2019 Legion 9/11 Memorial Run N Gun: Sept 7-8, Park City, KY

[Matt in TN]

SFC William M. Bennett is remembered by colleagues as a man of contradictions: a fitness buff who enjoyed a good cigar, a challenger of authority who respected decisions he disagreed with.

Master Sgt. Jeff Mason said Bennett came across as cocky when they first met, but he soon learned: “Bill not only talked the talk, he walked the walk.” Bennett spoke his mind, but his loyalty was never in doubt, Mason said.

During a firefight on Sept. 12, 2003 in Ramadi, Iraq, Benet was involved in intense urban combat, conducting constant raids against extremists, some of whom we now know as Al-Qaeda. 

The fight was brutal, pre-dawn, and after a dry hole the assault force encountered a well armed enemy with prepared fighting positions.  Still, to a man the Team kept the momentum and despite its losses, eliminated the threat.  
  
In this stage test your ability to observe critical details, apply them, and demonstrate your ability to ‘put it all together, regardless of contradictions.

Stage brief:  On the buzzer, search the last three bays to find and neutralize the HVT using only your pistol with a single shot to the CENTER of his head.  The number of the house the HVT is hiding in was given in order along the trail.  Any enemy you find while searching MUST be neutralized.  If you are shot while searching you must CRAWL to finish the stage – Green Berets never give up.  Any questions?  (answer questions)  Ready?  [BEEP]

6 small houses were set up in the back corners of three pistol bays, each marked with a 4-digit "address" using the digits 1, 2, 3, and 4.  On the trail between stages 2 and 3 were signs with these four digits on them, with about 100 yds between each sign.  If you noticed and recorded the order of those numbers, you had the address to the HVT and only had to make one shot to the head to finish the stage.  If you entered the wrong house, you might have to neutralize 3 bad guys, see 3 good guys, or be hit with a 50 cal machine gun simulator and have to crawl for the remainder of the stage.

[Matt in TN]

And the final mental test: establishing bona fides. In the morning safety briefing shooters were told if they saw a man in a red hat, they should approach him and make up a reasonably natural sounding sentence using the words "licorice" and "red" to establish their bona fides and good things will happen.

Two of these guys (for redundancy) were located between stages 6 and 7 (or 4 and 5 if doing the 5k), and if you established your bona fides correctly they simply said "Get in the back of the truck" and gave you a ride to the next stage.

More than half the competitors walked/ran right by them and never engaged. Some even talked to them directly, but failed to notice the red hats or remember the correct words.

[Mike1000]

Sounds like a well run event. Thanks for the write up and tributes!

[Matt in TN]

The downside to working with SF guys is that they are always on the move - as soon as I get to know them, they get deployed and/or move on somewhere else and I never hear from them again. The upside is that there is always a new group of guys who move in to help, so I'm always meeting more and more amazing and humbling Green Berets.

 

One of this year's group had a great sig-line on his email I had to share. When I asked where the quote came from, he said he saw it on a wall at one of their ranges in 2006, and had no idea where it came from. I think it fits us perfectly though:

 

"The extreme among us believe in all or nothing, go big or go home. For the extreme, average is not enough. There will always be a boundary to break, a limit to push, a goal to demolish, and more to achieve."

[Matt in TN]

Pictures are up!  As always, feel free to share them with friends and family, but credit Lisa Stennett if you do.  Permissions and credit REQUIRED for commercial or promotional use.

She works hard on this, and all she wants out of it is a little credit.  Help me make that happen.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/163548466@N06/albums/72157710819148023?fbclid=IwAR2P8PkhAjxtkFoff-uHj7shyPo6h8RjYu9c8kOpWRDhrU--X36JBiXQL9E

 And because I had many people ask about it, the two film crews on site were from Lucky Gunner Ammo (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCznXfC7LthNEPUSvDydDPAw) and Gun Stuff TV (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjN1gH5Tm_UzqZqM-iX1wuA). It will likely take 2-4 months before they finish their editing and publish anything, but I will post something when they do.

[Matt in TN]

We were lucky to have Scott Kiefner and GunStuff TV join us on Saturday to run the 5k a few weeks ago.

Check out their outstanding Documentary Short they put together about their experience!

https://youtu.be/xNVvyswKtuY

Edited October 3, 2019 by Matt in TN