Ever since I retired in March - or rather, ever since Lowe's forced me to retire early - one of the things that I have enjoyed NOT having to do is get up to an alarm clock. I think I've done that maybe twice in the 6 months or so since I retired, and I don't miss it one bit.
I've pretty much settled into a routine, and I'm comfortable with it. I wake up on my own, most of the time when the dogs are ready to get up, which is around 6:30AM or so. The wife is gone to work by then, so I take them downstairs and let them out, and they do their thing out in the back yard while I make my coffee. I let the dogs in and then feed them, texting the wife to make sure she got to work OK while doing so. After I feed the dogs I take my coffee mug out of the coffee maker, put my flavoring in it, fire up the laptop on the dining room table, and catch up on world events while I drink my one cup of coffee for the day.
When I first retired it was almost full light when I got up, but now, 7 months later, it's still full dark when I get up. My chair at the table faces the sliding back door, and I always leave the blinds open so I can watch the sun come up. I can't do this during the summer because as soon as the sun clears the houses behind me it hits me right in the eyes, so I have to close the blinds. But as we all know, the earth's rotational axis changes with the seasons, and at this time of year the sun isn't in my eyes. So I leave the blinds open to watch the new day start.
As I sit there watching the darkness slowly fade and the light gradually take over the land, I can't help but think back to all of the times I've watched that same sun come up while in an entirely different part of the world, thanks to my travels courtesy of the US Air Force.
I remember watching the sun come up over the flightline of Kunsan Air Base, Korea in 1979. I specifically remember parking my truck on the side of the road right in front of the entrance of an old ammunition storage tunnel built by the Japanese in WWII when they occupied the base, and watching "Big Red" (as we called the sun in the Security Police) rise over the flightline, gradually revealing the hangars and the aircraft parked there as the darkness reluctantly gave way to the sunlight. I saw the new day arrive and wondered what it would bring, and wondered what my family was doing and how their day was going so many thousands of miles away.
Ten years later I watched the sun come up over a different flightline, this time at Taegu Air Base, Korea, and as I did so I thought back to the first time I'd watched the same sun come up over the Korean peninsula at Kunsan ten years earlier. I thought of all the changes my life had seen in those ten years, and I wondered what changes I'd see ten years after that. And once again, I wondered what my family was doing and hoped that they would have a good day.
Two years later in 1990 I watched "Big Red" rise over the barren desert of the south end of King Abdul Aziz Air Base in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, parked in my combat-laden Hummer in a place that could only be found with a map, a lensatic compass, and an eight digit grid coordinate. I wondered what the day would bring, whether this would be the day when the war started, and should that be the case would I survive it. I kinda always knew I would because I just felt that God had other plans for me that didn't include dying in the deserts of Saudi Arabia, but I always prayed each day with the rising of the Arabian sun that if this was the day war would come, that as few of my comrades would not live to see the sun rise again as possible. And when I watched this sun come up over this strange land, I never felt more alone and as far away from my loved ones. There was a dread, a foreboding that came with watching this sunrise, because we knew that war was coming - we just didn't know when. And when it did come it came in the night, sneaking up on us like a thief.
Five years later I watched the sun come up over the flightline at a remote air base in the Kingdom of Jordan, and I couldn't help but think back to the last time I watched the sun come up over the Middle East, and I marveled at the changes between those two times. And as always, I wondered what this day would bring.
Now each morning I sit at the dining room table with my cup of coffee, laptop in front of me, and I watch the sun come up as it brings us the new day. John Wayne said something about the new day that I think fits here, so I'll share it with you now.
"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes to us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."
I watch the sun come up, and I hope I've learned something from yesterday. Each day the sun rises and we live to see it is a gift from God, His way of telling us that we have one more day, one more chance, to do something positive and make a positive impact on the world with our actions of the day. Each day that we see the sun rise is a new beginning, a chance for us to right the wrongs of yesterday if need be and to make the new day the best day we possibly can. We should treat each day as if it's a precious gift because that's exactly what it is - a precious gift. None of us knows when our last day will be, so we should treat every day as if it's our last.
The day comes to us clean, unsullied, ready to be used as we see fit. So how will you treat this gift from God, this most precious of gifts?
That's the challenge we all face. How we handle the challenge is the measure of the kind of person we truly are.
I start my day watching the sun come up, watching the arrival of the precious gift He has given me, and I thank Him for another day on this blue ball we call home. I try to make the best of the day that I can, to justify His giving me this precious gift. And when the day is done and the sunlight fades, when darkness falls over the land, I look back on the day and ask myself if I have used the gift God gave me in the best way that I could, and I hope that He will give me another day to do it all again.
What will you do with the gift that God gives you? What will you do with your time here? Remember that an act once done, its effect goes on forever and its consequences, whether for good or for evil, will forever be charged for or against you and you alone. The moving finger writes and having written moves on; nor all your piety nor wit can lure it back to cancel half a line nor all of your tears wash away one word of it.
Each day is a gift from God. Make the best of it.
Deo Vindice
IHC
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Why Impeachment Will Fail
For anyone with an ounce of common sense (which will automatically rule out anyone who supports the impeachment of Donald Trump) this post is going to be nothing but me stating the obvious. But sometimes the obvious needs to be stated for several reasons - first, some folks may not realize some of the points I'm going to bring up, and second, there are times when I just have to get something off my chest.
This is one of those times.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with the impeachment process (which will automatically include anyone who supports the impeachment of Donald Trump), the impeachment process works just like the Grand Jury system for the rest of the nation. If it is suspected that a crime has been committed, the DA will have the police investigate and gather evidence; if the evidence is strong enough to file charges and go to court, then the DA will do just that. If not, the DA convenes a Grand Jury and presents the evidence to the members of the jury for deliberation. If the members believe the evidence supports bringing charges against an individual, then charges are filed, the suspect is arrested, and the next stop is court. The evidence is then presented in a trial in a court of law, and the jury decides the guilt or innocence of the accused based on the evidence presented. If the suspect is found guilty, a sentence is handed down and then carried out. If the suspect is found innocent, that's it. Case closed. If the members of the Grand Jury do not find the evidence supports filing charges or fails to prove that a crime has been committed, then a "no bill" vote is returned and that's that. Case closed.
This is exactly how the impeachment process works; only the terminology is different. The House acts as the Grand Jury, and they're the ones who hear evidence and make the determination whether or not to file charges against the accused. If they find the evidence fails to provide sufficient proof that a crime has been committed and should go to trial, then that's it. Case closed. If the House finds that the evidence supports filing charges, then those charges are filed and at that point the President is deemed to have been "IMPEACHED."
The case then goes to the Senate where the trial is held. If the evidence presented fails to prove that either a crime has been committed and/or that the President is the one who committed it, then the charges are dismissed and that's it. Case closed. If the Senate finds that the evidence supports the charges and that the President committed the offense, then he is removed from office and the Vice President is then sworn in as President. Once the President has been removed from office he/she is then subject to being charged in the civilian court for the same offense; you can't charge a sitting President with a crime while he/she is in office. You have to kick them out first. That's the big thing people don't realize about the impeachment process - the process is only for removing a sitting President from office, not punishing him/her for the offense. The other thing that people don't realize about the process is that the President doesn't have to be convicted in order to be considered "impeached" - if he's brought up on charges and referred to the Senate for trial, then he/she is officially "impeached."
That's how the process is supposed to work, but as the impeachment of Bill "Slick Willy" Clinton proved, the process has one major flaw: the members of both the House and the Senate will completely ignore the evidence presented and will vote along party lines. Clinton was guilty as hell, and the videotape of his deposition proved beyond ANY doubt that he had in fact committed perjury. At that time the House was controlled by the Republicans, so Clinton was impeached. But when the trial was conducted in the Senate, even though the evidence clearly proved beyond a shadow of any reasonable doubt that Clinton was guilty as hell, the Senate members voted along party lines - and since the Demoncrats controlled the Senate, "Slick Willy" got off scot-free.
And should the House be stupid enough (or biased enough) to actually impeach Trump, I'm certain that the exact same thing will happen again since the Republicans now control the Senate. But there's one major difference between now and when Clinton was impeached, and that difference is that Trump hasn't committed a crime. Of course the Demoncrats in the House will totally ignore this and impeach anyway, but when the trial hits the Senate he's gonna walk because the Republicans will vote along party lines and find him "not guilty." Of course the difference is that in this case, that will be true - Trump hasn't committed a crime no matter how much the Demoncrats think he has.
So there are two reasons that any impeachment effort will fail: first and foremost, Trump hasn't committed a crime. And in this particular case, the entire Demoncratic party members in the House are not convinced that he has, and I don't think all of them will vote to impeach. Sure there will be a few RINOs who will vote to impeach, but I'm not so sure that the Demoncrats will have enough votes to impeach. Once the investigation they've started concludes, I really don't think they'll have the evidence to get the votes they need, so it will die right there. The division in the House Demoncrats has been deep and wide over this topic, and it took Nancy Pelosi three years to finally side with the folks who want to impeach. (More on that later this week.) That's not a good indicator for the vote.
The second reason that impeachment will fail is because the Republicans control the Senate, and even though you have a few RINOs there as well who will vote to convict, you also have enough Demoncrats who will vote against it to balance it out. In any event, the vote will be "not guilty" and that will be it - until the Demoncrats dream up something else to try it again, which will take them about 24 hours to do.
I have lost all confidence in both the Congress of the United States in general and the Demoncratic Party in particular. There isn't one single member of Congress in either houses that I'd vote to re-elect; I'm all in favor of voting them ALL out and starting over again with a clean slate. Put members in both houses who have NO ties, NO obligations, NO commitments to anyone of any kind, and then let them do what needs to be done. Our political system has become a sham and a disgrace thanks to the Demoncratic party, and it's high time to change things and fix it.
And the impeachment of Donald Trump is NOT the way to start off.
Deo Vindice
IHC
This is one of those times.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with the impeachment process (which will automatically include anyone who supports the impeachment of Donald Trump), the impeachment process works just like the Grand Jury system for the rest of the nation. If it is suspected that a crime has been committed, the DA will have the police investigate and gather evidence; if the evidence is strong enough to file charges and go to court, then the DA will do just that. If not, the DA convenes a Grand Jury and presents the evidence to the members of the jury for deliberation. If the members believe the evidence supports bringing charges against an individual, then charges are filed, the suspect is arrested, and the next stop is court. The evidence is then presented in a trial in a court of law, and the jury decides the guilt or innocence of the accused based on the evidence presented. If the suspect is found guilty, a sentence is handed down and then carried out. If the suspect is found innocent, that's it. Case closed. If the members of the Grand Jury do not find the evidence supports filing charges or fails to prove that a crime has been committed, then a "no bill" vote is returned and that's that. Case closed.
This is exactly how the impeachment process works; only the terminology is different. The House acts as the Grand Jury, and they're the ones who hear evidence and make the determination whether or not to file charges against the accused. If they find the evidence fails to provide sufficient proof that a crime has been committed and should go to trial, then that's it. Case closed. If the House finds that the evidence supports filing charges, then those charges are filed and at that point the President is deemed to have been "IMPEACHED."
The case then goes to the Senate where the trial is held. If the evidence presented fails to prove that either a crime has been committed and/or that the President is the one who committed it, then the charges are dismissed and that's it. Case closed. If the Senate finds that the evidence supports the charges and that the President committed the offense, then he is removed from office and the Vice President is then sworn in as President. Once the President has been removed from office he/she is then subject to being charged in the civilian court for the same offense; you can't charge a sitting President with a crime while he/she is in office. You have to kick them out first. That's the big thing people don't realize about the impeachment process - the process is only for removing a sitting President from office, not punishing him/her for the offense. The other thing that people don't realize about the process is that the President doesn't have to be convicted in order to be considered "impeached" - if he's brought up on charges and referred to the Senate for trial, then he/she is officially "impeached."
That's how the process is supposed to work, but as the impeachment of Bill "Slick Willy" Clinton proved, the process has one major flaw: the members of both the House and the Senate will completely ignore the evidence presented and will vote along party lines. Clinton was guilty as hell, and the videotape of his deposition proved beyond ANY doubt that he had in fact committed perjury. At that time the House was controlled by the Republicans, so Clinton was impeached. But when the trial was conducted in the Senate, even though the evidence clearly proved beyond a shadow of any reasonable doubt that Clinton was guilty as hell, the Senate members voted along party lines - and since the Demoncrats controlled the Senate, "Slick Willy" got off scot-free.
And should the House be stupid enough (or biased enough) to actually impeach Trump, I'm certain that the exact same thing will happen again since the Republicans now control the Senate. But there's one major difference between now and when Clinton was impeached, and that difference is that Trump hasn't committed a crime. Of course the Demoncrats in the House will totally ignore this and impeach anyway, but when the trial hits the Senate he's gonna walk because the Republicans will vote along party lines and find him "not guilty." Of course the difference is that in this case, that will be true - Trump hasn't committed a crime no matter how much the Demoncrats think he has.
So there are two reasons that any impeachment effort will fail: first and foremost, Trump hasn't committed a crime. And in this particular case, the entire Demoncratic party members in the House are not convinced that he has, and I don't think all of them will vote to impeach. Sure there will be a few RINOs who will vote to impeach, but I'm not so sure that the Demoncrats will have enough votes to impeach. Once the investigation they've started concludes, I really don't think they'll have the evidence to get the votes they need, so it will die right there. The division in the House Demoncrats has been deep and wide over this topic, and it took Nancy Pelosi three years to finally side with the folks who want to impeach. (More on that later this week.) That's not a good indicator for the vote.
The second reason that impeachment will fail is because the Republicans control the Senate, and even though you have a few RINOs there as well who will vote to convict, you also have enough Demoncrats who will vote against it to balance it out. In any event, the vote will be "not guilty" and that will be it - until the Demoncrats dream up something else to try it again, which will take them about 24 hours to do.
I have lost all confidence in both the Congress of the United States in general and the Demoncratic Party in particular. There isn't one single member of Congress in either houses that I'd vote to re-elect; I'm all in favor of voting them ALL out and starting over again with a clean slate. Put members in both houses who have NO ties, NO obligations, NO commitments to anyone of any kind, and then let them do what needs to be done. Our political system has become a sham and a disgrace thanks to the Demoncratic party, and it's high time to change things and fix it.
And the impeachment of Donald Trump is NOT the way to start off.
Deo Vindice
IHC
Friday, September 6, 2019
The Pros and Cons of Open Carry
If you want to find a topic that will result in some very complex discussions among true 2nd Amendment supporters, the topic of "Constitutional Carry" - also referred to as "Open Carry" - is it.
First off, let me define what I mean by "true" 2nd Amendment supporters, and the definition is very simple: any statement made in support of the 2nd Amendment that includes the words "BUT" or "HOWEVER" means you are NOT a "true" supporter of the Amendment. "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" means just that, and there's ZERO room for those two words or any word like them in any statement ever made by anyone who claims to be a supporter of our right to keep and bear arms. End of story. Period. The 2nd Amendment doesn't mention background checks, limits on purchases, age limits, training of any kind, or any of that other nonsense that some "supporters" of the 2nd Amendment will mention AFTER they use the word "BUT" or "HOWEVER" in their statement about how they support the 2nd Amendment. You either support the 2nd Amendment in its entirety or you don't. 'Nuff said.
Now, on to the topic at hand.
