Citadel PatCom AAR #1

Jim Miller took the above photograph one evening this weekend from the III Arms / Citadel Beachhead.

Please forgive any incoherent writing in this post, I am dead-on-my-feet exhausted, from one of the best weekends of my entire life.  I'll post more AARs and pictures from the weekend, but I wanted to give you all a thumbnail sketch this evening.

First of all: We were blessed to have a group of Patriots who are, to every man and woman, people any Patriot would treasure as a neighbor.  These are solid, smart, thinking, kind Americans, all with mettle.  I do not have the writing skills to convey just how "tight" this group was from the first arrival to the last departure.  We all "clicked".  Some of us knew one another from previous meetings beyond the digital world, some of us "knew" one another from our online community, and a few folks knew none of us, they read about our event in local media and decided to drop in to say "Hi".  Holly and I had a feeling of family through the entire weekend - and good family, not the in-laws you dread seeing at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  ;)

Jim brought a pair of III Arms Minutemen rifles as well as the prototype 1911 for people to shoot or just hold.  More than one of the women in attendance fell in love with that 1911, and I think everyone in attendance was supremely impressed at the quality of the Minutemen rifles Jim built.  Aside from a few to-be-expected break-in period issues (these rifles are made by a craftsman, they are tight, built to a level of excellence many companies claim, and few ever achieve), the rifles will proudly serve as the backbone of III Arms, and III Patriots across the country will pull that Minuteman from the locker when it is time to rely on a serious Fighting Rifle.

We speak of Tribe and "local, local, local", that ever-present phrase coined by Bill Nye.  Let me tell you a little story about Tribe and this PatCom weekend: When we arrived in town the Beachhead was 20 acres.  This is where Jim will set up shop when it is time for him to move here.  Jim will live here with his family and he will build for III Arms and the Citadel.  This original 20 acre parcel has served us for the last year (not quite a year yet) as a tangible anchor point that represents our emotional and real-world intent to build our Tribe of Patriots who intend to live in a state of Rightful Liberty, not just write about it on blogs and complain about the world around us, Patriots who intend to live among one another in a true "community" of like-minded Americans who believe in our Founding Ideals.

A few months ago a III Patriot I have had the honor of meeting (twice I can proudly say) decided to buy a set of parcels on III Mountain, just one parcel away from Miller's site.  (I call it III Mountain, and one day we'll get it done legally, somehow. One day you will be able to look at a map of beautiful Benewah county Idaho and you will see "III Mountain" on that map.  History books will know the name and speak of the Patriot pioneers who intend to be free and at Liberty once more.)  This Patriot has chosen to move his family here to the safety and beauty of this piece of America.  That brought us to 60 acres of what I call "III Beachhead".

And when this weekend ended, we stand now with a contiguous "III Beachhead" of between 100 and 140 acres atop this mountain when the dust settles and the ink dries.  Patriots at the PatCom saw what we are doing.  They were able to see it with their own eyes.  They were able to meet one another, to break bread, to train together, to hold the fruits of Jim Miller's extraordinary efforts.  They were able to reach to their feet and grab a handful of III Earth.  They have chosen to be part of this Tribe.  Several of them are in various stages of purchasing land contiguous to Jim Miller's Beachhead - YOUR Beachhead - from the lady who owns the land.  Deposits were made.  Contracts were signed and paperwork exchanged.  Your fellow III Patriots purchased land upon which the flag of Liberty will fly, with neighbors they not only trust, but like.

Lives.  Fortunes.  Sacred Honor.

We do not just say the words.  We are living that intimately American ideal of Lives, Fortunes and Sacred Honor.

Patriots traveled thousands of miles to meet one another atop this mountain to see for themselves if III Arms, the Citadel, Kerodin, Miller, and all our discussions of Rightful Liberty are real, or just bullshit.

They decided.

There is now III Tribe in Benewah County.  This Tribe will grow.

