#airsoft community

[military1st]

The 14th Airsoft Players' Choice Awards

Military 1st is proud to announce we've been voted Best Gear Retailer for Europe and North America in the 14th Popular Airsoft Players' Choice Awards!

A huge thank you to our incredible friends, fans, and customers who voted for us. Your support means the world!

Congratulations as well to all the finalists and nominees.

Don't forget, voting gave you a chance to win amazing raffle prizes from the sponsors! Check the Popular Airsoft website for the winners' list.

You can watch the 14th Popular Airsoft Players' Choice Awards

Virtual Awarding Ceremony HERE.

http://playerschoice.popularairsoft.com/

[sillywolfo]

I FINALLY MADE A REF SHEET FOR A CHARACTER. I’m bad at descriptions oh well.

Meet: Tommy

Species: Red Fox

EDIT: I FORGOT TO ADD THE PHOTO LMAO

[defrowe]

The Therapeutic Power of Airsoft: A Journey to Improved Mental Health

[mikhailwrites]

Waiting for Connection 4 / Ghost x Soap NerdAU

Ghost is retired and plays milsim videogame. Soap is still in the force and sometimes plays that same videogame...

Previous chapter | AO3

Soap seems to be a busy man, only playing for an hour or two in the evening a couple of days a week if he’s lucky. Sometimes, he doesn’t play for a week. Or two. Ghost understands, of course. He knows how it is, which doesn’t mean he’s not feeling a little sorry every time he starts Steam, looks at his very short Friendslist and sees CallMeSoap in the “Offline” section of it.

Truth be told, it took one week for Ghost to get used to Soap; to finetune his own playstyle to Soap’s, to count on him having his six or be wherever Ghost needs him to be. To do a good job. Even though they are still playing with random people, the two of them usually carry the brunt of the mission due to their sheer efficiency, teamwork and skill.

On days Ghost plays without Soap, he notices the skill gap even more than before. And has even less patience for it, too. Until, one evening, he actually argues full-on with his teammates. Ghost is not petty or anything; he just… wants a taste of his old life, not to educate sixteen-year-old airsoft enthusiasts on the importance of clear and concise communication. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a sixteen-year-old airsoft enthusiast. Ghost simply has no patience for it.

After a few very not-fun games, he decides to give it a rest and only plays solo. Unfortunately, there is a reason why he started with multiplayer in the first place. The only advantage of AI teammates is that they’re not as chaotic. However, they are as daft as they come.

Ghost quits the game after the third death that evening. However, he pauses over the Quit the game button. Instead, Ghost shifts his hand, and the cursor selects “Editor”. Despite all the hours spent in the game, he’s never tried to create his own scenario. Who would he play it with, anyway?

Only now, he actually has a mate to play with. He could prepare something interesting for when Soap gets back from whatever hellhole he is currently deployed to. If there’s something Ghost has an abundance of, it’s combat experience, particularly in special operations.

Ghost smiles as the mission editor opens. Oh, he’s going to enjoy this.

“I’ve created some custom missions for two players; wanna try it out?” Ghost says, trying to sound like he didn’t spend about twenty hours recreating one of his oldest missions. There are enough changes to allow for plausible deniability, but it’s been about twenty years. He can’t imagine anybody giving a shit now.

“What kind of question is that? Bring it on, old man!” Soap exclaims, clearly excited. Ghost doesn’t comment on the fact that he’s been called old. It’s a provocation to get him to admit how old he really is, and Simon is not falling for it.

“Eager, Soap?” Ghost smirks. “Equip some explosives with remotes and an SMG with a silencer.”

“We going dark, Ghost? And in close quarters? Oh, I like it already,” Soap’s voice gains a darker, grittier quality.

“Let’s see how good you really are,” Simon smiles, watching as the game drops their avatars to an unknown terrain in the middle of the night -unknown to Soap, at least. They’re in a small clearing in the middle of a dense tropical forest.

