Oran business creates battlefield for area paintball enthusiasts

ORAN, Mo. -- Large, fresh craters dot the landscape. Trees, blown in half, lay haphazardly across the ground. The shell of a tractor-trailer cab and overturned vehicles surround a compound that contains several rooms separated by narrow halls, a fuel dump and a command center. Smoke fills the air, and commands from an advancing infantry ring through the woods. It's a war zone, and it's in Oran.

Cerberus Training Options and Paintball, owned by brothers Chris and Damon Shy, is a new facility that offers both paintball wars and the serious training required by the military and law enforcement communities. CTO will open at 10 a.m. Friday to the public, and workers say they hope to see groups of people at any level of experience come down to play paintball games.

Chris Shy handles many of the day-to-day operations, and Damon Shy, a police officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department, helps with conceal-and-carry instruction. Josh Caputo is an instructor, as well as a referee for the field. Bob Fradette is also an instructor and teaches some hand-to-hand portions of the training offered by CTO. Caputo assists in that training, as well as teaching survival and firearms marksmanship.

Play field and war zone

Using their collective combat experience, the creators of CTO have built a play field that incorporates aspects of battle and design ideas that add to the realism of the paintball games.

"We built a tactical scenario," Josh Caputo said. "We put up a bunch of buildings and dug blast craters. We put [in] sandbag fighting positions and lots of other stuff."

The cost to play depends upon what gear players own. There is a $20 per person fee to use the facility, but for this opening weekend, CTO is waiving the fee.

Woodsball tourneys

Caputo and Shy want to involve tournament play called woodsball at the Cerberus facility, and hope that their realistic scene setup will put them on the map quickly. The Woodsball Tournament League and the Ultimate Woodsball League currently have teams that play woodsball in facilities like the one in Oran.

"As it implies, it's the guys that go out into the woods and fight it out," Caputo said. "We set everything up so that people can actually use a tactical plan."

"There are only a few places that the woodsball league plays right now, nationally," Caputo said. "We're trying to make sure that Missouri is one of those."

"There was an event that pulled between 600 and 900 people, and I look at that and think that if we can pull those people into Missouri to play a paintball game, they've got to have somewhere to eat, somewhere to stay," he said. "They're going to buy things and spend money."

Scenario ball, another type of play available at the field, involves a variety of strategic games. Caputo said the games change constantly. CTO's staff provides randomly selected scenarios based on the number of players in games like "Capture the Flag," "Vehicle Assault," "Personal Security" and "Hostage Rescue."

"We think there should be a paintball league in Cape, Sikeston, Jackson and any other area that would like to join us," Caputo said. "Start up a sport in the area and give the young people something to do [other] than get in trouble."

Emphasis on safety

All of the men who teach and train at CTO have military and law enforcement backgrounds, and take every aspect of the business seriously.

"We are very strict on safety. We have referees that walk around and make sure that people are doing things safely," Caputo said. "All of us are either combat lifesaver certified from the Army or are EMTs so we keep an EMT kit bag down there."

CTO offers conceal-and-carry certification, women's self-defense and hand-to-hand combat programs. Adding paintball was a way to enhance the training and provide a new aspect to the business.

"I think [paintball] could do a lot for the local economy," said Caputo, referring to leagues. "Businesses could adopt it and start selling the clothing and gear and accessories. We want to invite vendors to set up on event days to sell food, etc."

Cerberus Training Options and Paintball is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Monday through Thursday is open by appointment. For more information, visit www.cto-llc.webs.com or call 573-837-7858.