December 7th, 2002, Camp Stasa, Michigan

Operation: Snowball Orange

Seven dedicated militiapersons showed up on Pearl Harbor Day to train and check out some of their winter gear and camouflage.

One militia person also brought along his vicious killer attack arctic dog of death. It was cute.

At least two hardcore Patriots had spent Friday night on site, in the true spirit of testing their gear. In this particular instance, they were testing out a pair of recently acquired Dutch surplus tents. The tents were somewhat heavy, but looked easy to set up. You probably would not want to carry one on your back for any great distance, but for short distances, or "car camping", they are perfect for one person, maybe even two, depending upon the degree of coziness that you are willing to tolerate. The really impressive feature on these tents is that the rubberized bottom extends slightly up the sides of the tent. You might be able to find these from Sportsman’s Guide, Cheaper Than Dirt, or Major Surplus.

Until you spend a night or two out in the cold weather, you really have no idea of what you will need, or how you will hold up. We strongly urge everyone to participate in some kind of winter camping at least once a year.

In the winter, a tent really only serves to stop the wind, and prevent any new snow from falling on you. A tent is not really a way to keep warm, as the ability of most tents to retain heat is poor, at best. The real warmth retention will come from your sleeping bag, and your clothing. You can buy an inexpensive bag if you want, but as with most things, you will get what you pay for. The older US Government issue extreme cold weather sleeping bag is highly recommended. For bigger folks, you might have to spend a bit more for a good, warm bag, or you can fashion your own using wool blankets and poncho liners.

With clothing, especially socks, you cannot go wrong with wool, and there is a wide selection of wool military surplus clothing available today. And, as I continue to stress repeatedly, a good pair of thick wool socks can mean the difference between shivering and a decent night’s sleep.

So stay dry, stay out of the wind, get a good sleeping bag, and wear wool. Grandma would tell you the same thing.

We went over a quick gear check, and everything seemed to be in decent order. Winter is a good time to get out your metal canteens, if you have them. (If your water freezes, it is much easier to thaw it out if your canteen is metal. The plastic ones tend to melt. Trust us on this...)The winter camo situation seems to be improving. If you don’t have any winter camo, then making your own is easy. Old sheets, socks, and medical tape can do wonders in a snowy environment.

There was some zeroing at the range, and we even saw an old semi-auto shotgun, which would make a great home defense choice. The chances of encountering old weapons like this (I think it was a 1903 Remington 12 gauge, more on this later...), at a militia training are pretty high. Come out and check out some of these old but functional relics.....

Also, because it was Dec 7th, there were some nifty Pearl Harbor targets for us to plink at. Too bad for you if you missed this. We always try to make it interesting and fun...

We enjoyed the usual Frank Burgers with grilled onions. (This is another reason why the sleeping positions are spaced far apart at times....)

I zeroed my new scope at 25 yards, and was pretty pleased with myself at the tight group and center mass shot pattern. This was a mistake, as I learned at the next training. The scope sits too high on the carry handle to be properly zeroed at that range. I am an iron sight sort of person, who is not very scope-ular, and I will be learning the scope thing as I go along...

We thing had a quick "rock and twig" class on crossing linear danger areas. We covered left and right security, and far side and near side security, and types of techniques and locations for trying to cross a road or similar danger area.

Then we practiced this drill several times. It looks like the fellas pretty much have the hang of this, and we also got a practical lesson in the application of our snow camo. We don’t just do stuff, we do stuff whilst looking impressive. Seriously, the aspects of any tactical drill that can never be over-emphasized are security and communication. Maintaining eye-contact with your teammates and squad members is something to practice, practice, practice, always, always, always. Individuals should always cover their sectors of fire/observation, and yet everyone should also have a 360 degree "sphere of awareness" around themselves as well. (You can tell who is really intent on having such a "sphere of awareness": they are the militia persons who not only look all around them, they also look up toward the trees and the sky as well.)

While we were doing this, several newer folks were shooting at the range, including at least one youngster for whom this was his first shooting experience. I love seeing that. One more American with some shooting experience under his belt makes us all a bit safer.

We also tested an orange smoke grenade, available for five bucks at the next gun show. If each person in a team or squad carried just one of these, they could provide an effective screen for a withdrawal, if necessary. If you are aware of a source for cheap, effective, and LEGAL smoke grenades, let us know, and we will get some and test them.

Without any details, I will mention that there were FOUR postal workers at the range that day. You should have been there, too.

This was another good, fun day, and it turned out to be the last real training of 2002. I have to say, except for the part about not getting a CETME like everyone else did, it was a pretty good year.

See you next time out...

-Lee