“Five Ks away is a small settlement. A local drug cartel has a heavy presence in the village. Our target is a VIP hostage.”

“So we will need a diversion,” Soap notes, and Ghost can only imagine the devious grin on his face. Face he’s never seen. Soap sounds like someone who is open about their emotions. He has no issue laughing, and when he’s pissed, his voice drops and gains a gravelly quality to it that Ghost admits he rather likes. “What will be your job?”

“I’ll be covering you from a distance,” Ghost says as he equips his favourite sniper rifle. There’s a pistol in his thigh holster, too, just in case.

Soap’s avatar lowers their night vision. “You know, I have yet to meet someone in this game who is a decent sniper. People think it’s so bloody easy, just lay in the grass, scope and shoot,” Soap complains.

“I’d be very careful about what you want to imply. Soap, wouldn’t want any friendly fire happening, would we?” Ghost smirks, clicking the magazine back into the rifle.

“Absolutely not, sir.”

Watching Soap work through the scope of the sniper rifle is something else. Especially since it’s just a game. There are no stakes, so Ghost can simply watch and marvel. He would never admit just how impressed he is when he watches Soap sneak around enemy patrols or wait until they come to them, only to jump them with a knife and dispose of them quickly.

Ghost is doing his part, of course. Whenever anyone could come close to surprising Soap, Ghost takes care of them. In one instance, it’s a very close call. Soap is about to open the door to one of the small, single-story houses in search of their VIP hostage when Ghost notices there’s an armed man standing right behind them. It’s too late to warn Soap. Ghost makes a judgement call and shoots the Tango through the window.

It causes noise, of course, and noise attracts attention.

“Alright, let’s bring in some light, shall we?” Ghost asks as he sees multiple hostiles closing in on Soap’s position.

“And there shall be light,” Soap says as he activates the charges he’s set earlier under the car at the edge of the village.

The explosion is spectacular by military standards. It’s no Hollywood fireworks, but it’s big, bright and loud—more than enough to divert attention from Soap.

Ghost checks the surrounding area. “Clear, let’s finish this up, Soap.”

“It’ll be my pleasure, Ghost,” Soap agrees as he sweeps the house for the hostage. This is the last house they haven’t checked, so the VIP must be there. Somewhere.

Ghost is doing his best to check the inside of the house through the windows, but there are still a lot of blind spots.

The moment he catches a glimpse of movement, he knows it’s too late. “Soap!”

He hears a series of silenced shots, then an audible exhale. “That was close, Ghost. I thought you had my six. I did, however, find our package. Heading out now.”

Ghost watches as Soap exits the building, cautiously looking around before he gestures for the hostage to follow. Simon is keeping a close eye on the burning car, the sizeable crowd that gathered around it, and any possible complications. The AI is, however, not that good at improvising and Soap’s retreat is as smooth as it can get.

They venture back into the forest and to the exfil point at a safe distance from the settlement.

“I’d say this is at least worth a first-name basis, Ghost,” Soap says, clearly cheerful. And Ghost? Well, Ghost has to admit he’s actually happy as well. This was his first custom mission, one he actually did in real life, and not only could he revisit it, but he could do it with a friend, a skilled one at that. It’s been the most thrilling thing he’s experienced in a year, maybe even longer. Perhaps he could indulge Soap a little.

“Alright,” Ghost relents. “On one condition. You go first.”

“Obviously,” Soap laughs but quietens fast. “I’m John.”

“Simon.”

There are a few seconds of silence. “Simon? Not what I expected.”

Ghost chuckles. “And what, pray tell, did you expect?”

“I’ll tell you if you tell me how old you are,” Soap doesn’t miss a beat.

“Trying to gauge whether I’m old enough to play this game, John?”

“You guessed it!” Soap laughs.

“I’m feeling generous tonight. I’m thirty-eight.”

“Huh,” Soap huffs, and it sounds genuinely surprised. However, he doesn’t say anything about Ghost being an old man, which is good. “Okay, that’s fair. As for the name… I expected something… harder, I guess? Maybe Craig? Or Robert?”

