I am going to phase out my old email with which I set up my profile under the name AZTAC. So I am not new to this forum, however I dont think I ever completed an intro.
I am the proud son of a Vietnam Veteran and an honored grandson of a Korean War Veteran. I am full blooded Native American from the tribe Tohono O'odham, located in Southern Arizona.
Following the wishes of my father, I never joined the armed forces. He volunteered for Vietnam not because he was gung ho, but because his father died at an early age. He then became the head of the house and no one would hire him because he was of draft age. So he volunteered so he could finish his service, get home and take care of his mom and siblings.
He was due for China from Hawaii, but the night before his ship left he got piss drunk and missed his ride. The worst mistake of his life as he ended up completing a tour of vietnam. He tells stories every once in awhile, but they are mostly funny anecdotes from his time in boot camp. On a rare occasion he will tell stories that I can tell he regrets letting out after he tells them. I try to piece together exactly where he was and with which unit. I found a patch of his once that read "hell on wheels" and I know he was a machine gunner.
He laughs about a time when a Lt wanted to fire my fathers gun, so my dad attempted to correct the Lt's form. But the Lt said " I think I know how to handle this better than some damn Injun (indian)" The Lt. released a burst and fell flat on his ass!
I never truly understood the extent of his experiences until he and I saw Saving Private Ryan together. He oftened watched vietnam themed movies, and would laugh at their hollywood treatment. So he and I thought this movie would be no different. We were both wrong. It was a different time and a different battlefield, but war is war and many of the scenes played out in that movie were so similar to the bad stories my father would accidently let out.
His reactions after the movie I will keep to myself, but I honestly never loved the man more.
So why do I bring this up? Arent we all naturally drawn to the things are parents forbid us from? I am very proud of my father and grandfather. I am also proud of the contributions Native Americans have made to the armed forces. Which coincidently, the upcoming movie FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS depicts IRA HAYES an Arizona Pima Indian (sister tribe to mine) who was one of the Marines pictured in the famous flag raising on Mt Suribachi.
I love playing tactical shooters which led me to paintball which has led me to airsoft. I have five years experience with paintball and no experience with airsoft. I would like to get into airsoft for the structure and honor system and for the role playing.
A couple of months ago, under AZTAC, I attempted to acquire permission to use an abandoned area with five buildings to use as a commercial airsoft field. Unfortunately the project hit a dead end when I was unable to obtain insurance. There are other areas on my reservation that would be awesome AO's and I will continue to work on getting permission to use the areas.
Within next week I should be sending for my first AEG. I am thinking about the TM M14. I would appreciate some suggestions on which site to order from. I hope to make it to a game soon and get to know everyone and become an active member in the AA community.
