Operation: Slow Burn

August, 2007

Report by Mad Hatter

Sunny summer morning, Forcast high in the Mid to upper 80's.  The good news, It was warm enough to keep the rabid mosquito population of Camp Stasa at bay. 

  I arrived around 0930 to be greeted by four folks itching to qualify Level 1.  After a brief introduction, We went over gear, and I was happy to see that everything was in order. Two of them even went above and beyond by having their own copies of the Constitution printed and bound in an easy to carry pocket sized format.  There may actually be a market for these which we'll explore later.

  We then did the "Weapons Break-down" portion which I enjoyed as we had four different weapons present.  First was a BAR-10, The bad-ass, .308 caliber version of Bushmaser's AR-15.  It's owner, Who I referred to as "NoName" until such time that he chooses a better call sign, has attended the last couple of Field Days and performed well in the pistol shoot competition.  His friend, Also a field day participant, had a nice AR-15.  Then there was Caber, With his SKS and the ever popular Mosin-Nagant.  Caber's been to the last two trainings and it was good to see him back.

  Finally, We had a man who has been to a few meetings, and decided to join us at training. He was sporting a new Ruger Mini-30.  It's nice to see that the latest upgrade to this popular Ruger design can now be disassembled without the weapon ejecting springs to and fro.

  Walk times were good, Ranging from 32 to 34 minutes.  NoName and his friend shot ten for ten to qualify. Nice.  Cabre was plagued with ejection issues which will have to be corrected in better conditions than our range could provide.  We were then joined by Tangent, A first-timer from a local university. He had a new Century Arms Polish AK.  Tangent wasn't as interested in qualifying this time as he just wanted the opportunity to become better aquainted with his rifle.  This he did well, sending nearly 200 rounds down-range.

  Lunch was provided by Chuckwagon, who then took the reigns and ran the group through a couple of rifle drills.

Some of the regular attendees to our trainings have certain medical issues that they keep in mind and work with as everyone strives to better their skills.  This also allows us to spot reactions in others which could indicate a situation which even the person suffering from it may not notice.  This happened and I coached our friend with the Ruger rifle for qualifying.  Chuckwagon will explain more on this. It wasn't real serious, Just something that should be addressed with a practicing physician.  The reason I bring this up is that it's important to pay attention to what your body's doing. Especially when we're at temperature extremes and doing more physical activity than we may normally do.  this person has desire and heart, and I have no doubt he'll be back to try again.

  It was a good day. It's nice to see new people coming all the time and pushing themselves to excell.  If you're reading this and debating, Then come on out.  As interesting as these reports can be, It's much better being there.  See you in September!

Weapon M's Sunday Addendum to August Training Report:

It was a pleasant and surprisingly cool morning on Sunday, August 5th, as Thumper drove me and my young son Bubba to shoot some training footage and get a few minutes of quality time behind the Glock 17. I also intended to perform a function check on my Mossberg 500, which has not seen a lot of range time at all in the last twenty years or so since I bought it.

We are making some tentative steps into the "viral marketing" field, and needed some video footage to incorporate into this. We had some sound issues which were only discovered later, and we plan on re-shooting some of this footage again soon. Well, you live and you learn. If you have ideas, suggestions, or good footage from previous training that we can use for this coming viral assault upon the internet, feel free to contact us. 

Cpl Punishment and Viper-6 came out and did some MORE prep work on the range for the ECVM upcoming tactical shoot (the link is on the index page...). They really have the place looking sharp. These are some dedicated folks, big time.

I did some intro to Level One footage where I blah blah blah about the Level One gear that Thumper had laid out on a table. He also added a few food items, to encourage people to pack a yummy thang or two in their basic Level One gear.

Above: Weapon M talks about Level One gear. Yay.

After looking at the layout, I thought to myself, "Hey, this is NOT a lot of stuff! Everyone should be able to do this!" Really, people. Gear up.

And since we haven't voted on a new policy regarding first aid gear yet, please take it on advisement that many of us (myself included) will be pushing to add "tourniquet" to the Level One first aid kit list. A lot of folks have contacted us from active duty to report that tourniquets have saved lives in combat. This is a serious issue for you to consider, and one on which we plan on training soon, and often.

I worked a few number 8 birdshot shells through my little-used but dependable 12 guage. It worked well, but needs some more serious cleaning attention. I was also reminded that a 12 guage is NOT something that you are going to put hundreds of rounds through at a time, even if they ARE just number 8 shot. 

Cpl Punishment's roof simulator got a bit of improvement and yours truly volunteered (don't ask why) to make a few test runs up the roof with his gear (video footage available soon). This was fun, but be sure to roll your sleeves down and wear gloves before doing this. Shingles can de-barkify your hands and arms if and when you scramble up them and then again when you slide down. Ouch.

Above: Scrape-tacular glove-free climbing. Ouch.

Following this, I got Bubba to pop off a few with my Glock 17. For the anti-gunners who will complain how irresponsible it is to train a nine year old with a 9mm, I can respond how irresponsible it is to NOT train him. By exposing the youngsters to safe gun handling practices, we increase their safety, and DECREASE the likelihood of them being used improperly or unsafely. No amount of anti gun whining is going to change the fact that guns ARE out there, and we should make sure that the kids know how to handle them safely.

Above: Bubba with the Glock 17 9mm. He shot well, killing Mr. Burns.

In addition to the ECVM peeps, a few local folks showed up to get in some critical range time. If you haven't been to the range in a spell, or have a gun that has been neglected for a few years (or longer), you should consider coming out soon. Even a light day at the range, like this day, is better than a day at work.

So with several units having training coming up in the next month or so (look around the web page, and/or e-mail us), you have more options, and LESS excuses!

See you soon!

-Weapon M