The Man Squad

Despite an initial poor showing of attenance, the Jacksonville and Orlando Squads came together to have a fantastic bivouac in Gold Head Branch, a very nice state park in Keystone Heights, Florida. As usual, the highlights and lowlights are listed below:

Highlights

• Very nice, accessible camp site with water and power hookups
• Weather was mild (a little hot during camp setup) but cooled off nicely at night
• Had plenty of firewood this time, glad to see they’re now selling it a BJ’s
• Made several new friends in Orlando (thanks to John Shirah for bringing his pal Tom, Tom’s two sons Joey and TJ and their friend Noah)
• Had a great game of 4 vs. 4 football out on one of the big fields

Lowlights

• We old guys learned how in (or out of, more likely) shape we were playing teenagers in two-hand-touch football
• Had a LOT of late cancellations. Guys, please RVSP as a “maybe” if you’re not sure you can make it! We had a whole extra campsite wasted this time that could have saved us $20

As usual, a great time was had by all. Next bivouac will be December 18th, which is the weekend before Christmas. I’m still looking into booking sites, but I will let everyone know once we have one.

↑ “Shiv” and “The Commish” setting up the new Mansquad HQ’s awning.

↑ Left to right, Bishop, “The Commish”, and Shirah relaxing after camp setup.

↑ ‘Round the camp fire, left to right, TJ (holding the uber-bug zapper, no, it’s not a tennis racket), Shirah, “The Commish”, “Shiv” (off camera) and Tom (off camera)

 I cannot speak for all or even most but I wanted to say a few words about today. A dear friend of mine said “thank you” for my service as a United States Marine, as she does every year. This is something that I and many like myself appreciate very much.

Service members get paid. They get some benefits and a job for 2, 3, 4, 6 years or more. They get food, a roof over their heads, and job experience and training. Some get to go to college. This is all part of the package. All the U.S. Government asks for in return is everything you have to give.

So why do it? Many do it for college, or to escape their past, or because they are inspired by a person, book or movie. In the end, if you ask any Vet or former service member you can almost guarantee that a big part of the reason is YOU, the American Citizen, a member of a REPUBLIC and FOR WHICH IT STANDS. When servicemembers look back, they know they did what they did for the entire ideology of this nation. The good… and the bad. We may not agree with your politics, your choices, your background, your actions, or your religion. We do, however, agree that as a citizen your rights and freedom to be whomever and whatever you strive to be should be protected above all, even if we may disagree with your choices. To not do this means that we do not value the freedom and rights afforded to all citizens of our great Republic and protected by those who served and died before us. To do any less would be to diminish our own freedom.

Some of us were maimed. Some damaged physically, and some mentally. Most of us will never be the same. Some came out without a scratch while others gave all. One thing is common to all of this: we who served did so knowingly and willingly, understanding the risks and costs to ourselves. In spite of these risks, we found it to be worthy. While it may not seem to be much of a gift many times, or even a gift at all, it is the brotherhood and sisterhood which unites us. When you wake up today, keep in mind that only a very small percentage of American men and women actually join the Armed Services and without those few men and women we would be exposed to much more than the tyranny of other nations.

We at Mansquad would like to thank all of our brothers and sisters for their sacrifice. For those that gave of self, body, life, limb or mental capacity we proudly salute you on your day.

“Semper Fidelis“, “Non Sibi Sed Patriae“, ”Semper Paratus“, ”Is Nos Mos Vallo”, “Uno Ab Alto”. 

Written by Ron “Hondo” Ellenbecker, edited by Matt “Shiv” Martin.

Ok, fellas, I was actually able to round us up a reasonably nice camping spot for November 20, 2010. This actually is the third Saturday of the month (as we’d initially planned) and it’s the week before Thanksgiving, so hopefully we’ll have a bunch of you guys available. Evidently, as the weather changes, the campgrounds fill up exceedingly fast, but I was able to book us three spots at Gold Head Branch State Park in Keystone Heights, Florida. This trip will be the first use of the Mansquad Mobile HQ, so it should be pretty fun. I’ve reserved three spots all right next to each other. One spot will house the Mobile HQ which sleeps 6 people, so if you’d like a berth, let me know, first come first serve. We have 4 available presently.