For the record, since I am a true supporter of the 2nd Amendment, I absolutely believe in "Constitutional Carry" for the obvious reason - the Amendment says we can. Rather, it doesn't say we CAN'T. And if you don't think the Amendment says that, allow me to refer you back to my second paragraph.
But even though I believe in and support "Constitutional Carry," would I do it? As a practice, no; as an exception due to circumstances, yes. And this, friends and neighbors, leads us into the pros and cons of "Open Carry." Let's start with the pros, shall we?
PROS OF OPEN CARRY
1. The open display of a firearm is an obvious and effective deterrent. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. If a bad guy is looking over people to choose which one he's gonna assault and rob, chances are pretty damned good that he's gonna pass right on by the guy or gal who has a .45 resting in a holster on their hip or hanging under their arm in a shoulder holster. He's going to move on to a victim that can't blow his brains out - in other words, he's gonna go looking for a libtard sheeple who believes that to be unarmed is to be "safe." (And if we're lucky, he'll pick a conservative sheepdog who has his/her CCW permit, is carrying a concealed weapon, and will blow his brains out anyway.)
2. You don't have to worry about your firearm "printing" or being accidentally exposed. While I don't know of any police officer who would charge a CCW holder for displaying a weapon if this happens, it's nice to know that it's no big deal if the wind blows your shirt open and Sally Jane Soccermom sees your pistol, freaks out, and calls the cops. Carry it open on your hip and let Sally Jane freak out at that instead - and trust me, she most certainly will freak out.
3. Quick and easy access to the firearm if needed is assured. Quick and easy access to my firearm when I'm carrying concealed - which is 99% of the time - is my #1 concern when I'm dressing around the weapon. In the summer it's fairly easy since my mode of carry (which I won't reveal) allows me to have nearly instant access to my weapon, but in the winter when it's cold it's another thing entirely. Walking around with your jacket or coat wide open in 20 degree weather is a sure indicator that you're armed, and it's also a good way to catch pneumonia. I prefer jackets and coats with zippers instead of buttons because it's much faster to unzip a jacket than to unbutton it, and if you're in a situation where you need to access your weapon RIGHT NOW, you don't have the time to spare to unbutton your coat.
And now for the other side of the issue - the cons of "Open Carry."
CONS OF OPEN CARRY
1. You are Target #1. If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in a situation where a bad guy or several bad guys with guns have appeared, once they see you with a pistol on your hip you are instantly going to become Target #1 and are going to be the first person they shoot. And since they'll already have their pistols out and in their hands, chances are pretty good you're gonna die before you have the chance to clear leather. I'd rather not be Target #1 so I'll carry mine concealed, thank you. Besides, I just love a good surprise, don't you?
2. The temptation for someone to try and snatch your weapon out of the holster. There are people, believe it or not, who will think this is a good practical joke to pull on a weapons carrier and will actually try it. You may also run across a deranged or mentally unbalanced (spelled "C-R-A-Z-Y") person who wants to harm both himself and as many people as he can, and will make a grab for your weapon. In both instances anyone who tries this with me will receive two unpleasant surprises: first, on the rare occasions I do open carry (when I'm in North Carolina as South Carolina where I live doesn't have open carry yet) I always use a Stage 2 holster which prevents someone from snatching the weapon out of the holster unless they perform an additional and separate act. (IMHO anyone who carries open and doesn't use this kind of holster is an idiot.) Second, I'm going drive my elbow into your nose as hard as I can, and if you do happen to get the pistol out of the holster I'm then going to draw my backup weapon (yep, I carry one) and shoot you until the slide locks back. Then I'm going to reload and shoot you some more, just to be sure.
3. The weapon is exposed to damage. This is not a good thing, because if the weapon is damaged to the point where it won't fire, then you're doing nothing more than carrying around an expensive paperweight on your hip. While it is most certainly true that this kind of damage is rare, I also don't like the idea of the weapon being exposed to the dings and scratches it wouldn't be exposed to if it were covered even by just a t-shirt. Yeah, I know weapons are eventually going to show signs of wear and tear, but I'd rather delay that as long as I can, thank you. Additionally, most holsters these days are of the "open bottom" type which leaves the muzzle exposed. That exposes the weapon to the chance that something will get shoved up inside the muzzle, especially when you go to sit in your car, and that can be VERY bad if you have to fire the weapon. Firing any weapon with some kind of obstruction in the barrel will cause the weapon to explode in your hand, and that will ruin anyone's day.
And there you have it, the pros and cons of open carry - at least all of them that I can think of, anyway. If you can think of any more please don't hesitate to let me know.
Let me end this blog entry with a funny and true story of something that happened to me last year when I was in North Carolina visiting my family. I went up to the local gas station to fill my car up before I left the next day, and instead of putting on an overshirt to cover my pistol I said "screw it" and went out without it, my Springfield Mod 2 .45 pistol sitting snugly in a Stage 2 polymer holster on my hip. As I was filling up my car a minivan pulled up to the same pump on the other side, and Sally Jane Soccermom got out. It took her about ten seconds to see the pistol on my hip, at which point her eyes got big and she froze. The conversation went like this:
Sally Jane: Is that a gun?
Me: Yes, it is.
Sally Jane: Why are you carrying a gun?
Me: Why are you NOT carrying a gun? (Brief pause while Sally Jane tries to think of what to say next.)
Sally Jane: Why do you think you need to carry a gun?
Me: Why do you think you DON'T need to carry a gun?
At this point you could pretty much see the circuits frying behind her eyes, and she just stood there with her mouth hanging open and a stunned look on her face. I finished filling up my car's gas tank, hung up the hose, said "Have a good day!" and then got in my car and left. She was still standing there as I pulled away.
And yeah, I laughed all the way back to my parent's house.
Deo Vindice
IHC
First off, let me define what I mean by "true" 2nd Amendment supporters, and the definition is very simple: any statement made in support of the 2nd Amendment that includes the words "BUT" or "HOWEVER" means you are NOT a "true" supporter of the Amendment. "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" means just that, and there's ZERO room for those two words or any word like them in any statement ever made by anyone who claims to be a supporter of our right to keep and bear arms. End of story. Period. The 2nd Amendment doesn't mention background checks, limits on purchases, age limits, training of any kind, or any of that other nonsense that some "supporters" of the 2nd Amendment will mention AFTER they use the word "BUT" or "HOWEVER" in their statement about how they support the 2nd Amendment. You either support the 2nd Amendment in its entirety or you don't. 'Nuff said.
Now, on to the topic at hand.
For the record, since I am a true supporter of the 2nd Amendment, I absolutely believe in "Constitutional Carry" for the obvious reason - the Amendment says we can. Rather, it doesn't say we CAN'T. And if you don't think the Amendment says that, allow me to refer you back to my second paragraph.
But even though I believe in and support "Constitutional Carry," would I do it? As a practice, no; as an exception due to circumstances, yes. And this, friends and neighbors, leads us into the pros and cons of "Open Carry." Let's start with the pros, shall we?
PROS OF OPEN CARRY
1. The open display of a firearm is an obvious and effective deterrent. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. If a bad guy is looking over people to choose which one he's gonna assault and rob, chances are pretty damned good that he's gonna pass right on by the guy or gal who has a .45 resting in a holster on their hip or hanging under their arm in a shoulder holster. He's going to move on to a victim that can't blow his brains out - in other words, he's gonna go looking for a libtard sheeple who believes that to be unarmed is to be "safe." (And if we're lucky, he'll pick a conservative sheepdog who has his/her CCW permit, is carrying a concealed weapon, and will blow his brains out anyway.)
2. You don't have to worry about your firearm "printing" or being accidentally exposed. While I don't know of any police officer who would charge a CCW holder for displaying a weapon if this happens, it's nice to know that it's no big deal if the wind blows your shirt open and Sally Jane Soccermom sees your pistol, freaks out, and calls the cops. Carry it open on your hip and let Sally Jane freak out at that instead - and trust me, she most certainly will freak out.
3. Quick and easy access to the firearm if needed is assured. Quick and easy access to my firearm when I'm carrying concealed - which is 99% of the time - is my #1 concern when I'm dressing around the weapon. In the summer it's fairly easy since my mode of carry (which I won't reveal) allows me to have nearly instant access to my weapon, but in the winter when it's cold it's another thing entirely. Walking around with your jacket or coat wide open in 20 degree weather is a sure indicator that you're armed, and it's also a good way to catch pneumonia. I prefer jackets and coats with zippers instead of buttons because it's much faster to unzip a jacket than to unbutton it, and if you're in a situation where you need to access your weapon RIGHT NOW, you don't have the time to spare to unbutton your coat.
And now for the other side of the issue - the cons of "Open Carry."
CONS OF OPEN CARRY
1. You are Target #1. If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in a situation where a bad guy or several bad guys with guns have appeared, once they see you with a pistol on your hip you are instantly going to become Target #1 and are going to be the first person they shoot. And since they'll already have their pistols out and in their hands, chances are pretty good you're gonna die before you have the chance to clear leather. I'd rather not be Target #1 so I'll carry mine concealed, thank you. Besides, I just love a good surprise, don't you?
2. The temptation for someone to try and snatch your weapon out of the holster. There are people, believe it or not, who will think this is a good practical joke to pull on a weapons carrier and will actually try it. You may also run across a deranged or mentally unbalanced (spelled "C-R-A-Z-Y") person who wants to harm both himself and as many people as he can, and will make a grab for your weapon. In both instances anyone who tries this with me will receive two unpleasant surprises: first, on the rare occasions I do open carry (when I'm in North Carolina as South Carolina where I live doesn't have open carry yet) I always use a Stage 2 holster which prevents someone from snatching the weapon out of the holster unless they perform an additional and separate act. (IMHO anyone who carries open and doesn't use this kind of holster is an idiot.) Second, I'm going drive my elbow into your nose as hard as I can, and if you do happen to get the pistol out of the holster I'm then going to draw my backup weapon (yep, I carry one) and shoot you until the slide locks back. Then I'm going to reload and shoot you some more, just to be sure.
3. The weapon is exposed to damage. This is not a good thing, because if the weapon is damaged to the point where it won't fire, then you're doing nothing more than carrying around an expensive paperweight on your hip. While it is most certainly true that this kind of damage is rare, I also don't like the idea of the weapon being exposed to the dings and scratches it wouldn't be exposed to if it were covered even by just a t-shirt. Yeah, I know weapons are eventually going to show signs of wear and tear, but I'd rather delay that as long as I can, thank you. Additionally, most holsters these days are of the "open bottom" type which leaves the muzzle exposed. That exposes the weapon to the chance that something will get shoved up inside the muzzle, especially when you go to sit in your car, and that can be VERY bad if you have to fire the weapon. Firing any weapon with some kind of obstruction in the barrel will cause the weapon to explode in your hand, and that will ruin anyone's day.
And there you have it, the pros and cons of open carry - at least all of them that I can think of, anyway. If you can think of any more please don't hesitate to let me know.
Let me end this blog entry with a funny and true story of something that happened to me last year when I was in North Carolina visiting my family. I went up to the local gas station to fill my car up before I left the next day, and instead of putting on an overshirt to cover my pistol I said "screw it" and went out without it, my Springfield Mod 2 .45 pistol sitting snugly in a Stage 2 polymer holster on my hip. As I was filling up my car a minivan pulled up to the same pump on the other side, and Sally Jane Soccermom got out. It took her about ten seconds to see the pistol on my hip, at which point her eyes got big and she froze. The conversation went like this:
Sally Jane: Is that a gun?
Me: Yes, it is.
Sally Jane: Why are you carrying a gun?
Me: Why are you NOT carrying a gun? (Brief pause while Sally Jane tries to think of what to say next.)
Sally Jane: Why do you think you need to carry a gun?
Me: Why do you think you DON'T need to carry a gun?
At this point you could pretty much see the circuits frying behind her eyes, and she just stood there with her mouth hanging open and a stunned look on her face. I finished filling up my car's gas tank, hung up the hose, said "Have a good day!" and then got in my car and left. She was still standing there as I pulled away.
And yeah, I laughed all the way back to my parent's house.
Deo Vindice
IHC
Thursday, September 5, 2019
The Game Is Afoot
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a vehement - and some would say 'rabid' - supporter of the 2nd Amendment. I believe in the literal translation of the Amendment, meaning that those four little words of "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" mean that every single one of the more than 25,000 gun control laws currently on the books in our nation are unconstitutional. "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" means just one thing, and one thing only. You'll notice that the loonies on the liberal left have never paid any attention at all to those four words, but have instead focused on the word "MILITIA" and the phrase "WELL REGULATED." The reason they chose to pay attention to those is that they can apply their twisted, moronic "logic" to those words and try to convince us that they mean something other than what they truly mean. Only a true libtard would even attempt that, but they do. Every single day.
Every single argument that I hear concerning the 2nd Amendment almost always ends up with the libtard telling us that "No, we're not going to take away your guns." And every single time I hear that blatant lie I want to either puke or punch the asshole saying it right in the mouth. We of the conservative persuasion know that's nothing but a lie, and we know in our hearts that the libtards intend to do just that - take away our guns. And it infuriates us to know that the libtard saying it thinks we're stupid enough to believe it. In other words, they think we're just as stupid as the millions of mindless libtard minions that follow them blindly into the abyss by believing everything they say without demanding proof.
And now, as if you needed any more proof, the libtards have provided just that - undeniable proof of their true intentions. And the statement was made in such a way that there is no way in anyone's mind that you can "backpedal" on this or say that you "misspoke," both of which are nothing more than bullshit libtard terms to try and save themselves when they get caught screwing up or lying to your face.
Demoncratic libtard candidate Beto O'Rourke stated flat-out last week that if he's elected President, he will order a "MANDATORY BUYBACK" of all "ASSAULT WEAPONS." And there's video to prove this, so there's no way that anyone with an ounce of common sense can claim that he didn't say that, or we didn't hear him right, or that he "misspoke."
As Sherlock Holmes would say, "The game is afoot!"
Of course, we on the conservative right have known this all along. There have been several Demoncrats in political office who have said that they would repeal the 2nd Amendment and disarm the American public, with "Billary" Clinton and Dianne Feinstein being just two of them. Chuck Schumer is also of this persuasion, but to my knowledge he hasn't been stupid enough to say anything like this in public or in a forum where he could be quoted and that quote released to the rest of the world. But Beto O'Rourke has proven himself to be a very special kind of stupid.
Let's look at all of the things wrong with what this clown has said, shall we?
The obvious first: the 2nd Amendment. By no stretch of the imagination could a "mandatory buyback" be misconstrued as anything other than a direct violation of the 2nd Amendment as it absolutely does violate the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Any first-year law student or any educated American citizen will tell you that. You'll notice, by the way, that NONE of the Demoncratic candidates have jumped on this particular bandwagon, because they all remember the advice given to NObama when he was running and again after being elected. That advice was to "stay away from the 2nd Amendment" because all of his advisors knew that if you wanted one topic that would unite the conservatives into a solid, unbeatable force aligned against an opponent, the 2nd Amendment was it. And they all knew that the power of both the NRA and the people in our nation who believe in the 2nd Amendment was absolutely unbeatable, so they stay away from this topic like the plaque.
Except for Beto, of course. This asshat is either too naive or too stupid to realize that any sitting President does NOT have the power to rescind any part of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and any executive order that any President may issue which does that or which violates the Constitution will be quickly shut down by the courts.
