TRAINING LEAD-UP
Sunday, Nov 3:
APFT for PATHFINDER Class 042, with 49/40 pushups, 85/76 situps, 14:15/17:00 2 miler = 300. That might be a PR or at least a tied PR for me on sit-ups.
Afterwards, I did a strict 30#R in 28:33 using the v2 rucker, wearing Salomon Missions.
Monday, Nov 4:
Day 20 - Ritual | MOVE & 20-min Yoga for Abs - Feel Good Flow with Adriene
Tuesday, Nov 5:
Glute and pec PT v2 in 28:28, then HDT "Baba Yaga" 30 min AMRAP with a 40#SB covering 3 rounds and 4 reps
4 mile ruck with 50# in the v2 rucker in light rain in the neighborhood, wearing MACV1sm in 59:38. The first mile was slightly over pace, but I sped up naturally after that. My body was feeling better this time, thanks to PT.
I also successfully swapped out the broken part from the MDT Ckye Pod with the replacement parts that they sent, even without any instructions.
Thursday, Nov 7:
Glute and pec PT v1 in 27:45, then HDT "BSS" 22.5 min AMRAP with a 30#R and a 30#SB with 3 rounds and 3 reps. The ruck pushups were especially challenging.
GUARDIAN TEAM MATCH @ ARENA
Friday, Nov 8 : Zero Day
Last time I did the Guardian Team Match at the Arena, it was with Chris in 2022. This time, I'd get to do it with SB. It would be her first time at this event series. Our friends Scott and Brandon were signed up, too, so it would be a fun weekend.
We drove down on Thursday night, which allowed us to get a really tasty breakfast at a diner (Smitty's Grill, only open on weekdays) before check-in began at noon. We got an AirBNB, and SB had brought along a stuffed animal that you can warm up in the microwave.
There was a cemetery with many vultures nearby, too.
We were allowed to go to the UKD range to confirm dope, too. SB and I started by ranging everything and drawing up a range card, which is always good for practice. We compared notes and came up with names for prominent features in the bay.
Next, we took turns talking each other on to different targets and having the other person build and shoot. We did some of this live and some of it dry.
SB then had me do build and breaks on one particular target, to see if I could get more efficient at it over time. I went from 45s to 30s in about 5 reps, trying not to game it too much by always following the full process as if it was my first time.
We practiced positional shooting from rocks, a log segment, and a bench, barricade-style.
In all, we used about 16 rounds here. It was a good train-up day, and we feel like we made good use of time.
Because this year they decided to remove pistol shooting from the stages altogether (not sure why), they did add in a couple of pistol side stages to try to make up for it. There would be one winner per stage among everybody, with raffle tickets as the prize. We knew we didn't have much of a chance at taking the top prize, but we'd still shoot it for the fun and the experience.
For each stage, you had one practice run, followed by up to 3 attempts, with the best time of the three counting. One stage involved a close 6-plate rack, and the other involved knocking a dueling tree over, changing mags, and knocking everything back. The plate rack was pretty straightforward, but on the dueling tree, because you had to actually move the leaves over and re-try if you hit but didn't move it over. These arrays were about 7yd away... not too far. It was meant to be accessible to all shooters.
SB chose a great place for dinner - Johnny's Bar and Grille. They had an extensive menu, with high quality food. They really know how to cook in this town! We ended up coming here both nights, it was so good. The interior feels like a lounge where you'd watch singers, so it felt a bit different, but the seats were very comfortable.
We discussed and even tried some "stupid human tricks" to blow off steam before the match, right there in the restaurant.
Saturday, Nov 8 : Day 1
Half of the squads (including ours) would spend the morning at the UKD, and the other half would start at KD. We'd swap mid-day.
Stage 8: Count to Shoot
- 4.5 min par, 10 rounds/shooter
- Run up and read special instructions printed on paper
- You must first complete a task of counting the # of visible targets and telling the RO your final answer
- After that, Shooter A shoots at 2 targets from 5 unique positions, 1 round each time (a rabbit between 400-500yd and an IPSC (near a coyote) between 500-600yd
- Shooter B repeats
Learnings/Outcomes:
- 29/36th
- 1 hit / 2 attempts / 10 possible shots for me, and we timed out before SB ever got to shoot.
- I counted 11 with my gun on high magnification. The berms in the distance seemed to be all in a line, so I didn't think I was missing anything.
