Filed under: History, Misc Stuff by VGadmin [No Comments »]

Another Interservice and Perry are done and gone – the end of my bullseye ‘season’. It was bitter-sweet, to say the least. Last year I was present at both, but couldn’t shoot for medical reasons; I was determined at the end of last year to get back on the line. However, it only worked out half as good as I had hoped. I didn’t get the trigger time in that I should have; various commitments preventing 100% dedication to it. Nonetheless, I went to both this year – guns, ammo and a machinist from the shop in tow.

Interservice was more nerve-racking than I thought it would be…as a shooter. Last year I was consumed with training, bugging the Army and the Marines incessantly (to wit, they gracefully endured my presence, LOL), so I didn’t have to deal with going to the line at all. Let me tell you this: no matter how steady you think your nerves are – they’re not. I didn’t ‘feel’ nervous or jittery – but my shots broke like those of a regular CATM guy, LOL (yea, that’s a poke at the AF’s focus on marksmanship…or lack of it ). I couldn’t pull it together, and I had no idea why. Now I’m not a 2600 shooter by any means – but I’ve definitely done better at practice than I did at Interservice. So the only stray from the norm would be the environment. I guess standing next to some 20 something Marine who can knot-hole a .45 at 50 yards plays havoc with your mind, no matter how you think you ‘feel’, LOL. A hearty salute to PFC Lamb though – this fine Marine helped me pull some of it back together with some quick guidance on the line. I feel a bit of a kindred spirit with this guy because (without getting too much into it) we’ve both gotten a bit of the shaft from our respective services — that and he’s from Jersey; he can’t be all bad.

Then there’s Perry…

Holy crap! When the experienced folks tell you shooting at Camp Perry is unlike any other place in the country – they’re not freakin kidding! I didn’t have the pleasure of the Camp Perry rain, thank God, but the sun and the wind…how the heck do you train for that? I swear, it must be some type of gravitational thing or something because 50 yards at your home range doesn’t mean squat when compared to 50 yards at Perry. Sight adjustments? Forget about it. Due to my inexperience, I didn’t use the warm-up day…at home my sights are dead on, dialed in, doped to perfection. At Perry? Not so much. Anyway, there’s no cover over the firing points, so that’s not something I’m used to. You tote your gear between the 50 and 25 lines; again, something I’m not used to. The sun was unrelenting and the wind was erratic, at best. Trying to hold a .45 that’s been sitting in the sun for a few hours (i.e. metal frame, I’ll let you figure that one out) against a wind that forces you to aim three targets over just to hit your own–only to instantly die when your shot breaks–is absolutely insane. I did what I could, to the best of my current ability. Lucky for me, I’m still a Marksman so there were no huge expectations. I was randomly disappointed with my performance, but did get some good experience and had enough positive things that didn’t make the whole thing a wash.

Of course, there’s a few things which make it all better…the camaraderie, the vendors and – of course – Nick’s Roadhouse, and that lovely, blonde waitress with the glasses who kept me in Jameson, Smithwick’s and Guinness, LOL.

Okay – so I mentioned the machinist, above. We’re trying to get back into the game of supporting the AF teams; trying very hard. I’ve pissed off and ruffled the feathers of many, many people for the past bunch of years to get us where we’re at. The word around the campfire is that we’ve got the money for a support trailer, so I begged and pleaded to bring another set of eyes to Interservice and Perry. There had to be someone else to either support the ideas I had or refute them; an unbiased opinion, as it were. Unfortunately WR-ALC wouldn’t support the expense. Since I joined the AF team I’ve been doing what I can to support them completely out of pocket; paying my way to events (the ones which WR-ALC “let” me go to), buying my own tools (I’ve got probably $3k personally invested) and the lot of it. Sad to say, I have only 3 years or so left (and am due for orders) – I assume any support will die when I’m gone…what an ego, huh? LOL. Luckily there’s an AWESOME team captain who helps me cut costs by putting me up and providing food, if he can.

Anyway – the machinist stepped up – BIG TIME! He offered to go with me out of pocket…yep, on his own dime. Again, the team captain came through and helped us both out; I even saw a few $$ for gas…as I said, he rocks! The machinist spent the total of a few weeks (both events) getting drawings, talking the lingo with the other services and assessing our ability/or lack of it to support the AF teams. Granted, for the moment, this is only the pistol side – but we’ve gotta start somewhere. We’ve got fingers in the rifle side right now with a last-minute shift in ideology from Services (the agency who owns the AF shooting program), thanks to Elisha and Steve. They were able to send one of our guys to the rifle Interservice – I can’t wait for that debriefing.

Slowly but surely things are coming around for the Air Force. But soon, they’re gonna have to sh*t or get off the pot, either commit to it 100% or kill it completely. This half-assed engagement is completely unacceptable. Mad thanks, again, go out to the Army (Travillian, Throlson, Mr. Young, Haidu – I never spell anyone’s name right), the Marine Corps (Tweedle, Sunday, Rains, Capt Traves), the National Guard (Norwood and that guy who fit that slide in 5 mins) and all those others who endured the two of us this year – I hope someday we can return the favor.