New follower and review of a past training experience

    I would like to welcome a new follower, Longtime Wife has decided to follow me and I thank you for clicking the follow button, welcome aboard!!! I have added her blog in the hyperlink contained in her name, go over and say hi.

    Since I have been real busy over the past few months, I almost forgot that JUGM got me a very cool fathers day gift. She found a tactical training course just north of Charlotte called Wolf-Fire Firearms Instruction and thought it would be cool for me to go have some fun. I took the drive up there on a Friday night for the weekend.

     Rain was in the forecast so we all set-up camp under the tin-roofed barn. Of course I had my hammock set-up and I got a great night of sleep. 

     During the night, there was some very in-depth discussions on our current state of affairs ranging from the economy to self-defense and where we think things are going and who and what we are all about.  I think the last time I checked my citizen eco-drive, it was after 0200 and the snoring commenced, not just mine.

      Daylight arrived and it got hot very quick. After breakfast, training began with a safety brief. The instructor, David is real big on safety, and I commend him for that. It doesn't matter who you are and your level of proficiency, you can never have enough safety. 

     First session of the day was designed for tactical pistol. This was not standing in front of a target and shooting, this was elevating your heart rate and moving behind cover, running all-out and engaging targets, and point shooting. I was very pleased with how I and the others did, I heard for many years in the Navy, train like you fight and fight like you train. If you encounter a real-life situation, is you heart rate going to be 60-70 beats a second? Oh hell no!!! You will be above 120 beats a second so why not learn to shoot with an elevated heart rate and adrenaline in your veins? Make sense to me.

     Second session of the day was tactical rifle skills. You think I did running in the first session, think again. My team mate in the drills, John from a neighboring county here in SC, and who has attended several courses here suggested we do "Burpies". Now, I had no idea of what a burpy was, but later learned that John is really big into cross-fit and after the explanation, it was similar to 8-count body builders I did in the Navy. Now try doing those damn things after already running, with a tactical vest on, then running 50 yards before firing your first round. Thank god I didn't have my plates in. The instructor had one of his friends come out and do some camera work and I am happy to say, I have pictures and I can still run very fast. That session lasted I think maybe 3 hours, could have been more or less since I was dehydrated, tired, and lost all conception of time. Here are some of the pics.

Notice the angle of shooting to reduce exposure when shooting

John and I discussing one run.

    After the day was done, would I recommend this course or a course similar to this, HELL YES!!!

I learned a lot during this course. First, evaluate what you carry equipment is. If SHTF happens during the summer, there will be many people out there that will find out the hard way, that's kind-of why I wanted to do this in an extreme environment, to test myself. You will also learn what equipment set-up is good for you. I wish I had brought an AR or my AR pistol because shooting 500 rounds through an AK beat the crap out of my collar bone, and had a few magazine issues with mine. After closer review, it was the 2 TAPCO magazines I was carrying. 

    Second, accept criticism from the instructor. David on several occasions told me to try a different way to handle the weapon to improve accuracy and sight alignment for speed shooting and by-god it worked. The pistol session was not as bad as the AK took on my collar bone, but it was a good pain. 

    Finally, if you train during the hot and humid summer months, take a lot of water and gatorade with you, holy cow it was hot. I intend to continue with training and will return when it cools off some.

    Senior

   

Well I have some time, thanks to heavy rain all day, I have time to collect thoughts and reflect......

    Well I have had some time today to relax a bit. I have the business, personal, and taxes for my dad's estate filed, rain today so no work and umpiring duties, and was able to sleep in an extra hour so it is nice to have mother nature step in from time-to-time to help a sailor out. Well today JUGM and I went a did some shopping while the boys were in school, went to my favorite sporting goods store and stocked up on some more 7.62X39mm ammunition. Hell, this stuff is almost cheaper to practice with than .22, damn, I never thought I would be saying that in 2014.



     The current state of the old eastern block countries is going to hell, and our president is waving his "nicotine stained" finger at ole Vlad, don't be surprised if trade sanctions or an embargo go into place forcing the price of any caliber that originates from this region to skyrocket. If you don't have the ammunition yet, better get hot and buy some.

     As I continue here, let's see what has been going on with Senior these past weeks. Well work has been getting worse every day. As we come out of the winter, mother nature is waking everything up from hibernation, so I am running like a, well use your imagination. Baseball, which is a lifelong passion of mine is in full swing and my kids and family are my top priority. Interviews have happened and with contracts I hold at the present time, it has hampered me from starting at two positions out of state, which I was really interested in, but I understand fully because I have created and owned a business for over 5 years now and have a business degree, so I know how things work. I am exploring other options in the next few months and will see how they work. What are my other options, well I could go to the VA, get 100% disability and get strung out on pills and alcohol all day while sitting in front of a computer doing "god knows whatever" Not my style, I spend time with my family and haven't pissed them off!

