From the years 2001 to 2002 one of the best places in Hawaii to play airsoft was at Ka’a’awa.  I’m not talking about Kualoa Ranch though!  “Ka’a’awa Airsoft” is both a reference to the team and the field they played at.

Ka’a’awa Airsoft was started by a group of friends who lived in the area.  One in particular (Sam) owned a large amount of property a few miles down the road from Kualoa Ranch.  A part of that land happened to be used in the movie Windtalkers!

Group picture of the Ka'a'awa Airsoft guys (I snuck in on the bottom right there), taken on March 26, 2002 by Ka'a'awa Airsoft.

The following is a excerpt from the Ka’a’awa Airsoft website describing the field:

“Kaaawa Field is a private field on the Windward side of Oahu. Banana Patches offer places to hide and ambush. Varied multi level terrain make games more realistic and challenging for the most demanding strategist. New features are added to enhance games. Bunkers of various sizes are located throughout the field for various types of play. A new, 2-section bunker has been added for CQB action.”

Two of the four bunkers, photos by Ka'a'awa Airsoft.

That description sounds good on its own; yet I see it more as an understatement; this field to me is still the best field I’ve played at.  Like the description says, the terrain is so varied, there’s some thick parts, some open areas, banana patches, all in the same field.  The additions to the field were great; four bunkers, a sniper tower, a house that was just as big as the house I grew up in (I grew up in a tiny plantation style house, the kind you can see on the Dole plantation field trips), there were even some abandoned cars that actually seemed to work for the field.

The sniper tower (wasn't finished at the time this picture was taken) photo by Ka'a'awa Airsoft.

The CQB house (still under construction), photo by Ka'a'awa Airsoft.

Some overnighter games were played here, which was pretty cool.  I’ve always enjoyed camping out on that side of the island, but it was great to throw in some full moon lit airsoft games at the same time.  Really at the time that was the biggest venue in Hawaii airsoft, aside from the ASH Bashes, as pretty much other events that even came close to that were all renegade.

Over-night game, photo taken on September 2, 2001 by Me.

I’m not going to speculate as to why games couldn’t continue here, but I do know at the time airsoft fields weren’t very profitable, and I myself would probably have to move on to “real world” things in my life.  I just hope to play here again one day.

"Big" game, photo taken on September 24, 2002 by Ka'a'awa Airsoft.

First time we ever had to keep track of who's in or out, photo taken on September 24, 2002 by Ka'a'awa Airsoft.

Note:  This was written to the best of my knowledge, so if you find an inaccuracy please let me know.