OPERATION PALATIAL LUXURY
AUGUST 5TH-6TH, 2006
Saturday, August 5th, 2006
Camp Stasa, MI
Temp: 80's. High humidity, very slight breeze, mostly sunny. Nice day.
About 20 dedicated patriots attended this weekend's training. We were conducting an initial dry run for what will hopefully develop into a designated marksmanship program, conducting some gas mask live fire drills, doing some patrol training, and some night guard duty. Cpl Punishment once again furnished some wild boar jambalaya, which was beyond excellent. And we also marveled at the palatial luxury of a new tent based on what The US Marines are now using.
Reaper was doing some class prep, and 12pounder started on his three-mile walk. Super Six and The Pioneer class started up with a class on gas masks. It was cool of them to extend the this section of their training to anyone who was interested. Those Pioneers are high speed, low drag, but they aren't leaving anyone behind. We don't have a standardized suggestion for masks, except that we advise you to get one that accepts a NATO filter. Most western nations produce masks that accept these. They are more readily available. The type of mask you get will depend largely on what you can afford. Some models can get really expensive, and then you won't be able to buy any bagels.....
Anyway, gas masks are available from many of the online surplus/survival stores. You can e-mail us with questions about this. We will forward your questions to knowledgeable people, or try to direct you to an answer. A good place to start looking might be gasmasks.com. They even have a section dedicated to cheap gas mask links. A gas mask is not something you really think about needing every day, but if ever, ever you need one, then you will really, really need one...
Here is a point that Super Six really pushed....if you have any facial hair, like a beard or an evil-looking goatee, then chances are very good that your gas mask will not seal properly. If this is the case, and you come under a gas attack, you may choke, suffer, vomit, and then die. It will suck. Think about cleaning off that gray mess, so your mask will fit, and you will live. At least keep a razor in your gear, so if things get flaky, then you can clean up, hopefully before you need to don your mask.
Left: Clearing mask. Right, notice the rifle tilt, for a better sight picture.
Just donning and clearing the masks was not enough. The group fired multiple strings while wearing their masks. This is something that you need to do, once in a while. Most of the shooters had never tried this before, and we could see a rapid improvement in a short time. They even shot from the prone position, which can be a problem with a mask on.
Reaper began his marksmanship class. He is an excellent instructor. Without talking down to anyone, he started at some very basic levels. This is a good deal. Even if you know a lot of this, having some refresher instruction couldn't hurt.
Left: Class paying rapt attention. Right: Dry fire exercise.
The class included, but was not limited to, some very basic marksmanship issues, including natural point of aim, muscle relaxation, sight picture, and many more fundamental issues which make one a decent shooter...
Unfortunately, despite the excellent block of instruction, many of the shooters did not perform as well as we would have liked on the course of fire, and remedial measures are now being put in place. As we are merely civilian militia, without the added punch of air support, mortars, armor, crew-served weapons, and the like, we only have our rifles to depend on. We need to compensate for the things we lack by ramping up our shooting to the maximum level of efficiency. The rifle is our main implement, and we need to be on top of it.
We believe in being honest with each other, and even though this seems like a negative issue, it really should be seen as a chance for improvement, for more focused instruction, and for a more accurate group of militia people. This will get better, and we will get better....
So, like I said, remedial measures are being established. Check the index page soon. We don't want anyone to be discouraged, but we want everyone to be better shooters. So let's work on that. Let's make it the case where when people see "Michigan Militia", they see precise, accurate shooters.
We will be repeating Reaper's course of fire on a regular basis, and will be keeping track of the general improvement.
Cpl Punishment fired up the grill and fed us even more wild boar jambalaya. Mad hatter let a few of us try a bite of Mountain House freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream. Damn if it didn't actually taste like ice cream! Cpl Punishment mentioned the possibility of bear jambalaya in the future....I am looking forward to this...
Left: Headgear du jour. Right: Wild. Boar. Jambalaya. Yayyyyy!!!
Meanwhile, The Pioneers were conducting some recon in an area that included a nicely swollen creek. Creeks can be considered as a linear danger area, and should be crossed with as much attention to security as possible. Also, make sure that your valuables are secure and dry. Wallets and such can be swamped in a creek. A couple of zip lock baggies could be of great use here...
