Tuesday, December 10, 2024

We've Been Given a Reprieve

 I don’t always talk about politics on here but occasionally I dabble.  Let me say right here that I voted for Trump.  Is he the best President ever?  No.  But the alternative was quite disturbing.  I don’t want to go into a discussion about parties or politics.  But I feel we’ve been given a small gift.  I’m sure I won’t be happy with every Trump decision, but I think I can be happy with most, most of the time.  But I feel we’ve been given a reprieve.  Four years to breath a little easier.  But this is no time to rest on our laurels.  I think it’s a good time to review preparations and hunker down.

When I was in combat there would come a time in the fighting where it would stop.  It was usually the calm before the storm, and we’d get hit harder the next time.  But in that time we had a chance to take care of wounded. A chance to clean a weapon.  Restock magazines and make sure the mortar teams had all the rounds they needed.  We knew it wasn’t over, but we prepared for what was to come.  Thomas Jefferson said: “Peace is that brief, glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading,” That may be true.  I’m not saying there are no problems and that a Trump Presidency will save us, but I feel less oppression, albeit brief.

Preparedness is a funny thing.  You can work at it and work at it, but once you’ve met, or exceeded,  your goals you can almost feel let down.  Waiting and sometimes praying for a problem so you can “be ready”.  There is a danger in this.  Apathy and not being vigilant can set in.  Preparing for war or combat can be that way.  You almost want it to happen.  I do not want problems.  I do not want disaster.  I certainly don’t want war!  I’ve been in them all and I got the T-shirt, don’t want to ever be there again.

So, my advice would be to go through your preparations.  Check and inventory your food and water.  Then move on to medical supplies and medicines. Then check guns and ammo.  Tweak those things that have bothered you over the years, but you never had the chance to fix. Check the things that you need to rotate.  Water, outdated medicine and MRE’s.  Freeze dried food lasts a long time but not forever.  Canned goods should be rotated.  Batteries run down or go bad.  Make sure sleeping bags or tents have not been munched on by mice.  Start with the most essential and make a list.  After supplies and gear review your SOP (standard operating procedures).  Make sure your security is updated.  Check fuel whether it is gasoline/diesel storage or wood.  Make sure it is refreshed and stored properly.  All of this and more should be your focus.  Put things on a schedule so you won’t forget.  For instance, we usually rotate our water storage during Conference time so that we can be assured of fresh water every 6 months.  Pick a birthday or holiday that reoccurs in the interval you need for that particular preparation.

No one can predict the future.  But we can prepare for the future.  Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.  I do know that I can be better prepared in many ways.  If the upcoming political climate makes that an easier task then that is great.  Hopefully the bad times won’t come.  But if they do, we want to be ready.  If you believe in the second coming of Christ you know that things will get bad.  Trying to mitigate that time is what being prepared is all about.  Take this time of reprieve, take a breath, check your preps, and as old Tom Jefferson said, “…reload.”

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn    

Monday, November 25, 2024

Embrace the Suck and Suck Less! (Reprint)

This is an article from 2017.  In the last 10 years or so I see a trend in society to not be resilient.  In fact, there are classes, lectures, and training out there on how to be resilient.  It's hard for someone who was taught to be resilient at a young age to fathom someone actually taking a class for this, but there it is!

I did some military training at an Army base in Illinois in the 80’s. By virtue of my assignment, being attached to a particular unit, I was subject to the requirements of that unit. During my time with them we played some war games. Numerous times during that time did I hear the term “Embrace the suck!” The term “embrace the suck” is a term widely used in the military when talking about a job or task that is pointless, tiring, or downright lame. As someone trying to be prepared, it’s also important that we “embrace the suck” because not everything we watch or read is as easy as it seems. We all see the pictures of a thriving garden or the perfect shooter, but we never see the behind the scenes work that went into the final product. Growing vegetables takes composting, weeding and constant attention. Being good with a gun takes time, practice, and determination. These "behind the scenes" details are the “suck” we need to embrace. These aren’t the flashy fun aspects of self-sufficiency, but they could be the difference between having a great final product, or a final product that leaves you disappointed. The mundane tasks like weeding the garden, inventory, rotation and shooting drills, are important if we want to get things right. Cutting corners might save you time but could lead to a less than satisfactory outcome.

