 We have Major Jim Uchoff. He actually started the 3rd Battalion 2nd Brigade, Missouri Militia here, this Eastern Missouri Militia. He actually started it 5 years ago. And he is Army, US Army infantry. He spent most of his time at Fort Myers, Washington, DC. After his service in the Army, he served as a police officer and a firefighter in St. Louis and St. Charles. So he's got all bases covered. This past Saturday, I met with the local militia group and that's where I met the Major. And we have several of our old people in this group. We have about five of us in this group who are participating in the militia. But Major Jim Uchoff is now going to tell us about the militia. He'll give us a... Okay, first of all, the Missouri Militia is... We are a constitutional militia. We're not the local guys that get together and want to overthrow the government. We are legitimately recognized by the state of Missouri. We're trying to get legislation passed to where we can own the name. There's a stigma over the name militia. Everybody thinks we're a bunch of bad guys. Right now there are five units that we are associated with in the state of Missouri. And we're trying to start up two more. One in Cape Dorado and one in Rala. Kind of slow taking off. Being volunteer, nobody wants to step up and do all the work. I really don't remember five years ago how I got started. I got hooked up with a guy. Hey, what are you doing? He says, well, I'm looking for someone to take over and start this unit as well. I'll help you. Here you go. He moved to Kansas and he's gone. So I took the list of people that he had called them. We set up a meeting and we started a unit. And we've been five years now. We've probably got actually about 30 members, 10 to 15 active. Being volunteers, it's hard to get guys to come all the time. We try to train once a month. We mix it up. We train on first aid, firearms, search and rescue, communications. We've got five or six ham operators in our unit. We work real close with the Kansas City unit, Springfield unit and the Columbia unit. Radio back and forth, the comms guys are always getting together. We go to gun shows for recruiting and passing out information, getting people to know who we are and what we do. We've been working with local law enforcement on different search and rescues. We haven't gotten into any law enforcement yet. But we're working on that, trying to work with the local sheriffs. We were involved in a search and rescue out in Franklin County with the sheriff out there. We've been on standby for about three other search and rescues. All of us went down to Joplin. Our units took turns going down to Joplin, so we weren't all there at one time. What do we take down here, about 10 guys? Went down for the weekend. It was quite an experience for everybody. It was really sad. We also had a reporter from the Riverfront Times contact me and ask if he could go along and do a story about the militia. He got down there, he forgot we were even there. He did a story on the devastation in Joplin. About a month later, he did a story on us. It turned out alright. I was skeptical about a reporter hanging around, but I think he did good. He got a few facts wrong, but he did okay. We went up to Belfont neighbors after a tornado went through there. We helped clean that up. They had tree service guys coming through there trying to charge these people outrageous amounts of money to clean these trees up. We went through there in a day, cleaned them all up, got them out to the curb. The mayor was there, the fire chief was there, the police chief was there. They were all working with us together. They were all very happy that we were there. I've got letters from all of them. Anytime they need anything, they're on the phone to me. They call me. I've met with them several times. The sheriff out in Franklin County, I've been out there meeting with him. The St. Charles County Sheriff knows who we are. In the St. Louis area, they've got so many paid firemen and policemen and first responders that they really don't need us. We're going to be the last ones that they call. But they still know we're there. They know we're training. We're in good standings with the FBI. I meet with them frequently. They come to our meetings. Missouri State Highway Patrol, we're in good standings with them. Missouri State Homeland Security. Know those guys. Meet with them all on a regular basis. Most of our guys, every one of our guys goes through a background check. Either by getting a CCW or going out to the Highway Patrol and going through their background check. I prefer the CCW because then it covers them with concealed carry and the background check. Pretty much open to anyone in the state joining the militia. According to the Constitution, everybody in the state is militia. Including women. Including women. Oh, yes. Definitely. They're citizens. Sure. 17 years old. And we have women in our unit. And they're not the cooks. They're not the clean up. They're right out there with us. They're in the searches with us. They're in cutting the trees with us. We had it. We took a girl up there to Belfound Neighbors with us. She was out there with a chainsaw, cutting trees and stacking wood and right out there with us. Yeah. Now, it says there's an age requirement of 18 to 64. I kind of don't agree with that because I've had guys, Vietnam veterans come to me. Want to do something. I'll find something for them to do. I'll find them a job. The sign-in sheet you pass around. They sit at a table and make sure everybody signs in. They can check weapons. They can hand out water. I'll take everybody. I was taught there was a count of 55, but you said 64. It says 64, yes. What? It says 64. The age span was 1855, where I read. Yeah, the state constitution. Or state constitution. And the United States Constitution. Has an age. Has an age. We have these little handbooks that we go by. It's got everything in here about us. In