Did I ‘really’ say that???

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Here are some of the comments made by NBC sports commentators during this Summer Olympics that they would like to take back:

1. Weightlifting commentator: “This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria . I saw her snatch this morning during her warm up and it was amazing.”

2. Dressage commentator: “This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother.”

3. Paul Hamm, Gymnast: “I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.”

4. Boxing Analyst: “Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious.”

5. Softball announcer: “If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again.”
6. Basketball analyst: “He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn’t like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces.”

7. At the rowing medal ceremony: “Ah, isn’t that nice, the wife of the IOC president is hugging the cox of the British crew.”

8. Soccer commentator: “Julian Dicks is everywhere. It’s like they’ve got eleven Dicks on the field.”

9. Tennis commentator: “One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them…
Oh my God, what have I just said?”

Nothing like live TV and people trying to ‘fill’ the dead air… 🙂

A comment on the Olympics…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
We were chatting today at lunch about the Olympics, and how ‘well’ the Americans were doing overall (not counting the Chinese divers and gymnasts, and Usain Bolt).  One of the younger guys piped up about how ‘great’ the basketball team was and that “Kobe”  had apparently made a statement about how they were the best team ever…

Lemme see… 1992… First year the US pros were allowed to play…

Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippin, Clyde Drexler, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Charles Barkley and ONE college kid, Christian Laettner… Everybody except Laettner is in the hall of fame!

Chuck Daly, Mike Krzyzewski, Lenny Wilkens, P.J. Carlesimo… Everybody except Carlesimo is hall of fame!

They didn’t call them the Dream Team for nothing…  I firmly believe that is the ‘best’ sports team ever assembled!  Bar none!

I remember we were in Rota, and found out there were some tickets available for Aug 2 which was either Saturday or Sunday. We hopped a flight up to Getafe, got a ride to the train station, piled on a train to Barcelona, got there about three hours later, got to see the Dream Team play Spain (and I remember the Spaniards cheering for the Dream Team, which was TRULY strange)… I think they won by 40+ points…

Back to the train and retraced our steps to Madrid, and then a bus back to Rota.  I don’t think I was real effective the next day at work… But I’ll never forget that experience!

And NO “Kobe” and the rest wouldn’t be able to beat them, they might, just might get within 20 points…

Enough to make you wonder #2..

Posted on by March 6, 2013

First Aurora, Colorado during the UN Gun vote,  where witnesses claim there were more than one shooter (among other irregularities) then the Wisconson shooting, suddenly another white guy massacre, in a state where the Dems spent tons of cash only to lose the runoff for governor to a Republican who reinstated their CCW laws.   Hmmm, killing alot of birds with one stone with that one. 

Now this bullshit.  Guy orders a TV in DC and gets a SIG 517 instead.   Personally, I’m beginning to think this is setup.  
You can’t order a gun from Amazon and I’m pretty sure the gun accessories places don’t sell TVs, and places that sell TVs don’t sell guns.  
There are no pawn shops on Amazon, so how did this mixup occur? Supposedly the gun was supposed to go to a gun store in PA. PA isn’t even close to DC on the keyboard…  And I don’t think anyone has even checked to see if the gun store got a TV! 
What FFL in their right mind, would write or print out a DC address and put it on a gun and ship it Fed EX to a private residence???  Not a one that “I” know…

Edit- Actually, it is beginning to look like a UPS screw up. They slapped a label over the correct one and shipped it to the wrong place.

h/t Andy
Sure mistakes happen, but its probably more likely I’d win the olympic decathlon…  please… 
Pull the other one…

Ping…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
No, not THAT ping…

This is about Ping golf clubs, and something they do without any press, any renumeration, or anything else as a way to say thank you to our wounded warriors…

This isn’t a joke or cartoon; just something interesting to know…
This is an email that came in via the Mil-Email net…
On Monday, I played the Disney, Lake Buena Vista course.  As usual the starters matched me with three other players.  After a few holes we began to get to know each other a bit.  One fellow was rather young and had his wife riding along in the golf cart with him.  I noticed that his golf bag had his name on it and after closer inspection, it also said   “wounded war veterans”.  When I had my first chance to chat with him I asked him about the bag.  His response was simply that it was a gift.  I then asked if he was wounded and he said yes.  When I asked more about his injury, his response was “I’d rather not talk about it, sir”.

