All American Fun

by Hap Rocketto

Shooting should be fun. The reason most of us shoot is because we want to do something that is both relaxing and rewarding. However, there are times when we go overboard and transform a labor of love into a labor. Camp Perry can be like that. We train all year so that we can be at our best when we get there. So, instead of taking our ease and doing the best we can we get wound up tighter than a two dollar watch. The tension rises and we find ourselves short of temper and score. It just shouldn’t happen but it does, usually on team day.

A couple of years ago a quartet of my fellow members of The CPL Digby Hand Schützenverein swept onto the firing line like a cool blast of air and slashed the tension like a hot knife through a slab of some effete Yuppie’s Brie. They were The All Americans! Tired of the pretentious and uptight air of the competitors on team day, Ned Lombard, Wally Lyman, and Steve Rocketto followed patriarch Al Metzger to the line. Rebellion was in the air and they would banish angst from the firing line during the most angst-ridden match of all: the any sight prone team match.

The ground rules were simple. They would heed the word of our first president, George Washington, and avoid all foreign entanglements. The All Americans would use only shooting equipment and ammunition manufactured in the United States. Remington and Winchester would be the names on their Director of Civilian Marksmanship issued rifles and ammunition while optics would be made by Lyman or Redfield. Ancient 10X mats would protect their ample bellies from grass stains. Freeland blocks would hold their ammunition; old yellow quilted shooting gloves would protect their hands from the cruel pressure of rifle slings made from the hide of a Texas steer. Creedmoor and Champions Choice shooting coats would pad their shoulders and calloused elbows.

They marched up to the line behind Metzger as he piped out the reedy strains of ‘Yankee Doodle” on his harmonica. Flopping down next to the United States Army Marksmanship Training Unit’s first team they made it clear that they were a shooting force with which to be reckoned. Not in shooting expertise, that would be hubris of a monumental proportion, but in love of the shooting sports. From the frame of the awning they hung a length of chain, with a small boulder attached, for a wind gauge and dug in to do battle.

After the last shot had been fired and the gear packed away the scores were posted and the All Americans were, to no one’s surprise, in last place. It was, to them, a place of honor. They were not really last. They were the solid foundation and the true spirit of shooting which supported all of the teams above them. They had shown that shooting was more than just winning. They had shown that was also having the right spirit.