THE 2004 MILITIA FIELD DAY AND GEAR SWAP

17 APRIL 2004

On Saturday, April 17th, about sixty persons enjoyed a nice sunny day at Camp Stasa, blasting away at tax forms and other terrorist targets. The guys had done a heck of a job working on the range, including a last minute application of tons of gravel to make the road much better. (This was done on Friday. It might be a good idea to put some more down later, but we will have to build up our gravel fund again...)

The gravel team, along with at least one other member, stayed the night Friday and were there Saturday as Thumper and I arrived right around 8:00AM. Thumper set to putting up the mobile aid station, for minor medical emergencies.

Mobile aid station for minor situations.	Re-hydration and blood pressure check.

The mobile aid station consists of a tarp attached to the Thumpermobile, under which is set up a table with a vast array of medical gear, a water jug for re-hydration, and a stretcher set across a pair of sawhorses. The stretcher is light weight and collapsible, and can be deployed readily to the field for victim retrieval. (We actual practice doing this.) The set-up normally includes an actual cot set up beneath the tarp, in addition to the stretcher. Two recovery chairs are to the left, and a poncho and poncho liner are on the stretcher, to keep any potential victims comfortable.

A most excellent team from Bay County showed up to help, and they provided a nice blue shelter to cover the food area and protect Chuckwagon and more importantly, his mom from rain and/or sun. They also brought some tacos made with Saginaw County buck meat. These were delicious. A couple of Bay County fellas also served as Range Officers and Corporal Punishment also demonstrated the four-pin shoot for everyone. Thanks guys, you rock. (Read Bay County's Field Report about this event here.)

On to the shooting part...Targets were set up, Range Officers established, and the popping began. Big, major militia thanks to Thumper for his creative and entertaining targets. In addition to tax forms, we blasted Osama, Muqtada Al-Sadr, and some kind of cheese-eating-surrender-monkey flag. Folks came from near and far (very far in one case) to try out various homeland defense tools. Kudos to Randy who drove all night Friday after work in New Jersey to come to this event. We are honored and thrilled that someone would make that kind of effort to participate, and we hope to hear from him again.

Thumper even made some very special targets of Osama, the "dread" Fedayeen (whatever happened to those guys?), and one of Al-Sadr's altar boys, named Irwin. These targets had hot sauce and grape jelly packets behind their hearts and brains, and they got kind of drippy and runny after getting capped. Ha ha ha. Too bad it wasn't the real thing.

Osama the pig-lover before....	Osama the sausage eater after.

We were also pleased to have on hand a couple of WW2 re-enactors, complete with WW2 uniforms and gear lay out. This was nice, especially since our host, Frank Stasa, is an actual WW2 veteran. You can read more about this re-enactor unit here.

WW2 Re-enactors Joe and Joni.	WW2 Gear lay out, including service rifles.

Everyone enjoyed some fine lunch, as usual. Chuckwagon and his mom, abetted by an onsite friend, put out some scrumptious burgers, beans, BBQ chicken, and hot chili-mac. This was supplemented by Bay County's aforementioned buck meat tacos. Pop and chips were also available. You could get a plate for $3. Bam!

Cpl Punishment scoring some grub....	What other militia web site posts their menu??

The bowling pin shoot began. Overall, 16 shooters competed for a Yugo SKS. This is the first time that we have given away a semi-auto for the prize, which we thought would draw out more competitors. This is almost as much fun to watch as it is in which to compete. Still, this provides a good stressful situation for you to test your ability to rapidly engage multiple targets. Of course, it is always fun to watch frustrated shooters hit the pins over and over again while they just spin around and refuse to fall off the table. The fastest four advanced to a head to head semi-final, and then the two winners, Super Six and Gerry Runkle, competed for the prize. Those who have been to these events before know what a good shot Mr. R is, but Super Six was not intimidated and he gave it a real good shot, especially considering that he was not using his own handgun. Gerry won out in the end though, but received many promises of "next year." Congrats, Gerry.

One of the final four. Note 3 cases in the air.	Adding to Mr Runkle's collection.

After this, we had a quick four-pin shoot by Cpl Punishment from Bay County. This was to demonstrate that militia training does not merely consist of close-range target blasting, and maybe to inspire or encourage some of the folks that were on hand to come on out and participate in a regular training session. This is an effective drill, which could apply to an urban environment as well. (Note: Any training, any range time, is better than "gabba gabba gabba".)

Then, Mr. Becker's .50 cal. There is little that we haven't already said about this gun. He let folks shoot this for a buck a pop. The ammo costs more than that, but he is a nice guy, and we hope he was having fun. We have a lot of footage of folks shooting this, and hope to have a "Field Day 2004" video soon. Even so, just watching this is not enough. You really should find the chance to shoot this, even if only one time.

Big Momma. You know you want one, too.	If she can shoot this, you can.

Randy from New Jersey. He showed up...	Cmdr Wilks from Macomb County was there...

Some of the good folks from Macomb County MMCW showed up with the Big Deuce and a Half. Yeah, we want one of those, too. A handful of folks had set out some gear for the swap meet, and a few bargain hunters might have picked up a thing or two. Hopefully, we can get this going as a bigger aspect of this event.

The big truck.	Some of the swap meet gear.

Despite the early morning rain, the day turned sunny and pleasant. The shooting was fun, and hopefully everyone got to blast to their heart's content, especially at the terrorist targets. We would love to thank everyone that showed up, and everyone that helped with this event, including all the Range Officers, everybody from Bay County and Macomb County MMCW, everybody that pulled gate guard (Surefire, Mouse, Wagon Wheel, BR, and anybody else that was up there), Surefire for the glasses and ear plugs, Joe and Joni for the WW2 diplay, Chuckwagon and his mom, the on-site folks, Thumper for the first aid station and the cool targets, Mr. Becker for the wonderful, awesome .50 cal, the folks that were there Friday with the gravel: including the "Tractor Extractor", Mr. Stasa, Chuckwagon and Super Six. And always, always, a big huge militia thank you to Mr. Frank Stasa, without whose kindness and generosity we could not have done this. Sir, we salute you!!!

-Lee

You can check out Bay County's Field Report on this event here.

We will have to check the space on the server, but if we have room, we will post more pics on a separate page for you to look at.