Operation Barricade
Some folks began arriving as early as Thursday this last FTX at Camp D-Day.
More arrived Friday morning and throughout the day, up into the late hours of
darkness. It seems that nothing could keep most people from coming. Toad was the
first on the scene Thursday and spent the night alone. Dirtbag, Bekka, Lady
Dirtbag and Joker 3 arrived Friday noon to set up the ranges. CCM had several
show up early during the day on Friday. LFB and Mutt rolled in around 2200hrs,
just in time to set up the guard roster. We reviewed the new S.E.A. Policy and
posted the guard for the night. Dirtbag coerced me to walk the rifle barricade
course even though it was O’Dark Thirty. The course was looking good, and we
were able to see most of it with the aid of the flashlights. D-Day rolled in a
little later. Folks stayed up around the campfire and talked into the late hours
of the night. 0200hrs found me heading to the hammock for a couple hours of shut
eye before a full day of training.
0700hrs wake up call came early Saturday morning. We got up and made our
chow, shook down our gear and got ready to get things rolling. At 0900hrs we
held the opening ceremonies with the Pledge to the Flag, and a rundown of the
weekend’s events. First up was the newly tweaked run-&-gun course of fire. We
set up four notched barricades, made from two sheets of plywood, through the
woods along a trail with the targets facing out at 45 degrees. We partnered up
with a buddy for the rest of the day. During the barricade course we provided
cover to our partner as he advanced, and then he covered us. At the end we
transitioned to pistols and scooted back in a hasty retreat back to the safety
of the beginning of the course. We did a dry run to ensure everyone knew how to
run the course of fire. After that we did a live fire run, then again with gas
masks on. It was noted that the military has changed the time in which you have
to put on your gas mask to 90 seconds! A lot more time than the 9 seconds we had
when I was in the service for sure. We received a lot of input from our friend
Joker 3 on rifle placement at the barricades, knee placement and other things.
We learned how to handle real weapon’s malfunctions in the field during the
course of fire. Maybe we should have run through the malfunction drills first.
Oh well we covered that later, and the guys who had them fared well enough.
Emphasis was on the motto of the day: Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast. When
things get hairy, you need to take the time to get things right the first time.
Even in training we get anxious and fumble our equipment. In a real scenario
this could be deadly. So take your time, be smooth, and things will go fast.
Communication was another lesson of the day. Let your partner know what is going
on. He is hopefully focusing on the target, and shouldn’t have to worry about
what you are doing. Let him know you are moving up, make sure he is ready to
cover you. Let him know when you are reloading or have a malfunction that needs
attention. You may need to transition to your sidearm while he reloads first.
Third lesson of the day is to Assess the Situation. Every situation is
different. You can’t count on everything to be the same. As Joker 3 says, “The
only thing that goes by the plan is what you do when you make contact.”
Everything before and after depends on what your enemy does. Have several plans
and know how to execute them according to the condition.
After the Run-&-Gun Course was complete we took a break for some well
deserved chow.
Dirtbag set up his Seven Hole
challenge. A barricade that had seven holes cut out at different angles
progressing down to the ground was set up on the rifle range. The idea is to
shoot through each hole, manipulating your weapon to fit through the hole and
still be able to line up your sights with the target. At first it looked very
simple and easy. Once you got into the course of fire, things changed. The lower
the holes got, the harder it was to manipulate your weapon. The last hole you
were laying flat on the ground, making it difficult to see and manipulate the
rifle. We had a target set up at ten yards, a miss added ten seconds to your
score. We had three shooters that finished the course of fire in less than 20
seconds and no misses: Fritz Beton in 1st place, LFB in 2nd and Bear in 3rd.
Fritz was made exempt from guard duty as first place prize winner, LFB and Bear
got choice of shifts.
We then opened up the range for some trap and general shooting. Freakshow who
had never shot trap before this weekend rarely, if ever, missed a clay! Unlike
the rest of us who rarely hit a clay. We ran through some weapon’s malfunction
drills / magazine changes. We practiced that by using two magazines and letting
our partners load up 5 rounds mixed between them. That way we had no idea how
many rounds we had before it malfunctioned. We debated that an empty mag wasn’t
a malfunction, but agreed that anything that made the weapon not go bang when
the trigger was pulled WAS a malfunction, to include an empty mag. There were
several JMC Members in attendance and they took their turn at the shooting
range. MoMo even shot a shotgun for the first time!
Lady Dirtbag produced a very excellent meal for dinner, Burritos, pudding, peaches and some awesome sweet bread cake. Some steaks were floating around along with some Venison that others had cooked over the fire. As we sat around the fire letting our stomachs ache and moan over all the delicious food we had devoured, we discussed an “L”-Shaped Defense. The possibilities of using it, and its many forms it can take on depending on the situation and terrain. We walked out to the woods and practiced through one of many scenarios that we could be presented with. The night’s guard was posted and the early night hours found most of us turning in early. At least I know that my hammock was a welcomed relief for the sore muscles and back from a hard day’s training.
Sunday found most folks sleeping hard as Dirtbag and I delivered a security
drill complete with smoke and a lot of noise. Everyone rolled out of their racks
in a panic as almost none of them knew if it was real or a drill. Stocking feet
and loosed belts seemed to be the uniform in the dew covered grass. Once the
smoke cleared we felt that we had covered ourselves well. A hearty breakfast of
fried corned beef hash and sausage gravy filled our bellies provided by Weapon M
and cooked by Dirtbag. Then someone remembered there was still pudding and cake
left over from dinner. It wasn’t left over for long! At 0846 we stood down and
remembered those lost during the terrorist attack of 9/11/2001. Along with those
lost and still fighting the war on terror.
We broke camp, headed over to the showers at the camp grounds and had lunch
at the local diner. A lot was covered during the weekend. Some will have to be
covered again. Some will have to be practiced on our own time. But one thing is
for sure, we will never forget why we train and do the things we do. We do them
for those we love and care for. We do them for those before us who gave their
all for our Freedoms. We do them so others don’t have to.
Be sure to join us in October for more deployment of the “L”-Shaped Defensive
formation, First aid training and the discovery of new terrain as we train at
Bald Mountain in Lake Orion, MI.
Jeff “LFB” Kindy
PHOTOBUCKET PICS FROM SEPTEMBER TRAINING
Seriously, you do NOT want to go in there....