Day 5

When the team woke this morning, it quickly became apparent that last night’s BBQ had taken its toll. Tom Drysdale seemed most weary, remarking to other team members that “[he] could hardly move this morning because there was so much meat in [him]”.

Another early start saw us leaving at 7am to get to the range in time for the roll call (everybody lines up on their targets and they get ticked off on a list), and the standing to attention whilst the star spangled banner was played for ‘colors ceremony’, a flag raising ceremony before the day’s shooting. These are Perry traditions stemming from the fact that it is as military base and take place every day in a thoroughly American way.

The course of fire for the day was two sighters and 15 to count at 300, 600 and 800 yards. This was the first opportunity to put our competitive string shooting skills into practice, with five people per target, each shooting and then scoring for the firer following them. The 300 yards wind conditions were fairly benign making it easier to concentrate on getting into string shooting mode. At 600 yards, the wind conditions picked up, changing direction completely and strengthening.

ICFRA rules dictate that, as you move back ranges the order of shooters should change by one each time, with the first firer becoming the second, the second the third etc., and the fifth becoming the first firer. Amusingly this rule was rescinded almost immediately as it was considered ‘too confusing’ for competitors to understand!

At the end of 600 we stopped for lunch with the majority of the team opting to eat healthy food from the burger outlets that were set up at the back of the range. 800 yards presented even more benign conditions that 300, with wind at some points being no more than a quarter of a minute. Possibles a plenty were the result. One other notable event of the day was the competition to see how many people can fit on a golf cart – tragically cut short by the US military expressing concerns over safety.

Despite his inability to shoot the Adj was kept busy racing around in car and cart retrieving forgotten kit, ferrying shooters, and trying (and failing) to exceed the speed limit on camp in the team golf cart.

In the evening, the team attended the “meet and greet” at Camp Perry with international teams and US team members. An eclectic mix of both people and food made for an excellent couple of hours. A mercifully short set of speeches by captains culminated in the presentation of memorabilia between teams. After a relatively early finish, the team returned home and went their separate ways for the rest of the evening, with some choosing to relax and have an early night, while the more adventurous ended up in a local bar. In an effort to unite shooters drinking establishments the world over, Stuart Young made sure to teach the barman how to make a Springbok shooter. These were then consumed in moderate quantity, interspersed with a few bouts of awesome abysmal singing at the karaoke machine and a some friendly pool matches against the US army contingent who have been running the ranges for us. Regrettably, the night had to be cut short to ensure we were all rested for Day 2 of the Individual Matches tomorrow!