If there is one pet peeve I have, it is people who are trigger snobs. These are the people that will refuse to shoot a stock firearm and will critique anything that has a trigger pull over 3 pounds. If the trigger pull is not dangerously short and light, it is dangerously long and heavy in their opinion. Unfortunately, a lot of impressionable newbies to the shooting community tend to get drawn into what these snobs say and feel that the pinnacle of skill and competence revolves around being picky. However, in my years of shooting with and against these types of people, I have found that trigger snobbery is merely a symptom of problems and failures in skill. This article is going to examine a couple of the failures trigger snobs have. This article may hurt a few feelings, but it is all in pursuit of the truth. It is time that trigger snobs get called out for the frauds they really are.
Being a student is not just something you do when you are completely unfamiliar with a subject. Many times we will find ourselves in a job that will require us to be RETRAINED or RECERTIFIED in something new or in something we already have used. Regardless of whether you know the material being taught, there is a method to learning that a lot of students completely ignore, to their own detriment. In this article, I am going to talk about aspects of learning that are relevant for people who are new to a subject, and especially those who are already familiar.
The US veteran community is on fire over pulling out of Afghanistan in the fashion that we are. I have been hearing a lot of different things about this situation from how we failed the country after 20 years to how we are leaving Americans and our allies behind in hostile country. I have my own opinion about this whole thing going on, but you must remember that I am writing this while everything is still unfolding.
To all out there who suffer from public anxiety due to PTSD from a combat environment, I wanted to share a method of handling crowds and how to manage yourself in public. As a combat veteran myself and someone who would not voluntarily or idly step into a crowd or a packed building, I have had to find ways to cope in order to accomplish certain tasks such as paying bills, assisting a family member, etc. Public anxiety is a real thing that I am challenged with on nearly a daily basis, and it never seems to get better. However, I have come up with a mental state of mind that morphs the anxiety into something chewable when you are in public or a crowd for a task. Unlike you were in the military, you are all alone, and there is not a bunch of likeminded and competent people to have your back. The unfortunate truth is that once you are out, you have to take care of yourself. You will learn quickly that the military did not actually train you to be independent, but it is actually quite easy.
Ammunition seems to be slowly getting back onto the shelves, but people still are not able to fully indulge as they once did. In turn, people have made the judgement that without enough ammunition, they can’t train. This comes from the assumption that “Range Time” is the only way in which skills are developed or maintained. In fact, I would go as far as to start this article off by saying that 99.99% of you reading this would perform better if you started training off the range and stopped thinking of the range as a primary training ground. This lack of ammo on the shelves can be a blessing in disguise if you are serious about advancing your skills.
With 9mm starting to show back up on shelves in my local area, I figured it would be a good time to give my opinion of my own M&P Shield Plus. This pistol was an impulse purchase to upgrade my situation and get a pistol I knew I could trust that was on par with the Sig P365 and the Hellcat. Though Smith & Wesson did not market this pistol in advance, I had to have it. I couldn’t stand having a single stack Shield as my smallest carry, and was looking into getting a Hellcat. The only thing that held me back was that it would be a whole new system I would have to trust and get used to. The Shield Plus is the first pistol on the market toeffectively convert a once single stack pistol into a double stack, and with minimal changes.
Physical fitness is not a big subject in many prepping books I have read and the videos I have seen. You will likely read/hear about food and water storage and making a fire and a lean-to, but next to nothing will be dedicated to discussing training to walk for miles (On a bugout or evacuation route) while towing your families’ bugout gear off-road. Have you ever read or heard about the importance of conditioning your body to work effectively with little or no food and water so that your family can stay fed without you being a liability to them? How about having to carry or tow a loved one for miles because they are having trouble keeping up? Just because you have the guns and gadgets does not mean that you are above having to do physical tasks when things go wrong. Batteries run out, resources get consumed, but there is almost always going to be a task that will require you to use muscular force and/or endurance to lift, hold, bend, twist, pry, push, pull, snatch, throw, sweep, swing, etc. Why not Prepare?
If your goal is to to get physically prepared for combat, you have to focus on good fitness and conditioning in the specific activities you are going to perform. You can’t just technique your way to success and expect CrossFit or bodybuilding workouts will pick up the slack. Running 5 miles in 30 minutes in shorts and a t-shirt or doing 100 pushups in a minute literally does nothing to condition you for carrying 100lb and fighting all day in the mountains of Afghanistan. Instead, put on your full fighting load (body armor and full mags) and do fartlek training (jog/sprint intervals) for 5 miles at least twice a week to prepare your body for the constant stress of carrying extra weight and having to move fast with no rest. If you want to be considered a professional, then directly work on perfecting your profession and conditioning your body to be able to handle it, and more. Welcome to functional combat fitness training where the motto is “train hard, fight easy”.
A patrol base is a fundamental patrolling component, except for security patrols and other patrols that are relatively short in duration. Things like recon, ambush, and raid patrols that last longer than 6 hours will likely require a patrol base to be established. Patrol base locations are established as part of the patrol planning process. This article is going to be somewhat generalized about establishing and using a patrol base since it can vary greatly based on the unit, terrain, enemy, and the mission. The general thing to remember is that a patrol base, much like everything you do in combat, revolves around the concept of security and accountability.
You will never appreciate having a proper set of medical supplies on hand until you have been wounded or seen someone you care about get wounded. Before I start this article, I will just say that you need to be trained in how to use these items before you just grab them and think you will know what to do. And it is important to practice using these items after getting training. Failure to do both of these things will result in you being less than useful when it really matters. With that said, you preppers and minutemen out there need to have an appropriate first aid kit for the team or situation you are working with. All members should not only be able to provide aid to you with your own IFAK, but also be capable of treating themselves, within reason. Having the right gear for the situation without going full MEDBAG is key, unless you are indeed the team medic.
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Do It RiteAlaska-Based Youtube Vlogger, Retired Marine, Firearm and Gear Tester. Archives
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