Guns: Laser Tag, The Poor Man's Force-on-Force Exercise

During a lull during the funeral ceremonies, we took the kids outside to get some fresh air. Unfortunately, rain clouds closed in on us, so we took refuge in a laser tag center near my Grandpa's house. About 7 bucks a kid and 20 minutes later, we were ready for a little slice of urban combat.

In many ways, playing laser tag with two dozen screaming children nicely illustrates principles of close quarters combat with firearms. The first thing you notice is that it's very, very easy to get hit - with snipers and lone wolf kamikaze-types laying in wait around every corner, the time between getting hit is often measured in seconds, not minutes. Extrapolate this to a real combat zone, with modern carbines and optics, and you see what a nightmare this type of experience can be.

The second truism I saw in my time there was the fact that an organized team is almost always more effective than a group of scattered individuals. Working with the cousins under my care, we stormed positions, covered retreats, and sticked together with at least some semblance of effectiveness. With me being the best shot (not hard to see why, given that none of my cousins have ever even fired a real gun), I often had plenty of time to down entire opposing teams while my underlings drew their fire.

Finally, I think many underestimate the importance of physical conditioning in this type of work. I was very sweaty even after a twenty minute session in an air-conditioned arena carrying a plastic laser gun and vest. It must not be fun for our soldiers to be kicking in a door in the middle of summer in Baghdad with full combat gear on - if you don't have the endurance for a mission like this, it could be life-threatening.

That's probably why our government uses fancy laser tag to train the Army: