[color=0076a3][b][i]April 12, 2016[/i][/b][/color]
It is a 200 Mile drive up to Ft. Drum, but unsurprisingly, the roads were clear. I remember watching movies and television shows about the end of days and it seemed the roads were always congested with vehicles inhabited by corpses. That didn't seem to be the case, at least in Western New York.

The drive took about two and a half hours to make. I know what you are thinking. How does one drive 200 miles in 2 and a half hours? When there is no traffic and no law enforcement to hand out speeding tickets, you can drive at 90 Miles per Hour without any difficulties. We didn't have any motor vehicle accidents either. I didn't realize the Hummvee could go that fast, but if take the governor off the carburetor, it could reach over a hundred.

When we arrived at Drum, there were surprisingly soldiers on duty and the place was busy with activity. An MP stood at the gate. I flashed my National Guard Identification and I was in uniform. The MP inspected the ID, stepped back, saluted and waved me on. It was actually a surprise to see MPs at the guard shack since Ft. Drum stopped using MPs at Guard Shacks long before I joined the Army.

We drove inside and made our way to the Ammunition Holding Area down range. Wouldn't you know it, more MPs. They weren't going to allow me or anyone near the Ammo inside the bunkers. I asked one where I could find his commanding officer and we went there next.

I found this First Lieutenant and told him what was going on. He didn't seem particularly interested in my story and didn't even bother saluting when he saw me. He saw the 42nd ID patch and knew I was [i]just[/i] a guardsman, regardless of the CIB and Combat Patch. He didn't care.

We drove all this way to get ammo and I really wanted to do this, but I did not want to attack US Soldiers to do it. Eventually, we discovered he lost all his family and we explained what we were doing. It took at least two hours of discussions, but he would only let us take anything if he accompanied us. I explained he should do the same and even invited him to join us. We were going to stay together and search for other survivors. He did not want to join us and neither did any of the other survivors at Ft. Drum. 

The Lieutenant allowed us to take the following:
three crates of 7.62mm, linked Machine gun Ammo ball/tracer (1200 rounds)
six crates of 5.56mm, ball Ammunition (1680x6=10,080 rounds)
one crate of 9mm, ball ammunition (4,000 rounds)
one can of .45cal ball ammunition (800 rounds)

He wouldn't let us take any hand grenades. Yes, I asked, but that may have pushed it a bit too far. I asked the Lieutenant where they were going to go. He wasn't sure and even wished us luck in our journeys.

It was just another two and a half hour trip back to the Buffalo area. I still wanted to fill out my reload kit. I wanted to pick up some gunpowder, primers and any other tools I may be able to use for reloading ammunition. I also learned how to make gunpowder once that ran out. I would then need saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. Apparently I only need crush the ingredients in the proper amounts, as described in the recipe and I would have home made gunpowder.

At the gun store in Buffalo, I found molds to make .45 cal, 9mm, 5.56mm, 7.62mm and Russian 7,.62mm projectiles. Alas, I had no way to reproduce 12-gauge shotgun shells. We took everything in the store. It was about 2,000 rounds of 12-gauge. I also grabbed some brass catchers. These will help in policing the brass. They attach to the ejector port of the rifles and machine guns. Once the brass is ejected, it goes right into the bag. It will make reloading quicker.

Things to look out for during future shopping trips:
food
gunpowder
saltpeter
charcoal
sulfur
12-gauge shotgun shells

Let's see what tomorrow brings.