This one is from 2012, but it’s worth watching again…
And yeah, I’m one of those bitter clingers…
But I will say Christians are sure as hell under the guns of every Social Justice Bully (SJB), PC police, and everybody else with an ax to grind…
But this one kinda answers them, IMHO…
Nuff said…
DW has a post up HERE on Ambulance Driver and Lawdog’s class from the NRA AM…
He took some GOOD notes, and his comments are definitely on point…
It’s well worth the read, and I highly recommend it!
Bottom line, we ALL hope we never have to use it, but having the knowledge just might save our life or someone else…
At least the management business…
San Francisco (AFP) – The head of the nonprofit group that oversees the world’s Internet addresses expressed confidence Thursday that it would be privatized and out of US government control by year’s end.
You can read the full article HERE on Yahoo news… Sigh…
Neutral and well governed… Yeah, right!
Your car down the highway… Days like this I’m GLAD I got rid of the 6 speed…
SEVEN frikkin hours on I-95 to go 400 miles!!! My butt hurts, and it took an hour to get the seat cushion out of my ass…
Speed up/slowdown- Check, check, check, lather, rinse, repeat…
Panic stops! Check, check
Run off the road- Check
Idiot bikers- 2, both on crotch rockets…
Idiot drivers- Check, check, check, lather, rinse, repeat… Strangest one, two blue hairs in an old Caddy that wouldn’t pass a wide load! Backup at least a mile long. The truck finally pulled over and stopped. When I finally got by them, they were STILL in the left lane doing 40, with the left turn signal on… sigh
Speed traps- fivish… that I saw… Most stopped car, Dodge Challengers.
Things seen- 1 canoe, some reassembly required…
2 1/2 mattresses, 3 chairs, 1 couch, 1 baby carriage, one truck topper (a ‘bit’ worse for wear), one wheel/tire
1970s Ford F-250 highboy towing a trailer with a brand new F-150 on it.
Brand new Ford F-250 towing a trailer with a ’56 F-100 Big window completely restored.
Down by Ft. Bragg, 3 up armored Humvees filled with soldiers in full battle rattle…
Normally the entire trip is 6 1/2 hours, today 8 hours…
Only 6 hours of driving today… Hopefully…
From the Naval Safety Center…
Yes, this is real. I’ve stripped off the header…
MSGID/GENADMIN/COMNAVSAFECEN/00/MAY//
SUBJ/SUMMARY OF MISHAPS//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/1. WELCOME TO THE LATEST EDITION OF THE SUMMARY OF MISHAPS. HEAR THOSE LONESOME COYOTES CALLING? SEE THAT TUMBLEWEED BLOWING ACROSS MAIN STREET? YOU GUESSED IT - WE'RE BACK AT THE NOT-O.K. CORRAL.
A. THIS TIME, BEFORE WE GET TO THE MAIN FEATURE, WE HAVE AN INTRODUCTORY, ONE-ACT COMEDY OF ERRORS SUBMITTED BY A LONGTIME CORRESPONDENT. EVEN THOUGH IT INVOLVES CIVILIAN GUNSLINGERS (AND WANNABE GUNSLINGERS), IT IS SO COGENT THAT I HAD TO SHARE IT. SEEMS HE WAS INCORPORATING PISTOL MARKSMANSHIP WITH DATE NIGHT BY INVITING HIS WIFE TO A LOCAL GUN RANGE. THE GROUP GREW WITH THE ADDITION OF A COWORKER (AARON) AND OUR CORRESPONDENT'S BROTHER KEVIN), WHO IN TURN INVITED A COWORKER (ERICKA). THOSE THREE RENTED ONE LANE AT THE RANGE. THE MARRIED COUPLE SET UP ON THE ADJACENT RANGE. ERICKA ASKED AARON FOR HELP, ADDING, "ASSUME I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT GUNS." AARON OBLIGED. HE SET OUT THE MAGAZINE, OPENED A BOX OF AMMO, AND TOLD ERICKA THAT THE FIRST THING SHE NEEDED TO DO WAS LOAD THE MAGAZINE. AARON UNPACKED HIS OWN FIREARM. THEN HE SHOWED ERICKA HOW TO LOAD THE MAGAZINE INTO THE GUN GRIP AND RELEASE THE SLIDE. SHE TRIED TO DO SO, EXCEPT IT SLAMMED A ROUND PARTLY OUT OF THE MAGAZINE AND JAMMED THE GUN. SHE HAD LOADED THE MAGAZINE WITH THE CARTRIDGES POINTING BACKWARD, A NIFTY TRICK THAT YOU CAN SEE BY VISITING THIS WEEK'S PHOTO OF THE WEEK AT WWW.PUBLIC.NAVY.MIL/COMNAVSAFECEN/PAGES/PHOTO/INDEX.ASPX. ERICKA EXCLAIMED, "I TOLD YOU TO ASSUME I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT FIREARMS. IT'S YOUR FAULT!" AARON REPLIED, "YEAH, WELL, I THOUGHT YOU WERE JOKING." I WAS SO PLEASED TO FIND SOMEONE ADMITTING THEY DIDN'T KNOW VERY MUCH ABOUT FIREARMS, BECAUSE USUALLY I HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY KNOW A LOT AND THEN ACT LIKE THEY DON'T. SUCH AS THE FOLLOWING, THE LATEST IN A LONG LINE OF CAST MEMBERS OF THE NOT-OK CORRAL.