- SB counted 15 using 8x binos, but it turns out she had been including the placards too
- We both counted again, with different results, but we settled on SB's number of 13
- By this time, we were 3 minutes into the stage, though
- It was unclear / unstated what the penalty for a wrong answer would be... a 0 on the stage? Nothing? One less point?
- Reading the instructions on the paper ate up a good bit of time, too
- Once I was shooting, I hit the rabbit OK
- I thought SB was talking me onto the coyote, which I didn't hit, but she was really mentioning it as a reference to the IPSC
- It was a frustrating stage and start to the day, but that was probably partially by design.
Stage 5: Card Flip
- 4.5 min par, infinite rounds/shooter, but max 20 points/team
- Shooter A must run up to one of the rocks on the left side of the shooting area, and Shooter B must run up to one of the rocks on the right side of the shooting area. You're allowed to choose and even change up which rock you use from your side.
- Shooter A flips the first card in their array of cards and shoots 2x at the target on the labelled berm number matching the card number, must hit to move on
- If after 2 attempts they haven't hit 2x yet, Shooter B can optionally tag in to work on the target, so that the team doesn't get stuck forever, but alternating shooters requires that shooters take shots 2 at a time to make tracking easier for the RO
- Once Shooter A's first card is done, Shooter B does their first card, with the same rules on the swap-in option.
- Alternate between shooters until all 5 cards for each shooter are done
Learnings/Outcomes:
- 12/35th, with 17/20pts
- I wanted the low rock on the right, since that's what I had practiced on on Friday, and I knew that it worked for me
- I could see the sharpied numbers bleeding through the thin paper, even when the cards were unflipped
- I hit 8/10 of my attempts
- We communicated well on when we had cleared our target and were good to switch shooters and cards... I later saw some other teams that failed to communicate
- SB went empty at one point, since going barricade style on her rock (vs mod prone) wasn't very stable, with 1 hit left, but we were about out of time anyways
- It was helpful that we had drawn range cards the previous day.
Stage 6: Long Range on UKD
- 4 min PAR, 9 rounds/shooter
- Target 1 is a 790yd turkey, Target 2 is a 1220yd bear, and Target 3 is a 855yd Bobcat.
- From either prone or a bench, Shooter A makes 3 attempts at Target 1 and Shooter B does the same. Then on to Target 2. Same with Target 3.
Learnings/outcomes:
- 20th/36, 6/18 possible
- I got 2/3 on the turkey but never hit anything after that.
- It turns out I held too much wind and needed to go straight up (vs 5mph as my guess)
- I adjusted on subsequent targets, but I saw nothing on the bear berm, so I went left 1/2 a plate and saw nothing. I went right half a plate instead, and saw nothing there, either... I couldn't tell whether it was a wind or elevation issue. The best answer would've been to err on whatever side has more berm to help you see something.
- SB got 3/3 on the turkey and her second shot on the bobcat
- I had pre-dialed elevation and 0.9L of wind
- We had 45s left on the clock when we had taken all of our shots
- My bipod legs were too low, initially, and I had to switch to skinny width legs on the clock
- I had to pull out the Kestrel to get 1220yd dope, since my armboard maxed out at 1200yd data.
Stage 7: Connex Box
- 4.5 min par, 9 rounds/shooter
- Remove all ammo and mags from your belt, and stick it in your pack somewhere
- Go inside the connex and read the instructions, with no talking allowed.
- Targets are pigs
- There's a range card, but no ranges are given
- Shooter B must grab Shooter A's ammo, but with no talking allowed
- Shooter A shoots 3 shots each at each of the three pigs. You can choose your sequence, but call your target
- Once Shooter B finishes shooting, Shooter A does the same, with Shooter B grabbing their ammo for them
- You can shoot from prone or from a bench in the connex
Learnings/outcomes:
- 6/36th, 8 hits / 9 attempts / 18 possible
- The range cards came in handy again
- There was a little ledge protruding past the opening of the prone window. I shot from there.
- Since that ledge was raised vs the ground of the connex, I had to use my hand to add more to the rear bag height, but it still felt pretty stable
- When I heard beeps from SB's crush-it timer after I finished shooting, I thought we were out of time, so I didn't move to grab her ammo. It turns out that each beep = 10s left, so we still had like 30s.
- I started to get SB's ammo, but she didn't have enough time to get a shot off before actual time ended
- There were many written-on pieces of paper scattered about in the room, so it wasn't obvious that there was a range card drawn on one of those pieces of paper at first. The paper was meant to be used for non-verbal communication.
