you the advice and assistance you need to make it happen. English fluency is not a requirement. We are an event set in Europe, working with different languages is part of what we do already.
If you would like more information about East Wind please feel free to visit our East Wind forums here:
http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.phpI hope to see some of you out there!