B. OUR FIRST PERFORATED PROTAGONIST WAS AN E-5 FIRE CONTROLMAN.ABOUT A HALF-HOUR BEFORE MIDNIGHT, HE WAS AT HOME "HANDLING" HISROOMMATE'S .45 CA. PISTOL. I ALWAYS WISH IT WOULD STOP AT "HANDLING," BUT IT NEVER DOES, IT ALWAYS CONTINUES ON TO PUSHING AND CLICKING AND SHOVING. IN THE FUTURE, WHENEVER YOU SEE THE WORD "HANDLING" IN THIS MESSAGE, READ IT AS "MISHANDLING." IN THIS CASE, THE PISTOL WAS LOADED, AND IT HAD A ROUND IN THE CHAMBER, A FACT THAT HE FIRST BECAME AWARE OF WHEN HE TRIED TO REMOVE THE MAGAZINE AND SHOT A HOLE IN HIS LEFT HAND.
C. NEXT UP (DOWN?) WAS ANOTHER E-5, THIS ONE A MACHINIST'S MATE FROM AN AMPHIB. AGAIN, IT WAS A HALF-HOUR BEFORE MIDNIGHT, ANDAGAIN THE WEAPON BELONGED TO SOMEBODY ELSE (IN THIS CASE, A FRIEND). AGAIN, THE NEBULOUS VERB WAS "HANDLING," WHICH THIS TIME MEANT "DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES TO SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE ABDOMEN." FURTHER DETAILS WERE MISSING FROM THE REPORT, EXCEPT THAT A NURSE AT THE HOSPITAL WHERE THE 911 RESPONDERS TOOK HIM SAID THE SAILOR WAS DRUNK WHEN HE ARRIVED. HE SPENT 13 DAYS IN A HOSPITAL, ACCORDING TO THE REPORT, WHICH IS A LOT , THESE DAYs.
2. OK, YOU CAN TAKE OFF YOUR BODY ARMOR, THE SHOOTING IS OVER FOR A WHILE.// BT
Back in the day, sailors had their bars…
Sometimes a whole bunch of them…
Olongapo City, back in the 1970s, over 200 bars…
Sometimes it was just one bar…
George the Crooks in the Azores…
There were always places that sailors were attracted to, for better or worse…
And this doesn’t count the bars (legal and otherwise) that were run on bases all over the world. The Brass Nut in Kef, The Fly Trap in Sig, fun times…
$.50 a drink, and you could run a tab…
I’m surprised any of us has a liver left…LOL
Of humor…
MONDAY
The mother of a 17-year-old girl was concerned that her daughter was having sex…
Worried the girl might become pregnant and adversely impact the family’s status, she consulted the family doctor.
The doctor told her that teenagers today were very willful and any attempt to stop the girl would probably result in rebellion. He then told her to arrange for her daughter to be put on birth control and until then, talk to her and give her a box of condoms.
Later that evening, as her daughter was preparing for a date, the mother told her about the situation and handed her a box of condoms..
The girl burst out laughing and reached over to hug her mother, saying,
‘Oh Mom! You don’t have to worry about that! I’m dating Susan!’
