Advanced Alabama Adventures Closing Down

[gfgjester]

I wouldn't count James out on McClellan, yet. Just because he closed the field doesn't mean he's lost the "rights" to the Aniston MOUT. He and Sgt. O'Day (and the AL Army National Guard) have always been close. I would think James is just holding his cards close to his vest while trying to get his "travelling" show on the road. Keep your fingers crossed...

[CaptainMorgan]

I've got them crossed , James puts on some great games.

[Litespeed]

I've had mine crossed for months, but James verified that there would be no game in 08.

Maybe 09?????

[ace007]

Anybody know why the field is closing? Not making money or is the owner tired of the daily grind?

[Silverback]

Originally Posted by CaptainMorgan

Silverback,
When you were running with Texas Storm were you or members of the team using,
ALL American Barrels - chrome backs with a green front,
Smart Parts " Black Box",
Whispering Death expansion chambers with 20oz. anti siffen tanks...... ?

ABSO-FRIGGIN-LUTELY And the only team other then the All A's shooting MARBALLIZER at the time..

[JediMac0521]

Originally Posted by ace007

Anybody know why the field is closing? Not making money or is the owner tired of the daily grind?

Its not a money issue (not that Ive heard). I think it is a combination of the grind plus the time and effort that he has and wants to continue putting into getting the MOUT "series" up and running.

I think the McClellan site is stilll a possibility for future MOUT games..I am just not sure James will be running them. I think one of the things about those events were the effort v/s the reward. James had to close his field for a weekend to put the event on...he had a ton of preperation and planning and the last few events hovered around 200 players. While that made for a great game...and I am sure James turned a profit...it wasnt such a gain that warranted the effort and planning.

Maybe without the field ..James will put on an event ...but it may be worth speaking to James if he is not planning one...someone else can take over the event.

[gfgjester]

He closed the field because he lost the lease on the land...

[DevilDoc]

Jes,

Yeah, I hear Ft. Polk would be awesome. Hope you guys are able to lock that in. That would be a great game to play in. Blanding is fun but what a drive. If Polk opens up a lot of us Louisiana and Mississippi teams will have a much better and cost effective way of doing a MOUT game. I'll keep my fingers crossed and keep praying.

[gfgjester]

All roads lead to the JTRC, and understandably so. With Polk being a major training & and jumping off facility, I would imagine that they are very hesitant to let anyone in. If you've never seen Shughart-Gordon, click here and see why we're all foaming at the mouth to play paintball there. Unfortunately for us, it was at talking stages and never got any further. We still wait to see if they'll ever make a decision.

McClellan is a different story. Since the base was placed as inactive, and there are lots of little inside wars over the "fiefdoms" of the city, county, state and feds, you never know what they'll allow there. Property lines are drawn with certain pieces ceding back to the respective municipality on a varied timetable. That's why we could play on one side of the street and not set a chair on the other. That's why there's different kinds of buildings and apartments, etc.

If my memory serves me right, Responder City proper is under the domain of the AL Army National Guard. They, in turn, allow military and law enforcement to train within the city. (You may have noticed all the stray sims.) James had the foresight to go in and team up with Sgt. O'Day and set up a paintball environment that brought publicity AND attracted local Alabama residents to the ANG recruiters. I don't know if that facet of the operation yielded as much as they expected, but it did attract a good number. That's why we all agreed to sit in on the presentation that Sgt. O'Day put on every Friday night at the briefing. And they gave out some great schwag!

Changes in the command structure have made for some changes in the way the game went. Any of the guys that went to the very first game there will remember and can say how absolutely miserable it was. It was raining the entire time. We had to park in the lots and ride 2.5's to the "park" staging area. We then had to walk about a mile up to the city. Woody and I were the generals for the German side against Herb from Ghostbear opposing. Neither of us had covered base area and we stayed soaked the whole day. Electronic guns were almost useless at times; I know my E-Blade wouldn't shoot. What it's progressed to now is a quantum leap over how it started. But it is a great place to play.

[AAA Paintball]

Sup fellas,

I wanted to comment and what's happened at AAA and what's possibly in store for all things MOUT.

I've been working on a "National MOUT tour" with the "powers that be" for the last 8 months or so. The years of holding games at McClellan has taught me the "proper way of attaining play at MOUT sites" (and I'm not talking only about the recruiting aspect of it) I've taken that knowledge and experiance and have applied it to those "powers that be" in my quest for that "National MOUT tour"

I have already secured an LLC company and it is "sitting in waiting" for the MOUT tour to come into existence.



About 3 months ago, the owner of the AAA property told me he was moving to Mobile and was selling all his investments in the B'ham area (AAA property being one of them). I had first right or refusal on the property, but in the end turned it down for 2 major reasons. 1st- The National MOUT tour is evolving quite well at this point, and 2nd- After being a field owner since 1994, I'm ready for a "bigger stage" and a "bigger endeavor" in the paintball world.



I still have an outstanding relationship with Mst Sgt Oday at the Anniston National Guard. He asked me if I was planning on producing another game at McClellan for 2008, but my "MOUT tour" endeavor has occupied 100% of my time, so I told him that I wouldn't this year.

I can tell you that there is very little chance that Oday would allow someone else to produce a game there. Over the last year and a half, he's had almost a dozen ppl contact him about doing not only paintball, but airsoft games there. All of them failed for reasons that my 2 years of dealing with the Guard has taught me. So at this point, Oday is pretty tired of hearing different "pitches" from ppl.

I will throw out one tidbit of information concerning a National MOUT tour (in the case that it comes to pass)

No entry fees and no air fees