2008 Woodie Awards
Kids with guns
Reid Cranfill
Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: Features
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The fightin' Quakers arrived with the morning dew to the field of battle dressed in a motley assortment of army surplus jackets, worn jeans, and old sneakers and surveyed the opposition.
Some fights you just shouldn't take people up on, like a land war in Asia, a football game against incarcerated felons, or a game of paintball against a gang of kids from Burlington. An army of red-uniformed ten-year-olds sat field-stripping weapons, polishing barrels and tightening laces under the watchful eyes of their fathers.
Catching the cool stares of the diminutive veterans as I tried to figure out how to line up the dovetail sights of my cheap Chinese rental gun, I realized the seven of us were about to step into a world of pain and paint.
Down twenty bucks and filled to the brim with gas and paintballs, we lowered our facemasks and poured out from our gate into the woods. Sprinting twenty yards then landing belly-first in the leafy peat behind the cover of young oaks, wooden pillboxes and piles of sticks, we opened fire.
The odds were against us as senior Noah Collin, outing organizer and by far the most experienced player among the college students, had been drafted to lead the middle school minions. He led a charge of three down the valley to our left, but two of Guilford's own held their ground behind an old wire-wheel as a team led by mighty Lorenzo took a bunker on the right.
Caught in the valley, Collin's team was cut to ribbons from the high ground and Guilford's team took the field without taking a single casualty.
Our victory was short lived. We received a savage beating the next round, and everyone received fresh coats as the day wore on and more high-voiced killers joined in from other games to swell the enemy ranks.
Despite never having played paintball before, I was drafted as the team officer chiefly because I was the only person wearing full digital camouflage and boots. My troops eventually fragged me for selling them out when, after ordering my team on a suicide rush up the right side of a tire field, I ducked around the back left and took out most their attackers.
Some fights you just shouldn't take people up on, like a land war in Asia, a football game against incarcerated felons, or a game of paintball against a gang of kids from Burlington. An army of red-uniformed ten-year-olds sat field-stripping weapons, polishing barrels and tightening laces under the watchful eyes of their fathers.
Catching the cool stares of the diminutive veterans as I tried to figure out how to line up the dovetail sights of my cheap Chinese rental gun, I realized the seven of us were about to step into a world of pain and paint.
Down twenty bucks and filled to the brim with gas and paintballs, we lowered our facemasks and poured out from our gate into the woods. Sprinting twenty yards then landing belly-first in the leafy peat behind the cover of young oaks, wooden pillboxes and piles of sticks, we opened fire.
The odds were against us as senior Noah Collin, outing organizer and by far the most experienced player among the college students, had been drafted to lead the middle school minions. He led a charge of three down the valley to our left, but two of Guilford's own held their ground behind an old wire-wheel as a team led by mighty Lorenzo took a bunker on the right.
Caught in the valley, Collin's team was cut to ribbons from the high ground and Guilford's team took the field without taking a single casualty.
Our victory was short lived. We received a savage beating the next round, and everyone received fresh coats as the day wore on and more high-voiced killers joined in from other games to swell the enemy ranks.
Despite never having played paintball before, I was drafted as the team officer chiefly because I was the only person wearing full digital camouflage and boots. My troops eventually fragged me for selling them out when, after ordering my team on a suicide rush up the right side of a tire field, I ducked around the back left and took out most their attackers.
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