Aug/Sept 2008

Next Meeting

TBA

At the Home of Bob Brown

Buffalo Grove, Ill

UP COMING EVENTS

Fall Nationals – 118^th Sanitation Crew

As you all know the Battery has been assigned the task of being the Sanitation Crew at the 118^th National. Our commander is the Sanitation Officer and will lead the unit into “battle” It will be a tougher task this time for the Battery will not have the numbers as they have had in the past. Only five members will be making the trip this fall. Because of that fact, they will be receiving some additional help. Two ladies from the NWT will be assisting us and will help keep JT’s time on the women’s side to a minimum.

The consequences of the Battery of only being able to field five members is yet to be determined. The worse that could happen is that the unit will be placed farther up on the list of helping again with the running of a National. This means that the battery will again be unable to compete in individual and team matches.

Stan has been reading up and trying out a plethora of new gastronomical delights. The commander will also have some of his famous hot buttered rum and desserts for all who work to try. Can you say apple cobbler?

Annual Membership meeting

The next meeting to be held is the annual membership meeting. This is the big meeting of the year. The Battery adjutant has asked for those who wish to run for an office and for those recruits who wish to become a Volunteer which allows them to vote and to hold an office to contact him. Those who are presently holding an office, it will be assumed that you wish to continue to hold that office. If you wish to no longer to hold your present office please contact the Commander.

Also at this meeting new rules pertaining to team registration fees, displays at gun and relic shows, reimbursement for transporting Battery property, and credits for participating in fund raising events will be discussed.

So if you are going to make at least one meeting this year, please attend this one.

Field Reports

5^th Annual Matuszek Skirmish

This was held on June 21st and 22nd at Sandy Ford Sportsman Club. This was to be a combination of living history, live fire skirmish, and civil war display. This skirmish was sponsored in part by the Town of Streator and the Battery received help from the 2^nd USSS. This skirmish saw one of the better turnouts that they have had in several years. There were 9 carbine teams. 5 smoothbore teams and 8 musket teams. There was a 30% increase of individual shooters from last year. (21 in 2007 to 33 in 2008) There was even a gattling gun shooting demonstration. Three guns were brought out but by the end of the weekend, only one was able to fire.

Long Range Michigan Match

This was the only cannon match the Battery took part in this year. The members traveled up to Grayling Michigan with the cannon and both mortars. The official results have not been received. It seemed that is was going to be one of those days for the Battery only hit the target once. This was disappointing but the winning team only hit their target only three times so their heads were not held too low. It is believed that fifth place was taken by the cannon crew.

Because of this poor showing, the Battery will be looking into developing a new projectile with a copper sabot that will be bolted to the base of the projectile. This may help increase the accuracy. It would also mean a simpler projectile that needs to be cast and turned. Several other units are using such a projectile with good results.

The Mortar crews faired better by taking 2^nd and 3^rd. These still have to be confirmed but it is believed they lost out by about 7 inches. Some consolation to all this is that the team that did take first place, was once tutored by the battery. Guess they were well taught.

Aug 16 –17 The 114^th Illinois Volunteer Skirmish

This was a well-run skirmish with fun events second only by the Battery’s. It was held at the Lefthanders Club near the town of Loami. (Low-am-ee) Only two battery members made the short trip to attend and were rewarded with a fun time. Both Wayne and John took home well-earned individual rewards. They then helped fill in the carbine team of the 56^th Virginia. Wayne was deadly with his carbine, claiming all six hits at the reduced targeting event at 50 yards. When the smoke cleared, third place belonged to them.

Sorry to report that the Battery’s once mighty and proud Smoothbore Team was humbled. With the lack of some of the Battery’s best Smoothbore shooters and an off day with the “Pumpkin throwers” of Wayne and John the Battery was awarded the “Twinkie Prize” for coming in last. As much as the John likes twinkies, this left a bad taste in his mouth.

There was also a 250 yard match. Competitors could use any military or civilian firearm from that time period. There were no restrictions on the position one could use but prone was the favorite one. Wayne and John were too tired to attempt this event but promised to partake in it next year.

The Saturday Night’s events included a “Grill along” This was like a sing along but instead of singing, everyone grilled their choice of meats on a large grill. The commander reported that there were more forms of dead animals on that grill than he passed on his trip down there. Besides the many cuts of beef steaks there were, venison, elk, shrimp, fish, mule deer, and bear. The 114^th supplied a salad bar to go with all that meat. They also had their slurpy machine cranking out cold drinks.

