OPERATION PHOENIX RISING: SEPTEMBER 1ST SMVM TRAINING

    Two words: "Boo!" and "Yah!". 

    That's really the best way to describe the militia-riffic training event that took place at Ye Olde Camp Stasa on Saturday, September 1st, 2007. Despite the low turn-out, which was due to the holiday weekend, and the fact that The ECVM had just pulled off a spectacular tactical shooting event just the previous weekend, we had a rollicking good time. 

    Chuckwagon was on hand to feed us a tasty breakfast of egg casserole with potatoes, and oatmeal. Everyone tended to state that the egg casserole was "gooder than a mug!!!" Thumper had also deployed the mobile 1st aid station. We were indeed support-o-tacular this day!

    There were two new Level One qualifiers, congrats to Shadow and Tangent, who used a Mini-30 and an AK, respectively. These guys showed that if you stick around and hang in for a few extra volleys, even an AK can nail the pie plate. Traditionally, we see the AK shooters having a little bit of a harder time hitting the required eight out of ten shots on a nine inch target at 100 yards. This is not to knock this fine weapon, which is among the most reliable firearms ever produced, but to state that it has not been known as the most precisely accurate weapon. 

    I would like to add a few words of encouragement here to those currently still working on their Level One. Guys, don't give up! Some have taken six months or longer to get qualified. I would suggest that your next upgrade be to buy some better ammo, even splurging on some good, match grade commercial ammo, and see if your groups tighten up a bit. You might find something that your rifle just loves, and then you can stock up on that! At least pick up a few boxes of different types of ammo to try, whether commercial or just different types of surplus. If you want to really get intimate with your rifle, then you can learn to reload and fiddle-fart around with loads and such until you get a good laser rifle of doom. 

    We were honored with a film crew from a show and network to be named later, along with a special anti-gun guest, and two excellent and delightful Militia comrades from Ohio. Details on this whole production are being withheld at the producer's request, and will be released and posted when and only when we get a green light from these wonderful folks. Everyone was polite and tolerant, and the dialog was lively and interesting, but nobody's dander was gotten up, nor was there much umbrage taken at all. It was a surprisingly umbrage-free day!

   The anti-gun guest's assignment was to spend a day training with The Michigan Militia, to gain a better understanding of our position. We gave, in my own  opinion, a good showing, and politely but firmly espoused our philosophy in a clear and concise manner. Nobody raised their voice, and we politely engaged her in a meaningful day-long series of debates. She did point out that pro-gun people do tend to talk a great deal about our position, without allowing the other side much opportunity to respond. In the gun debate, as in ANY other debate, if you are so certain that your position is the correct one, then hearing the other side's opinion should not bother you at all. We respectfully listened to her positions, as you should always do. 

   Those needing to gear up and be inspected did so, and we need to get some more battle-dressings. Bishop and Doc tend to think that as we replace our old US battle dressings, we should consider the newer "Israeli" style dressings, which are bigger and possibly more effective, like Charmin. 

   There was some mud on the road, and the walk was warm, but the times were good. Remember when you start a walk with snivel gear, you will finish that walk as a puddle, so think about losing the sweat shirts and such (in a discrete manner, if necessary) before you start lugging some gear. Headgear serves as more than decoration, and can keep the sun out of your eyes and off of your noggin, so think about having a boonie cap or something, too.

    After the walk, there was a brief, but entertaining camouflage class. Here are some basics from this web page:    

• Paint shiny areas -- forehead, cheekbones, nose, ears, and chin -- with a dark color. Paint shadow areas -- around the eyes, under the nose and under the chin -- with a light color.
• Don't forget the back of the neck, arms and hands. Palms of hands are not normally camouflaged if arm-and-hand signals are not to be used. Remove all jewelry to further reduce shine or reflection.

    Following this, and our consistent demands that everyone drink more water, there was some marksmanship training. We addressed some basic fundamentals, and even raised the issue of eye dominance testing and such. Practice these basics until they happen without thinking, and you will begin to develop as a competent marksman. There was plenty of opportunity for everyone that needed to get some good range time under their belt (assuming that their belt buckle did not end up in the outhouse pit...!!!), and this should always be encouraged.

    It was now time to eat, and not only did Chuckwagon provide a scrumptious meal of hot dogs with rice and beans, but some of the filming crew had brought along extra burgers and turkey sausages. There was plenty of water on hand, and we stressed re-hydration to the point of aggravation.

    After the union-mandated lunch break, we broke down into a squad and conducted a movement-to-contact drill, which also included a medical evacuation of a wounded person. Our anti-gun friend was assigned to Bravo fire team and given the extra-fun duty of being on the search team. She looked as if she really fit in, what with the camo outfit, gear, and AR15, which she had assembled herself. 

    We rehearsed the drill and our assignments, but I failed to practice deploying the stretcher, which was a big error on my part. These walk-throughs are nice and thorough, but you should practice deploying any gear that you might need. Also, the Opfor did not deploy exactly where we planned. This sucked, but provided much-needed realism. There is a quote somewhere about no plan ever surviving contact with the enemy, and we learned this today. Instead of simply moving directly to to enemy, we had to LOCATE him (duh!), and when we did, it did not match up with how our rehearsal had gone (duhX2!), so we reacted and bounded the teams into contact and executed the rest of our plan. Bishop was the squad leader, with Jester and Codename: "Ken" from Ohio

 as the team leaders. These guys did a good kob! I was the stretcher carrier guy, and when we fell back to evacuate the injured recon person that we had liberated, we discovered all kinds of issues with deploying the stretcher properly. My bad on that one.

    The after action review was conducted, and I berated myself thoroughly. Deploy your gear beforehand to find out if there are problems like the sling for the portable stretcher interfering with it unfolding, as an example. Rehearse, practice, check. 

    We then did a fun CQB type of shooting drill involving magazine changes and target acquisition, and advancing toward some menacing bowling pins. This was a good time and it helped to sharpen target engaging skills. This was great and we can do it again sometime soon.

    It then became open range time, and even the kids got into the action, which is fun to see. Teaching children about firearms is a good way to help them be safer and more responsible about these things. 

    We finished with a long series of discussions about gun laws and violence. Everyone agreed that gun violence against innocent people is a bad thing. Some focus on the "gun" part more, while others tend to focus on the "violence" part more. We all would like to see it reduced, but some of us realize that gun violence is a BEHAVIOR, and not an object. Still, it was nice to hear from the "other side" of the gun debate, and we appreciate that she came out to train and have a good time with us. It takes courage to immerse yourself into "the opposition's" camp as she did. 

    I also would like to personally thank the kids, "Big Damage", "Stomper" (who volunteered to be the evacuated "casualty"), and "Favorite", all for being so helpful, and not complaining, not even a little, and for coming up to the range and shooting. You guys helped make a good day into a great one!

    Lastly, but most certainly not leastly, major, major big props to our very own Mad Hatter, for his diligence, excellence, perseverance, and general militia-rifficness in setting up this whole arrangement. Dude, you smacked this beeya beeya right out of the ballpark!

   More training coming up on the 1st Saturday in October. Be there, and Rock!

-Weapon M

Ummmm. I left the camera in Thumper's truck, so the pics will be up later in the week, unless Chuckwagon posts some of his. Boo-Yah!