Recently residents, medical staff, and significant others came together with a common goal. What cause was so important to bring such a group together? World peace perhaps? Maybe strategies to reduce our carbon footprint? Close... It was for the ability to harness compressed air and simulate warfare with the Colchester Paint Ball group. Like anything in VT, it proved to be a very organic experience...
Above, Group Shot-
Top, left to right: Armin, Pierre, Dave, Phill, JC, Suraiya, Sahir, Perki, Lynda
Bottom kneeling Left to right: Jen, Maruf, Axel, Shalini
The day began early...Phill "Warrior" Anderson III, cardiology fellow by day...and night, who provided inspiration for the outing, walked into the compound silently and confidently. Upon entrance, he kneeled to the ground, ran scoops of clay soil through his hands and muttered, "I love the smell of vegetable oil based polymer in the mornings..." He then got up with purpose and carefully wrote down all our names in a small paint soaked black book, labelled 'Martyrs'. After coldly staring into each participant's eyes of his victims lives. He then assumed the yogi position and awaited to become one with the paint...
Upper Level Medicine Resident Lynda "10 Cane" Tilluckdharry also came prepared for battle. When asked what her game plan was, she politely yet sternly stated:
"I wore fluorescent pink today because I'm that good....It's also in honor of the 'Where's Waldo Book Series' and the Trinidadian Army"
The group was divided into two. With the lines drawn, everyone geared up at base camp, with 3000 psi of compressed air, trigger fingers and dreams of bruising. Multiple battles, proctored by the wonderful folks at Colchester Paintball, ensued as the morning went on.
Interventional cardiologist, Perki "Call of Duty" Gogo, had one the higher kill counts. He commented on the fact that paintball reminded him of being in a video game. "My love for video games is the reason why I went into interventional cardiology" He said, "I like fake shooting fake people almost as much as I like shooting the cors ..."
One of the highlights was a simulated all out Spartan inspired run-through attack on one of the pine ridden battlefields. FP attending, Sahir "tofu tornado" Patel led the attack and nearly raised the winning flag. Unfortunately, the attack was more Lemming like than Spartanesque and the opposing team eventually regrouped and painted liberally...There was also unfortunate friendly fire: Sorry Perki....
Representing the surgical specialties, Armin "10 blade" Kiankhooy and Dave "Faceoff"Gawlik worked well together to get a high paint/kill count. It was almost as though they choreographed their maneuvers. When asked how they came to be so in sync with each other, Armin replied:
"Our success comes from working extremely long hours mimicking prime time TV sensation 'Dancing with the Stars'. We practice at home or in the OR....occasionally with tan unitards".
Promptly after Armin's statement, Dave blurted, "You've said too much!" and shot Armin closer than the allowed 20 foot minimum distance.
Anesthesiology resident, Jen "Dream Killer" Hay was calm and collected as usual. Though it was her first time in the trenches, she was usually one of the few remaining at the end of battle. When asked about her experience Jen replied, "I'm not sure if I like all this kneeling and crouching...I prefer aerosolized warfare...its much more efficient."
Pierre "Je me souviens" Znojkiewicz, Cardiology Fellow and Montreal Canadiens fanatic, looked for inspiration. Despite having techno and red bull coursing through his veins, he could not decide to do it for his country or his team. Helped by his trusty Québécois sympathizer - JC - they decided to put the Quebec flag on their victims faces. They then forgot to do it midway through the battles, techno still blazing....
Axel "stor våpen"Bendiksby was one of the first to inflict bruises secondary to his incredibly efficient infiltration tactics. The viking commented on his success by saying, "I trained in the Norwegian army...those UN missions really prepared me for this...."
Medicine Intern, Shalini "Red Ninjal" Jha, was just happy to be somewhere other than Baird 4 (our fav Medicine Ward) . It should be noted that she deserves the "Coolest Intern to come to Paintball" award as she was the only intern present. I guess most of the interns don't want to simulate warfare or cause any pain to their residents. It supports the idea that Vermont residents are nice (except Shalini's resident)
At the end of the day, the entire group now one with the earth and paint walked off into the horizon. They celebrated with beer, chicken wings and nachos at a local establishment. I believe world peace and carbon footprints was discussed for at least a few minutes
