The Warrior Blog: Player Highlight

A few weeks ago a young lady that I know, respect and fear named Sisu MilSim suggested that I contact Christine about being one of the future featured players on The Warrior Blog. Since that point I have talked to her both online and via phone and found her to be an intriguing and highly educated woman, who is passionate about all areas of her life. It was my great privilege to get to know her through the process of putting together this post and I hope you will enjoy this Player Highlight of another one of the Slaydies of AirSoft! - Padre'

Growing up, I was definitely a tomboy. I preferred making tree houses and climbing down window wells catching toads with the boys to playing dress up and Barbies with the girls. I was always dirty, always running around, always trying to go on new and exciting adventures. When I was 4, my mother decided that I needed an outlet for all my energy and that outlet turned out to be softball.

Fast-forwarding to 2010; I was a Junior at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside playing Division II softball as a starting Center Fielder and met my fiancé (and Nemesis Milsim team Captain), call sign Zero. From the beginning, he was always trying to get me to come to airsoft with him and repeatedly I said, “no thanks.” I had convinced myself that airsoft was his way to hang out and have “guy time” and I didn’t want to intrude. In addition, I had never heard him talk about any girls playing airsoft, which gave me the impression that airsoft was a hobby better suited to men. Despite my reservations, he kept asking me to come to a team practice and I finally did in the winter of 2011.

The first time I ever played Airsoft, it was a very cold, snowy, and damp day. As I prepped myself to head onto the field dressed in old-school/oversized woodland camis and tennis shoes, I distinctly remember looking at the more experienced operators and feeling completely out of place. My gear was not the greatest, I'd never even held an Airsoft gun before, and I was the only girl taking the field with a group of guys who had been playing with each other for years. To say that I was out matched would be an understatement. However, as soon as I ran onto the field none of that mattered anymore. My adrenaline spiked, I became very aware of the speed and sound of my own movements, and as I darted from tree to tree in pursuit of OPFOR I knew that although it was my first time playing Airsoft, it would definitely not be my last.

I've now been playing Airsoft for 4-5 years as an official member of Nemesis Milsim (Northern IL/ Southern WI) and am incredibly passionate about the sport. After a brief hiatus due to graduate school obligations, I played my first national event in 2014 at American Milsim’s Op Broken Home III. I got a brief taste of the Medic role on day 2 when our official squad Medic left to do his Helo run and I loved every second of it. As soon as we got back to Illinois, I told anyone that would listen that I wanted to be the team’s official Medic. A few months later, I played my first full event as a Medic at American Milsim’s Op Ironclad. At Ironclad I really feel that I came into my own as a player and my Milsim identity was further cemented by the fact that people started calling me the “Milsim Medic.” It’s a difficult feeling to describe, but as a Medic I felt at home on the field.

My favorite game play style is definitely CQB. I love how fast-paced and intense it is. I’m the type of player that thrives in high-stress games that test athleticism. In fact, I am usually so active on the field that there’s hardly ever a time where you won’t see me running during an Op. Which is probably why the Medic role fits me so well. My primary load-out is built to emphasize speed over firepower and consists of an LBT 6094 plate-carrier with a Blue Force Gear 10 speed, a Krytac CRB, and Vasque Breeze 2.0 GTX Boots. However, my favorite piece of equipment is the hot pink Kydex holster that I

had made for my KWA M9 pistol. Previous to purchasing my holster, most players didn’t even realize I was a girl because my FAST helmet covers my hair. However, the holster is so noticeable that it has definitely become my signature and also how a lot of people recognize me on the field.

Nemesis Milsim has been an official airsoft team since 2007 and originated in Crystal Lake Illinois (about an hour Northwest of Chicago). Like many teams in the Midwest, we originally started playing together on a very secluded, unregulated, and heavily wooded field. At the time, airsoft was just starting to become popular in our area and there were only a few regulated fields that weren’t exclusively used for paintball. Thinking back, however, this field is home to some of my fondest airsoft and life memories. It’s where I first learned to play, where I met many of my current teammates, and also where my fiancé took me on our first date. Which consisted of off-roading, getting stuck in the mud, getting the vehicle un-stuck with the help of friends, and literally ten minutes later, popping a tire.

*The follow video excerpt shows the MilSim Medic in action - the credit for the video goes to the NightStalkers Tactical Airsoft Team, the video can be seen @ Op Ironclad - Padre'

Nemesis has been hosting airsoft events since 2013 at our home field, Promisedland Paintball (Bristol, WI), which is a Department of Defense regulated field sometimes used by the Marine Corp for training purposes. Since we’ve started hosting events, I’ve taken a more active role in team administration (reffing, event registration) and I also act as a member of the OPFOR in short, but also very intense scenarios we call, “SIM’s” or “Squad Immersion Missions.” In 2013, we also started attending national ops and gained our very first team sponsor, Tactical Toy Store (Waukesha, WI). Tactical Toy Store Provides us with BB’s and smoke grenades or every national event we attend and are also on hand at all of the events we host to take care of the players’ gear needs.

Last year (2014) I received my Master’s degree in History from Marquette University, while specializing in British History. In fact, my Master’s thesis focused on tourism at the Tower of London in the 1870’s. During this time, the Tower underwent several reconstruction and preservation projects. One in particular, at the St. Peter ad Vincula Chapel (the Tower chapel), required that the bodies of famous execution victims from the reign of Henry VIII (like the ill-fated Queen, Anne Boleyn) be exhumed. Since the forensic field was not highly developed at this point in time, the workers responsible for removing the bodies had to rely on historic records and descriptions of the dead in order to identify them. The public interest surrounding the identification of the bodies led many tourists to visit the Tower of London and ultimately created a demand for the reevaluation of Henry VIII’s place in British culture and history.

Eventually, I hope to apply to a PhD program so that I can continue my history studies. In the meantime, I’ve recently accepted an offer to join Teach for America’s 2015 Chicago Corp. For those of you not familiar, Teach for America (TFA) is a highly selective alternative teaching certification program that seeks to achieve transformational change in impoverished communities by combating the educational achievement gap in American society. TFA does this by taking college graduates and placing them as teachers in urban schools, where poverty and sub-par test scores are usually the standard. I’m very excited for the opportunity to teach and mentor young kids and I sincerely hope that I will be able to positively impact my students’ lives.

Overall, I think one of the most enjoyable parts about playing airsoft, besides the game play, is definitely how the sport connects you to people that you would never have met otherwise. I’ve met so many friends in so many different states and countries by playing this sport and I am so grateful to have met every single one of them. I can’t wait to see what the 2015 season has in store for me. Thanks for checking out my player profile and for giving me the opportunity to share a little bit about myself with you guys. I hope to see you all at American Milsim’s OpBroken Home 4 (May 23-24). :-)