Grab My Wrist

Aikido is a dynamic art. At it's best, you should meet an aggressor's attack, be it punch, kick, stab, or swinging bat, with a fluid blending response that redirects that energy into a flowing technique. In this way, you defend yourself, neutralize the aggressor, and end the threat. Not that I can do this very well, but that is the idea.

Here's a video of a demonstration. It looks like dance and of course this is a demonstration in a public venue, but I assure you, the training necessary just be the attacker and then take those falls so smoothly is one of the hardest parts of the art.



You don't start out like this. Heck, you don't look like this after five years. To learn the basics you need a starting point. To learn to blend, to feel, control, and respond to the aggressor's energy. In many situations, to begin training, it is done from a grab. You present your wrist, the aggressor grabs it, and from that static position, you begin to learn the rudiments of Aikido.

It becomes an inside joke, "Grab my wrist."

There are forums and blogs for everything. One of Aikido forums I frequent is AikiWeb. From there I visit some of the blogs they highlight. One of them that I've been visiting regularly is called Grab My Wrist. A wonderful blog title. It's written by another person who came to Aikido in middle age, about her experiences learning and exploring the art.

Last night I clicked on her link to see if she had updated and found this post. It's a quote from Steve Jobs, who has had some reasons to reflect on his mortality. Serendipity or synchronicity or just randomness, here it is.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
--Steve Jobs

I Lost a Friend Today

I'd known him four years. We were both members of the Aikido dojo. He had started about a year before me, and was scheduled to test for shodan (black belt) next month. I have his 10 page written paper in my email. I had helped him edit it.

He was 65. An ARMY veteran from Vietnam. He had the CIB tatooed on his shoulder. Didn't tell a lot of stories, but he was the real deal.

He was funny. Liked a joke, the raunchier the better.

He had one son, and earlier this month traveled to Vermont to see his newborn grandchild for the first time.

He had a beautiful Harley and loved to ride.

He was in very good physical shape. Worked as a personal trainer.

His Aikido had improved a lot in the last year or so, and he was great to work out with. He had helped me a lot. Being an old fart myself, it was an inspiration to see someone 10 years older out there on the mats going full speed.

He died in his sleep this morning, Memorial Day 2011.

Camp next month will have a hole in it. The dojo will be smaller.

I am diminished.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
--Mahatma Gandhi

.22 Challenge Updates

First, to answer a question, submit as many targets as you like, in both categories.




Mr. B. at In The Middle Of The Right posts his targets, scoped and un-scoped. He stands up the new lead with a 23 (scoped). He also sets the bar un-scoped with a 10. He joins the blogroll. Both his targets and his observations can be found on his blog. The target posted here is the current leader.




Shy Wolf at Wolf Tracks offered his frustration, but not a target. Asked me to let Ye Old Furt know that his current plan involved whittling a pencil down to .22 and seeing how well he could stab a score. Also joining the blogroll.


JP 5.56 at Eyes Never Closed had a good day at the range, but battled the wind and only offered a glimpse of his target.

Hat Trick scored an 8 and made a comment I agree with. When you put full effort into this, it is mentally draining. He also suggested a scoring change, but since it's clear that there will be future challenges, I'm not going to change the scoring system for this one. His might have been a better idea, but too many targets are already in to change it now.

Ye Old Furt at Old Lightning is still practicing and now has HB, his wife, wanting to take her single shot .22 out and give it a try.

UPDATES: Keads at Another Day....Another puts up a teaser of the rifles he will be shooting tomorrow.

Six and Lu went shooting. Pictures not just of the .22 challenge, but a Blackhawk and a Vaquero in action as well.

Memorial Day

Remembering the Brave is an organization that makes efforts to honor the widows, parents, and children of servicemen and women that have died on active duty. One of the ways they do that is with formal dinners held around the country. There was one held at the Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virgina in October of 2009 and Jensen Sutta photographed it. This slide show was made from those pictures.



It isn't just the ones that die. It's everyone they left behind. Enjoy the long weekend. Remember.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
--Laurence Binyon

Looking Back at 100,000

I didn't have a tracker for the first several months, but I didn't have any readers then, either. I've put up 1100+ posts. Sometime today or tomorrow the site will top 100,000 views. Here's my third post from July 2008. It's the first one that was personal, and it reads pretty well.

