5.11 Challenge Update from 5.11 Tactical Series

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by David Crane
david@defensereview.com

DefenseReview received the email message below from Bill Berry, who heads up the 5.11 Challenge, which was created by 5.11 Tactical Series.

Not too long ago, DefenseReview wrote about the very cool 5.11 H.R.T. Watch,
which was designed for snipers. The watch sports a titanium case and
incorporates a ballistic computer that calculates all of the snipers
"come-ups" for him. The sniper can "calculate point of impact by
inputting critical variables that determine elevation and wind
adjustments", and then make the necessary rifle scope adjustment. The
article we published was titled "5.11 Tactical Introduces the H.R.T. Tactical Ballistic Computer Watch at SHOT", and we suggest you take a look at it, if you haven’t already read it.

Anyway, here’s the message we received from Bill:…

"From: Bill B
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 12:09 PM
To: David Crane
Subject: 5.11 Challenge Sponsor Update

Hello from Montana,

Well it has been a fast and crazy summer. First let me say that all of the police officers who have attended the 5.11 Challenge
have asked me to convey to you their deep appreciation for the
opportunities that they were given here at the range and lodge on the
Big Horn River. Each officer has left refreshed and ready to face the
tough task of providing us with a safe environment. They also leave
with a real loyalty to the sponsors of the 5.11 Challenge.
Because of your gift to them, they will always have a special place for
the people who showed such generosity to law enforcement. Let me start
out with a quick review of the current standings and results. The top
three teams are from Tucson Police Department, U.S. Probation (Las
Vegas) and Walla Walla Police Department. These three teams were here
at the lodge on week 2 and their scores have held for 3 consecutive
weeks. I have attached their photos for you.

I
have been very impressed with the quality of people that we have had
out here this year. Every team of officers has represented their
department very well which continues to remind me of the fact that we
have great people working in the law enforcement profession.

We
still have a 100% success rate for catching fish here on the Big Horn
River. There have been days where each boat of officers has caught at
least 25 fish. The weather has been hot but when you are on the river
catching fish most things like weather, the stress of patrolling the
streets, approaching an armed suspect or even having to step into the
line of fire are easily forgotten. What we offer these men and women is
not replicated anywhere in the country and our reputation for being a
first class event is spreading rapidly through the law enforcement
community.

One interesting story for this year is the
saga of our two police officers from Portugal. Yes, I did say Portugal.
Ricardo Gouveia and Pedro Pereira left their home town of Porto,
Portugal on Tuesday the 2nd of August. When they arrived at La Guardia
airport in New York City, they were detained by a very difficult
customs agent. According to Ricardo, who spoke very good English, the
Customs agent said that their passports were fake and that they were
being detained until they could verify their credentials. Even though
they showed their police identification and explained where they were
going, the response of the Customs agent was “that is your problem”.
Needless to say, they missed their connecting flight to Billings and
were not able to board a plane until late the next day. Since their
cell phone did not work and they were not familiar with the pay phone
system they were not able to communicate to me that they were sleeping
at the airport and would be arriving on Thursday evening. This meant
that they would miss the opportunity to shoot with the other three
teams that had arrived that Wednesday evening. I was lucky enough to
contact Northwest airlines and get their flight information so that we
could be in Billings to pick them up on Thursday evening.

Ricardo
and Pedro arrived just in time for dinner (Ribs) on Thursday evening
and told us of their ordeal in the Big Apple. Both said that they were
very happy to be flying home via Chicago. We had a very interesting
evening sharing the differences and similarities between the Portugal
law enforcement system and the U.S. law enforcement system. Both
Ricardo and Pedro were amazed at the amount of resources available to
the officers of America. They told us about their little Fiat patrol
car, their Walther PPK .32 caliber handgun and the fact that they only
shoot once per year and have very few bullets with which to practice.
When we showed them the firepower we had here at the lodge they were in
awe of the American Law Enforcement arsenal. Neither had ever shot any
of the firearms we had for the 5.11 Challenge.

The
next day both enjoyed the opportunity to catch Rainbow and Brown trout
in the Big Horn River and marveled at the great food we had at the
lodge (see photos). Luckily, the return flights for our two special
guests were scheduled for Monday morning so I decided to run them
through the course of fire on Sunday. But they still had all day
Saturday to enjoy our hospitality. We had enough time to take Ricardo
and Pedro to the Little Bighorn National Monument and give them the
full tour of Custer’s Last Stand. Both were very familiar with this
battle and marveled at the vastness of the Montana wilderness as well
as the length of the battlefield itself.

On Saturday
evening we issued the gear for the next day’s shoot and gave the
Portuguese team a comprehensive orientation to the firearms they would
be shooting the next day. Little did we know that even though both of
them had little experience with these firearms, that both would prove
to be very good shooter who just needed the practice time and
ammunition to be competitive. We started early on Sunday morning and
ran them through the entire course of fire. Each shot respectable
scores and felt very good about themselves at the end of the shoot.

We
finished the event by noon so we loaded them up in our van and took
them up the Big Horn National Recreation area where we launched our
drift boat on the lake so they could enjoy the sites of that beautiful
area and take the opportunity to do some swimming and diving.

We
took them to the airport on Monday morning at 4 A.M. and helped them
get through security. Of course they were completely search and asked
questions about all of the cool equipment they were taking back with
them to Portugal.

I received the following note from Ricardo just a few minutes ago:

Dear friend,

We
are finally at home, there are 16:00 in portugal so there must be 08:00
in the lodge. We have no problems this time, just some delays. More one
time, thanks for all that you and Loren have done for us.

I
hope see you both soon in Portugal and of course in my house. Now i go
sleep a wile and tomorrow i will send you some portuguese books so you
get to know beter our country and culture.

Please send me the e-mail of Loren so i can send him some photos from Portugal.

Thanks for all and i start to miss you folks!!

oh! and say thanks to Don Costa and all sponsors to, for give us the oportunity to participate in 5.11 challenge. (sorry my english)"

5.11 Challenge Update from 5.11 Tactical Series by

About David Crane

David Crane started publishing online in 2001. Since that time, governments, military organizations, Special Operators (i.e. professional trigger pullers), agencies, and civilian tactical shooters the world over have come to depend on Defense Review as the authoritative source of news and information on "the latest and greatest" in the field of military defense and tactical technology and hardware, including tactical firearms, ammunition, equipment, gear, and training.

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