One of the Youtube channels I frequent, and recommend, is the Nutin Fancy Project (TMP). Nutin reviews guns, but also knives, watches, and adventure. He includes his family and friends. I highly recommend it. When they are testing and shooting guns they sometimes use a term “suckless”, meaning, “do it better.” Often I think we need to remind ourselves and others that we strive for excellence and if we suck, suck less. Improve. Be better than you are. Make the best of everything.
Anything you do can be a waste of time when you don’t pay attention to detail. These might seem unimportant during the process, but sometimes the small things are just as important as the big things. If you own a firearm, you also need to learn about firearms safety, cleaning and actually shooting it.
All this "behind the scenes" stuff, or the “suck” is also one reason preppers lose their motivation. We always think about the ripe tomatoes or what it would be like to be an Operator, but we don’t think about the process of getting there. The process itself could lead us to just put it off until later, and then later never comes.
There is not always an easy solution when it comes to preparing, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try and find one. The truth is, there are some things you just can’t throw money at, and it will take a little hard work to get it done. Shooting is one of those things.
It’s really easy to talk yourself out of something because our brains are designed to keep us safe and fear the unknown. We always think about the worst thing that could happen. The odds are, nothing will ever be as bad (or hard) as our minds made it out to be.
Getting your family to “embrace the suck” is a challenge, but important as well. Your children need to learn that it’s natural to want to avoid the hard things, but it’s important to “embrace the suck” of hard things.
Shakespeare wrote:
“Let thee embrace me, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course”

Even old Willie counselled us to embrace the suck.
There are two kinds of suckiness. Physical and mental. How do you get past a situation with both? (Combat, natural disaster, etc.) You have to accept the moment as your new reality. Usually it is temporary, but it is the new normal. With this you can commit to thriving rather than just surviving. You have to decide to get through this and maybe even learn and come out better. Ever hear the saying “There are no atheists in the foxholes?” A belief in God and that He is there and will help you makes an immense difference.

We all have a form of suckiness in our lives. Sometimes there is nothing that can be done to make it go away. That’s when we need to learn to Embrace the suck!

Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn

Priority Training (Reprint article)

