Everyone remembers the gun. Very few remember to bring the radio. Airsoft teams are everywhere, and yet very rarely do any get organised enough to take advantage of having a team structure.

“Yeah, but we play together so I know what they’re going to do and they know my game” is usually as good an answer as you’re going to get. And that’s pretty much the same as running around with the other hundred or so players at skirmish.

Getting your team ready for a photoshoot with the site photographer is the easy bit. Nice matching outfits, few Instagram filters, great. You look like a team. But how do you start playing like a team? Is it a case of having matching weapons platforms? Patches? Practicing building breaching together? Sitting in the safe zone together so people know you’re a team?

The Communication

Nope. It’s all about communication and coordination in the field. And this isn’t just for milsimmers. You want to be performing as a team, like a well-oiled machine that maximises the capabilities of each individual player. As a minimum, you want all your team members to have a radio. That is charged. And programmed to the same channel. I’ve had a few Motorola Talkr models in the past which are absolutely fine, but the step up is definitely the Baofeng UV-5R. I know there are guys out there who will have top-tier real steel radio kit, and that’s great if you can get it, but the UV-5R is tried and tested and only £25 including charger. It’s fully programmable to whatever frequency you need, and it just works. Rather than worrying about buying compatible sets for everyone on the team, just get everyone to invest in an individual one and if you’re at events as part of a larger force, you can reprogram it accordingly.

Now, I’ve mentioned before that I run the UV-82 which is a dual channel version, so I can have my squad on one channel and HQ on the other, but honestly its an absolute pain to program on site without a laptop and the dual PTT’s (without spending a couple of hundred) just have a habit of failing. What I’d recommend, and I invariably end up doing the same, is just having a separate radio set up for the HQ side. Two radios will cost you less than one dual PTT in many cases.

The Coordination

So, communication isn’t expensive. It’s about the same price as a mag for your rifle. But it changes your whole game day and really needs to be the first thing in your bag. It’s useful for issuing instructions to the team from whoever is in charge (more on that shortly), but also for the team to communicate incoming threats;

Awareness is a huge asset. Knowing where the enemy are before they see you so you can adjust your position, knowing where they’re hiding, and knowing strength allows you to adjust to meet that threat. It’s one of the strengths of a well placed sniper who isn’t going it alone for scopecam kills, but is actually boosting their team by feeding them intel. If there’s no sniper available, or just as good practice, get the squad spread out with eyes and ears in all directions.

Do spread out. Don’t think that coordinated firepower is going to punch a big hole in the enemy – you want fire from all angles and multiple targets for them to hit. Bunching up just creates one mass that’s easy to contain and eliminate. Once you’ve got everyone well positioned, make sure that they’re focused on the task at hand and not turning around to chat about whatever shit was on Netflix. And this isn’t just the Team Leader’s job either, it’s on each player to keep everyone in check. If everyone is alert and paying attention to the game, it’ll be very difficult for the enemy to approach your position and do any damage.

• When it comes to using a radio, don’t try and complicate things with game day callsigns for everyone. Even if rehearsed, trying to remember who “delta three seven red” is in a hurry is going to delay the transmission of important information. Just use your usual names or nicknames. If your name is actually Delta Three Seven Red, ignore this. Also, I applaud your parents.
• Do have a system for indicating direction. “Left” and “right” are obviously going to be different for everyone. At least learn which way is north on the site you’re at, and you can then relay information via a clockface from there. Clockfaces are easy, clear and everyone can instantly bring one up in their head and use it. Find something that works for you without having to think too much.
• Keep messages short and sweet, so you’re not blocking the channel if someone else needs to get info across at the same time. Nobody needs to hear your thoughts and opinions of everything as you’re moving around site, and it’s going to waste battery.

In addition to the radio, if you’re doing bigger events you might also have to deal with maps, team orders, and other intel. It’s important to read up on this info as much as possible if you get it before the event starts. If not, then make sure everyone does actually listen to the briefing, and gets any notes or handouts. A notepad is essential for making your own notes.

