Operation East Wind VI - March 9-17, 2013

[aswayze]

Announcement:

Operation East Wind 6 dates and location have been set.  

When: March 9th –17th 2013

What: 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.  

You may choose to participate either in the full experience, operating 24 hours a day living on site, 100% immersed in the event for the duration of your stay or if you prefer as a day player only playing during the daylight hours, camping at the campground on site or staying at in town at a motel.

As a full experience soldier you will know the feeling of walking out on a multi day patrol, the sound of a truck delivering your hot food  (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 guard 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 learn to lament T-rations, you will know the joy of walking into the mess tent and smelling hot A-rations.   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.  

As a part time day player you can step into and out of one of the world’s best milsim events and get to see all of what goes into an event like this without having to commit yourself 100%.  For a minimal cost comparable to most open play games, you get to see and be a part of daytime recon patrols behind enemy lines,  anti-armor ambushes, deliberate attacks and fiercely fought defenses.  You will fight shoulder to shoulder with the full time troops scraping and fighting for the same ground they are.  

Either way, you will be surrounded by one of the most amazing events the world has to offer.

Who: Who may participate?  Full experience troops must be 18 years of age or older unless pre-approved by event administration.   Day players must be 16 or older with attendees under the age of 18 requiring parental consent.  

How much does it cost?
The fee structure for Operation East Wind is broken into two categories:

The cost for full experience participants attending for 1-4 total
days is $165.  For those attending from 5-9 total days the cost is $200.  Full experience attendees are provided with all meals, including snacks and drinks for the duration of the time they are in attendance.   Additionally, full experience 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.

Day time players who pre-register pay a fixed rate of $25 per day  apart from day 1 and day 9 which are both free days since they involve a great deal of unit set up and tear down.   Day time players are not provided with meals and are not allowed to check mission equipment out from the supply tents since most mission equipment goes out for night or multi-day missions.  

Sign up for full experience troops is now open and will close on March 1st, 2013.  At signup, a non-refundable deposit of $50 is required with the balance due on March 1st  2013.  Day players must be pre-paid by March 5th 2013.

Where is East Wind 6 being held.
This year, we are proud to announce that East Wind 6 will 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?
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, and we could certainly cook flapjacks on a 2 burner Coleman stove instead of using period correct field kitchens.   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 the expense?  

When you look at the cost remember that you are getting food included as well as the use of a lot of really top notch gear.  When we say food, we are not talking about just MREs or hotdogs cooked on a Weber grill.   We have cook staff who are professionals in their fields that are cooking nutritionally balanced meals that are also era and nationality correct.    Doing this right is not cheap and we refuse to skimp on quality.  You could not eat at restaurants for a week on a $200 budget and get the quality of meals you will get at East Wind and that’s before we even talk about the other stuff.  It is not an average game that a real BTR-152 comes down the path at you or that you get to face off against a real FV-432 APC with your RPG.  It is not an average game that you show up to the supply tent before your night mission and get Gen 2 and 3 night vision equipment issued to you.    It’s not an average airsoft game that sends you scrambling out of your camp when an AH-64 Apache shows up skulking around.  Yes, East Wind is expensive, but value wise, it is impossible to beat.    Come and see, we’ll make a believer out of you by day 1.  

Why should you choose to go to East Wind 6?

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.”   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.php

I hope to see some of you out there!

[aswayze]

Here's a few pics and vids from past events to give you an idea what we do out at East Wind:



Here a US Army soldier pulls security as the FV-701 Ferret that escorted his transport truck up to his drop off point heads back home.  There is a lot more to dealing with armor and transports than one might be inclined to think.    



Here a US Squad leader makes a radio call on a PRC-77 radio.  We use period correct comms equipment at East Wind (provided by us).  If you've never used a real military radio, prepare to be amazed at all you can do with one of these.  

This link takes you to a vid of Soviet troops using their R-159 radio to call their allies the East Germans after a successful assault to take a town.  Notice how the guy has a hard time with the map?  That's because the maps are not garden variety generic maps, they are exact replicas of the proper Soviet pattern maps and are different than the US maps he worked with in his US Army service.  


Members of 7th Company, 5th Independent Recon Battalion, 27th Motor Rifles Division, along with a section of National Volks Armee Chemical Troops move out in a convoy, consisting of a GAZ-69, BTR-40, and UAZ-469 to drop several recon squads off along the East German Border at Operation: East Wind IV.  The sections will conduct an over-watch and patrol of the border, on the look out for NATO forces. None of these vehicles are common, all are as cool as the other side of the pillow.  You might find one in a museum if you are lucky, here you get to ride one into combat.    


