Matt in TN

I am happy to share that Bachstein Consulting LLC has confirmed they are in as a Stage Sponsor this year. Bachstein Consulting offers a unique assortment of skills from engineering design, contract submissions, project management, test and evaluation, and quality assurance. They have years of experience in the firearms industry and government test centers. Check them out at: https://bachsteinconsulting.com/

I am thrilled to share that Spike's Tactical is returning again as a title sponsor this year. They have been a big supporter since day one, and we're thankful to have them come back yet again! If you ever are in the market for a great AR, be sure to start at https://www.spikestactical.com/

In another "humbling first" for us, Stage 2 will be designed by a teammate of the fallen we are honoring: SSG Jason L. Brown. In this stage: defend against a surprise attack, apply first aid to your downed teammate, then eliminate the enemy before they can escape.

Pete Jones with Alan's Arsenal LLC has been a huge Legion supporter every year since our very first match. I'm thrilled (and not surprised) to announce that he's returning for a SEVENTH year as a title sponsor! If you need anything gun part related, please look to https://alansarsenal.3dcartstores.com/ first. Support those who support us!

Our very first stage this year will set the sentiment for the entire match: Stage 1 honors CPT Trevor Graves. Co-founder of the Legion Memorial Run N Gun. Deep conversationalist (in five different languages!) and enthusiast in so many varied subjects it was impossible to keep track. A guy with truly big ideas who poured his heart and soul into making each one happen - usually at a frenetic pace most of us struggled to keep up with. In this stage: react to an attack, work at an insane optempo, improvise adapt and overcome on the fly, shoot from a moving vehicle, and partner with actual Green Berets to overcome the enemy.

We honored Kenton Stacy at the 2018 Legion Memorial Run N Gun (Stage 3: Raqqah Rumble: https://youtu.be/_Y-38wzV29A). He was grievously injured in a blast in Syria in 2017 - but survived! Every day has been a struggle since then, for both he and his family. His wife created a Facebook page for him to keep everyone updated on his progress (and his setbacks). PLEASE take a few dollars and a few minutes from your day to mail him a birthday card for his 40th birthday. Share it with all your friends. I would love nothing more than for this to go viral and we'll see him get so many cards they won't all fit on the cruise ship!

Registration will open at 10:00am Central Time on Saturday, June 10th. This is 90 days before match day, and should give you plenty of time to train up and find make travel plans. Lodging is limited in this area and there is another event at the nearby State Park this weekend, so secure lodging ASAP or you might end up camping onsite ($10/night - purely primitive camping). This is the 5k registration link: https://practiscore.com/5k-legion-9-11-memorial-run-n-gun-2023/register This is the 10k registration link: https://practiscore.com/10k-legion-memorial-run-n-gun-2023/register This is the Team Night Match registration link: https://practiscore.com/team-night-match-legion-memorial-run-n-gun-2023/register Competitors will only be allowed to register for ONE match at this time to allow as many different people in as possible. If you register for more than one, I'm going to delete it. If there are openings as we get closer to match day, we may allow multiple match entries. The past several years this match has sold out in under one minute. If you want in, make plans to be near a computer and hitting the "refresh" key repeatedly right at 10:00am on June 10th. If you don't get in - be sure to get on the waitlist as I'm holding several slots for active duty 5SFG that may become available to the public at the last minute. Approved staff should have just received an email with instructions on how to register ahead of the masses. Let me know if you think you're staff but haven't received this.

We are streamlining and refining the equipment divisions this year. There will only be two equipment classes to reflect the different ways Green Berets fight: “Lightfighter” in which you can carry whatever you want, but are limited to one pistol and one rifle; or “Operator” in which you must FINISH the race with a pack weighing at least 45 lbs (not including your main rifle, pistol, and belt/chest rig) – but that pack may (and should) contain ANYTHING that can give you an advantage. The only limit is that pistol targets must be engaged with pistol rounds, and rifle targets must be engaged with rifle rounds. Want to carry a PCC? Be our guest. Think a scoped bolt gun or different upper in 6.5 Creedmore will give you an advantage? Go for it. You can even carry a shotgun to engage steel pistol targets if you want (birdshot only). Any weapons carried must be IN ADDITION to a primary rifle and pistol, and weight of the pack MAY include the weight of armor plates if you want to either wear or carry them in the pack. Packs may be removed prior to shooting, as that is how 5th Group would generally do it as well – but this will be done on your run time and BEFORE any wait time starts. The Team Night Match will have no equipment divisions. Anything you want to carry for the entire course and that will not damage props/targets or cause a safety issue is allowed.

