My thanks to Hertz for sending me this email below. Any Three Percenters want to tackle the issues?
Mike
III
What about the capacities/capabilities of 'Patriot Magazines'?
Sir,
I have read some of the articles on the "SipsyStreetIrregulars" blog but have not seen this topic discussed: What about the capacities/capabilities of 'Patriot Magazines'?
Not the ones you read, but the ones in the Military sense, where munitions are stored and/or manufactured. With all the re-loaders in the country has there been given any thought to the capabilities/capacities for the eventual resupply requirement of a partisan force? The snatch and go supplies that I see emphasized do not speak of a long resistance movement.
Additionally, there are things that us 80 year olds can do to support a partisan movement since we can't go running around the hills fighting. I remember Mater and Pater talking about spending dark nights while the bombers flew overhead re-charging stripper clips and bandoleers left on the battle fields by wasteful Nazis. One man's 'dunnage' is another partisan's supply material. Something we saw overseas after U.S. Forces left a battlefield... the next day the area was completely clean of crates, cans, brass, strippers and anything not totally destroyed.
I know that in a test of my hobby, I was able to put up 2000 units in a ten hour day, with a manual press. And incidently 240 loose units fit nicely in a 2lb coffee can.
Not normally necessary to think about unless one is trying to smuggle 'contraband' to a partisan fighting force. The coffee in the can, while masking the valuable contents is still usable when the cargo is removed.
And how many 'normal' cases of coffee would some BAT go through to find the right ones?
Just some old man's thoughts.
9 comments:
That's actually very uplifting. Here I am: 65, overweight, arthritic, with coronary artery disease... I'm not going to be humping 60-pound packs up hill and down dale (more than once). But I can be the home guard and I can learn to run a reloading press and ...
Maybe I won't be completely useless after all.
Being a "pack rat" is a skill and necessity. Even the most innocuous items can be pressed in to service if the need arises. There need to several people with various skills who can be called on to provide support. Auto mechanics, Amateur radio operators, builders, computer programmers, writers and artists, machinists, farmers etc.
Dr.D
I feel useful again!!! LOL!
He has a very valid point.
Since I'm 40 and overweight with two small children to worry about now I hope my ability to crank out ammo at 100 rounds per hour or better depending on caliber (I'm faster with a progressive) and my mild armorer's skills will be of more value than being an infantryman.
And don't forget this is the computer age. There will be a cyber war. That makes out of shape computer nerds useful IIIpers as well.
Just why exactly do you think the authorities and their media shills have been trying to demonize "vast stores" of ammunition. Usually translated to a couple bricks of .22 and a few boxes of hunting and pistol rounds, but always termed an arsenal of weaponry in reports.
Being something of a packrat myself I found I was sitting on the necessaries to put together a couple thousand rounds of .380acp which turned out to be right handy in the current drought. Other calibers and various supplies as well, but that's for my select few, not the whole world to know.
Scrounger, aka supply sargeant, is a necessary trade and valuable beyond price when logistics get tight as they always seem to do.
Age isn't a barrier unless you let to be. Here's a story from the Revolutionary War - read it, and then man up:
A description of the attack on the British Troops returning from Concord Mass. to Boston on April 19, 1776.
"It was also in Menotony that the Briitish met their most formidable individual opponent, the aged Sam Whittemore. An old soldier who was out to stop the British even if he had to do it all by himself. Whittemore,who in his younger days had commanded a troop of dragoons for the Crown, was a tough customer, and always had been. The Middlesex Court Records for January 1741 show that he was hauled into court for expressing publicly his opinion that one Colonel Vassal was no more fit for selectman than his horse was; whereupon Colonel Vassal had him clapped in jail and sued him for defamation of character, claiming damages of L10,000. The court ruled that the words were not actionable, and when Whittemore heard the verdict he commenced action against the colonel for "false and malicious imprisonment" and recovered L1,200 damages.
Now eighty years old, Whittemore was not the kind of man to be cowed by a mere 1,500 redcoats. Having heard that the British had marched through town, he spent the day preparing his own private arsenal, which included a brace of pistols, a saber, and a musket. Then he loaded himself with his gear and told his wife he was going up town to meet the regulars.
He joined the men going into position near Cooper’s Tavern, where the road to Medford branches off to the north, and stationed himself 150 yards off the road, behind a stone wall that offered him a good view of the route to Boston. This location put him directly in the path of the flanking companies of Colonel Nesbitt’s 47th Regiment, as well as in the way of the main body.
When the heavy firing began, Whittemore waited until the flankers were almost upon him, then fired his musket and dropped a regular in his tracks. He jumped up and fired off both pistols, killing at least one and possibly two more redcoats before a round hit him in the face and knocked him down. The men around him were driven back and the regulars, who lost several men getting across the Medford Road, leaped over the wall as Whittemore fell and bayonetted him again and again. Then they moved on, satisfied that they had killed at least one of their elusive tormentors. But with his face half shot away and thirteen bayonet wounds in him, Sam Whittemore survived and lived to be almost a hundred years old, always insisting that if he had to live that day over he would do the same thing again. "
From "The Minute Men" by John R. Galvin, Brassey’s 1989 p.220-221.
___
I'm in my late 40s. I know that because I can do math and sometimes because some things are now difficult than they used to be. But you know what, I'm starting to get back in shape. I'm starting to eat better (and a bit less, but lots less of the junk food), and to exercise. Wisdom is the sum of your experience, and experience is gained by making mistakes - so my wisdom tells me to start exercising slowly and build up to my goals. Note: maximum potential strength only declines by about 3% per decade after the peak at around age 30. The word "potential" is the key - one has to get off of one's ass and actually work to reach that potential. Same for endurance - it takes work (I'm only beginning to understand how much).
In summary, age is no limitation. It can actually be useful - no one expects "some old bastard" to be a threat. That's a fantastic tactical advantage. It becomes a strategic advantage when the real potential of the older folks is harnessed: their knowledge, and their accumulated tools. If I, for example, could barely walk, or would drop dead after a 1 mile run, I could still reload. The effect of many thousands doing that nationwide makes it strategic - almost like having an ammo factory. We who are not so young can also teach. Unless you are on your deathbed, you can be - and SHOULD BE - of use.
Don't let Sam Whittemore down, maggots!
This is a phenomenally good idea!!!
Reloaded ammo would be one of the single greatest contributions to the cause, imaginable!!! In fact, remember that Col. Cooper wrote, way back there, that a day might come when good, first-class reloaded ammo would be as valuable as gold, for coinage or trade.
And I think that those of us who do observe the steady approach of Father Time, might remember someone our parents told us about - Rosie the Riveter - who exemplified that fact that those who were unable to engage in front line combat were still every bit as vital to the success of the efforts of justice and good - and that without the support network, the entire cuase would ahve struggled.
Any time you other fat, old, ADA-eligible patriots think you can't serve the cause of Freedom look up the exploits of David Lamson and the Old Men of Menotomy. I may not be capable of the deeds of a Recon Marine, but I can still shoot better than most JBTs and my life is too precious to me to live in servitude. It is also too precious to give it up cheaply. Better to die with a hot barrel and an empty magazine than live groveling at the feet of Bongo's Thugs.
Supply, intel, medical, maintenance, training, and other "REMF" functions are all valuable parts of a good organization. Defining the organization and limiting its size to minimize infiltration is going to be one of the the difficulties. Trust is going to be the hardest part of any action if things fall apart. How much do you trust another person's reloads?
Post a Comment