As usual, I will post this on Facebook, so please let me know if you can make it ASAP so we can make sure we have all the correct arrangements. If you’re not on Facebook, please RSVP with me at matt.martin@mansuqad.com. The campsite is pretty well centrally located, so I’m hoping for a big turnout.

Well, the bivouac out to Payne’s Prairie went very well. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same thing for the hapless Gators who lost a heartbreaker to LSU in the Swamp. However, we didn’t let their loss deny us the greatness of a Mansquad Bivouac (to quote “Reach”, “We won, right…right?) So, we lived in denial for the rest of the night and had a great time nonetheless.

Highlights

• The campsite was great, once again nested in deep woods, off the beaten path and well covered.
• The weather was fantastic, hitting a high of about 87 during the day, and dropping down to 56 at night, making for a great fire and comfortable sleeping.
• Many of the Jacksonville members finally got to witness the spectacle of “The Tailgator” first-hand (see photos below)
• We had PLENTY of firewood to go around, thanks to some LSU fans who were so kind as to donate theirs to us.
• The food and hospitality were EXCELLENT thanks mainly to Baron and his awesome Tailgator.
• We had THREE new members on this trip, including Reach’s dad, Reach Sr.
• Turns out that “Iron Chef” is a ringer at the game of “Cornhole”.
• The cool weather made for a very comfortable night’s sleep.

Lowlights

• The Gators lost, in part due to a couple of VERY questionable calls at the very end of the game.
• We were forced to share camp sites with a group of LSU fans.
• Reach kept trying to hit girls in the head with footballs.
• The camp site was a little buggy.
• Not all of our tents fit on the provided “tent pads”, so we had to make due, but fortunately didn’t get a reprimand from the Park Rangers.

As usual, we all had a great time. The camping in Florida is infinitely better due to the coolness of the nights and the lack of bugs (though there were some, we had to light repellent sticks).

↑ The mighty “Tail Gator”, with owner and creator Baron inside (blue shirt, back to the camera)

↑ At the Payne’s Prairie camp site, left to right, “Proby”, “Reach Sr.”, “Reach”, “Shiv” and “Hammer”. Notice the mating tents in the background.

↑ Turns out we had some marshmallows left over from the Suwannee Camp, so “G-Funk” took the opportunity to roast a couple over the open fire. Left to right (blurred) “Hammer”, “G-Funk”, “Iron Chef”, “Shiv”.

In MANSQUAD news, the Jacksonville Squad will be taking ownership of the “MANSQUAD HQ”, also known as a “pop-up camper” in less than a week. So, look forward to seeing that on some of our future excursions

We will keep you all updated on the prospects of a November Bivouac (third Saturday is the weekend before Thanksgiving, so should work out). Also, coming up, we WILL be hosting a Fill the Footlocker event at the Town Center Publix in Jacksonville sometime in November now that the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have finished their drives.

Ok, troops, we have the plan in the mix. We have reserved three tent-only sites at Payne’s Prairie State Park, just outside of Gainesville, Florida, for the night of October 9th, 2010. I KNOW we said we were going to do the third Saturday of each month, but so far that plan hasn’t worked for the last month, so this is what we’re doing:

LSU are playing the Florida Gators on Saturday, October 9th, 2010 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. MANY of us Florida Mansquad members are Gator fans. However, they have NOT announced a time for the game yet, but you can guess it’ll be prime time, depending on how the Gators’ and LSU’s records look. That in mind, I have reserved our camping at Payne’s Prairie State Park, which is a mere 12 MILES away from the central stadium. So, if you don’t have to break any tailgate plans, and once the game is over, we can all head back to the camp site and drink to victory.

The map is below shows the directions from UF to the campsite. We have three sites reserved so far, which means we can accomodate 6 tents and 18 campers. This should be enough, but PLEASE RSVP with me directly, or via the Facebook page, where I will of course invite everyone.

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