2nd Amendment to the Constitution of The United States of America



Monday, February 28, 2011

Frank Buckles…the oldest living World War I veteran, and last US WW1 veteran, dies at 110

Frank Buckles, whom I wrote about turning 110 off earlier this month, has sadly passed away quietly at his home.  Story from the Washington Post here.   He was the last surviving verified WW1 veteran in the US and the oldest of the 3 remaining veterans in the world. Per a rare exception to regulations granted by then President George W. Bush, at the bequest and urging of Ross Perot, Buckles will be allowed to be interred at Arlington National Cemetery although he was neither killed, wounded or awarded a Medal of Honor but due to his unique status at the time.   He will be buried by the 3rd US Infantry (The Old Guard) with full military honors befitting a veteran of his status.  Its expected that both the British and French governments will be sending representatives to the funeral.

Sad day realizing that eventually all of the veterans of our "modern" conflicts will one day share the same fate.  What then? While we, as a nation, choose to remember specific conflicts of our history (Revolutionary War, Civil War, World Wars) what happens to the memory of those "lesser" conflicts that we seem to overlook as a society...War of 1812, Mexican-American War, the Philippine conflict or even something as recent as Grenada? Where do the memories of those veterans that have served and died remain? I guess one day all of our veterans and all of our conflicts will probably be relegated to some obscure paragraph in a history textbook in the future for somebody studying "Ancient civilizations" in the year 2250 AD (sorry, I refuse to use the BCE and ACE thing) the same way as we recall only a few sacrifices made by the ancient Greeks and others of their time now.  Sad indeed.

What a unique pair of bookends for the month of February his story has been.  In honor of his memory and passing I will not post any further items on this blog until tomorrow so that his story and image may retain a place of honor here as the topmost story of the day.

Rest in peace doughboy….your comrades await you on the other side.

B0114P 0109

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Fudd post gets some attention over at the 1911 forums..

Through Blogger stats I saw that I have been getting some hits from the folks over at 1911 Forum.com based in my post on The Fudd, headed over to that site and there was a bit of a lively thread on the subject going on…

Its always appreciated when I get feedback on a post or see it grow into some type of meaningful discourse otherwise…thanks to the folks over at that board for stopping by and taking notice.

Link to the thread over at the 1911 forums here….


see, not all Fudds are bad…

The A-Team movie……where do I start?

Watched the A-Team movie today with the family….hmmmmm…yeah.  OK flick I guess.  Another of those flicks where you just need to turn the “realism” portion of your brain off and just sit back and enjoy it.  But wow, some of the blatant goofs about weapons and the military were just hard to look past for me I don’t expect to have the military displayed any more accurately than anything else in movies (like how weather scientists are portrayed in Twister or oil well drillers in Armageddon), but yeah…a basic level or correctness would be nice.  Again, as a “gun nut”  and veteran I am probably more observant of those things than the normal viewer, but even some of these must have seemed strange to non-gun  nut…


Hi! We’re the new guys and we just make it up as we go along!


  • In the beginning Hannibal is being beat up by corrupt Mexican officials who then try to shoot him with his own gun.  The gun is found to not have a firing pin installed.  Long story short, Hannibal is shown to have the firing pin on him, which he uses to pick his handcuffs and then drops in in behind the hammer of the pistol (a 1911) with the pistol fully assembled. Um….doesn’t work like that .
  • Jennifier Biehl’s character, Sosa, is a MP 1LT but is able to order domestic surveillance, travel internationally doing investigations on foreign soil while carrying a weapon, cut deals as a prosecutor….all as a 1LT. 
  • Whatever FOB depicted in the Baghdad scene is shown packed with troops almost elbow-to-elbow with no hardened structures….nice targets for a mortar don’t you think
  • The “team” is always talking about being “Rangers” but are obviously SF types in the film….Rangers are highly trained infantry units that while sometimes tasked to do small missions generally are deployed as “shock” troops for initial assaults for things such as airport seizure, landings or deep patrolling and assaults. Special Forces unit are highly trained unconventional units that generally operated in either single or groups of 12 man “A Teams” (actually called Operational Detachment Alpha teams, or ODA….ie. ODA 815).  While both types of units may have members that have been in the other type of unit..their missions are generally very different.
  • If it were the Rangers, the 75th Ranger Regiment is just that, a REGIMENT.  As such its highest ranking individual is the Regiment Commander, a Colonel.  Therefore Hannibal would of have to been the Units Commander running around Mexico by himself looking for corrupt officials…or whatever they hell they were doing down there at the beginning of the movie..
  • A good majority of the soldiers shown wearing ACU type uniforms are shown walking around with the mandarin collar in the closed position…the collar was designed to be work like that while wearing body armor as to not chafe the neck with the stiff collar of the IBA…nobody wears it up at any other time.
  • Walking up to the C130 that they steal they refer to the pilots as being in the Army too…even though they are wearing Air Force caps and the Army doesn’t have its own airlift assets.   Speaking of this scene, Murdock seems to be able to go from being a rotary wind to to a fixed wing pilot at will…very unusual.
  • The US Disciplinary Barracks are in Ft. Leavenworth, KS….not Ft. Carson, CO  (everyone knows that).
  • The tank that was being transported had its M2 .50 loaded while being readied to ship…. boy, that is wrong in so many ways in real life…also they are not dropped as shown in the film, nothing that big can be slowed down by parachutes as shown…they are loaded on special pallets that are dragged off the back of the aircraft flying low over an area..
  • More uniform discrepancies….everyone wears CIB’s whether in theater or not or infantry or not…..General Officers wearing branch insignia at the trial (there are called general officers because at that level they are supposed to be branch non-specific)……so many things wrong with class A uniforms in the same trial scene…ribbons…awards…everyone is a triple ladder including the pilot….berets look like crap….they wouldn’t remove your rank at a trial like that…

I know…I know…this is being anal as hell…but again, I am sure over at somebody’s martial arts blog they examine and rip every Kung Fu movie ever made.   Like the old saying goes “its never minor surgery when its you under the knife”…when the folks in Hollyweird mess up the details of your passion you just take notice..