That recruit is now a Lance Corporal, serving as a gunner on an MRAP on convoy duty out of Camp Leatherneck. He sent me some pictures and we got to chat yesterday when he was at the USO. Here's one he took recently.



So for now, I'll keep doing this, it's been rewarding, and I've made some new friends. Thanks for being my readers, for coming back day after day and for your thoughts shared by comments and email.

...if you think the United States is still the greatest country on the planet, the Constitution means what the words say on the parchment, words like honor, freedom, commitment, and sacrifice stir you, the flag waving as the National Anthem is played brings you to your feet, and the Marine Corps Hymn still gives you goosebumps, bookmark this page and come back.
--ASM826, from the first post on Random Acts of Patriotism, July 2nd, 2008

Thursday Afternoon

You don't realize just how mentally challenging offhand shooting is until you get up there and try it.

At the range. Three of us. Sody, Nitram, and me. I tried the challenge again, and quit after 15 shots, having a score of 5 at that point. Sody tried it. Managed a 6. Then Nitram took the stage. With a Marlin 60 and a scope, he put on an impressive performance.

Me? I contented myself shooting off the bench at pine cones at the base of the berm. I'll try the challenge again over the weekend.

I'm starting to look for targets and scores to come in. There must be a small bore shooter out there who is going to break 20.

Here's today's quote in video format:

Nitram

Nitram posts a 15.

Who We Were, Who We Are

Honor Flight.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
--Winston Churchil

How Did We Get Here?

A paramilitary unit, operating under the color of law, entered a private home and killed a citizen. The citizen, unsure who was breaking in, had armed himself in defense of himself, his home, and his family. He hesitated, never took his rifle off safe. Perhaps he realized that the invaders were law enforcement. It didn't matter.

Marine combat veteran Jose Guerena died, shot dozens of times and left to bleed out in a no-knock raid. There is no justification.

This link says it better than I can.

Semper Fi, Jose. Your country failed you.

The world looks as if it has been left in the custody of trolls.
--Father Robert F. Capon

Where Are We Sleeping Tonight?

That young man that appears at 1:15 is my hero of the day.

O bed! O bed! delicious bed!
That heaven upon earth to the weary head.
--Thomas Hood

From Sody

Sody posts a 6.

UPDATE: Or possibly an 8 or 9, if it's 2 points for a bull.

In the previous target several people have pointed out that the upper right target clearly has 4 hits, making Y.O. Furt's score a 12. I didn't score it, but I tend to agree. If Furt would like to review his math, I will update his score accordingly. Also, remember, in the original rules, for good or bad, a hit in the white bull is 2 points.

From Ye Old Furt.

The first internet submitted target comes from Ye Old Furt. Not that this has to be his only effort. But the bar is now set at 11.

Hope and Friendship

I put up a picture yesterday. After a series of emails last night, a fellow blogger wrote me making a very generous donation to buy whatever my son and his squad might need or ask for. We only know each other online.

It moved me to tears.

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'
--C.S. Lewis

On The .50

Taken and sent by my son. He sent an email, too. Asking for energy bars, wet wipes, crotch powder and Magpul Pmags. Remember him and all the people in harm's way. They're the ones we have to thank for our safety today.

Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary.
Gen. A. M. Gray, USMC

Where I Stand

If there was any doubt, I stand with Israel.

It is any day better to stand erect with a broken and bandaged head then to crawl on one's belly, in order to be able to save one's head.
--Mohandas Gandhi

Scoring Technique

This technique comes from the CMP Garand Match. Say you are right on the line. You look at it, your scoring partner looks at it. The match director looks at it. Usually, if it takes all that, I say give them the point. But in cases where no one is sure, you take an unfired round, or a specially made plug in the correct caliber, and insert it in the hole. That reshapes the hole to the full diameter and removes any doubt.


In this case, I used an unfired .22 round. When inserted, it clearly shows this as cutting into the line of the scored area. If you have doubts about a hit/miss decision, try this. It usually makes the decision clear.