Today I want to give detail on what to include in your training plan. I hesitate to get too detailed because each of us are different. We are all at different skill levels, experience, physical abilities, and gun education. So, what will work for me may not work for you. Here are some ideas for how to practice.
When you begin to devise a program for your training, get some! Take some classes. That’s “classes” with an “s”. One class is usually not enough. I will admit, I haven’t been to a class in a few years. As a young instructor I would take a class every year or so to learn new things or to keep up my education. After a few decades of that, I held off on my personal training to about every 3 years. Sometimes I go longer. I read a lot and teaching others can be challenging. As I get older, I can see all of it trailing off to less frequent. I know that I don’t know everything, but as you get to a certain level it becomes a matter of practice. When I miss going to the range a few weeks I start to see a difference in my shooting, I know what I need to do, and I do it. Depending where you are in your shooting education and experience this will dictate what you need to do and how you do it. Be honest about your abilities. Remember that it does not matter if a course is “below your level of skill.” While you should take on courses of increasing difficulty over time, instruction is valuable no matter the difficulty level of the course. Just do it. Keep doing it. Having established an instruction-based regimen, here are some ideas for effective, efficient, ongoing self-practice.
When you go to the range for live fire time have a specific plan in mind. Pick a few things to work on. One or two should be enough. If you take on too much, not only will you be at the range for many hours, you’ll lose some of what you practice with overload.
Some ideas are:
Concentrate on maintaining proper grip, with an eye toward muzzle/recoil control
Work on clearing specific malfunctions.
Work on maintaining a good sight picture while transitioning between two targets
Work on trigger manipulation
Work on sight picture as you press the trigger
Work on front sight focus and re-acquisitioning sight picture after a shot
Work on realistic stances and postures in different positions.
Work on cheek to stock weld replication with a rifle
These are only a few ideas.
Drills are a big part of my regime. I’ve found particular drills that help me to maintain my accuracy and give me a realistic idea of what I may have to deal with in a confrontation. I will also admit that I probably work to maintain my firefight abilities. This is something that comes from my experience and paranoia. Most people (including me) will probably never be in a real firefight. My training is based solely on my experience as yours should be too. Most personal protection situations are at a fairly close range. But I believe in a mass shooting event that firefight conditions may exist. The chances of any of us being in an active shooter incident is pretty remote. I use this as an excuse to train for it but honestly, the real reason is probably PTSD hyper vigilance driven. Depending on where you shoot will dictate how much you can train. But many of the things I’ve suggested above can be done at an indoor range. Remember to temper your practice and limit yourself to only a few areas of focus. Too much can give you overload and be a waste.
Remember that practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Do your best to work your drills with exactness. Make sure you are practicing correctly so as to not create problems that you will have to fix later. Do it right to develop good habits.
Prepare your practice session with targets and a plan. I use 4 different “work out” routines that I mix up randomly. This keeps things fresh and not too stale. I have these practice plans written out. You don’t have to do this, but I work on a federal installation in a job that requires checklists. It’s what I do every day. So, for me, a written “checklist” of my shooting plans is something that resonates in my brain. I am a firm believer in the saying that says “A goal not written is only a wish.” Like I said, this is individual to me. I would recommend it, but it has to work for you and your situation. So, I get targets and equipment I will need to do my practice ahead of time. This also gives me a chance to visualize in my head what I’m going to do. Don’t forget multiple targets in your drills. If there is some dry fire that will support my practice as a prerequisite, I ensure that is dome ahead of time. I have “checklists” for my dry fire too. But that is just me.
I only bring the guns I need for that particular work out and no more. If I bring a gun that is not used in that particular work out, then I’ll shoot it. (I love shooting my guns!) This is a distraction from my practicing goals. If you want to shoot other guns, then schedule a different session for fun. But be serious about your practice.
I try to limit my ammunition to what is needed for the drills I’m doing. Otherwise, I put a limit of 50 rounds on myself. If I don’t, I’ll blow through 300 rounds easy. I used to not do this, and it was hard to maintain my ammo storage. I was having to replenish my storage with 2000 or 5000 round buys. Not only is that expensive, it becomes more recreational than educational. Don’t get me wrong, I love bump shooting my 10-22 through 200 rounds! It’s fun and satisfying! (I do NOT own a bump stock, by the way. I use my belt loop as I have for the majority of my life) I think there is a time and place for rec shooting but practice is not time.
The unexpected is to be expected. There are always things that go wrong, you run out of ammo, there is a malfunction, but these are good. This teaches reality in your practice. Often, I will put in snap caps mixed in with my ammo. I know we’re not really training for a firefight, but the reality is you won’t be able to keep track of your rounds no matter how controlled your fire is. If you are getting shot at, that’s pretty much what you’re thinking about. Don’t let running out of ammo throw you off. Be ready for it. I was fighting from a fighting position eons ago and I would always have at least 30 extra 30 round magazines near me at all times. Seldom did I use all 31 mags. I think I ran out only twice. That is not a good feeling. In a typical self-defense situation, you probably won’t go through a full 10 to 15 round magazine. Always have more and always practice mag changes. But I’ve seen law enforcement who experienced a shooting event, and they emptied their weapon even though they could only recall a lesser number of rounds fired. The “fog of war” is real, but preparation and practice can help mitigate that fog.
Competing is a good and fun way to practice with some realistic results. Consider local matches of IDPA or USPA. Check out their activity near you on their web sites.
Once you get into a routine of practice, you’ll miss it if you can’t. It is like exercise. You must plan for it seriously. I feel incomplete if I miss a week. Come up with something you can devote time and resources to. And don’t forget to enjoy!