“Fuckin’ hell…, I sound like a Craig to you, do I?” Simon groans. He never felt strongly about his name. It’s okay. It's not horrible, but it's nothing to get too excited about. When he thinks about it, he feels the same about John. It’s… fine. Ordinary in the same way a quaint little house in the countryside is.

“Well, no, I guess you don’t. But… Simon is actually nice. I like Simon. Simon,” Soap repeats the name several times as if to get used to its taste and sound.

Ghost actually sits back, frowning as he realises he’s got goosebumps. What the hell?

[leonaluv]

Please can you do for stray kids future spouse thanks!

Stray kids

Bangchan- someone confident , loves kids, loves their family ,likes being outdoors, likes going to concerts , raves, festivals, party person , they also like sports. maybe younger than him ( page wands /six cups) soulmate connection

Lee known- stubborn , popular , rich , well-informed , trendsetter, good at singing , nice , and loving , natural at leading

Changbin- love shopping , won many awards , know in their community , ambitious , determing , likes drinking

Hyunjin- smart , likes to be flexible , open-minded, loves different cultures, likes to study , likes to play games on hard mode

Han-plannning family events, going on cruises, likes traveling , maybe works for airline , likes to be nude (lol) happy person

Felix - private person , always trying to do better for themselves and the world, someone that ready to begin new life with marriage

Seungmin- someone that is nice, has a lot of love for others, always wants to try something new , foodie , likes vr , airsoft ,stuff like that

I.N- maybe celebrity , likes to clean up and do household chores,likes to follow trends , and know as a beauty .

[toskarin]

I really like guns, i think they're really cool, i even bought a small airsoft pistol just for the aesthetic, but i really don't want to engage with the larger airsoft community because it seems to be a male dominated field and it makes me kinda scared of how they will judge me

Do you know any female majority airsoft event or community?

I've never really gone looking for that kind of thing, admittedly. I know that there are communities which do range days together for airsoft, so that might be the right place to start looking

[marshymallo]

FIC RECS: 「 miscellaneous 」

these are more one-off, odd characters that i haven’t read much fanfiction for but the ones i have are banger

「 Wedding Seasonal Depression ~ Jeff Winger (Community) x Fem!Reader 」

WARNING: CONTAINS SMUT 18+

Synopsis: What if Pierce actually did get married to Wu Mei way back when in the second season? You and Jeff are both struggling to come to terms with the fact that this is Pierce’s eighth time getting married, while you’re both still sad and single and alone. You decide to take your frustrations out on each other.

「 Protective Parents ~ Martin Meisner (Grimm) x Fem!Reader 」

WARNING: ALLUDES TO SMUT AND TALKS ABOUT BECOMING PARENTS

Synopsis: You’re dating Meisner and Trubel teases you both that you treat her like your daughter, the morning takes a bit of an unexpected turn. 

「 Chauffeur ~ Seong Gi-Hun (Squid Game) x Fem!Reader 」

WARNING: CONTAINS SMUT 18+ AND AGE GAP

Synopsis: Your overprotective father hires Gi-Hun as your personal chauffeur and babysitter. As you two grow closer you help Gi-Hun with his debt and your emotions can’t be concealed much longer.

「 I’ll Be There ~ Will “Ironhead” Miller (Triple Frontier) x Fem!Reader 」

WARNING: CONTAINS SMUT 18+ AND INFIDELITY

Synopsis: Your boyfriend is friends with the gang and you usually go to play airsoft together. One day you skip it, while your boyfriend still attends and Will goes to investigate.

[devonian-error]

Introducing Spider-Beats!

Bitten by a radioactive spider at one of their underground shows, Damari Jackson, a local DJ from the South Bronx, became Spider-Beats, trying to help her community stay afloat with kickass sounds, and powerful lyrics. (Lyrics not included, she doesn't write the songs, that's MJ's job lol)

Her universe's signature is that everything looks likes its been graffiti'ed onto a wall. Whenever they're in a different dimension, they will appear with various wall textures.

