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WHAT
DOES ACTION SQUAD DO?
In a nutshell, Action Squad explores. This generally
occurs late at night, to aid in avoiding other people, particularly those
with badges and funny blue uniforms. We climb buildings, sneak into
factories, crawl through all kinds of tunnels, spelunk old brewery caves,
poke around abandoned buildings, and run across the rooftops.
Sometimes we get in full gear, consult maps,
make backup plans, and launch major missions into unknown and often dangerous
terrain; other times, we'll just happen to see some minor location that
begs to be explored and we'll take a casual stroll through the place right
then. Anyplace that is challenging to get to or is off limits to
be in is a potential target, particularly underground, abandoned, or historic
sites. We usually employ no fancy equipment, and having a good time
is our first priority. Which brings us to the next hypothetical
question ...
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WHY
THE HELL DO YOU DO THIS ?
The motivations behind Action Squad are complicated
and no doubt the result of seeing “Goonies” and the Indiana Jones movies
too many times at too impressionable of an age. Some might call
it immature, but fuck ‘em. The joys of Action Squad include the
following:
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The sense of adventure inherent in not knowing what lies ahead
- The thrill of being where you’re not supposed to be
- The challenge of figuring out how to get there
- Indulging your appreciation for history, architecture,
and
non-standard notions of beauty
- Going where boring 'normal' people would never even dream
of going
- Being in places that have not had human visitors
in years
- Rare chances to appreciate little-seen architecture
- Using your wits to avoid detection/arrest (often narrowly)
Appreciating urban adventuring requires a well developed sense of wonder,
a powerful curiousity, a juiced-up imagination, and a taste for adventure.
If the simple bulleted points above are not sufficient to make you understand why Action Squad exists, then perhaps no
amount of longwinded and eloquent explanations will do it, either.
When it comes to this type of thing, you've either got it or you don't.
Of course, according to Freud, interest and
dreams of tunnels signify an unhealthy fixation on ... you guessed it,
the vagina. I don't know about the rest of the Squad, but I don't
think my love of exploration has its roots in a vagina fixation.
I mean, if some of the tunnels we've been in represented women's crotches,
they would be some horribly smelly, crusty, old, and broken-down crotches.
Not the kind of thing you'd want to fixate on, certainly. Well,
I hope not.
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WHAT IS YOUR HISTORY?
Action Squad was officially formed on the U of MN's
Minneapolis campus in late 1996. Initially called "Adventure
Squad," the group's original purpose was two-fold: first, as a
kick-ass alternative to the boring college social scene, and second,
to find a way into the steam tunnels that were rumored to exist far
beneath the surface of the campus.
After stumbling into drain, sewer, and utility
tunnels, Action Squad finally succeeded in accessing the tightly-secured
steam tunnel system, and quickly mastered them. Of course, meeting
our initial goal did not mean that Action Squad disbanded.
Instead, the constantly-shifting team of adventurers
sought out new places to explore and new techniques to employ.
In the years since, we have gained access to a staggering variety of
tunnel systems, swam through drain systems, scaled the exteriors of
buildings, waded through waist deep sewage, rappelled down and built
ladders up vertical shafts, and snuck into the guts of inhabitated structures.
Thus far, we have avoided apprehension, and no one has died.
Where
we end up should be interesting ... stay tuned. |
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