Posted: 3/9/2004 7:37:32 PM EDT
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I took a television crew out to the WWII Desert Training Center which back in the day ran from the Salton Sea out to Arizona and up to the southern tip of Nevada. We visited Camp Coxcomb, Camp Iron Mountain and Camp Granite. It was a three hour drive each way and a more than a few hours up into the mountains. David Garcia from FOX is doing several specials on the history of the desert area for independent sales. We worked the poor old guy until he was pretty tuckered out and then went out on our own. For those who haven't been out there you can still see where each training division set up, find plenty of cans, spent ammo, tank tracks, fighting positions, unit markings, and rock lined "sidewalks" and "streets". I brought a guy from work with me who brought his new found 28 year old daughter along. Nice gal who when she found out I was packing was more than interested in shooting. We found a nice rifle range berm that probably hadn't seen action in 60 years and I showed her the basics of the .45 and demonstated a magazine worth of plastic bottle dancing. I let her run three magazines though the thing ... and I forgot to take her picture for ya'  .Afterwards she said that it was a rush and that she understood why we liked shooting so much. The three hour trip back was filled with education about the restrictions on the people's right to own firearms. She plans on joining the Army for a second hitch come summer but I hope to take her out shooting with some AR's to get her skills up before sending her to boot camp. She's been promised some sort of physical trainer MOS as she's had some civilian training. We hit the Patton Museum for a rest on the way back. The vandalism that was done last spring has all been repaired. The spray painted peace slogans have been removed from the tanks - but the place is still kind of rough around the edges. They've got a dozen or more tanks that need some TLC - and a fresh coat of paint. Inside the walls are lined with lots of nice weapons from the old Springfield 1903, to machine guns, a nice collection of German and Japanese weapons from the war, and more than a few M1 Garands. My favorite piece is a sweet looking Johnson light submachine gun that looks nearly new. Well worth $4 if you're tooling down the 10 freeway on the way to somewhere else. |
| Do they still have the MWD Map and Display? That was pretty damn impressive too. The story of all the surveying and then construction of the MWD Aqueduct across the desert. Those surveyors had to be half mountain goat and half sidewinder. Weather should be good for visiting for about another 2 months. Were the cactus and octillo in bloom yet? Worth a trip and then back via Joshua Tree if you've never taken the cross park road. |
Yes, it's the center piece of the entrance. Pretty neat seeing the lay of the land. |
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Didn't know where it was, here's the link. www.desertusa.com/mag99/feb/stories/paton.html |
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There's miles and miles and miles (and miles) of wide open BLM property out there worth shooting and camping in. Of course a real shooter brings out only pre-1945 weapons. We're going camping out there and bringing out BAR's, Tommy Guns, M1 carbines, M1 Garands and some M1903's and in the spirt of Patton .45's! |