My plate was too full so I didn't have time to shoot. It was more of social call and even that wasn't much. The Marine rifle team had not shown up yet and I got to meet up with a couple of armorers and a couple pistoleros.
This year the team was able to only field what it legally has to and the consensus between many of us over the Marine team being so small this year is it's over money. I don't doubt it.
Tha Army Marksmanship Unit guys also agreed but the truth is the AMU guys don't know what hard times are. While they have been shuffled around a bit they still have money enough to put their people up in rooms off post somewhere.
The Marines (like always) stay on post because it's free.
Before 9-11 the Marines were really poor but after 9-11 somewhere they managed to get some funds and managed to get some decent equipment which they take good care of because they know they have to make it last.
I always called their team the Raggedy-assed Marines because they were generally scratching their asses financially.
In my formative years as a shooter the Marines, because they stayed on post were accessible and very approachable. They helped me out as a newbie and I'd toss them a case of suds in return.
This was my 25th year and I gave the beer to the armorers which I have been doing for the past few years. They share it with the team proper.
I went to Perry this year with an out of town friend. He showed up with a bottle of excellent Scotch and we only had a little taste because it was an early night as we had to get up early. I was up a little before 0400 and cooked a solid breakfast and we were off and running a little after 0500. The breakfast proved to be a smart move as we were running all over hell for the whole day.
I'm back after a long day of walking all over hell in the sun.
On top of that, when I got home and checked the mail there was a QSL card in the mailbox from a station I worked in Roi-Namur, and island in the Marshalls!
Well Perry wasn''t as good as usual, any day at Perry is a good one and topping it off with a rare DX QSL card makes it sweet.
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