With a rare afternoon to myself, I decided to get after it and see how much I could fit in.
First:
4 sets bench press followed by 4 sets of squats.
Then the WOD “Second wind”:
30 Hang Power Clean (135 lbs)
20 burpees over the bar
1000 meter run.
15 minute cool down to stop sweating, then it’s time to gear up. Are you a minuteman or an hour man?
All geared up, its time for patrol training. “Where you’re on the march, act the way you would if you was sneaking up on a deer. See the enemy first.” Which means you have to move slow and quiet while keeping your eyes scanning for danger, you have to keep a constant mental inventory of the cover and concealment around you and make your listening stops near some sort of protection whenever possible. Seeing the sightlines before you are standing in them is challenging in these dense woods as its a different way of perceiving your surroundings. With frequent SLLS it took about an 45 minutes to arrive at my range area. Brush pickers aren’t supposed to be back there, but I frequently find sign that they have been around, so I never assume that I am alone.
Here’s some evidence of brush picker activity on the area (they make bundles of salal and rubber band them together, then they sell the bundles to companies that make wreaths and floral decorations). What inferences can we make about how long ago these were dropped? Is there any other sign nearby? How do you asses the scene while maintaining awareness of your surroundings? Lots of skills to be worked here.
Once I arrived at the range, I hung my camo painted 8” steel target and prepared to get loud.
Always challenge yourself with targets that are difficult to see, threats on a two way range won’t stand out in the open in high vis…
From about 70 yards, I dropped down, fired for a hit, then sprinted up about 25 yards. Another hit and another 25-30 yards sprint now put me inside of 20 yards from the target. One more hit and then I retreated to the same positions, firing for a hit at each location until I was back at the 70 yard line.
2 rounds of this, and I had only gone through about half a mag. (the video is the second run, and I was getting pretty smoked! Missing just a little high based on the evidence on the tree.) Time to take the steel down and return home, this time jogging to cover ground quickly while maintaining situational awareness and covering the most likely danger areas with the rifle as I moved.
I can’t stress enough how important challenging yourself is. Get out, get uncomfortable, and practice! You WILL find this material on the final exam…