Father & Son weekend

[Welsh_red 4,651]

Few weeks back me and my son who is 13 went on a 2 day military themed excursion . It was run by a local ex forces guy who runs a gym locally .

It was without doubt one of the best things I have done with my son . Its called "[BANNED TEXT] of passage" and works along the lines of giving you and your kid focused time together away from gadgets etc 

We were the first group who have done this and as this is wales it decided to piss down all day . The original idea was camping in woodland but because of the severe rain we had our base camp in the local gym which is a large tin building . It was run like the military with mission briefings etc but nowhere near as brutal and strenuous as the real thing .

The story was a plane had been shot down over woodland and the pilot was captured by the enemy . We arrived at base at 1pm and had some downtime setting up our sleeping areas and packing bags for later . There was a weapons cache in the centre of the room with loads of airsoft weapons , pistols , assault rifles,  SMG's that a ex forces guy would talk you through and take you out the side of the building to shoot and have a play around with .

We were sent into the woodland around 4pm in 2s (father & son)for a 6km treck guided only by small pictures and distances picking up clues and scouting certain areas out for future part of the missions and logging everything we see of interest on our notepads . There was a abandoned youth hostel in the middle if the forestry and me and my boy spent a fair bit of time mapping it out for later . After we got all our clues we went back to base . My son is way beyond me in the grey matter and he worked out all the puzzles waaay before me otherwise we would have been screwed .

We got back to camp and cooked ourselves some food out on the porch area . The airsoft guns were back out with tracer rounds In them which the kids loved . Around 9pm we had our own individual mission briefing with another military guy describing what the evening mission was and how we were going to go about it . At this point I can't tell you how excited and laser focused my son had become . Any normal talk of football or other normal conversations we have had gone and he had become so hell bent on completing our mission that I am fully convinced he would have sacrificed me in the woods without a second thought if he thought I compromised the mission . We were told to decend back into the forest at 11:30pm on the dot and make our way to a area that had a picnic bench. A vehicle would turn up and flash its lights twice at us and we're to get in the vehicle . The driver would remain faceless and nameless and there was to be no conversation with him .

We got to the picnic bench and waited 5-10 mins until a car came flying through the woods and pulled up directly in front of us. It didn't flash its lights not even once . It was 2 metres away from us with engine running and the temptation was to get in it but after discussing it with my boy we came to the agreement that they said 2 flashes of the lights and only 2 flashes on the lights would get us to get in there . The car sat facing us with headlights shining straight at us, engine running for 5 minutes . It then reversed at breakneck speed to then turn away into the distance at lightning speed . We sat in darkness wondering if we had made a major f**k up.  Maybe it did flash and we didn't see it ? Another 5 minutes passed and another car came slowly up to us and parked up,  this time 2 flashes of the lights and we both got up to get in.  The driver got out with dark hoodie and face mask and opened the boot so we climbed in . Next was what I can only imagine is what a rally car feels like to be in , ragging it around everywhere and stopping for no apparent reason then starting again and off again . In the end he stopped the car dead and got out and let us out of the boot . He them zoomed off and left us there alone.

Within seconds out of the woodland by the track where we were left a special forces guy appeared out of nowhere brandishing a M4 . He asked me and my son which one of us was going to hold the gun , before he had even had a chance to finish the sentence by boy was reaching for the gun . He led us up through thick brush up a steep craggy pathway until we got to a gate . He said beyond the gate was 2 guards that needed putting down before we could advance any further . They were targets to shoot and my boy unloaded on both of them without a second thought .I took the gun from my boy after he was done being john wick and handed it back to the special forces guy , I turned to my son for a mere 10 seconds and turned back to the forces guy who had disappeared into the wilderness like the aborigine tracker in crocodile dundee 2.

Onwards from the gate was the old youth hostel , a car was running in the distance and we needed to get intelligence from a briefcase inside of the car . The code for the briefcase my son had cracked earlier while out scouting . The problem was there was a outside light shining on the car and a guard was doing rounds around the car and back up behind the youth hostel. Earlier on while out scouting I had noticed a big pile of celotex insulation 8ft high in the grounds , I remember telling my boy how expensive it was and it was stupid to leave it outside in the elements . We belly crawled 15ft towards it to take cover while the guard did a round and when he was out of sight we quick stepped it to the back end of the car and hugged the car round until we could open the back door . Entered the code and got the information out of it . Problem then Was the guard was back doing his round so we slipped to the back bumper of the car as the guard was ambling back down the track towards the front end . We waited till he got to the front and decided whichever way round he went we were going the other , he came round the passenger side so we slipped drivers side and as soon as we could we bolted into the darkness of the forestry track .