the bylaws, it even states. So the constitutional authority of the militia from our U.S. Constitution would come from this? No. No, no, no. Maybe you'll get to that. I mean it, right? It's covered in the Second Amendment, but actually your state militia is governed by your individual states. Appreciate that. Each one is different. Each state has a different. There are some states that they say it's illegal to have a militia. I don't get that, because the Constitution of the United States says you can have one. You should have one. You may know more on this than I do, correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is historically the militia is any able body to a citizen that is not in the military. Exactly. If you're an adult, 17, 18, male, female, not in the military, some people would argue, especially years ago, over 65, you were no longer so much able-bodied. Who determines if you're able or not? Right. You know, I had another Vietnam veteran come to me, and he's both legs. He's in a wheelchair. I'll find something for him to do. Absolutely. I'm not going to tell him, no, you're worthless. You can't join us. Yeah. I'll find something for you to do. Come on. You know what? There's a lot of things he can do. He can teach us some of the things that he knows. And so that's one of those things going back to the Second Amendment and the wording in it, talking about militia. If you're not in the Army, if you're not enlisted, you are the militia unless you're a minor or senior citizen. The federal and the state statutes on militias, the National Guard is the organized militia. We are the unorganized militia. But you're regular. And between you and I, I think we're a little more organized than on some National Guard units I've seen. But that's neither here. They are governed by the government. One of the problems that we're having with getting this legislation passed is where do we draw the line on control? We don't want them to have control over us. We would like to get funding. We're trying to get it to where if we get called out like, say, Joplin, we get reimbursed for our gas, food, that kind of thing. You know, guys take time off from work to do this because it's volunteer. Be cautious with federal funding. If they're paying you, they control you always. Oh yeah, yeah. That's why we'll keep the state. Yeah, the state level. Okay, I understand you keep it at the state level. In terms of the legislation you talked about, you also put in there on intelligence that will be up to date on that as well. That's going to be, that's probably one of those things that we have to work out with them. Yeah, how much they're going to, they will tell us. What we're looking for is we're looking for recognition. We're looking for them to say, these guys are okay. And if we need them, we'll call them. We were okay with calling them, that kind of thing. There are other groups out there that, you know, they're their own thing. And I don't associate with those guys. I've had FBI guys come to me and say, hey, can you give me a name? Nope, I don't know those guys because I don't associate with them. Find them on your own. All my guys are on the up and up. They've all had background checks. I know them. I know Mark. These two guys that brought with me tonight, Brett and Jeff Halfake, they've been with me for almost five years. I know them. All my guys are on the up and up. I won't let anybody come into this unit that'll get me put in prison or do anything to get me put in prison. I don't want to go to jail. That's not what I'm doing this for. We try to teach the best we can, different subjects like first aid, firearms. We don't make doctors. But we have doctors in our militia, in certain units, and these doctors share things with us. But it's life or death situations. Some of us know how to do IVs. Some of us know how to do sutures. Some of us know how to do tracheotomies. We've been in the classes. Don't mean that I'm a professional at it. Don't mean that I can do it for a living. But if it's a situation like Joplin where we come up on our search and rescues, if we're the ones that find the person we're looking for, we know what to do. We know how to deal with them. We know the first aid. We know to stabilize until professionals get there. That's what we do. Any other questions? Mark, you look like you're dying to answer me something. No. No? Okay. I brought my little handbook here with me. One of the sections that we have in here is who we are and who we are not. And this is a lot of information that we put out. We do have a website. The number one thing is we are not anti-government. I might be anti with the government in the direction the government's trying to lead us, but I'm not anti-government. I believe there needs to be a certain form of government. Do you believe in the Constitution? Yes, sir. Here's the thing. I shut people down. You cannot be pro-constitution and anti-government. It's one or the other. Constitution says there needs to be a government. Exactly. You have to have a government. Are you and Illinois taking on a similar project? No. Okay. You just need to move to Missouri. Anyway, you're my girlfriend. You'll be tag teaming me on that one. Now, there are militia units in Illinois that we associate with. They come and train with us. Okay. They're pretty decent guys. Okay. I don't know why they live in Illinois. From what they tell me, it's a communist state. It fits all the criteria. I'm glad to see they finally got their CCW thing in the works. I'm digging the details. You won't be so impressed, but we could save that one for later. They got to start. Yeah. The door is open. Okay. Okay. As a unit, everybody, we believe, as the Constitution says, we believe everybody has their own, their right to their own opinions. Who they should be, who they feel should be in our, in control of it. As a unit, we are apolitical. We don't back any certain person for any government office or anything like that. We stay neutral on that. Now, when we're in training and we're off talking amongst ourselves, you know, we talk about things like that. But as a unit, we do not get involved in politics. We're not racist. Anybody can join. We have women. We have black guys. Everybody. Anybody that is a citizen of the state of Missouri and a non-felon can join. We can't allow felons because it can't be around violence. We've kicked that around because I don't believe some felons are really bad criminals, but they're felons. We're not secretive. All of our meetings are open to everybody. They're open to the public. Open to law enforcement. I invite FBI. I invite highway patrol. I invite the local law enforcement to come to our training. Come to our meetings. That way they can meet us. They can see what we do. They can see who we are. They can see that our weapons are illegal. And that's how they get to know us. We train once a month on different subjects. This year we're starting a new training program. Every three months, we do a weekend. We go down to, we have a farm, a private farm. We go down there and we spend the whole weekend. And we just mix it up. We do all kinds of, we try to do scenarios. We try to do all different kinds of different missions that encompass all of our training. We teach guys land navigation, how to read maps, how to read compasses. I don't take them out in woods and get them lost, but we teach them how to do certain things. And we test them. Once a year, we have a joint training exercise, which is put on by the Kansas City unit. The colonel out there, he's former military. He's retired military. He hosts it. He puts it on. And he invites all the units in the state, plus units from other states. We've had Texas, we've had Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois, guys from everywhere. But before he invites them, he makes sure that they're on the same level that we are. You know, he's real selective about who he brings. And when I told him that I was coming here tonight, he says, Invite them. We like the old keepers. Invite them to our JTX. So you guys are all invited to come out to JCX in July. I can get that information to Doc. He can put it out to you. We get there, this year it's going to be in Springfield, right outside of Springfield, Missouri. We get there on Friday afternoon. We set up a camp. We have classes. This year is going to be mostly testing on what we've been teaching over the year. We do force on force. We do... The Doc puts on a very good medical class. One year he got a bunch of picnics from a slaughterhouse. And he had classes on tracheotomy. Showing you where to cut, how to cut, and stick a tube in there. We all got to do that. The next year he did IVs. He does shock. He does everything. And he sets up a little mini hospital for that weekend. And last year we had two guys get overheated, a little dehydrated. So we practiced IVs. What a great way to learn how to do that kind of stuff. Sure. And they set up a communications tent with all different kind of radios. I mean, these guys, they're talking around the world on this stuff. They put up antennas and they give classes on radios. Communications. We teach hand signals. We teach the phonetic alphabet. Military time. Because that's all things you guys use on your ham radios and communications. Oh, and the kitchen. We have a kitchen down there and we eat too good for training. There's guys that volunteered to do all the cooking. He did it for a couple of years. And we come home lazy and, you know, very good meals. And it's a cheap weekend. I think we pay five bucks per meal. And then I think the colonel asked for an additional five dollars for administrative costs. And it's a lot of fun. We do night missions. We do guard duties. We do perimeter security and patrols. We teach everybody all that kind of stuff. Any other questions? Yes. Yeah. Now, going back to what you were saying earlier. I'm all for the Constitution. Let's get down. What happens when the federal is... Remember, we're a state. We have to defend our state. We are a state. Okay. And... Like Doc was saying a while ago, or I think it was Patrick was saying a while ago, here just recently, the state of Missouri is telling the feds, stay out. Don't come in here and try to enforce your gun laws. We won't allow it. We won't allow it. Yeah, it's coming up again. And as citizens, that's what we have to do. We have to stand up for our rights. Okay? You can't lay down and let them run you over. Someone asked me the other day, what would you do if you saw him kicking your neighbor's door in? Taking his guns. That kind of thing. I know my neighbor, so I know he's not doing anything illegal. Do I go out there and get involved? Cautiously. You don't want to run out there screaming at him and everything like that, but find out what's going on. Find out why they're in your neighborhood. Last election in St. Charles, they voted to take away our sheriff's department, change it to a police department. Okay? Well, when I first heard of this, I called the deputy that I know. And I said, what's going on with this? He says, call me at home tonight. I can't talk right now. So we got on my call and he says, no, it's a bad idea. He says the number one thing that makes it bad is they're taking the right of the citizen's vote away for sheriff. What they'll do is they'll appoint, if they go over to a police department, a board will appoint a police chief. The citizens can no longer vote on who their county official is. And then he just has to please the board, not the citizens. Exactly. He's become a federal entity. Right now he's with the sheriff. The sheriff stands between you and your federal government. The IRS cannot come in and audit you without talking to the sheriff first. The sheriff, he has to have probable cause. So he comes to the sheriff. The sheriff says, let me look at it. And then I'll get back to you. And