 


Over a few holes I learned that he had spent the last 15 months in an army rehabilitation hospital in San Antonio Texas .  His wife moved there to be with him and he was released from the hospital in September.  He was a rather quiet fellow; however, he did say that he wanted to get good at golf.  We had a nice round and as we became a bit more familiar I asked him about the a brand new set of Ping woods and irons he was playing.  Some looked like they had never been hit.  His response was simple.  He said that this round was the first full round he had played with these clubs.


Later in the round he told me the following.  As part of the discharge process from the rehabilitation hospital, Ping comes in and provides three days of golf instruction, followed by club fitting.  Upon discharge from the hospital, Ping gives each of the discharged veterans, generally about 40 soldiers, a brand new set of custom fitted clubs along with the impressive golf bags.

The fellow I met was named Ben Woods and he looked me in the eye and said that being fitted for those clubs was one of the best things that ever happened to him and he was determined to learn to play golf well enough to deserve the gift Ping had given him.  Ben is now out of the service, medically discharged just a month ago.  He is as fine a young   man as you would ever want to meet.


Ping has the good judgment not to advertise this program.  God Bless America and the game of golf.

I’ve played a couple of rounds with folks that also had these clubs, and every one has the same goal; and a couple of them whipped up on me pretty well!  Another thing Ping does with little/no fanfare is to provide ‘rental’ clubs to military golf courses (especially overseas), and little to no cost… 

Enough to make you wonder…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
This is an editorial that was printed in the Washington Times on 7 August…

The Civil War of 2016

Imagine Tea Party extremists seizing control of a South Carolina town and the Army being sent in to crush the rebellion. This farcical vision is now part of the discussion in professional military circles.
At issue is an article in the respected Small Wars Journal titled “Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A ‘Vision’ of the Future.” It was written by retired Army Col. Kevin Benson of the Army’s University ofForeign Military and Cultural Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., andJennifer Weber, a Civil War expert at the University of Kansas. It posits an “extremist militia motivated by the goals of the ‘tea party’ movement” seizing control of Darlington, S.C., in 2016, “occupying City Hall, disbanding the city council and placing the mayor under house arrest.” The rebels set up checkpoints on Interstate 95 and Interstate 20 looking for illegal aliens. It’s a cartoonish and needlessly provocative scenario.
Full Article HERE…
h/t Joe

And HERE is an editorial by Charlie Daniels, I have to say I agree with him on ALL the points!!!

This country IS on the brink of fracturing, and if we don’t do something, we’re going to be in serious trouble.  And the ads that are being run are just absolutely outrageous, especially the cancer ad (proven to be an out and out lie), and the ad in Florida against Allen West…

If I were king for a day, I’d cut off ALL outside money and PACs and make it so that they couldn’t buy ads; and give each party $50M for everything (ads, convention, the whole ball of wax).  When it’s gone, it’s gone… And I’d make the debates 3 hours one a month until the election. And I’d put a member of SCOTUS as the moderator…

Bumper Stickers…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

As seen on Military Bases- Obviously a LOT of these are from the Marines… 🙂


“When in doubt, empty the magazine.”

“Marine Sniper – You can run, but you’ll just die tired.”

“Machine Gunners – Accuracy By Volume”

“Except For Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism and Communism, WAR has Never Solved Anything.”

” U.S. Marines – Certified Counselors to the 72 Virgins Dating Club.”

