MILITIA FIELD DAY 2008
Video by Non Militia Guest Yohi00
Pin Shoot Video by Lenawee Militia
MFD 2008 Video by Lenawee Militia
Megs with the Glock17 in 9mm. She easily handled the recoil, AND got some good Myspace pictures!
Over sixty five die-hard, prepared Michiganians showed up to enjoy Militia Field Day, despite chilly weather and a steady, merciless, non-stop rain, which fell from the sky. Repeatedly. All day. As evidenced by the number of ponchos, tarps, and umbrellas (ella ella ella) that we saw, this was a well-prepared group of folks.
Quite a few folks tried their hand at newer guns. The Glock17, the Crickett .22, and the Walther P22 seemed to be favorites. A good handful familiarized themselves with a Mossberg 500 persuader in 12 ga. The Winchester 1300 got a good workout, too. It was good to see the shotguns get some time on the range, especially since we preach their use as a home defense weapon. Many good folks stepped up to serve as Range Safety Officers, as noted by the orange vests. We thank them most sincerely.
It's not enough to just blast away, as Jacob and Robert went to check their shot placement. On the right, a safety briefing.
Above left, kids getting a safety briefing. We had 12 youngsters participating in the kids only .22cal shoot. We had three groups of four, and the first one from each group to knock down or break all four of their clay pigeons, which were hung on the backstop, advanced to the final. This was a good way to get them familiar with many .22 rifles and even a handgun or two.
Big Damage is displeased that his scope is not completely sighted in, and the best geared-up little dudes EVER.
Eric (call sign?), won a survival knife kit for the 1st prize, White Rabbit won a small entrenching tool for 2nd prize, and eight year old Eli (call sign?) won an emergency hand crank/solar powered radio flashlight (that he winds up every night and listens to as he falls asleep) for 3rd place in the Kids' Shoot. Great shooting, guys!!!
Still knocking the pins down. One handed. "We have to do MATH???"
The bowling pin shoot was a hoot, and a holler. We had about 25 entrants competing for an M44 Mosin Nagant, and more importantly, glory. The Lenawee Militia shot exceptionally well overall. ECVM Corporal Punishment and The Pioneer Corps Commander had SUPER times of a touch over SIX seconds. The top eight times moved on to the head to head competition. In a very, very tight final, WMVM's Darkmind came away the winner. Macomb County had a competitor who advanced as well. We also had at least two young competitors, which is always fun to see. Everyone was encouraging, had fun, and showed excellent sportsmanship.
The final showdown. The winner, WMVM's own Darkmind.
Megs shooting the fifty for the second year in a row, and Bub shoots it for the first time.
One dog carries medical gear, and one carries water. This, my friends, is completely awesome.
The grub was grubtacular, as usual, Thumper moved a lot of information AND gear, at the trusty Militia Mart.
The Lenawee Militia. The good folks from Liberty Tree Radio.
The AK. Reliable, fun, and fashionable. Weapon M "briefing" the kids. Again.
Yeah, it rained. We didn't melt. Yes honey, we will wash the van. I promise.
Don't Tread On Us. Just don't. Ever.
Momo, Raven, and Megs challenge you all to come "shoot like a girl"...IF YOU CAN!!!
Excellent WMVM Write-Up for MFD 2008
Set your sights on MFD 2009!!!
MILITIA FIELD DAY VIDEO PART 1: OPEN SHOOTING
MILITIA FIELD DAY VIDEO PART 2: HANDGUN COMPETITION
MILITIA FIELD DAY VIDEO PART 3: BIG .50 CAL SHOOT
In 1995, Brass Roots held an event called "The Tax Blast", which was a fundraising and public awareness event for this pro-gun group. The First such event was held at The Sharonville Range. They held it again in 1996 and 1997, at Camp Stasa. In 1998, The Tax Blast was cancelled. Beginning in 2000, local militia units from The Detroit Metropolitan Area began running the event, which came to be renamed "Militia Field Day" in 2004. Militia Field Day has grown into one of the more eagerly anticipated militia events of the year. Many people have gotten involved with their local militia units after coming out to meet them (or us) at this event. We also look forward to seeing the youngsters come out and shoot, many for the first time ever. This event has also served as a good starting point for any media outlets that have an interest in the current state of affairs with regards to local Michigan Militia elements.
MILITIA FIELD DAY 2007
Saturday, April 14th, 2007
Above: Christian "The Axe" Charron throws down on "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Above: Mike "Instructor" W. Supervising Raven "Baby Chops" Miracle on a heavy squad AK.
Saturday, April 14th, 2007
Camp Stasa, MI
Cloudy, mid to high 40's, very slight breeze
Attendance: About 90 people overall
One of the purposes of Militia Field Day, in addition to raw fun, is to let the rest of our fellow citizens meet and learn that these "militia people" are good decent folks, much like themselves. It is a big help if active militia people show up for this, and kudos to the ones that did.
The weather was bit chillier than usual, and we were stretched quite thin as far as gate guard and RSO people, but we pulled through and got the job done. Thanks to the folks who stepped up into the gap and covered where covering needed to be done.
As preparations continued into the morning, we were treated to an audio feast, provided by "The Axe", who performed a finely improvised "Star-Spangled Banner" to begin with, and then continued to impress us at random intervals throughout the day with much jammage. Thanks to Mad Hatter for the big huge amp thing, and thanks to D-Day for the generator what powered it up. It was pretty sweet and loud to have a talented guitarist providing us with a rocking soundtrack to go along with the shooting.