Now for the "almost as obvious" as the first one. In order for this "mandatory buyback" to happen, first you have to WIN THE ELECTION. But even before that, you have to WIN THE DEMONCRATIC NOMINATION, and I just don't see good ol' Beto doing that. The Demoncrats will never elect someone who blatantly says something like this during his campaign for the reason I gave above - they know that the conservative base is unbeatable when united behind this cause, and they don't want to go up against us because they know they'll lose. They'd rather elect a candidate who they know won't talk about it but will act on it once he/she's in office. (The name "Schumer" comes to mind, but he's smart enough not to run.)
Next is the fact that it literally takes an act of Congress to repeal a Constitutional amendment. Actually, it takes a lot more than that. From the web site "Constitution Daily:"
"The Constitution’s Article V requires that an amendment be proposed by two-thirds of the House and Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures. It is up to the states to approve a new amendment, with three-quarters of the states voting to ratifying it."
And I just don't see this happening. To date, in the history of our country there have been approximately 11,699 Constitutional amendments submitted for approval, but only ONE has actually been passed, that being the repeal of the 18th Amendment which ended Prohibition.(1)
But the main point in all of this is that a Demoncratic candidate for President of the United States has stated publicly that he will in fact violate both the Constitution of the United States and the Oath of Office of President of the United States by disarming the American public.
And the really scary thing is that there's no public outcry over what he said, and this alarms me. There's no outcry for one of two reasons: the rest of the Demoncratic world either knows he's an idiot with no chance of getting elected and/or they're staying away from the topic because it's poison, or the Republicans don't take him seriously for the reasons just listed.
I have learned never to underestimate anything my opponent says, and I take everything he/she says very seriously - especially when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. As long as the Demoncrats think that disarming us will end "gun violence" (a term I utterly despise and am loathe to use) and keep us safe, I will take everything they say about this topic very seriously indeed.
And so should you. The Founding Fathers weren't just a bunch of farmers who got together and said, "Hey, guys, let's draft a Constitution and list the rights that we have just by being alive, and we'll put them in any old order as we think of them!" No, our Founding Fathers were very well-educated men, most of whom were educated in Europe at some of the more prestigious colleges and universities of their time. Many of them were lawyers as well. So no, they didn't just throw together the Bill of Rights in any old order; they listed the Amendments in order of importance, with the freedom to criticize your government without getting locked up being at the top of the list. But knowing that the British would come lock you up anyway, they next listed the right to keep and bear arms to defend yourselves. After all, the British proved how important this right was and how much of a threat it was when they tried to seize the armories in Williamsburg and Concord, the latter being the skirmish that led to the initiation of armed conflict and has been referred to as the "Shot heard 'round the world."
Beto O'Rourke and the entire Demoncratic party are just as hell-bent on disarming us as the British were, and for the same reason: once we're disarmed we can be controlled, and the Demoncrats will be free to do whatever the hell they wish, up to and including locking up anyone who dares voice an opinion that is contrary to what they say. Of course they're trying to disguise this as an attempt to "keep us safe," but only a true moron would believe that disarming yourself in the face of a violent threat will keep you safe.
The fight is real, and the fight is here. The fight is NOW. If you value your Constitutional rights - all of them, because once the 2nd Amendment is gone there's nothing to stop the rest from falling - and you're NOT a member of the National Rifle Association, NOW IS THE TIME TO JOIN. We as Americans face a very real and very serious threat to both our nation and our personal rights and liberties, and the only way to stop this threat is to fight it directly with the NRA leading the way. This organization is the one organization that the political left fears, because they realize just how powerful it is. And it's powerful because of it's members, so the more members it has the more powerful it becomes and the better it can defend our rights.
So what are you waiting for? Beto O'Rourke or someone worse to get elected? By that time it'll be too late.
Don't wait. Join today. Join NOW.
Deo Vindice
IHC
(1) "Constitution Daily" @ constitution.org
Every single argument that I hear concerning the 2nd Amendment almost always ends up with the libtard telling us that "No, we're not going to take away your guns." And every single time I hear that blatant lie I want to either puke or punch the asshole saying it right in the mouth. We of the conservative persuasion know that's nothing but a lie, and we know in our hearts that the libtards intend to do just that - take away our guns. And it infuriates us to know that the libtard saying it thinks we're stupid enough to believe it. In other words, they think we're just as stupid as the millions of mindless libtard minions that follow them blindly into the abyss by believing everything they say without demanding proof.
And now, as if you needed any more proof, the libtards have provided just that - undeniable proof of their true intentions. And the statement was made in such a way that there is no way in anyone's mind that you can "backpedal" on this or say that you "misspoke," both of which are nothing more than bullshit libtard terms to try and save themselves when they get caught screwing up or lying to your face.
Demoncratic libtard candidate Beto O'Rourke stated flat-out last week that if he's elected President, he will order a "MANDATORY BUYBACK" of all "ASSAULT WEAPONS." And there's video to prove this, so there's no way that anyone with an ounce of common sense can claim that he didn't say that, or we didn't hear him right, or that he "misspoke."
As Sherlock Holmes would say, "The game is afoot!"
Of course, we on the conservative right have known this all along. There have been several Demoncrats in political office who have said that they would repeal the 2nd Amendment and disarm the American public, with "Billary" Clinton and Dianne Feinstein being just two of them. Chuck Schumer is also of this persuasion, but to my knowledge he hasn't been stupid enough to say anything like this in public or in a forum where he could be quoted and that quote released to the rest of the world. But Beto O'Rourke has proven himself to be a very special kind of stupid.
Let's look at all of the things wrong with what this clown has said, shall we?
The obvious first: the 2nd Amendment. By no stretch of the imagination could a "mandatory buyback" be misconstrued as anything other than a direct violation of the 2nd Amendment as it absolutely does violate the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Any first-year law student or any educated American citizen will tell you that. You'll notice, by the way, that NONE of the Demoncratic candidates have jumped on this particular bandwagon, because they all remember the advice given to NObama when he was running and again after being elected. That advice was to "stay away from the 2nd Amendment" because all of his advisors knew that if you wanted one topic that would unite the conservatives into a solid, unbeatable force aligned against an opponent, the 2nd Amendment was it. And they all knew that the power of both the NRA and the people in our nation who believe in the 2nd Amendment was absolutely unbeatable, so they stay away from this topic like the plaque.
Except for Beto, of course. This asshat is either too naive or too stupid to realize that any sitting President does NOT have the power to rescind any part of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and any executive order that any President may issue which does that or which violates the Constitution will be quickly shut down by the courts.
Now for the "almost as obvious" as the first one. In order for this "mandatory buyback" to happen, first you have to WIN THE ELECTION. But even before that, you have to WIN THE DEMONCRATIC NOMINATION, and I just don't see good ol' Beto doing that. The Demoncrats will never elect someone who blatantly says something like this during his campaign for the reason I gave above - they know that the conservative base is unbeatable when united behind this cause, and they don't want to go up against us because they know they'll lose. They'd rather elect a candidate who they know won't talk about it but will act on it once he/she's in office. (The name "Schumer" comes to mind, but he's smart enough not to run.)
Next is the fact that it literally takes an act of Congress to repeal a Constitutional amendment. Actually, it takes a lot more than that. From the web site "Constitution Daily:"
"The Constitution’s Article V requires that an amendment be proposed by two-thirds of the House and Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures. It is up to the states to approve a new amendment, with three-quarters of the states voting to ratifying it."
And I just don't see this happening. To date, in the history of our country there have been approximately 11,699 Constitutional amendments submitted for approval, but only ONE has actually been passed, that being the repeal of the 18th Amendment which ended Prohibition.(1)
But the main point in all of this is that a Demoncratic candidate for President of the United States has stated publicly that he will in fact violate both the Constitution of the United States and the Oath of Office of President of the United States by disarming the American public.
And the really scary thing is that there's no public outcry over what he said, and this alarms me. There's no outcry for one of two reasons: the rest of the Demoncratic world either knows he's an idiot with no chance of getting elected and/or they're staying away from the topic because it's poison, or the Republicans don't take him seriously for the reasons just listed.
I have learned never to underestimate anything my opponent says, and I take everything he/she says very seriously - especially when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. As long as the Demoncrats think that disarming us will end "gun violence" (a term I utterly despise and am loathe to use) and keep us safe, I will take everything they say about this topic very seriously indeed.
And so should you. The Founding Fathers weren't just a bunch of farmers who got together and said, "Hey, guys, let's draft a Constitution and list the rights that we have just by being alive, and we'll put them in any old order as we think of them!" No, our Founding Fathers were very well-educated men, most of whom were educated in Europe at some of the more prestigious colleges and universities of their time. Many of them were lawyers as well. So no, they didn't just throw together the Bill of Rights in any old order; they listed the Amendments in order of importance, with the freedom to criticize your government without getting locked up being at the top of the list. But knowing that the British would come lock you up anyway, they next listed the right to keep and bear arms to defend yourselves. After all, the British proved how important this right was and how much of a threat it was when they tried to seize the armories in Williamsburg and Concord, the latter being the skirmish that led to the initiation of armed conflict and has been referred to as the "Shot heard 'round the world."
Beto O'Rourke and the entire Demoncratic party are just as hell-bent on disarming us as the British were, and for the same reason: once we're disarmed we can be controlled, and the Demoncrats will be free to do whatever the hell they wish, up to and including locking up anyone who dares voice an opinion that is contrary to what they say. Of course they're trying to disguise this as an attempt to "keep us safe," but only a true moron would believe that disarming yourself in the face of a violent threat will keep you safe.
The fight is real, and the fight is here. The fight is NOW. If you value your Constitutional rights - all of them, because once the 2nd Amendment is gone there's nothing to stop the rest from falling - and you're NOT a member of the National Rifle Association, NOW IS THE TIME TO JOIN. We as Americans face a very real and very serious threat to both our nation and our personal rights and liberties, and the only way to stop this threat is to fight it directly with the NRA leading the way. This organization is the one organization that the political left fears, because they realize just how powerful it is. And it's powerful because of it's members, so the more members it has the more powerful it becomes and the better it can defend our rights.
So what are you waiting for? Beto O'Rourke or someone worse to get elected? By that time it'll be too late.
Don't wait. Join today. Join NOW.
Deo Vindice
IHC
(1) "Constitution Daily" @ constitution.org
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Another Tale From Under The Hat Brim
It was the spring of 1985 and I had just dropped off my brand-new flight of rainbows at Clothing Issue after taking them to get their haircuts, and walked across the street to the BX to pick up a pack of smokes. I was walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street directly across from the barber shop entrance where another MTI from another squadron had just parked his flight of rainbows before going in to get their haircuts and heard the MTI, a little guy around 5'8" and maybe 165 pounds soaking wet, giving one of the trainees hell about something. I looked over and saw the MTI going at the trainee, a big ol' country boy who stood about 6'2" tall and every bit of 220 pounds. The MTI had broken the cardinal rule for dealing with new trainees - he was standing directly in front of the rainbow about six inches away from him. You never, repeat, NEVER, stood directly in front of a new trainee, much less closer than arm's length away. What the MTI couldn't - or didn't - see was the trainee flexing his hands into fists the size of a country ham over and over again. This trainee was about to lose it, so I figured I'd better get over there and give the MIT a heads-up.
I got about halfway across the street when it happened. The trainee looked down at the MTI, his face a massive scowl, reached out and grabbed the MTI by the front of his shirt with his left hand, held the MTI at arm's length, cocked his right fist back, and WHAM! The MTI's hat and glasses went flying, the trainee released his grip, and the MTI fell to the ground like a sack of wet noodles. I broke into a trot at this, and the trainee heard my heels clicking on the asphalt and turned to look at me. He was breathing hard because of the adrenalin rush he was going through, and when I got onto the sidewalk I stopped. "Are you okay, airman?" I asked, making damn sure I stayed well out of this gorilla's reach. "Yes, sir," he said, "he made me mad!"
"I see that. Who's the acting dorm chief?" I asked, and an airman spoke up from the back of the flight. "Take this airman into the barber shop and get him a drink of water, then sit him down somewhere until I get there. Tell the barbers I told you to."
"Yes, sir!" the dorm chief said, taking the gorilla into the barbershop. I walked over to the inert form of the MTI laying on the ground, his nose a flat, bloody mess, and knelt down on one knee next to him. "You stupid son of a bitch!" I said as I took off my campaign hat and retrieved an ammonia capsule I always kept attached to the screw of my cap device for just such an occasion. I popped the capsule under the MTI's nose and he came to, asking what had happened.
"You got what you asked for, that's what!" I said. After he composed himself he went into the barber shop and called his unit to have someone come take his flight because he had to go to Bldg 6612 to get medical treatment. As for me, I walked back to my unit and pretty much forgot about it.
Until the next day when I got called down to the Section Supervisor's office to pick up a new trainee. Three guesses who was sitting on the bench outside of the Section office in his brand-new, shiny green fatigues, a full duffle bag sitting next to him. Yep, Magilla Gorilla himself. His unit decided it would be in everyone's best interest if he was transferred to another unit for training, and my flight just happened to be in the same day of training so I was it. Seems that the flight he was in hadn't been given their Military Law Briefing before he punched out his MTI, and since he didn't know that it was illegal for him to assault his MTI he couldn't be prosecuted.
But he damned sure wasn't going into MY flight because now he thought I was his friend since I didn't chew his ass for hitting his MTI. I told the Section Supervisor the whole story, and they shipped the airman off to another squadron to be trained.
Was I relieved? You bet your ass I was, and I'm not ashamed to admit it!
Never saw the MTI again, and I've often wondered if his unit booted him out for his mistake. Guess I'll never know.
Deo Vindice
IHC
I got about halfway across the street when it happened. The trainee looked down at the MTI, his face a massive scowl, reached out and grabbed the MTI by the front of his shirt with his left hand, held the MTI at arm's length, cocked his right fist back, and WHAM! The MTI's hat and glasses went flying, the trainee released his grip, and the MTI fell to the ground like a sack of wet noodles. I broke into a trot at this, and the trainee heard my heels clicking on the asphalt and turned to look at me. He was breathing hard because of the adrenalin rush he was going through, and when I got onto the sidewalk I stopped. "Are you okay, airman?" I asked, making damn sure I stayed well out of this gorilla's reach. "Yes, sir," he said, "he made me mad!"
"I see that. Who's the acting dorm chief?" I asked, and an airman spoke up from the back of the flight. "Take this airman into the barber shop and get him a drink of water, then sit him down somewhere until I get there. Tell the barbers I told you to."
"Yes, sir!" the dorm chief said, taking the gorilla into the barbershop. I walked over to the inert form of the MTI laying on the ground, his nose a flat, bloody mess, and knelt down on one knee next to him. "You stupid son of a bitch!" I said as I took off my campaign hat and retrieved an ammonia capsule I always kept attached to the screw of my cap device for just such an occasion. I popped the capsule under the MTI's nose and he came to, asking what had happened.
"You got what you asked for, that's what!" I said. After he composed himself he went into the barber shop and called his unit to have someone come take his flight because he had to go to Bldg 6612 to get medical treatment. As for me, I walked back to my unit and pretty much forgot about it.
Until the next day when I got called down to the Section Supervisor's office to pick up a new trainee. Three guesses who was sitting on the bench outside of the Section office in his brand-new, shiny green fatigues, a full duffle bag sitting next to him. Yep, Magilla Gorilla himself. His unit decided it would be in everyone's best interest if he was transferred to another unit for training, and my flight just happened to be in the same day of training so I was it. Seems that the flight he was in hadn't been given their Military Law Briefing before he punched out his MTI, and since he didn't know that it was illegal for him to assault his MTI he couldn't be prosecuted.