We then worked on zeroing some rifles, and general marksmanship practice. Here is some homework: Look online, do some reading, find out ways YOU can improve. Start with some better ammo, consider adding a scope. Maybe, just maybe, an AK is not gong to be your most accurate rifle. Keep it for close range, urban style work, but consider something that shoots tighter. In a perfect world, we would all have M1A rifles....but until then, always consider ways to make an upgrade...always look around for better ammo. For example, Cheetah 7.62X39 seems to shoot better than Wolf or milsurp. Consider spending the extra pennies for tighter groups. Consider shooting more at some local range. It's not just your life that may depend on shooting better, it's the life of your team, and maybe even your country....
A happy sealion overseas marksmanship training, and joins Weapon M on the ATV.
Mr Stasa has a new ATV, it's a little 250, but Super Six and myself gave it a couple of test drives to evaluate its potential as a militia vehicle. (Okay, that's the excuse we gave for racing around the woods with this...) This is the type of thing to consider adding to your gear. Yeah, I know it's expensive, but having the flexible mobility of something like this could dramatically increase the strike potential of small militia units. It is fully capable of carrying a militia person and his/her (yeah, we need some more "her" in the militia) gear through just about any terrain.
Our basic mode of transport will always be our feet, but this would be nice to have in the field. (It would be nice to have a snowmobile or two, also...especially as an evacuation/medic transport vehicle....)
Then it was Patrol Time....We had two teams move out to link up with the Pioneers' OP/CP. One team linked directly up, and another team was guided in after dropping off some items in the parking area....
Left: Fully-laden Pioneers move out. Right: Sealion joins Weapon M on patrol.
Left: The Palatial Estate of Black Jack. Right: "Point One" moves out. (He has been advised to darken his rifle furniture...)
We had two classes in the field by Black Jack. The first covered hasty defense in depth featuring interlocking inverted triangles. This is covered in Black Jack's section of the web page... Very roughly, you want to install your defense in layers, with mutually supporting and interlocking fields of fire. Don't rely on simple, linear formations.
The second was a very hasty class about crossing a linear danger area. More can be found on this in FM 7-8, which you all should be reading as much as possible, anyway.
In short, send out left and right security, then send two point men across to recon the far side, then send the rest of the unit across, and then pull in your security elements and send them across.
Yeah, it's more complex than that, but come on out to the field and get it down pat. Study these materials that are linked here, and pick up a copy of FM 7-8 to carry with you. Yes, it's like homework. Yes, it might take away from something else. You decide how important this is, and act accordingly. It's not like trying to learn to speak Greek or anything, but it does require your attention.
Left: Squad being instructed. Right: SL Razor briefing Point One...
It sucks that we don't have weeks and weeks and can only spend a little time in the field, but we can do what we can to improve our tactical know-how when we are not in the woods, as well.
Weapon M, Super Six, and the sealion.
Following this hyper-speed walk through and practice, our friends from Ohio (great, state, guys! Love to come down and visit it sometime...) had to leave, and as it got dark, the Pioneers did some night movement and security. The Pioneers pulled night security at the OP, and myself and Super Six sort of split guard duty at the Griffin's Den.
Something in the corn??? Signs???
Sunday morning the Pioneer class rolled back into the range to find a bright and sunshiny Weapon M (hey, I am ALWAYS bright and sunshiny......) up and ready.
Black Jack has several courses of fire set up that include some intense 25-meter scaled targets....These will be worked into our regular training as best we can. One of these was addressed Sunday, as well as some penetration testing on some small steel plates. We should conduct more penetration testing of this type, to see what works.
All in all, it was an excellent weekend, as we touched on several things that needed to be touched upon. We hope that we can continue to have folks get a grip on the important things...even if it's only once a month or so.
Next month: September's training will be on the 9th, due to Labor Day. If any of you feel the need to go on the 2nd, please let us know. The 9th will cover shotgun and home defense drills. Please bring your shotgun, plenty of shells, and a willingness to demonstrate use of your shotgun to others.
Left: Sealion guarding the guns, and looking downrange.
PIONEER AUGUST TRAINING ADDENDUM HERE!!!