Literally every single person who has been involved with this match has told us we don't charge enough. Between that and selling out in under a minute yet again last year, we are listening and raising the match fees this year to try to raise as much money as we can to help our friends from the 5th Special Forces Group. Match Fees for 2023 are as follows: 5k: $150 10k: $200 Team Night Match: $500 ($250/shooter)

I am excited to announce Jay Roberts will be Match Director for our first ever Team Night Match this year! I will be MD for the day match as usual while he tries to sleep a little. Fair warning: the Team Night Match is designed for Special Forces guys, along with all of their skills and equipment capabilities. Civilians are welcome to participate, but may be frustrated trying to complete the tasks with civilian-grade equipment. This is a true "Anything goes" match with no equipment rules/limitations other than you have to carry it for the entire 5k-ish course. There will be times when white light is your best tool, times with high power IR is your best tool, and could be times when zero emissions are necessary. The basic course will be the daytime 5k trail and stages, but with some team and night oriented special challenges along the way. Expect rifle shots to 4-500 yds and several skills tests focused toward SF skills including "Split Team Operations" And above all, expect surprises. Improvise, adapt, and overcome! The match fee will be high, but in line with other team matches at $500 per team ($250/competitor), and there will be VERY limited slots available to the general public - this will only take place on Saturday night. Pair up now and start your training!

I am saddened beyond words (and dumbfounded, and angry, and so many other things I can't even comprehend right now) to share that we lost Trevor Graves last week. Trevor was a 5th Special Forces Group Captain and cofounder of the Legion Memorial Run N Gun, and a huge positive influence on so many people from so many different walks of life I don't think we'll ever truly know how wide his reach was. Everyone around him is struggling right now, but understands there are hundreds (thousands?) of people who want to do SOMETHING to show their support - so they set up the gofundme below. I want to write more, but this is all I can do right now. More to come as we get through this. https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-trevor-graves-fund

Typically 90 days before match day. I will post a date and registration link here about two weeks prior. Be warned - it usually sells out in less than a minute.

Ladies and gentlemen: we are now 180 days out from match day. Work has started on our end - has it started for you??? Here's a 5 minute reminder of the kinds of things you might see this year: https://youtu.be/OX-I4OvcZ7o

