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Green Mountain Rangers Banned By Major Event Organizers

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The Green Mountain Rangers (GMR) airsoft team is perhaps one of the most well known, if not the most well-known airsoft team in the world. In an a world where were mostly put attention to individual personalities rather than groups, GMR stands out as known collectively rather than individually and we have also featured them since they're a high profile airsoft team. One of the oldest airsoft teams existing (they were founded in 1999), they are known to be well-trained, and of course for their loadouts which many geardos admire.

Over the years, the GMR is a very much well-traveled airsoft team, and always invited by airsoft organizers, and even have crossed the pond to be at the Berget event in Sweden in 2008. They have a good following and even some airsoft teams wanted to copy their discipline and group cohesion, but cannot match such.

But in the past years, we have been hearing stories of the group being unsportsmanlike in airsoft events, you can just go to some airsoft forums in North America, especially in the East Coast and even in Canada where they are called to be "cheaters", or "arrogant."  I guess all of these have come to a head during the recently held Operation Lion Claws XII, while we don't really know the specific violations GMR members have committed, the organizers have issued the following statement:

The Operation Lion Claws Military Simulation Series began as a way to honor our military and the sport of mil-sim airsoft. These values have remained paramount throughout our twelve year history. We expect that same respect to be shown by our players. Following the rules and playing with honor are the most important things our players do.

Unfortunately, we have a team that refuses to follow even the most basic rules and shows total disrespect for our VIPs, staff, and other players. This teams utter lack of respect towards our military personal and VIPs over the Memorial Day weekend Operations left us no other option but to ban them. We try to work with all of our teams and players. We do not ban teams from our operations without great debate and numerous attempts at intervention.

After repeated violations and warnings, the team known as The Green Mountain Rangers are banned from all OLCMSS functions. All players who have registered under that team name or are associated with them are banned from all OLCMSS functions. Any player who ends their association with said team may appeal to have their ban lifted and be moved to probationary status pending deliberations by our staff.

All other teams or individuals that wish to follow in the footsteps of the Green Mountain Rangers by disrespecting the rules, players, staff, VIPs, and themselves are given notice that we will not tolerate such behavior at our Operations.

Thank You,

Operations Lion Claws Military Simulation Series

There are discussions about this statement at the Airsoft Canada forums, but what really is significant about this ban is that two major airsoft event organizers followed suit, supporting the decision of OLCMSS organizers and issuing their own bands: Blacksheep Milsim and Mindgame Productions and here are their statements:

Blacksheep Milsim - Official

Blacksheep MILSIM supports our fellow event producer Operation Lion Claws Military Simulation Series (OLCMSS) in the banning of Green Mountain Rangers. The ban of this team from all Operation Blacksheep events is changed from one year to a permanent ban with the same conditions outlined below. In a sport based on honor, this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

Mindgame Productions

MindGame Productions supports our national Airsoft MilSim partners OLCMSS and Blacksheep Milsim in their ban of the Green Mountain Rangers airsoft team from their events. In solidarity with our partners, and due to the serious and continued misconduct of the Green Mountain Rangers at national events, MindGame Productions bans the Green Mountain Rangers from all MindGame Productions events until further notice. MindGame Productions, owned and operated by active and former military members, cannot and will not condone disrespect to military veterans. MindGame Productions agrees with OLCMSS and Blacksheep Milsim’s decision, and will stand in solidarity with our partners.

We have not heard of any official response from GMR whether at their website or at their Facebook Page. While we cannot say if this a price to pay for hubris, GMR may need to do some reflecting as they're not doing themselves nor the airsoft community a big favor for such actions that led to their banning from major airsoft events.

We all say that airsoft is an honorable game, and with honor comes humility. Let this be a lesson to be learned by airsoft teams. Airsoft teams are ideally cohesive, disciplined, and well-trained as airsoft is primarily a team-based game. But it's also a good thing to be humble, since over confidence can lead to arrogance, which then will lead to self-destructive behavior. And that my dear readers, can destroy our beloved airsoft hobby.

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