WHY PAINTBALL ISN'T ANYTHING LIKE WAR
An Analytical Comparison

INTRODUCTION

I was in the Canadian Military from 1979 - 1999. I served in the infantry and then served my country in the intelligence community. As an infantry soldier, I've trained for war. Officially the infantry's primary job was to "close with, and destroy, the enemy". As a peacekeeper, I have seen the results of war. As an intelligence analyst I have seen the destruction of Operation Desert Storm. I also have a very good friend who managed to survive Vietnam, and he knows what he is talking about.

Paintball, on the outside, my look like the personification of war. I can see why people would call paintball "war games". We wear camouflage, we carry "guns" and we "shoot" each other. Pretty warlike, isn't it? Not really.

NO ONE GETS HURT
When you play paintball, you go home at the end of the day. A little tired and bruised, but none the worse for wear. This is not so in war. People die in war. They get shot, and they don't get back up again, ever. How many cemeteries are dedicated to paintball casualties in your country? How many are dedicated to those who died in the service of your country?

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "TOTAL PAINTBALL"
We don't bomb cities. We don't try to destroy the factories that make our opponent's equipment. We do not devastate the opponent's home nor do we hurt their family. The concept of total war does just that. Few wars, since the American Civil War, have not affected the lives of innocent civilians -- whose only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

PAINTBALL IS NOT ABOUT GREED, OR POWER, OR PRINCIPLE
Wars start because someone has a grudge to settle, or they want what another country has, or they want THEIR views to be held by the rest of the world. No one started to play paintball to subjugate or destroy another person.

PAINTBALL DOES NOT BRING OUT THE WORST IN PEOPLE
Need I list all the atrocities in the wars in the last 100 years? Warfare seems to bring out the worst in individuals, units and leaders. People do things in war that they would not even contemplate in peace time. Yes, some players cheat. The greater majority of players behave themselves, act in a dignified matter and treat each other with respect.

PAINTBALL DOES NOT DESTROY ANYTHING
When was the last time you heard of a paintball game destroying a bridge, a building or a city? War is wasteful, it is destruction on the most horrifying scale. Paintball is fun.

PAINTBALL DOES NOT EMOTIONALLY SCAR PEOPLE FOR LIFE
Every man and woman who has experienced the horror and chaos of modern combat still carries emotional and psychological scars for the rest of their lives. Second World War veterans STILL cry when they think about the friends they have lost and the destruction they saw. The war ended over fifty years ago and these people have got on with their lives. However, you never, EVER, get over it.

CONCLUSION
I'm not saying that war is right or wrong, what I am saying is that it is mayhem, death and destruction on the highest level imaginable. It is unadulterated carnage, pure and simple. Young men and women lay down their lives and leave grieving families behind to try and cope with the loss. Paintball is nothing like that. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are fools.

Just remember, the trappings of war ("guns", cammies and "shooting") do not make paintball a manifestation of war. As Napoleon has said, "C'est magnifique, mais c'est ne pas la guerre." (It's magnificent, but it's not war.)