There are two beds to each room and the bathroom/shower is connected to another room, whereas four share the bathroom/shower area.  Being use to a King size bed, I certainly didn't want to do any serious rolling over in the bed...another grin is in order.  Pix below of a partial view of the room:

The accommodations were excellent and certainly do not have any complaints since I was once housed at Umpstead Correctional Center's old PERT (Prison Emergency Response Team) barracks building.  Those that attended that Remington Armorer training, I guarantee you will never forget that place!

All meals were provided on site and think I spent about 5 dollars out of pocket....grin on being frugal!  Below pix of the cafeteria:

Things haven't changed too much for a few of the buildings since my first visit to the NCJA in Salemburg, NC in February 1979 for the Correctional Officer Basic Training Class.  Below are a few inside pixs of the cafeteria with pix of new ALE recruits that were in their basic training.  Those folks were apparently just out of college and hard to believe I ever looked that young...maybe another grin is in order; I know I had to grin!

A friendly greeting from one of the cafeteria staff and after checking your name on the roster provided for each class member, it didn't take long to get the tray loaded up.  Several meats and plenty of various vegetables were served during the lunch and diner meals and a good fresh salad and dessert bar was available also.  Pixs below:

For those not desiring what was on the main entree line, there is also a short order grill type set-up providing grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.

Above pix of ALE students in a military style formation going through the chow line.  Those folks did some early morning runs before breakfast and marched where ever they went on campus.  Takes me back to around 1964 to Great Lakes, Illinois during my Navy boot camp training days which lasted a very, very long 12 weeks!

A view of the dining area and there were not a lot of training going on during the short 1.5 day Ruger armorer school but certainly did enjoy meeting old friends and making some new friends too. 

Our classroom was located in the Royal Classroom building which has been there seemingly forever and have trained in that building many times over the years and hard not to think of Jim Holmes (deceased) who was Mr. Firearms in the late 1970's and 1980's.  I attended his Firearms Instructor training class in 1982 (if my memory is correct) when the Firearms Instructor course was only 40 hours long and Jim Holmes practically wrote all the lesson plans himself for firearms training at that time.  Pix below of the Royal Classroom building:

Below pix of Mr. Bob Wood, Chief Armorer Special Projects Coordinator of Ruger Firearms who was our instructor for the school.  Bob has the black shirt on with the Ruger logo in this pix:

About the time the class got started Lt. William Dias, Security Specialists who coordinated this armorer school came around with the familiar OSDT forms for all to sign;

The following thumbnail pixs taken and I got most of the class in the pixs but apologize if I missed anyone:

In summation, this was one of the best armorer schools I have attended.  Bob Wood gave an excellent and outstanding presentation allowing plenty of hands on experience field stripping and armorer stripping the weapon down and putting it back together.  The trouble shooting section was really helpful and Bob knows his way around the Ruger products.  You owe it to yourself to visit www.ruger.com and serf their site.  You will find Bob Wood on video going over a pile of Ruger weapons as far as field stripping them down, putting them back together and cleaning and maintenance of the weapon .  The Ruger Armorer School for the Mini-14 goes beyond the normal consumer field stripping of the weapon and I left out some pixs that were more or less of a proprietary nature.

After we went through the "gauging" of the Mini-14 and a review, it was evaluation time for the course followed by a written test.

The test was reviewed and everyone did very well as evidenced by the number of correct answers from the class.  Bob Wood had covered all the necessary material and then it was time to pass out the Ruger Armorer's  Course Certificates and we received a bonus from Bob Wood consisting of a Ruger Law Enforcement cap, Ruger Firearms patch, Ruger Armorer's patch, Ruger tie pin along with two punches, file, ceramic stone, allen wrench, screwdriver and spring pin.  We received some very cool Ruger posters with parts nomenclature for the Min-14 and a couple other Ruger rifles and a current Armorer's manual.  Also, each Ruger armorer has the opportunity to purchase a Ruger firearm of choice at a much reduced price from the MSRP direct from the factory without any time limit on the purchase with weapon purchased sent direct to a FFL holder from the Ruger factory.  See pix below:

This will no doubt be my last Ruger armorer school/class to attend since the certification is valid for three (3) years and I should have reached my retirement goals by then. 

My all time favorite Ruger weapons are the Sporting Clay over/under in 12 gauge and the Super Redhawk double action revolver in ..44 magnum caliber topped with a Leopold 2X scope. 

Bill aka Mickey Porter July 23, 2009.