Rantings Diversified

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery is just a bit outside of Washington DC. The tomb was built in the early 1920’s.
4 March 1921, Public Resolution 67 of the 66th Congress.
The body of an unidentified soldier, killed in France, was laid to eternal rest in the plaza of the Memorial Amphitheater on 11 November 1921. This soldier represents all the unidentified and missing from World War I. There now are 3 unknown soldiers buried there. One each from WW1, WW2 and Korea
There has been a guard at the tomb since 1925. In 1926 the civilian guard was replaced by military guards. In 1937 the guarding of the tomb became 24/7. The tomb has been guarded every minute of every day since then. The ceremony we see today has evolved over the years. The guarding duty is carried out by the 3rd U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard).

How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns and why?
He takes 21 steps. It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute, which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.

How long does he hesitate to begin his return walk and why?
He stops on the 21st step, then turns and faces the Tomb for 21 seconds. Then he turns to face back down the mat, changes his weapon to the outside shoulder, counts 21 seconds, then steps off for another 21 step walk down the mat. He faces the Tomb at each end of the 21 step walk for 21 seconds. The Sentinel then repeats this over and over until he is relieved at the Guard Change.

Why are his gloves wet?
His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the rifle.

How often are the guards changed?
The Guard is changed every thirty minutes during the summer (April 1 to Sep 30) and every hour during the winter (Oct 1 to Mar 31). During the hours the cemetery is closed, the guard is changed every 2 hours. The Tomb is guarded, and has been guarded, every minute of every day since 1937.

On the west face of the tomb is the following inscription.

Here Rests In
Honored Glory
An American
Soldier
Known But To God

Thanks to Jefferson Davis for tagging me. I shall reciprocate at the end of this post.
A word that describes me is:
gregarious
My favorite word is:
Peruse. I love this word. It doesn’t know what its own definition is. At the same time it means to read something thoroughly and to skim over it casually.
My least favorite word is:
Like. Now it’s not really the word I dislike but the common misuse and over use of it, like.
Use these two words in a sentence:
I was, like, perusing the magazine like, and I like couldn’t like, get what they were like, saying, ya’ know.
A word I have to think twice about pronouncing is:
Either \ē-thər also ī- thər \ Well make up your mind! Which one is it?
Dictionaries. Printed or online?
Both. I have a Random House dictionary that weights about 50 lbs. but I like using on line dictionaries as well.
A word whose meaning I cannot seem to retain no matter how many times I look it up is …
Communist. You see I just lump everyone left of Thomas Jefferson as Commies. Yes, I know there are Socialists, Marxists, Stalinists, etc but I just call them all Communists.
Open a dictionary to a random page and find a word you don’t know. Post the word and its meaning.
Manometer an instrument used for measuring the pressure of a fluid

Use the word above and the word you can never remember in a sentence.
The Democrat National Convention wants to outlaw the use of Manometers. 
One of the most overused words in my area of work/study is
Microsoft. Yes, I work in IT also.
Now to quote Jefferson Davis, Let’s see, who can I humiliate, with this meme?
Ok, Wordnerd, Grandad and Granny you win.
Of course, anyone can play. Thanks!

Remember it is a sport of doing the same thing the exact same way every time.
Muscle memory is important to learn. When you take a pen to paper, you don’t think of how you do it you just do it. So every time you mount the rifle to your shoulder do it the same way you did it last time. Don’t think about it.
I’m getting ahead of myself.
The course of fire is as prescribed by National Match rule #7.15.
80 shot National Match Regional Match course.

Standing, 200 yds, 20 shots for record with 2 sighters, slow fire, single load, 20 minutes

Sitting, 200 yds, 20 shots for record with 2 sighters, rapid fire, from standing, two strings of 2 and 8 or 5 and 5, magazine change/reload required, 50 seconds per string

Prone, 300 yards, 20 shots for record with 2 sighters, rapid fire, from standing, two strings of 2 and 8 or 5 and 5, magazine change/reload required, 60 seconds per string

Prone 600 yds, 20 shots for record with 2 sighters, slow fire, single load, 20 minutes

Sounds easy but it’s not.
Before hand you must have everything ready to go. Mags loaded, dope figured out, sling settings set and most importantly your brain screwed on straight.
Center line (aka the Chief Range Officer) will call you to your firing point. At this point you move your equipment from the ready line to the firing line. Put your sweatshirt on and then your shooting coat and ear protection. Get your data book out and ready. Put your ammo in a place you can reach easily. Check your position. Do it again. Check it again just to be sure. Double check your position. There is a reason they call it position shooting. Center Line will call for a 3 minute prep period. During this time you may handle your rifle but NO shots are allowed to go downrange. You may dryfire. It’s a good exercise at your firing point. It can solidify your position if done correctly. If you load and fire your rifle during prep you will be escorted off the range. I have seen it happen and those MP’s didn’t look very friendly.
Safety first, safety last, safety always.