Fighting Style:

Damari's fighting style is largely based off of street dance, so despite being skilled with her webs, Damari does her best fighting on the ground. They're very fast, and tend to rely heavily on speed and surprise for their fighting, however, they aren't above using dirty tactics in order to win a fight, like distracting their opponent, and tricking them.

Special: Air Walk

Damari's headphones double as a portable turntable. She's perfected the art of pinpointing a soundwave to such a degree that she can, for a little bit, walk on air. Someday, they're going to see if they can design their suit in such a way that would allow them to make forcefields out of sound waves too.

Gold Chain:

That gold chain around her neck isn't fake, that is an 18 karat, 24 in gold chain, and it's not just for show, either. In a pinch, they'll use it as a melee weapon. It's not heavy, but with a fast swing, it can still do some damage.

The best way to explain it is this: imagine being hit by an airsoft pellet. Now imagine that airsoft pellet has eight pointy ends on it. Yeowch.

Welcome to the Spider-verse, Damari!

[military1st]

14th Airsoft Players' Choice Awards - Nominate Military 1st!

The Airsoft Players' Choice Awards have returned, and your support is crucial for Military 1st online store to secure a nomination.

If you've been impressed by our expanding product range and exceptional customer service, consider nominating us for the title of Best Gear Retailer.

You can nominate us for Best Gear Retailer in Europe, Best Gear Retailer in North America, or both!

To submit your vote, visit the Airsoft Players' Choice Awards page at

https://playerschoice.popularairsoft.com/, select your preferred language and fill out the nomination form.

Hurry up: submissions end 11 December 2023.

[mockerycrow]

got a sudden reminder that some big tiktokers in the airsoft community are genuinely stupid. oopsie

[wishing-stones]

oh oh oh!!! i'm curious to see who my match is(if it isn't too much trouble^^)

alright--so for starters, i guess i'd describe myself as outgoing and enthusiastic with my closest friends. but when it comes to others i tend to shy away and silently observe. in my spare time i like drawing realism, reading, (preferably horror fiction written in the victorian or edwardian era) and playing video games.

relationally, i am extremely affectionate and i admire my partners tremendously. i do love participating in activities frequently with my partners and would consider myself clingy. on the down side, i can be insecure and not communicative when something is conflicting me. i'm also emotional and sensitive at times as well.

a couple extras:

-i looove baby pink

-airsofting is one of my hobbies

-n i love giant stuffed animals

I think that Dream is right up your alley! He is also bright and exuberant with his friends, but quietly observes newcomers until he's sure of how to handle them. He's also exceedingly polite and warm, so if you're together around new people, he will happily handle all the introductions and small talk until you feel comfortable joining in.

He's not as fond of horror as a genre, but the specific period in which you read has him intrigued. He'll probably read the books after you do out of curiosity and actually wind up loving them. He's also happy to provide inspiration for your art! Do you like still life? He's good at arranging it! Or if you'd like a new place or person to study, the multiverse is your oyster.

Dream is also fantastic with physical affection, and delights in having you along for the things he does, so you are included. If you're feeling insecure, he can tell, and will gently help you through these communication problems or moments of unease. Emotions are his thing, after all, and he so hates seeing people he loves unhappy or stressed.

He's new to airsoft, but once he figures out how these things work, he's a crack shot. He seriously considers turning in his bow for a rifle afterward, but it's... mostly a joke. Still, make sure he's on your team every time or you get taken out early. "All is fair in love and war, even if it is only playing at war" is his reasoning and delivered with the cheekiest grin and sticking his tongue out.

For a secondary choice, Nightmare could handle this all in stride as well, although he's likely to tire quickly if the enthusiasm and exuberance last for too long. Still, like his brother, the man is a stupidly good shot and holds no qualms about eliminating the competition neatly and quickly.