The best place to learn all the details about this year's match is on the Facebook Event Page at https://www.facebook.com/events/1271554906822529/- but I totally get that we have several people who (rightly) hate Facebook, so I'll repost what I think are the important points here for non-FBers. Don't be shy if you have questions or if I've left anything out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Intro: The 2023 Legion Memorial Run N Gun is a centerfire biathlon – competitors will complete a 5k-ish or 10k-ish wilderness trail run combined with a shooting competition. The event is a test of man and equipment alike. It is intended to give participants an idea of how being hot, cold, exhausted, and challenged by the environment affects their shooting, and to test the effectiveness of their gear under field conditions. This event is not intended for inexperienced shooters – all participants are expected to be familiar with the operation of their firearms, and to observe basic principles of firearm safety at all times. With the exception of emergencies, Range Officers (ROs) are not allowed to help participants in any way. Good attitudes are a must. If you are the type of person who gets upset when minor changes are made to a plan or when you don’t always get your way, this is not the event for you. Basics: Participants will receive both a score for their run based on how long it took them to complete the course, and a score for their shooting based on how long it took them to clear each course of fire. The run score and shooting score will be equally weighted in determining the participant’s final score. This is true run-what-you-brung field-style shooting. For the most part, if you want to carry it for 5 or 10 clicks, be our guest. There are two equipment classes to reflect the different ways Green Berets fight: “Lightfighter” in which you can carry whatever you want, but are limited to one pistol and one rifle; or “Operator” in which you must FINISH the race with a pack weighing at least 45 lbs (not including your main rifle, pistol, and belt/chest rig) – but that pack may (and should) contain ANYTHING that can give you an advantage. The only limit is that pistol targets must be engaged with pistol rounds, and rifle targets must be engaged with rifle rounds. Want to carry a PCC? Be our guest. Think a scoped bolt gun or different upper in 6.5 Creedmore will give you an advantage? Go for it. You can even carry a shotgun to engage steel pistol targets if you want (birdshot only). Any weapons carried must be IN ADDITION to a primary rifle and pistol, and weight of the pack MAY include the weight of armor plates if you want to either wear or carry them in the pack. Packs may be removed prior to shooting, as that is how 5th Group would generally do it as well – but this will be done on your run time and BEFORE any wait time starts. The Team Night Match will have no equipment divisions. Anything you want to carry for the entire course and that will not damage props/targets or cause a safety issue is allowed. Shooters are expected to have all their firearms sighted in and all their gear ready to go on the morning of the shoot. There will be no zeroing at the event. Think of this as a test of how you and your equipment would perform in a Second Amendment situation if you had to go take care of business at your current state of readiness, whatever that is. Run order will be more or less random. We will try to be accommodating to participants who wish to share firearms or equipment (we can have one person run in the morning and the other in the afternoon), or to partners who wish to run together. Due to issues with back-ups and large groups in the past, only two runners can start together. Equipment: The only equipment that is strictly required to participate is a safe center fire rifle, a safe center fire pistol, enough ammo to clear the course (at least twice the minimum required hit count is recommended), eye protection, ear protection, and some form of stopwatch. Rifle targets must be engaged with rifle rounds (no larger than 30-06), and pistol targets must be engaged with pistol rounds. In everything but the “Tier One” class, competitors must carry one rifle and one pistol. Everything else is up to the participant. Shooters may use any type of gear they want to carry their equipment with, the only requirement being that pistols must be carried in a secure holster that covers the trigger if they are to be carried loaded. Rifles may be carried any way you like, as long as they remain pointed in a safe direction. You may not use tracers or armor piercing bullets that have a hardened penetrator core, as we will be using lots of steel targets that we don’t want to see damaged. To be safe – if your bullet attracts a magnet or has a green tip, leave it at home. Rules: First and foremost, all participants will be expected to comply with basic firearms safety at all times. If you demonstrate inability or unwillingness to follow basic firearm safety, you will be asked to leave, with no refund and no apology. Muzzles must be pointed in a safe direction at all times, and fingers must be off the trigger unless the firearm is pointed at a target. Long guns shall only be loaded when a shooter is at a rifle stage, after the RO has given the “fire” command. Shooters may leave their handguns loaded at all times if in a secure holster. However, loaded handguns must remain in that holster unless the shooter has been given the “fire” command on a shooting stage. Some stages will be active, involving moving and shooting. Firearms may remain loaded during movement, but strict muzzle discipline must be maintained. Shooters will be disqualified (DQ’d) and not allowed to finish the course for the following violations: having a loaded rifle anywhere EXCEPT on a shooting stage after the “beep”, dropping a loaded pistol, pointing a loaded weapon at someone, or having a Negligent Discharge (ND). It is solely the judgement of my Staff that I trust if these should occur, and if you argue with an RO you will lose. Procedures: When a shooter approaches a station, he will be required to show the RO an empty mag well and empty chamber on his long gun(s). If another shooter is currently on the stage when he arrives, the one who just arrived will be instructed by the RO to start his stopwatch to keep track of his wait time (this will be subtracted off the participant’s run time when his run score is calculated). It is purely the shooter’s responsibility to keep track of his wait time. The ROs have no responsibility whatsoever to help you do this. Even if an RO offers to help you keep track of your time, you have no one but yourself to blame if this is not done. When the shooter is ready to shoot the stage, the RO will record his wait time if any. The shooter will be given a quick summary of the course of fire. The RO will ask if the shooter understands the course of fire. If the answer is yes, the shooter will be given the “fire” command, at which time he may load his rifle and/or draw his pistol and begin shooting the stage. All stages will have a zone where the shooter must fire from -- either a particular hole in a barricade that you must shoot through, or a marked zone on the ground, in which every part of your body or equipment which touches the ground must remain inside of when you fire. Hits made from outside the designated area will not count toward completion of the course of fire. Every shooting stage will have a 3 minute time limit. This is to keep the runners moving and to prevent large backups of shooters waiting to shoot a stage. At the end of that 3 minute period, the shooter will be stopped and time penalties applied to their score for any target not fully neutralized as per the course of fire requirements. If for any reason the “cease fire” command is given, you will immediately cease fire, holster your handgun, and unload your rifle. You will do likewise when you complete a stage, or time out. The RO should tell you your time for the stage. The RO will record your time on their iPad. You may want to carry a pen and notepad to keep track of your score in there is a mix-up with the scoring. Every shooter must show the RO an empty mag well and chamber on his rifle before leaving each stage. The RO will give directions on where to go to continue down the trail. Shooters are NOT required to leave their rifle’s bolt open during the run… this is actually discouraged, as it will allow lots of that beautiful Tennessee red clay to accumulate inside the action. There will be ample opportunity for this to happen on the course. The Run: The path for participants to follow will be marked with brightly colored flags and/or tape. Shooters must stay close to the marked path. Do not cut corners. Failure to follow the marked trail may take you into the impact area of a hot range!!! If the trail takes you through some difficult terrain, this is on purpose! Parts of the trail may be down a road. Keep to the left edge of the road and watch for traffic. Your Fitness: This event is in a remote area, and you need to be aware of over-exertion. We should have some folks with medical skills on hand, but your health is your responsibility. If you start having problems, slow down... drink some water... listen to your body! There is no shame in walking the course; know yourself and your limitations. Accommodations: Dead Zero Shooting Park is in a remote area south of Spencer, TN, so lodging may be challenging. Primitive camping will be allowed on-site for $10/night. Call Dead Zero at 423-800-7758 to make a reservation to camp. A Hotel/Lodge, Cabins and campgrounds with full hookups are available at Fall Creek Falls State Park about 15 miles away, but the Mountaineer Folk Festival is being held there this weekend so most of these sites are booked well in advance. The city of Dunlap is less than 20 miles to the south and has a couple hotels, restaurants, and a Walmart. The cities of Chattanooga and Cookeville are within about 40 miles and have all sorts of nicer options for food and lodging. There will be people on site all day Friday, as the ROs will be running the course. Registration for the day matches open at 6:30 a.m. and closes at 7:30 a.m on the morning of the match. The safety briefing begins at 7:30 a.m. Anyone who does not get signed in by 7:30 will not be allowed to participate, so be on time. The first runner will be sent out at 8:00 a.m., and another runner will be sent out in a uniform interval thereafter. The ROs will have run the course the day before. They will be scored along with all the other contestants. After the last runner has crossed the finish line, we will calculate the results. The winners will be announced, and trophies and prizes will be awarded as 5th Group sees fit. How to Sign Up: The registration fee for the Legion 9/11 Memorial Run N Gun is $150 for the 5k, $200 for the 10k, and $500 per team for the Team Night Match ($250/person). Registration will be limited in number so all runners can finish the course before dark. Registration will be handled through Practiscore, Dead Zero will have you sign a waiver the morning of the match, and we will collect full payment (CASH or CHECK ONLY – NO CREDIT/DEBIT CARDS WILL BE ACCEPTED AND THERE IS NO ATM ONSITE - Edit: payment may be online, we're currently investigating this) the morning of the match. Make sure you are familiar with all of our rules and procedures before signing up. All participants must register under their true names. Tickets are non-transferable. Pre-registration is mandatory, and no walk-ons will be allowed on match day as space and time is limited. Several discounted slots are being held for active-duty 5th Group personnel. If you are 5th Group, please email mstennett@twlakes.net to confirm your status and claim your reduced competitor slot. All proceeds from the match will go the Special Forces Association, Chapter 38. Learn more about them here: http://sfa38.org/ Cancellation Policy: Please cancel your registration through Practiscore as soon as you know you can’t come. We always have several people on the waitlist, and if you don’t cancel early enough not only can they not get in, but the Special Forces Association won’t max out the contribution we can make to them. DON’T BE THAT GUY who just decides not to show up and doesn’t tell anyone. Directions: The start and finish line are both located near the Pro Shop at Dead Zero Shooting Park, 1195 TN-111 Scenic, Spencer, TN 38585. Chattanooga, TN has a small airport and is less than an hour’s drive from Dead Zero. Nashville International Airport is a little under two hours’ drive. Pictures, as always, by Lisa Stennett

