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I also collect interesting patches but am stumped on this " Rod and Gun Club " patch

5K views 27 replies 15 participants last post by  collectorguy 
Pretty much every Fort or Base had their own Rod and Gun Club - and they all had patches.

At least, they did until it became no longer popular, and they started closing the golf courses and amalgamating the various Clubs and minimizing the shooting sports, entirely.

At one time, you could always find the Old Man and the Top or the CSM out at the Trap Range on a weekend - just like you saw John Wayne doing in 'The Green Berets'.

Today, those activities are suspect - and this from Combat Arms guys...

It was a great time to serve, though - no political correctness, no 'real' chickenshit - everybody had a focus, and knew what they were about.

Today - not so much, as too many became 'self-polishing apples' and would game the system in order to advance.

But I digress...

The old Rod and Gun Clubs were where you could order all manner of guns and fishing 'stuff' and get a bargain in the process, they were a perk of military service that civilians didn't enjoy, and a lot of 'business' and mentoring could be discussed at the Club or Range or on the links that wasn't 'official' - and there was great value in that.
This was my experience on air bases as well. When I entered service in 1969 every air base had a rod and gun club and a skeet field. The senior officers were mostly fighter pilots and they thought all young flyers should be able to hit flying targets. Skeet was used to teach WWII gunners about lead which gave us a lot of interest in clay targets and robust skeet and trap fields on many bases. Added to hunting and fishing interests the rod and gun clubs were a going concern on most bases. I think as computerized firing systems and self guided munitions became the standard on combat aircraft skeet fields fell by the wayside-many bases lost their clubs over the years. And so many of the young troops have no background of hunting and fishing to build upon. Scott AFB, Hurlburt Field, MacDill, Tyndall, Wright-Patterson, Robins AFB to name a few are still going but most wouldn't survive without the retirees using the facilities.

As an aside, when I was at RAF Lakenheath a few years ago I discovered the Air Force had turned over the base skeet club to the Brits and they made it so difficult and expensive to shoot that there was no way an Airman was going to be able to shoot there. Ramstein AB in Germany had a robust rod and gun club (with many German rules) but at least they were trying to keep it going.
 
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