” U.S. Air Force – Travel Agents To Allah”

“Naval Corollary: Dead Men Don’t Testify”

“The Marine Corps – When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be Destroyed Overnight”

“Death Smiles At Everyone – Marines Smile Back”

“What Do I Feel When I Kill A Terrorist? A Little Recoil”

“Marines – Providing Enemies of America an Opportunity To Die For their Country Since 1775”

“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Anyone Who Threatens It”

“Happiness Is A Belt-Fed Weapon”

“It’s God’s Job to Forgive Bin Laden – It Was Our Job To Arrange The Meeting”

“Artillery Brings Dignity to What Would Otherwise Be Just A Vulgar Brawl”

“One Shot, Twelve Kills – U.S. Naval Gun Fire Support “

“My Kid Fought In Iraq So Your Kid Can Party In College”

“A Dead Enemy Is A Peaceful Enemy – Blessed Be The Peacemakers”


and finally
“Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world.  The US Marines don’t have that problem.”
– Ronald Reagan, President of the United States

Edit- On the way in this morning I saw three interesting plates…

ADOP- Phlegmmy, somebody back here has the SAME problem you do.  Attention deficit, oh pretty! 🙂

HIOF1CER- On the back of a hot rod Subaru

1SHOT1K- On a Yukon with Marine stickers…

h/t JP

Yeesh…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
I swear if I have to sit through one more meeting where I have to listen to a bunch of PHDs argue, I’m gonna shove their M up their N SIDEWAYS…

3 1/2 hours into a 2 hour meeting, with absolutely NOTHING accomplished, and thankfully the meeting finally broke up.  I really wonder if these people have lives???

In other news, this one reminds me of certain of my friends out there, and I just don’t “know” why… 🙂

I’m gonna go have a good Scotch and call it a wasted day…

Product Review…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Y’all know I don’t normally do product stuff, but in this case, I’m going to put one up!

Some of you know I’ve played with an iPad a time or two and can’t type on it worth a damn…

So I’m sitting next to a guy on the airplane and we get to talking and he breaks one of these out.

Turns out it’s a Pelican iPad case!  


WITH a keyboard even!!!

And storage space underneath for cables, headphones, and charging plug.


Even an idjit like me can use THIS! Quick and easy way to enter zero data right on the shooting stand, and no worries about damaging the iPad on the shooting table as the unit stands up in the case as either a vertical or… 


horizontal display and it’s easy to read!  You could also set it up to film your shooting to collect position data, and look at any possible things you’re doing wrong or what you are doing right!


And you can just close it up and throw it in a backpack and not worry about it getting damaged!

Highly recommended, I’ll give it 5 bullets out of 6!  The ONLY drawback is that it doesn’t have a handle, just a shoulder strap.  But it’s STILL worth it if you’re an iPad aficionado…

Choices…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
 Interesting chat a lunch over the ‘choices’ we have today as shooters…

Two of the folks were late 60’s early 70’s (“John” and “Joe”), myself, and then one ‘youngster’ (“Mike”) that was 35!

Us ‘old’ farts were talking about the ‘choices’ we had growing up, which pretty much consisted of getting to shoot what ever dad/mom, or grandpa/grandma had; which usually meant a shotgun, and some kind of .22 rifle, and either a Colt, Remington, Springfield, or S&W pistol (usually a revolver) in .32 or maybe .38 or a 1911.  

Occasionally, there might even have been an old Winchester lever gun, or a rifle in 30 GOVT 06. Every once in a while that might have also included an M-1 or carbine or some bring back from the War… And they all had wood furniture,  very few scopes, and the ‘range’ consisted of the back yard, or back 40, or out in the ‘country’…

Your ‘training’ was by whom ever owned the gun, and a lot of folks got the basics from ‘military’ style training (Most of us had multiple veterans in our families).  You didn’t get to shoot hundreds of rounds, not even .22 unless YOU bought them with your own money (if I remember right, back in the 60’s a box of .22 longs were something like .50 cents, so I could get four boxes for each yard I mowed)…

Note- I can remember killing coyotes to pay for ammo and gas ($5/pair of ears), and never shooting on a ‘range’ till I went in the military in the 70s.  

