BARNSTEAD, N.H. (Tribune News Service) — Paintball rounds pumped through the forest, sounding like muffled gunfire.

2024 Paintball With A Mission was underway at OSG Paintball on Friday, where 287 mostly civilians on 27 teams competed in make-believe military operations to fund real-life changes for U.S. veterans, including Navy SEALs, pummeled by war.

A Canadian special operations veteran known as Yoda briefed the Massachusetts-based Candor Realty team on its task: Rescue a leading U.S. geneticist kidnapped six months ago to create enemy super soldiers and an obedient workforce, and recover the scientific materials related to genetic cloning inside the enemy’s laboratory.

Critical minutes spilled through a sieve.

“Call out ‘hostage!’ Call out ‘jackpot’ for the target. Keep a guy looking aft,” shouted the commander of the Candor group, with players from New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

“You must be back in 10 minutes or the bird’s going to leave without you,” Yoda said.

Wearing helmets with goggles, they disappeared inside a makeshift fort to search a warren of stall-like rooms.

Less than 10 minutes later, they portaged a life-size dummy and the target scientific materials and raced to the imaginary helicopter pickup.

It was a game with actual, lasting and far-reaching consequences. The sixth annual Navy SEALs Paintball with a Mission challenge, along with the SEALs’ 2024 Swim With a Mission held on Saturday, hoped to raise $3 million in two days for veterans and veterans causes. When SWAM began in 2016, the fundraising goal was $500,000.

“It’s gone from a small event to a big event. This is a community that wants to do good things. Between helping so many veterans who need help and being around the Navy SEALs, it’s changed our lives,” said Phil Taub, a Manchester lawyer who founded SWAM with his wife, Julie.

“In our state, in the war on terror, 96 of our own went and served and were killed in action. In the same time, more than 900 came home safely and have taken their own lives,” Taub said. Every eight days a New Hampshire veteran dies by suicide, according to Veterans Administration.

Hector Delgado, a Navy SEAL who later became a U.S. marshal and federal agent, rallied the day’s teams inside the tent — many of them from businesses, where military teamwork and shared mission also breed success.

“It’s not just the SEAL, it’s the team. Together you can accomplish a mission. You’re only as strong as your last man,” Delgado said. “Stress, strength and adversity reveals true character and bonds. You always want to help each other out. You don’t have to have a rank to be a leader.”

Former SEAL Steve Janko of Windham shared his favorite story about President John F. Kennedy touring NASA. “He asked a janitor, ‘What do you do here?’ He answered, ‘I’m working to put a man on the moon.’ You have to find that source of meaning, no matter what the task is,” Janko said.

The U.S. Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida, presented Gov. Chris Sununu with a statue of “The Naked Warrior,” representing the underwater teams that worked in the Pacific during World War II, carrying knives because they couldn’t carry guns underwater.

SWAM helps veterans “with everything from housing to mental health...getting assistance where it’s needed,” Sununu said.

Teams with names including Baby Beavers, Eager Beavers, Depreciation Doctors and Lawyers, Guns & Money prepared to conquer the course.

On the course it was non-stop action, mixed with quick strategy sessions.

Optiforce, a team formed by Mike and Tommy Bolduc, owners of a Nashua drywall company, included former SEAL Taylor Canfield as a staff adviser.

“Teamwork is essential to paintball and overseas warfare,” said Canfield, who came from Dallas because SWAM “helps so many different assets and war fighters get the help they need.”

“I went through my own trials and tribulations when I left the service,” Canfield said. “Because of organizations like SWAM, I was able to put myself back out there.”

“A sport like paintball engages you in fast decision-making, coaching through critical decisions and making decisions on the spot.” Like actual Navy SEAL training, “It helps with planning and executing, but being flexible when a plan doesn’t go how you want it to go.”

Nearby, the Baby Beaver team plunged into the “Western Town” course, where streets featured a mock church, jail, firehouse, hotel and general store.

“You’ve got to get that flag, guys,” said its leader, as members advanced to positions, firing around the corners of buildings and running forward, checking each structure for enemy players.

“Man, did they nail me,” said one Baby Beaver splotched with paint.

“I got hit like 20 times already,” said another, raising his arms to signal that he was out.

(c)2024 The New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.)

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