TUESDAY
A man went to church one day and afterward he stopped to shake the preacher’s hand. He said, ‘Preacher, I’ll tell you, that was a damned fine sermon.
Damned good!’
The preacher said, ‘Thank you sir, but I’d rather you didn’t use profanity.’
The man said, ‘I was so damned impressed with that sermon I put five thousand dollars in the offering plate!’
The preacher said, ‘No s**t?’
WEDNESDAY
Brenda and Steve took their six-year-old son to the doctor.
With some hesitation, they explained that although their little angel appeared to be in good health, they were concerned about his rather small penis.
After examining the child, the doctor confidently declared, ‘Just feed him pancakes. That should solve the problem.’
The next morning when the boy arrived at breakfast, there was a large stack of warm pancakes in the middle of the table.
‘Gee, Mom,’ he exclaimed, ‘for me?’
‘Just take two,’ Brenda replied. ‘The rest are for your father.’
THURSDAY
One night, an 87-year-old woman came home from Bingo to find her
92-year-old husband in bed with another woman. She became violent and ended up pushing him off the balcony of their 20th floor apartment, killing him instantly. Brought before the court on the charge of murder, she was asked if she had anything to say in her own defense.
‘Your Honor,’ she began coolly, ‘I figured that at 92, if he could screw, he could fly.’
FRIDAY
A doctor was addressing a conference in Tampa and started out- ‘The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago. Red meat is awful. Soft drinks corrode your stomach lining.. Chinese food is loaded with MSG.
High fat diets can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water. However, there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have eaten, or will eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?’
After several seconds of quiet, a 75-year-old man in the front row raised his hand, and softly said, ‘Wedding Cake.’
SATURDAY
Bob, a 70-year-old, extremely wealthy widower, shows up at the Country Club with a breathtakingly beautiful and very sexy 25-year-old blonde-haired woman who knocks everyone’s socks off with her youthful sex appeal and charm and who hangs over Bob’s arm and listens intently to his every word.
His buddies at the club are all aghast. At the very first chance, they corner him and ask, ‘Bob, how’d you get the trophy girlfriend?’ Bob replies, ‘Girlfriend? She’s my wife!’ They are knocked over, but continue to ask. ‘So, how’d you persuade her to marry you?’ ‘I lied about my age,’ Bob replies. ‘What, did you tell her you were only 50?’
Bob smiles and says, ‘No, I told her I was 90.’
SUNDAY
Groups of Americans were traveling by tour bus through Switzerland . As they stopped at a cheese farm, a young guide led them through the process of cheese making, explaining that goat’s milk was used. She showed the group a lovely hillside where many goats were grazing.
‘These,’ she explained, ‘are the older goats put out to pasture when they no longer produce.’ She then asked, ‘What do you do in America with your old goats?’
A spry old gentleman answered, ‘They send us on bus tours!’
h/t JP
It’s in final edits now, and I’m shooting for the end of the month… Here’s one more teaser chapter…
Boredom
Aaron fidgeted impatiently as he waited for Captain Ragsdale to come in. After two weeks of basically sitting around, Aaron was afraid this was going to be another ass chewing for something one of the troops did or didn’t do, depending on who saw what.
Bagram had been bad enough, with all the Air Force weenies and their petty BS rules, but he was quickly beginning to believe they weren’t so bad compared to Herat and the spit and polish ‘at the flagpole’ as it was called. There were way too many suspicious civilian characters that seemed to have free rein to go anywhere in the compound they wanted to, and all the Marines were jumpy, to put it mildly.
Then there was the whole incident with McKenzie and the civilian, which had been blown totally out of proportion anyway. Just because McKenzie had decked the guy after catching him in his room, and held him at gunpoint until the ANA dudes arrived, there shouldn’t have been anything but pats on the back. But finding out the guy was ANP who was investigating or so he claimed, some BS about women in the rooms… well, consider the mind boggled.
Over the last week and a half, they had been studying the various FOBs in the AO . They’d come up with two that were the highest probability where they would end up, based on the team makeup. One was FOB Apache, northeast of Herat up near the Turkmenistan border on the ring road about two hundred kilometers from Herat. The other was FOB Lightning, which was just south of the Turkmenistan border but only about sixty kilometers from Herat. After looking at them and talking to guys that were shuttling in and out for meetings, FOB Apache sounded like the better deal, even with the logistics issues.
