Operation:
Noah’s Ark
Operation:
Noah’s Ark
Saturday MARCH 1st
,2003 Camp Stasa Bancroft Mi. and the new members keep MARCHing in sometimes
even 2 by 2 (get it just like Noah and the animals) Well my group of 2
marched wheeled in at about 11:45am. Larry D. aka “Enzo”
and I carpooled to training. Upon arriving we learned from those already in attendance
that we had 3 new people.
I was also informed that all
but one person had completed the 2 mile march. Having used this line myself
before I was at first skeptical until I was informed by two of our veteran level
1 guys, that it was true and 2 of the new guys had made it in less than 40
minutes (actually closer to 30 minutes). The other new guy John had only arrived
a short while before us. This is not always an easy task in the winter. Today
the sun was out and the road in was deeply rutted in some areas and filled with
slush in others. So as we unpacked “Enzo” stated that he was going to do level
one again to
keep him self sharp. He and John (group of 2 again) got their gear on and set
out on the 2 mile march. While Enzo and John were out Lou arrived. Lou and I
went thru the level 1 checklist with Paul. He had already completed the march
and had just shot 10 for 10 on the pie plate. Notice the fist size group with
the 1 flyer all still well within the center of the plate.
(Great job!!)
With
this officiating out of the way I got down to the second most important thing
about training…. Lunch. While I worked to get the fire started Gerry R. arrived
and with his help we got a roaring cook fire going. While I started the burgers
and beans John and Enzo made it back time was 33 minutes very good considering
the road.
While this was all going on J.J. the other new recruit was faithfully attempting to qualify with a Mosin Nagant. Though J.J. tried all day he was unable to get consistent groups. It was apparent that he was not all of the blame his ammo was thought to be in question. But he listened to the instructions of Ken and L.R. I’m sure he’s the better for it. Usually the older bolt actions are more than up to the task of level 1 standards. This rifle and more likely the ammo were not, J.J. said that he was going to take the fella's advice and look into getting a Romanian SKS. I guess the current crop of imports are known for having good clean bores and being fairly accurate (also reasonably priced about $125).
John
wasn’t going to attempt to qualify he had recently remounted his Trijicon Reflex
holo site he knew that it was significantly off. I have since learned that he
will be training with Macomb County. He says he’ll dial his sight in and give
level 1 another try (I’m sure he’ll do it)
After everyone made there way over to the grill and had their lunches. Lou decided to do a modified version of the 2 man 10 pin shoot. The drill is designed to enforce the idea of working together as a team. Using hand and vocal signals to advance on and topple pins while covering your team mate. As always the shooters both start the #1 position the 100 yard line. The 1st shooter fires until a pin is toppled. He then makes his weapon safe and signals the other shooter to “move forward, I’ll cover you”. The 2nd shooter moves to #2 positions (there are 4 positions on each side of the lane) once in place he fires until he topples a pin. Then after he makes his weapon safe the 2nd shooter signals the 1st to “advance, I’ll cover you”. The 1st shooter then moves to the #3 position on his side of the lane where upon he fires until he topples a pin. He then after he makes his weapon safe signals the 2nd shooter to ”advance, I’ll cover you”. The 2nd shooter moves to the #4 position where he fires till he knocks down a pin. Then he signals the 1st shooter to advance, ill cover you. The shooter advances to the #4 position on his side of the lane and proceeded to clear any remaining pins. The original way we did this drill included at least 10 pins and both shooters shot from each of the 4 positions on there side of the lane. This made drill longer and the rushes shorter. Everyone did well with this drill we each ran thru it at least 2 times.
After that I suggested moving up to about he 20 yard mark for some snap shooting drills. I like these I seem to shoot better when I think less about it. The snap drill we did involved 5 B29 style silhouette targets spaced randomly along the back stop. Each shooter would take a turn on line about 20 yards out. With there weapon at a low ready position they would call out "ready" (weapon loaded, safety off) and 2-20 seconds later the signal would be given to shoot. I chose to voice the signal what I did was yell something like shoot (3 times), or your mama or just scream “ahhhhh”. Where upon the shooter would engage each target quickly and after making what they thought was a good “lethal” hit (8 ring or higher) move on to the next target until all were dispatched. We ran thru this 2 times each.
Then we upped the difficulty level the second time thru the shooters had to engage each of the end targets first then clear out the middle ones. After making their “lethal” hits I would shout out the number of one of the targets as if it had not been downed. The shooter was then to fire on that target till they thought they had successfully made a head shot. We each did this at least twice; some people did it 3 times. I started to lose my voice so I stopped. All of the guys shot fairly well there were very few flyers I would guess that over 80% of the hits were 7 rings or better there were a good number of bulls eyes. I made sure to sing out “BULLSEYE” each time to let the shooter (and his buddies know). In the future it might be a good idea to actually record the scores so we can track people’s progress.
Well by now, the hour was getting late. I began closing down the “kitchen” and packing up my toys. It was a very good training. I think we covered a lot of ground we have a new level one member, and 2 more soon to follow. We showed the new guys a sampling of the drills we use to stay sharp. Though every one did fairly well. I think all of us are eager to improve, if for no other reason than to prove we can to ourselves. That’s why we train, so when will we see you in the field? Only you can answer that one. What are you waiting for?
P.S. I have received some criticism of late that we are not qualified. That our instructors are not certified by some state or federal body. We always defer to any member who has prior Military or police service (we have many former military people). A lot of thought and planning goes into all our drills and training that we do. We have several licensed EMT’s and ham radio operators that operate in our county alone. All I can say to our critics is that we never claimed to be the US military we all fully realize at least the following 3 facts. First we are not the Army, Navy, Air force, Marines or even a reserve unit of any of the above. Secondly we are all volunteers. Third we are most of us notably older than your average boot camp attendee. We also realize that America’s 80 million gun owners make for the largest armed citizenry in the world. Those of us who chose to go the extra step and get any level of “military” and emergency preparation style training act to further insure that we are safe as a people from crime, invasion, tyranny and terrorism.
- Peace & Liberty,
F.J.