Otherwise, it was a fairly enjoyable movie even thought the plot was patchy and the moved along kind of slow at parts.  I wouldn’t rush out to rent it but if it was on Netflix or HBO I would make time to watch it.


Don’t worry new guys…we didn’t get any closer to reality than you did in our time….and we didn’t actually get to kill people either!

The Blood Chit

Cool pic from the past posted on FaceBook by a friend of mine from the We The Armed boards that goes by the handle of “Harm”, its his Fathers “blood chit” from WW2.

blood chit

Basically, the blood chit was a bribe from the US Government Chinese Government (thanks for the correction Harm)to return a downed flier to us instead of turning them over to the Japanese.  It was normally carried as part of their kit bag or sew into the liner of their flight jacket.  Upon landing or parachuting into Chinese territory it was to be given in exchange for safe passage.  It was usually written in at least Chinese and usually several other local languages at the same time.  At the time (hell, even now) not many Americans had any working knowledge of the Chinese language or culture outside of what they found at a Chinese restaurant.  This meant that communicating when downing behind enemy lines would be difficult, this just made it a bit easier.  At the time China was as vast as it is now but without many of the modern means of communication we have now.  I can only imagine the look on some peasant’s face when he was given this to a man that fell out of the sky and found out his country was at war at all!

And that classic 1911-A1 in the pic (also his Grandfather’s) might as well be a picture of a baseball game or apple pie…it really doesn’t get any more American than that!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Juan de los Muertos (Juan of the Dead)

A guy who goes by the name of "The Zombie Hunter" has been reading my blog for the past couple of months. Over on his blog called, not surprisingly, The Zombie Hunter he has posted an initial review on a Cuban zombie flick called Juan of the Dead. No, not Shaun, Juan...its in Cuba. If I get a chance to check it out somehow I probably will just to see what that country is capable of.

Generally, other than the food, I am not a big Cuba fan. Why not? Well, I am an American....we kind of have a history with that country...that almost ended the world.
The part of Cuba that agrees with me...

OK, so for those who flunked geography and history in school I am going to give this to you in my best translation in todays teen lingo...
At first we were like "they didn't" and then we were like "OMG, they f'ing did...those dicks!"

Cuba is this big island roughly 90 miles off of the Florida keys in the Gulf of Mexico. It was the sight of a brief war with Spain at the turn of the 20th Century that we won (after losing more men to food poisoning than enemy fire) that gave us some neat prizes...like Cuba and the Philippine Islands for a while. Anyway, we had a pretty sweet vacation spot down in Cuba until this guy named Fidel decided he wanted to get his revolution on and kicked us out. We left for the most part but said "no habla" when they asked us to give up a sweet harbor called Guantanamo Bay on the Southern tip coast where you can catch some sweet waves and stuff. President Ike basically said "screw you, we're staying" and had the Marines and Navy folk man the gun turrets and started sending our normal rent checks (which they have only cashed ONE in 50 some years!). Anyway, so this Fidel guy realizes his revolution isn't going to be worth squat unless they get a little money to grease the populations wheels with. The gringos from my country are pretty pissed off about the entire shutting down the casino thing and we stop buying and selling stuff with them. Fidel says "who cares" and starts kissing this Russian's butt named Nikita. Well, ol' Nicky has a thing or two against the USA and tells Fidel "hey bud, I got these missiles I need you to hold onto for a bit, mind if I park them on your island". Fidel says sure, we get pissed as hell...our President stops ogling Marylin Monroe long enough to order a blockade of the island....everyone gets pissed as hell and we almost start WW3.....eventually both Nicky and J.F.K. decided destroying the world would be a dick move on both their parts, smoke a fatty (it was the 60's for crying out loud) and backed off each others toes...

Oh Nicky...I can't wait to get back to the hotel....

...and there was this Bay of Pigs thing in there somewhere too...

Yeah, that Guantanamo Bay....

...and then Fidel, since he realized Nicky was just playing him as his bitch for the most part, decided to drop his hang low all over Central and South America and just piss all in the US' lemonade in places like Nicaragua, Honduras and Grenada just to show the world he had a set as big as Nicky's. So basically, the day Fidel smokes his last cigar we will probably resume normal relations with Cuba...but until then both Cuba and the US continue to break on off into each others ass every chance we get.

OK, history lesson over. I will try and see this but with some of the strict laws we have against the importation of any type of Cuban goods or services I don't know if this would be available in the US.

Another WW2 training film...Kill or be killed..

I love these old training films. Here's one that was designed to install the "killer instinct" into our troops. In that sheep, wolf and sheepdog analogy I talked about the other day I should point out that the vast majority of people do not have the instinct to kill other people naturally. Miost people are sheep that need to be trained to be sheepdogs. Anyway enjoy the film...

