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That's a wrap! Thanks for a great season. See you all next year!

We should be shooting 2nd Saturday and 4th Sunday again next year.

Final schedule to be finalized in February.

A Christmas Poem

dddd Gnome, gnome on the range!
in GGP / SASS / CASS / Shooting Sports Discussion
A Different Christmas Poem<br />
<br />
<br />
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,<br />
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.<br />
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,<br />
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.<br />
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,<br />
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.<br />
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,<br />
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.<br />
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,<br />
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.<br />
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,<br />
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.<br />
<br />
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,<br />
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.<br />
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the<br />
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.<br />
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,<br />
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.<br />
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,<br />
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.<br />
<br />
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,<br />
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.<br />
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,<br />
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.<br />
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,<br />
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!<br />
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,<br />
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"<br />
<br />
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,<br />
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..<br />
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light<br />
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,<br />
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."<br />
"It's my duty tostand at the front of the line,<br />
That separates you from the darkest of times.<br />
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,<br />
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.<br />
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"<br />
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."<br />
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',<br />
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.<br />
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,<br />
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.<br />
<br />
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,<br />
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.<br />
I can live through the cold and the being alone,<br />
Away from my family, my house and my home.<br />
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,<br />
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.<br />
I can carry the weight of killing another,<br />
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..<br />
Who stand at the front against any and all,<br />
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."<br />
<br />
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,<br />
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."<br />
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,<br />
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?<br />
It seems all too little for all that you've done,<br />
For being away from your wife and your son."<br />
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,<br />
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.<br />
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,<br />
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.<br />
For when we come home, either standing or dead,<br />
To know you remember we fought and we bled.<br />
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,<br />
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."<br />
<br />
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