A US Squad Leader, exhausted from an all night patrol contemplates the fact he has to push on to assault a key town towards the end of East Wind 5.  6 hours later, he was one of the last troops to die of radiation poisoning, having clung hard to his little toe hold.  Here are vids of both Warpac and NATO troops expiring from radiation:  



A NATO supply convoy traveling along "MSR Steele" at East Wind II.  This was a route cut through the forest across a rocky valley that linked the main NATO controlled area with the northern end of the playing field.   NATO trucks ran this very tough route both during the daylight hours and at night under black out conditions using night vision.  


 An NVA patrol, just returned from a cross border mission, is debriefed by the Soviet HQ staff.  Notice the wierd blue interior of the tent?  That's actually a period correct Soviet tent they are in.  The map they are pointing at is a near perfect replica Soviet style map of the AO they are working in.


A Soviet patrol prepares to move out on a night recon mission.   East Wind runs 24 hours a day.


A Soviet soldier looks out into the failing light of the day from the ruined building his section holds.  He fought hard for the town he's in right now and he's got a long night ahead of him making sure he keeps it.   He know's NATO will come tonight, he know's there will be blood sweat and tears before the night is through, it's just a matter of when.   When the next dawn broke over an even more battle scarred town this soldier was one of a pitiful few live Soviet troops that pulled out of town.  They had held the line.


A NATO patrol prepares to move out on a night ambush mission.  They have checked out night vision units from supply (everybody, on both sides gets, gets to use night vision a LOT at East Wind) and have painted their faces so they will shine less in the moon light.  East Wind runs 24 hours a day, we are not kidding.  


A West German Jager light infantryman prepares to step off at an East Wind training event.   He's carrying not only his ruck with the gear to sustain him for the next 24 hours at this winter event but also a SEM-52a radio (slung across his chest) and a Zeiss Orion 80-1 night vision unit (slung below the radio).  


West German Jaeger section discussing the plan for their mission prior to step off.  East Wind is not a “go there and shoot the bad man” event nor is it scripted with a set outcome.   Missions are meticulously planned by attendees attempting to cover every detail to achieve a successful outcome.   This is a thinking event as much as a doing event.  Forget a key detail and be prepared to find out why they call it a key detail.  


East German NVA troops enjoy a hot A-ration meal in their mess hall. Here's another vid of a Soviet section going through the chow line


An NVA (National Volks Army) patrol moves out on a snowy muddy morning during East Wind 3.  This was just the start for the days weather, by the end of the day there was an additional 4 inches of the white stuff on the ground.   They are cold, they are muddy, they are tired, but they are prepared.  We stay tactical 24/7 regardless of weather.  When you look at our PCI lists and wonder why we require so many things, this picture shows why...  


Here a US soldier (who's currently doing this for real in Afghanistan) demines an area infested with the notorious POMZ-2M stick mines.   He's digging down next to the stick since it's a common trick to booby trap the stake so that the guy pulling the mine gets a nasty surprise.  


Excited for the new A&K PKM?   So's this East German soldat.  We've had PKMs for a while that are custom made.    



A US soldier takes a moment to brush his teeth after a mission.   You’re out there for 9 days…  That means eating, sleeping, pooping, washing and shaving in a combat environment.  


Canadian Forces patrol moves out on a dark moonless night.   50% of East Wind happens at night so you soon grow used to trying to pick out what the blurry images in your night vision are.    


Who says you won’t hear a phone ring for 9 days?   Both sides employ field telephone systems at East Wind.  This is the NATO SB-22 switchboard in the operations center.  It allows calls to be patched through from one caller to another anywhere across the phone network.  It also allows a radio call to be patched through to any of the telephones in the network.  Basically every tent in the base camps has a telephone and most any of the commonly manned forward outposts is equipped with a phone as well.  


A Soviet made BTR-152 armored personnel carrier.   This is one big bad mother…  Again, if you got lucky at a museum,  you might be able to touch one.  At East Wind, you’ll ride into battle in one or face off against one with your LAW-80 anti tank rocket.  

Another interesting video.  A Soviet section leader explains the battle he just participated in.  He's speaking Russian because he is Russian.


