OT: High School ROTC - May be Boring

[Jim Tarleton]

Been hanging around with two of my grandsons on summer vacation. Discovered both are in ROTC (15 and 16 years old). One in Flour Bluff Junior High (Texas) and the other in Trask HS in Rocky Point, NC. Both use M1's and not 03's (I was a little disappointed they didn't use 03's). The M1's in Texas are plugged, but Trask HS shoots their's on the rifle range along with M22's.

My youngest grandson is very small in statue, and he told me his M1 weighed 10 lbs. I told him I thought it was closer to 8 lbs, and he said "Not with all that lead in the barrel"! They evidently plugged them by pouring lead down the barrel. I asked both of them if they ever got M1 thumb, and both knew exactly what I was talking about. We all had a good laugh. We were all doing the Manual of Arms in the woods.

I am very glad to see ROTC is still in our schools. I thought it was long gone. Both of these boys have been shooting (with adult supervision) since they were about six years old. The younger one is a particularly good shot, and the older one is on the school rifle team - go figure.

If you want to have a nice day, spend it with your grandsons in the woods shooting at tree limbs and plastic bottles filled with water (trash patrol follows). Boys haven't changed a bit since I was a kid. Those rascals went through a brick of 22's in two days.

Each day I let them pick out a heavy recoil rifle to shoot just to let them understand recoil and how to control it, as well as the various sights they will encounter on different rifles. I started getting away from scoping all my rifles several years ago. They do the picking and we are up to full bore bolt-action 45-70 loads that will rattle your cage.

We will be back at it tomorrow. I hope I live long enough to tell them all I know about the sport, and its ethics. Someone has to take care of my 1903's by golly!

Jim

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