TRAINING LEAD-UP
Monday, July 11:
GORUCK Tribe & Training "Gathercole" in 8:42 with a 30#R, which was a perfect challenge for me, followed by the 7/3/2022 RuckWOD.com with a 30# ruck, followed by 3 rounds of 13# sand kettlebell arm strengtheners.
Afterwards, I rucked 1.1 miles easy with a 30# ruck, 1.2 miles with a 40#SB added, 1.2 miles of recovery with just the ruck again, and 1 mile with a 60#SB added, since it's been a while since my last GORUCK event.
Thursday, July 14:
Did 3 miles in 59:59 with a 40#WV and Ballistic Trainers, after dinner and after 2 hours at the range with Bosco. We worked on zeroing my new CZP10C red dot, which would end up loosening up after a couple mags because of some tolerance issue that I fought for a while before giving up on it and returning it.
Friday, July 15:
GT&T "Good Nature" for 16 min, followed by the 7/13/2022 RuckWOD.com 14 min AMRAP, followed by the HDT March Madness "The Vitale" 15 min BW AMRAP with 7 rounds and 18 reps.
Plus more time at the range.
Another issue I've been fighting through is a Modlite that won't stay on during recoil. I got a Cloud Rein Mini to try out, and it seemed to be good so far.
Saturday, July 16:
Visited my sister, who is very diligent about studying. I thought it was funny that as she was drawing diagrams for nurse anesthetist school, I was diligently drawing similar-looking diagrams of match stages in my shooting logbook.
Stage 2: Movement to Cover
This stage was quite involved. We started on a bed of a truck, making 5 rifle shots at a 200yd silhouette. Then, we got down and moved to a ballistic shield, where we did a reload and then picked up the shield while holding up the rifle and bracing against the shield to shoot 5 rounds at a closer rifle target. Then, we switched to pistol and still using the shield, we did one-handed pistol shooting for 5 rounds at a different 10m target.
Next, we ran to a set of barrels and shot at a circular target with 10 rounds of rifle. Then, we moved up to a closer set of barrels to repeat. I used prone for both. Then, we went to a VTAC board where we had to shoot through different holds, but without bracing on the board. It was a close target, so you just had to find or hold a good stance and make your hits.
And as an added factor, there was a multi-part math equation that we had to keep track of at each shooting position, and you got 30s off your final time if you gave the right answer. If you forgot to look out for the sign at each station and missed any one of them, you wouldn't end up with the right answer. Everyone had a different starting number, too, so that you couldn't overhear or share info. That was a cool twist. I like it when competitions are multi-dimensional, like physical + shooting + strategy/thinking.
Stage 3: Rollover Gone Wrong
It was about to get even more awesome... this facility, which is used by professional groups, had a rollover simulator. They ran it slowly, so we gradually spun around 3x until we finished upside down, and then time started, and we had to unbuckle and get out of the car, and then run 0.75 miles out to the shooting bay. We went 2 at a time, and were released every few minutes, to keep things going. It is helpful to be small sometimes! Once I unbuckled, my butt somehow found itself out the front window, so it was easy getting out.
The run was cool. It took us through a car lot and a real commercial airplane that they must do some cool drills in. We also ran by a firetruck, which had a number on it that we had to memorize for bonus points, if we remembered to look out for it. I paced myself a bit on the run in, since I didn't want my heart rate too high right before the shoot.
For the shooting stage, we shot through a concrete tube, alternating between a silhouette and a popper at 40yd, we shot from the top of a concrete tube on the right at the same targets, being aware of the muzzle, switched to the left top of a concrete tube to repeat, and then we switched to pistol to shoot from those same positions, but at an 18yd target.
On the run back, I pushed it. We had been told that there was a 15 min PAR time, and my watch told me that I had to push to have a chance, based on how much time the run out and how much time the stage took. I think there wasn't really a PAR time, though... I think it was more about points plus time. It was fun seeing the subsequent waves running out as I ran back in. They had asked us to sequence ourselves based on our best guess of finish times. I finished the fastest, but it was quite hot, and I appreciated taking a breather and drinking cold water beneath the RO tent when I got back.
Stage 4: Rollover Gone Right
This would be our last daytime stage. The instructions were really complicated on this one. Even after the RO explained it, I had Shannon explain it to me again. The RO helped us know what to do during the stage, too.
We began by shooting from the turret of the car, and then we shot standing from a box that was far away from a car uprange, where the car, despite being far away, provided dead space cover. Then, we ran up to a close car and shot more rifle, and then switched to pistol to shoot from a few different positions. Then, we dragged a 100#SB back to the car, and then repeated shooting from some of those positions, and then carried an empty but big jerry can back. Then, we ran back to the car and shot 1-handed, while holding a tennis ball with our other hand to resist the temptation to use 2 hands. Then, we ran back to the first car to apply a TQ. This stage also had 2 of us going at a time, and I got to go while Shannon went. We finished at almost exactly the same time, which was neat.
All of our hits were on cardboard, which had an unexpected benefit... you couldn't tell whether your hit or missed, so there was no way to get discouraged about misses.
