May Notes Supplemental

The scheduled May FTF meeting at the park is canceled.  The next meeting is scheduled for June 23rd, same time and place.  Form up in pairs and practice your skills as best you can till then.

XO, ACR

Summer Practice

Don’t get the idea that the gun control debate is over, cause it’s not.  But for this brief time in early summer weapon availability along with ammunition availability is improving -  slightly.  Don’t know how long this window of opportunity will last.  Buying ammo right now at twice the price of a year ago has to be weighed against the prospect of it completely drying up again and your current level of on-hand supply (not cached).  There are vast numbers of invisible faces working overtime in the background on behalf of a government hell-bent on disarming the general population, one way or another and soon.  Some of us are hell-bent on making sure that doesn’t happen, one way or another.  In the meantime, there are ways to be practicing your individual movement techniques without expending ammo.  Just don’t do this where the neighbors could see you and get the wrong idea.  Wouldn’t want the last picture we all have of you to be with your hands cuffed behind your back and that black bag over your head as the swat team shoves you into the back seat of the county’s cruiser.  Most modern pistols are striker fired and will take dry firing, but if you want to “just be on the safe side” there are snap-caps available in nearly every size over at Midways (midwayusa.com).  Kris over at Combat Studies Group will walk you thru some good basic practice drills.

May 2013 Notes

May FTF will be held in the park by the river at 1300 on the 19th.  There will be an AAR of NCPATCON and a quick review of our local mapping efforts and LAND-NAV for those that missed the last FTX.  We will be discussing training for the next quarter and if time permits, a review of Tier-2 equipment and our standard blow-out kit.  Maybe there is something you want to present?  Send any topic suggestions to Eric.

More LAND-NAV

LAND-NAV always puts me to sleep.  It’s mostly boring.  “Here’s your map.  Here’s your map tool.  You locate the intersection of LAT and LON near your Point Of Interest, then put your map tool at that intersection and figure out the grid until you get something like 4QFJ12346789.  Then you take today’s code table and encode it before you send it. “   Maybe today that would be JJJJ52147711.  You know exactly where that 10 meter by 10 meter square is and only those with today’s code will be able to figure out where on the planet that special square is.  Could be a building with strategic material or personnel in it.  Could be your re-supply cache location.  Could be your secondary extraction point.  Could be in the middle of nowhere that will be easy to get to.  Could be the south-east corner of a parking deck on level 3 in the trunk of a blue Toyota that will require a little finesse to get to without drawing too much attention and avoiding the security cameras.  Whatever.  It’s important to know how to read a map and use a map tool.  And if it’s important, then you have to learn it.

There are numerous reasons to navigate to a certain location.  Sometimes you will have to approach from a certain direction within a certain window in time and respond to a certain sequence of signal flashes with the correct reply sequence of flashes.  Potentially severe consequences for getting this wrong.  And there’s a tool for that.

Yes, it does look like stainless steel dog tags made into a signaling device.  No, it doesn’t need batteries, and yes, it’s light weight,  nearly indestructible, water proof to deeper than you can dive and live, and clips onto just about anything.  Handy.  And professionally painted in one of those darker shades of green that we’re all so fond of.

Free Scoped Mossburg .308, Knives, Year Supply of Grain

From Carolina Reloaders Forum:

Free Scoped 308 Mossberg, knives, year supply of grain

This is no joke. May 2nd-6th in Tarboro NC a group of citizens will be holding a patriot convention and attendees will be given door prizes and a great NC barbque lunch, all donated by sponsors of Second Amendment rights. Participants are asked to send $20 to Brock at FreeNC,

http://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2 … y-2nd.html

If you have a subject you would like to speak on, contact Brock or David at, http://ncrenegade.com/

Last year we had Jim Miller, CEO of III% Arms drop by to show off his new line of magnificient 1911s and ARs. Hope he will show again.

If you don’t think this is legit, just ask Allen who won the 12 gauge last year. You can find him on the FreeNC site along with a pic of him and his daughter holding their prize. An FFL will be on-site to transfer the firearm to you if you are the lucky guy or gal.

There will also be a Tactical Combat Casualty Class presented but there are only three openings left for this. Needless to say but this is a gun-friendly event and its probably the safest place you could be in NC that weekend. Hope yo see you all there.

Wills

April Notes

April FTX will commence, once again, at Tom’s pond at 0900 on the 28th.  A continuation of mapping and LandNav will include discussion of UTM/MGRS mapping tools.  It will be to your advantage to acquire your own compass for use at the FTX.  There have been frequent requests for a  demonstration on how to pack a three-day assault bag and we will try to pull one together for the April FTX.  Since we have avoided the subject of standardized gear, this demo will probably result in many questions.  Bring your own overloaded bag and get in on the discussion.

Mapping tools can be found at:

http://www.maptools.com/index.html

http://www.rangerjoes.com/Protractor-Ranger-Joes-P350C221.aspx

General background info on MGRS can be found at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_grid_reference_system

Also, this will be final planning session for NCPATCON on 2-6 MAY.

March Notes

March FTF will be on the 24th again.  Plan “A” will be at Tom’s pond again, with Plan”B” for really bad weather.  It is March and  making the weather perfect for FTF’s is such a hit and miss proposition, after all.

Great weather for the February FTX with almost a dozen turning out.  Everyone did a demo on making fire and sampled some really good grilled chicken strips.  A simple demo on water purification was done using water straight out of the pond.  Shelter making demos turned into a general “show and tell” and we all had our share of stories.  The training on hand signals is now sourced as YouTube videos listed over on the sidebar under Training Videos.   The six part series from RPD2013 are pretty good and cover a lot of hand signals, but being produced with poor lighting makes them hard to follow at times.  In the eight minute “Hand Signals for Militia Training”, from Civilian Defense Force,  the hand signals are  much easier to follow and covers the majority of the most commonly used signals.  Number counting was left out as there is some variations in methods. Should complete item list for standardization of IFAKs  for this month’s meeting.  Discussed a variety of hand-held radios suitable for both short-range and long-range communications.   Recently received the plans for the VTAC 9-Hole stand to be used on the GSG-9 Course and discussed having a Field Day to prepare the  training field for shooting drills.

Online testing for the Amateur Radio Licensing Practice Exams can be done at:

http://qrz.com/hamtest/