I have pruned this thread to just the pertainent details and a few FAQ's.
I will be hosting the 2010 Department of Missouri Muster July 23, 24th & 25th, in my pasture. This will be open to anyone in the GAF. You need not be headquartered in the Department of the Missouri. By using Google Earth and going to 41°40'16.24"N Latitude and 99°19'42.54"W Longitude you can see the Dept. Muster site. Registration forms are available on the dispatches page of the Grand Army's Web site.
This muster will be a primative camping event and will be participant driven meaning that I have set up the match based on what the participants want to do while there. The planned activities include: a 6 stage GAF steel target main match, a GAF Expansion Era Match, a 500 yd paper target long range match, and the School of the soldier. I will be teaching the school of the soldier using Upton's Infatry Tactics. for those of you who might want to read it before coming to the Dept. Muster, I found a downloadable .pdf of Upton's at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=iaQNAAAAYAAJ&dq=upton's+infantry+tactics&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=yAshMyGAQs&sig=91H-0U6X-UnqCtWLlVb8RyPg5mo&hl=en&ei=KGYAS-iZLdGrngfG6KkS&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=upton's%20infantry%20tactics&f=falseThe School of the Soldier is where new soldiers are taught how to march and drill. It usually includes everything from the basic position of "Attention" to Bayonet drill. When I teach the School of the Soldier I teach the 1872 Upton's Manual for army infantry. Civil War reenactors use Hardy's Tactics. It isn't something that can be thoroughly taught in one weekend but one could learn the basics. Modern soldiers will have a hard time learning some things because they are sooo different from the way it's done now. (For instance; today it's called "port Arms. In 1872 it was called "Arms Port")
I intend to have a tent city and have tentage for 4 individuals if you don't have your own. Participants can also use modern tents. We'll just set them up a little way of to the side so that photos won't show them. Also we should be easily able to get photos without anything modern in them. We should have plenty of time to sit around the campfire and visit.
The muster itself will be low budget. The meals will be cooked by Delmonico and participants will pay him not me. I don't intend to issue medals to the winners, but entry fees will only be around $35. The only reason I ntend to charge an entry fee at all is to use that money to eventually purchase steel that I will use to make steel targets for GAF to use. These targets will be scaled versions of the 1880's army silhouette targets.
Can I bring a Pop-up?
What kind of ground clearance does it have? Remember, the camp site is about 3/4 of a mile out into a pasture over a pasture trail. Pickups and SUVs aren't a problem, but I'm not sure about cars. If you drive a car you could park it in my yard and we could carry your gear up in my pickup or four wheeler.
Now, I'm going to assume that since this is NOT on Gum'mint property, that spiritous likkers to warm man 'n' beast are welcome?*
*Or at least will be duly ignored by the CO? As long as a tin cup full finds it's way into his tent?
Well.....
Even though I'm probably the only Irish Catholic alive who doesn't drink, I see no reason
judiciously applied spirits need be prohibitied.
Are the long range targets paper or steel? I.E, is it lead bullet only, or is jacketed ok?
I hadn't considered that possibility.
Yes they are paper, so yes jacketed are ok for that event. JUST MAKE CERTAIN NOT TO LOAD JACKETED FOR THE STEEL PARTS OF THE MUSTER!
Col. Pitspitr, Sir do you have an approx. round count for the Dept. muster?
67 rifle 40 pistol for the main match. Figure 15-20 for the long range. Don't have a count yet for the Expansion era match. Contact Ned Niederlander for that.
Pitspitr, Are there accomadations in the Sargent area for us folks that won't be camping out? I know about the places in Ord and Burwell.
The nearest motel is just South of Taylor, which would be about 10 miles by car (or 6 by crow)