But he damned sure wasn't going into MY flight because now he thought I was his friend since I didn't chew his ass for hitting his MTI. I told the Section Supervisor the whole story, and they shipped the airman off to another squadron to be trained.
Was I relieved? You bet your ass I was, and I'm not ashamed to admit it!
Never saw the MTI again, and I've often wondered if his unit booted him out for his mistake. Guess I'll never know.
Deo Vindice
IHC
Monday, August 5, 2019
Here We Go Again
Let me say this first and foremost before I say anything else: my heart goes out to the victims and the families of the victims involved in the two shootings this past weekend. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be a family member or loved one left behind by the death of a loved one in such a tragic event, and I pray to God that I never find out. May God be with them during these trying times, and may He take care of the souls of the departed as only He can.
So once again the nation has been forced to suffer through not one but two mass shootings, and once again we're being bombarded with distortions, lies, and outright bullshit from the libtards on the left. Once again we're being told that the only way to insure that we are safe is to disarm ourselves.
Anyone who thinks that disarming yourself in the face of danger is either the smart thing or the only thing to do is a moron of the highest order. Only a total and complete idiot will believe for even a second that the bad guys will leave you alone once they see you're incapable of defending yourself. Anyone who has ever dealt with a bully when they were a kid knows that the old adage of "Just ignore them and they'll leave you alone" is total and complete bullshit. All that will do is ensure that you're going to get beat up by the bully, because bullies don't go after kids that they think can kick their ass - they go after the weak, the defenseless, and the kids that the bully knows he can beat up with no problem.
And yes, I'm speaking from experience. When I was in 4th grade I was the target of a school bully, and my father told me that the only way I was going to get him to leave me alone was to fight back. The next day I did, and I ended up kicking the bully's ass. No more problems with that bully for the rest of the time I lived in that community. Around the same time we also had a neighborhood bully who was terrorizing the kids in my neighborhood, and one day we got the idea that if we ganged up on him and beat him to a pulp he'd leave us alone. We did, catching him alone a few days later and pouncing on him like a pack of rabid dogs. We beat the living crap out of him, and when we were done one of the kids looked down at him, pointed his finger at his bloody face, and said, "And if you ever mess with any of us again, we're gonna come find you and do this again!" No more bully problem.
I'm sure you've heard this slogan from the conservatives and the folks on the right: "The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." That statement, like it or not, is 100% true. The second shooter was stopped after less than 45 seconds by who? Several good guys with guns. The cops shot this asshole down in the street like they should have and like the shooter deserved. Had these good guys with guns not been anywhere around instead of just around the corner, trust me when I tell you that this shooting would have been a hell of a lot worse. He was about to enter a bar, and that would have been bad - VERY bad.
But of course, all of the Demoncrats and libtards on the liberal left are doing nothing but screaming about more gun control - the same lame, useless thing they do every time there's a shooting. They all are intentionally choosing to ignore several facts: first, you're never going to get rid of the guns in this country. Never - for two reasons: first and foremost, there's this little thing called the Second Amendment. And before any libtard says, "Well, I guess we'll just have to repeal it!" let me tell you that there's no way in hell that will EVER happen. Should anyone give that stupid idea a serious try, hundreds of thousands of conservatives that you've never heard of and never knew existed will come out of the woodwork and will shoot down any and all attempts at repealing their right to keep and bear arms.
Second, they're ignoring the fact that the gun is simply a tool. There's a line from the John Wayne movie "Shane" that addresses this perfectly. Shane is asked about his gun by the mother of a young boy, and here's his reply: "A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that."
This line is spot-on. A gun is nothing more than a tool, and it can be used either for good or for bad. The gun doesn't choose how its used; that choice is made by a HUMAN BEING, a living person who should be held responsible for their own actions. Anyone who blames the tool for the actions of a man is a fool, period. The latest shooting is a perfect example of this: a bad man used a gun to do bad things, and several good guys with guns used theirs to do a good thing. It can't get any clearer than that.
In the '80s we had a nation-wide problem with drunk driving. All you heard about on the news and read in the papers was about some innocent person getting killed by a drunk driver. The nation finally got fed up with it and united together to change it. And how did they do it? Did they outlaw alcohol or close all of the bars? No. They held the individual drinker responsible for his/her actions, and they did this by doing two things: lowering the BAC level at which you were clinically and scientifically proven to be drunk from 0.10% BAC to 0.08% BAC, and stiffening the penalties for drunk driving. Then they started PROSECUTING the drunk drivers, and it worked. Drunk driving is still a problem, but nowhere near as bad as it was.
In short, instead of blaming the car or the drink, we blamed the PERSON DRIVING THE CAR and TAKING THE DRINK. We blamed the CRAFTSMAN and not the TOOL. And it worked.
We need to do the same thing with those who use guns to kill people like this. We don't have a problem with violence committed with guns in this country (and I REFUSE to use "that" bullshit libtard term); we have a mental illness problem and a lack of morals and decency problem. The mental illness problems have always been there; why they're getting worse I don't know, but I do know that you can blame the lack of morals and decency problem directly on the libtards and atheists who have taken God and religion out of schools and public places. 50 years ago access to guns was less restricted than it is now, and religion was much more prevalent in schools and in society than it is today. And there were no mass shootings like we have today. But today we have less access to guns and types of guns than we did then, religion and God have all but disappeared from our society, and we have mass shootings taking place on an almost regular basis.
So you tell me what the cause is. Here's a hint: it ain't with the "easy access" to guns, because 50 years ago the average citizen could own a fully automatic machine gun without a license being required. So try again, buckwheat.
There's only one way to stop this kind of crap, and there are a whole bunch of people who won't like it. But I guarantee you that the moment they become a victim they'll change their mind. Ready? Here it is.
SHOOT BACK.
There are hundreds of stories out there that depict a good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun, or using a gun to save their life or the lives of their family. But you'll never hear about them because the libtard news media won't give them any coverage because it doesn't fit with their agenda. And make no mistake about it, the Demoncrats and the libtard news media have the same agenda: the repeal of the Second Amendment.
And that, friends and neighbors, ain't gonna happen.
More gun control isn't the answer. We have more than 25,000 gun laws on the books in this country now, and nothing has changed. More useless gun laws aren't the answer. Banning certain types of gun isn't the answer either, because the parts of the country that have already done this are the parts that are experiencing most of the shootings - with the types of gun they've banned.
Until we as a nation start doing two things, nothing will change. We need to SHOOT BACK, and HOLD THE SHOOTER RESPONSIBLE. We need to blame the SHOOTER and not the GUN.
It's just that simple.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
So once again the nation has been forced to suffer through not one but two mass shootings, and once again we're being bombarded with distortions, lies, and outright bullshit from the libtards on the left. Once again we're being told that the only way to insure that we are safe is to disarm ourselves.
Anyone who thinks that disarming yourself in the face of danger is either the smart thing or the only thing to do is a moron of the highest order. Only a total and complete idiot will believe for even a second that the bad guys will leave you alone once they see you're incapable of defending yourself. Anyone who has ever dealt with a bully when they were a kid knows that the old adage of "Just ignore them and they'll leave you alone" is total and complete bullshit. All that will do is ensure that you're going to get beat up by the bully, because bullies don't go after kids that they think can kick their ass - they go after the weak, the defenseless, and the kids that the bully knows he can beat up with no problem.
And yes, I'm speaking from experience. When I was in 4th grade I was the target of a school bully, and my father told me that the only way I was going to get him to leave me alone was to fight back. The next day I did, and I ended up kicking the bully's ass. No more problems with that bully for the rest of the time I lived in that community. Around the same time we also had a neighborhood bully who was terrorizing the kids in my neighborhood, and one day we got the idea that if we ganged up on him and beat him to a pulp he'd leave us alone. We did, catching him alone a few days later and pouncing on him like a pack of rabid dogs. We beat the living crap out of him, and when we were done one of the kids looked down at him, pointed his finger at his bloody face, and said, "And if you ever mess with any of us again, we're gonna come find you and do this again!" No more bully problem.
I'm sure you've heard this slogan from the conservatives and the folks on the right: "The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." That statement, like it or not, is 100% true. The second shooter was stopped after less than 45 seconds by who? Several good guys with guns. The cops shot this asshole down in the street like they should have and like the shooter deserved. Had these good guys with guns not been anywhere around instead of just around the corner, trust me when I tell you that this shooting would have been a hell of a lot worse. He was about to enter a bar, and that would have been bad - VERY bad.
But of course, all of the Demoncrats and libtards on the liberal left are doing nothing but screaming about more gun control - the same lame, useless thing they do every time there's a shooting. They all are intentionally choosing to ignore several facts: first, you're never going to get rid of the guns in this country. Never - for two reasons: first and foremost, there's this little thing called the Second Amendment. And before any libtard says, "Well, I guess we'll just have to repeal it!" let me tell you that there's no way in hell that will EVER happen. Should anyone give that stupid idea a serious try, hundreds of thousands of conservatives that you've never heard of and never knew existed will come out of the woodwork and will shoot down any and all attempts at repealing their right to keep and bear arms.
Second, they're ignoring the fact that the gun is simply a tool. There's a line from the John Wayne movie "Shane" that addresses this perfectly. Shane is asked about his gun by the mother of a young boy, and here's his reply: "A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that."
This line is spot-on. A gun is nothing more than a tool, and it can be used either for good or for bad. The gun doesn't choose how its used; that choice is made by a HUMAN BEING, a living person who should be held responsible for their own actions. Anyone who blames the tool for the actions of a man is a fool, period. The latest shooting is a perfect example of this: a bad man used a gun to do bad things, and several good guys with guns used theirs to do a good thing. It can't get any clearer than that.
In the '80s we had a nation-wide problem with drunk driving. All you heard about on the news and read in the papers was about some innocent person getting killed by a drunk driver. The nation finally got fed up with it and united together to change it. And how did they do it? Did they outlaw alcohol or close all of the bars? No. They held the individual drinker responsible for his/her actions, and they did this by doing two things: lowering the BAC level at which you were clinically and scientifically proven to be drunk from 0.10% BAC to 0.08% BAC, and stiffening the penalties for drunk driving. Then they started PROSECUTING the drunk drivers, and it worked. Drunk driving is still a problem, but nowhere near as bad as it was.
In short, instead of blaming the car or the drink, we blamed the PERSON DRIVING THE CAR and TAKING THE DRINK. We blamed the CRAFTSMAN and not the TOOL. And it worked.
We need to do the same thing with those who use guns to kill people like this. We don't have a problem with violence committed with guns in this country (and I REFUSE to use "that" bullshit libtard term); we have a mental illness problem and a lack of morals and decency problem. The mental illness problems have always been there; why they're getting worse I don't know, but I do know that you can blame the lack of morals and decency problem directly on the libtards and atheists who have taken God and religion out of schools and public places. 50 years ago access to guns was less restricted than it is now, and religion was much more prevalent in schools and in society than it is today. And there were no mass shootings like we have today. But today we have less access to guns and types of guns than we did then, religion and God have all but disappeared from our society, and we have mass shootings taking place on an almost regular basis.
So you tell me what the cause is. Here's a hint: it ain't with the "easy access" to guns, because 50 years ago the average citizen could own a fully automatic machine gun without a license being required. So try again, buckwheat.
There's only one way to stop this kind of crap, and there are a whole bunch of people who won't like it. But I guarantee you that the moment they become a victim they'll change their mind. Ready? Here it is.
SHOOT BACK.
There are hundreds of stories out there that depict a good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun, or using a gun to save their life or the lives of their family. But you'll never hear about them because the libtard news media won't give them any coverage because it doesn't fit with their agenda. And make no mistake about it, the Demoncrats and the libtard news media have the same agenda: the repeal of the Second Amendment.
And that, friends and neighbors, ain't gonna happen.
More gun control isn't the answer. We have more than 25,000 gun laws on the books in this country now, and nothing has changed. More useless gun laws aren't the answer. Banning certain types of gun isn't the answer either, because the parts of the country that have already done this are the parts that are experiencing most of the shootings - with the types of gun they've banned.
Until we as a nation start doing two things, nothing will change. We need to SHOOT BACK, and HOLD THE SHOOTER RESPONSIBLE. We need to blame the SHOOTER and not the GUN.
It's just that simple.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
The Value of Friendship
Anyone who knows me personally knows that June was a very stressful and very disappointing month for me. I made the very tough decision to sever ties with an organization that I loved and had poured my heart and soul into for more than 4 years for reasons that I won't go into here. Let's just say that I did what I felt then and still feel now was best for my family first, and the organization second. When I told my best friend, Jason Schulties, about my decision he was flabberghasted, and understandably so. In his own words, the organization (which I won't name) was "my passion," and he couldn't believe that I had left it. But I did, for reasons that I believed in then and still believe in now, and what's done is done. "It is what it is," as the patch I had sewn on my old road vest the following week says.
As tough as this decision was, I was okay with it because I knew in my heart that it was not only the only decision I could make, but the right one. But I have to say that the one thing that bothered me the most about this was not having to leave the organization, but losing a very close and very dear friend in the process. And I will honestly say that I lost this person as a friend because of a misconception he is under, not over anything I have done. And the really sad part is that he won't give me the chance to explain things to him.
This bothered me greatly for about a month or so. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't make friends easily; if I let you into my very small circle of friends, you can bet your ass that there's something very special about you that I recognize, and I cherish each of my friends very dearly. I'm the kind of person that if I'm your friend, you can call me at 2AM and tell me that you need me RIGHT NOW, and I'd go without even asking you why. All I'd ask is where you are and will you be okay until I get there. (And maybe do I need to bring a gun and if so how many.) That's the kind of friend I am. And this person of whom I speak was #2 on my list of people I'd die for, so when he cut ties with me in a fit of anger without even giving me a chance to tell him that he was mistaken about what he was thinking, it cut me deep. To the bone deep, and it worried me for about a month. And I don't worry about things for longer than a day or so normally, so that's saying something.
Then, out of the clear blue nowhere yesterday morning, it hit me. It hit me like a thunderclap, so hard that I literally stopped what I was doing, sat back and said "Wow!" to myself. What could that possibly be, you ask? Simple.
I valued his friendship more than he valued mine.
The worry and consternation I felt over this vanished in an instant, and I felt like the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders. I knew from the outset that I didn't do anything wrong to bring this all about, but sometimes that knowledge just isn't good enough. Sometimes it takes either an epiphany or a BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) for things to become clear. Such was the case yesterday, and I'm not worried about this anymore. I valued his friendship more than he valued mine, and that simple knowledge erased all of the consternation and self-doubt I was having about this whole thing.
But you wanna know the funny thing about all of this? If he were to contact me and want to talk about this, I'd talk with him no problem. I'd try my best to make him see how he had misconstrued something and was under an incorrect assumption, and if I was successful I'd have no problem picking right up where we left off. You see, we're all human and we all make mistakes, and there's nothing that will ever change that. But the mark of a real man and a true friend is one who's willing to admit when they're wrong and have made a mistake, and then attempt to set things right. I'll respond in a positive way to efforts such as that all day long, and will gladly give that person a second chance. After all, that's what friends do.
But that's not up to me. That's up to them - or him, in this particular instance.
In the mean time, my conscience is clear. I'm now ready to move on to the next chapter in my life and put all of the bad things that happened in June behind me. After all, if you spend too much time looking at the stuff that's behind you, you'll miss all of the good things in front of you.