[defrowe]

The Role of Effective Communication

Airsoft is more than just a game; it’s a dynamic sport that requires teamwork, effective communication, and leadership. Whether you’re a seasoned player or a newcomer, understanding the importance of these elements can greatly impact your success on the field. In this article, we will explore various aspects of enhancing team dynamics and effective leadership in the context of airsoft. Effective…

[scarsmood]

idk how else to word this to make it sounds less accusatory or aggressive so please excuse how my wording/tone may come across

how come recreating sexually traumatizing scenes in a sexually gratifying way can be healthy/helpful but thats not a thing for any other sort of trauma?

‘Not a thing for any other sort of trauma’

Your just not looking my guy, vets for instance will play tactical airsoft that involves using helicopters and being stranded on an island in a fight for survival.

People use boxing or martial arts as a way to learn to defend themsleves in ways they never could as children

Emotional and mental abuse can be replayed by playing dnd, role switching game, or just roleplay/ story telling

BDSM is one of many outlets out desensitize yourself from trauma. So heres a few more:

Art, sports, hiking, hunting, fishing, puzzles, animal keeping, gardening, video games, roleplay, story telling, Journalling, spiritual practices. The list goes on.

This comes off as ignorance to the process of trauma processing. It isn’t a linear process. Often tied to your basic means of survival (espically with CPTSD) these things are more like unwinding string than going through steps.

Id recommend the book the body keeps score. It has a great overview of trauma and its effects on the body.

My blog literally is dedicated to venting my experience as a stockholm syndrome suffree. I have 400+ poems at this point. Id recommend take a look around. If anything has made a profound impact on my trauma journey its that. I have a seperate blog dedicated to it called hatismood. You can get the idea of the scale of trauma processing. It isnt one action often many. Slowly reprogramming your brain that what your doing is safe.

BDSM is flashy. Most people cope with trauma in several different ways at once. Its never polite to ask someone if they’re doing something to work through trauma. So your never going to know unless they tell you. You have probably met more than a fair share of people on their healing journey doing something that helps them desensitize themselves.

Part 2 of that.

The phrase “recreating sexually traumatizing scenes in a sexually gratifying way” does not sit right with me. Your missing context. None of what I experienced was sexually traumatizing. I think more importantly I am not doing BDSM just to recreate trauma in a sexually gratifying way. That is an aspect but I love BDSM as a hobby. I consider it a legitimate craft and it takes time and dedication to preform. Dumbing it down to “free trauma recovery” does feel a bit insulting and lacks the appropriate depth BDSM deserves.

Trigger warning:

I’ll get dark with you here. When someone molests me unprompted that is sexually traumatizing.

When I am tied down to a chair by my boyfriend cracking jokes to him while hes cutting me. I have an adrenaline high but I am not scared. He is not scared. No one is scared or out of control in that situation. When I am being asked constantly if I am okay that is far from trauamtizing.

What im doing is exposure therapy. Familiar traumatizing stimulus is being exposed to me in a safe and contained manner. This dampens and slowly erases the connotations of trauma with these stimulus. Its a great way to cope with trauma and a basis for EMDR which focuses on rewriting and reframing traumatic memories.

I just want it to be super clear not recreating trauma. That’s not the only reason I’m doing it either. I feel like if you did BDSM for the sole purpose of healing a specific trauma you would have to clearly communicate that to your partner. Cause most people want to get dinner with you after or before. Learn about you first, have a relationship with you. You get the idea.

Personally I do it for many reasons. I think my top 3 are Trust, intimacy and connection. The trauma healing is something i never count on. Cause often with play i never get that but I do get a happy play partner and thats what im here for.

