Survival games are becoming a widely accepted pastime among military personnel, as they help foster camaraderie and give soldiers a way to blow off steam while staying in line with Ministry of National Defense policies, sources said.
Paintball, with a variety of game modes, allows military enthusiasts to simulate a battlefield, which they often further enhance by wearing military-like gear, including goggles, camouflage, tactical vests and other items.
The 269th and 333rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, the Kinmen Defense Command, the army’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense training center and the communication, electronics and information division have all established clubs for these kinds of games, the sources said.
The use of personal equipment is not prohibited when participating in the clubs, which have allowed participants to bring in their own gear, they said.
While the club activities count as leisure and recreation, their nature is almost inseparable from military life, and participation not only helps release stress, but also trains a soldier’s physical condition and accuracy in shooting, they added.
These games help soldiers prepare and stay combat-ready even while participating in recreational activities, 269th Brigade Commander Major General Lin Chih-ying (林志穎) said.
Lin, who had also pushed for the creation of a similar club when leading the 333rd Brigade, said he hoped the soldiers and officers could use what they learned in the army and improve their performance during club events.
To meet this goal, the clubs adopt scenarios that hone soldiers’ close-quarters combat capabilities, squad-based combat abilities and covert operations, the military said.
The clubs also use the strictest rules of “one-hit down” in hopes of fostering team or solo combat capabilities, it added.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai