On January 27, 2011 Eric Merkley was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. An aggressive cancer that we hope and the doctors to this point seem confident that is contained to one spot on his leg. Prognosis is good. Treatments and recovery will be long and painful.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Gun, Guns and more Guns

Eric was invited to come join a small group from Make a wish to  learn more about the different areas within the Sheriffs department, Swat, K-9 team, motorcycle officers etc.  to visit the shooting range and also the Park City Fire Department.... How can you turn down shooting a gun, right???
Sheriff Winder gave Eric his official "Deputy" identification.  Eric was pretty excited about this and ready to flash this ID to any officer who may pull him over....

We were shown how talented these dogs are.  This dog just found a pouch of drugs.

As we were learning about the different tools the SWAT teams uses, Eric was dressed in their protection gear.  Sheriff Winder was showing Eric the proper "Stare" to use when faced with a potential bad guy.

Ready to go

Eric was given the opportunity to shoot off this grenade launcher.  It had a foam rubber tip on the very large bullet.  They said it would feel like a fast baseball hitting you.

He was enjoying this way to much!

He tried to talk them into taking this bike for a spin, but for some reason they did not think it was a good idea.  Sheriff Winder said that he better watch Eric very close!

We made it up to the shooting range, in Parleys canyon, they started us off with a paint ball gun filled with baby powder.

As we made our way to the range, we came across this sign!!  I guess the rattle snakes are everywhere!  They need to frequently "relocate" these special friends.  Eric shared his "Snake story" and as he was telling Sheriff Winder about clubbing his new friend with the golf club, the sheriff explained that in the state of Utah Rattle Snakes are protected!   WHAT???  WHY????  OOPS, you know nothing!

Everyone was given the opportunity to shot the automatic gun.  Eric and Tim's Dad, Cory was able to shot the "Big Gun" (AR15) You could not wipe the smile off his face


I honestly did not plan of shooting this gun, (I had the smaller, nicer one) a MP5.  I have to admit that it was a lot of fun and when you pulled the trigger for the single shot, cool... 3 round shot... WOW... Fully automatic.. OH MY HEAVENS!  It was a good thing they helped to brace me, because you could not focus on one spot with it popping like crazy.  Lot of fun!  And it was confirmed that the bad guy is dead!

This is Eric's target, he went for the head and neck.


Tim had the opportunity to put out a few cones with the hose.  Park City Fire department was very generous and put on a demonstration in the mock fire and rescue.  I have a greater appreciation for these people and what they do to protect us.  This day was so much fun!  Thanks!

No comments:

Post a Comment