I got to the range late this afternoon. Practiced a while, then shot one target. 11 hits in the black, counting the one you see in the picture. The groups are at least clustered around the centers, sort of. Certainly better than yesterday. If I can, I'm going to try again next weekend. How are your efforts coming? Let me have some preliminary reports.

Practice is the best of all instructors.
--Publilius Syrus

Challenges

Just like the target in the previous post, the new belt serves as a challenge. To measure up, to do better tomorrow. To focus completely at the task before me.


This is the way it was presented to me yesterday. I have not untied it. I will wear it for the first time on Monday. It will not make my skills any better. It will just hold my gi closed.

The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit.
--Morihei Ueshiba, O'Sensei and founder of Aikido

Who Thought This Up?

If this wasn't a family blog, I'd cuss this target. I'm not sure that centering up with a a round of #4 buckshot wouldn't have given me similar results. Anyway, here's my first target. No sling. I score it 6 out of a possible 25.

Hope to get out again tomorrow afternoon.

Shooting stuff is fun
--Old Painless, Box O'Truth

The Genie and the Bottle

Pakistan has built a 4th nuclear reactor. They probably got the money, the technology, and the fuel for it from China. This reactor is not for making electricity for the poor&starvin, it's for making bomb grade uranium. Enough to make 8-10 weapons a year.

Pakistan says the weapons are for the border war with India. So we have a nuclear powered Islamic country building a new reactor to make small battlefield nukes, and we're somehow sort of allies with them? Still giving them foreign aid? And if the Pakistani government goes like Egypt, who controls the weapons then?

In other news, it is being reported that Iran has it's first reactor online.

I think the Iranians are clearly determined to have a nuclear program. And we have to assume that with a nuclear program they have the capability and the will to create a nuclear weapon.
--Colin Powell

Web Match Repost

The link in the sidebar has been fixed, I didn't know it was wrong until today. Here's the rules reposted, as requested. Looking forward to seeing your targets.
_______________________________________

2 Categories, iron sights or scope.

No time limits.

Any .22 rifle, owned or borrowed, Anschutz to 10-22. No weight, trigger pull, or other restrictions.

This target

25 yards offhand (standing)

5 shots per target, 25 shots total

Post your target on your blog, and send me a link. Or send me your target as an attachment, scanned or photographed. Include the type of sights, your rifle in as much detail as you like, and anything you'd like to say about the shoot. Please score your own target and include that.
Use ASM826(at)GMAIL(DOT)COM

Scoring is 2 points in the white center, one point in the black ring, no points outside. This is a hit or miss target. Group sizes from target centers will be used to make a final decision only in the event of a tie.

Scout's Honor.

Practice as much as you like. The closing date/time will be midnight, Sunday, June 5th, 2011. Send your best target.

If something comes up or someone points out a glaring issue that needs addressing, I will post it here as an update.

Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.
--Wyatt Earp

Updates:

Scoring Q&A answered.

Sling Q&A, "Hasty" sling okay, or no sling, as you prefer.

I'm going to try it myself this weekend.

Off-Hand, Stirrup, and Saddle

Found this image over at the Reluctant Paladin.



This takes training to a whole new level. One of the first things I noticed was the loose slings. And to stand like that, trusting the horse, puts you in a position to shoot, drop back down into the saddle and ride. Having a horse that would stand completely still while you fired an 8mm Mauser over it's head is no small part of it, either.

Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort.
--Epictetus

A New Blog and a Story

Story first. I have had a number of jobs along the way. Several years ago I was working as a support tech in a department that did videoconferencing, integrated classrooms and conference rooms, digital media, and the like. Money came along and a major research project was undertaken. To run the project, the department hired an engineer.

The engineer had worked on NASA projects, including one that he shared a patent on. His equipment had flown on the Shuttle. He was (and is) as Borepatch would say, wicked smaaat. He was also fun to work with.

So, one day, we find ourselves in the middle of a muddy soybean field at the base of a cell tower, hooking a laptop into a switch to make some configuration changes. It's sunny, the screen is barely visible, I'm making edits to the running config. He picks up the laptop, and holds it so I can stand in the shade of the equipment enclosure to see to work. While I'm typing I start to laugh.

He asks, "What's funny?"

I reply, "How many guys do you know that have a NASA engineer for a laptop stand?"

We became friends, and not just at work. We've been canoe camping together several times. We've gone to the range. He's got young kids, a lovely wife that tolerates him for some reason, and a dog with really bad breath.

He moved to Florida, and we haven't seen each other in a while. Occasional email and pictures. He's been reading this blog, and decided to start one of his own. His Hello World post is still on the front page. It smells like new blog, doesn't have a cohesive theme, and I know he's writing it on a Mac. Take a look. I'm going to blogroll it just to see where it goes.

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.
--Abraham Lincoln

On The Way To Work

There's a pond near the parking lot. I had a pocket camera. Click to biggify.


God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.
--J. G. Holland

What Kind of Shooting?

Shepherd K and Robert Slaughter ask the question

What 'simulation', if any, is being demonstrated?

It's mimicking 25 yard shots at squirrels. Specifically, squirrel heads. Like a walk in the woods with a .22, taking squirrels as they appear. Head shots avoid damage to the meat and to make them drop right there.

So that decides the sling question. A hasty sling is okay. As demonstrated here.


If this gets good participation, we'll try some other targets and situations in the future.

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.
--Yogi Berra

A Question for the Shooters

Robert Slaughter asks a question:

Sling allowed or not with offhand?

I pose it to the shooters. What say you? Sling or no sling? Leave a comment.

A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.
--Theodore Roosevelt

The Jewish Question

The Germans asked it in the 1930s and made a serious attempt to answer it in the 1940s. Following that, in response to the unimaginable horrors committed against the Jews in Europe, the world responded by creating a country. A tiny country. Smaller than New Hampshire in land mass, with about 5.3 million Jews currently living there. Surrounded by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

There are new governments forming in the Mid-East, not the least of which will be in Egypt. Fatah is planning to petition the U.N. for Palestinian statehood in September and to have Israel treated as an apartheid country. They are rephrasing the old question one more time.



Yesterday, hundreds of young Arabs were sent to attack Israel's borders. It is an opening move in another type of warfare. The Arab states are watching the reaction of other countries, as well as Israel's response. We can stand by, but our turn will be next.

When terror comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none.
Ezekiel 7:25

More Q&A

Question --
Do we score center of bullet hole or highest/lowest ring?
YeOldFurt

Highest touching. So, in this image, the red circled hole cuts the line into the circle and is awarded the higher score.

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
--Albert Einstein

.22 Challenge Q&A

Hat Trick asked the following:

I spotted a barely used Thompson Center R-55 Classic at a local pawnshop and this match tipped the scale to deciding to buy it.
Now I'd like to ask for some clarification to make sure I'm understanding correctly.
Standing, no sling. correct?
5 shots per bullseye so 25 shots on one piece of paper. Correct?

Yes, you are correct. Along with the rest of the guidelines posted here.

It put a smile on my face to know someone got a new rifle because of this. It makes me want to do the Kim Du Toit happy dance.

The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.
-- A. E. van Vogt (from the Novel "The Weapon Shops of Isher")

Blogroll Addition

The Travis McGee Reader joins the blogroll. Good stuff, and he's already on better blogrolls than mine. I want to point out one of the tags he puts on his posts. It is the Tinkerbell Economy series. A great name for what he (and I) think is an economy now primarily dependent on pixie dust and unicorn farts.

In one of the posts in the series, he observes what we spend to decide a country road is really a scenic by-way, and concludes with this wonderful quote:

Read it carefully, translate the gobbledygook, and you may conclude that we've just bought $61,680 worth of paper saying how scenic and by-wayish this chunk of back road really is. Only later do we borrow some more money from the Chinese to actually put up the signs.
--Jim, writing on his blog, The Travis Mcgee Reader

Corporate Taxes

If you look at the national news, you would think that the oil companies are somehow not being taxed enough. Google News gives you the links. The obvious answer is to tax the living shit out of those oil companies and wipe out their profits, right? That will fix those greedy businessmen.

Only, you can't tax a corporation. It's unpossible. What you can do is tax an industry, like the oil industry, say, and watch them pass that cost off to their customers. Because that is what a tax is to a business, it's an unavoidable expense. The only thing they can do is pass it along to the people who buy the product they are selling.