     I have been raised in a culture, first from my mom and dad, then by the Navy to excel at everything I do, and I have, ask JUGM, I don't know what failure is. I remember times as a child that my mom would face adversity while working 3 jobs just to sit there, take a deep breath and say "right" and get up and act like nothing ever happened. My dad was a great man, pretty much quiet, busted his ass from the farm as a child, serving the entire Korean War conflict, running a business, retiring debt-free, and keeping to himself, but don't cross him or piss him off. I almost attribute him to a rattlesnake, his mother was that way as a daughter of Cherokee father, so blood runs deep. Maybe this can contribute to my love of nature and the wild. See, there are many times at my dad's place I don't watch much television, I go outside and listen to the night.



    I relax hearing all the noises of the night, enjoy watching the dark. and not having modern distractions around, except when Stephen texts me to listen to a SW station that has some good content.

    Today, I got notification that some other blogger was referring to me as a "Teabagger" in one of his posts, so I say "Thank You". Really, I thank you for aligning me with the founding fathers that gave this country a "blue-print" for success until the liberal bastards started destroying our way of life. So I will leave it at this, RANDALL, do I need to publish your address, picture of your crappy camper and mobile home, and your phone number to get my point across to you? How about flowers for your sweet wife Ellen who has had to put up living with you? Oops, sorry, Freedom of Speech here, tell you what, come put some yellow tape up around my house and designate it a "Free Speech Area". Hell, I would bring you a cold beer to chase your pills down with, if you had the.. well I wont go there, I know you had a accident and it didn't involve a zipper, "FRANKS AND BEANS!!!!" Maybe you should listen to Lotta down south here in Florida, she actually made sense, thanks Lotta for suggesting that to him, but he wont listen to you, like he has to this point.

Till next time, don't let your meat loaf. Oops did I say that?

Senior Chief  "Esq"


    
   

     

    
    

   

Where has 2 weeks gone?

    I was relaxing yesterday and thought, hell I haven't done a blog post in almost two weeks. Well, where should I start, most of you know I was in SC with the my better half, JUGM, and of course the boys were with us as well. We tried to make it a spring break trip as the kids were out of school but her dad was in the hospital and we got a 2 day late start. Once there, didn't do a whole lot, just some chores and maintenance around the place and plowed up the garden and threw some rows for JUGM to plant some stuff. Me, I want a full garden but she only wants to put low maintenance items in the ground, so we compromised a bit, only put rows in half the garden. Hey, not bad for my first time on a 1948 Farmall Cub.....

  There are a few rows of sunflowers and a few rows of yellow onions.

   Saturday rolls around, and we have had rain since Friday afternoon and as the rain clears out, we take a trip to Harbor Freight. If you have been in one of these stores, yes it is full of Chinese junk, but how many times do you use a torque wrench? Would you want to pay $21.00 for one there, or spend up to or over $100 at Sears? I'm not a full-time mechanic, so figure which one I went with. Also, you can find items that will help you out in a survival situation in there, yes the quality is not top of the line, but budget minded preppers can start here. On the way home, we stopped by our local Gander Mountain and yes, we gandered through the store and left. Prices are just too damn high!

   Today was an easy day, went to china-mart to get a few things for dinner, on the request of the kids and NW and I stroll to the sporting goods section and buy a few boxes of TUL Ammo in 7.62x39mm. At $5.47 a box, can get it cheaper from online retailers when you add shipping in. With all that is going on in the Ukraine, bet 7.62x39mm may increase in price or be part of a trade sanction.

    Once home I think, what would be more relaxing than doing some reloading. Well I had some 300 Blackout primed up so I hit the single stage and got to work. Here are two of the components. Federal small rifle primers were the other, besides the brass.

    My load call for 16.5 to 17.7 of IMR 4227, my target load was 17.1. As you see I am off by a bit but no worries.

     The final mess of Blackout rounds. it was a nice day, notice me wearing my Crocks and shorts?

 

 

     This week will be a busy week, have some work to catch up on from the spring break trip and have to get things prepped before the spring heat arrives. Also, I will be heading north for an interview with one of the top two logistic companies in the world with a chance to be placed in their management development program. Wish me luck. Have a great week everyone.

 

Senior