Desert Storm...20 years later.

Its been 20 years ago this week that the ground war phase of Operation Desert Storm started that pushed Iraqi forces out of Kuwait and back into Iraq. It was a "100 hour war" by most accounts..but as history has shown things are not always as they seem. Saddam is gone (I was over in Kuwait when he was executed...strange), Kuwait is a regional economic influence again, Iraq still faces uncertainty and the rest of the region is in utter turmoil with revolt as of this writing.

After almost 10 years of conflict people take for granted pictures of soldiers and marines in the desert. In 1991 we had not fought in a desert climate since 1943. We were used to seeing pictures of troops fighting in jungles in places such as Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Grenada and Panama. We weren't sure how the change of climates would affect our troops or equipment. We faced the 3rd largest Army (at the time) in the world, one that had combat experience and had a history of using chemical weapons.

Thanks to CNN we were able to monitor the conflict 24/7. Some people say the dawn of cable news really came with this war. This was not lost on the military, many of its leaders had learned their lessons about the media the hard way in Vietnam. We "embedded" reporters with our units (often to give them a "clean" experience of the battle), we wined and dined them, we bedazzled the media and the public with both charm and high tech presentations. We introduced the public to people like "Stormin' Norman", a future Secretary of State and the "luckiest man in Iraq". We made the M1 Abrams tanks more popular than the Camaro. We all knew hellfire missles and smart bombs could knock the wings off a fly at 3 miles. We feared the SCUD and the MRE equally as well. We all wore yellow ribbons...

But most of all....we kicked ass. Our military was allowed to build up foolishly by the Iraqi leadership. Saddam thought he could bluff his way out of a direct confrontation or that the threat of chemical weapons would keep us at bay. Nope. We came at the Iraqis hard, smashed them in the face and blinded them during the air war, made them think that a single Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) landing by sea was our big assault and then hauled ass through the desert and kick the ass of the "elite Republican Guard units" before they knew what hit them. Domination was ours for the taking...and then we left.

Yep, we were on the outskirts of Baghdad and we pulled back because we were so fearful of being pulled into another Vietnam type conflict that we needed to adhere to an "exit strategy" and leave before the job was done. 12 years later we returned, took out the man we should of taken care of in 1991 before Al Quaeda was big enough to influence the power vacuum of his absence and done it right. The world would have been more supportive for sure.

None of that matters now.. what is done is done. What is important that we do not forget the service that those veterans that were involved in that conflict provided our nation.

Thank you veterans!

Columbus mayor takes on gun shows!

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman took on gun show operators in his state of the city address on Wednesday in Columbus.

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh My!"....uh, I meant "gansters and criminals and drug pushers, oh My!"
It must kill him to wake up every morning and realize that one of the busiest and biggest gun stores in the country is located in his city..

Demanding background checks at gun shows, he rehashed the same song and dance we have heard from his friends in the Bloomberg no fun gang, He points out to all the "criminals and gangsters" that he knows are buying their weapons at legitimate gun shows staffed and patrolled by real police officers....He actually uses "Gangsters, criminals and drug pushers" in the same sentence..I would think just using the term "criminals" would of included the other two categories...

I have stated before that I have no basic issue with running background checks at these things as long as it is quick, cheap and efficient. None of which I am sure would be implimented by this city. The fact that I know he has other anti-gun agendas that he is using this as a springboard to launch in the future puts a solid stamp of disapproval on the idea for me.

...in other news he is seeking to revitalize the local economy in part via "A private developer, aided by state environmental cleanup money, will turn two nearby factories into more space where creative types can work and live." because well all know how a couple of guys making paintings and artwork out of discarded toilets and stuff can really boost the economy and provide hundreds of good paying jobs to our unemployed....

...and by the way, why he is against "commoners" carrying firearms for protection in his city he has armed bodyguards assigned to protect him and his family 24/7 at my expense...

Pic totally unrelated to the mayors actions but fits well with the story....

Mayor Coleman mentally projected this on the screen at Veterans Memorial using his Jedi mind powers....not

Khadafy sucks....

Look at this guy on the left...his name is Muammar khadafy (or Kadaffi..or Gaddafi...doesn't make a difference)...his occupation is embattled ruler of Libya...his statatus is perpetual douchebag. Seriously...just look at this guy...perpetual douche...madman...murderer...terrorist....

He came to power in 1970 and personally oversaw the creation of a terrorist state that saw the financing of radical anti-western terrorist organizations that caused the deaths of thousands of innocents. His regime has been tied to bombings all over Europe and even the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olymics.

Seriously...this guy needs to go. Reuters is now reporting that this ass clown personally directed the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270 people. Do I need to spell out what needs to happen here...

He even thinks he is some kind of pimp daddy with a penchant for cheesy outfits and sunglasses that look ridiculous on the world stage. He even has a 40 person, all female personal bodyguard that are supposedly trained in martial arts and are selected based on their virginity. How much you want to bet that horny old goat defiles them on the first day. Its like he thinks he's David Caradine from the Kill Bill movies for crying out loud.


President Reagan tried to take him out in 1986 in retaliation for bombings that killed American servicemen in Europe. Ron was too old by that time to take on the douche in a fair fight so we sent over some F-111's to do it for him...we came close. We might have taken care of it but I think the crews were tired from having to fly around French airspace because the frogs would not allow us to fly over it from England..

the F-111, Uncle Sugars flying circus loss serious cool points when it retired these bad boys...

