The Gucci Factor

To start off I want to apologize for almost a month worth of not posting. I had my laptop stolen and that had about two weeks worth of pre-written material on it. Thus I was rather demoralized and never got around to writing any of it back up, but I have finally found a renewed gusto to continue my rather long and wordy airsoft themed writings.
My topic for this entry is on 'The Gucci Factor' as I've called it. This encompasses a bit more than the title suggests. The idea of 'The Gucci Factor' is all about image creating the image for yourself or your team. Now there are several reasons to create this image. The first is defining legitimacy and professionalism. No one is going to hold a team in high regard if they all wear mixed camo and basically look like kids geared up to play 'army' in the woods.
Like with the real service branches the uniform worn by all the service members is a sign of what they're a part of and they represent their loyalty to their institution by the wear an up keep of their uniform and gear. The same should hold true with airsoft team members. They should be proud to be wearing their teams uniform and colors and should outfit themselves to the team standard.
One of the first things I recommend new teams do is lay out the required gear set for the team so everyone on the team and who joins the team can work towards that complete loadout.
If there are five operators on a team and they are all geared out and look like a team the enemy is going to come to fear and respect them faster than a bunch of guys with 'matching patches.' There is a devastating psychological affect on the enemy. Commonly said by war-fighters is "Your worst enemy is a well equipt one."
Though alot can be said through pure skill, command, and weapon strength the picture of an elite airsoft team isn't complete until they all are looking alike.
The affects of the presentation of a team can in fact be a tide changer. There is also a similar affect with the weapons you carry. Airsofters are Chairsofters...but Chairsofters aren't Airsofters. Most operators worth their weight in 6mm white bb's can tell gun varieties from each other and well informed operators may be able to look at a weapon and determine its maker, thus knowing its general capabilities. Advanced players might ask "whats in this" and get a low down on the internals.
Unique guns or feared guns also take a toll on the enemies psychological health during a game. Though the L85 is becoming more common I think seeing a whole team outfitted with it as the standard service rifle would scare most beginner/intermediate level players mid-game/op. Feared weapons come in two categories shape and maker. Feared guns (maker/price) are those weapons which people are aware are scary accurate and very fast, much like Systema. The mere mention of a Systema gun will put a beginner player on the ground red rag out. If a player is aware of the price of a certain gun this might also affect their actions and attitude towards it on the field. The other variety of Feared gun is shape. This basically suggests if its in a unique shape or rarely seen shape (as I mentioned above) it will get more respect on the battlefield. Also many new players will assume that airsoft replicas mimic the 'awesome' of their real steel partners thus making even the most inefficient M82 Barrett Sniper Rifle or Cheytac M200 replicas a tide changing entity.
Other gear which may change a enemies play styel on the field are claymores and grenades. The explosive simulators will keep many players on edge fear booby traps or walking into a trap and getting 'fragged.' Helmets are also an excellent addition to a teams load-out an it makes a 'we play rough' message very clear.
In short, the gear which a team picks is its own. The way that you wear it/ wield it is just as important as the gear itself, but remember that the better equipt you are to fight the more successful you will be and the more the OpFor will fear you.

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