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by KELSEY OHLEGER
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
In football, it’s the end zone; baseball, home plate; soccer, the back of the net.
Just like any other sport, airsoft teams work to accomplish a goal, while dodging opponents and pellets fired from their guns.
“You are so focused on trying to get your job done that you’re willing to do crazy things,” Appalachian State University alumnus and airsoft enthusiast R. Andy Gouge said. “That’s the thrill, leaping over a tree trunk, diving back behind a door to get the job done for your team.”
 Airsoft guns use carbon dioxide, spring power or electric motors to fire 6 mm plastic pellets. Many Airsoft guns such as the VSR-10, above, are modeled after actual firearms. The group uses realistic military techniques and performs scenarios based on actual military situations. Photo by Holt Menzies.
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Gouge unites with
about 20 other members to create the High Country Gunslingers, an
airsoft team including Appalachian students, alumni, community members
and military personnel who share a passion of thrill and excitement.
The team travels across the state to compete in different games or scenarios through the North Carolina Airsoft Organization.
The
sport involves shooting 6 mm diameter plastic ball bearings out of
replica guns to prevent the opponents from completing their tasks.
Tasks are any mission assigned to a team, whether it be reaching a certain area or taking over a base.
Many of the scenario missions are based off real military events.
“[The
BBs] can bring welts, they can draw blood…but sometimes you can’t even
feel the hit,” alumnus and Gunslinger co-captain Eric B. Huffman said.
“For us, it is the closest thing to being in the military without the
side effects.”
Both Gouge and Huffman have been members of the team since it emerged over two years ago.
They both enjoy the realistic feel of military scenarios.
“We’re
so used to playing video games now where it is point and click and
you’re sort of detracted from reality…there are no real consequences in
the game because you can turn it off,” Huffman said. “In [Airsoft], you
learn not to be so reckless because you can’t do what you do in a video
game.”
The
players wear gear that resembles authentic military operators and play
in all weather, adapting to the atmosphere as military personnel do.
While
some may think a sport that involves simulation killing is violent, the
team plays out of respect towards soldiers and works to promote gun
safety even within their name.
“The
history of the gunslinger was known to take care of their guns and know
their guns properly. They know the ins and outs of all their guns and
so forth,” Huffman said. “We treat the guns as though they are real and
can seriously injure somebody.”
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