This is me in my high school yearbook from 1986...I have seriously hated this mofo for over half my life...

Thankfully, the same Reuters article linked above also says that the info source also claims Khadafy will also take his own life like Adolph Hitler (nice comparison there) instead of letting himself be captured. He may need some help though....

People of Libya, you have the chance to change your future, to rid yourself of a dictator that has amassed a fortune on your backs. A murderer that has killed many of your family members and friends. A madman that actually thinks that he can buy his way back into the international community by paying off the victims of his heinous crimes against humanity. You have the ability to earn your right to be productive members of the world community by removing this boil on the ass of the world.

Now go do that thing you do...

In my version of this event, the POTUS pulls the d-bag in close, whispers "this is for Lockerbie you pole smoking fashion victim!" and then pulls out his hidden G26 and puts one between his eyes....yeah, and the monkeys are preparing for their maiden flight from my ass too..

Jedi Mind tricks…

flaggIt seems according to Rolling Stone (yeah, they don’t have a political agenda) that PsyOps (psychological operations) soldiers in Afghanistan were instructed to conduct operations against visiting American VIP’s (senators, other military members) in an attempt to make them vote for escalating the war in Afghanistan with more troops upon their return home.  Story here..


Makes me wonder what they were going to use?

…straight up mind manipulation..

…Sparkly eye technique or maybe even cloud bursting…

….and I guess if worse came to worse they could have used “The Predator” on them

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Glock Beavertail...update!

Found a video on YouTube taken at the SHOT show...in it at 0:20 you can clearly hear the question asked if they will have the beavertail backstrap for the G26 and the Glock rep saying that it will be available for ALL Gen4 pistols!


Friendly fire….isn’t

sm_Finger_On_TriggerStory below.  Columbus police officer shoots his partner with a shotgun while exiting a vehicle during a drug raid.  Which of the cardinal rules was violated, don’t know…and I don’t care.  The shooting is being investigated by CPD, and that is not me.  What is important to take from here is that a ND can happen to anyone, not matter if you are a new recreations shooter in his first trip to a range, a special forces soldier assaulting a Talibastard camp in the Hindu Kush…or a 20 year CPD veteran conducting the same procedure you have done over and over….

It can happen to you…the only true safety is between your ears.  Practice the 4 rules daily whenever you handle a weapon, not matter the circumstance.

Luckily it appears that Officer Mourne’s wounds are not life threatening.  I wish both officers well.



Police veteran hospitalized after being shot by fellow officer

Thursday, February 24, 2011  04:06 PM

By Theodore Decker  The Columbus Dispatch

A Columbus police sergeant is recovering after he was shot in the leg last night by another officer during a drug investigation.

Sgt. Michael Mourne was taken to Ohio State University Medical Center following the 6:19 p.m. shooting on the North Side.

Mourne and other members of the Police Division's Investigative and Tactical Unit (IN/TAC) were serving a search warrant at a home at 2437 Parkwood Ave. As the unit's entry team jumped from their vehicle to hit the house, team member Stephen Lazar unintentionally fired his shotgun, striking Mourne.

Mourne, 50, remains hospitalized but could be released in several days if his recovery goes well, said Sgt. Rich Weiner, a Police Division spokesman.

Lazar, 44, remains on assignment with the tactical unit but can take "as much time as he needs" before returning to duty, Weiner said. Both men have been with the Police Division for 20 years.

Weiner called the friendly-fire incident "very rare."

He said the shooting will be investigated like any other police-involved shooting. The completed investigation by senior homicide detectives will be forwarded to the chain of command for review.

IN/TAC officers conduct street-level drug investigations and make high-risk narcotics raids. In 2008, two team members were shot and seriously wounded as they battered down the door of a Near East Side drug house.

Officers Anthony Garrison and John Gillis recovered and have since returned to the unit, Weiner said. Two men were sentenced to prison for the assaults.

Got a hankerin' for a slashy-choppy thing...

...called a Tomahawk. More precisely a Cold Steel Rifleman's Tomahawk. Why?... hell, I don' know. Its a guy thing I am sure. I guess it would be cool to have on the rare camping trip I might take for a rifle shoot out East, maybe it would be good for chopping small firewood pieces in the backyard....maybe I could use it to split a zombie's skull when they finally arise to consume us.

I had looked at these before but an article on The Zombie Hunter's blog got me thinking about them again. The thing is with these 'hawks by Cold Steel, unlike a firearm I might want that may take months to save for, I can save for one of these in a week or so at only $30. Cold Steel traditionally makes some decent, if not eclectic, products and I have a few knives from them that are pretty good. They really made a name for themselves when they started to sell tanto style blades in the 90's and have gotten bigger and more expansive since.

The tomahawk is a traditional weapon of the Native American peoples who dwelled on this continent before my ancestors stepped foot on it. The early American frontiersmen quickly adopted its design and use as their own as both its utilitarian usefulness and impressive destructive capability as a weapon were both highly praised by those early settlers. The Ghurkas have the khukri, and the American peoples have the tomahawk, cool. Just like the khukri, the tomahawk could be used to cut wood, clear vegetation, dig holes, skin game and anything else you can thing of...and then be used to slash at an enemy or animal that came charging at you out of nowhere. And unlike the single shot, muzzle loading flintlocks of the time, the tomahawk never ran out of bullets and would work reliably in the wet and rain.

