principal star

Operation Summer Tears began in 2011 as a local airsoft event for myself and anyone who was willing to join, as there were no airsoft events or large companies putting on large mil-sim games in the Midwest at the time. In 2012, roughly 25 friends and family joined for a three-day airsoft event: Operation Summer Tears. In many ways, this was one of the best "events" I put on—it was a complete success, and everyone had a good time.

 

The following year, I began focusing on a storyline for this event, with Operation Summer Tears 2 culminating into an entirely story-driven event. Team Blue Blood was founded by General Z in response to an up-and-coming threat in the Far East: Nomengedon. Nomengedon, while not exactly a part of Russia, parasitically sapped Russia until the events of where we are now in the storyline. Team Blue Blood's mission was a success: the experimental biochem warheads Nomengedon was producing were retrieved and brought back stateside for research. By 2014, the warheads that were originally stolen by American Blue Bloods were still being produced—and worse, there were an estimated 50 warheads, not the five the CIA had originally estimated Nomengedon to possess, resulting in Operation Summer Tears 3: a textbook failure for the Blue Bloods. By the end of 2014 and entering 2015, I began making more money and had more time; thus, I refocused my attention on this series I was cultivating in my head. At the start of 2015, Operation Blizzard was initiated, where two Blue Bloods successfully infiltrated a Nomengedon remote research outpost to recover the cure files from the outpost's mainframe terminal (honestly, I am surprised at how flawlessly this entire event went).

 

In the summer of 2015, Operation Summer Tears was picking up momentum, and more mature players began attending my events. Operation Summer Tears 4 in the summer of 2014 had about the same number of attendees as the original Operation Summer Tears, but now we had semi-serious players with better weapons, equipment, and experience. This was an excellent step in the right direction for my goals, but a setback when some players caused problems. This was a massive learning experience for me as I grew and matured.

 

By 2016, Operation Silent Night was hosted in the spring of 2016 with few attendees but was a massive success by all other metrics. We were finally growing into our own niche of the small community of Midwest event hosts. The following fall, in 2017, Operation Quagmire, another successful learning experience, was hosted: same story as 2015. In the fall of 2018, we hosted Operation Fall Frenzy 1: a general event similar to the first Operation Summer Tears, but a single-day event instead of a three-day one. It was an enjoyable experience, but it lacked direction.

 

In 2018, Operation Summer Tears began the path towards greatness. Most events were put on hiatus for the planning stages of some larger events that would take place outside of our humble central Indiana playgrounds. The original plan was for these events to take place in 2019, then 2020, but COVID-19 hit. All this time, I had planned, scrapped, rewritten, scalped, and rehashed some major events that were in the works. When the lockdowns ended in the fall of 2020, I began working for the government. That put all of my plans for Operation Summer Tears on the back burner, where they remained until 2023, when I held a capture-the-flag game separate from the Operation Summer Tears storyline—a pure airsoft game for fun, and it was!

 

By 2025, I was determined to revive this old project of mine. Jobs became impossible to find, I did not have any desire to go back to government work as I had started a family, and I had nothing but time. Since 2015, I had dreamt of this imaginary alternate world in my head, written books, films, and short stories about each major character and faction from this universe, and produced nearly 35 turnkey event plans.

 

Operation Sonder Shot was supposed to revive Operation Summer Tears, finally bringing the series back on track canonically. However, everyone has their own commitments, and I was unwilling to go forward on another major event without a minimum player count. Thus, it, too, was put on hold until the weather improved. As we enter the spring, Operation Sonder Shot is back on the table, followed by Operation Rainbow Granny and Operation Gaslight Guidance.

Operation Summer Tears is an excellent name for this mysterious story I have dreamt in my head, but it does not convey the story at its principal. Operation Summer Tears is an operational name, not a series name. It is nonsensical to have an event titled "Operation XYZ, an Operation ABC event" with the ongoing plans. Thus, I determined a company name that could be tied in with the overall narrative had to be established.

 

Principal Star Ventures, a project name that allows me to pursue not only various event paths but also other mediums for telling the story of Team Blue Blood, the Unified Resistance, Nomengedon, and the various factions that fill in the cracks, was established. Rest assured, there will continue to be Operation Summer Tears events, and they will lead to the next chapter of this story. Operation Summer Tears is now Principal Star in name only—at the core, this is still something I've spent more than half my life on, and I will see it through to the end. By 2030, expect events crossing the line between "military simulation" and "military exercise." I seek to blur the line of fiction and reality with this story, and I hope you will experience this tale with me.

 

A very special thank you to everyone who has been with me thus far, and thank you to everyone who has ever attended an Operation Summer Tears event and made this story something unique and real. I look forward to seeing you in the future...

 

Thanks for reading my blog.