[mariacallous]

In September 2022, I was working as a fixer in Taipei for a U.S. news segment about cross-strait tensions, handling local logistics for a visiting producer and cameraman. Fixers are freelance staff whose role is somewhere between journalist and tour guide—they can end up doing everything from arranging interviews to translation to booking hotels. One night, we arrived at an amateur radio meetup in a park, ready to shoot, and found an eccentric crew of local radio fans. One man hunched over a tangled web of equipment at the back of his truck, tapping away in Morse code; another fidgeted with an antenna as he walked around, trying to get a signal. The producer told me that the group was learning how to operate radios in case of war with China.

“Why do you do this?” I asked one of the guys, expecting him to launch into a monologue about the importance of civil defense.

“Because with radio, we can communicate with anyone in the world,” he replied.

“What about communicating with people in China?”

“If they pick up, sure,” he shrugged.

I realized quickly that most of them weren’t there because of cross-strait tensions. Although a few were interested in civil defense, the regulars were just radio nerds who liked to hang out. We left the park disappointed, and only a couple frames from that night made it to the final video.

In recent years, as tensions between China and Taiwan have reached historic highs, foreign journalists have flocked to Taiwan to capture life inside a geopolitical flash point. In January, more than 200 journalists from 28 countries arrived to cover the 2024 presidential election. Yet many of these short-term, visiting journalists distort the reality on the ground. They depict the island as the centerpiece of a drama that they’ve already made up their minds about, often inflating tensions and asking leading questions for heightened effect. And the fixers are brought on as the stagehands, charged with providing the backdrop for pre-written narratives.

Because Taiwan is commonly framed as the flash point of potential world war, most television producers want access to a shooting range, a bomb shelter, or a military base. Many fly to the outlying islands of Kinmen or Matsu in hopes of hopping on a boat to catch a glimpse of the Chinese shore.

“It’s like ordering from a menu—they see something that someone has covered before and want the same thing,” said Jesse, a veteran Taiwanese fixer. (Jesse’s name has been changed due to his concerns about possible impacts on his professional relationships.)

“You watch the news and see footage of war planes, and it seems like it’s tense on the ground here in Taiwan,” said Tina Liu, a Taiwanese journalist who took on her first fixing gig with an Italian outlet this year. “But it really isn’t. And even though it isn’t, people are still pursing that tense atmosphere.”

I’ve worked as a fixer for outlets in the United States, Australia, and Europe, and many of my clients are surprised when they realize the settings are not as bombastic as they hoped: The guns are airsoft guns, air raid shelters are just parking lots, and the view of Chinese shore is almost always blurry. Also, the average Taiwanese voter does not think about China on a day-to-day basis, which makes for very lackluster vox pops. Although there is plenty of intergovernmental strife in the form occasional trade bans, airspace incursions, and disinformation campaigns, daily life in Taiwan is shockingly normal.

Yet normalcy just doesn’t make for good television. So I’ve been charged with conjuring up action-packed scenes for video, and I often have to push back. Eight other Taiwan-based fixers I spoke with also said they have, on occasion, been coerced to help produce scenes that were inappropriate, not reflective of the truth, or even flat-out sensationalist.

“I’ve encountered a lot of situations where people just don’t respect the fixer’s expertise,” said Adrien Simorre, a Taipei-based stringer.

Simorre was one of a dozen local fixers and stringers who released a statement about the toxic dynamics between fixers and visiting journalists after the election in January. They cited low pay, lack of credit, and general disrespect. The fixers’ grievances are not endemic to Taiwan, but the issue of parachute journalists “imposing their own perspective and preconceived narratives” is particularly pronounced on the island.

Fixers have told me stories about foreign producers swimming in the spike-infested waters of Kinmen, an outlying island near the Chinese shore, for dramatic effect; requests to film Chinese missile launches from Taiwan (which is logistically impossible); and clients being disappointed when man-on-the-street interviews don’t elicit strong reactions on China. (None of the fixers I talked to wanted their clients to be named due to the fear of losing out on work.)

