Combat Cache

[Guest nhouse]

Hi all!

 

Today was my first day to hear of Geocaching and I'm planning my first hunt for tommorrow morning!

 

I'm a US Army Infantry officer. Land navigation gets me all excited! I've got an idea for a new kind of cache, however, and wanted to run it by everyone. It's called the "Combat Cache". The general, unrefined theory of the cache goes something like this.....

 

The game revolves around a paint-ball concept. The cache placer puts the cache in the woods. In addition, the placer also takes a team of people with him. At a given, posted time the game begins. Individuals and teams have a period of time (24 hours or so) in order to secure the cache by any means necessary (sticking to gentlemanly rules and fair play). You may for example, slip your team past the placer's patrols, eliminate the guards who may be defending the cache, and slip out again undetected. A few rules would be, if you were hit with a paintball you would be out, you have to keep official paint ball goggles on at all times, defending team would have to stay within a certain distance of the cache (1000 meters or so), the cache could not be moved, and just whatever would make this concept better.

 

I am delighted at the sense of fair-play and good-will and trust that this sport brings about. I am also a warrior by trade and excited about a competition. After all, when I navigate somewhere, there is usually shooting involved (MILES and blanks, for anyone who knows what that is...) Anyone interested in this concept? Again this is an early draft of an idea.

 

Thanks!

Nathan

[Guest DungeonKeeper]

The come and get it... if you dare concept! I like it, but would find it limiting. Definetly an organized hunt type.

 

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the DungeonKeeper

[Guest Iron Chef]

True, it would have to be very organized. But, this would really rock even if you got to do it a few times. An interesting twist on a capture the flag theme, I personally like it. You'd just have to make sure that paintball guns would be allowed at the location that you are playing at, you might have to resort to nerf foam toys for some changes of venue, but that would still be pretty dadgum exciting.

 

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-Iron Chef

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[Guest c.mathis]

quote:

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Originally posted by nhouse:

I've got an idea for a new kind of cache. . . The game revolves around a paint-ball concept.

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Sounds great! Where are you located?

[Guest nhouse1]

I live in the Killeen/Fort Hood Texas area.

 

Fort Hood is a neat place! The training areas are open to the public (except for impact areas). An interesting twist is, in order to go to the training areas you have to have an "Area Access Permit". Anyone can get these permits (and they're pretty neat-o to have too!).

 

The tricky part is this... the cache I'm going to put out is in a training area (TA). Each of the TA's are numbered sections of land on a Fort Hood 1:50,000 scale map. In order to access the TA you first have to have an access permit. That means you've got to first find the area access office. After you get your permit you have to tell the area access office which TA you are going to. That means you have to correlate the coordinates for the cache to a military map (MGRS coordinates) in order to determine the TA number that you are going to. Free maps are provided by the area access office. Only after you get your permit, tell them which TA you are going to, and tell them when you are going to be leaving, can you actually go get the cache.

 

When you're done with the hunt, if you take nothing else away, you've still got a permit and a free map. You can now go out and mess around in the TA's at Fort Hood...and there are some neat-o places out there too! It's an extra bonus for anyone who does the hunt. Everyone takes something extra away!

 

Nathan

[Guest Silver]

Since you're talking about extra equipment needed anyway, how about a 'Radar' cache?

 

Along with the coords of the cache, give coords of the enemy emplacements (radars). The person would have to plot a way to the cache avoiding the radar coveraged.

 

The extra equipment would be a palm pilot (or equivalent) that would connect to the GPS. It would track if you strayed into an area that the enemy radar could see. Each radar could have a different coverage distance from its center and after plotting it on a map, only two or three safe corridors might be left. The palm pilot would tell you if you were 'painted' by a radar, or if you made it in and out safely.

 

The palm pilot could be shared by a group of hunters and many different sites could be programmed in. This is just a twist on the original idea, but it would let people hunt solo without a group activity planned.

 

(OK, so it's an Air Force twist on an Army theme. )

 

Silver

[Guest Silver]

Since you're talking about extra equipment needed anyway, how about a 'Radar' cache?

 

Along with the coords of the cache, give coords of the enemy emplacements (radars). The person would have to plot a way to the cache avoiding the radar coveraged.

 

The extra equipment would be a palm pilot (or equivalent) that would connect to the GPS. It would track if you strayed into an area that the enemy radar could see. Each radar could have a different coverage distance from its center and after plotting it on a map, only two or three safe corridors might be left. The palm pilot would tell you if you were 'painted' by a radar, or if you made it in and out safely.

 

The palm pilot could be shared by a group of hunters and many different sites could be programmed in. This is just a twist on the original idea, but it would let people hunt solo without a group activity planned.