Bill Nye sent the Citadel Steering Committee a package of seeds he called "The Brute".  He sent it free, for us to raffle as a fundraiser to help accomplish the work we are all doing.  We are talking about 25 POUNDS of seeds - I can't even begin to calculate how many families this will feed.  Around the fire one night this weekend as we talked into the late hours, as we realized that our Tribe was purchasing land to sink roots and build, we decided that Bill's generous gift would best serve the Citadel by becoming the cornerstone of our community seed bank.  Miss Violet (whose hug was one of the most treasured gifts I received this weekend) pointed out that with so many acres and people choosing to begin settling here, that seed package would be a priceless community asset - more than enough to grow gardens all over this mountain and to feed our families, and many, many more who will come.  Bill - with your permission, we'd like to keep your gift within the Citadel Tribe instead of raffling it off, so our people can begin to literally sow and reap.  May we?

Just over a year ago we began this discussion about moving somewhere and building a community in which only Patriots would be permitted.  We discussed how, where, what and why.  Founders sent money for a shoe-string budget to begin this project in the hopes they could be part of not only keeping the concept of Liberty alive, but of tangibly expanding that Liberty once again in America.  Many other people threw their moral support into the concept.  Some people "picked up the rope" and started pulling, to quote BonnieGadsden.  Some Patriots began applying their professional and life skills to tasks that needed to happen.  One man reached DEEPLY into his retirement savings to ensure the project had a chance...

You did this.  You made "The Citadel" a reality.  It is a concept, an idea - not walls and bunkers and rifles.  Even if the concept of a planned, walled community evolves to something else, or takes a generation to be fully built, or simply becomes a county filled with serious III Patriots who f'n mean it when they say not one more inch, then the spirit of the Citadel will live far beyond our mortal shells.

Founders and supporters and those of you who have put your backs into real work on this idea that was birthed just a bit over a year ago - the tree you helped to plant and nurture is already bearing fruit.  You do not need to move to Idaho to be part of this III Tribe.  Our Tribe may be heavily concentrated here on this mountain (as a beginning), but if you have supported this project from Ohio or Florida or Georgia or the Carolinas, or from behind enemy lines in California, New York or Gods-forsaken Illinois, or anywhere else - you are part of this Tribe, and we've got your backs.  I've got your back.

There is much work to do.  In a single year we have gone from a complex, multi-faceted concept to the delivery of Craftsman-Class product by Jim Miller.  In a single weekend we have seen 60 acres owned by III Patriots on a single mountaintop expand by leaps and bounds - to LITERALLY cover the entire mountaintop.  Hundreds of us have met face-to-face in the last year or so, and morale and cohesion as a community is higher than I have ever seen.

If you are an entrepreneur who can run your business from anywhere, and a III Patriot who wants to live next door to other III Patriots, in a county with a Constitutional Sheriff and a population of men and women who see life much as do you, consider moving your family here and helping to grow this Tribe.  If you are serious about buying land out here near the Beachhead (or contiguous to the Beachhead, even better!), drop me an email and I will put you in touch with the woman who owns much of this mountain (and beyond).

You are about to see an explosion of III activity, for it is now time to begin truly marketing III Arms and getting orders stacked on Miller's workbench.  It is time for you to help spread the word that Patriots need a Minuteman 15 from III Arms.  It is time for us to speak directly to the people who live in Benewah County, to introduce ourselves without the Leftist, hate-filled, zero-integrity, facts-don't-matter media filter that is the local paper and its owner/editor.  It is time for more of us to meet face-to-face and to continue meeting again and again.  It is time to raise our voices and let the Enemies of Liberty know that we are just about done tolerating their Evil. 

We have proven that we are an effective group of III Patriots who get the work of Liberty done, despite attacks from national-strength Enemies of Liberty and even the despicable, cowardly and honor-less attacks that have been launched time and again from within the "Patriot" community.

You wanted results.  You wanted Tribe.  There it is: III Arms and the Citadel, alive, tangible and made possible by you.

Lives.  Fortunes.  Sacred Honor.

Yours in Liberty,

Kerodin
III