When this process began I was a Company of one. After a couple of months of reading and dreaming, this grew to a Company of two. It had become very clear that participation in GAF or in NCOWS would be a little difficult, even impractical. The closest and only NCOWS organization to my location is over 230 miles south. The GAF activity in California seemed to be almost if not completely non existent. Not wanting to admit defeat, I sat back, asked some questions and began the thinking process.
Financially, the two of us in our little Company are in the same boat of barely getting by in this high cost world. Travel expenses are not something we wanted to face. The cost of metal targets is beyond our current reach but we knew there had to be a solution. As far as guns to use, we were also very limited, in reality we each own a black powder cap and ball revolver and perhaps in a year or so, we might be able to add a rifle.
Enter the GAF Postal Match: We both got pretty excited because the postal match would at least allow us twice a year to be active in GAF. We decided that when we could get together to go shoot, we would shoot the postal match targets from the four positions. This has added a great deal of enjoyment to our own experience.
This past Saturday, we added a third person to our small Company and he had a great time shooting the postal match course. After sitting and talking for awhile a few things began to take form.
It appears the normal route for GAF is to find a SASS or NCOWS group and join them. This gives a local group the ability to shoot GAF and at the same time provides the range and targets that are needed. This route is not really an option for our small Company. What to do?
Think out of the box and approach this in a reverse order.
We formed the “Cherokee Lighhorse Company C” and will continue to shoot the postal match course with variations to keep it interesting. Following the principals of NCOWS we strive for authenticity during the era right after the Civil war. As a result we currently view ourselves as
Grand Army of the Frontier
Department of the Pacific
Division of California
Cherokee Lighthorse Company C
Yesterday we added a fourth member to our Company.
We might be a small group but we have attitude. We refuse to take prisoners and surrender is not an option. As our company gets larger. We can look into adding some metal targets for variation, and at some point apply to become an NCOWS posse. We are just working this from the bottom up.