And life's just too damned short for that.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
As tough as this decision was, I was okay with it because I knew in my heart that it was not only the only decision I could make, but the right one. But I have to say that the one thing that bothered me the most about this was not having to leave the organization, but losing a very close and very dear friend in the process. And I will honestly say that I lost this person as a friend because of a misconception he is under, not over anything I have done. And the really sad part is that he won't give me the chance to explain things to him.
This bothered me greatly for about a month or so. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't make friends easily; if I let you into my very small circle of friends, you can bet your ass that there's something very special about you that I recognize, and I cherish each of my friends very dearly. I'm the kind of person that if I'm your friend, you can call me at 2AM and tell me that you need me RIGHT NOW, and I'd go without even asking you why. All I'd ask is where you are and will you be okay until I get there. (And maybe do I need to bring a gun and if so how many.) That's the kind of friend I am. And this person of whom I speak was #2 on my list of people I'd die for, so when he cut ties with me in a fit of anger without even giving me a chance to tell him that he was mistaken about what he was thinking, it cut me deep. To the bone deep, and it worried me for about a month. And I don't worry about things for longer than a day or so normally, so that's saying something.
Then, out of the clear blue nowhere yesterday morning, it hit me. It hit me like a thunderclap, so hard that I literally stopped what I was doing, sat back and said "Wow!" to myself. What could that possibly be, you ask? Simple.
I valued his friendship more than he valued mine.
The worry and consternation I felt over this vanished in an instant, and I felt like the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders. I knew from the outset that I didn't do anything wrong to bring this all about, but sometimes that knowledge just isn't good enough. Sometimes it takes either an epiphany or a BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) for things to become clear. Such was the case yesterday, and I'm not worried about this anymore. I valued his friendship more than he valued mine, and that simple knowledge erased all of the consternation and self-doubt I was having about this whole thing.
But you wanna know the funny thing about all of this? If he were to contact me and want to talk about this, I'd talk with him no problem. I'd try my best to make him see how he had misconstrued something and was under an incorrect assumption, and if I was successful I'd have no problem picking right up where we left off. You see, we're all human and we all make mistakes, and there's nothing that will ever change that. But the mark of a real man and a true friend is one who's willing to admit when they're wrong and have made a mistake, and then attempt to set things right. I'll respond in a positive way to efforts such as that all day long, and will gladly give that person a second chance. After all, that's what friends do.
But that's not up to me. That's up to them - or him, in this particular instance.
In the mean time, my conscience is clear. I'm now ready to move on to the next chapter in my life and put all of the bad things that happened in June behind me. After all, if you spend too much time looking at the stuff that's behind you, you'll miss all of the good things in front of you.
And life's just too damned short for that.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
The View From Under The Hat Brim
This post is written specifically for the members of the Facebook page, "USAF Basic Training - What Do You Remember?" This is a page that I recently joined and have had a lot of fun with, but it has occurred to me that most of the people on that page were never MTIs so the only viewpoint they have of BMTS (Basic Military Training School for you civilians) is from when they went through as trainees. Trust me when I tell you that there's a hell of a lot more to it than that, so as a former Military Training Instructor (MTI for you civilians again), I thought I'd write something out to give the members of the page a glimpse into what it was like for the MTI. After all, most of you who went through BMTS only suffered through it for 6, 8, or 12 weeks depending on when you went in, but the MTI suffered through it 52 weeks out of the year for a minimum of 3 years. So I think it's time all of you were given a small idea of what it was like from the "other side" of BMT - or in other words, the view from under the hat brim.
First and foremost, everyone who wears the campaign hat and the "Instructor" badge in BMTS is a volunteer. MTI duty is a special duty assignment, and the selection process is fairly rigorous. When I applied for MTI duty in 1982 you had to have "firewall 5's" on your last 5 APRs, plus a letter of recommendation from your unit commander. You also had to go through a psychological testing at the Base Hospital and an English-language speaking evaluation as well. When all of this was put together in your application package, it was sent down to BMTS where it was screened by a selection board. When I applied in 1982 only 25% of the applications being submitted were approved because BMTS was looking for the "BEST" NCOs in the Air Force - and they were VERY picky. I consider myself damned lucky to have made the cut.
The Military Training Instructor School (or MTIS) in 1982 was 5 weeks long, and contrary to popular belief it wasn't another version of BMTS where the MTIS instructors hollered and yelled at you. It consisted of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week learning how to march a flight and, more importantly, how to master the "5 Step Teaching Format" that BMTS used to teach EVERY classroom lesson in the curriculum. Trust me when I tell you that the 5 Step format is tough to master, but once you do it becomes second nature. You also learned in MTIS to be the picture of military appearance and bearing, and you'd better look like you stepped out of the uniform manual when you showed up for class. It was drilled into your head that you were teaching trainees who knew nothing of the Air Force, and that their first and lasting impressions of the Air Force would be what YOU showed them. For that reason, perfection was the standard in MTIS, and for good reason.
Once you graduated MTIS and got your hat and "cookie" (the Instructor badge), you were assigned to an MTI trainer in your home unit who would continue your training for the next 90 days. At the end of that 90 day period you were evaluated, and if you passed you were "certified" and could train new airman without supervision. Not everyone passed, by the way. The school was one thing, doing it for real in the field was another thing entirely.
Once you were certified you were then permanently assigned to a dorm and a team chief, and began training troops in your own dorm. That's when the fun begins.
What trainees don't realize about their MTI is that from the moment the trainees step off of the bus when they first arrive at Lackland until the moment they get on the bus to leave BMTS, the MTI is responsible for them and everything they do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the duration of BMT. That means if a trainee goes out and does something stupid, the very first thing that's going to be looked at and questioned is how the airman was trained, and/or what instructions he was given by his MTI in regards to what he did. If the MTI is found to have given faulty training or bad instructions, then he is responsible and the trainee is off the hook.
For that reason, every single man and woman who wears the hat and cookie holds their own career in their hands every single moment of every single day. They volunteer to do this job, the very tough job of taking civilians and turning them into airmen, and they give it their best knowing that all it takes is ONE mistake and their career is over. There are only two ways to get out of BMTS when you're an MTI: either you do your tour without incident and rotate out with an Air Force Achievement Medal, or you screw up and get kicked out of the MTI program. And if THAT happens, you're going to leave with a "3" APR - or worse - which nukes your chances for promotion and/or re-enlistment for SEVEN YEARS. If you REALLY screw up you get court-martialed and end up in Fort Leavenworth - which I saw happen to an MTI in my unit.
As an MTI you are constantly under the gun, constantly under scrutiny, and so is your flight. ANYONE walking past your flight can gripe about you to your squadron, and in BMT you are considered guilty until proven innocent - at least you were in 1982 - 1986 when I was there. There was an old saying among MTIs that I hope is still being used at Lackland - "What goes on outside the dorm is everyone's business, but what goes on INSIDE the dorm is NOBODY'S business." That doesn't mean you broke the rules and regulations on training your troops by any means; what it means is that you could relax to a point and not have to worry about someone who has NO idea what BMT is like hearing something you said, taking it the wrong way, and reporting it to your Squadron Commander. It also means you could swear without getting reported as well.
And if you think that MTI's don't swear, boy do I have some bad news for you! My personal standard was that when I was training males, pretty much anything went as far as language was concerned; but when I was training females I'd brief them on the very first day that yes, they'd hear me curse from time to time, but they'd NEVER hear me use the word that starts with an "F" and ends with a "UCK" and isn't "FIRETRUCK." I'd tell them that if they ever heard me use that word they'd better get out of my way because I've lost my temper and someone is gonna die. In the 4 years I was down at Lackland I only used that word in the presence of my female flight once, and when I did it was out in the bay during an End of Bed Display inspection. When I dropped that word you'd have thought I tossed a live grenade into the bay - I had females jumping over beds and each other to get the hell away from me! It made me laugh out loud and broke my bad mood, but I worried about a female trainee dropping a critique on me for the next couple of days. Never happened, and I consider myself lucky for that.
Speaking of critiques, let me tell you all about those. The Trainee Critique Form was a piece of paper that a trainee could use to complain about something that was being done in BMTS or about his MTI. They were kept in a box on the wall next to the exit hallway in the Dining Hall, so all a disgruntled trainee had to do was pick one out of the box on his way out of the Dining Hall, fill it out, and put it back in the box the next time he was in the Dining Hall. The MTI never saw or touched the form - the deposit box was locked, and it was checked weekly by a representative from the Basic Military Training School Headquarters. Once the form was received it was logged and a copy of the form was sent down to the unit, and the investigation was on. MTIs in the Dining Hall used to watch that box like a hawk, and all of us dreaded the thought of one of our trainees picking up a form on the way out. Not because we'd done anything wrong, but because 99% of the forms sent in were nothing more than a butthurt trainee who was a foul-up trying to play a game of "catch-up" with his MTI. I was only critiqued once in 4 years, and the complaint was found to be unfounded. End of story.
Did I mention that everything you do and say - and everything your trainees do and say - was watched and evaluated in BMTS? If the Section Supervisor came into your dorm during the duty day and inspected it, if the dorm was fouled up YOU heard about it - not the flight. If one of your trainees was stopped by another MTI somewhere out on the base for having broken a rule, YOU heard about it - not the trainee. You were evaluated on how you talked to your flight in public, how you marched your flight in public, how you wore your uniform, how shiny your shoes were, how clean your hat was, whether or not you had the flight clipboard with you, how well your flight marched, how good the beds looked when they were made - and the list goes on and on. And on top of that, your entire squadron was evaluated yearly by the Standardization and Evaluation Team, or Stan Team. The Stan Team came into your squadron and evaluated every single aspect of the training conducted by the unit as a whole, and this included individual MTI evaluations. Select MTIs in the unit would be picked to teach a dorm lesson (how to make a bed, how to set up an End of Bed Display, etc) and/or a Drill lesson, and they were evaluated on the correct use of the Five Step Teaching Format. Fail a Stan Team Evaluation and your time in BMT was limited.
When a new flight came on board, the regulations required them to have 24/7 supervision for the first 72 hours they were there. That means that an MTI had to spend the night in the dorm sleeping in the Flight Office so the new trainees wouldn't be left unsupervised. This played hell with your married life if you were married, let me tell you. In addition to that, during the 6 weeks of training when I was an MTI there were 15 hours allotted in the training schedule for the teaching of Individual and Flight Drill - but there were 21 movements you had to teach. And since the Five Step Teaching Format said that you could only teach ONE lesson per 40-45 minute class session, that meant you had to come in on the weekends to teach the rest of the drill that was required to be taught.
And I won't even go into the perils and dangers of being a male MTI training a flight full of females. I'll save that for another time.
Believe it or not, all of what I've just laid out is only the tip of the iceberg. I could spend a full 8 hour day telling you all about what it was like to be an MTI, and when it was all over I'd tell you this: being an MTI was the highlight of my 23 years in the Air Force, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It was one of only two places I've ever been while I was in the Air Force where I felt at home, felt like I belonged, and felt like I was accomplishing something important. (The other place was the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War.) I'm damned proud to have been one of the select few to wear the blue campaign hat of a Military Training Instructor, and the only thing I'm more proud of is that when my son joined the Air Force he also became an MTI.
And I miss it very much. Every single minute of every single day, and I'll miss it until the day I die. Once an MTI, always an MTI.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
First and foremost, everyone who wears the campaign hat and the "Instructor" badge in BMTS is a volunteer. MTI duty is a special duty assignment, and the selection process is fairly rigorous. When I applied for MTI duty in 1982 you had to have "firewall 5's" on your last 5 APRs, plus a letter of recommendation from your unit commander. You also had to go through a psychological testing at the Base Hospital and an English-language speaking evaluation as well. When all of this was put together in your application package, it was sent down to BMTS where it was screened by a selection board. When I applied in 1982 only 25% of the applications being submitted were approved because BMTS was looking for the "BEST" NCOs in the Air Force - and they were VERY picky. I consider myself damned lucky to have made the cut.
The Military Training Instructor School (or MTIS) in 1982 was 5 weeks long, and contrary to popular belief it wasn't another version of BMTS where the MTIS instructors hollered and yelled at you. It consisted of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week learning how to march a flight and, more importantly, how to master the "5 Step Teaching Format" that BMTS used to teach EVERY classroom lesson in the curriculum. Trust me when I tell you that the 5 Step format is tough to master, but once you do it becomes second nature. You also learned in MTIS to be the picture of military appearance and bearing, and you'd better look like you stepped out of the uniform manual when you showed up for class. It was drilled into your head that you were teaching trainees who knew nothing of the Air Force, and that their first and lasting impressions of the Air Force would be what YOU showed them. For that reason, perfection was the standard in MTIS, and for good reason.
Once you graduated MTIS and got your hat and "cookie" (the Instructor badge), you were assigned to an MTI trainer in your home unit who would continue your training for the next 90 days. At the end of that 90 day period you were evaluated, and if you passed you were "certified" and could train new airman without supervision. Not everyone passed, by the way. The school was one thing, doing it for real in the field was another thing entirely.
Once you were certified you were then permanently assigned to a dorm and a team chief, and began training troops in your own dorm. That's when the fun begins.
What trainees don't realize about their MTI is that from the moment the trainees step off of the bus when they first arrive at Lackland until the moment they get on the bus to leave BMTS, the MTI is responsible for them and everything they do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the duration of BMT. That means if a trainee goes out and does something stupid, the very first thing that's going to be looked at and questioned is how the airman was trained, and/or what instructions he was given by his MTI in regards to what he did. If the MTI is found to have given faulty training or bad instructions, then he is responsible and the trainee is off the hook.
For that reason, every single man and woman who wears the hat and cookie holds their own career in their hands every single moment of every single day. They volunteer to do this job, the very tough job of taking civilians and turning them into airmen, and they give it their best knowing that all it takes is ONE mistake and their career is over. There are only two ways to get out of BMTS when you're an MTI: either you do your tour without incident and rotate out with an Air Force Achievement Medal, or you screw up and get kicked out of the MTI program. And if THAT happens, you're going to leave with a "3" APR - or worse - which nukes your chances for promotion and/or re-enlistment for SEVEN YEARS. If you REALLY screw up you get court-martialed and end up in Fort Leavenworth - which I saw happen to an MTI in my unit.
As an MTI you are constantly under the gun, constantly under scrutiny, and so is your flight. ANYONE walking past your flight can gripe about you to your squadron, and in BMT you are considered guilty until proven innocent - at least you were in 1982 - 1986 when I was there. There was an old saying among MTIs that I hope is still being used at Lackland - "What goes on outside the dorm is everyone's business, but what goes on INSIDE the dorm is NOBODY'S business." That doesn't mean you broke the rules and regulations on training your troops by any means; what it means is that you could relax to a point and not have to worry about someone who has NO idea what BMT is like hearing something you said, taking it the wrong way, and reporting it to your Squadron Commander. It also means you could swear without getting reported as well.
And if you think that MTI's don't swear, boy do I have some bad news for you! My personal standard was that when I was training males, pretty much anything went as far as language was concerned; but when I was training females I'd brief them on the very first day that yes, they'd hear me curse from time to time, but they'd NEVER hear me use the word that starts with an "F" and ends with a "UCK" and isn't "FIRETRUCK." I'd tell them that if they ever heard me use that word they'd better get out of my way because I've lost my temper and someone is gonna die. In the 4 years I was down at Lackland I only used that word in the presence of my female flight once, and when I did it was out in the bay during an End of Bed Display inspection. When I dropped that word you'd have thought I tossed a live grenade into the bay - I had females jumping over beds and each other to get the hell away from me! It made me laugh out loud and broke my bad mood, but I worried about a female trainee dropping a critique on me for the next couple of days. Never happened, and I consider myself lucky for that.