The youngster “Mike” has never shot a revolver, he grew up shooting Ruger .22 and 1911s until his dad got a Glock in 1990! His first rifle that he shot was a Colt AR-15 SP-1, and other than his military service, he’s never shot anywhere BUT on a range!!!

He was complaining about how hard it was to find ‘good’ gear for his AR at a reasonable price, and moaning about the cost of optics, and how he’d had to spend money to get his M and P upgraded with the Apex trigger, and trying to find a light for the rail.  

Finally “John” told him to shut-up, that he didn’t realize how lucky he was, and of course he didn’t understand…

John proceeded to tell him that he’s NEVER owned a plastic gun, nor a AR platform, and he bought his last gun in 1980!  And he’s perfectly happy with the ones he has, and wood is just fine, and all those fancy ge-gaws don’t mean a damn thing if you can’t hit what you aim at!!!

And “Joe” chimed in about practice, and how many rounds does he shoot, and does he practice at long range, and does he know the dope for his rifle, can he shoot with his weak hand, and can he snap shoot???

I just sat there and smiled, because these two had the poor Mike whip-sawed, and he had the proverbial deer in the headlights look! 

And then Joe proceeded to give a good 10 minute dissertation on the AR platform from Stoner to the present, ALL the latest technology and how his is tricked out thanks to Brownells!

Then John started in again on all the new technology, and Mike finally stopped him asking, “but if you bought your last gun in 1980,  why to you know so much about the new stuff?”  John’s answer, “well I may not buy it, but I DO keep up with the stuff!”

If I were a new shooter today, I’d probably get brain lock just trying to figure out ‘what’ I really wanted… You can get just about any caliber, any manufacturer (of hundreds), any configuration, any furniture, any scope/optics from $30 to $3000; and do all that in pistols, rifles AND shotguns!!!

I think we had it a lot easier! Colt, Winchester, S&W, Mauser, Browning, Remington, Mossberg and Savage were pretty much it!!!

The other problem is there is so much information out there today, some good, lots bad, and oh so many instant experts on the webs, forums, etc. that it’s just about impossible to get an unbiased review of a product.  It’s now pretty much a matter of hunt, peck, buy what you ‘hope’ is right, and add stuff until you get it the way you want it… 

Eia has a good set of posts up HERE on just the basics, and he and Keads are both instructors and I’m sure they will offer advice…

And don’t get me started on ammo… 

Or holsters…

Or training options…

But all of us recommended to Mike, regardless of what he gets, and what he carries, to go practice regularly!  THAT is the true key, not the caliber, not the weapon, not the optics or lack of, not the rounds or the holster.

It’s how well YOU can run the gun, how well YOU can hit what you’re aiming at, how well YOU can defend yourself if required.   And it’s not just about being able to do it in good light, in the a/c on the range either…

Somehow I don’t think he is going to want to go to lunch with us anymore…LOL  

Oops…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Seems like the Navy can’t count… Sigh…

The Big “E” is on her final deployment prior to decommissioning after 51 years on the Navy roles; and they started doing the final screen of documents and all the other things that go along with putting the final history together. 


AND it seems they ‘missed’ a few deployments…  Like THREE of them…  

It appears that dropping of the WESTPAC tag (10 deployments) caused them to lose the first three deployments (which were LANT/MED deployments0…

Full article HERE.

The real total is 25 deployments, or over 15 years at sea, JUST on deployment!  That doesn’t count work-ups, trials, transits, etc…

One hellva career for one hellva ship! The first nuclear carrier, she was originally designated as CVN-65 and set many records for speed, range, etc.

In other Navy news…

The Navy is currently struggling to fill at-sea billets…

They will have to ship hundreds of sailors to sea before their projected rotation dates (PRDs) in order to fill undermanned billets, while at the same time separating thousands of sailors to get down to the “required” end strength for the cuts that have been decreed!

Teh stoopid… It BURNS!!!

And there is NO plan to actually FIX any of this, at least not by this administration…