IAmA Military Role player, or as we like to call it, adult laser tag you get payed for.

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What is this?

Will be back in a bit. 2 hours tops.

Do you get live ammo or a cork and a string?

They are issued weapons that shoot blanks, if a role player is issued a weapon as a police officer, ect. They are given modified airsoft weapons.

[EDIT] It's been a blast talking with everyone, if you have questions still feel free to message me and I'll get to them as I can. I currently have to drive home and will be around again to answer publicly later tonight.

What is your yearly income?

Sadly, like previously stated, I can't disclose that. But know it's pretty decent.

Can you give me an example of where a role is important? Does the game change if I am a medic, fisherman, police officer, etc?

If a civilian is shot, and was innocent. How would the public react? What the military does reflects how we as role players treat them. The roles are for realism.

Do you kick ass at Call of Duty?

Funny thing is that I barely play xD

How does one get into this kind of work?

I found it in the unemployment office. Search around online for military installations near you to see if they actively do training with civilians.

I did JRTC in FT Polk with 1st Cav back in 08. Now that I'm out, role playing would be kind of fun. How much do they pay? Is it worth taking 2 weeks off from work?

Can't give pay information, sorry. But I say it's good pay for what you do.

Are there any actual military guys with you? We did this too as part of our training, but the op-4 (opposition force) guys were all people from our squadrons that had already been through it and had signed up to work on the other side.

As in what? Expand on this a bit?

I think he's asking what role the 509th plays.

They fill in where needed but mostly play as the opposing force or the national security forces of the country that isn't the US

Why don't you guys use simunition? I did an exercise with the Marines once and those rounds raise the stakes a little when you're in a firefight!

I'm sure it's to do with safety xD I'm just a roleplayer, that's a question for the higher ups.

Are there any real safety precautions you have to take during the training? Is your job dangerous at all?

There are always dangers but safety is what we take the most serious out there. It's hard to explain the inner workings though.

I think it's absolutely awesome that this takes place so close to me and that you treat it as realistically as you do. My question is, do you ever see yourself getting bored with it, or is it such a constant state of change that there's always something different and new?

It's ever changing, besides some downtime of normal village stuff like gardening and such. There's always something going on! So no, I don't see myself getting bored!

Is the training built for you by outside contractors (aka "industry partners") as useful as you'd like? How can it be better?

To be completely honest, I'm not sure how to answer this, there are reviews of scenarios that take place to assess and correct issues if that's what you are asking.

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LOL! Haven't had one yet, however we have done nuclear disaster training, where we were sent through DECON lines (decontamination.) We were given all kinds of Hollywood style makeup wounds. I was lungshot by shrapnel for instance with a sucking chest wound for them to contain along with all the chaos.