Speaking of critiques, let me tell you all about those. The Trainee Critique Form was a piece of paper that a trainee could use to complain about something that was being done in BMTS or about his MTI. They were kept in a box on the wall next to the exit hallway in the Dining Hall, so all a disgruntled trainee had to do was pick one out of the box on his way out of the Dining Hall, fill it out, and put it back in the box the next time he was in the Dining Hall. The MTI never saw or touched the form - the deposit box was locked, and it was checked weekly by a representative from the Basic Military Training School Headquarters. Once the form was received it was logged and a copy of the form was sent down to the unit, and the investigation was on. MTIs in the Dining Hall used to watch that box like a hawk, and all of us dreaded the thought of one of our trainees picking up a form on the way out. Not because we'd done anything wrong, but because 99% of the forms sent in were nothing more than a butthurt trainee who was a foul-up trying to play a game of "catch-up" with his MTI. I was only critiqued once in 4 years, and the complaint was found to be unfounded. End of story.
Did I mention that everything you do and say - and everything your trainees do and say - was watched and evaluated in BMTS? If the Section Supervisor came into your dorm during the duty day and inspected it, if the dorm was fouled up YOU heard about it - not the flight. If one of your trainees was stopped by another MTI somewhere out on the base for having broken a rule, YOU heard about it - not the trainee. You were evaluated on how you talked to your flight in public, how you marched your flight in public, how you wore your uniform, how shiny your shoes were, how clean your hat was, whether or not you had the flight clipboard with you, how well your flight marched, how good the beds looked when they were made - and the list goes on and on. And on top of that, your entire squadron was evaluated yearly by the Standardization and Evaluation Team, or Stan Team. The Stan Team came into your squadron and evaluated every single aspect of the training conducted by the unit as a whole, and this included individual MTI evaluations. Select MTIs in the unit would be picked to teach a dorm lesson (how to make a bed, how to set up an End of Bed Display, etc) and/or a Drill lesson, and they were evaluated on the correct use of the Five Step Teaching Format. Fail a Stan Team Evaluation and your time in BMT was limited.
When a new flight came on board, the regulations required them to have 24/7 supervision for the first 72 hours they were there. That means that an MTI had to spend the night in the dorm sleeping in the Flight Office so the new trainees wouldn't be left unsupervised. This played hell with your married life if you were married, let me tell you. In addition to that, during the 6 weeks of training when I was an MTI there were 15 hours allotted in the training schedule for the teaching of Individual and Flight Drill - but there were 21 movements you had to teach. And since the Five Step Teaching Format said that you could only teach ONE lesson per 40-45 minute class session, that meant you had to come in on the weekends to teach the rest of the drill that was required to be taught.
And I won't even go into the perils and dangers of being a male MTI training a flight full of females. I'll save that for another time.
Believe it or not, all of what I've just laid out is only the tip of the iceberg. I could spend a full 8 hour day telling you all about what it was like to be an MTI, and when it was all over I'd tell you this: being an MTI was the highlight of my 23 years in the Air Force, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It was one of only two places I've ever been while I was in the Air Force where I felt at home, felt like I belonged, and felt like I was accomplishing something important. (The other place was the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War.) I'm damned proud to have been one of the select few to wear the blue campaign hat of a Military Training Instructor, and the only thing I'm more proud of is that when my son joined the Air Force he also became an MTI.
And I miss it very much. Every single minute of every single day, and I'll miss it until the day I die. Once an MTI, always an MTI.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
Sunday, July 21, 2019
When Wonder Turns To Complacency
I was lucky enough to be raised in an era that was host to a great many improvements, advantages, challenges, and triumphs. While it is true that this era also saw more than its fair share of injustices and tragedies, I think the positive things that came out of this ear far outweigh the negative ones.
I'm speaking, of course, about the '60s. Whenever I think of the '60s I immediately think of three things: the assassination of JFK, the Vietnam War, and the "Space Race" between the United States and the Soviet Union. In my humble opinion the space program takes center stage as the most important event out of that era. We as a nation accomplished so much in so short a time that it boggles the mind to think of it. And the advancements made during that ten year era are still having an impact on us today.
I don't remember much about the Mercury program because I either hadn't started school yet or had just started and the school thought that first and second graders didn't need to hear about it. But I vividly remember the Gemini and Apollo programs, mainly because of the attention that the news media in general and the schools in particular gave them. Every time there was a launch in the Gemini program, class would come to a stop as the teacher rolled in this big black and white TV on a metal rolling stand (the kind you only found in schools, and if you're my age you know what I'm talking about), plugged it in and turned it on, then adjusted the rabbit ears to get the best picture. We would then spend the next 30 minutes or so watching the launch or, later on in the program, the space walks the astronauts took.
Make no mistake about it, the space program was a hell of a big deal in the 1960s, and deservedly so. It was such a big deal that school came to a stop just to watch it, and in those days school didn't stop for anything short of a natural disaster. So for classes to be halted so we could watch it live on TV was a very big deal indeed.
And the more the program went on, the more media attention it got. Every time there was a significant advancement or achievement in the Gemini Program, that's all you'd hear about on the news and all you'd see on the front pages of the newspapers. America was in love with the astronauts and the space program, and it clearly showed.
America's heart got broken on January 27, 1967 when, during a routine procedures test, a fire broke out in the Apollo 1 capsule and killed Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Gus Grissom was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, and Ed White was the first American to walk in space. The fire caused some major changes in the space program, but the program recovered and a little more than two short years later there was an American walking on the moon.
The Apollo Program garnered just as much attention as the Gemini Program, maybe even more. I vividly remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard that the Apollo 13 astronauts had made it back safely. I had an afternoon paper route at that time, and I was at the drop off spot at Nine Mile Road and Mapleleaf Avenue, and the weather looked like it was going to dump a ton of rain down on me at any moment. The truck from the Richmond News Leader stopped and tossed out my bundles of papers, and the fist thing I saw was the huge black letter headline that said just two words: "THEY'RE BACK!" At that time the lot was a dirt lot with a big oak tree in it, and as soon as I saw the headline the rain started. I put the two bundles of papers under the big tree and got my poncho out of the basket on my bike, put it on, and then sat on the bundles of papers to keep them dry with my poncho while it rained. And brother, did it rain hard! Took about half an hour for it to stop, and by that time the lot was a muddy mess so I had a hell of a time getting the papers folded, put in the basket, and then getting the now-front heavy bike out of the muddy lot without dumping the papers all over the place. But the thing I remember most about that day is that big, black headline proudly and thankfully proclaiming that the three astronauts were home safe.
I also remember watching the moon landing live on TV. I was spending the night at a friend's house the next street over for the purpose of watching the moon landing together, and as I recall my friend didn't make it - he was fast asleep when Neil Armstrong took that first famous step on the moon and uttered those now historic words. I also remember not being able to see much since the video quality wasn't all that good, but I absolutely remember watching it.
The Apollo Program marched on after that, with a total of eleven missions being carried out with only Apollo 13 being classified as a failure because it never made a landing on the moon. NASA and the Apollo Program began accomplishing the impossible on a regular basis, setting the stage for future manned flights to the other celestial bodies that make up our universe. But the down side of this is that the public began to treat the fantastic as the routine, and by the time Apollo 17 took place the public was bored with space travel to the point where TVs weren't rolled into the classroom to watch the launch anymore, the newspapers didn't carry the missions on the front page anymore, and the budget for NASA was slashed by the short-sighted politicians who run our country. Apollo 17 became the last of the Apollo missions. There were three more scheduled, but they never took place. America was bored with space travel. It was 1972 and American had focused its attention elsewhere.
Five years later that attention was refocused on the space program with the launching of the first successful space shuttle program. For the first time in history a winged spacecraft that was capable of landing on an airstrip on dry land instead of having to splash down in the ocean successfully completed a mission. This marked a turning point in space flight because prior to this all of America's spacecraft were designed to be used only once; the space shuttle was designed to be reused over and over again, a first for any nation with a space program - meaning the US and the Russians. Once again America proved what it was capable of, and once again the American public fell in love with the space program.
But familiarity breeds contempt, and it wasn't long before America once again got bored with the space program. The space shuttle program proved to be wildly successful, with more missions being carried out so close together as to become fairly routine. With the notable exceptions of the "Challenger" disaster in 1986 and the "Columbia" disaster in 2003, America paid little attention to the shuttle program, and the program came to an end in 2011. Americans had once again gotten bored with the space program, and America's dreams for space travel pretty much came to an end.
And this is a huge mistake. The human species is born to explore, to venture out to lands never seen before, and to discover as much as we can about anything we can. There is no major project going on with NASA at the moment, and there's even been talk about doing away with NASA altogether. And that would be an even bigger mistake. If mankind is ever going to find out once and for all whether or not we're alone in the universe, then NASA and the space program need to continue. We would be cheating ourselves if we allowed otherwise.
But that's what happens when wonder turns to complacency.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
I'm speaking, of course, about the '60s. Whenever I think of the '60s I immediately think of three things: the assassination of JFK, the Vietnam War, and the "Space Race" between the United States and the Soviet Union. In my humble opinion the space program takes center stage as the most important event out of that era. We as a nation accomplished so much in so short a time that it boggles the mind to think of it. And the advancements made during that ten year era are still having an impact on us today.
I don't remember much about the Mercury program because I either hadn't started school yet or had just started and the school thought that first and second graders didn't need to hear about it. But I vividly remember the Gemini and Apollo programs, mainly because of the attention that the news media in general and the schools in particular gave them. Every time there was a launch in the Gemini program, class would come to a stop as the teacher rolled in this big black and white TV on a metal rolling stand (the kind you only found in schools, and if you're my age you know what I'm talking about), plugged it in and turned it on, then adjusted the rabbit ears to get the best picture. We would then spend the next 30 minutes or so watching the launch or, later on in the program, the space walks the astronauts took.
Make no mistake about it, the space program was a hell of a big deal in the 1960s, and deservedly so. It was such a big deal that school came to a stop just to watch it, and in those days school didn't stop for anything short of a natural disaster. So for classes to be halted so we could watch it live on TV was a very big deal indeed.
And the more the program went on, the more media attention it got. Every time there was a significant advancement or achievement in the Gemini Program, that's all you'd hear about on the news and all you'd see on the front pages of the newspapers. America was in love with the astronauts and the space program, and it clearly showed.
America's heart got broken on January 27, 1967 when, during a routine procedures test, a fire broke out in the Apollo 1 capsule and killed Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Gus Grissom was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, and Ed White was the first American to walk in space. The fire caused some major changes in the space program, but the program recovered and a little more than two short years later there was an American walking on the moon.
The Apollo Program garnered just as much attention as the Gemini Program, maybe even more. I vividly remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard that the Apollo 13 astronauts had made it back safely. I had an afternoon paper route at that time, and I was at the drop off spot at Nine Mile Road and Mapleleaf Avenue, and the weather looked like it was going to dump a ton of rain down on me at any moment. The truck from the Richmond News Leader stopped and tossed out my bundles of papers, and the fist thing I saw was the huge black letter headline that said just two words: "THEY'RE BACK!" At that time the lot was a dirt lot with a big oak tree in it, and as soon as I saw the headline the rain started. I put the two bundles of papers under the big tree and got my poncho out of the basket on my bike, put it on, and then sat on the bundles of papers to keep them dry with my poncho while it rained. And brother, did it rain hard! Took about half an hour for it to stop, and by that time the lot was a muddy mess so I had a hell of a time getting the papers folded, put in the basket, and then getting the now-front heavy bike out of the muddy lot without dumping the papers all over the place. But the thing I remember most about that day is that big, black headline proudly and thankfully proclaiming that the three astronauts were home safe.
I also remember watching the moon landing live on TV. I was spending the night at a friend's house the next street over for the purpose of watching the moon landing together, and as I recall my friend didn't make it - he was fast asleep when Neil Armstrong took that first famous step on the moon and uttered those now historic words. I also remember not being able to see much since the video quality wasn't all that good, but I absolutely remember watching it.
The Apollo Program marched on after that, with a total of eleven missions being carried out with only Apollo 13 being classified as a failure because it never made a landing on the moon. NASA and the Apollo Program began accomplishing the impossible on a regular basis, setting the stage for future manned flights to the other celestial bodies that make up our universe. But the down side of this is that the public began to treat the fantastic as the routine, and by the time Apollo 17 took place the public was bored with space travel to the point where TVs weren't rolled into the classroom to watch the launch anymore, the newspapers didn't carry the missions on the front page anymore, and the budget for NASA was slashed by the short-sighted politicians who run our country. Apollo 17 became the last of the Apollo missions. There were three more scheduled, but they never took place. America was bored with space travel. It was 1972 and American had focused its attention elsewhere.
Five years later that attention was refocused on the space program with the launching of the first successful space shuttle program. For the first time in history a winged spacecraft that was capable of landing on an airstrip on dry land instead of having to splash down in the ocean successfully completed a mission. This marked a turning point in space flight because prior to this all of America's spacecraft were designed to be used only once; the space shuttle was designed to be reused over and over again, a first for any nation with a space program - meaning the US and the Russians. Once again America proved what it was capable of, and once again the American public fell in love with the space program.
But familiarity breeds contempt, and it wasn't long before America once again got bored with the space program. The space shuttle program proved to be wildly successful, with more missions being carried out so close together as to become fairly routine. With the notable exceptions of the "Challenger" disaster in 1986 and the "Columbia" disaster in 2003, America paid little attention to the shuttle program, and the program came to an end in 2011. Americans had once again gotten bored with the space program, and America's dreams for space travel pretty much came to an end.
And this is a huge mistake. The human species is born to explore, to venture out to lands never seen before, and to discover as much as we can about anything we can. There is no major project going on with NASA at the moment, and there's even been talk about doing away with NASA altogether. And that would be an even bigger mistake. If mankind is ever going to find out once and for all whether or not we're alone in the universe, then NASA and the space program need to continue. We would be cheating ourselves if we allowed otherwise.
But that's what happens when wonder turns to complacency.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
Saturday, July 13, 2019
The Absurdity of Gun Laws
Anyone who knows me or who has been reading my blog over the past 8 years or so knows that I am a vehement supporter of the 2nd Amendment. And by "vehement" I mean that I believe in the literal definition of the Amendment, specifically "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED." To me, that translates into every single gun control law on the books is unconstitutional, I don't care what the SCOTUS says. When someone asks me if I support the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, I can guarantee you that my answer will NOT include the word "but" anywhere in it. Nothing rankles me more - well, almost nothing - than those charlatans who say "Yes, I support the 2nd Amendment, BUT..." and then proceed to tell you how it should be limited by background checks, training, licensing, restriction of certain types of weapons, etc etc etc. In my mind you either support the 2nd Amendment with NO "BUTS" or you don't. Period.
But I have to admit that I kinda like it when the "BUT" is followed by the statement, "I think we need 'common sense' gun laws." This gives me not one but two opportunities to make a monkey out of the person I'm talking to, and I will always jump right on it. The first thing I'll tell them is that "common sense" is not only a relative term the definition of which varies from person to person, but is also a flower that doesn't grow in everyone's garden.