They had checked and re-checked their gear, repacked their equipment into easier to manage loads, and drilled daily as much as they could. The familiarization courses with the Afghans had been good follow up for the training back in the states, and they were getting comfortable with the translator, Ali, who had been assigned to them. He was from Kabul, had gone to school in England, and had been a computer technician before everything blew up.
Finally, the captain came in and Aaron popped to attention. “At ease, gunny, take a seat.”
Aaron got almost all the way seated and his brain finally caught up with what the captain had said. “Gunny? Are you shitting me, captain?”
Ragsdale smiled. “Nope, you’re on the list, and it apparently came in before we left, but the word never got passed. Your promotion is this month. And I have one more bit of good news: we’re getting the fuck out of here! They’re heloing us out to FOB Apache tomorrow afternoon. We’re turning over with Det Charlie out there, and that’s where we’re going to spend the entire deployment. No floater duties for us.”
Aaron leaned back in the chair. “Well, I guess that’s good news, but I’m concerned about the issues Gunny Plath from Charlie raised last week when he was here. Apparently, the ANA folks up there are pretty good, but the ANP not so much. I like the fact that we’ll be separated from the main part of the FOB for security, but I don’t know how to play the ANA and ANP sides.”
The captain replied, “Well, by ear is probably going to be how we start. The Italians haven’t done much up there, just the minimum provincial reconstruction team stuff. Rumor has it a det from the Hundred and First Airborne is going to come up to assist in the next couple of months. We’ll take over the GMV s Charlie has up there, but we’re taking all new weapons up. Seems there is a significant dust issue which has caused reliability problems on the 50 cals, 240s and the 7.62 mini-guns. Did McKenzie get certified for JTAC and get his callsign yet? He’s the critical link in our ability to talk to and task the air assets. And we’re damn sure going to need that!”
“He’s back over there this morning. Something got screwed up in the paperwork, I think having to do with him being a staff sergeant rather than an officer like they’re used to seeing with Marines. Hobgood’s got all his EOD gear set up, and he’s getting as much spare demo as he can, but I’m not sure we can get it on the helo. Parker and Sands are ready to go on the intel side, they’ve been buried in the SCIF with the S-2 for the better part of a week and a half, getting into the intel stream and picking out players for both FOBs,” Aaron said.
He leaned forward. “Doc Hardy and Doc Wells have all their kit in order and they’re already to go. Comms is good to go, weaps and snipers are good. And it’ll be good to get out of here. I guess I need to ask what are you going to do with me?”
Ragsdale said, “Well, since I’m apparently going to be on a short leash at the TOC , Gunny Mayhew is going to bump up to team lead, and you’re going to fill in as team chief. I’m not cutting you loose just because you got promoted. we’ve spent the last six months working up as a team, and we’re going to make this deployment as a team. Since Gunny has been tied up with HQ since we got here, you’ve been the de facto team lead anyway. But this does mean you’ll have to give up the sniper role, put Baker as the primary and Doc Wells as the spotter for right now.”
Aaron hung his head. “Roger all, captain. If there’s nothing else?”
“Dismissed. And congratulations.”
***
48 hours later, FOB Apache
Gunnies Plath and Mayhew, along with Aaron, stood in the dirt by the rock-filled HESCO bastion looking at the four GMVs they were turning over. Mayhew said, “Damn, Dave, these things are pieces of shit. What the hell did y’all do to them?”
“Well,” Plath replied, “this isn’t exactly a friendly environment. We’ll do a fam drive tomorrow down to the village, and you’ll be able to see what some of the issues are. There is exactly one street in the village these things actually fit down, and other than Ring Road, you’re pretty much driving in the dirt, unless it rains, then you’re in mud up to your ass. At least we had decent weather and could get air cover. I feel for you guys, ‘cause the Air Force won’t play if they can’t see you. If you’re lucky, you’ll get Navy or Marine air if needed. Make sure your JTAC brings his GRG tomorrow, I’ll put him with Hester so they can get a visual turnover while we fam the area. Last thing you want to do is call air on the wrong place.”
Mayhew and Aaron nodded as Aaron continued to scribble notes in his wheel book. Mayhew asked, “Who else do we need up?”
