2010 Department of Missouri HQ Muster After Action Report

Pitspitr · July 25, 2010, 10:14:45 PM

25, July 1876 (+1343)

To: General U. S. Scout
Headquarters Grand Army of the Frontier
Near Washington City

Copies to: (Bvt.) Col. Major Matt Lewis Chief of Staff,
(Bvt.) Col. Captain Barrett acting Chief of Staff,
(Bvt.) Col. Drydock Chief of Ordnance,
(Bvt. ) Col. Bull Schmidt Adjutant ,
and The ladies and gentlemen of the GAF at large

Sir:

I have the honor to submit my report following the 2010 Department of the Missouri Muster of the Grand Army of the Frontier.

My Chief of Staff Dusty Tagalon arrived Wednesday afternoon Delmonico and Salt Crick Rick arrived later. The rest of the men arrived on Thursday evening or early the Friday morning. Unlike the late Grand Muster the weather was quite hot. It made the first day of the muster quite difficult.

Friday morning the men breakfasted on a hearty breakfast that Delmonico had prepared. Operations commenced with the long range rifle. The 400 yard long range rifle match was found to be quite challenging. For most of the men this was the first that they had had the opportunity to fire their weapons at this range. This match used a different format that had been followed the last few years. This long ranage match was a paper match. The participants were allowed 5 sight in shots followed by 10 shots for score. 2 men at a time went following each other. After the targets were scored the next pair fired their sighters. Following the mid-day break the men found themselves occupied with the Expansion Era Match side match. Again this match was held using a different format. This match was held using the new skirmish format. This new format was found to be quite popular with the men. So popular in fact that future Department of the Missouri Musters will be held using only the skirmish format for the main match as well. After restoring ourselves with an outstanding evening meal we busied ourselves with preparations for the coming day's action and renewing old acquaintances. After the weather cooled a bit the command set the targets for the next day.

During the night a cold front came through. We awoke the next morning to a miserably cold biting wind. The buckboards were parked to block the wind while the men had breakfast. Following breakfast the men attacked the hostiles in the first five of the main match. These were expidiantly punished. This took all morning. Following lunch the last stage was finished. This stage was fought from the GAF's newest fort; Fort Scotsman which was named in honor of the GAF's retired General Missouri Scotsman.

We had several guests during the weekend and we spent time explaining the various weapons and rules governing GAF shooting matches.

Lt. Col. Tagalon totaled the scores Saturday evening and the certificates were awarded to the men while everyone was still present. Sunday morning we broke camp and the men returned to their home quarters.

Our mess consisted of 11 Brave souls. I believe this number might very well be doubled next year; though, I will probably limit participants to 25 so that the muster remains at a managable size both for the cooks and squad size.

The results will follow in a later post.

I remain,
Your Ob'd Servant,
(Bvt.) Col. Jerry M. Davenport
Commander, Department of the Missouri
Grand Army of the Frontier

Delmonico · July 26, 2010, 10:41:41 AM

Colonel, I must also say that your repoet is a bit in accurate, the Chief of Staff and the Comminsary De[t arrived on Wendsday.

Pitspitr · July 26, 2010, 12:44:19 PM

I'll make that correction. I must say that all of last week is a bit of a blur.

Delmonico · July 26, 2010, 05:01:10 PM

Quote from: Pitspitr on July 26, 2010, 12:44:19 PM
I'll make that correction. I must say that all of last week is a bit of a blur.

I'm sure, I hope you think it was worth it, I know everyone else did.

Pitspitr · July 26, 2010, 07:44:22 PM

RESULTS:

Department Champion: Chuck Luetkemeyer - 2nd Marksman, 2nd Field Uniform

Main Match:
Marksman 1st Dale Beethe (Ned Neiderlander)
2nd Chuck Luetkemeyer ( Lt. Col. Drydock)
3rd Brian Bauer (Dusty Tagalon)
4th Al Weaver (Shalako Al)
5th Tom Snow (Dutch Henry)

Rifleman 1st Jerry Davenport (Pitspitr)
2nd Donnie Luetkemeyer

Scout 1st Bowview Haymaker (Paul Arens)

Field Uniform
1st Tom Snow
2nd Chuck Luetkemeyer
3rd Al Weaver

Camp Award

1st Brian Bauer
2nd Al Weaver

Expansion Era Match
Regular
1st Dale Beethe
2nd Jerry Davenport

Volunteer
1st Brian Bauer
2nd Chuck Luetkemeyer

Militia
1st Paul Arens
2nd Al Weaver
3rd Tom Snow

Expansion Era Uniform
1st Dale Beethe
2nd Jerry Davenport

Long Range Rifle
MilSpec Repeater
1st Jerry Davenport - 83
2nd Chuck Luetkemeyer - 54 1x
3rd Tom Snow - 54
4th Dale Beethe - 41
5th Brian Bauer
6th Al Weaver
Singleshot
1st Jerry Davenport - 68
2nd Donnie Luetkemeyer

Pitspitr · July 26, 2010, 07:55:09 PM

Quote from: Delmonico on July 26, 2010, 05:01:10 PM
I'm sure, I hope you think it was worth it, I know everyone else did.

If everyone else did, then I do.

I am already planning for next year. One thing that will simplefy next year's DoM Muster will be the use of the skirmish format for the main match; I won't have to write stages. I'll just layout targets. By next year I hope that between the GAF, the Calamus Vigilance Committee and myself, we'll have enough targets so that we can lay out the range and not have to move any between stages.