Then I hit them with the 2,500 gun laws that are already on the books and do nothing to stem the violence committed by the criminals in our country who choose to use firearms (You will NEVER hear me use the term "gun violence" because it's a bullshit libtard term I don't believe in) and ask them why we should add any more useless gun laws to the ones already on the books. And then, to make it even better for me and worse for them, I hit them with some facts about laws pertaining to AR-15 systems that I learned two months ago when I acquired my first AR-15. These laws are the perfect example of how the federal government will screw up anything it gets involved in, and just how absurd some of the gun laws out there are.
It goes like this: According to the Federal government, there are three types of AR-15s, those being a rifle, a short-barreled rifle (or SBR), and a pistol. Yes, that's right, a pistol. Just bear with me, it gets much better!
An AR-15 "rifle" is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder using both hands, has a barrel length of greater than 16 inches and an overall length of more than 26 inches. An AR-15 "short barreled rifle" or "SBR" is a shoulder-fired, rifled firearm, made from a rifle, with a barrel length of less than 16 inches or overall length of less than 26 inches, or a handgun fitted with a buttstock and a barrel of less than 16 inches length. In order to purchase an SBR you first have to purchase a tax stamp for the sum of $200. Why? Because the ATFE says so, that's why. An AR-15 "pistol" is a firearm designed to be fired with one hand, has a barrel length of less than 16 inches and an overall length of less than 26 inches, and doesn't have a stock. Since it's a "pistol" and not an "SBR" no tax stamp is needed.
So did you get the part pertaining to an AR-15 pistol, specifically the "designed to be fired with one hand" part?
It is beyond me why anyone would think for even a moment that an AR-15 can be accurately and comfortably fired using only one hand, but apparently several people do - specifically, the guy who designed it and the guys at the ATFE who approved it. I mean, yeah, it has a pistol grip and all that, but even with a 7" barrel you're talking some serious weight out there at the end of your arm. You also have to note that the firearm doesn't have a stock; rather, it has a tube that protrudes out of the back where the stock would be, and this tube is where the buffer spring is located and allows the bolt to move inside of the weapon itself.
Well, someone found a way to make the weapon easier to fire with one hand. They designed a "brace" which fits onto the pistol in the same location and in the same manner as a regular stock, and most of the braces out there kinda look like a stock as well. But they're not classified as "stocks" by the ATFE for one simple reason: they're made out of hard plastic and rubber, are spit up the middle of the stock so you can fit it around your forearm, and have a velcro strap on them that allows you to strap the weapon onto your forearm and fire it with one hand. (We won't talk about working the charging handle on the top of the weapon while it's strapped to your forearm.) And if that doesn't sound confusing enough, most of the "braces" out there are adjustable, meaning that you can extend the "brace" back to increase the overall length of the firearm and move the sights/optics further away from your face.
When the initial designs for the AR-15 pistol brace were submitted to the ATFE, they initially classified it as a "stock" and said you can't put it on an AR-15 pistol because it would allow the weapon to be fired from the shoulder, which moves it into the classification of an SBR and means you have to purchase a tax stamp for it. But when a second design for the brace was submitted, for reasons that are still not really clear to me the ATFE approved it and classified it as a "brace" and not a "stock." Never mind the fact that the "brace" is adjustable and can be extended just like a stock, or that it allows the firearm to be fired from the shoulder just like a "rifle." The ATFE says it's a brace and not a stock, so that's good enough for me.
Now for the absurd part of the gun laws pertaining to AR-15 pistols.
To be honest, I had no idea AR-15 pistols even existed until I acquired mine. It came with a brace and two magazines, and that was it. No sights, no optics, no nothing - just a bare-bones AR-15 pistol. So of course I hit the web sites and started making a list of all the things I wanted to put on it to make it a functional weapon, and at the same time I learned all about what you could and couldn't do with the weapon as far as accessories go. This is where it gets absurd.
The first thing I learned is that you can put whatever optics on it you want. Iron sights, red dot sights, ACOG sights, scopes, laser sights, whatever - the ATFE says you can go nuts with your optics and not change the classification of the weapon. So I chose a Firefield 1X magnification red/green optic for my AR-15 pistol. It does exactly what I wanted it to do without breaking the bank, and at $47 it was a very good deal. I also had a Crimson Trace laser sight that my son had given me that I wasn't using because the pistol wouldn't fit the holsters I have with the sight on it, but it would fit on the AR-15 pistol so I mounted it and zeroed it in, and it works like a charm. Now I have sights for both full light and low light conditions, so I'm good.
The next thing I learned is that you can't put a stock on an AR-15 pistol. You can put whatever brace on it you want, but you can't put a stock of any kind on it because that allows you to fire the weapon from the shoulder which changes the classification of the firearm from a "pistol" to an "SBR," and I ain't paying $200 for some bullshit tax stamp. I did manage to find a brace that I like and will allow me to do what I want to do and not break the bank in the mean time, so that's the last thing I'll get for the pistol come next payday.
The only other thing I wanted to put on the pistol was a vertical foregrip, which is basically a handle which sticks straight down from the underside of the foregrip. Not because it looks cool (actually I don't like the way it looks) but because it helps control the weapon and increases your accuracy. But nope, turns out you can't put a vertical foregrip on an AR pistol because that allows the weapon to be fired with two hands, and that changes the classification from a "pistol" to an "SBR." But you CAN, however, put an ANGLED fore grip on the pistol without changing the classification. But just what is an "angled fore grip" and what does it do? Well, it's a molded piece of polymer that attaches to the underside of the foregrip/barrel shroud and is angled downward at a 45 degree angle, and it improves your grip which allows you to better control the weapon and increases your accuracy.
No, you read that right. It does the same thing as a vertical foregrip, but the wizards at the ATFE say you can use one. Go figure.
So if you want a perfect example of just how inane and ludicrous the Federal gun laws can be, here it is. Couple this with the fact that there are, as I previously stated, more than 2,500 gun laws already in effect which have proven to be ineffective at stemming the violence being committed in our nation with firearms and you have the perfect example of why I am totally opposed to ANY kind of gun law.
And don't even throw that "for the sake and safety of our children" crap at me because I'm gonna turn around and throw the legality of abortion which allows you to murder a child in the womb at you. And that, my friend, will take you down a rabbit's hole that you absolutely do not want to go down.
Right now I'm headed to the range.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
But I have to admit that I kinda like it when the "BUT" is followed by the statement, "I think we need 'common sense' gun laws." This gives me not one but two opportunities to make a monkey out of the person I'm talking to, and I will always jump right on it. The first thing I'll tell them is that "common sense" is not only a relative term the definition of which varies from person to person, but is also a flower that doesn't grow in everyone's garden.
Then I hit them with the 2,500 gun laws that are already on the books and do nothing to stem the violence committed by the criminals in our country who choose to use firearms (You will NEVER hear me use the term "gun violence" because it's a bullshit libtard term I don't believe in) and ask them why we should add any more useless gun laws to the ones already on the books. And then, to make it even better for me and worse for them, I hit them with some facts about laws pertaining to AR-15 systems that I learned two months ago when I acquired my first AR-15. These laws are the perfect example of how the federal government will screw up anything it gets involved in, and just how absurd some of the gun laws out there are.
It goes like this: According to the Federal government, there are three types of AR-15s, those being a rifle, a short-barreled rifle (or SBR), and a pistol. Yes, that's right, a pistol. Just bear with me, it gets much better!
An AR-15 "rifle" is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder using both hands, has a barrel length of greater than 16 inches and an overall length of more than 26 inches. An AR-15 "short barreled rifle" or "SBR" is a shoulder-fired, rifled firearm, made from a rifle, with a barrel length of less than 16 inches or overall length of less than 26 inches, or a handgun fitted with a buttstock and a barrel of less than 16 inches length. In order to purchase an SBR you first have to purchase a tax stamp for the sum of $200. Why? Because the ATFE says so, that's why. An AR-15 "pistol" is a firearm designed to be fired with one hand, has a barrel length of less than 16 inches and an overall length of less than 26 inches, and doesn't have a stock. Since it's a "pistol" and not an "SBR" no tax stamp is needed.
So did you get the part pertaining to an AR-15 pistol, specifically the "designed to be fired with one hand" part?
It is beyond me why anyone would think for even a moment that an AR-15 can be accurately and comfortably fired using only one hand, but apparently several people do - specifically, the guy who designed it and the guys at the ATFE who approved it. I mean, yeah, it has a pistol grip and all that, but even with a 7" barrel you're talking some serious weight out there at the end of your arm. You also have to note that the firearm doesn't have a stock; rather, it has a tube that protrudes out of the back where the stock would be, and this tube is where the buffer spring is located and allows the bolt to move inside of the weapon itself.
Well, someone found a way to make the weapon easier to fire with one hand. They designed a "brace" which fits onto the pistol in the same location and in the same manner as a regular stock, and most of the braces out there kinda look like a stock as well. But they're not classified as "stocks" by the ATFE for one simple reason: they're made out of hard plastic and rubber, are spit up the middle of the stock so you can fit it around your forearm, and have a velcro strap on them that allows you to strap the weapon onto your forearm and fire it with one hand. (We won't talk about working the charging handle on the top of the weapon while it's strapped to your forearm.) And if that doesn't sound confusing enough, most of the "braces" out there are adjustable, meaning that you can extend the "brace" back to increase the overall length of the firearm and move the sights/optics further away from your face.
When the initial designs for the AR-15 pistol brace were submitted to the ATFE, they initially classified it as a "stock" and said you can't put it on an AR-15 pistol because it would allow the weapon to be fired from the shoulder, which moves it into the classification of an SBR and means you have to purchase a tax stamp for it. But when a second design for the brace was submitted, for reasons that are still not really clear to me the ATFE approved it and classified it as a "brace" and not a "stock." Never mind the fact that the "brace" is adjustable and can be extended just like a stock, or that it allows the firearm to be fired from the shoulder just like a "rifle." The ATFE says it's a brace and not a stock, so that's good enough for me.
Now for the absurd part of the gun laws pertaining to AR-15 pistols.
To be honest, I had no idea AR-15 pistols even existed until I acquired mine. It came with a brace and two magazines, and that was it. No sights, no optics, no nothing - just a bare-bones AR-15 pistol. So of course I hit the web sites and started making a list of all the things I wanted to put on it to make it a functional weapon, and at the same time I learned all about what you could and couldn't do with the weapon as far as accessories go. This is where it gets absurd.
The first thing I learned is that you can put whatever optics on it you want. Iron sights, red dot sights, ACOG sights, scopes, laser sights, whatever - the ATFE says you can go nuts with your optics and not change the classification of the weapon. So I chose a Firefield 1X magnification red/green optic for my AR-15 pistol. It does exactly what I wanted it to do without breaking the bank, and at $47 it was a very good deal. I also had a Crimson Trace laser sight that my son had given me that I wasn't using because the pistol wouldn't fit the holsters I have with the sight on it, but it would fit on the AR-15 pistol so I mounted it and zeroed it in, and it works like a charm. Now I have sights for both full light and low light conditions, so I'm good.
The next thing I learned is that you can't put a stock on an AR-15 pistol. You can put whatever brace on it you want, but you can't put a stock of any kind on it because that allows you to fire the weapon from the shoulder which changes the classification of the firearm from a "pistol" to an "SBR," and I ain't paying $200 for some bullshit tax stamp. I did manage to find a brace that I like and will allow me to do what I want to do and not break the bank in the mean time, so that's the last thing I'll get for the pistol come next payday.
The only other thing I wanted to put on the pistol was a vertical foregrip, which is basically a handle which sticks straight down from the underside of the foregrip. Not because it looks cool (actually I don't like the way it looks) but because it helps control the weapon and increases your accuracy. But nope, turns out you can't put a vertical foregrip on an AR pistol because that allows the weapon to be fired with two hands, and that changes the classification from a "pistol" to an "SBR." But you CAN, however, put an ANGLED fore grip on the pistol without changing the classification. But just what is an "angled fore grip" and what does it do? Well, it's a molded piece of polymer that attaches to the underside of the foregrip/barrel shroud and is angled downward at a 45 degree angle, and it improves your grip which allows you to better control the weapon and increases your accuracy.
No, you read that right. It does the same thing as a vertical foregrip, but the wizards at the ATFE say you can use one. Go figure.
So if you want a perfect example of just how inane and ludicrous the Federal gun laws can be, here it is. Couple this with the fact that there are, as I previously stated, more than 2,500 gun laws already in effect which have proven to be ineffective at stemming the violence being committed in our nation with firearms and you have the perfect example of why I am totally opposed to ANY kind of gun law.
And don't even throw that "for the sake and safety of our children" crap at me because I'm gonna turn around and throw the legality of abortion which allows you to murder a child in the womb at you. And that, my friend, will take you down a rabbit's hole that you absolutely do not want to go down.
Right now I'm headed to the range.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
Monday, July 8, 2019
Liberal Lunacy #4: Free Healthcare For Illegal Immigrants
Anyone who has been keeping up on current events knows all about the Demoncratic debates that were held about a week or two ago, and if you heard about them you surely heard about the question that the moderators asked about providing free healthcare for illegal immigrants. So far two of these libtard media circuses have been held, and in the most recent there were 10 candidates on stage with "Creepy" Joe Biden, Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren, Kamalia "On My Knees" Harris and Bernie "Socialism Is Good" Sanders being among them. When that absurd question about providing free healthcare to ILLEGAL immigrants was asked, every single hand on stage went up.
EVERY. SINGLE. HAND.
Words almost fail me on just how wrong this is, how deeply offensive it is to me and every other American military veteran who fought for this country, and how stupendously stupid it is. But I did say "almost," didn't I? So of course I have something to say.
It's like this: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS are CRIMINALS plain and simple. They are NOT "undocumented" immigrants, they are ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS. They entered this country illegally and therefore deserve nothing but a bus ride back to the border and a swift kick in the ass to get them moving. The fact that we have supposedly intelligent people living in this country in positions of power and leadership who would contemplate giving a criminal ANYTHING for free except a jail cell simply astounds me. But like I said, all of this is just a ploy to get votes so they can get elected, because after all if you give someone something for free then of course they're going to feel indebted to you and absolutely will vote for you when the time comes. (I'll save talking about why ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS shouldn't be allowed to vote for another post at another time.)
But what this says to me goes much deeper than that. What this says to me is that there are several classes of American citizens whom these libtard morons are intentionally ignoring, and they don't seem to care.
They're intentionally ignoring the veterans in this country who need healthcare, and who are actually deserving of it. If these so-called American politicians actually gave a damn about America and American citizens, they'd be talking about fixing the Veteran's Administration and the VA Healthcare system that is so screwed up that veterans are actually dying while waiting to be seen. The VA system has been broken for decades, and it has more veterans to take care of now than ever thanks to the eleven-plus years of warfare that Trump just put an end to. And I'm speaking from experience because as a retired USAF Master Sergeant I use the VA healthcare system here in Columbia SC, and I can tell you that while the people there do the best job that they can, the system itself sucks. It's a typical government bureaucracy that is so full of red tape, stupid requirements, and silly procedures that it takes an act of Congress with a co-signing by God to get anything done. Yet you don't hear ANY of the Demoncratic politicians anywhere talking about improving the system and improving the quality of healthcare for the American veterans. All they want to talk about is giving free shit to criminals who cross the border illegally.
They're intentionally ignoring low-income families who can't afford quality healthcare, specifically the children who didn't ask to be born into that situation to begin with. And before you tell me that NObamacare took care of that, you need to go do some research and see just how wrong that statement is. Just because you've signed up for something that is run by the government doesn't mean you're going to get it, and get it on time. So don't even go there.
