Operation Tango Frost 04 Jan 2003

   The year started out in a good and proper militia fashion, with seven persons deployed to Camp Stasa to get in some range time, take a nice stroll, and do the four pin shoot. Lou and I arrived kind of late, and the other guys had already done some zeroing, gear inspections, and scouting around. It seems like somebody or another always has something new to try or to show off (or both).

 

    It was a neat coincidence that two militiamen showed up with old Enfield .303 rifles. This was kind of funny, since a lot of us, including yours truly, have .308 Enfields. Old, bolt-action battle rifles like this should be in every household in the state. They are cheap, reliable, accurate, and they usually shoot a powerful, hard-hitting round. Please go buy another bolt-action rifle as soon as you can, while you can.

 

    After more gear checks and winter camo displays, we started out on the walk. It was late, so we only did 1 mile. (We also wanted to check one of our cohorts, who came to training with some rather stern bronchial issues. Not me.) The split time was well under 20 minutes, so we deemed it an acceptable walk.

    Present was also a nicely decked-out militiaman with a full combo platter of international gear. We saw German fleck camo, a Dutch tent, British and South African gear and other assorted flavors. One advantage of not being part of some rigid military unit is that we can pick from a wide array of gear to carry and use, instead of being told what kind of gear to have.

 

 

    Whilst some of the guys shot some more, the rest of us encountered the most truly evil beverage ever devised in this world: Dollar Store Coffee. This was the foulest, most putrid, turpentine-like brew ever made, so I only had half a cup. This stuff makes Guinness’ Stout  tastes like lemonade. It was bad, evil, and wrong. DO NOT EVER BUY DOLLAR STORE COFFEE. Especially the kind with Cyrillic writing on the can….

 

    We were rescued from this because Frank had the forethought to bring some real coffee. Whew. He also did the burger thing. You should come to training for this reason alone.

    It was time for the four pin shoot. BR looked almost creepy in his camo, but then he took his face mask off to shoot. Everyone shot well (except me), especially Frank and Lou, who each had very high kill ratios. Props are given here to FJ’s VEPR and Lou’s CETME. I think I need to buy one of these CETMEs. The price has dropped to around three hundred or so. These certainly should be on just about everyone’s “things to buy” list.

Since I had so gleefully zeroed my new scope to dead nuts accurate at 25 yards, I was horribly off at 100, and had to undergo the somewhat humiliating experience of re-zeroing. In fact, I will do some more confirmation early the next time out. It sucks to have a new scope and not hit. I could have easily just looked through scope mounts and used the iron sights, but that would mean that my scope was, like, just some kind of decoration. Ah, one day I will have achieved scope-vana.    

    Anyway, the four pin shoot worked out OK, and it started getting dark. Two of us headed up front to talk to the Main Man about having another Tax Blast this year (yes, we are). We then went in the deep back to shore up a tent that was not enjoying the snow as much as the rest of us were. If it has not been taken down by the next time out, we could use some extra bodies and maybe an open bed pickup to get it dry, down, and safely into storage. We also studied a fighting position in the deep back and considered ways that it could be improved. Maybe in the spring, we will dig out a full-blown bunker, complete with overhead cover, more than one way in and out, and clearly defined firing positions.

    We are now into trying to produce militia videos to air on  public access channels and to distribute at meetings and rallies and stuff.  More bodies would make these look better. (Of course, if you are camera shy, don't let that be a reason to avoid training, we can keep you out of the picture, or consider this a chance to wear excellent camouflage on your face. We do this a lot with some of the militia persons that show up.)

    The important thing is to train. We don't train toward any specific goal; rather, we see an armed, trained population as an end in and of itself. We would love to see more of you all out there with us, working toward that simple, yet valuable goal.

   We hope to see you next time!!!

-Lee