My dear wife made a valiant attempt at taking pictures at the "Own The Night" match. She was pretty frustrated, and it was so dang dark there's no telling who most of these people are, but they did make for some cool looking pictures. As always, feel free to use them how you please - but please credit Lisa Stennett if you do. Commercial use must get permission first. https://www.flickr.com/photos/lstennett/albums/72177720306362261/with/52718987573/

2023 match dates at Dead Zero Shooting Park in Spencer, TN are approved! Starting March 19th, we'll have a Multigun match every 3rd Sunday of the month. Except for September, during which our regular multigun match will be cancelled while I recover from the Legion 9/11 Memorial Run N Gun. October's match will be our 2nd "Own The Night" night 2-gun match. November 19th will be the last regularly scheduled day match of 2023. We are new shooter and 2-Gun friendly - you don't NEED a shotgun to compete, but you may end up buying or borrowing one after you see how much fun the 3-gunners have with it. You should be able to see and register for them all here: https://practiscore.com/clubs/dead_zero_3_gun To always get the most up-to-date information about matches here, like or follow the Dead Zero 3-Gun Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DeadZero3Gun If you're not a Facebooker, the basics are at: https://deadzeroshooting.com/dead-zero-3gun/ Picture by Lisa Stennett

We had a guy with a SiOnyx Opsin who made a great FPS show of all the stages:

Match video is up! It's hard to film at night - even with the SiOnyx. So this is pretty choppy and ugly, but hopefully it'll give just a glimpse of what it was like to be there for those who couldn't make it. And for those who did come - to help share with your friends the crazy/awesome things you do!