Even the classic "standing orders" of Rogers Rangers includes 2 references to the tomahawk...


Early frontier militias and scouts weren't the only ones to use it either. In Vietnam a model was made for the Army to be used for hand to hand fighting and general service use. Opposite the blade head of the tomahawk it had a spike to, reportedly, penetrate the pith helmet of a NVA soldier on sentry duty...yeah, right.

The design has has seen a recent resurgence as their appearance in movies such as "The Last of the Mohicans" and "The Patriot" have reintroduced them to a new generation of outdoorsmen. The Ranger Battalion, looking towards its past has adopted a tomahawk throwing event into its annual Best Ranger competition. Even today the tomahawk is still being used by American warriors in distant lands. Many individuals have rediscovered the utility of these hand axes and have brought their own to war (we can't use privately owned firearms anymore so this is what we are down to). There is even a NSN (national stock number..used for ordering and purchasing things in the military) for them and they have been issued to the Stryker Brigades as breaching and rescue tools, as well as for cutting the heads off of Al Queda members. OK, I am just joking about that last point...but some of them deserve it.

The Army's SSG Sam Miller with his tomahawk in Afghanistan

A classic hawk is about 2 feet in length with a straight handle made of hardwook and an axehead with a blade width of less than 3". Traditionally they do not have any reverse point or other head on them, but more recent variations since the 1800's may include one in the design. What the tomahawk may lack in the size and weight of the axe head it makes up for in speed. The smaller head of the tomahawk allows it to be swung faster than a standard axe and even thrown some distance. This makes a blow from one of these extremely deadly. Think of the analogy of a light and fast 9mm bullet versus the slower and heavier round of a .45 ACP to see what I mean on this.

Cold steel makes an entire line of tomahawks and hand axes. So why do I want a Rifleman's tomahawk over say the "tactical" model called the "Vietnam Tomahawk"? Practicality. I like the addition of a hammer head on the reverse to enable me to nail or pound stakes or what have you in lieu of the spike that I would probably just poke my eye out with anyway. Besides, its called the RIFLEMAN'S tomahawk...that just sounds cool.

By the way, you got to love the Cold Steel videos they produce for their products...lol!

lastly, here is a good link to an article by Phil Elmore, AKA "The Martialist", on 'hawks.

Glock beavertail

Over at The Firearm Blog there is an article about a beaver tail back strap that Glock is going to be making available for its Gen4 pistols. It will replace the regular medium and large sized replaceable back straps and give the shooter a longer frame extension to protect their hands from slide bite. I have never been bitten by the slide recoil of a Glock, but I am sure there is somebody out there with meat hooks much larger than mine that will appreciate this. I think that these look pretty cool. I doubt that they will make them for the G26 (which I will soon be an owner of) out of the gate, fut for what I think they will probably charge for these I just may have to buy one for Kev's G17 just to take it for a spin.

The "First Fudd"

I knew I forgot to include something in my post the other day about fudds...enjoy...

Brigid hits the nail on the head..with a hollowpoint

Read a good article tonight from Brigid over at Home on the Range with some "advice of the day" The essence of her post is in the first two lines, I quote:
"If you're going to have just one bullet.
Make it hollow point."

I whole heartedly concur.

She echoes many of the same points that I stated last month in my post "The caliber debate continues" as to why I have chosen to use the "lowly" 9mm as my personal defense round.

Which are you, sheep, wolf, sheepdog......or a ram?

Yesterday I did a piece on what your choices may be if you are even caught up in an active shooter type scenario. On of them was doing a "sheeple" move...doing nothing, just allowing yourself to be led to the slaughter (I highly discourage this). This analogy is drawn from the excellent piece of writing by LTC (Retired) Dave Grossman. In this essay, which I post below (bit of a long read but worth it), he details how he sees the world divided into three classes of people:

  1. Sheep. Those who live in fear and denial of violence and are easily preyed upon.
  2. Wolves. Individuals who have no regrets of violence towards others and prey upon the sheep.
  3. Sheepdogs. Those who have the same capabilities towards violence but have no intention of using it toward the sheep, but instead protect the sheep from the wolves, our police and military.

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - Dave Grossman




































Now, this is a great essay and concept. One I prescribe to personally. But I have often thought to myself that at one time I was a sheepdog. I voluntarily wrote a blank check to Uncle Sam wit my name on it and was willing to step forward and fight the wolves if need be. I, like he describes above, have thought about what I would have done if I had been on Flight 94 myself. I am certain I would of been right there next to Todd Beamer and the rest of those sheepdogs on that flight making sure to take one of those bastards with me in the clutches of my grip as I met death.

That was then, this is now. I am no longer that sheepdog. My strength is not what it once was, my eyes are not as sharp or aware as they were and my movements are more labored. Worse yet, I mix with the sheep, I eat with the sheep, I live with the sheep....I am a sheep. Yes, in nearly every way I am a sheep, save one. I am ready to fight back. No, I do not sit on the edge of the flock circling...watching...protecting. I walk amongst them in the field vulnerable like them...except I am ready to fight back if I have to.

A ram is an uncastrated sheep. They are sheep that sometimes attack to defend themselves and the flock. Some rams have horns, I have horns too. Mine are not made of bone but of polymer and metal. Just like the ram I will run from danger when I can, but when pressed to fight and defend...I will.