All of this good tasting food was counter acted by the Most non-authentic Skirmisher competition. Many words can be used to describe all the patterns and colors that were represented that night. Good looking would not be one of them. The winner was Guy Brandes whose shirt was not only loud and obnoxious but also matched his shorts. The hula girl tie enforced the tackiness of his “uniform”.

Sunday was a beautiful day for shooting. John and Wayne helped fill in the 2^nd US sharpshooters. Wayne continued his accuracy skills and ended up as top shooter of the team with over 20 hits. Dan Davis was second, beating out John by one more hit. Surprising to say by 11AM the match was over giving people time to go to the State Fair or visit Lincoln sites. Or get home at a decent time to enjoy other things.

This was a very fun shoot and should be placed on the list of need to attend skirmishes next year.

Friendship Skirmish - Bristol, Wis

This is one of the closest shoots for most of the members of the Battery yet only four members attended. Because the battery was unsure of who was going to show up, Wayne joined his ACWSA teammates. John, John and Jon fielded the core of a Carbine team and a Smoothbore team with help of the two members of the 29^th Wisconsin. This skirmish was slightly different for it was ran from an ACWSA perspective. The Range was also set up with wooden baffles, for safety reasons, between every other team position. ACWSA teams fired next to N-SSA teams. The number of targets differed for the number of shooters that make up a team were different.

The complete report from this skirmish is not in but it is strongly believed that those that competed in the individual matches did place and were rewarded for their skills. And being that this skirmish was held in Wisconsin, bratwursts were served for Lunch.

It was reported that Battery H did take 2^nd in smoothbore.

Western Regional Nominations.

A brief meeting was held to take nominations for Regional Commander and for Regional Treasurer. Prior to this meeting several unit commanders contacted the Battery’s commander to see if he would be interested running for WR Commander if nominated. After some hard assessment of the implications if elected, he agreed to give it a try. He was put at ease a little more when all those N-SSA teams present backed him as the only one to be nominated. This was the same for Guy Brandes who is presently the WR Treasurer. The official vote will occur at the 118^th National and those elected will take office starting Jan 1^st and will be held for 2 years.

National Elections and By-law Changes.

The up and coming National membership meeting should be an interesting one. Year’s of National elections are always interesting but this year there seems to be a twist. Linwood McMahon was the only person to throw his hat into the ring for National Commander. Some felt that an office of this importance should not go unopposed and another person stepped forward. Phil Spaugy decided that he would also run for National Commander and since then has started a grassroots campaign. The main obstacle in his way is that he did not register his intentions in time to be placed on the official ballot. Originally they were going to place him on the ballot but this would not be fair to those who did register in time. So he will be a write in candidate. This will add to the confusion that normally occurs at these elections. (Last time it took 25 minutes to count 140 ballots).

After looking at both candidates the Battery will be supporting Phil Spaugy for National Commander. He is from the Midwest Region and has experienced many concerns that we have in the Western Region. He seems to be the type of person who will buck some of the “Good Old Boys” of Virginia.

For the office of National Inspector General, the WR IG is backing Wade Huffman. If you ever had a small arms inspected, you talked to Wade. He seems down to earth and really knows his stuff. If he doesn’t know, he knows someone that does know.

As for Deputy Commander and National Adjutant, it is still undecided whom the battery will vote for.

There is also some consternation about a proposed By-law change. This change would give the board of directors the power to dissolve a region if it causes harm to the reputation of the N-SSA, places in jeopardy the liability portfolio of the N-SSA, constitute a failure to conduct official skirmishes in accordance with the Skirmish Rules and a couple other things. It would also give the board the right to monitor any region with less than eight teams. Such monitoring shall be for the purpose of determining if sufficient participation exists to justify the existence of the region.

There are a lot of rumors going around as to the reasons for creating such a By-law change but many in the Western, Carolina and Deep South Regions feel a little threatened by this. The way the changes are being presented, the board could actually dissolve any region they feel falls into those actions. The way some of the actions are worded seem a little too subjective, allowing them to be interpreted differently. Thus at this time the Battery commander will vote against it.

For an updated Schedule of Events please check out our Web site.

http://users.adelphia.net/~spjezior/