"Sunshine" with a big .357
The open shoot was well-maintained and fun. I was happy to see the number of youngsters at the range. There was a wide variety of .22 handguns and rifles for folks to try, including the now famous "pink rifle". Xena "Little Hatter" has a very nicely finished .22 bolt gun that got comments from just about everyone. I had imagined that my youngest daughter, "Momo", would have been the youngest shooter at 4 years of age, but John C. brought along his 3 year old daughter. This was a scene for the ages, having a three and four year old girl shoot side by side. This gives us hope for the future.
Left: Xena with that sweetly finished .22. Right: Bubba M and Eli with TWO Range Officers!
I also noticed people who had been newer shooters not too long ago providing instruction to current newer shooters. This included "Baby Chops" showing people how to use her pink gun.
I have to mention Mike W., Mike M., D-Day, and Gerry R., who either very generously let people, especially the youngsters, shoot their weapons, or functioned as kind, patient, and knowledgeable range instructors. This is a nice thing to see.
Left, Momo with Mike M. Her first time shooting. Right, JohnC and daughter.
The open shoot was a good time, especially with all these kids!
We then moved on to a Zombie Qualification Shoot, which was for kids and .22s only. They loved it. Mike M added a few water bottles as targets, and the kids lit up the range. They seem to enjoy the fact that we shut the range down just for them. Hearing and eye protection were required for everyone under 18.
The kids had a good time shooting at Zombies and water bottles.
Some of the younger shooters really showed professionalism and composure.
Following the Zombie kids shoot, we went on to our bowling pin shoot. Here, we learned the value of continuing to shoot, because you never know if your opponent will have ammo problems, or a jam, or some other malfunction.
The age range of participants was a nice broad one.
The Winner! Congrats!
Sometimes just keeping up shooting will win you the day. There was some nice shooting that day, but we saw our share of malfunctions and jams. Maybe we can take a little bit of time to clean and maintain our weapons and ammo a bit tighter. Check the fit and function of your mags and such, as well. The time to experience malfunctions is at the range, and not in a life-or-death situation.
We then had a "Save the British Sailors" shooting competition whereby you got to shoot at a map of Iran in an effort to save British Sailors.
The winner, who scored three points toward saving the sailors, won a big bag of gear, gear, gear, which was donated by Thumper. This seems like a spectacular prize!
We had some more open shooting, while the TWO (that's right, TWO) fifty caliber beasties were made ready. It's hard to say no to open shooting.
But the fifties did get cut loose, with several younger and newer shooters being brave enough to take a crack it it.
Left, 10-year old "Stomper" on the .50. Right: Cool helmet.
We also got to shoot Cpl Punishment's nifty 37mm flare launcher!
The smile says it all!
-Weapon M
The 2007 Militia Field Day was again a BLAST. A hardy, happy, hungry group of folks showed many were just hankering to hear the Big FIFTY roar but there was a jam packed schedule to get thru before the beast was loosed.
Being a support person I arrived the night before with a kitchen to setup up and a shuttle van to drive I was looking at a full day of "FUN" to prepare for. Upon arriving I learned that Roadkill and a friend had already arrived and were getting a roasty toasty camp fire going. This was well appreciated. There was a respectable chill setting in that night.
Come morning the pink sun promised a warm day however it was all relative yes it was warmer than the previous couple of days it was not as nice a day as it could have been. But that didn't stop our hardy Field Day attendees. Besides all the gun fire warms ya up!
SMVM folks and other volunteers rolled in and stuff started happening. We had gate guard posted prior to start time always a plus and we had signage posted along the roads soon after. MadHatter and I shared the shuttle duty he armed with his mighty mudslinging mopar and I with my 2 wheel drive Ford extended bed cargo van. He ran smaller groups and I left my grill to ferry the larger groups. When I left the grill it was "manned" by a friend of Weapon M's whom I'd like to propose the call sign "Sunshine". She is no stranger to a kitchen and can she chop onions pronounced "UnYuns" Uncle Justin would be proud.
The temperatures, other then in the kitchen never got warm the sun was hampered by thick cloud cover most of the day. This didn't stop the folks from showing up. We didn't break any records but we had a nice piece of change to give to Mr. Stasa. The live music was a welcomed addition hopefully this can be an on going thing be it electric or acoustic. Maybe Mr. Stasa will jam with the fella's next time. Live music helps to make for a festive atmosphere.
Of course to many of us the
sound of the newly acquainted shooters having a safe and happy exposure to
firearms and target shooting is music enough. I can't comment to much about the
shooting as I was heavily tasked being cook and driver. I can however comment on
the excitement of all the kids. When the call went out that 
it
was KIDS ONLY time at the firing line faces lit up.
Kids just thinks it cool when you make a special time for just them and that's
what we did. With parents and militia RSO's a plenty making sure every one
learned and practiced safe gun handling. I'm reminded of the time I brought my
God-nephew and he fired the 50 caliber. He could not wait to get home and tell
him Mom that he fired a gun "bigger than me, Mom!"
For my part it was a GREAT Day it was 26 hours long but I would not have changed anything other than the weather and considering we have had really nice weather every year I have been involved one "warm" over cast day out of the bunch isn't bad. Thanks to the dedicated people that made it such a success. Oh and yeah are you going to come out next year ?
check the beans
-CHUCKWAGON out ! ! !
P.S. no ChuckWagon report would be complete with out listing the menu we had Burgers, Kielbasa and of course BEANS and for our Vegetarian friends "DIRTY WHITE BOY RICE" tm