I am a Ram.

beware my horns wolves of the world...

Just a thought and concept I have been mulling over in my mind, hope you enjoy..

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Sootch does a video on the M1 Garand..

Sootch00, the guy that did the excellent video I posted last week of the M1 carbine, has done another good vid on the M1 Garand rifle. Some of the info is not as accurate as the info for the carbine, but it is still a very good video. The camera work and clarity is excellent and Sootch has a very good voice to listen to.

What? you don't have your M1 from CMP yet? What the hell are you waiting for!!! That reminds me, I need a bayonet after watching this....

The Gun Nut

Powerpoint Ranger nails yet another cartoon today..

How many of us does this resemble? Generally I think the image of the gun nut in the media is only slightly overblown and I only wish I had as much stuff as some of these "nuts" that you hear about in the news on TV. There was one guy who was arrested a year or so ago I think in California that was somehow caught digging a bunker under his house to store his massive collection of guns and ammo. OK, maybe not the most stable mentality there, but the mere presence of large quantities of ammo and weapons made a huge splash in the liberal media. Hell, look in my basement and you might find a couple thousand rounds of ammo (hell, I probably have at least 3,000 rounds of .22 in bricks of 500 that I bough while they were on sale) and more than a few firearms as well. Does that make me a "gun nut"...I guess that depends on what you consider excessive...scroll all the way down this page and see the picture entitled "PREPAREDNESS" to see what I mean.

One of the funny things about this cartoon is the line "jack booted thugs" used by the SGM...um, maybe somebody should clue him in that to some in the "gun nut" community the Army may just be the "jack booted thugs" that are coming to get them...just saying...

(knock knock)..."Oh, well hello there...can I assume you are not here for the alcohol or tobacco?"

Active shooters and individual responses...

I started this post last Sunday night but had kind of put this post in the back burner when I read a post by James over at Hell In A Handbasket relating to the same incident and decided to finish my thoughts on it...

Driving home Sunday night from the store (with my LCP in my pants of course) I heard about a shooting at a popular suburban shopping area in Columbus on Saturday night. It was the first I had heard of it since we had stayed home and watched Netflix most of that day. The location was a popular shopping complex in Northeast Columbus called "Easton". The shopping center was being compared to our now demolished City Center Mall in downtown Columbus due to the shooting, with many saying it signaled the downfall of the mall. Many link the downfall of City Center to a fatal shooting that happened there in 1994 that was gang related. This supposedly set the stigma of the mall as a "gang hangout" and kept many suburban shoppers away after that. There is speculation now that the shooting on Saturday was also gang related. I have it from several sources that gangs have been a problem at this center for a while but has been kept under wraps by the property management.

Truth is any place that attracts people with money and commerce is a place that will attract a criminal element. Also, it has been a trend in Columbus and other cities that we create palaces of capitalism just to watch them decay and crumble as we build other, newer centers later. After all, there is no money to be made by developers unless the kill there older projects to make money from the new ones.

Anyway, talking about my thoughts on urban decay...

The victim was a 15 year old male who was shot by his 16 year old brother...tragedy at many levels there. He died last night at Children's Hospital in Columbus, his brother will face charges in the killing. The exact details of the shooting have not been released but it was apparently initiated by an argument. Sad, just sad.

It seems initially the police are having a hard time getting witnesses as people immediately got out of the area during the shooting. Duh...people are pretty much ingrained to do just that when danger is around...run away. Luckily this seems to be a not so random act of violence directed towards one individual by another under predictable circumstances. The shooter shot his target and then make his get away. What if he had not?

I felt compelled to call into the radio station (talk radio) and offer my thoughts. What I said had nothing to do directly related to the shooting, but more along the lines of "what it" you had been there and in the crossfire of this event..or even worse in the presence of an "active shooter". An "active shooter" is the name given now in certain circles to described a loose cannon with a gun shooting randomly in public. Many colleges, schools, business and government agencies now have contingency plans and drills for dealing with them. After so many random events (Virginia Tech, Columbine or the Tuscon shooting for example) how could they not? I guess the difference between the pro-2A and anti-2A crowd is those anti-2A see the gun as the primary source of the event while those of us pro-2A see the person pulling the trigger as the cause. But I digress....

Whatever your personal views on why an event is happening, its what decisions you make while it is going on that can make the difference between life and death. Keep in mind I am not a LEO, professional security expert or what have you. I am more like most of you that may be reading this, an ordinary guy living a rather normal, mundane life that, in my case, just happens to take these types of scenarios a bit closer to the heart than others. I have undergone "active shooter" training as part of my work and while attending school...via a power point presentation...

Anyway, these are my thoughts on the subject that I wish to share...

#1 HAVE A PLAN! I have talked to my wife once about what were to happen if we were in public and something would happen around us. I doubt she remembers the conversation. There is no static plan to make when the environmental variables are changing around you constantly as you go from place to place, but you can make some decisions beforehand based on your personal life situations.