Now all this sounds complicated. It is. To enjoy this sport start off slowly. Go and hang out at your local rifle range and watch what goes on. Don’t be intimidated by the guys with the thousands of dollars of equipment. When I had my first rifle built for me the guy who built it told me something I carry with me today. He said, Just because you have a $1500.00 rifle doesn’t mean you can shoot well. It means you suck with a $1500.00 rifle. Go practice.”
The targets I shoot at are what is called MOA or minute of angle. This means that at 200 yards the X ring is 3 inches wide with an aiming black of 13 inches. At 300 yards the X ring is also 3 inches but the aiming black is 19 inches and includes the 8 ring. Now at 600 yards the X ring is 6 inches wide and the aiming black is 36 inches and includes the 7 ring. This all sounds pretty big until you walk to your firing point and look at the targets. The aiming point looks the same size at all distances. Go ahead and set up your spotting scope, they still look small.
As you practice and go to longer ranges you will learn the comeuppance on your rear sight. We call this your, “dope”. As you learn the dope for your rifle you’ll learn that misshots aren’t the fault of your rifle but of you. The rifle is just a mechanical tool to deliver the bullet to the target. So as you develop as a position shooter it is too easy to relate this to hunting. As you grow as a Highpower Shooter you become a better hunter.
I have touched on just a few points of my sport but I hope it serves as an introduction to Highpower Rifle shooting. Whatever you may think of gun ownership know that what I do as a sport is as physically athletic and mentally athletic as any skier or bobsledder.
It is almost a marathon sport in that you report to Center Line at 0630 and are released at the end of the 600 yard stage. That is normally sometime around 1700. That’s a long day seeing as how you are on a range without shade for the entire day.
So come out and join us for a day of fun. I’ll let you use my equipment. Call or email me and let me know when you want to come check it out.
Here are some links to some local ranges and their schedules.
York Riflemen
Harrisburg Hunters & Anglers
Mechanicsburg Sportsmen Association

You can click on the picture to embiggialize it.
I love my house. I love the red rosy bricks and the cast iron radiators. I love the shiny, happy hard wood floors and the cherry stained hickory doors and trim. The fire place, mantle and I are really tight. My basement doesn’t feel complete without me. My garage is always complaining about the winter weather and the fact that I’m not down there wrenching on my lawn mower or the Thruxton. My kitchen and I are one. My office gets even more cozy when I’m in there. My driveway and I have been in discussions as to what direction our relationship is going to go once the snow melts. I keep bringing up paving but my driveway keeps bringing up that whole natural grass thing.
Now in all fairness my furnace, fuel oil tank and I have had some words. All I ask is that they never run out of fuel oil and all they want to do is spend my money. We’re seeing a councilor.
My front lawn hasn’t felt well since I moved in but agreed to hang in until spring and I promised to give it a major network TV type makeover. My bay window and I love each other. We do little things for each other. Every morning I open the blinds and shades and every day it bathes my living room in sunshine. My dining room and I are at peace together. We have a great relationship. I can pile the table with mail, newspapers, magazines and junk all week so long as I clean it up on the weekend.
I love my lamp post. Not only does it remind me where my house is when I’m on my way home at night but it illuminates the entire neighborhood, such the great neighbor that it is.
The moral of this story is you should never anthropomorphize your house. It really makes it mad.

My friends are all junkies
but they are my friends!
as long as they don’t own monkeys
or birds
unfold panic
in caged reality?
drink your little drink
it’s said I’m as insane
as you
without it

know!!!
they are all whack
In 1 way or
the other
you know…..slack
a pistol in my pocket, a six string, jug of wine
and a lion at my back
I’m just a sleeping gypsy

foolish people will run the gamut of squealing hogs

I’m gonna’ steal your car
and drive to town
‘cause  right now I think I’m a boxer or is it the rebellion
you know, witch!
I can’t right now
nor want to
really