Area 1

[ErikW]

On stage 6 (gun in box, drop-turner, swinger, clamshell, no-shoots galore) the RO asked me, "Do you understand the course of fire?" After a long, quiet stare, I asked him, "Bill, didn't you take the RO course with me?"

On the unloaded from the platform stage, the RO said something to the effect of "Blah blah blah blah blah ready." I said, "I'll assume you said load and make ready" and unholstered. On another stage, after hearing the RO's recital, I said, "Just say 'Load and make ready.'"

I would have RO'd half a day with that schedule. But it was nice having dedicated CROs. We, the squads, provided our own AROs for each stage.

[blackdragon]

Hey Athena, Way to go 8th Open and first A! Con Grats!

Ivan

SCS Vegas

Armscor

[ErikW]

Oh yeah, almost forgot, another shitty squad experience almost got ugly.

The squad following us was always catching up for some reason. They crowded onto our tables and under our shade, no big deal. At least one even helped tape. But a few of them walked the stage while we were resetting it and our on-deck shooter was walking through. On stage 6, I was the acting ARO with the clipboard and I saw someone from the other squad in the shooting area blocking the line of sight of Limited GM Tom who was trying to do his walk-thru. I said, loudly, "We are not done. Get off the stage!" I don't sugar-coat things and I get to the point and I didn't have time for ettiquette lessons. He got the point and scurried off, no problem. But then another person from the squad got all huffy about me chasing him off and said I can't treat him like that, because after all, they helped tape. I shjt you not. I showed him the clipboard in my hands and said, in effect, "See this? It means yes I can order people off the stage." And he got all lathered up. But I was done and went no further. That's all I needed was for someone to get unsportsmanlike on me while I was a match official. Of course, I would have whipped out my Ben Franklin for a third party arbitration had somebody abused a match official in my presence as a shooter. I have zero tolerance for that crap now.

The cool thing is one of them later apologized for his squad-mates' behavior.

[sincityshooter]

I thought the stages were very balanced with accuracy, start positions, and props all playing a huge role in the final scores. I had a great time although I didn't shoot that well. One thing I did notice is how relaxed the atmosphere was... it did not feel like an area match. Not sure if that's a bad thing, just something that I realized on day two. I thought the R.O.'s were friendly and for the most part they were doing everything possible to help the shooters. However, there were a couple of inexperienced calls which should not happen at an area match. Now I can look forward to my favorite match (Area 2).

Great shooting Athena, it was fun watching you shoot stage 11 on your toes (I have it on video tape).