“I’ve heard of journalists pushing interviewees to answer certain questions about China-Taiwan relations,” said Alicia Chen, a Taiwanese freelance journalist, who spoke out on X (formerly Twitter) about disrespect, lack of credit, and poor communication with a visiting correspondent in January. “And if the interviewee didn’t want to comment, they would keep repeating or rephrasing the question until the interviewee said the words they wanted to hear.”

Boan Wang, a documentary filmmaker, said that in the spring of 2023, a European client of his asked to take the ferry from Kinmen to the Chinese city of Xiamen. Wang told them tickets were only available for Taiwanese citizens and their Chinese spouses. “They asked if I could talk to a captain to let them on—basically asking me to smuggle them across international borders,” he said. “How is that appropriate? Would you do that in your own country?”

One of the most frequent requests I get is whether I can secure access to a gun range where civilians are learning how to shoot for self-defense. The problem is that gun enthusiasts are a small fringe group. Guns are illegal in Taiwan, so in the event of an actual war, the average Taiwanese person would not have access to one. The scenes that end up on television are either just airsoft hobby ranges or kids running around an abandoned building with BB guns.

The most popular civil defense programs on the island are instead based in the classroom, hosted by a nonprofit called Kuma Academy. These courses largely focus on identifying disinformation, learning first aid, and practicing evacuation drills—all practical ways for the average citizen to prepare for war. But footage from these lectures is often sidelined in favor of the guns.

The pursuit of a good sound bite often trumps a balanced story. Taipei-based stringer and photographer Annabelle Chih said that many visiting producers falsely assume that Taiwanese people are divided into two camps: pro-unification and pro-independence. Yet neither of the island’s two major political parties—the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Kuomintang (KMT)—endorse a declaration of independence, nor are they advocates for unification. Even though the parties differ wildly in their views on China, they’re both strategically ambiguous. The DPP assumes that Taiwan is already independent; the KMT has a more conciliatory approach and insists on peaceful dialogue with the Chinese mainland.

“Producers will ask me if they can interview the White Wolf,” Chih said. The White Wolf, whose real name is Chang An-lo, is a convicted criminal and gang leader who is famously outspoken about his desire to unify Taiwan with China. Although he is a newsworthy figure, Chih said it is misleading to use him as a counterbalance to the DPP’s views. “I explained to them he’s not the right person to interview,” she said. “He’s the minority, and he’s quite controversial.”

Not all experiences with international media are negative. Many of my clients, for instance, have listened to my feedback and adjusted their angles accordingly. Chih said that one of her clients also eventually came around and killed the story about the White Wolf.

Still, the appetite for dramatic scenes out of Taiwan has increased as media outlets compete for the most attention-grabbing narratives. Jesse said that before then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s historic visit to Taiwan in August 2022, most of the journalists who hired him took a more nuanced approach to stories and would default to his expertise on the island. Then Pelosi’s visit created a media frenzy because of how much it irritated Beijing and sparked a growing interest in stories related to Taiwan—but only if they fit into the story of an angry Beijing and an island under threat.

This year, a lot of Jesse’s clients have been war correspondents—fresh out of Ukraine or Israel and looking for action. “Some were visibly disappointed when they realized life was normal,” he said.

By speaking up, the fixers hope for a more accurate and even-keeled portrayal of Taiwan.

“I know a lot of people come here because of our relationship with China,” Liu added. “Everyone says Taiwan is the next Hong Kong, or the next Ukraine. But our history is different from these places.”

[rubicon-xix]

go outside.

play airsoft.  yeah its cringe. accept that. learn small team tactics. earn and gain trust. click below to learn more.

yeah, airsoft is cringe. 

“larping kids kids play airsoft” get over yourself. teach them something while youre at it idk. be cringe.  gear is cringe but youre paying 4 figures to see at night. three to six weekends of airsoft and a semi-serious AAR with your team will teach you more than $1500 and 3 nights at DARC TUSC (iykyk).

in the mean time, you should have your team out there and integrating with your team of at least 4 guys. learn non-verbal communication. more than just hand signals. know what they're going to do before they do it. shoot down range over each other or something. remember; the first rule of gun safety is DO NOT CUT ME OFF IN TRAFFIC. the second rule is to HAVE FUN. cultivate an understanding with a team you trust in a peer-conflict environment. sooner or later, having a reliable team inside of radio range of your home is going to be important.

