Hey guys, I figured I'd make a small post about what exactly I packed for MilSim West, to give those of you that haven't done one yet just another guys perspective from what he brought, what was needed, and what could have stayed at home.
First off, I should point out that our team was responsible for role playing and administrative assistance during the OP. This meant packing things like a set of woodland cammies, deserts, flight suits, and civilian attire, which obviously can be skipped if you're just playing as one team. I'll break everything down in categories of weapons and mags, main line of gear, and long term sustainment items.
Weapons and Mags:
At MilSim West, the rifleman is only issued 500 rounds. These rounds can be taken from an opposing player if they're still in the loose bag that they come in, this means you'll need to have all those mags jammed up as soon as you're issued rounds. In case math isn't your strong suit, you can easily get away with only have 4-5 midcaps on you, rather than something around 8-10 for some of the bigger events. I personally only had three AK mags when I was using that, and only two for the Maruzen when I was sniping.
On a somewhat related note, grenades are honored much more so at these events than other locations, mainly because of the "spirit of the game" rule which says if someone is spending $8-10 on a grenade toss for both yours and his immersion purposes, you should probably call yourself dead if it lands within a few feet of you, even if a BB doesn't technically make contact with you. Because of this reason, I'd advise everyone goes with at least 2 pea grenades on them, or something similar.
Main line of gear:
This depends entirely on the team you're playing for, and since I don't know much about Russian kit I'll just stick with the American load out. For me personally, I think having a load bearing vest would have been the smartest idea. Obviously AO dependent, but Darlington boasted 100+ degree heat, so trapping body heat in isn't a very good idea. I'd also recommend if you MUST wear a helmet due to constantly tapping your noggin on stuff, or running nods, I'd advise getting one with port holes in the top, like a bump helmet that can breath easier.
For my plate carrier I ran enough mag pouches to hold 7 M4 style mags, as well as a general purpose pouch for hiding what few small amount of rounds I had left, and a Nalgene 1Qt pouch, to hold water for patrols. I ended up actually never using the nalgene, but instead had a regular issued canteen in my cargo pocket that I found myself burning through quite constantly. Water is both the medic revival system as well as something that is issued out at both main bases, which means packing in 3-4 gallons of water for your entire stay is not only unnecessary, but dangerous.
I kept the back side of my plate carrier open so my ruck could fit more comfortably on it. This ended up working out really well.
Sustainment Gear:
For this I purchased a Kelty 3500 MAP, and it did everything I needed it to and more. Inside the main pocket I had the following:
1 - 3L Camelbak, filled maybe 2/3rd's to the top (Fits inside a sleeve on the inside).
1 - Woobie blanket
1 - Waterproof field tarp, USMC woodland digital
1 - One man pop up tent (Catoma IBNS Tactical Shelter). Literally the most compact one man guaranteed bug blocker out there. If you've got the appropriate site for it's application, I'd recommend.
1 - 100' of Paracord, for securing down the tarp as shade/rain block, as well as general purpose
2 - Ranger rolls. Basically take a set of socks, underwear, and a t shirt and roll them up tightly. I took a few extra pairs of socks, but it was perfect for shirt and skivvy requirement.
1 - E-Tool, for digging a fighting position if need be, but mainly if you're off the grid and away from the porta potties, and nature calls, you can dig a good foot down cat hole.
1 - Half roll of TP and baby wipes, air sealed inside a 1 gallon freezer bag.
3 - 1 Gallon Freezer Bags (waterproofing and trash collection bags)
3 - Sandwich bags (waterproofing)
5 - Mountain House Freeze dried foods. I only used 2, but that was because civilization was literally 10 minutes away from the AO site, so we went and grabbed a final burger before game started Friday, so I basically only had to cover Saturday morning, and night. Hindsight 20/20 I'll maybe take 3 now.
1 - Jetboil, spare matches, and stand. Worth it's weight in gold to be able to have boiling water within 2 minutes of pulling it out of your bag.
1 - Camping fork
1 - Canteen with canteen cup
1 - Shemagh
1 - Spare set of contact lenses, case, solution, glasses, tooth brush, paste, deodorant, and a small baggy of motrin.
1 - Spare batteries, 4 AA's, AAA's, and 123's, as well as a spare iCom IC-F4011 battery. Two batteries lasted me the entire 40 hours with comms being on.
That's about all I took with me. Basically you're in it for 40 hours, but there are safety stand down situations. One of them would be 100 degree heat and an equal amount of humidity, which means you'll have a bit of time you're just standing around. Having a dedicated squad that can both hold security during those times and rest and refit is ideal.
Hindsight 20/20, I think I overpacked a little bit, but even at full ruck load I didn't even have 20lbs of stuff in the bag, and once I had my main sleep area figured out I had even more room than before, so I just slapped a gallon jug of water on top of everything else I was carrying, to help resupply other guys who had been out for a few hours longer than myself.
Sorry I didn't have the chance to nab a bunch of pictures. We were pretty rushed during launch day, and now everything is pretty spread all over the place. Obvious items like eye pro, gloves, batteries and speed loaders I didn't mention, because everyone's gun is different in that regard. If you've been playing airsoft long enough, you should know about how many hours and rounds you can expect to get out of a battery. While you may need 3-4 batteries for a different type of game, bare in mind that you're only issued 500 rounds, and then resupply only happens every so often, so literally 2 batteries should do it for you, unless you're a machine gunner.
Thanks for reading, hit me up with any questions you might have here, and I'll do my best to answer it.
