Ruger

I have no emotional investment in this. I have the requisite 10-22 with a fair piece of glass and a Bearcat I use for teaching. Bill Ruger probably saved the Single Action Market with his Black Hawk Series of Revos and his shotties and #1 Rifles are Solid Working Guns. I just never got the warm fuzzy with his Autos either Rifles or pistols. A friend called me the other day and her hubby asked about the SR 9 and LCR. First one, Not bad, no personal experience with it but it feels and looks good. He has a P89 and a shotty but wants to add to the stable. SR 9 good. LCR, somehow I can't get my head wrapped around a plastic revo. Not saying I won't but it took me 20 years to finally warm up to the Glock. YMMV. Now go shoot.

Quantico

Did a Two Week Instructors school there recently. 26 in the class, two 1st Lt's, one 2nd Lt (Anphibs), Two Warrants, a Master Gunnery SGT (E9) and two Gunnery Sgt's (E7). The rest were a mix of Sgt's and Staff Sgt's. To say it reaffirmed my faith in Marines was... an understatement. We'd be in at 0730 each day, draw weapons and start in. End of Day, I'd head for the house and they would be.. Marines on Liberty. To say I got a chuckle out of it was putting it mildly. Half these kids will be in country in a couple of months and I am sure they will uphold the honor of the Force. But for now, They were just being Marines. God Bless You guys, Fair Winds and Following Seas.

First Appearences

Running Patrol one day in the Devils Triangle. New York to the North, New Jersey to the south. The folks from down the river have a saying, "Go to the Poconos on Vacation, Come home on Probation". Yup, Pretty much. Anyway I working the north end of the county and get a call for a suspect Vehicle at an Abandoned Gas Station off the Interstate. Get there and a red Camaro is sitting in the parking lot. Swing in behind and lit the car up with the take downs. Walk up, Contact the occupant and go back to the Cruiser with the cards. I run the vehicle and the Driver when I notice the DL has a moustache in the portrait. OK, Ya hafta understand I'm just a little off plumb here as the driver is wearing white pumps, nylons, a red mini skirt, Sweater, Wrap around shades and a perfectly fetching short jacket. Ahem, Sorry I find it hard to erase the image due to the conflict with the legal pic. Anyway, get done, go back up and hand HIM the cards and told him the reason I was checking him out was due to the location being damaged during the time it was vacant. Told him he was free to go but I had one question.... His response, "Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do". Ok, whatever, be careful pullling out and get out of here. Never assume what you first encounter is what you are really dealing with. Be... Careful out there.

Judgement

When two hundred and fifty tons of Snowplow and Salt is trying to clear the four lane highway so that You, the motoring public can get to what ever destination it is you absolutely had to get to on this totally shitty morning, It would behoove you to hang back a little bit and not try and pass those (7) plows or the nice state trooper and his partner who are flying low cover for them would not be tempted to bury you in a snow drift until the spring thaw comes. I'm just saying.

Merry Christmas

Remember those Guys and Gals who go in harms way. Know they would rather be Home at this time but they do their duty. It makes the Homecoming all the better. Blessings on Them and theirs.

Russian F1

No, it's not a race. Russians are good at making Ordy or stuff that goes bang. One of the things they used ta make was the F1 Frag Grenade. These things used to come in a crate packed in sawdust. The Fuses came in a spam can packed with the grenade bodies. Interesting factoid I learned from a Guy named Larry Dring (Nother Time) was two fuses out of every can was a zero time fuse for booby traps. Now when I was in Bosnia we used to do a thing called Harvest. It involved going out into the population and knocking on doors and asking the folks if they had any blow up type stuff they wanted to turn in. Lottsa these showed up along with rifle grenades, mines, Mauser's, and the odd MG42 or Thompson. I never got any bang sticks but lottsa personal Mayhem stuff. The F1 was a fav. The local Home defense council would show up with the local version of a Deuce and a half and kick out crates of ammo, weapons, mines and these. The Yugo's were like the Russians in that they never threw away any weapons. It was a very esoteric mix of stuff. Anyway, Knocking on doors was like a wicked version of The Price is Right. You never knew what you would find. The best was a house where the guy had nine (9) At Mines stacked up out in the garage. We called the local Cops, Evacuated the block and got EOD in for that.

The F1 is a simple piece of kit in which you can spin the Fuse out and separate it quite easily. We put a metal foot locker in the back of the Humvee filled with sand. The grenade bodies would go in the foot locker. I would carry the fuses in a .50 cal ammo can and drop them off at the EOD pit on the way back in to Camp. For some reason the FOB rats got nervous when we brought fun stuff back like this. Can't imagine why, We handled more live ordinance in 7 months then I had in 12 years leading up to this. The military stuff was pretty easy to deal with, the homemade stuff was way more fun.

Movement as a tactic

An Old retired Bull told me he carries three guns as a result of his decreasing mobility. His adage was the best gunfight he was in was the one he wasn't there for. Unfortunately as age creeps up on him, his ambulation has suffered. Ergo his options have declined as well. I imagine a person in a wheelchair really has no options except to fight. If they could strap a directional mine or a couple of bouncing betty's to their chair , I'd imagine they would.

Certainly as you take away the option of retreat or flight, the consequences you face become more dire. Location, timing, weather, health and who is with you all enter into the equation. I used to strap on when I dated this one girl who definitely was not a gunny. She asked me why I always carried a weapon. I told her I didn't always but I always carried when I was with her. I got a raised eyebrow with that. I told her if I was by myself I could always run like hell. With her present the flight option was removed. She kinda got that.

Remember, You don't have to outrun the bear, You just have to outrun the slowest one there.