[laundryandtaxes]

Ukraine is not only holding Russia off but taking back territory, whilst 'Putin's War' is becoming increasingly unpopular at home as conscripts are given Airsoft scopes and have to buy their own body armour and tents. Russia's logistics have failed. Biden definitely never foresaw this scale of incompetence but why are you phrasing this as a failed American imperial gambit instead of a surprisingly successful Ukrainian self-directed war of liberation?

Any conflict can and frankly usually does have more than one way in which it can be accurately characterized. For instance, I agree that Ukraine has put up a surprisingly effective fight against remarkable odds. But I absolutely don't think this war has been self-directed in any meaningful sense. The reason Ukraine was able to do such remarkable damage to the number of Russian brass alive is because NATO (the US) helped them locate and kill those targets- that doesn't mean use of open communications by Russian troops and the fact that Russian brass was so close to the battlefields weren't major factors, but NATO intervention is the deciding factor in those assassinations. The reason Ukraine has been able to push back Russian offensives is because NATO is pumping weapons into it, and NATO has all but admitted to having its own boots, if not on the ground, very very close to the ground. NATO is absolutely running this show, and without its weapons and intelligence and, frankly, probably more, I think this war goes very differently and is a whole lot shorter. While I don't have a crystal ball I think the conflict is growing rather than shrinking, and while it is unfortunately very likely to end in direct contact between NATO troops and Russian troops what we are currently looking at is, in my opinion, a proxy war in which NATO is feeding Ukrainians into a meat grinder to nip at Russian military capability while Putin tosses young Russian men into his own meat grinder because he clearly does not really care how many conscripts he loses. One fundamental question is who can keep this up for longer. Americans don't like paying for war, even if their leadership does, and the only way these weapons shipments continue to happen is with US taxpayer money for a war many Americans have all but forgotten about, and Europeans are tightening their belts for a cold winter and considering holding their weapons for protection in the event of further Russian advancement West. Zelensky wouldn't spend so much time courting Western military support if he didn't think he needed it, and he wouldn't speak nearly so boldly if he didn't think NATO was backing him up. But at some point the importation of a war effort will either dry up, effectively ending the war (this is what I suspect would happen with more limited media coverage of the war as people decided they just didnt care enough about a war overseas to pay for it, but media and politicians and their respective propagandists lean war hawkish here, even if the people again do not) or it will explode as NATO officially steps into the fray. Either way, the difference is having NATO heavily involved, or not.

In terms of whether the war has been a "failed gambit" I think it is far too soon to tell, but the majority of wars do not see one actor only ever winning and one actor only ever taking losses, and that means it is very easy to create any narrative you want out of wins and losses but very little reason to put much stock on any one of them until all the dust has settled. For instance, the US won a number of military and non military conflicts in Afghanistan, perhaps culminating in the installation of its own government there, but it was only as long as the US was actively propping that government up that it stood any chance of survival and ultimately the war was a failure and destined to be a failure almost from the outset. So perhaps Ukraine can be said to be taking back some territory. It can also be said to be losing some territory. I suspect this means news media will be able to paint Ukraine as "winning" for quite some time, but that doesn't mean I have much reason to believe that's what's actually happening any more than I have reason to read Russian news of their great advancements and think they're definitely "winning" at this exact moment. So talk of conscription, for instance, is like reading tea leaves right now. Conscription is not at all an unusual choice in war, and Russia sent conscripts to war well after Ukraine prevented any of its fighting age men, many of whom absolutely would have preferred to go to Poland and live a full life with their wives and children, from leaving. But the point is I don't think this war last nearly this long and costs nearly so much human life without NATO intervention.