{"id":60621,"date":"2020-10-12T09:46:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T14:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=60621"},"modified":"2020-10-12T09:47:27","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T14:47:27","slug":"60621","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=60621","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

This guy’s first<\/em> time attending the shoot was in 2010, the last<\/em> time I was at the range was in 2009. Of course, living down the road in Radcliff at the time as I was working at Fort Knox would tend to make a difference<\/p>\n

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KNOB CREEK SHOOT WOULD HAVE BEEN THIS PAST WEEKEND<\/a><\/p>\n

COVID-19 has really sucked the jelly out of our donut this year with many great events canceled due to the pandemic. The latest victim, perhaps the most epic gun event of them all, is the Knob Creek machine gun shoot originally scheduled for Oct. 10 and 11.<\/p>\n

Normally, I\u2019d be meeting up with my friends at the event for three days of shopping, shooting and stress-release through extreme firepower. Upwards of 20,000 other folks would have been doing the same. But alas, it’s canceled so here I am, writing about it. Knob Creek Dreaming, I suppose.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The first time I attended the Mecca of\u00a0gun shoots was in 2010. I\u2019d watched an episode of Mail Call with\u00a0R. Lee Ermey<\/a>\u00a0featuring the shoot.\u00a0Gunny made the event look so out of this world that I had to see it for myself.<\/p>\n

The following October, I made the 13-hour drive to Kentucky and immersed myself in the sights and sounds. It was surreal. Everywhere I looked was camo, ammo,\u00a0and guns. Smoke wafted over the grandstand and the roar of gunfire was almost continuous. I spent a great deal of time shopping in the pole barn that was packed with tables of guns, goods,\u00a0trinkets,\u00a0and memorabilia for sale.<\/p>\n

WORLD FAMOUS NIGHT SHOOT<\/h3>\n
\n
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The well-armed and friendly campground security.\u00a0(Photo: Ben Philippi \/ Guns.com)\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

After dinner, I waited for three hours to get a front row\u00a0spot to watch the world famous night shoot. I was not disappointed.<\/p>\n

As a few dozen machine guns roared into action, the night sky lit up with tracers and the explosions rocked you back on your heels. The raw power of the machines\u00a0unleashing their might in unison was\u00a0truly awe inspiring. Douglas MacArthur’s famous quote ran through my brain,\u00a0\u201cWhoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE WAR DOGS<\/h3>\n
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The “War Dogs” of Camp FUBAR. (Photo: Ben Philippi \/ Guns.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The following seven years in row saw me make the pilgrimage to the Creek. There,\u00a0I camped with friends\u00a0I met at the event. We\u00a0always occupied the same spot — our camp nickname,\u00a0“Camp FUBAR\u201d\u00a0and our group,\u00a0\u201cWar Dogs.”<\/p>\n

We shared the campground with a hundred or so other like-minded folks\u00a0of all ages — vets, gun-lovers, and explorers. Camp was within earshot of the live range. In the evening, you could sit back and listen to the thunder on the range and watch tracer rounds ricocheting up into the deep blue sky like strange red and green shooting stars. Well into the night, we\u00a0sat around a roaring fire drinking beer, sharing stories,\u00a0and enjoying the comradery.<\/p>\n

THE SUMNER FAMILY<\/h3>\n
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The Sumner Family. (Photo: Ben Philippi \/ Guns.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In 2015, I got to\u00a0know the Sumner family who run Knob Creek Range and also host the event. What started in\u00a01965 with a few friends getting together on a Sunday afternoon for a cookout and to shoot select-fire weapons,\u00a0turned into the biggest machine gun shoot in the world.<\/p>\n

I was fortunate to photograph the\u00a0Sumner family for my book\u00a0We The People<\/a>,\u00a0published in 2016. I filmed many\u00a0videos<\/a>\u00a0at the Knob Creek Range over the years, and\u00a0even made a\u00a0documentary<\/a>\u00a0about the event and the Sumners in 2018.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0think I can speak for everyone when I say that I am\u00a0sick and tired of COVID-19. I\u00a0hope things can get\u00a0back to normal in 2021. Here’s looking forward to next April’s shoot at the Creek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This guy’s first time attending the shoot was in 2010, the last time I was at the range was in 2009. Of course, living down the road in Radcliff at the time as I was working at Fort Knox would tend to make a difference KNOB CREEK SHOOT WOULD HAVE BEEN THIS PAST WEEKEND COVID-19 … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gun-schtuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60621"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60623,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60621\/revisions\/60623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}