Semper Paratus
Check 6

Burn 

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Revisiting The Church's Policy and The Constitution

 Let me say on the outset of this article that I support, sustain, and appreciate the leaders of my Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I follow counsel from living Prophets and Apostles.  I feel the same way about my local leaders.  

So why am I writing an article that seems to go against the Church’s policy of no “lethal weapons on church property” unless you are a (law enforcement officer) LEO?  Nothing against LEO’s, but I’ve trained them.  Some of them have a hard time finding their way around a shooting range.  Yet they can carry on Church property.  The first thing this policy does is make Church property soft targets.  This puts my family at risk. Then to top it off, and trying to make someone feel good, they employ the “Run, Hide, Fight” training to survive an active shooter event.  All of this adds up to cowering in the corner and saying, “please don’t hurt me”.  If you’ve read my blog posts, you would know that is not me.  All of the above, in my opinion, equals a politically correct response.  Maybe it's a liability issue?

In April 2021 Conference Apostle Dallin H Oaks said this about the Constitution of the United States.

“In these remarks I do not speak for any political party or other group. I speak for the United States Constitution, which I have studied for more than 60 years. I speak from my experience as a law clerk to the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. I speak from my 15 years as a professor of law and my 3½ years as a justice on the Utah Supreme Court. Most important, I speak from 37 years as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, responsible to study the meaning of the divinely inspired United States Constitution to the work of His restored Church.

“The United States Constitution is unique because God revealed that He “established” it “for the rights and protection of all flesh”.

The Constitution is divinely inspired.  Even the 2nd Amendment.  Unless you’re on Church property.  On Church property I have to Run or hide but not fight with a lethal weapon.  I guess I have to throw a Kleenex box at someone trying to kill me.

This is where I toot my own horn.  I have grown up around guns and hunting.  I have been trained by the U.S. military.  I have some experience with combat. I am a certified, trained small arms instructor for the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Army.  I have trained and qualified 100’s of Soldiers, Airmen, Pilots, and Officers in Pistol, Rifle, and automatic weapons. I have trained agents from the FBI, DEA, CBP, Customs, Border Patrol, local Sherrif’s office, and local PD. I am a certified concealed carry instructor for my state.  I also maintain Concealed Carry licenses from 2 states.  I am a credentialed Range Safety Officer for the NRA.  I am also a credentialed NRA Instructor in Certified Pistol, Certified Rifle, and Personal Protection in the Home.  I also was a competitor in the now disbanded American Tactical Shooters Association.  Plus, I go to the range once or twice a week.  I have experience with guns. But I can’t carry at Church. 

I don’t understand how the Church can say the Constitution is inspired but no one but LEO’s can have a gun on Church property.  How can the woke members in the Church office building reconcile with the second amendment?  I agree that we should be a peacemaking people.  I, myself, do not condone violence.  But when violence and evil come calling, I hope the Church leadership is not depending on Law Enforcement to protect us.  Don’t get me wrong.  We have the best, bravest, best trained, and dedicated law enforcement in the world.  But they cannot be everywhere all the time!  I want to protect my family if the run, hide fails.  I would beseech the leadership to talk with the Church security people.  I would hope that they can see that asking members to not be armed on Church property is a very bad decision.  I know there have been accidents.  But the actual attacks and the threat that is out there should overshadow their fear someone will get hurt in a firearm accident.  I can guarantee that the chances of someone getting shot from someone actually trying to shoot people are much higher than an accident.

After saying all this I will answer your question.  Yes, I am always armed on Church property.  I do not recommend anyone else to do this, even though I do break this policy.  I wrestled with this when it came to pass in 2019. I have been carrying in church since 1983.  I considered stopping and complying.  But I then thought about if I could live with myself if some nut bag came into my place of worship and started to shoot and I was not armed.  I have a hard enough time living with myself having been in combat with brothers that did not make it.  I would be over the edge if I could have done something when the threat appeared but was not equipped with the tools of defense.  I don’t know if that is justification or rationalization or what.  But that is my decision.  My wife used to teach early morning Seminary in our building.  She is trained and licensed.  If she still taught Seminary, I would probably tell her to be armed.  She was armed when she taught but the policy at that time was different.

