This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Geezer Alert!

  • Confused Yet Again

    The Olympics is kicking off again.

    I haven’t added everything up, but at a glance there are more security forces in place than athletes – again.

    Since 1972 I, personally, pay more attention to the number of security personnel involved than any part of the events.

    So should the world be proud of the fact that the events go on, or sad that the threat STILL exists?

    Is anyone still ignorant of where the threat originates? Two official wars where our guys are fighting – and getting wounded or dying? And still The Olympics require huge levels of security.

    I doubt I have THE answer… so please weigh in?

    Oh yeah… There are crazies with guns. I doubt the snipers and anti-aircraft positions are there to deal with that?

    Happily it ain’t just me: Why the IOC will never memorialize the ’72 Munich massacre

    Thanks “you know who” Mucked up the link, but I think it’s fixed?

  • Tactical or Practical?

    Jonn asked that we post!

    In the wake of the Aurora shootings I’ve been re-appraising my own skill set. Toss in TSO’s trip down HIS memory lane and I realized there was room for some geezer ruminations here. And a question or three.

    First let me offer some background if I might. Been shooting since I was a very young teen, and used to do some hunting. First formal training was in The Boy Scouts (I think) and involved an M1 Garand chambered for .22 LR.

    Later on in the Navy I received formal training on what one would expect in the mid to late ’60s – .45, M1, M14, M16, MA Deuce, and an air cooled 30 cal MG (forget the name). Training was cursory… field strip, clean, and target shooting to “qualify”. Fired or crewed once or twice in real life situations ie small craft warnings, etc. And, for instance, standing watch in Da Nang harbor, or the like, with a loaded M1 and and/or a loaded .45. Some Navy types will be going Huh? Always wound up in the Weapons Division. Long story, but for another time. Got pictures!

    To be accurate I also was gun captain on a 5 inch mount, AND carried a chromed 03 with a chromed bayonet (GLakes Drill Team).

    –

    Forward in time to now. I have firearms, and a range on site. I can’t say I practice religiously (whatever that means), but I can plink with the best, if not as loud. Jonn likes hand cannons.

    Now for the questions… assuming you are NOT currently serving?

    How often do YOU practice? Do you wear ear/eye protection always? Have you compared your competency with or without such? I suspect it might matter? Indeed, that first flinch might be important.

    Lastly… I’m considering a visit to PFT. Might be a sort of pipe dream, but is it practical for a geezer who plinks regular, AND doesn’t get out much?

     

  • Pot, kettle..

    We have a simple way to avoid gun violence according to an expert:
    Mexico urges U.S. to review gun laws after Colorado shooting

    “Because of the Aurora, Colorado tragedy, the American Congress must review its mistaken legislation on guns. It’s doing damage to us all,” Calderon said.

    Yep, every gun death in Mexico is our responsibility?

    DOH!

    The presidency of Calderon, who leaves office at the end of November, has been overshadowed by his efforts to crack down on the drug gangs. Fighting among the cartels and their clashes with the state have killed more than 55,000 people since 2007.

  • If Only…

    Personal preface: I don’t watch TV news or the talking heads so I don’t share Jonn’s frustrations about the coverage of the Aurora shooting. I assumed it would be crap and ignored it. And the anti-gun rhetoric was easily foreseeable and as easily dismissed.

    Nope! Events like Flight 93 and “Let’s Roll!” kept intruding. Or Mr. Williams decision to take action seems extraordinarily fitting.

    –

    So I’m thinking that guns were peripheral (NOT trivial!) elements in that theater. I’ll posit that what was missing was a Sheepdog?

    Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, “Thank God I wasn’t on one of those planes.” The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, “Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.  Lt. Colonel Grossman

    If only there had been just one person with that mind set?

    YMMV

    Update: See Russ’s post above. I can’t/won’t disagree with his emphasis, but…

  • The Gun

    A pal of mine posted this on FB and it rang the Liberty Bell in my head.

    “The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.”
    ? Jeff Cooper, Art of the Rifle

    I’d replace Rifle with Gun in every case, but I sure ain’t Jeff Cooper.

    Hat tip to Mr.  Williams.

  • Lt Dan Band on TV This Sunday

    Gary Sinise hopes new documentary inspires others to give back to U.S. wounded warriors

    When Gary Sinise took on the role of wounded U.S. serviceman Lt. Dan Taylor in “Forest Gump” in 1994, little did he know it would have such a profound impact on the rest of his life, both personally and professionally.

    Today, Sinise spends much of his spare time entertaining and raising money for U.S. troops, veterans and their families with his group The Lt. Dan Band. His experiences have been captured in the documentary “Lt. Dan Band: For The Common Good,” which debuts on the Documentary Channel this Sunday.

    (Emphasis added)

    This was done last year (as Jonn noted here), but not generally distributed where it was easy to see. Check out this trailer!

  • The End of an Era

    All things must pass.

    Many years ago somewhere in the Gulf of Tonkin,  I believe, we were  in line for a “bullets and beans” UNREP (Underway Replenishment for you Army types). It was standard practice for a ship ‘floor it” when the last line was dropped and pull away quickly so the next ship could get alongside and begin their UNREP. I was on deck with the working party getting ready and someone yelled “Damn look at that!”  I hadn’t been paying much attention in that there were more immediate matters at hand. We all pretty much stopped and gawked at the ship pulling away…  It looked like a huge haze grey speedboat with ROOSTER TAIL no less!

    That was my first look at the USS Long Beach CGN-9.

    So it was with a bit of melancholy that I noted: World’s first nuclear cruiser up for auction as scrap

    The world’s first nuclear-powered surface warship, the USS Long Beach, was put up for auction as scrap metal on Tuesday to be dismantled and recycled, after spending the past 17 years mothballed in a naval shipyard in Washington state.

    The 720-foot (219-metre) vessel, the first American cruiser since the end of World War Two to be built new from the keel up, boasted the world’s highest bridge and was the last such U.S. vessel with teakwood decks, according to Navy history.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Dog Tags…

    I don’t make a habit of posting here unless I can  find something humorous to lighten the place up…. this may get deleted?

    A pal of mine on FB offered this pix with a question.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    How many know what the notch is for?

    Can’t stand it… I was certain I knew, but there is an alternative explanation I can not ignore. For 40 years I believed this:

    The “notch” was  a “tooth notch” for placing the dog tag between the teeth of a deceased soldier.

    The “notch” was  an aid to “start” the dog tag between the teeth when you “kicked” the tag into place on a deceased soldier.