<<Move to the KD range>>
Stage 2&3 Combined
- We'd go straight from running Stage 2 into running Stage 3, with a single brief. That's a cool concept that allows for more strategy and more options in stage design, while keeping match flow between squads going.
- Run up to rocks and look at a piece of paper for the list of objects for target identification
- Shooter A shoots targets 1 and 2, 3 shots each, hit or miss, from the first rock that they select. Move to a different rock, then shoot target 3, 3 shots each.
- Shooter B repeats
- Go down the hill to the MRAZR & 2 baby tank traps and find another piece of paper with another set of target ID objects
- On the way down the hill, answer 2 questions worth 2 bonus points each. (They ended up being: 1) Do you have a TQ? 2) Do you have pressure dressing with you?)
- Similar shooting scheme as before, with position swapping and shot attempts for both shooters.
Outcome/learnings:
- 8/36th, 19pts (including 2 bonus) / 40 possible (including bonus)
- SB forgot to change positions after her second target while on the rocks, so her first two hits didn't count, so we got 7/9 there. I caught it and reminded her, but 2/3 of the way in, unfortunately. One lesson from this match was that the spotter should be proactive about reminding the shooter when to move, when to dial, etc.
- I did barricade on the rocks, which worked well. I got 8/9 there
- At the bottom level, I couldn't see the wheelbarrow that SB was talking about from her spotter's perspective. I started on the tank trap and moved to the back of the MRAZR to see if I could see better from that far end and higher position. No luck. SB physically moved me to point me in the right direction, but no luck.
- Since we could choose whoever at this point to shoot first, I told her to go ahead and set up to shoot it, since she knew where it was and we had to start with that target.
- She built a position on the bench of the MRAZR but said that it was unstable. She moved to the back of the truck for position 2. You could barely see part of the wheelbarrow from that position, but the target itself was fully visible from there. A lesson for that is that perspective greatly affects what you can see. You might want to try other ways of talking on, if the Plan A option isn't working.
- I finally saw the wheelbarrow from glass on the tripod.
- I ended up with 2 hits before we timed out
Stage 4: Dumbbell Miss
- 4 min PAR, 10 rounds/shooter, Squad ROed
- On the 1045 berm (the far berm), there's an IPSC @ the 11 board and a circle at the 13-14 board
- Shooter A attempts 2 shots on the IPSC. After each miss, Shooter B must drop their mag, carry a KB (30 or 56#, shooter's choice with reasonableness encouraged) around a cone, and re-insert their mag before shooting can continue
- Shooter B repeats
- Do the same for the circle, back to the IPSC, back to the circle, back to the IPSC
Outcome/Learnings:
- 21/36th, with 1 hit / 20 attempted
- We called out wind holds and made adjustments when we could see something on the berm, but we never managed a hit
- I even used the same starting wind as what others going before us had done, but the wind was somewhat dynamic
- I might've only noticed the splash from my misses 2x
- At lesat SB got one hit!
- We chose to go modified prone instead of prone (like everyone else) to make it easier to go out for laps when needed
- The 30#KB wasn't hard.
- I used the Kestrel to get exact dope, but it didn't help.
Stage 1: Observation
- 30 min observation time and 10 min test time... no ammo needed
- We were given left and right limits for an area to observe, and left and right limits for an area for us to observe from.
- We knew that we'd have a test at the end, but we didn't know what the questions were
- We could use whatever gear we wanted, including note-taking material and phones.
Outcome/Learnings:
- 6/36th (tied for first), 21/21 including the bonus
- Initially, SB and I were doing the same tasks to compare answers, but pretty quickly, we decided that it would be a better use of resources and time for us to split up to divide and conquer and cover more
- My recent experience taking pictures through the ATACR came in handy
- SB remembered to bring her compass, to get the heading of the objective
- I observed from the left and right limits, to make sure I didn't miss anything.
For dinner, we went back to Johnny's for another good meal (after an initial meal at the raffle).
Sunday, Nov 10: Day 2
Today, all squads would be at the UKD range. That's a lot of squads! It worked well and flowed very smoothly, though!
Stage 10: Firien w/ Question (Connex Box Sunday)
- Before we went into the connex, we had to answer a question about a random book for 5 bonus points... I don't think anyone at the match knew the answer.