I am excited to announce the Dead Zero "Own The Night" 2-Gun Match is booked for Saturday night, Feb 18th, 2023 at Dead Zero Shooting Park, just south of Spencer, TN. This will be a 2-Gun (rifle/pistol) match with two divisions: NVG Division: allowed ZERO visible light and must use IR or no light at all. White Light Division: allowed any light (or combination of lights) they want. Weaponlights definitely make things easier, but you can shoot the whole match with a handheld or headlamp if you want. Rifle must shoot a rifle round, and pistol must shoot a pistol round. Everything else is allowed as long as it's safe. You will need a safe holster for your pistol. If we have enough NVG folks we'll have a dedicated NVG squad (maybe two!). If not we can mix NVG folks in with the white light shooters and just make everyone go completely dark while the NVG people shoot. 5 stages. Rifle out to 100 yds max. One stage must be shot "Passive" with no additional light (IR or white) allowed. Moving targets. Exploding targets. Running through the woods in the dark while engaging targets. Great challenges and fun! The cost is a little higher than our regular monthly match because I'll have some extra expenses to cover, but it's still stupid-cheap at only $30. Register here: https://practiscore.com/dead-zero-own-the-night-2-gun-match-feb-2023/register Like or follow the Dead Zero 3-Gun Facebook page to stay in the loop and for more details: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DeadZero3Gun

I am beyond proud and thrilled to announce, that with all of your help and generosity we were able to present the Special Forces Association, Chpt 38 with a check for $30,000.00 at their Reunion Dinner a couple weeks ago. Thank you all for helping us to make this happen.

Sorry - just saw this. We have a great 3-gun match at Dead Zero Shooting park just south of Spencer, TN every 3rd Sunday of the month. Register for the Oct 16th match here: https://practiscore.com/dead-zero-october-multi-gun-match-sunday-10-16-22/register For more info go here: https://deadzeroshooting.com/dead-zero-3gun/ or search for the Dead Zero 3Gun group on Facebook. Hope to see you soon!

Big thanks to Karl (http://www.tacticalrifleman.com/) for joining us this year, and for helping to share our story with his almost 1 million subscribers! It's humbling enough to do this as a simple civilian - I can't imagine the impact it has when you knew several of the honorees.

The official match video is up! 6 months of work and 3 days of action, all crammed into 5 minutes of video. Share it so people can get just a taste of the amazing accomplishments you made two weeks ago. Share it to give the sponsors some much-earned love and recognition. Share it to help the match grow. But most importantly: share it to remember the names and stories of the eight 5th Group heroes we honored with stages this year (not to mention all those we carried with us on the course). May we never forget.

From Lisa: Legion Memorial Run N Gun photos for SUNDAY are up. Feel free to share pics with friends and family. Any other uses of these photos must have permissions and photo credits. Leave the watermark, it's a small thing to ask. These albums are best viewed and downloaded from a desktop or laptop, other devices can be problematic. **Edited to add: I had some difficulties with some internal settings in one camera and this has led to the photos being a bit jumbled between days. 95% of you will find your photos in the correct album. The other 5% are going to have to look around a bit. I tried to sort this out as best I could, but at this point - it is what it is. My apologies. https://www.flickr.com/photos/lstennett/albums/72177720302240686

From Lisa: Legion Memorial Run N Gun photos for Friday and Saturday are up. Sunday pictures are in the works and should be up soon. Feel free to share pics with friends and family. Any other uses of these photos must have permissions and photo credits. Leave the watermark, it's a small thing to ask. These albums are best viewed and downloaded from a desktop or laptop, devices can be problematic. **Edited to add: I had some difficulties with some internal settings in one camera and this has led to the photos being a bit jumbled between days. 95% of you will find your photos in the correct album. The other 5% are going to have to look around a bit. I tried to sort this out as best I could, but at this point - it is what it is. My apologies. Saturday pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lstennett/albums/72177720302204432 Friday pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lstennett/albums/72177720302120383 (many have been added since first posting)