Plath replied, “Bring one of your docs, we’ll show him where we’ve been doing the MEDCAP at the little clinic they have. Once you get out of the main village, you’re going to see lots of smaller, poorer villages and compounds. My intel folks are giving yours the up to the minute on which ones we think are friendly and which ones we think are Taliban controlled. Bring your HUMINT guy too, now that I think of it.”
Mayhew replied, “We can do that. Whatta you think, Dave? One more day and kick you guys loose?”
Plath shrugged. “Depends on the captains and HQ. I do want to keep a couple of folks and ride with you on the first couple of patrols, but yeah, bunking like we are just ain’t hacking it. And don’t bother bitching about the food either. The contractors do what they can with what they get on the lifts or convoys. My troops should have turned over the stash of MREs we’ve accumulated. Hope y’all like the choices. If you’re a pork fan, you’re shit out of luck though. Apparently, they aren’t allowed to ship them here. A case or two a week are the baksheesh to keep them from killing the contractors when they go looking for fresh stuff.”
Everybody just shook their heads, knowing this kind of stuff went on, but was always ignored by the higher ups, until something happened, and then everybody down the chain got shit on.
***
A week later, with Alpha now the sole team at Apache, they started settling into the routine of daily patrols. Aaron and Mayhew started a rotation where each of them was in the TOC one day, then patrolling the next. Aaron still got the shitty little E-7 jobs, one of which was a daily inspection of the GMVs and MRAPS due to the sand issue. If one didn’t do a daily preventative maintenance check on anything with lubricant, it was destined to freeze up at exactly the wrong time. Same went for weapons. Everyone cleaned their weapons daily, and if they’d been on patrol, they put new batteries in every second patrol.
Aaron thought belt and suspenders? Probably, but if we get hit at night, every light is going to be important. I better get another three cases of batteries for each system on the way here. Mac’s settled in at JTAC. Doc Wells has stepped up. Hell, the whole det is taking it up a level from where we were. It’s looking good! Thank God!
The first three patrols went off without a hitch, and the whole team started to feel more comfortable working with both the ANP and the ANA. The ANA guys were much more competent than the local Iraqi military Aaron had seen in Iraq on his last tour, and he was working with Ali to get a good rapport going with the young lieutenant that was leading most of the patrols. His biggest concern was their vehicles had for all practical purposes no armor, and the troops had very little in the way of protective equipment.
After he’d mentioned it to Captain Ragsdale, it had been pushed up the chain, and come back down as a hands off. No favoritism could be shown without causing problems between the ANP and ANA.
Aaron and Gunny Mayhew had talked after each patrol, and come to the conclusion that neither of them really trusted the ANP at this point.
Aaron’s second biggest worry became boredom as the days turned into weeks, and would turn into months. Boredom and complacency had killed more soldiers since time immemorial than damn near anything else except war.
Shane Lawler says it for all of us veterans…
Warning- strong language…
And then there’s THIS bulls**t!!!
Jo Ann Fabric Stores are selling these as DOORMATS!!!
If you’re unhappy about this, you may contact Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores Customer Service via phone at 1-888-739-4120, Monday through Saturday, 9 am – 7 pm Eastern Time.
The backstory and a ‘reply’ from the store is HERE on facebook!
h/t Tina for the Lawler video!
Gah, hard to believe y’all have put up with me this long!!!
Eight years ago (that’s like 56 internet years) I started this as a way to kill time on the road, and join this little corner of the Intarwebz…
I was burnt out on the gun forums, tired of dealing with the idjits, wannabes, and internet experts.
Little did I know how much it would change my life!
Reconnected with some old friends, made quite a few new ones, got to go shoot in various places with a lot of good folks, and picked up a few loyal followers that actually read my brain drippings. For the three of you, I truly appreciate it! 🙂
I never thought I’d write a book, much less actually SELL any either… LOL
A little over 2820 posts, 38000 plus comments, and over 1 million visits (actually since I dumped site meter my visits mysteriously jumped 400 visits a day to 1200 average) so I figure the actual number is something on the order of 1.5 million.
My thanks to those who’ve linked to me over the years, and I know without your links, I wouldn’t have much of anything.
I’ll do my best to continue putting something up when I can. Thank you for reading, and thanks for the many supporting comments.
And thank you to those who’ve purchased copies of The Grey Man books!