AARs

SODF 1st Battalion 1st Platoon, 2nd Platoon, & 3rd Platoon (ORVP)

After Action Reports (2008)

April 20 2008 Battle Drills (SALUTE Report provided by 4th BN; conducting zero-contact reconnaissance at the training site)

Size: 9 individuals (8 in woodland camouflage, 1 in ACU)

Activity: Instruction in small unit tactics, formations, immediate action drills.

Location: ODF HQ/Training Facility, Ellis Dam Rd., Zanesville OH. Grid unknown.

Unit: ODF HQ, ODF 1BN

Time: Initial: 0940

Equipment: 7 privately owned vehicles, Individual equipment (vests, suspenders, etc.). Individual weapons AR-15: 4; SKS: 2; 1 unknown make - possible HK 7.62x51mm variant. At least one pistol of unknown make/model.

March 16 2008 - Rifle Qualifications

Size: Fifteen (+/-) Patriots . Various ages; teenagers to senior citizens.

Activity: Rifle fire at 100 yards, 4 strings of 10 rounds each. Prone, kneeling, standing, & standing to prone. Iron sights only. Magazine changes on two strings. Last string at 200 yards prone, also 10 rounds. 3 sight-in shots permitted at 100 and 200 yards. Scored on 250 point scale.

Location: UTM 17426625E 4413654N aka Blue Rock Rifle Range.

Uniform: Mostly woodland BDUs, some off-style camouflage patterns.

Time: 0800-1300.

Equipment: Various NATO & Warsaw pact small arms; semi-automatic rifles.

February 17 2008 - Survival & Marksmanship

The morning started off with formation, dues, and general announcements. The monthly Gun Club Raffle preceded a special guest speaker; Jim Mclaughlin, a Vietnam Sniper. Jim gave a first-hand account of his tour of duty in Vietnam, the training he went through during survival school, sniper training, and airborne school. He mentioned some of the other more illustrious run ins with the Army Rangers in his AO. Thank you.

The next section was a class on water procurement techniques taught by 2nd Lt. Perkins (OVRP) which explained different ways of finding water ( collecting dew and condensation, and using natural ways to detect water sources) and filtration methods (digging a hole adjacent to a river and letting the earth filter the river water, boiling - and even doing so with a plastic bottle). The class also covered the hazards of drinking un-filtered and what not to try to drink to stave off dehydration (blood, urine, alcohol, etc.). In keeping with the survival format and as a segway into the shooting section Sgt. Waugh had everyone on the range for a few hours with a .22 fun shoot. The .22LR is the ubiquitous "game-getter" and while it is a smaller round it is well designed to put food back on the table or to hone marksmanship skills.

After lunch it was back out on the range for a tactical scenario shoot (.22s put aside!). The range was set up for a IDPA style move and shoot scenario, using cover and concealment - engaging multiple targets, Mozambique (2 in the chest, 1 in the head), and refraining from shooting the hostages. Shooters ran the course with 2 magazines of ten rounds each for their primary rifle and a pistol with also 2 magazines. The course of fire was;

at 100 yards engage target 1 (t1) standing.
From there run down range 20yards and go prone to engage t2 and t3 each with a hostage shoulder to shoulder.
Then run 25 yards to a wall (simulating cover) and engage t4-t5 while slicing the pie from the cover.
Then run another 20 yards to a low cover (4' high wall) and engage t6-t7 with hostage shoulder to shoulder. Which you had to do kneeling, weak handed.
Sling rifle, draw hand gun and engage 7 bowling pins at 7 yards away.

The timer stops when the last pin is down. The overall winner was Cpl. Champlin with a time of 1 minute and 22 seconds; 4 targets killed twice, 2 targets killed once, 1 target missed, all bowling pins down. The longest time was 3 minutes 35 seconds with several misses. A few people had problems with their weapons jamming (better to find out now what works and what doesn't as opposed to doing it at the March Qualifications). The 100 yard target was injured several times but there were no definitive kills. Several people took the opportunity afterwards to zero their rifles. Members were then dismissed and the range was open for casual shooting.

January 20 2008 - Wilderness Survival Training

On the third Sunday of January members of the 1st Battalion braved the harsh winter weather (even though it was sunny out the ambient temperature was 9 degrees, not including the wind chill) to undergo wilderness survival training. The days' training began with a briefer on survival training and planning by Lt. Perkins. After the briefing they geared up and were taken out into the cold to begin their training. Survival training is experiential, it cannot be learned from books and videos, you have to get out and do it. Since the average man can only go so long against the elements the first order of business was to build a standard lean to debris shelter. Several members of the 1st collaborated to build a large shelter that would house 2 or 3 men, plus moderate gear (the picture below shows shows them putting the finishing touches on their shelter).

After finishing the shelter their instructors gave them a primer in fire starting and ignition sources. Some of these included; magnifying glasses, steel wool & 9v battery, potassium permanganate and anti-freeze, and good old flint & steel. The participants were then given a flint & steel and magnesium striker to use to start the fire and they were given the go ahead to get started. What many found was that it was pretty easy to generate a spark - the hard part was keeping it going. Keys to a good fire include, building it right in the beginning, plenty of dry fuel, and sufficient ventilation to feed the new embers. Once everyone had started a fire the next order of business was to camouflage themselves. Since good camouflage depends on eliminating or distorting shape, shade, & shine - they had to build themselves a ghillie frame similar to those used by trackers in the 3rd Battalion. After completing their ghillie frame they were told to hide and the instructors did a walk through to locate them. They were able to camouflage themselves well without being seen. After this the training focused on water purification and then they were given some range time in anticipation of the March Qualifications.