The Church needs to decide if the 2nd amendment applies to the divinity of the Constitution or not.  Do we as members believe the Constitution or not?  As members we believe in agency unless it comes to the 2nd amendment. Do we believe that these rights come from God or not?  Do we follow the world in defense of our families?  I don’t know if liability will ever change this policy, but I will remind everyone of my opinion when someone goes in and shoots up a chapel.

Elder Oaks said: “I testify of the divinely inspired Constitution of the United States and pray that we who recognize the Divine Being who inspired it will always uphold and defend its great principles.”  Even those principles in the 2nd Amendment.

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Finding Your Best Training

 In training we should always have an objective.  Otherwise, it’s recreational shooting.  There’s nothing wrong with recreational shooting but if your intent is self-defense, you’ll probably be missing the mark. Without calling anyone names we’re not nearly as smart or capable as we think we are.  I include myself in this.  It isn’t until our vision of what we think we’re capable of comes to fruition that we learn the reality of what we are capable of.  When you are put under stress, you’re going to have even less fine motor skills. So, the better technical shooter you are, that’s going to free up brain capacity to be able to solve the problem at hand.

There’s a body cam video where an officer is getting into a gunfight and literally every time he tries to get a mag in the gun, it’s backwards. He’s struggling just to get the gun into the fight. If you’re struggling to get the gun reloaded, you can’t be thinking about where your next point of cover is, where other officers are moving to, if civilians are near. So again, high levels of technical shooting are vital because it frees our mental resources to focus on other aspects of the fight that we need to be more worried about.

It comes back to core competence. If I want to know whether somebody is a competent shot, I want to see how they handle the gun. How they load, unload, press-check, perform reloads and similar tasks.

The way you handle the gun is indicative of the amount of training you’ve put in overall.  This shows how much the gun is an extension of your self

Maybe you can shoot 100 points on a bullseye at 25 yards. But if it looks like a train wreck getting the gun up, or loading, or a dozen other handling tasks, then there is room for more training. Being able to press the trigger straight back is great, but how you handle the gun is more indicative than just about anything else we can see in a shooter.

Now using my “extensive” (sarcasm) knowledge of psychology I’d like to bring this into this train of thought.

Trait theorist Raymond Cattell reduced the number of main personality traits from Allport’s initial list of over 4,000 down to 171. According to Cattell, 16 traits are the source of all human personalities.

British psychologist Hans Eysenck believed that personality has a biological basis, developing a model of personality based on just three universal traits.

Both Cattell’s and Eysenck’s theories have been the subject of considerable research. This has led some theorists to believe that Cattell focused on too many traits, while Eysenck focused on too few. As a result, a new trait theory often referred to as the "Big Five" theory emerged.

 This 5-factor model of personality represents five core traits that interact to form human personality.  While researchers often disagree about the exact labels for each dimension, they are commonly described as:

Agreeableness: level of cooperation and caring for others (friendly/compassionate vs. critical/judgmental)

Conscientiousness: level of thoughtfulness and structure (efficient/organized vs. extravagant/careless)

Extraversion: level of socialness and emotional expressiveness (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)

Neuroticism: level of mood stability and emotional resilience (sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident)

Openness: level of adventure and creativity (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)

The only reason I bring any of this psych-o-babble into this is that personality does, I believe, enter into this shooting and defending equation.  Personality is always displayed when it comes to shooters in the Special Operations community in the military or law enforcement.  It takes a certain kind of personality to be able to turn off emotion.  Anyone can do this to a certain point.  Turning off emotion works but controlling emotion is the real key.  Being able to control fear, anger, etc. and emotions that are involved with defending is actually a good trait.  I’m not sure turning them off is a good idea.  Because that causes problems in other areas of life, like relationships. But knowing your personality and which emotions will be prevalent in your personality is very advantageous.  As you do a little self-evaluation be honest with yourself.  It might be a good idea to talk with someone who really knows you and can be honest with you about this evaluation.