A Hunter SHL (Space Heater Large) puttering away heating the NATO supply tent at East Wind III.  When the wind is howling and the snow is flying, it is nice to have a place to go warm up and dry off.  Both sides have most of their large common area tents heated with period correct wood stoves or oil fired heaters such as the SHL here.  If you have never walked into a heated tent after a long, cold, wet patrol and stood by one of these guys to warm up then you have never felt what “warm” really is.  It is amazing.  


A NATO officer typing up a AAR on a period correct SAIC V2LC computer.   He looks frustrated because he is.  We strive to get as much right as is humanly possible and the V2 here is a perfect example.  It’s silly, it’s hard to use, it cheeps every time you hit a key but it’s the right system for the time and everyone loves it.   East Wind is about so much more than just airsofting.  It’s an opportunity for everyone to participate in something that collectively is bigger than anything they themselves can create.  Whether you are bringing the minimum required gear for the event, are bringing a military truck,  or happen to restore something like the V2LC here, it’s all a piece of the puzzle that makes East Wind the event that it is.    When you form the environment around you as much as we do here at East Wind, it really makes an event that you feel you are a part of.   East Wind creates memories that you will not forget.  



East Wind 5 saw the introduction of Canadian Forces troops to the NATO mix.  This option is exclusively open to attendees who are attending from Canada.   (US, UK, and West Germany are open to all).   Attendees coming from other NATO allied countries who wish to portray their home country are welcome as well.  English language fluency is not a requirement.  

Here’s a link to a series of videos put together by Coop showing life on the East Bloc side.  Say goodbye to the next 3 hours of your life…  

I hope that some of you will make the trip out to be part of it.

[Red Devil]

Instead of typing everything that was already on the web page why didn't you just post the link in the beginning?

[aswayze]

Easier for everyone to read when you just put it there rather than just posting up a link. 

Besides, that not even 1% of what is on the East Wind site. 

[Red Devil]

That's cool you do what you do. I hope you all have fun out there. The miles is what affects me. I can do 2 three day lionclaws game for that one game.

[aswayze]

Oh I know it man.

We, none the less, get people who travel great distances to go to East Wind events.  Current record is Saudi Arabia.  We've got guys coming from SoCal as well as most every other corner of the states, Canada, and the UK as well so in the grand scheme of things, Arizona is not so bad. 

It is also well worth pointing out that what we are doing is far different from a Lion Claws event.  We do not focus on trigger time and action so much as on planning, life and the experience. 

If you've got the time and patience, read this AAR from our Canadian Contingent last year and you'll see what I mean.   I'll be honest, 99% of  players will have a great deal more fun at a Lion Claws event but that 1% of folks who are looking for a deeper milsim experience will likely prefer East Wind. 

[Red Devil]

I am not saying its a bad thing. I think everybody should experience military life. But i have been there done that from the first gulf war, reforger 1990, 3 times to the desert at ft Irwin Cali.

[aswayze]

Sweet, you are right from our time frame then! 

We do a pretty good rendition of Reforger/ Team Spirit so you'd feel right at home.

[Red Devil]

I would probably like it but ny company doesn't give vacation so I would be without a paycheck for that week. Maybe in the future I would be able to make it. But not this year.

[spazz]

Instead of typing everything that was already on the web page why didn't you just post the link in the beginning?

red devil: you know aswell as i do that most people will only do the bare ammount of searching on something like that. if he had put "hey, come check out our game that we are hosting this year" and then posted a link. most people will find some of the basic info and then just give up because of the shear ammount of stuff on the site about this game (yes, i have been on it. looked it up a couple of weeks ago)
what he did was give as much info possible accrossed a broader spectrum than the average(lazy) person might find all on thier own. it also goes to show the level of comitment that he shows towards doing what he does. he "could" have just gave a basic description and left a link. but instead he gave us alot more.

aswazey: please do not be discouraged about red devil insinuating that your might be to big. and trust me when i say that there are people in az that have probly been to this event or will be attending this event in the future.  i have already been talking to a few of my guys about this. there are quite a few guys here in az that these type of events is all they are interested in. im going to try and make it this year, the only thing, besides time/travel, is all the period specific gear that you have to have to participate. but i understand that is to keep the integrity of this event as real as possible. i look forward to attending this event in the future.
thank you for your time and effort in making as informative a post as possible.

edit: i only wish that some of the tech problem posts that i read had that much detail.