They're intentionally ignoring the elderly who are retired, living on a fixed income, and rely on Medicare and Medicade for their health care. More government-run programs filled with yet more red tape, delays, and unnecessary bullshit in programs that don't provide 100% of the health care for our seniors.
The Demoncrats are ignoring all of this and want to give 10% free healthcare to people who have done absolutely nothing for this country, have contributed absolutely nothing to this country, and are criminals because they're here illegally.
Pay attention, people, because these are the idiots and fools who want to lead this country. And if you don't see a problem with this and actually think they're right, then you have a serious problem yourself.
As long as we have ONE American child who goes to bed hungry each night, as long as we have ONE American child who lacks a warm place to sleep, clean clothes, and someone to love and take care of them, as long as we have ONE American veteran who is homeless or who needs adequate health care, we don't have a single penny to spend on ANY illegal immigrant criminal. And don't try and tell me that I'm being cruel and heartless to the illegal immigrant children who were brought here by their parents, because that's bullshit and you know it. The one who's being cruel and heartless to those kids are their parents who drag them along and put them in that situation, not me.
An American politician's first concern should be for AMERICANS, not illegal immigrant criminals. And if you're an American politician and your first concern isn't for Americans, then you will NEVER - repeat, NEVER - earn either my respect or my vote.
NEVER.
TRUMP 2020.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
EVERY. SINGLE. HAND.
Words almost fail me on just how wrong this is, how deeply offensive it is to me and every other American military veteran who fought for this country, and how stupendously stupid it is. But I did say "almost," didn't I? So of course I have something to say.
It's like this: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS are CRIMINALS plain and simple. They are NOT "undocumented" immigrants, they are ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS. They entered this country illegally and therefore deserve nothing but a bus ride back to the border and a swift kick in the ass to get them moving. The fact that we have supposedly intelligent people living in this country in positions of power and leadership who would contemplate giving a criminal ANYTHING for free except a jail cell simply astounds me. But like I said, all of this is just a ploy to get votes so they can get elected, because after all if you give someone something for free then of course they're going to feel indebted to you and absolutely will vote for you when the time comes. (I'll save talking about why ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS shouldn't be allowed to vote for another post at another time.)
But what this says to me goes much deeper than that. What this says to me is that there are several classes of American citizens whom these libtard morons are intentionally ignoring, and they don't seem to care.
They're intentionally ignoring the veterans in this country who need healthcare, and who are actually deserving of it. If these so-called American politicians actually gave a damn about America and American citizens, they'd be talking about fixing the Veteran's Administration and the VA Healthcare system that is so screwed up that veterans are actually dying while waiting to be seen. The VA system has been broken for decades, and it has more veterans to take care of now than ever thanks to the eleven-plus years of warfare that Trump just put an end to. And I'm speaking from experience because as a retired USAF Master Sergeant I use the VA healthcare system here in Columbia SC, and I can tell you that while the people there do the best job that they can, the system itself sucks. It's a typical government bureaucracy that is so full of red tape, stupid requirements, and silly procedures that it takes an act of Congress with a co-signing by God to get anything done. Yet you don't hear ANY of the Demoncratic politicians anywhere talking about improving the system and improving the quality of healthcare for the American veterans. All they want to talk about is giving free shit to criminals who cross the border illegally.
They're intentionally ignoring low-income families who can't afford quality healthcare, specifically the children who didn't ask to be born into that situation to begin with. And before you tell me that NObamacare took care of that, you need to go do some research and see just how wrong that statement is. Just because you've signed up for something that is run by the government doesn't mean you're going to get it, and get it on time. So don't even go there.
They're intentionally ignoring the elderly who are retired, living on a fixed income, and rely on Medicare and Medicade for their health care. More government-run programs filled with yet more red tape, delays, and unnecessary bullshit in programs that don't provide 100% of the health care for our seniors.
The Demoncrats are ignoring all of this and want to give 10% free healthcare to people who have done absolutely nothing for this country, have contributed absolutely nothing to this country, and are criminals because they're here illegally.
Pay attention, people, because these are the idiots and fools who want to lead this country. And if you don't see a problem with this and actually think they're right, then you have a serious problem yourself.
As long as we have ONE American child who goes to bed hungry each night, as long as we have ONE American child who lacks a warm place to sleep, clean clothes, and someone to love and take care of them, as long as we have ONE American veteran who is homeless or who needs adequate health care, we don't have a single penny to spend on ANY illegal immigrant criminal. And don't try and tell me that I'm being cruel and heartless to the illegal immigrant children who were brought here by their parents, because that's bullshit and you know it. The one who's being cruel and heartless to those kids are their parents who drag them along and put them in that situation, not me.
An American politician's first concern should be for AMERICANS, not illegal immigrant criminals. And if you're an American politician and your first concern isn't for Americans, then you will NEVER - repeat, NEVER - earn either my respect or my vote.
NEVER.
TRUMP 2020.
Deo Vindice.
IHC
Sunday, June 30, 2019
The Year So Far
Yeah, I know, it's been more than a year since I posted. Guilty as charged. Rather than try to come up with some lame excuse as to why I haven't posted in so long, let's just move on to the present, shall we?
2019 has so far proven to be quite a bit more than I expected it to be. It's only half over and so far it's been filled with more pleasant surprises and disappointments than I counted on, but then again we really don't know what to expect from life, do we? Hell, if we knew what was coming next life would be boring as hell. But at least I can say that the past 6 months have been interesting, that's for sure.
January and February were fairly routine with nothing other than my 62nd birthday happening in January. March, on the other hand, is when it all started.
March started off with my family celebrating my father's 90th birthday and my mother's 88th birthday. Words cannot express how very happy I am that I still have my parents in my life, and I cherish each visit with them. Got one coming up this coming weekend, actually, and I'm looking forward to it as usual.
The first big disappointment came barely a week later on March 14th. To make a long story short, I made a silly but innocent mistake at work that was classified as a "safety violation," and my store manager who had been looking for an excuse to get rid of me did just that as my useless supervisor stood by and did nothing to defend me. After 11 years with Lowe's I was fired for one mistake in which nobody's "safety" was in jeopardy, no damage was caused to the building, and no customer's safety was endangered. But like I said, my store manager jumped at the chance to get rid of me since she was under the mistaken impression that all I did was sit around and watch videos on YouTube all day. (Karma paid her a visit shortly after that, though - her store failed inventory miserably and she was demoted to a lower volume store which is the kiss of death for a store manager in Lowe's.) Am I bitter about it? Yeah, a bit, and I always will be. I have a real problem with busting my ass for a company and/or a person and not being appreciated for it, as I'm sure we all do. But hey, life goes on, and mine certainly has.
Gina and I had been discussing me retiring anyway, and we figured out that for me to equal the salary I was making at Lowe's, all I would need would be the money I'd get from Social Security and an additional $300 a month - and that was IT. We figured I could get a part-time job and make this easily, so we made plans to do just that. So when this whole "safety violation" thing came around, I kinda saw what was going to happen and in the week it took for it to happen I contacted the Social Security Administration and applied for Social Security benefits - in other words, in May 2019 I was going to retire and let the working world do without me for the rest of my life. Thing happened fairly fast after that.
I was fired on March 14th; a week later I got a phone call from the Social Security Administration who just needed to ask me 2 questions about my application for benefits, and after answering them I was told that my application for benefits was approved and that I would receive my first check NEXT WEEK. Then we sold Gina's motorcycle which she hadn't ridden in more than a year, taking the money from that and from an 401K account I had with Lowe's and paying off nearly ALL of our bills. This freed up a hell of a lot more than $300 a month, so the end result has been that I don't have to work AT ALL. I am 100% RETIRED and loving every minute of it!
Also taking place in March was the 5th anniversary celebration of my Widow's Sons Chapter. Over the past 4 years I've watched the Chapter go from a group of 6 guys of whom maybe 3 would show up for the rides to the largest Chapter in the state with 21 members, a lady's auxiliary, and the average attendance at Chapter rides sitting at 17. The anniversary celebration was nothing short of fantastic, with nearly the entire Chapter attending and 6 members of the Grand Chapter riding down from Lancaster to attend as well. It was a fantastic event that I will remember for the rest of my life.
But this month all of that came crashing down, and the end result was that I felt it best for both myself and the Chapter for me to leave the Widows Sons entirely. I could go into detail about what caused it but I won't, because I don't think it's appropriate for me to air the Chapter's dirty laundry in public. Besides, emotions are still kinda raw about all of this (to include mine) and I don't feel it necessary to inflame them further. All I will say is that I cherished the 3 1/2 years I served as the Chapter President, and that in the time I wore the President's patch every decision I made was for the benefit of the Chapter. Considering the phenomenal growth of the Chapter, I'd say I did a pretty fair job of it. I have to admit, though, that leaving the Widows Sons has left a very big hole in my heart that will be tough to fill. So now I'm in the process of looking for another group to ride with, preferably a Masonic group, but that doesn't mean I won't consider a non-Masonic group. I have a couple of things in the works, so we'll see how all that turns out.
This year in my Masonic lodge I'm the Junior Warden, and that means I'm responsible for providing the meal at all meetings. This is a task that can be fairly easy if you keep on top of it, but if you don't it'll run you slam over. It's kinda like being a reporting giving a report on the progress of an avalanche while running downhill. But I'm still running, I only have 6 more months to go, and then it's not my problem anymore. Next year I'll get to sit back and kind of coast as the Senior Warden, but in 2021 I'm going to be Master of the Lodge - and that is a 24/7 job which is anything but easy. But I've been preparing for it for the past 3 years and still have another year to prepare, so I think I'll be ok by the time 2021 rolls around.
There have been some other very minor ups and downs over the past six months, but nothing important or worth writing about. Since I retired I've put more than 2,000 miles on "Casper" (my 2003 H-D Road King Classic) and plan to put a whole lot more on it as well. Gina and I are still loving life and each other, and for that I'll always be eternally grateful. I still say that she's the best thing to ever happen to me, and I'll always feel that way. We're headed to a Columbia Fireflies game tonight, and both of us are really looking forward to it!
Well, it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining and there are things to do, so let me close for now. All in all life is good, and I have no real complaints. As the old saying goes, "Any day above ground is a good day," and that pretty much sums it up.
DEO VINDICE.
IHC
2019 has so far proven to be quite a bit more than I expected it to be. It's only half over and so far it's been filled with more pleasant surprises and disappointments than I counted on, but then again we really don't know what to expect from life, do we? Hell, if we knew what was coming next life would be boring as hell. But at least I can say that the past 6 months have been interesting, that's for sure.
January and February were fairly routine with nothing other than my 62nd birthday happening in January. March, on the other hand, is when it all started.
March started off with my family celebrating my father's 90th birthday and my mother's 88th birthday. Words cannot express how very happy I am that I still have my parents in my life, and I cherish each visit with them. Got one coming up this coming weekend, actually, and I'm looking forward to it as usual.
The first big disappointment came barely a week later on March 14th. To make a long story short, I made a silly but innocent mistake at work that was classified as a "safety violation," and my store manager who had been looking for an excuse to get rid of me did just that as my useless supervisor stood by and did nothing to defend me. After 11 years with Lowe's I was fired for one mistake in which nobody's "safety" was in jeopardy, no damage was caused to the building, and no customer's safety was endangered. But like I said, my store manager jumped at the chance to get rid of me since she was under the mistaken impression that all I did was sit around and watch videos on YouTube all day. (Karma paid her a visit shortly after that, though - her store failed inventory miserably and she was demoted to a lower volume store which is the kiss of death for a store manager in Lowe's.) Am I bitter about it? Yeah, a bit, and I always will be. I have a real problem with busting my ass for a company and/or a person and not being appreciated for it, as I'm sure we all do. But hey, life goes on, and mine certainly has.
Gina and I had been discussing me retiring anyway, and we figured out that for me to equal the salary I was making at Lowe's, all I would need would be the money I'd get from Social Security and an additional $300 a month - and that was IT. We figured I could get a part-time job and make this easily, so we made plans to do just that. So when this whole "safety violation" thing came around, I kinda saw what was going to happen and in the week it took for it to happen I contacted the Social Security Administration and applied for Social Security benefits - in other words, in May 2019 I was going to retire and let the working world do without me for the rest of my life. Thing happened fairly fast after that.
I was fired on March 14th; a week later I got a phone call from the Social Security Administration who just needed to ask me 2 questions about my application for benefits, and after answering them I was told that my application for benefits was approved and that I would receive my first check NEXT WEEK. Then we sold Gina's motorcycle which she hadn't ridden in more than a year, taking the money from that and from an 401K account I had with Lowe's and paying off nearly ALL of our bills. This freed up a hell of a lot more than $300 a month, so the end result has been that I don't have to work AT ALL. I am 100% RETIRED and loving every minute of it!
Also taking place in March was the 5th anniversary celebration of my Widow's Sons Chapter. Over the past 4 years I've watched the Chapter go from a group of 6 guys of whom maybe 3 would show up for the rides to the largest Chapter in the state with 21 members, a lady's auxiliary, and the average attendance at Chapter rides sitting at 17. The anniversary celebration was nothing short of fantastic, with nearly the entire Chapter attending and 6 members of the Grand Chapter riding down from Lancaster to attend as well. It was a fantastic event that I will remember for the rest of my life.
But this month all of that came crashing down, and the end result was that I felt it best for both myself and the Chapter for me to leave the Widows Sons entirely. I could go into detail about what caused it but I won't, because I don't think it's appropriate for me to air the Chapter's dirty laundry in public. Besides, emotions are still kinda raw about all of this (to include mine) and I don't feel it necessary to inflame them further. All I will say is that I cherished the 3 1/2 years I served as the Chapter President, and that in the time I wore the President's patch every decision I made was for the benefit of the Chapter. Considering the phenomenal growth of the Chapter, I'd say I did a pretty fair job of it. I have to admit, though, that leaving the Widows Sons has left a very big hole in my heart that will be tough to fill. So now I'm in the process of looking for another group to ride with, preferably a Masonic group, but that doesn't mean I won't consider a non-Masonic group. I have a couple of things in the works, so we'll see how all that turns out.
This year in my Masonic lodge I'm the Junior Warden, and that means I'm responsible for providing the meal at all meetings. This is a task that can be fairly easy if you keep on top of it, but if you don't it'll run you slam over. It's kinda like being a reporting giving a report on the progress of an avalanche while running downhill. But I'm still running, I only have 6 more months to go, and then it's not my problem anymore. Next year I'll get to sit back and kind of coast as the Senior Warden, but in 2021 I'm going to be Master of the Lodge - and that is a 24/7 job which is anything but easy. But I've been preparing for it for the past 3 years and still have another year to prepare, so I think I'll be ok by the time 2021 rolls around.
There have been some other very minor ups and downs over the past six months, but nothing important or worth writing about. Since I retired I've put more than 2,000 miles on "Casper" (my 2003 H-D Road King Classic) and plan to put a whole lot more on it as well. Gina and I are still loving life and each other, and for that I'll always be eternally grateful. I still say that she's the best thing to ever happen to me, and I'll always feel that way. We're headed to a Columbia Fireflies game tonight, and both of us are really looking forward to it!
Well, it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining and there are things to do, so let me close for now. All in all life is good, and I have no real complaints. As the old saying goes, "Any day above ground is a good day," and that pretty much sums it up.
DEO VINDICE.
IHC
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