Many people wonder what training will help them in this thing we call defense.  Even simple plinking can be of value.  Whether you do structured practice, structured dry practice, you’re shooting matches, you’re doing man-on-man events, you’re attending professional training, you’re taking cognitive classes, or you’re doing video simulators. All that has value and if we put all of those different experiences in different kind of modalities of training together, then we have a very competent shooter. Because none of those things is going to be the solution by itself, but if we put them all together, we can build a very strong foundation to let us be able to perform well.

This doesn’t mean you have to do all these things to be competent, it means you need to figure out what training is best for you and will make you the best shooter and defender you’d like to be.

Train hard my friends.

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Are U.S. Schools Finally Getting The Security Message?

 It has been some time since we’ve had a school shooting.  I hope it never happens again.  I wanted to put this article out now instead of right after a bad event.  It makes sense to prepare.  I think many if not all schools in the U.S. have made changes to their security at public schools.  Columbine happened in 1999.  That also happened to be in the middle of a federal “assault rifle” ban.  But we’ve had many tragic shootings since then because American schools just did not learn the lessons of those horrible events.  I think in the 25 years since Columbine finally we’ve decided to make our kids safe.  I hope the schools near you have decided to take decisive steps to secure our schools.

The following is a portion of an article written in 2013.

Published September 9, 2013 In Campus Safety magazine,

“I gained a priceless new mindset after my trip to Israel. Want to think like an Israeli security specialist? Not to simplify their expertise — because it is amazing — the proper mindset really is not all that difficult. Yet, it is what sets them apart. Rather than thinking that arms alone will defeat any threat, mindset is more important than firepower. This mindset is best kept simple, and I suggest the following:

1) Identify the most likely threats to your students and staff.

2) Solicit the help and active collaboration of stakeholders and form all-hazard threat assessment teams to identify the threats and methods to warn your staff and others about the threats that can be prevented or interrupted. This is provided that they can be mitigated. For example, foul weather cannot be prevented, but it can be mitigated. Concentrate on preparedness for the most likely threats, and use resources that are readily available as guides such as FEMA, the Department of Education, reputable private firms, non-profits and your state’s emergency management.

3) Have a no-hassle and confidential way for the reporting of unusual/concerning activity (e.g. an unattended bag). Any system/method you employ for public reporting should be very user friendly.

4) Develop and communicate as simple of a plan as possible to staff or students on the proper course of action they should take to deal quickly with threats.

5) Train, train, train on that plan, and include students and staff, not just your own public safety staff. Then, evaluate the plan and tweak it where necessary. Also, ensure that safety drill practices and evaluations are a weighted part of staff performance expectations.

6) If you use security cameras and technology, get a vendor with good support and don’t bog down people trying to monitor technology that is beyond their ability to mentally handle. The Israelis were quick to point out that they limit anyone monitoring video to a four hour shift. Anything beyond that greatly decreases human capability to observe.

7) As much as possible, sanitize areas that are to be used for large gatherings on campus. You might not have a K-9 or sophisticated explosive detection equipment on hand, but you can have trained observers. Train them on IED detection and use them. Once you sanitize an area, ensure it is secured and not left unattended before participants begin to arrive.

 

8) Use community policing to make safety a mindset and culture on your campus so the programs you employ will be sustainable in the future. Soliciting others on campus is a force multiplier, so get students and staff involved. Properly applied technology is a great asset, yet nothing really beats an engaged observer who is properly trained on response.”

I’ve written about this before. 

Check out: Reprint From 2018:  Do We Want Our Schools Secure, Or Not? 5/27/22

Do We Want Our Schools Secure, Or Not?  5/22/18

Some of these steps have been taken.  If it was up to me, I would employ them all.

Semper Paratus

Check 6