I have a rainproof one like this one from Kombat UK. Also, a quick access arm panel is a great place to store the most important bits of information that you might need in a hurry. If not, get a plastic wallet to keep it dry in, because nearly every event in the UK hands you sheets of paper while it’s raining. Every member of your team needs the info in case they get separated or find themselves as the last man standing after a contact. I’m a big fan of self-sufficiency, however, in a team you can make it more efficient…

The Command

Every team needs a leader. It’s not a case of handing someone the role as an ego trip so they can boss everyone around. It’s not some sort of cheesy roleplay for reenactment nerds. And it’s not to elevate one player above others; it’s merely a team role the same as everyone else. And it’s an important one.

There are people who naturally fit the role better than others and it’s up to the team to decide that. The reason you need one is primarily so that there’s quicker decision making, rather than a “diplomatic” vote every time you need to do something, which is always going to lead to a split verdict anyway. The appointment of a leader, and a backup for when they get hit, eliminates any debate and means one person is calling the shots for the others to follow; whether the squad thinks it right or wrong at least there’s unity and clarity and that can make up for bad tactical decisions. Hopefully, you will choose someone who is quite adept tactically anyway.

Beyond the decision making within the squad, the Team Leader (TL) should be looking to liaise with HQ, if there is one, to then coordinate your squad with everyone else’s. Same idea, but magnified. HQ should be providing info on the whole battlefield, where your squad is just concentrating on its own task or area of operations. Ideally you want a radio operator (RO) to look after comms with HQ so that the TL is just concentrating on what the squad is doing and remaining in control without being distracted. If you don’t have a dedicated RO, appoint one. As mentioned earlier, a separate radio makes life a lot easier and it can be handed around the team if needed.

One thing I did notice at a recent milsim though was the problem of every individual relying on their own map and information on objectives, with all the guys constantly downing weapons to check map information to see where we were, and where we should be going, on what was a very small pocket sized map. This was partly instinctive, but mainly my fault as TL for not being organised enough. Cue an idea on the way home afterwards of an “HQ bag” between the team.

Rather than tiny pocket sized snippets of info scattered across the team in various pockets and pouches, we discussed having a full sized A4 folder, much like sniper recon teams use, in a grab bag which might also hold extra radio equipment. In it would be a much better prepared list of all callsigns, objectives, bigger and clearer maps, radio frequencies and anything else mission related. During this milsim, my 2IC basically insisted I stay safe at all times and let the squad do the combat side of things. The folder then can come out while in cover and whoever is playing as TL can then have all the information they need to properly coordinate the squad, given out down the radio, so that the squad remains focused and has weapons ready, receiving everything down the radio rather than trying to juggle multiple comms messages from different people trying to read small maps and dig around in pouches for their notes. In the event the TL is killed, the bag with it in can just be dropped and picked up by the next in command.

So I jumped on eBay and found this for £5 :

You probably won’t find this in many people’s loadouts. It’s a DPM A4 sized document holder. They’ll go for very little because nobody has a use for them. But for larger events, this thing is extremely valuable. I’ll add a slimline ring binder in the middle with plastic wallets in to hold various maps and site images (I’m probably now going to have to buy a printer), as well as squad and channel lists. The extra pouches and pockets in the second pic are ideal for a red light torch for night ops, pens and markers, and whatever else is needed. It fits nicely in my Belgian Patrol Pack which I talked about last summer. Old school vibes. Anyway, it fits a lot more than an arm panel , but I’ll still be carrying an arm panel with a small map for quick reference while on the move. One thing I might be looking at next is replacing the military type ones :

With a “football playbook wristband” :

Which I’ve found here on Amazon for £9. It’s something I clocked recently looking at a New Zealand army loadout. The advantage is that rather than having to undo a velcro strap and open it out to look, it’s just a one piece item that can be hidden under a sleeve for camouflage. Although I’d lose a lot of secondary info on the back of the map, it’s quicker to see the important info. At any airsoft game, there’s always time to take a few minutes in cover and get the info you need. If it’s a problem then I can always switch back to the folding one.

The Conquer

Well, you will. You’ll be organised…

A few thoughts on comms and admin then. It’s not for role playing, this is something that genuinely has been an issue at so many events I’ve done down the years and always causes delays or confusion. There are always people who say “yeah but in the real world comms are often shit” but we don’t have to suffer that in airsoft. We have access to all the tools we need to organise ourselves better and yet so many players are content just running around shooting at anything, not knowing what their current objective even is. Admin seems boring but it’s important if you want to go and have a good game.

Any thoughts or suggestions on what to add or change? Within reason, obviously…