Pitspitr · July 27, 2010, 06:35:23 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApYp6_FgLOc&feature=youtube_gdata

captmack · July 27, 2010, 10:38:41 AM

That video was very cool. Looks like y'all had a lot of fun. I'll try and make it up next year!

Capt Mack

captmack · July 27, 2010, 10:46:20 AM

Was Ned using a 1903 with stripper clips?

Mack

Niederlander · July 27, 2010, 11:31:37 AM

Hello!
Yes, I was using a 1903 with stripper clips. When I ran the course for time, I started with ninety rounds, and was getting concerned about all the empty pockets with targets still un-hit! Lots of fun!

Drydock · July 27, 2010, 11:56:04 AM

And good lord! The Sea Stories that went around that fire! Most I've laughed in years!

Niederlander · July 27, 2010, 03:07:15 PM

Is that the Chaplain coming?! Hide your ducks!!!

Steel Horse Bailey · August 02, 2010, 11:54:23 AM

Greetings, fellow Troopers and lucky Dept. of the Missouri Muster Attendees!

Awesome! I'm SOOO sorry I couldn't attend. Thanks for posting the video, Col. Pitspiter! I really like the new format, and hope that I can physically handle it if I can attend next summer. I understand that next year's DOM Muster will be in August, according to Delmonico.

This match was set up in the fashion that I WISH ALL matches could be done. This is SO much more to my liking! And much closer to an authentic scenario, but still keeping safety, scoring, timing and all else in mind. Was there an opportunity to retrieve the brass? I especially like the bayonet/saber stage! AWESOME!

Thanks to Col. Pitspitr, Delmonico and everyone else who had a hand in putting this match together - your hard work is really appreciated ... even by someone who wasn't able to attend.

Sincerely,
1st Sgt. Jeffry C. Bailey - "Steel Horse Bailey"
formerly, (Bvt.) Lt.Col. J.C. Bailey
Dept. of the Atlantic
GAF #98

Pitspitr · August 02, 2010, 12:50:44 PM

We retrieved all the brass we could within reason. We did lose some, but I doubt that most participants lost more than what I would consider just a few. Next year I intend to mow closer to the ground and that will help, but just don't plan on going home with all the brass you brought.

The Physical aspect did surprise me a little. We tried to keep the on deck shooter in the shade and loaded up on fluids. We will probably need to come up with someway to accomidate the physically challenged shooter in the future. This was the first time the Skirmish format was used and we had to adjust a few things on the fly, but overall I was satisfied with the way it went. I did, however; hedge my bets with the main match and used the safe, conventional CAS style stages for the main match. In retrospect I wish I hadn't played it safe.

Charles Isaac · August 05, 2010, 02:54:59 PM

Quote from: Steel Horse Bailey on August 02, 2010, 11:54:23 AM

This match was set up in the fashion that I WISH ALL matches could be done. This is SO much more to my liking! AWESOME!

I have to agree with the 1st Sgt on that. Personally, the close range stuff doesn't do it for me- and I do believe that GAF shooting has been brought to the next level-The bar is set very high now!

Outstanding job to all those involved in making this come to life. I only wish I could have made it, but the date shift clashed with family plans.

Ned Neiderlander had talked about his vision for this -what I would call- a more sensible style of combat course at the last Grand Muster, so I set up a course out back in the swamp, but it flooded and I found myself waist deep with my Krag and Colt while moving to the different stations! Your range looks to be a lot more enjoyable!

I just can't say enough-what a great time that looks to have been!

Niederlander · August 05, 2010, 10:31:07 PM

Next year we're hoping to have a lot more of the Blunt style targets, and most of the targets will be must-hit, knock-down style targets like the closer ones you saw in the video. They're a lot more fun, more realistic, and as an added bonus they make scoring a whole lot easier. It either goes down or it doesn't. You won't see a lot of stages with exact round counts, either. It all depends on how well you shoot, but I would advise bringing lots of ammunition. Keep in mind the long range paper match, too. You'll probably want full power loads for that, and you can use jacketed bullets if you want. (ONLY on the long range paper match.) One thing a lot of us discovered is that it pays to sight in your rifle at long range for the long range match, BEFORE the match. My method of using a Wild-A**-Guess for a sight setting didn't work out so well!

Pitspitr · August 05, 2010, 10:51:16 PM

One thing about the paper match; I don't think any of us had shot the weapons we were using at that range. I had shot my Mini-14 at that range on coyotes and knew how much "Kentucky windage" to use but with the Krag and the Trapdoor I had no idea. I just had to work out a sight setting and was lucky enough to get it decently close in my 5 sighters.

The small white rectangle in the center of the photo below is the target. Photo courtesy Dutch Henry.

Niederlander · August 05, 2010, 11:09:26 PM

Keep in mind that the small white rectangle is the target backer. If you look real close you can see there are actually TWO targets on that backer. Jerry is to be commended for winning that match. Four hundred yards (actually 397) is a LONG ways out there for old iron sights and old eyes!

Steel Horse Bailey · August 06, 2010, 01:45:51 AM

Excellent!

Pitspitr · August 06, 2010, 06:39:10 AM

Quote from: Niederlander on August 05, 2010, 11:09:26 PM
Keep in mind that the small white rectangle is the target backer. If you look real close you can see there are actually TWO targets on that backer.

Right. Sorry, I wasn't very clear on that.
Thanks for pointing that out Ned!