[Fung Li]

This sounds so sick!  too bad I have no money

[aswayze]

I understand on the vacation thing.  I just finally got worked up to getting 4 weeks paid a year (After 16 years) and now they are getting ready to shut my place down so I'll be back to no vacation here pretty soon as well. 

Spazz, I am not discouraged in the least and I really don't think Red Devil was saying anything bad about East Wind anyhow.  When you undertake something like this you have got to come into it with a positive attitude and must be willing to understand that what you are doing is not going to be everyone's cup of tea.  That means a lot of talking, a lot of explaining, a lot of pictures, a lot of examples etc to get people to understand why we do what we do.  It's been a long road but it has been worth it.   

Gear is always a struggle.   Good news is that with some lead up time and enough patience, you can round all this stuff up pretty cheap.  You don't want to just run into Bills Full Retail Army Surplus shop with checkbook in hand, that will cost you a mint.  This stuff is out there in bales much cheaper if you shop smart.  What I always tell guys to do is to go seek out the "underground" surplus dealers in their area.  Go to Militaria Shows, look on Craig's List, go to flea markets, check antique shops, do an ebay search for "military" and set it to display results within 25 miles of your home etc.  You'll find LOADS of other dealers that way who sell actual surplus.  Actual surplus is not only orders of magnitude cheaper, it is generally of much higher quality.   In a city, you'll be amazed what this will get you but even in a fairly rural area, this will usually yield some decent results, give it a try.   Aside from that, the East Wind forums are a great place to check as well since many of the folks who are kitting up for foreign armies tend to sort of bulk order key items from overseas to keep costs low.   Kalina from Allequipped.com got us set up on a decent deal for legit Soviet body armor and Han's multiple trips to surplus shops in Beijing has generally got everyone a decent deal of actual Soviet Afghanka uniforms so even when you want to go Gucci and have all the hard to find stuff the kit is out there when you've got the right people hunting for it.   US stuff we've got in droves, the UK guys have pretty much all of their sources mapped out as do both of the Germanies.  It's all out there, and we can help you find it. 

As far as the informative post thing goes, you sort of have to learn to do this sort of thing well if you need to convey a lot of information otherwise you just end up with a case of too long, did not read. 

[Fresnel]

Gear is always a struggle.   Good news is that with some lead up time and enough patience, you can round all this stuff up pretty cheap.  You don't want to just run into Bills Full Retail Army Surplus shop with checkbook in hand, that will cost you a mint.  This stuff is out there in bales much cheaper if you shop smart.  What I always tell guys to do is to go seek out the "underground" surplus dealers in their area.  Go to Militaria Shows, look on Craig's List, go to flea markets, check antique shops, do an ebay search for "military" and set it to display results within 25 miles of your home etc.  You'll find LOADS of other dealers that way who sell actual surplus.  Actual surplus is not only orders of magnitude cheaper, it is generally of much higher quality.   In a city, you'll be amazed what this will get you but even in a fairly rural area, this will usually yield some decent results, give it a try.

On that note, at least for the NATO stuff, I'd like to plug the good guy running Hassayampa Surplus. He's always done right by me, has very reasonable (and sometimes downright cheap) prices, and carries some things you may find hard to locate elsewhere.

[Red Devil]

I understand on the vacation thing.  I just finally got worked up to getting 4 weeks paid a year (After 16 years) and now they are getting ready to shut my place down so I'll be back to no vacation here pretty soon as well. 

Spazz, I am not discouraged in the least and I really don't think Red Devil was saying anything bad about East Wind anyhow. 

I am glad that you understand what I was saying. Some people just read something and the post jiberish not really reading and comprehending what is being said. But isn't Broken Arrow being held at the same place for memorial day weekend?

[aswayze]

There are a lot of events that use D-Day.  It’s a really stellar AO and the guys that run the place are particularly good folks to work with. 

Broken Home put on by American Milsim is about the biggest Airsoft event that runs out there.  They generally run over the Memorial Day weekend although they do not yet have dates up for next year as far as I know.   Obviously, the place sees its greatest use during the Oklahoma D-Day Paintball event when the place is loaded with thousands and thousands of paintball players and legions of support staff, vendors etc. 

East Wind by comparison is pretty reserved.  Other than the cars all parked in neat rows by the Admin shack, you wouldn’t even know that anything is even happening out there from the staging area.    We pretty much go to the field and stay there…