In the year 2001 me and my friend firstly heard of airsoft and that was exactly what we a military enthusiasts were looking for. Why did we choose Israel Army as a subject of our interest can be read
here. Our gear and weapons were equal to the fact that we just started - inappropriate compared to what we have now and what do the IDF have. So we said to our selves: Why carry a name of existing IDF unit if we are far away to even look like them? Let's choose some simple, incoherent name, that cannot be associated with any single unit but still explaining which army do we like. So we chose "SAYERET" - name that means "special unit".
Then we tried how hard is to simulate certain army/unit. Even getting information about IDF turned to be very problematic. Getting authentic gear turned to be impossible. Basic gear of american, british or german forces can be easily bought in almost every armyshop in Czech Republic. But asking for anything of IDF in czech armyshops sounded more like joke than like serious request. During 2001-2002 everything what we could was to get olive uniforms (old-school american BDU) and first AEGs (AEG=Automatic Electric Gun). During these years a big personal fluctulation was typical, so from this period only 3 members last since today. We were more interested rather in airsoft skirmishing than in some serious military activities. In this period we were even using guns that IDF never adopted: Steyr AUF, H&K MP5, CZ75, etc.
Biggest turnover was in the year 2003. We found a "good soul" in Israel - friend with whose help we got our first IDF gear. Other "good souls" followed and we were able to stuff like uniforms, berets, vests, camouflage items, dog tags, insignias... I am proud to tell that each member of our group has almost 100% authentic gear these days. But back to the 2003: Despite all the success and effort we were still facing serious problems. Example given: the helmets. We were offered only one kevlar original IDF helmet (with price over 300USD). So we could buy just one piece (regardless of it was and still is too expensive for us). So we tried to make a form (according to this one original helmet we had) and made our own fiberclass replicas. Year and a half later we found outher sources worldwide and got other original IDF helmets for lower prices, but till then, every member had his fiberglass replica on his head.
The 2003 turnover wasn't but only in gear issue. After certain "personal changes" different approach in our activities followed. We got new "drive" and got more military oriented. We chose single unit that we looked up to the most and decided to carry her name. The Sayeret Nahal (Palsar unit of the Nahal Infantry Brigade). We began to lay stress on physical preparation, recon, unknown terrain navigation, long marches with full gear, fist aid trainings and other field trainings and activities. AirSoft has began to work just as an add-on yet important.
CityShark