  • Have a "code word" to use between your family members to signal danger..something like "red hippo" or similar that would not come up in normal conversation. When the code word is spoken everyone should stop what they are doing and take cover or whatever action required. At a minimum dropping prone to get out of the line of fire to assess the situation may be the minimum prudent action to take.
  • Always have a cell phone charged and with you. Regardless what action you take you should notify the police and also communicate with other family members of your status, especially if you have two parties in the same area of the incident.
  • Always have vital medical/allergy info available or with you. Last thing you need is to be barricaded in a room awaiting the police to get you out and suffer an asthma attack without an inhaler. This should be common practice anyway for people medically dependent on such devices while away from home.
  • Never assume you can understand the motive behind the shooters actions and you can "feel his/her pain" and try and rationalize and negotiate with them. This most times will not be the case. They probably don't care that you can relate to their crappy childhood, society's "unjust" actions against them or why that purple cow with the leather jacket and in their head is telling them to shoot people. Just by their initial actions of going someplace specifically to shoot people is a clear sign of a sick mind and any attempt to try and interact with the shooter and communicate will most likely end up in your funeral. Always take as gospel that the shooter has a violent attitude toward your and your family's well being and act accordingly.
  • Take into consideration the physical capabilities of your family or group. Running away is not going to be much of an option if your have your 80 year old grandmother with you and her oxygen bottle.
  • If you have a CCW license and weapon, carry whenever possible. A gun is no use in defending yourself if you do not have it on you. Unfortunately, chances are that if I had been at Easton (which we rarely, if ever, go to anyway) I would NOT of been carrying because we probably would have eaten there and most establishments there serve alcohol. Under current Ohio law I cannot carry in any establishment with a "Class D" license to serve spirits, whether I consume them myself or not. Hopefully this will be changed to a more common sense statute in the near future, but for now I would not of been ready to defend my family.

Courses of action.

I basically see that there are four basic main of action you can take if you find an active shooter in your midst.:

Do nothing. (AKA The Sheeple) Yep, just like Rush sings "if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice". The least desirable of the four choices leaves your live up to fate to decide your outcome. Just stop what your doing, freeze in place and hope for the best. Hell, maybe the purple cow in the guys brain thinks your A-OK and will tell him to give you a pass...or maybe it will tell him to shove a shotgun in your mouth and free you from your mortal shell.... Think I will take one of the other three options. Baaaaa! Baaaaa!sheeple

Flee (AKA the Forrest Gump) "RUN FORREST RUN!!!"  Makes total sense to me, the best way to avoid danger is to get the hell out of where it is occurring. As stated above, this may not be a good tactic if you have people with physical disabilities in your group. Also, make sure before you sprint out into the open to get away that the active shooter is distracted or otherwise occupied. Charles Whitman, the former Marine who killed 13 people from the clock tower at the University of Texas in Austin only killed 3 people at close range in the tower. The other 10 were shot at a distance or while fleeing the area. From his vantage point and learned skills as a marksman they probably made very tempting targets for him. Hopefully your shooter isn't looking for a challenge. Also make sure he is truly alone and not one of a group of shooters (a la Mumbai, India) that is just flushing you into another persons kill zone.


Hide (with pride) (AKA The Submariner) No offense toward my Navy Vet readers out there in the silent service, hopefully you get the joke…I got it from one of your own boomer pilots…Keeping in mind what I said about having physical limitations or being with someone with physical limitations this may be the best (or only) option for some people or groups.  Finding someplace to gain sanctuary behind a locked or barricaded door your are betting your survival on a rapid and prepared response by law enforcement against the shooter(s). Keep in mind, in an extreme scenario…such as Mumbai…it may take friendly guns hours…or days…to reach you.  This is assuming that your would be rescuers know what they are doing..unlike some of the poorly trained or armed Indian police that were slow in responding to the terrorists and very under gunned in many instances against killers armed with AK’s and hand grenades.  Try and stay quiet and avoid being detected.  If you are in a room (hopefully locked)  don’t forget the difference between cover and concealment.  Drywalls commonly found in modern structures may offer concealment, the inability to be seen through…but they lack cover, the ability to provide protection from direct fire.  Try and get as low on the floor as possible and behind any additional cover you may have available.  Try to use additional materials to barricade the entrance to your hide and don’t open for anyone on the other side even if they claim to be the police, hopefully you will have a cell phone that you can use to contact the police to verify that there is somebody there to rescue you before you open that door.   If you are in a room with a window on the ground floor and but cannot escape don’t rule out the possibility that your attacker may go outside the building and be able to fire inside as well, try and stay out of sight of window and barricade it as well.


Fight Back (The John McClain) Yipee Kiyay Mother……. For some people, they relish the thought of this…for me, this is my last (or at least least most unwanted) choice in the bunch.  Yes I do carry to protect myself and my family. Yes, I do consider myself proficient enough to do this in most situations that commonly face a crime victim.  No, I do not relish the thought of putting myself in danger where my family may lose a husband and a father, nor do I wish to take another’s life as well.  But when faced with that life and death situation where it me or them, I am putting myself between my family and danger and skinning leather…I have stated on many an online forum or blog that I carry to protect myself and my family, I do not necessarily feel obligated to be a be a “hero” in any sense.  If you do, on the other hand, you will have to keep a few things in mind.  diehard