- We had the same three targets: turkey, bear, and bobcat, from yesterday's long range stage
- Shooter A builds and engages 3 shots at each target, hit or miss
- Shooter B repeats
Outcome/Learnings:
- 30/36th, 2/18 possible (max score was 11 among all teams, so it was challenging)
- I was hitting high... maybe I should've used 2985 as my velocity instead of 2954, or maybe my barrel isn't as good with its increasingly high round count... I'm not at 2K yet, but I'm getting up there
- SB got 2 on the turkey after an initial correction
- I needed 1 mil L at 800yd
- I had tried to adjust for the bear by applying a multiplier to the wind hold needed for the turkey, using 1.5 L, but no luck
- I needed to make my bipod legs lower, since I didn't have enough bag height... I was on the second window this time... I wonder if it was any different from the first window's ledge that I had used the previous day
Stage 14: Not Counting
- 4 min PAR, 10 rounds/shooter
- There's a rabbit at 460yd and a pig at 647yd
- Shooter A shoots 1 round per target from 5 unique positions.
- Shooter B repeats
Outcome/Learnings:
- 17/36th, 8 points / 20 possible
- I hit the rabbit most of the time (3/4 times), but I realized after the stage ended that I had never dialed for the pig, which explains why I never hit the pig
- SB shot first, so I got the 0.2L wind call from her
- I timed out before making it to the last position, and we had had 1:35 left by the time it was my turn to shoot
- I wasn't super stable from the straddle standing position, so I went to kneeling next
- I saw another team have its first shooter leave their bag in place for the second shooter, which was a good idea for efficiency
Stage 9: Skill
- 4.5 min par, infinite rounds
- Complete a secret task in the tent (it was to suspend and empty ammo can using a rope, between a fence and a giant traffic barrel cone)
- Grab your staged guns and build positions on your choice of upper and lower rocks
- Cards are flipped for you this time
- Repeat the same course of fire as Stage 5 from the previous day, at this point
Outcomes/Learnings:
- 7/36th, 20/20pts... we cleared a stage, at last!
- It was so nice from a learning perspective to essentially get to re-shoot a stage from the previous day, to see if you could improve.
- Initially during the task, I was trying to remember how to do a bowline knot, but then I realized that the ammo can was light, and that any dumb knot would work fine
- I was proactive about changing mags after 10 rounds this time, while SB was doing her thing
- SB switched to modified prone on her rock, for a more stable position, and liked that much better
- We might've each only dropped 1 round
Stage 10: One Shot
- 30s PAR, 1 round/shooter, Squad ROed... and the stage brief was written on a piece of 2x4, haha.
- 1 chance per person, to start from standing and go into prone ands hoot at a 480yd 6" circle
- Each hit is worth 8 points
Outcomes/Learnings:
- 5/36th, 8 / 16 possible
- We let others go first, so that we didn't have to guess the wind first
- SB went first and made a hit using 0.3L
- Mine was low, according to one guy, and right, according to Brandon... I think I believe Brandon more. I even used Kestrel dope with 2985fps
- The target was small, so there wasn't much room for error. There was only berm on half of the target, too, so you'd have no info if you missed in a certain direction (no info other than knowing that you missed high/left)
- A pretty unique and fun challenge to deal with in a stage
Stage 11: Offhand then Alternating
- 4 min PAR, infinite rounds
- Shooter A shoots 1 round hit or miss, standing unsupported, at a 100yd IPSC for 3 points
- On the prop, Shooters A & B take alternating shots on each of 3 targets until there are 2 hits per target (combined)
- Targets are IPSCs with pink heads at 579, 283, and 642 yds.
- Finally, Shooter B shoots 1 round hit or miss, standing unsupported, at a 100yd IPSC for 3 points
Outcomes/Learnings:
- 24/36th, with 15/18 points
- SB was pretty confident and felt like she broke a good shot but missed on the standing shot
- I had recommended using low magnification for quicker target acquisition, which was an idea that she liked
- I reminded her to not pre-dial, since she had the 100yd target first
- I was pre-dialed for the first pink head.
- I somehow missed the #2 target... I wonder if it was a wind error... SB made it up, though
- Since make-up shots might be needed on this stage, you couldn't prep the next target like you would in a hit-or-miss stage, which made it different
- I had plenty of time left on the clock when it was my turn for standing.
- I used SB's gun since it was lighter, even with the Impact.
- The target size was generous, so it was doable
- Fortunately, SB caught that there was still dope dialed in from the previous target, before I shot, and she ran the bolt for me
- Good teamwork!
OVERALL
- 12/36th!!!! 30 points away from 3rd, so possible to get there if we cut out the self-inflicted mistakes.
- Our friends got first, which is awesome.- Before awards, we did some more practice
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