Colorado ALRA Militia Skills Competition

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wksmith106
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Real Name: Wendell K. Smith
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Location: Fountain Colorado

Colorado ALRA Militia Skills Competition

Post by wksmith106 » Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:35 pm

Militia Skills Competition Report
November 13th, 2010
Wendell K. Smith

The Militia Skills competition, sponsored by the 2nd Connecticut Regiment of Militia and the Colorado ALRA has come and gone. The weather was great, with temperatures in the low 40’s, clear sky and just a slight breeze. I was somewhat disappointed that none of the out of town people made it to the event, even though they were at most, 2.5 hours away. They missed a great time. I had nearly 10 that said they would try to come, but only David R.T. Brown, Eric W. Smith and I were there to compete. My wife Beth and my daughters were there to take photos and film the event, while my neighbor Darrin acted as timer and judge.
The purpose of the competition was to test our skills and use our gear while under pressure in a fun and competitive setting. We had laid out the event in a way that there would be no running, and everything was close and easy to move to the next station. We started out by unpacking and laying out all our gear on a large canvas tarp. Using the checklist of required gear, a 10 second penalty was imposed if we lacked any of the required items. Dave lost 20 seconds because he didn’t have an extra pair of stockings and only one food item from the list. Then we positioned ourselves just off the tarp, and Darrin said “GO” at that point, Dave said, , “look at the deer!” Eric and I turned to look, while Dave started packing his gear. Too funny. Dave got his gear packed and on first, with Eric right behind. I had trouble getting my belt on, and then found I had left two items sitting on the tarp. While Dave and Eric started loading up their guns, I had to go back to the tarp and get the left items. Dave got off the first shot at our target, Guy Leadbottom. Guy is a small man sized target made of ¼ inch steel plate. When it is hit by a round, it made a VERY loud clang. Eric got off the second shot, with me getting off the third. I was worried by now. Dave was using cloth patches with his Bess, Eric and I were using paper patched cartridges. My first paper patched round went in fine, and I got a hit. Eric and Dave got good hits for the first couple of rounds as well. My second round went in VERY tight, and I had to push hard to get the ball down. Another hit for me! Dave had a miss, and Eric had a miss. I made another attempt to paper patch next round, and ended up having to pound it down. Lucky for me, Eric and Dave both missed again, and I started putting down the ball without any patching. The requirement was to get 5 hits on Guy before moving to the next station. I was the first to get my 5 hits, and moved on to the fire I went to the fire starting station and quickly got my fire going, and the water in the pot so it could come to a boil. My biggest issue at this station was that I forgot the order that I had put my gear on, and when I went to take it off, it got all tangled up. Eric got his 5 hits, and was soon followed by Dave. It was here that things started going wrong for Dave and Eric. My water boiled fairly quickly, and Dave and Eric hadn’t gotten their fires going. Eric’s kept going out, and when he got a meager flame started, his tinder and sticks collapsed and put the fire out. We’re not sure what kept Dave from getting his going. Eric resorted to using some powder from a cartridge, which resulted in him loosing parts of his eyebrows….. I put my fire out, well; I thought it was out as did Darrin our judge. There weren’t any flames anyway, so I moved on to the shelter building area. My shelter went up quickly, using a small oilcloth that already had rope loops on each corner. I staked down two corners, attached a rope to another and tied it to a 4 foot stick and staked it down tight. I then staked down the remaining corner, threw my gear into it and climbed I to the shelter. Darrin said I was all under so I got the gear out and dropped the shelter. At this point, the others called to me that my fire had started up again, to I had to go back and put it out. Eric and Dave were still trying to get their fires going. I put my gear back on and went back to the firing line to shoot the last rounds at Guy. My first one connected, and I missed on the second. My next two connected, and I fixed my bayonet and bayoneted the straw dummy. My time was 26.47 minutes. By now Eric got his water boiling and his fire out. He ran to the shelter area and threw a tarp over himself and his gear, claiming that that was his shelter. The judge told him no, that didn’t count. Eric made a shelter similar to mine, but one that was very loose and kind of ugly. He got his stuff and himself under it and Darrin said it was good, he then took it down and went to the firing line for his last three hits. He had several misfires and had to sharpen his flint a couple of times, but he had no misses and upon getting his last hit, fixed his plug bayonet and ran to the dummy, stabbing him. In the process, he knocked off the pumpkin head, so he stabbed it too. His final time was 35.35 minutes. Dave was still struggling with his fire, but was successful in time and he proceeded to the shelter area. His was the same as mine, and when finished with the shelter, he went back to the firing line. Dave had several misses and misfires, but soon finished. His gear was all over, but he had it all with him as he ran and bayoneted the target. Dave’s time was 45.04. By the time he was done, his hat was on backwards and his gear was all over the place. But he finished.
Here is what I learned from this exercise: First, practice, practice, practice. It became very apparent when doing these skills quickly and under pressure, who had practiced. Second, shoot and do things fully equipped with all your gear. Remember what order you put things on, so that if you need to remove them quickly, you can do it without getting tangled up. Know your gear. We had a great time, with lots of laughter and fun. I think this was one of the most enjoyable afternoons I have had in a long time. The next time we do this, I’m sure each of us will improve our times.

Photos and a YouTube video are forthcoming.
Wendell K. Smith
ALRA #106
2nd Connecticut Regiment of Militia

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ALRA 154
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Real Name: Thomas Embree
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Re: Colorado ALRA Militia Skills Competition

Post by ALRA 154 » Sun Nov 14, 2010 4:29 pm

Tom waits for the video with chin resting in palm drumming fingers on counter........ sigh.

W.K. you all need to get to the Spring Gathering at fort de Chartres.
Bring your skills and try our woods walk........ you'll have a bangup time.
Tom
#154

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