  • Real life is not like the range…behind your target(s) may be other people…the fourth rule of handling firearms still applies.
  • Only fools rush in…there is a time for an immediate and rapid response to a threat..we called it a near ambush in the military…when the bad guy had the drop on you and your ass is hanging by a thread anyway you just face (after giving your butt a quick kiss goodbye) and charge the enemy.  Otherwise, acting like this can get you killed.  Plan your attack as best you can with the time you may have. Fight dirty, get behind the bad guy to take him out instead of going head on…whatever it takes.
  • Put first things first…if you have a family take care of them, make sure YOU’RE OK before you go get your fight on. 
  • Don’t show up to a gun fight with 7 people armed only with a six-shooter……make sure you are up to the task before you go and get killed in a hopeless struggle.
  • If you are lucky enough to take the shooter out do not stand there gloating over him, ensure he is no longer a threat, separate him from any weapons and then DISARM YOURSELF!! After hearing gunshots more likely than not the police or other responders are going to initiate a hasty breach thinking hostages are being killed…you don’t want to be standing there with a gun in your hand when they come into the room scanning for targets.   Get on the floor with your hands visible and not in any type of threatening pose…identify yourself “FRIENDLY! FRIENDLY!” to them and wait for orders to be evacuated.  You can sort out the details later.  You may even be tackled and secured if any surveillance they may have had saw you with a weapon and identified you as a possible threat.  Again, you can sort out the details later.  As for your weapon, you are going to lose it for a while anyway so forget about it.
  • If possible attend to any wounded if time permits after neutralizing the threat…including the shooter if required…I, personally, would triage him as my last priority myself…


The face of terror…one of the Mumbai killers….these ass clowns couldn’t even execute people on their own, they needed a POS handler on the other end of a cell phone to tell them what to do…no wonder they “martyred” them…no place in a growing organization for men without vision….damn cockroaches…


Keep in mind I am no longer in the military, am not a law enforcement officer or a security expert.  These are my thoughts on the subject and as such I offer no official guidance on the subject.  These are just my opinions on the subject as I see fit to express them.  If you agree with them and wish to adopt them based on your own personal evaluation, fine.  If not fine as well.  You can go pay to take anti-terrorism and crisis management and interdiction courses for this subject, or take what I offer for free.  Either way I accept no personal liability for what may happen for using this information in your own situation.   Only YOU can make those types of decisions at the moment that they are required based upon your own situational evaluation and training.

Hickock45 reviews the Ruger LC9

This guy is one of my favorite shooters on YouTube!

I recently shared my thoughts on the LC9 and frankly wasn't that excited. Not that any one person could or should be able to change my mind, but Mr. Hickock45's opinion carries a lot fo weight in my book. This guy can shoot stuff with a pistol that some folks could miss with a rifle. Anyway, maybe I need to look at the LC9 again...

OK, I reviewed the Ruger SR9, liked it a lot. They came out with a compact version that I think is pretty cool also but in the same category of a G26, and I have decided I am sticking with Glocks in full frame size pistols.

I have a Ruger LCP and love it. Its my "go anywhere" gun due to its small size and weight. Downside is its only fires the .380 ACP. Yeah, .380 is an actual defensive cartridge, but not in the same class with its big brother the 9mm, which my other pistols use. Plus, .380 ammo is more expensive and less available than 9mm ammo.

Well, following the trend of other manufacturers to crank out slim singe stack 9mm pistols for CCW use (kel-Tec FP9, Taurus 709 slim) Ruger came out with the LC9...a "Goldilocks" size (as Hickock45 put it) between the SR9C and the LCP. As the name implies, it looks to be a lot more similar in form and function to the LCP than the SR9.

Dimension wise it seems to be about 15% - 20% in all areas over the LCP..length, heigth, width and weight. I guess my decision to "upgrade" to a 9mm pocket pistol..the LC9 in particular..will depend on how much bigger I perceive it to be to carry (the LCP at 10 ounces is a breeze to carry in short pockets in the summer, while the 17 ounce LC9 may be more cumbersome) if I can get my hands on one and also if I can get rid of my LCP for a good price. And I still have that G26 on the way as well....

In the meantime I am going to enjoy Hickcok45 shooting the one he got sent for T&E (testing and evaluation) from Ruger. Wonder if I am big enough to warrant getting a T&E pistol sent to me...hmmmm......

Iwo Jima....66 years later

66 years ago today a foreign flag flew over Japanese territory for the first time in history...

36 days...

...over 6,800 Americans killed and over 19,000 wounded....

...18,000 Japanese killed....only 216 captured...

...all over an volcanic piece of dirt only 8 square miles in area...

...27 Medal of Honor winners...

...and one iconic photograph..

For as much crap I like to give Marines they have given our country some of its proudest moments, this among them...

Veterans of Iwo Jima....I thank you

Fallen of Iwo Jima....I have not forgotten you

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Does your shooting enjoy the support of your spouse? (new poll)

Hey, came across this video while just scanning YouTube called “why I DON’T carry a Glock”.  I started to watch it and expected to hear somebody talk about how Glocks were crap or unsafe or whatever and was ready to unleash hell on them (in the form of a strongly worded comment)…but then it happened…the guy went funny with it…with his wife!!  Hilarious!!

It got me thinking.  I am lucky enough to have a wife that, while not liking guns herself, tolerates my ownership and interest in them.  She allows me to spend time away from my family for the range and the occasional overnight trip to some event.  She even is fairly tolerant of the fact that I spend some money on this as well.  I got a lot of respect for her and her tolerance.  Now I know a lot of shooters have spouses that go from one extreme to another, which is yours? 

Since I haven’t had one in a while I decided to make a poll for the blog, please contribute one vote only.  And yes..girlfriend/boyfriends or any other “significant others” count as well…

Poll up until April 1st….

reba tremors..

you know what they say…the couple that shoots together….um…well…shoots together I guess…