 

(OK, so it's an Air Force twist on an Army theme. )

 

Silver

[Guest Farqhuarson]

sounds liek a blast. i'm a little ways aways over in the west houston area, but i know people up near there. if enough people are interested i would be game for it.

[Guest rusty]

There is a cache over near Lake Michigan that was our 3rd find, it was about a 1/4 mile out in some dunes that were covered in Pine trees. We didn't see anyone, but there were spent paintballs everywhere, thousands of them. It would only take one more step to put the two together. It sat on a high point with a small steep dune on one side and dense trees behind, would be a very interesting site to attack or defend.

[Guest nhouse]

Made my first cache find today! I guess that means I'm started in this game! I plan on making a cache here in Central Arkansas (we're in the Little Rock area for my bro-in-law's graduation) before I leave. My family lives here so I'll be able to check it every 3-6 months.

 

When I get back to Fort Hood, I plan on putting a regular cache out. As I see how the cache's I put out in Texas work out, I think I may try to work on the combat idea a little more. My first concern is injury. Anyone who has ever played paintball knows how goggles can fog up. As an infantryman I also know how lax you can get while pulling security as a defender waiting for someone...or noone to come for hours on end. My concern is that after about hour 4 in the woods, you start wondering if anyone is going to come. That's a good thing for the "attacker" because the "defending" team lets their guard down. Where the problem lies is with wearing goggles/facemasks for 12-24 hours. That would take some discipline on the defender's part.

 

Kind of reminds me of an old saying a buddy of mine used to say in college... "It's all fun and games until someone looses an eye. Then it's just fun."

 

Nathan

[Guest Miles678]

Sounds like fun. I can think of one small problem that you would have to consider though. I wonder what a paintball would do to a GPS unit if it scored an accidental direct hit...

[Guest Miles678]

Sounds like fun. I can think of one small problem that you would have to consider though. I wonder what a paintball would do to a GPS unit if it scored an accidental direct hit...

[Guest cache_only]

nhouse1:

 

Sounds great: Conduct Patrols; Movement to Contact; Land Nav; Assault Through an Objective; and many, many other infantry-related group and individual tasks. This could lead some civilians to get turned on to the whole infantry thing.

 

Assaulting team captures the cache after assaulting through the objective. Fantastic.

 

Keep in mind its a big project. Lots of people and paintball equipment required. Can you muster both?

 

Good luck,

Rob

[Guest ilya]

my only concern would be getting GPS equipment covered with all sorts of colors :-]

 

-ilya

[Guest MikeLINY]

get a waterproof GPS unit. Paint balls are water based so it will wipe right off with a damp cloth.

 

[This message has been edited by MikeLINY (edited 31 May 2001).]

[Guest Miles678]

The thinking behind my initial post regarding GPS units taking paintball hits was actually twofold.

 

First of all there is the obvious concern about the unit getting covered with paint. I agree that there are ways around that.

 

However, also of concern is the damage a unit might take from the force of a hit. A paintball can hit hard enough to raise a welt. I just have to wonder if GPS units are up to the punishment.

 

I am in no way trying to put a damper on the original idea. I still think it is an awesome idea. I am just trying to be practical and think it all the way through.

[Guest Silver]

Don't forget to check out the links on the bottom of the cache pages. The Amazon.com links show neoprene cases made by BodyGlove. They are custom made for most of the GPS units, have large plastic windows for the display, and allow you to manipulate the buttons through the case.

 

If I didn't already have a screen guard and case, I would have ordered one for my Garmin.

 

Silver

[Guest IronHelix]

I think this is an excellent idea! One simple way to do this would be to team up with the operator of your local paintball range. Someone that isnt playing goes out a day or two beforehand to place the cache, which might consist of a number of things, more on that later. Then the two teams have anywhere from a few hours to a day to get the cache.

 

This could have several variants. Your basic Seige would have the cache consist of an air horn/flare, and possibly a small radio transmitter on a pre-arranged frequency that would alert the officials the cache had been found. The defending team would not know exactly where it was, only the general area (to prevent them 'camping' on top of it.) The attackers have to find the cache, set off the air horn/flare and then radio in that it has been found.

 

'Race' would be where both teams start out at starting points, say (cache being the center) at 45° angles. This way they might meet each other when partway there, or if one team is faster they just get there first.

 

'CnR' or Capture and Return would have either a second cache or a return to base, IE the cache consists of a key, which either is taken back to the base or unlocks a second cache. This could have several steps (cache one unlocks cache two, etc). Also the person with the key would have to give it up if killed.

 

'Bounty' Each team has a separate cache/multicache to reach/finish the sequence of. First team to open their cache or the last one in the sequence wins. However, standard paintball rules apply, and if a team gets totally wiped out they lose. This would suggest having radios to share coords with.

 

And if anyone thinks those look strangely like their favorite game types for a certain game (think indians), you're right.