Intermission
Between the daytime and nighttime matches, we had a 6 hour break. Maybe the intention of having us start as early as we did was to allow us to avoid the heat of the day. I didn't mind the break. We found a local park where we could chill and nap. We had had a busy weekend already, and it was only halfway through. I spent some time showing SB what I had learned at Team Tactics, because I thought it was fun and wanted her to get a taste of it. I don't know how much she enjoyed it or got out of it, but I enjoyed teaching it. Teaching helps you solidify your knowledge, too. I played Pokemon.
We went back before the night match brief to go to the "food truck" to support them. They had made BBQ. I was originally going to pass, but once I saw it, I couldn't resist and got some too.
I knew that so far, I was winning. I had gotten first in my division at every stage so far. I just had to keep doing what I was doing, to secure the win. With the way scoring works, though, you can't afford to bomb a stage.
Stage 5: Legoland at Night
Before the night match, we went to where the NV class had been, to borrow helmets and monoculars. We had to find the right size for our head, and since there wasn't enough for every renter, we shared. We also borrowed rifles, since we needed lasers to go with the monocular. The laser was way out front, near the muzzle, so for me to turn on the laser, I had to break my shooting position to reach it. This was my first time holding the rifle while wearing the helmet and monocular. With this setup, you don't look through any sights, which was really weird for me since I wasn't used to it. You just point the laser on your gun, which is way lower than usual. Sights have to be mounted really high for you to use them in passive mode, so we just did lasers.
While we were waiting to go, there were long lines, even though it was a quick stage. That's because multiple squads were there, we had gear swapping, and it was more difficult to see who was where and what was going on, since everyone had gone into dark mode. There was also differing advice about whether the monocular should go our your dominant eye or your non-dominant eye, and the two people had been very sure about their answers and gave reasons why, so who knows.
Aggressive mosquitos came out during this time, too. During the day, they weren't a problem, but at night, they were viscious.
This was a fast stage, where you shot from 4 different positions at the legoland bay, with 5 rounds each. The targets were up close, but they were still not easy to see with the monoculars. It's hard getting the laser on target. Something that the class had not covered, which seems like a miss to me, is that when the laser is on the target, the beam blooms as it reflects back at you from the steel. So, I was definitely not on target, because I didn't know this, and it never bloomed for me. I had gone first again, so I went through the stage missing every shot and getting 0. Everyone else behind me learned about the bloom, though, and did better. I was quite frustrated about this. Hopefully, it wouldn't devastate my ranking.
Stage 6: Night Movement
The next bay was also a night vision stage. We went back to the place where we had done our second stage. We started in the bed of the truck, and shot at a rifle target, and then moved to three other positions, shooting at other targets. I knew about the bloom indicator now, but that didn't help all that much. The RO did give a tip about sweeping vertically on one side of the target, and then passing from left to right horizontally until you see the bloom. People tend to miss low. It's really hard to aim and minimize wobble with the laser, though. It's manageable with red dot in the daylight, somehow, but once I switched to laser, it was tricky. It was hard to see the bloom, too. It seems easy and obvious when there's bloom when you're looking at someone else's laser from an angle, but when I'm looking at my own laser bloom, it's hard to detect when I'm on, for some reason.
I actually ran this stage 1.5 times. I got halfway through the first time, but struggling with "click but no bang" many times on the rental rifle. It happened so many times, and I ejected so many rounds that I got to redo it, after switching to a different rental rifle that did better. Another thing to note is that prone isn't much of an option with night vision, either, because of the geometry of the setup. It was another really frustrating stage, although I at least got a few hits this time.... not very many, though.
Stage 7: White Light
Yay, white light! This was the last stage of a long day. I had to finish strong. I went last this time, so I had all of the waiting time to be anxious about my turn. I was still going to just do my thing, though, and focus. We shot steel from the front hood of the car with rifle. I knew to not use my white light, since the target was visible enough without the light, and my light bouncing off of smoke would just obscure my vision more than going without light. We moved up to a front car, shot more rifle with 10 shots, and then switched to pistol for the last 10 shots. I did forget to decrease magnification when I was doing close rifle, so it took me a while to re-acquire the target each time. It worked, and I ran a good stage.
Results
Fortunately, they ended up not counting the night vision stages towards the score, citing the uneven playing field with borrowed gear. That worked out really well for me, since those were the stages where I struggled the most. I wanted to like night vision, but it was just really tough with that gear.
I ended up being first in every stage except the white light stage, where another girl who was squadded elsewhere somehow (maybe she was with a significant other) took first. I was so happy with the result. I had stayed focused, done my thing, and made every round count. I feel like I strategized and executed well. SB got third, which was awesome. Another girl had led for a long time, but the white light stage was rough for her, which allowed SB to move up.
The awards ended at 1am, since the night shooting took some time to get through, but it was worth it! What a day!
This was such a cool event, with the opportunity to shoot at night, the vehicle rollover, and the long and interesting stages. I couldn't wait for more opportunities to compete at TPG again.
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