they say, will you assist if I need your assistance? I'll call you. With the federalized police department, they said, go kick in Doc's door. They go kick in Doc's door. The sheriff stands between you. There are instances right now when we're in Colorado where the federal government is trying to procure land from the large landowners out there. They've already taken their cattle. They come out there and the local sheriff's out there say, well, then you show up with your team, you'll stand with my, you'll stand with my SWAT team. So you know, you're seeing these things taken. So you're finding out exactly who your sheriff is. Your sheriff is a constitutional person who is a people's sheriff because he's elected by you. He's the high authority here in the state now too. Yes. In the county. In that county. If the president's Lebanese wants to come to St. Charles County and near no one would come through there, he said, you find another way around here. And that's just the authority that he has. But people don't realize that. And if people need to understand that, that's why you really need to get back with your, if you're saying, what was county sheriff? And really get that sheriff back in this county. Any other questions about militia? I'm sorry. Yeah, is that available for us tonight or no? I only brought one. It's a title of that. This is just, is this just something that we made? Oh. My sergeant major put this together. Actually, everything that is in this little handbook is on the website. Yes. What do you guys meet and how long? Once a month. Okay. Actually, for the next few months, we're going to really step it up to two meetings a month. And it depends on what training we're doing. If we're doing a classroom training, we try to get inside, especially this time of year. The last couple months, we've been out at Bush Wildlife. We go out there and we sit out by the lake. We've done some land navigation out there, set up courses around the lakes and through the woods. And I give the guys maps and compasses, give them headings and take off. And you should be back here in about an hour. When we do things like first aid, I'd like to do them inside in the classroom, wherever we can find a building. It's pretty tough finding a place sometimes, especially if you tell them militia, you know. We don't care a whole lot about right here. Well, thank you. I had a place over in Harvester and the guy sold it. So we lost that. I would like to stress that I know it's hard to do because of church and such, but if you notice that I haven't been to meetings a long time on Saturdays, because I work Saturday days, you can keep that in mind when you plan this training if I can attend the work here. Not just on Saturday days. It's hard. What I tried doing for a while and then I figured out it didn't work is we'll have meetings on days that suit you. Well, then they don't suit him, you know. And so who do I... So what I have to do is this is what we're having a meeting. If you can make it great, if you can't, maybe I'll see you at the next one, hopefully, you know. So what we're doing, and that's one reason we're going to two meetings a month now, is the guys can make it this weekend, but not next weekend. Yes, sir? Is something like this work for you guys maybe and put it on the website? Possibly. That way the people who do miss them are still tuned in. This is good. Yeah, that's not the same. But this is not getting your hands on... This is not field stripping a rifle, okay? You can watch it. You can watch it on YouTube. But if you don't do it, you're not learning it. Okay? And that's one thing that we like to do, is we like to hands-on training. Would you like these field stripping my AK-47? Sure, go ahead. Oh, okay. I didn't know if that would, you know, everything's AR-15s or whatever. I've got both. I can field-dress them both. And that's another thing too. On our website, if you'll see on there, it says that every militia person should have a battle rifle. And they recommend ARs, AK, FN. I don't care what your battle rifle is. My restrictions are that you know how to operate it. You can load it, fire it, unload it, and clean it. That's all. I don't care if you have a shotgun. I don't care if you have one. It was your great-grandpauls from the Civil War, as long as you know how to operate it and take care of it. I have guys with shotguns. I have guys with 30-out-6 deer rifles. If I had funding or a way to get weapons and could issue them to you, then I would say you all have to have the ones I give you. But I don't. We have to get them on our own. So whatever you can, whatever you can afford, whatever you'd like, you know, some guys like the AK over the AR. ARs are pretty complicated. You know, they get dirty, they jam up. AKs don't. Ammunition. Some guys like the cheaper ammunition. Right now it's all pretty expensive. Whatever you... Anything else? I think that's it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. On behalf of the St. Charles Oath Keepers, I'd like to present you with appreciation for speaking to us tonight. One of our Mola and Labe DVDs, which I think you'll like, because this is primarily about militia. Cool. Thank you. Thank you. As you know with our Civilization Preservation Program, we have a lot of overlap here with what we're doing as Oath Keepers nationwide, with what the militia is doing. And as I've mentioned before, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, we can dovetail with some of these other groups, like the militia, I couldn't think of a better group to dovetail with. And we could take advantage of their expertise and do training on some of the things that we need to do as far as the scouting portion of our Civilization Preservation, like land navigation, also first aid, firearms. I mean, the whole program is right there in the militia. And so you're going to be hearing more about that from Oath Keepers, so I'll keep you informed on all that.