Change your tactics often

I could hear the bullets getting real close to me. I looked around, and everyone was dead. "RUN SCHULTZER, RUUUUN", and I ran all I could with three guys shooting at me. I was doing a military drill with my platoon, and my unit were being shot down like sitting ducks.

During my national service we at times did something similar to laser tag to simulate actual hits. The hit registration vest played a loud, obnoxious sound when you were shot dead that continues until you lie flat on the ground. It also simulated bullets passing by as beeping sounds that got louder as shots got closer to hitting you.

We were simulating how not to attack a well secured location. The location was on top of a grassy hill, a field fortification squared off with tall earthwork barricades. My unit was to defend the fortification first. We watched the attacking unit approach in the grassy open field, and our commander told us to wait firing until they were close enough. They came closer and close, shooting against us here and there, but as we could just lie flat on our stomach and occasionally peek over to see how close they were, nobody got hit. Then our commander yelled "FIRE". The sounds from our guns filled the air. The soldiers of the attacking unit dropped like flies. It was so easy for us to hit them. The attacking team did have a revive gun that the commander could use, but the commander had trouble go around fast enough to keep up the attack. It is sure to say that we won that easily, and it was shown why attacking a fortification like this is a really, really bad idea.

When it was our turn to attack the fortification, our commander had a different idea. I liked him, as he was against military parade drill exercise, and really just cared about strategy and getting the best out of any situation. It didn't matter if people could march on command. It just mattered what the unit could do when it was vital. He decided to split us up in three different columns, and flank the fortification. I was on the right side, with 3 other guys, including my "buddy" (in the military we had a battle buddy system to support each other. You have to do anything you can to protect your buddy, and you buddy will do the same the other way around).

Ready to attack. We were marching towards the fortification the same way as the now defending team did it. We were waiting for the first shot to be fired from their side. As soon as a shot was fired, our commander told us to split up and flank the fortification. My buddy died pretty much right away. And with the sounds that my vest made I knew the bullets was about to hit me as well. I fired like crazy at the fortification, while moving onwards to the right flank. My magazine was nearly empty, so I jumped down on my stomach in the tall grass to reload. Then I looked up. It was a shock to discover that all the guys in my column was lying dead on the ground! I look at the fortification, and saw three guys standing on the earthwork pointing their guns directly at me, firing. I saw my commander swinging his arm and yelling "GO NOW, RUN SCHULTZER, RUN!". And off I ran, shooting as vigorously as I could towards the three soldiers to keep their aim off me. My magazine was running low, and despite the effort, the shots was getting uncomfortably close. I immediately jumped down on my stomach, clenching to the ground, in the tall grass. I reloaded, and waited quite a few more seconds than usual. I looked up cautiously, and I saw the soldiers were now pointing their guns at another flank. This tactic of waiting a bit longer had worked surprisingly well as they now thought I must have been dead. Free to go! I ran up to the earthwork on the right side of the fortification, and nobody had seen me sneak up. As I peeked up above the earthwork, I could see all the hurt soldiers sitting down up a container. This was far, far too easy. I began to fire at the soldiers inside the fortification, and it caused some panic. A few seconds later the left flank (opposite of mine) came up, and the panic turned into chaos inside the fortification. The defending unit were getting beaten badly. In the end I was shot in the back, as I was all alone there with nobody to cover me. However, this time the defending team lost despite having the upper hand.

"It always seems impossible until it's done." - Nelson Mandela

You should always look for opportunities in any difficult situation you encounter. Especially the ones that seems close to impossible. With the right people, the right wisdom, and the right gut, you can beat the odds. Change vision rarely, but your tactics often. There is no one way to get on top, so you need to try out different tactics and new things.

Our commander could have decided we did the same thing as the defending team to see how bad an idea it is to attack a secured fortification out in the open. Instead he turned it on the head, surprised the defending team and ultimately winning.