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

   

Thanksgiving over and back to life as usual

   We are back from our trip to God's Country where we enjoyed Thanksgiving as a family. I say family since most children do not grow up with both parents around. Thank the liberal American society for that and they great job they are doing for this country. We drove up with the storm that headed up the east coast that Tuesday and spent most of the day Wednesday dealing with the rain and around 1600, it started clearing up but got cold that night. Thursday of course was TURKEY DAY and I fried a turkey that was rubbed and injected with Cajun seasoning for two days. It was excellent. Friday we went to our favorite restaurant and had breakfast then went to the cemetery to change flowers out for a Christmas theme on my dad's, grandparent's, Step-Sister, and Step Grandmother's graves. Saturday we did some shopping and then went to a local auction with our family friend where JUGM found a antique Cast Iron Kettle and got it for $19.

    Sunday morning came around and we all dreaded the drive back from the holiday. We ended driving the back way until we got to the last exit in SC and jumped on I-95. I had my 10 meter turned on and northbound traffic was heavy, stop-and-go from the GA/SC state line all the way to Florence SC, which I think is around 150 miles. Southbound was not bad at all and going the back way only added 30 mins to our trip, which wasn't bad. We got home, unpacked and relaxed the rest of the day.

 

    Today was just like any typical day, school and work for us all. Noticed that the Pentagon, Under the current administration wants to close all commissaries in the U.S. Really, you want to help and support the Afghan's by funding their military and fuel bill, but deny our active duty troops and veterans from shopping for groceries. Yeah, the commissary receives subsidies, but how many of you have tried to support a family with a military paycheck? Research military versus civilian pay for the exact same job before making a wise comment about military life.

 

Health care.gov is still screwed, did anyone think it would be fixed? Ha Ha

 

I have collected some humorous stuff, if you are a Democritter, some of this stuff will not be fun for you but I don't care. Enjoy...

 

Senior

 

BTW, here is my new addition to my family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workday, shooting, and surgery

    This past Saturday was our working Saturday. We had a few agenda items to accomplish from our last meeting. We wanted to extend the roof some to help keep the rain from splashing on the back door and also to re-install the kitchen sink after the flood. Prior to us starting, we met up at a local store to obtain materials, once our foggy drive was done, we did some cleanup work on the roof and deck. Shooter Steve did a maintenance check on the generator, Duke walked around looking for a ladder. Rebel was on the roof, Pirate and I were clearing out wet pine straw from the deck. After a small amount of BS'ing, we got to work.

    We knocked out extending the roof with some metal roofing Duke had brought. Sorry for the picture quality.

 



 After that was taken care of, we BS'd some more and came up with our plan for the kitchen counter frame. We had all this work done by lunch time.

 

    As we ate lunch, of course, we BS'd some more before heading over to the range. Once at the range, I broke out my new friend and converted it over to .22. Well I will admit, it was loud for a .22.  I had sighted it before I went out there and it was running hot on the targets from its first shot to the last. Rebel wanted to get his hands on it, so I said by all means, but your loading the mags. Duke and Shooter Steve broke out a few items, then we turn around and Pirate Jim had tripped over a bench seat and dislocated his pinkie finger. As he gets up, he resets it before anyone can get a look at it. This is why he is the Medic, this man knows his stuff and can tolerate pain. I know he was in pain so I texted him later yesterday to see how he was and he said he had dislocated it again after he got home. Damn the bad luck. Hope he gets it checked out.

    As part of our shooting enjoyment, Duke brought out his new 3 popper target to shoot and test with what we could. He took some pics and think he is doing a blog post on it, so you all will have to wait. The entire time we were there, not one of us heard and hunters firing, so with Duke's target, myself and Shooter Steve fired a couple of 5.56 rounds to clear out gas tubes from .22 ammo. I was real surprised at the AR pistol, I had the buffer tube up to my right cheek and the recoil barely moved it. It was much louder than the .22 and Duke noticed minimal muzzle blast. I will say I am happy with obtaining this pistol.

     Friday, I received the results from my MRI. Seems I have a torn ligament in my right wrist and they are referring me out to one of the orthopedic hospitals for corrective surgery. Don't know when, but I am not looking forward to it. While we were shooting, I brought my Glock 17 Gen 4, along with my carry 23 and fired 10 rounds through them at Duke's target. I have been worried about how my wrist will react but all my pain is when I have downward motion, and with firing the shock from the pistols had not effect on my shooting. The only problem I encountered was the metal in the brace that conforms to my palm messing up my grip. If anyone has had surgery on their wrist, I would like to here your story so I know what I looking forward too. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

 

Senior