Same ole weekend routine till the end of the month.

    As we go into October, the temps are cooling off which I am enjoying. After living in Florida for 28 years, serving the majority of my military career there, getting married and having kids, running a commercial landscaping business for 5 years I have had enough of the heat so I am glad it is cooling off. The next thing I have to deal with is the leaves falling off all my trees. Would be awesome if we have a white Christmas this year but I know I am looking too far ahead.

    The kids football is in full swing now, the regular season has started. Both the kids teams are 2-0 with NW playing on the defensive line as a nose guard and ND as a guard. They are both in different age groups but next year they will be on the same team. I keep asking the kids all the time if they like playing so it looks like this will be their fall activity. It sure as hell wont be Soccer. Their seasons will end at the end of the month, barring playoffs.

    I have been watching some of the show on NAT-GEO, "Live Free or Die" I find it ok, but I find it ironic that this couple in the mountains of NC have aspiring dreams of being self sufficient on 1 acre of land and now are having to ask other like minded people for use of their property. I do like the guy who lives in the Okefenokee and how he lives his life out there. Neighbor of mine pick up a new addition to his property which has got me thinking into purchasing a couple. JUGM has a friend in Florida she keeps in touch with who raised two of them and had them butchered and filled there freezers up. I have always bought them in the past but I have the space to do it here now so more to follow.

    Well we are less than 40 days away from choosing our next President which bothers me. I am not too keen on the choices but I will vote for the lesser of two evils and not sit at home an pout like many in this country will. I sit back and think, how much worse will this country get if Hillary Clinton is our next president? Honestly, I think it will get drastically worse. You know she will go after the Second Amendment and that is no secret with her "Common Sense" gun control. So if you are a class III holder or have purchased items that require a "Tax Stamp", well you are in the cross-hairs first, trust me you are. Many years ago I had thought about obtaining Class III items and even created a gun trust in Florida but why? Why do I want to put myself on the Radar? I have shot automatic weapons in the military and they can get away from you if you don't know what you are doing? Suppressed weapons are good, but where will you ever be able to find 5.56 ammo that makes you completely silent? You sure as hell wont find it at Sportsman Guide, Cheaper than Dirt, or other retail outlets. You can find some .300 blackout ammo in the 220 grain variety and greatly reduced your noise signature, but good luck on the 7.63x39, 7.62x51, and of course the 5.56x39 I mentioned earlier. I have thrown thoughts around of playing with 5.56 ammo on the reloading presses to see what I can come up with. I may dolly around with it in the winter. I do have a range here on the property to do it.

     In my last post, it was brought up why Black Lives Matter is not classified as a hate group. That is a DAMN good question. I suppose the Southern Poverty Law Center thinks it is perfectly OK for a group of individuals that focus on race to go out to destroy property, create mayhem, and attack other races of people.  I got one better for you SPLC: CLOWN LIVES MATTER!!!!!

     Senior

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