OPERATION: RAZORWIND 04 DECEMBER, 2004

Four of us crammed into Matt's Blazer on Friday evening to go up to Camp Stasa's to  get an early start on the weekend's training and to evaluate our ability to stay out in colder temperatures. Along for the trip were Matt's nephew Mikey and "StandonGuard", from The University of Windsor. We discovered a nice couple of inches of snow on the ground when we got there. The first thing we did was start a fire using a heat tab. In this kind of situation, building a fire first is important, because of the comfort it provides (Matt's young nephew, Mikey, was there...), and because this gives you the ability to warm up while doing other things, should the need arise.

After this, we started setting up the shelters and sleeping areas. This was when we discovered that fully half of this advance team did not have actual sleeping bags. Bad deal. That should be the first thing that you pack in the winter. This now made the fire a little more important. There was, however, plenty of poncho liners, jacket liners, and other cold weather gear on hand, so nobody froze. My US extreme cold weather bag was okay, until I tried to open it by pulling it apart as opposed to unzipping it. This wrecked my zipper. I think it can be fixed, and the bag also has snaps to keep it closed. If I get it fixed, I think I will pass my US bags on to my boys, and get a bigger bag like Frank has.

BR showed up later that night and helped StandOnGuard rig up an effective reflective tarp shelter closer to the fire. Mikey was in a tent with a new bag, (I hope we get a brief review of that one...) and Matt was using poncho liners and shivering to keep warm.

We had planned to do a stand-to in the morning, but it got much lighter faster than I had calculated. Maybe it was the snow, but it was awful bright early. So instead of stand-to, we got to see an awesome Stasa sunrise. I think it worked out that way.

Thumper then tried to sneak in on us and catch us either sleeping or doing stand-to, but his truck crunched too loudly across the frozen road.

Then, as people started showing up, we had the required gear-gawking and informal weapons classes, along with some function tests and sighting in. Mikey got some first-time experience shooting, during which he learned how to conduct himself safely. Good job, Mikey!!!

We then moved out as two squads (this is good for December...) and bounded out across the woods. Upon bounding back, we swept the area known as La La Land and searched tents and trailers for bad guys. Movement was good. Camo was good (maybe because of the cold?). The only glaring error that I saw as when a member opened a door without any cover or back up. At the minimum, we should always work in pairs. We also discussed using 550 cord or something similar to open doors or move objects from a distance where possible. A small hook on a 12 feet long section of cord would work well here, we think.

Good camo, nice ragtop.	Good camo. Almost. (But not Matt...)

It was then time for some grub. Chuckwagon was unavailable this time, and we were almost resigned to eating more chili-mac (yummy), but Thumper stepped up to the plate and grilled some bratwursts, Italian sausage, hot sausage, and Beefaroni. Everyone had positive things to say about this. Knowing that guys like Thumper and Chuckwagon "got our backs" makes a huge difference.

After lunch, we did a search and rescue drill where we had to find and recover a lost child in the woods. We headed out online (nice to see a long/wide line of militia people) to search. Matt was with the child, and used a signal flare to help us locate him. The flare did not soar heavenward in a majestic fashion, but the noise and smoke helped us find his position. We had fashioned a sling for the stretcher, and brought it out to extract the victim.

Matt, who is a Paramedic, gave the class on how to lift and transport a victim, including how to stop and rest the stretcher arms on your hips to free your hands up. We switched stretcher bearers a few times to give everybody an idea of how it works, while the other guys pulled security.

Having a collapsible stretcher in your vehicle is not a bad idea. If you can't find a collapsible one, then a normal stretcher or backboard should be carried if you have the space. One of the things that we discussed was that realistically, in the event of a major disaster, one of the things we can actually to is transport patients to a triage area. For this, we should have stretchers and some rudimentary first aid knowledge. A mass casualty event will quickly overwhelm our local response capability, so citizens need to prepare to step in and help.

We then worked on some more basic two man bounding and withdrawal. Sometimes this seems needlessly repetitive, but it is a sort of bread and butter thing that can always be worked on.

This was followed by some pistol work and close range shooting. For many of us, our pistol is a First-responder sort of tool, with which proficiency should always be developed and improved.

Thanks to everyone who showed up. Happy Holidays!!! We will see you in 2005...

If you have anything to add, send it to us.