OPERATION MUD BOWL, MARCH 6TH, 2004

On Saturday, March 6th, 2004, many varied and sundry militia persons didst deploy up yonder to Camp Stasa to plan on range and road improvement, do some good Level One qualifying, shoot some bowling pins, and do some tactical battle drills.

We had budgeted a goodly sum for the purposes of having gravel delivered to shore up a muddy and slippery road. A gravel company was located and even visited. Unfortunately, load restrictions were still in place, so the trucks would only be able to travel with about a third of a full load. Not only would this cost more money, but it would take much longer, and aggravate the whole situation even further. The load restrictions are normally lifted right around the middle of April, which will be cutting it close for the Patriot's Day shooting event (the event formerly known as Tax Blast). It is possible that they will be lifted earlier. We have the contact info for the gravel company, it is only a few miles from Camp Stasa. If we don't get a volunteer dump truck of our own, delivery will not cost much more. A couple of us plan on working on this during the week before the Patriot's Day event, so if we have to cut it close, so be it.   

This is bad.

That was a little frustrating, but it's nothing that we won't be able to work around. On to more gleeful militia type stuff- We had two folks qualify for Level One that had not done so before. Both of them are young, motivated, and fast. D-Day had a really fast time in the two mile walk (I think 27 minutes...), which is good considering the muddy road conditions. (The conditions were so rough that a certain Dodge got marginally stuck, and our hero, "The Tractor Extractor", saved the day. Again.) He shot 9/10 with a nice looking Garand. (Hey, a Garand and a Gov't .45....this guy IS D-Day for real...)

JJ also had a good two mile time, 32 minutes in the mud, and shot 8/10 with an SKS. Once he got a consistent shooting grip and hand position, he was dead on. Sometimes just minor things can make the difference between a hit and a miss, and in a combat type situation, this can mean the difference between victory or a long, cold dirt nap. Work on the details, and develop consistent accuracy, and you will have a much better chance of surviving lots of things....

JJ does it right.	D-Day 9 outta 10 no need to do it again

Chuckwagon again hooked us up, and some of us are starting to get a bit fussy about the dollar store coffee, especially the Egyptian stuff. Really, if we have such a problem, we should get a can of Folger's or something to give him.

We kicked into the four pin shoot, as we had several folks on hand who hadn't done this before. This is a good MEASURABLE drill which gives you an idea about how accurate you can shoot under somewhat stressful conditions. It also can help develop your ability to get into (and out of) shooting positions quickly. Cpl Punishment from Bay City  had the best time, with a nice 47 second run. 

Thumper w/thumper-lite knockin' back a few.....Pins	Bishop delivers last rites to a fallen pin	D-Day's Bayonet charge.....go

Cpl Punishment....47 seconds	Doc shows that a .22 can kill pins, too

We then went into some fire and maneuver drills which covered two fire teams assaulting a position. This would not normally be a smart move if you came across a series of positions, but if you find a lone OP/LP or come across a small unit or group traveling by themselves, it is not a bad drill to practice. Besides, the concept of fire and maneuver needs to be worked on for any other number of situations. We broke down into two fire teams, and as Alpha team came across and suppressed the enemy (Opfor was the hilarious duo of Thumper and Chuckwagon).

JJ securing the objective....	JJ in your face	Bishop moving out....

We practiced searching and securing the objective, including how to treat injured prisoners, what to look for, and how to fall back and give an A.C.E. report, covering your Ammo, Casualties, and Equipment. The simplest way is to use a red, yellow, green report. If everything is cool, your report would be "green, green, green". If things are really wrecked, your report would be "red, red, red", and you probably need a medic at this point. Each individual calls out his ACE report to his team leader (assuming the tactical situation allows loud vocal communications), and the team leader compiles these reports quickly to report to any squad leader, or to his fellow team leader.

We also discussed the importance of designating a search team, and an aid and litter team on each fire team before heading out on any kind of operation. I also mentioned that in the unlikely event that we EVER ended up carrying rifles of the same caliber, that sometimes ammo redistribution may be in order. As we are not a Marxist Militia, this redistribution would be voluntary... (I swear, we almost had a different caliber for each person this day...a wonderful expression of individualism. Yes, just wonderful...)

It was a good day, even considering that some of us were rather ill (but came to training anyway, because we are like that). Next month, on April 3rd, we will be doing some serious range detail, and if time permits, we will squeeze in some really twisted shuttle drills, ha ha ha. We hope to see you all there. Keep your powder dry.   -Lee

Since we are not all blessed with such a fine off-road vehicle, we need to work on this "road" very badly.