User:Seankubin/Oklahoma D-Day
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Oklahoma D-Day is a scenario paintball event that is held annually. The scenario is a recreation of D-Day which is the Normandy Invasion of Operation Overlord during World War II. The game takes place in Wyandotte, Oklahoma at the Bunker Extreme and draws players from all around the world. As of 2006, the player who was recognized as traveling the farthest came from Bosnia.
Participation
The event takes place on the second weekend of June, and boasts nearly 4000 active participants, and an estimated 6 to 8 thousand non-playing participants. (Vendors, family, staff and the onlookers). 2 sides play with tanks, bazookas and standard paintball markers. The sides are the Allies and the Germans.
Historical Accuracy
The game continues to evolve and the overall realism is improved every year. The most recent changes have been a massive terraforming project to create the beach landing of Utah beach. The game has mechanisms that are installed to facilitate the flow of the game, the mechanisms take away some of the realism but generally approved. For example, players (even snipers) must have a brightly colored hopper cover designating their side. GPS and 2-way Radios are permitted despite their non-existence in the real invasion.
Historical Units Represented At Oklahoma DDay
The units indented are smaller units within the larger ones. Most german uits shown here are translated or have the translation given.
Allied:
These countries historicly represented are the United States, Britian, Canada, and France. The commanders listed are for the 2007 game. Supreme Allied Commander: Lieutenant General Ken "Psycho" Moore; US Ground Force Commander: Major General Randy "General Steele" Parker; Commonwealth Land commander: Brigadier Sir Raymond H. Adams, III; Allied executive staff: Brig. Gen. James "Crusher" Sully, Sr., Col. "Widowmaker", Lt. Col. Eric "Thompsonshooter" Engler, Robert "Secret Squirrel" Myers
1st Infantry Division
Commanding Officer: Brigadier General Cecil "Boomer" Higgins;
358th Engineers Battalion
Reponsible for clear implacements like barb wire, the Engineers work under fire as part of the 1st Infantry Division.
4th Infantry Division
Commanding Officer: Brigadier General Mike "Biscuit" Harding; Responsible for the assult on Utah Beach.
82nd Airborne Division
Commanding Officer: Major General Steve Risken; Contains: 82nd Airborne Pathfinders Battalion; Pathfinder commander: Nathan "Achilles" Hinshaw
101st Airborne Division
Commanding Officer: Brigadier General Jim "Halo" Rukowski; Contains: 101st Airborne Pathfinders Battalion; Pathfinder commander: Chris Wachaster
3rd Armored Division
Commanding Officer: Brigadier General Jason "Panzer Killer" Hart; Conatains: 889th Tank Destoyer Battalion; 889th commander: Lt. Col. Juan "Beatle" Parke
US Army Rangers
Commanding Officer: Brigadier General Jason "Grifter" White Contains: 1st Ranger Battalion, 2nd Ranger Battalion, and 5th Ranger Battalion
Commonwealth (British / Canadian) Infantry
Commanding Officer: (See top)
Commonwealth (British / Canadian) Airborne
Commanding Officer: Andrew Ferguson
British 41st Royal Marines Commandos
Commanding Officer (See top)
13th and 18th Royal Hussars Armor Divisions
Commanding officer: (see top)
French Resistance
Commanding Officer: Mayor of Normandy Mike "Frenchy" Shelby
German:
The German side is represented in the spirit of the German soldier who fought for the love of his country like the allies. They are remembered with respect at Oklahoma D-Day, not for their politcal leaders' idologies, but they way all vetrans should; with respect.
352nd Infantry Division
914th Infantry Regiment
916th Infantry Regiment
726th Infantry Regiment
709th Infantry Division
716th Infantry Division
91st Luftlande Division
1058th Infantry Regiment
6th Fallschirmjaeger (Airborne) Regiment
21st Panzer (tank) Division
Brandenburg Kommandos
352nd Panzerjaeger (tank hunter) Battalion
Non-Historical Units Represented at Oklahoma D-Day:
Geisterjaegers
(means "ghost hunters")
Allied Sniper Corps
Commanding Officer: Col. Jordan "Ace" Weidenhaft
Game Play
The event is one week long, with smaller games and activities all week long. Starting on Monday, there is at least one mini-scenario each day, and one night game on Thursday of the event week. On Friday, there is a parade of the units in full gear, as well as a costume contest for the best historical costume.
The main game is on Saturday, starting about 9:00am. The Allied units launch their assaults on three beaches: Sword, Utah and Omaha, representing the three main beaches used on June 6th, 1944. Airborne troops are dropped randomly throughout the wooded areas of the playing field, to simulate the mis-drops made so infamous during the invasion.
The game then continues on for eight (8) hours, non-stop. When hit, each player is required to report to the nearest dead zone (DZ) and wait. Every thirty minutes, any players in the DZ are released to re-join the game. Release times are usually staggered between Allies and Axis. Allied players are released on the top and bottom of the hour, while Axis players are typically released on the 15th and 45th minutes of the hour.
Each territory and objective carries a point value, which is added to each side's total throughout the day. Since each territory may be worth a different amount of points at different times of the day, both sides must plan strategically on how to best utilize the time to maximize the point gain.