Next thing was getting back to base safely without getting caught by other guards in the woodland . We came across one further down the track and me and my son dived into a ditch and lay there quiet as mice until he walked past whistling to himself .  After that my son did something I was very proud of . He decided we didn't need head torches to get out on the forestry track, it would attract to much attention. We would simply walk on the grass in the middle of the track without head torches on , there was just enough light to see the track turn and we would know if we were going off direction because we wouldn't feel the grass under our feet any more . We managed to get out and back without any more interest from guards or enemy's. 

We didn't experience it but some of the other groups heard guard dogs barking in the woodland . We were told there would be guards with sniffer dogs there aswell.

We got back to base camp at 2.30am and my boy was wired,  he couldn't sleep he was so buzzing , finally both got some kip at around 3.30am 

6am everybody was woken and we all made ourself some food and got some energy drinks in as I was absolutely f****d by then . Morning briefing was at 7:30am and we were told the downed pilot was being held captive by the enemy and and we had to go and meet with the enemy and rescue him. This time the dad's (and 1 mother) took a back seat and it was up to the kids to work out a plan and see it through . They all had a chat with the guy who was running it who told them what they needed to do and let them come up with a plan of action . They were given 2 smoke bombs , 2 flash grenades,  and 2 frag grenades (makes a loud bang) for their mission.  We were back in the woods at 9am and the kids marched forward with the guy who runs it and we as parents followed just behind. On the way to the mission there was a car parked up that looked suspicious so 2 of the older lads , my boy being one went up to check them out and look underneath it for bombs etc . Nothing there so onwards to the pilot . Now I'm not entirely sure what their plan was all I know is there was green smoke everywhere,  flashbacks going off and they got in and got information from the pilot and we all ran off away from there. My boy had a grenade and in all the commotion he forgot to even throw it which still sickens him to this day .

 

All in all it was the best time I've spent with my boy and I've had great great fun with him. The time him and his mate came fishing with me and they caught 5 trout up the usk resvoir was amazing , the time he had the game of his life in goal and had a game winning save in the last minute was something I won't forget but this was something else . Focused time with him , a objective and targets to hit together topped with time in the woods and guns and playing army 

This is probably the longest post I've written on here but it deserves it because it was so great . This was the first time the guy has put something like this on and he's doing some more dates soon and I've told him I would help spread the word  so if anybody in South wales fancies something like this with their child or grandchild get in touch with him and you won't regret it . Our base was in the gym , the original plan was a base camp in the woods which would have been even better 

[mackem 26,769]

That sounds fantastic,I would love to have tried something like that when my boys were younger,great experience for your son and yourself,that’s what memories were made of.

[Welsh_red 4,651]

Just now, mackem said:

That sounds fantastic,I would love to have tried something like that when my boys were younger,great experience for your son and yourself,that’s what memories were made of.

I'm back in September to do it with my daughter this time

[Welsh_red 4,651]

Have a look on their Instagram page for pictures and videos of the weekend 

[Arry 21,979]

Good write up mate.

Theres nothing better than times like that building memories.

Cheers Arry

Edited August 6, 2023 by Arry

[shaaark 10,833]

Great post, mate.

Still can't understand why some people want the general talk section on this site binned?!!

 

[greg64 2,842]

great post sounds fantastic and time well spent 

[paulus 26]

34 minutes ago, shaaark said:

Great post, mate.

Still can't understand why some people want the general talk section on this site binned?!!

 

The site would be worse off without it, That's for sure, I can say that it will never happen as long as i still have a hole in my arse Lol

[shaaark 10,833]

17 minutes ago, paulus said:

The site would be worse off without it, That's for sure, I can say that it will never happen as long as i still have a hole in my arse Lol

 

Those fukn grey box things!!  What the fcuk is that all about?!!  Lol

Edited August 6, 2023 by shaaark

[j j m 6,540]

sounds like you had a great time

[Blackmag 6,101]

Time well spent  buddy wish something like that would happen up here I can imagine it would take of no problem 

[Daniel cain 45,580]

4 minutes ago, Blackmag said:

Time well spent  buddy wish something like that would happen up here I can imagine it would take of no problem 

Then look into starting something similar up  yourself magIm sure you could find some sort of funding etc

[Welsh_red 4,651]

44 minutes ago, Blackmag said:

Time well spent  buddy wish something like that would happen up here I can imagine it would take of no problem 

U ever fancy a weekend in Wales it would be well worth the travel 

[DIDO.1 22,844]

11 hours ago, paulus said:

The site would be worse off without it, That's for sure, I can say that it will never happen as long as i still have a hole in my arse Lol

Can also say it will never happen as long as the site owners makes advertising revenue from site usage and clicks

[NEWKID 27,182]

That sounds amazing mate, brilliant experience and memories