The Steel Snake Archery Club, IRAQ
PHOTOS

There is NOW a club, self-named "the Steel Snake Archery Club", in Iraq properly outfitted with compound and recurve gear, thanks to the donations of a number of people, the Easton Foundation, Lancaster Archery, BowTech, Ten Ring Archery, and more.   For a new set of photos plus all of the original, please use this link. 

The gear has arrived.  In addition to the huge shipment from Lancaster Archery, a number of smaller but valuable care packages have arrived.  Ten Ring Archery, Ken & Renee Walther has repeatedly stepped up to supply things that these guys truly miss, from archery and hunting magazines, tapes, and DVDs, to JERKY. (a real big hit).   

From Lt. Randall Russell:  "Due to the help of many people Bravo Companies Archery range has become a reality. We are with the Idaho National Guard and have been deployed nearly 16 months. And along with those 16 months we have or will miss a total of two hunting seasons. For most of us here hunting is not just a hobby it is a way of life.

Being able to sit around the fire and tell our stories with the guys is somewhat of a distant memory. A few months back I decided to email a few places and see what I could to help the morale of my troops. I asked around and the subject of archery was brought up many times as something that soldiers missed or would like to try. At first I got little response back from people.

But then the emails came rolling in and now everything from bows to arrows have now arrived in Iraq for soldiers to use. Soldiers are able to come and forget about the worries of where they are at, even it is just for a couple of hours, and relax. For us it is just like sitting around the camp fire and telling stories, we are able to talk about things other then our normal day to day duties.   

When the packages started to arrive it was just like Christmas. My soldiers would stand around and wait with anticipation to see what had come in the mail. We were surprised to see what people were willing to send to those of us in Iraq. Just opening the packages was a morale boost and now that our range is up and functional morale is even higher. We want to thank all those who have made this possible and thank them for bringing home just little closer."

One of the archers there provides this:
“it is a great thing to be able to shoot while we are here. We have a chance to keep up on our skills because we all know what it is like to get out of practice. It also gives us the opportunity to take our minds off of the daily grind here in Iraq. It almost makes you feel like you are back home having a competition with your buddies. I am shooting here with some of the same guys that I shoot with back home so it is kinda neat. We really appreciate the opportunity that these companies have afforded us while we are here. It has been amazing to see the support that we have received in a little recreation for the soldiers. “

SSG Richard Dashiell
Training NCO,  B Co 145^th SPT BN

Ken Walther of Ten Ring Archery has sent numerous care packages:

"Renee and I are happy to do anything we can to relieve the stress that these men and women are under.  They need to know that we support them. I am so tired of listening to the negative slant the News and the papers are showing. The men and women are doing an admirable job and we are not hearing that.
We need to show them that we honor  and respect them. There is one thing that I have not figured out yet is to see if we can help the soldiers families. These families need our support also. If you know some way to help let me know. We plan on sending a package every month or so to support them. "

Ken and Renee have sent a wide variety of things - looking at the list of things, I reckon that most all of us have many of these same things around our house, just gathering dust.
For example, in one box, they sent:
1 -hunting video
2- National Geographic videos
6 Bow Hunt America magazines Aug/Sept
6 Bow Hunt America magazines Oct/Nov
1 AIM mini Compound with arrows
12 elk Venison Sticks
and the guys just went wild over the venison, so Ken sent an entire CASE of venison sticks in another package. Also, the AIM mini bow was a big hit.

 

Past Log:
The Archival Archery has been contacted by a first lieutenant currently serving in Iraq, for assistance in obtaining archery gear for a new archery club for his troops to be set up in Iraq.   The goal was to provide an outlet, a recreation, for the troops that are right in the thick of the Iraqi military action.  When there is no defined front line, there is vanishingly small chance for downtime and recreation. As any archer knows, once you have the gear and a handy place for the range, you can easily shoot archery with little prep time, get right into it, and put it down if the situation requires.

After a donation drive on the internet, the Archival Archery received more than $1800 in donations, all of which was used at Lancaster Archery supply.   Lancaster provided a substantial discount to us, designed the bow setups, balanced the quantities of gear, packaged and shipped this gear to our troops in Iraq, at no additional cost.  Lancaster also coordinated discounts and contributions from target block, bale, and 3D foam target suppliers as well.  So this was a successful team effort.

Lancaster shipped a wealth of new archery gear to Iraq August 18, 2005.   Click here for a list of the gear.   It arrived on Wednesday, August 24th !!

As soon as the gear arrives, they will be able to use it, right out of the box.  Lancaster not only helped by giving us a huge discount on the gear, but also by assembling all of the bows COMPLETELY, insuring that all was in working order, the arrows were fletched and nocked, the strings served properly with nocking points already installed.  Sights for both the recurve and the compound bows were included and again, set up.   The total cost of the gear shipped approached $3,000, thanks to the good folks at Lancaster, who also paid for packing and shipping costs.

We hope the archers in Iraq will be able to enjoy many hours of downtime with this, and all of the other gear, sent by supporters of the troops.  

In addition, several private individuals that I know of sent gear directly. Please email the webmaster if you sent gear.   Two JOADs in A also put together care packages for the troops as well as contributed money.

All donors are listed here:

The Colorado County 4H Shooting Sports Club has voted to donate $150 and is sending care packages to the troops:

The care packages include things like Items like cards, games, letter writing paper, pencils, pens, wet wipes(antibacterial, baby , body), toothpaste, deodorant, soap, spiral notebooks, shampoo, etc.

Ten Ring Archery, Ken & Renee Walther has sent several shipments, including the following care package:

1 LH 62 recurve bow (ragim)
1 RH 62 recurve bow (KAP)
1 Dozen Fletch arrows 1816
Replacement nocks
Replacement Fletching
Spare nocking point
Spool of serving string
Serving spooler
Glue
Spare arrow rest 3 each
Spare strings
3-Finger tabs
4-Arm guards
Targets - 122cm  tyvek
1 prodigy sight
1 Quiver
Bow hunter magazines

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has also sent a care package, consisting of a number of hats, 3 elk bugles, 1 gun sock, several skinner knives and a number of water bottles, as well as 5 videos.

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:  866-287-9298 toll free 

PSE has provided a number of DVDs on hunting. 

Send your care package of archery-related "stuff" to:

Please email the webmaster if you sent gear!