TD5374

We have a femtrooper here in the Mtn Grs... She ONLY wears the femtrooper to "appropriate" troops such as conventions and so on. Saying that, I do want to say that she was ASKED (yes they ASKED for the femtrooper) at a Dreamweavers party (dreamweavers is a group we support that has terminally and seriously ill children, or children trhat have been born with severe disabilities or deformaties and sends them to Disney, meeting celebs, etc... Like Make AWish, but in my mind, just a LITTLE better cause of the personal touch). She was a HIT!!!! The women especially loved her.. Again, saying all this, she does NOT wear it out to the "regular troops" or the Canon/Official 501 troops". It is just a "fun" costume and she treats it as such.

It is up to you.. I di NOT wear it on my pauldron for the longest time. But, I wanted to show off the MEPD so I put it on there. I have received a UNTREAL amount of "whats that" questions... Saying that, I ALSO have a pauldron with NOTHING on it... That way I can go without them for canon events or events that I dont want my patches to be flown. Some people put them on jackets, some people even put them on their packs.. You preference is what matters... Just remember to have some way to take them off, or switch to something else if you need to go cannon.

Sorry guys, I hadn't seen this post before.... If you dont know me, I was the Detachment Leader before Bamatrooper. It was myself, Bama and TD0013 that "brought back" the MEPD and basically I am to blame for the DEPLOYED and POLICE RECRUIT status (EVIL GRIN HERE HEHHEHE) So I know what kind of "pain" you all are going through trying to figure this out.. So let me guide you young ANTI padawon sandtrooper...... When we started this (after the detachment leader and command staff who had it let it DIE on the vine) I decided, with Bamas and TD0013's support that we would have 2 designations. 1st, which EVERYONE is at is the DEPLOYABLE or Police Recruit level. This means that you have started the long walk to becoming a true sandtrooper, one who is as 100% screen accurate (and having that certain 'grungy attitude'!) as is possible. This is you starting to get a BFG, a pack (we okayed the oilpan ones as it is VERY hard to get the pans without breaking the bank to build a more accurate one at this time), flat lenses, ammo pouches, sniper kneeplate, handbacks (optional) and a ab plate (also optionable at this time due to the rarity of them). This also included the MOST important feature....DIRT!!! You could have ALL the stuff, but NOT be dirty and that WOULD prevent you from being considered DEPLOYED. 2. DEPLOYED status.. You have gone ALL the way, gotten ALL the extras and DIRTIED up the armor. This ALSO means that you have gotten ALL the mods done.. That would include removing the drop boxes, the old kneeplate (and replaced it with a new diamond one), the bubble lenses (replacing them with the flat lenses) and hopefully the Abplate (IF you were able to find someone who was making them). See, part of what we ARE here in the MEPD is that we are the 100% trooper. Yes, we are the dirty, nasty, call them in when all else fails people of the Legion... BUT we ALSO are the ones who CARE about accuracy... See, ANYBODY can be a Sandtrooper according to the LEGIONS description.. Thats WHY we are DIFFERENT!!! We, being a Detachment of the Legion, cannot LOWER the standards set forth by the Legion........ BU we CAN make it something stricter and set our fudge zone to a tighter degree.. I know when I joined up, the ythought process was the 10 foot rule... If your armor looked good at 10 feet away, that was good enough. Well, most of us automatically said that wasnt good enough and went to a 5 foot rule. At the MAX! What we here at the MEPD have done is taken the 10 AND the 5 foot rule and changed it. We have made it a NO foot rule! Not to brag, but that is what makes us the BEST around! Sure.. We DO somethings that are NOT cannon whne we are at our LOCAL. non- "Official" troops like wear our patches on our pauldrons. But other than that, and maybe some kill stickers on the helmets (which I have seen and truthfully look AWESOME!) we are 'THERE'! In fact, here is MY pic.. Yep, I DO have the patches showing both my garrison and the MEPD.. But other than that, I am as accurate as I possibly can get with what is available (this is an older pic in which I dont have the new ABplate, I have than on now) I will get more pics done this weekend and will update it.. (Im the one with the orange pauldron, the SHORT one!! heheh)

May the sand be smooth and you find wisdom in the dirt..................... Oh ****, welcome to the dirty family!!!

Well did you guys get ANY Sandie pics? If so, I sure would like to get a copy!! Come on, I wasnt THAT bad of a Detachment Leader?? Give it up! I will ONLY throw darts at Kevin and Joey!! HEWHEHEhehehhehehe Seriously, I would LOVE to get a hard copy to frame and put up near my puter if you guys took ANY Dirty family pics.. We have Starfest (1 of our local Cons here in Colorado) that we are doing in a few days. I will be getting pics of that and I will post them on here.

Joey (Bama) since YOUR the El Jefe( hehehhe) can you run this past Tim and see what he says? Hey ya never know it might just work!

This is a little dity about how the "new and improved" MEPD was started! LOL.. Seriously, this is in conjunction with the "Happy Sandtrooper Day" thread.... A short story about the "rebirth" of the FINEST detachment the 501 has EVER seen! This might give you a little pride knowing the actions YOU took have made such an impact on this detachment, even JUST by signing up for it! Then, as you walk around C3, or your local CON, showing the patch, etc... You can know that "Yeah tho I walk through the shifting Sandunes, I will fear NO Sandpeople, For I am Sandtrooper.. The biggest, baddest, MEANEST Trooper that ever lived!" On approximately May 1st, and after a TON of emails being sent off to the people listed as being part of the MEPD and going unanswered, I had had enough! I posted on the 501st Legion board that I was "calling ANY MEPD member" to please answer me on how to become a member of the MEPD. I got zero responses from them, but many from others who, like me, had been trying to find out about membership. The main 2 at that time were Joey (BamaTrooper) and Kevin (TD0013). As we talked, I also talked to Tim Knapp, (current Legion CO) who was then the Legion XO about the problem. He asked if I thought I could handle bringing it back to life. After talking to Joey and Kevin, I told him yes. During this time, I had also been contacted by a guy whom uses the screen name BraksBuddy. He had found one day that the ownership and everything had been dumped on him by the former leadership of the MEPD, whom he knew from one of the costuming forums (TDH). Braksbuddy got ahold of me, via contact from Tim, and said "I am NOT a sandtrooper, or ANYTHING like this!" and he asked if we would take it off his hands and get it going. I told him "yes" and before I knew it, on May 25th, 2004 I had full ownership of the MEPD sites, names and everything! I immediately got with Joey and Kevin and asked them to assist. They agreed and we began getting things together. We got assistance from TB111, Chris Romines (retired) who started a BRILLIANT website. I then asked my webhead, Josh Larsen (from the Mtn Grs as I am) to assist him. He agreed, and the basic Command Staff and WebTeam was assembled. We then went to the Legion Boards, and to our own Garrisons. The first few days were slow, as most were afraid it was going to be "the same as before" as we heard time and again. Then we had a few "hard chargers" such as, but not limited to: Old Sarge Oberon, Harry Soberin, Phong Nyguyen, and Dean Plantamura. Also assisting in the "remake" at this point was MY Garrison CO John Orndorff and AGAIN Tim Knapp jumped in and fired some rockets off for us. Then, as if watching Field of Dreams all of a sudden THEY CAME!! All of you! With your absolute BEST weathering techniques, your "how to" on building BFG's, Packs and modifying armor. The people who lit up the boards about how to and how come and look at this. Then we had the "Im doing a run of" people. People who were willing to give time and efort of their own to make something "cool" for their Dirty Family. Then I had some personal issues on finance, work, and my back that arose. Joey and Kevin, my 2 stalwart sandy brothers pulled in and said "What can we do to help with the MEPD".. Joey agreed to take the reigns while Kevin continued to be just antagonistic enough to keep everyone hoppin (which is truly his job and he is GREAT at it!) and who keeps the "CANON" issue that we hold so dear right up there at the forefront! So here we are now, almost a full year has gone by. We have grown from a detachment that was on the web in name only, with no postings made in over a year and no activity at all, to this great machine we have now! You all have done that! We are now sitting at 129 members, and more are joining everyday. YOU have shown the "fun" and dedication that it is to be a Sandtrooper to your Garrison mates and squadmates. They are coming to our door everyday. I know this as I get the "a new member has subscribed" posting on it and there is NOT a day that doesnt go by that I dont get one. I want to thank all of you guys, especially those I named and those that were unnamed but part of that time when we were trying to get it off the ground. And I want to thank the trooper who has joined and claims proudly that he is MEPD and **** proud of it! So when your at C3, put that patch somewhere it can be seen. Maybe a jacket, or wherever. But wear it proudly as it took a LOT of time, money, and effort to get this group where it is today. Remember your the BEST, most dedicated trooper out there as YOU have made the pledge to try and be more screen accurate than any other person. This may be a nuisance thread, but thought that as you all pack up for C3, and people ask, you might want to know just went into getting us here, and the great effort YOU have put into this Detachment. I am in awe of you all.................................................. Thanks..

After checking my emails, it looks like the MEPD was "reborn" as it the 'ownership" was transferred to current use on May 25th 2004. So maybe that as our Bday?

How I missed this thread I will NEVER know!! We REALLY need to get this passed! Im NOT joking! Im not meaning Nationally, but lets see if we cant get the Command Staff of the Legion to go for this! October 7th, 501st Sandtrooper day! We can go for that day, cause its on his calendar, OR the day that we brought the MEPD BACK to life... Have to see what day that was, that might even be a better day! The day we got this a'sanddune a rollin agin! What you all thnk??

Hey guys, if those of us who got trading cards want to, lets set something up to get them "autographed" by our fellow Sandies... I know there is quite a few on the trading card group that already have said they want to, me included, but lets do it for us here in the MEPD so we make sure we get at LEAST these cards done!! Let me know what you think! If it goes OK, we can set up either a secure area for addresses or just PM them if the other is not feasible (We will have to ask Josh-tk423)..

Jess (TD5151), if you or your guys down there need any TD help BEFORE you take off for C3, let me know and we will work something out!

I will try to catch Kev online on his msngr and see what he is up too.

Comfortable? I dont say we are ever COMFY, we are USED to it though! There is ALWAYS something that is poking, prodding, scratching, etc some part of your body. A for instance, I was in a parade a couple months ago, in armor I have modified to fit me PERFECTLY, and have trooped in for many a year (my beloved TD gear!). At the end of the parade, I found that my left calf armor had gotten twisted somehow and had literally cut me on the top of my calf. The cut was 3 inches long and was about 1/4" deep. OUCH! You learn to deal with it and love every owie you get! So what you do is watch how we "sway". It is called the stormtrooper shuffle! We do NOT walk like "normal" peeps! You kind of do a Reggae bop with a Heavy Metal music "bang Your head" flow. Just keep at it! One day you will just start swaggering like everyone else! Then when you got a pack and a BFG, then you KNOW you are the king of the mountain and you REALLY swagger! You do the "I live in the sand and eat SandPeople children and small adults for dinner" walk!

One other thing... DONT forget to take off the thigh boxes!! Most peeps forget about that, I know I did for a LOOOONG time. Heck in my first TD pics, including the first ones I used for THIS site, I still had them on! They need to come off though. hey they make handy holders for small bolts, nuts, and screws! heheheh

When I got mine (the green leather ones from Marstar in Canada), I went to the local leatherworks and bought a can of base black dye. They dyed up REAL nice, and they even "looked weathered". The ONLY problem is that the green will show through if they get wet. I went through with some of that pumis stone and it roughed up the leather enough that now that doesnt even happen. Hope that helps a bit!

Guys, just want to sound off and remind you guys to be careful when your buying the pouches. I was told that someone on Ebay was selling "Genuine leather WWII MP40 pouches". These WERENT, but in fact were the newly made nylon remakes. So please make sure you ask the seller if they are, and if they arent, take the steps with Ebay to make it right.

We actually already HAVE that!! If you look off of the Mos Eisley PD page and click on "what it takes" we have it already!!

Hey, just bring some of the Afganistan sand back!! J/K!! Welcome aboard!!!

Welcome to the only "family" where we actually WANT you to be a "dirty ol' man!!"

Whatever the HEdoubleHockeySticks you want to call it, we DO NOT use it, other than to use the cover plate on the top tube on our packs. So throw the Air Cannister/Thermal Detenator/Sewage Treatment Plant/Personal Pornographic holoprojector away and keep the buttons for it!

I have mine going through the straps of my pack... Let me explain... The strap of my pack travel through the RING also, thus it holds the pouch close. Also, I have used rivets to secure the BOTTOM strap of the pack to the pouch. Then, as I hook the rest of the pouch/strap on, the RING threads through and holds it close as it snaps in place.

Hey all... Well Im going to start working on OUR own dewback cav unit here, based out of the Mtn Grs (we are sitting at approx 22 TD's right now, just took over in numbers our TKs if my info is correct). Im hoping that we can encompass Not the Joey Kevins garrison over in AZ and NV. Im looking at using a number from one of the units out of Ft. Funny, err Carson located in Colorado Springs, CO.... I am wanting to use one of the numbers of a unit that has been deployed to Iraq as a honor towards them.. Hard for me (a former Marine) to do, but I gotta hand it to these doggies outta Carson, they got their $h*t wired and are kickin a$$ and taken names!! Hence why I would like to honor them... So, anyone have negatives about this they want to share???? Please let me know... Laters...

But Kevin, I HAD to go so you would have stuff to do and no one would call YOU a slacker!! hehehehhehehehhe ROFL!!!! And my bud DOES have a couple of those pans left to vacform for the pack!!

Hey all, just wanted to let you all know that Im BACK from my AWOL status!!! I had LIFE interferring with trooping for a few months and between some major money crunches, business stuff, etc Life just refused to cooperate in my dirty life! But I am back in the saddle and ready to rock! Im sorry all those that were placed into command after I left! I was not there to assist you in getting things changed over to the way YOU wanted to run them after I gave up the MEPD CO slot. From everything I have heard, and those things I have seen, you guys have FAR outdone EVERYTHING I did! Congrats and keep it up! All other members, you all seem to be kicking dunes and taking ID's! Way to go my dirty family!! Joe Musso TD5374 MEPD/Mtn Garrison

Starting this coming Saturday, August 28th, 2004 Joey Beck (Bamatrooper) will be taking over as Detachment Leader and I will step down to an XO slot, along with Kevin O'Conner (TD0013). I want to explain this change; Currently, I am working at taking over my fathers business (we send chartered groups to Laughlin NV, Reno NV and Lake Tahoe NV, every 6 weeks) also I am starting up my own private investigations business. Along with that, I am doing the kiddo thing, coaching BOTH their football teams (a 3-4 grades AND a 5-6 grades teams). With all that, plus all the other things going, I just do NOT have the time this group DESERVES. I will still be around and will still assist Joey in anything he wants or needs. Also, as soon as Jason Brain gets back from vacation, I will still be doing the ab plate thing. Joey will run it as DL until the elections. At that time, should my life forgo its frantic levels and re-establish the "normal" hectic level, I may run for the DL post. I want to thank each and every one of you for the support you have given to me as DL of this GREAT group! I have been pondering this for about a month, as I could not stay online and "push" like a group like this needs. We have to stay active on the boards and threads or it withers and dies. So as one of my last official acts, I promote Joey to the DL position as of 8-28-04 and also I want everyone to become more active yet again on the board!!! Thanks again!!!