So, jump right up there and suggest that the government tax the oil companies. It makes the oil companies the collector of taxes from you. They have a tax to pay, they raise their price to pay it. The price at the pump rises, we pay more for fuel and for every product that is delivered by a vehicle that uses fuel. That money goes to the government. It would be more honest if the politicians just taxed you, but they look so good taxing the big bad oil company, they just can't help themselves.

The total alteration in underlying circumstances has not been squarely faced, As a result, we are guided, in part, by ideas that are relevant to another world. ... We do many things that are unnecessary, some that are unwise, and a few that are insane.
--John Kenneth Galbraith

So He Was Human, After All

Reports proving that Osama Bin Laden might have been human have surfaced.

We're animals. We're born like every other mammal and we live our whole lives around disguised animal thoughts.
--Barbara Kingsolver

Well, We're Back

A couple of posts disappeared, and we've lost a day, but hello world!

How much of human life is lost in waiting.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

No Explanation

USAToday Travel has an article titled, "No explanation for 'outbreak of insanity' on planes". Really. The week after the United States kills the head of the organization that declared war on us and carried out the worst terror attack in our history, USAToday can't come up with a reason for a man traveling on a Yemeni passport yelling Allahu Akbar to try to get into a aircraft cockpit? The former FAA security director has no idea and theory?

You lie. If you're not lying to me, you're lying to yourselves. Hell, PBS has known about it since February of 1998.

We -- with God's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.
--Osama Bin Laden

The American

ABC News is reporting on a new threat posted on Islamist websites promising to make us wish for the days of Bin Laden. The threat comes from Abu Mansur al-Amriki, "The American". His name was Omar Hammami, he was born and raised in Daphne, Alabama.



It's going to be a long war. I wonder what ties these terrorists together?

We are sending a message to Obama and Hillary Clinton that we will avenge the death of our leader Sheikh Osama bin Laden very soon.
--Abu Mansur al-Amriki

In The Line At The Coffee Shop

Sunday morning, late, at the Big Starry Coffee Chain. I'm third in line. There's an older lady at the counter placing her order. In between us is a female college student, maybe 21 or 22. She's wearing OD green sweat pants with a Marine Corps emblem on the front.

Not wanting to presume and be wrong, I asked, "Are those your sweats?"

She turned and smiled, shaking her head, "No, they are my boyfriend's. He's in town visiting."

We talk a bit, waiting our turn. Her boyfriend had been to Iraq twice, was on alert for something in Africa. I told her my son was in Afghanistan, that I had once worn the uniform.

The lady at the front of the line finished paying and turned to leave. She stopped, looked at the student and said, "When you see him, you tell your boyfriend we are so grateful for his service, that it means so much that he volunteered and he's doing what he can to keep us all safe. Tell him for me."

Then she walked away. I don't know who she was, or whether she had family that had served, all I know is she seized the moment. It was perfect. The whole thing was a (random) act of patriotism.

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
--Mark Twain

Spiking the Football

Pr. Obama says he doesn't think it's appropriate to "spike the football".


Then he went to Ground Zero to lay a wreath, met with first responders in New York, and went to Fort Campbell to rally with the troops. I think that makes him a lying hypocrite consummate politician. I also think he's wrong. There is absolutely a time to spike the football, to take a victory lap, to hold a parade and wave the flag. Sometimes it is so totally the right moment that it happens spontaneously.

Richard Sullivan posted a copy of a film his father made on VJ Day on August 14th, 1945. Just a reminder of who we used to be, how we saw ourselves, and what kind of country America was, back when we knew how to win a war and celebrate the victory.

from Richard Sullivan.

Victory belongs to the most persevering.
--Napoleon

Thunder Road

It was long ago and it was far away.
--Meatloaf

What is Victory in Afghanistan?

Really, what is victory in Afghanistan? Does anyone know what we are trying to achieve? We got into this fight because of 9/11. I'm okay with that. It was late in the game, we should have got into it when the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was overrun, or when the Beirut barracks was bombed, but hey, better late than never. So we're in a fight with someone, doing something, and it seems to me that it's time to decide what that is.

Pr. Obama sparked this post when he said that we are not and never will be at war with Islam. That's a negative statement, it does not say who we are at war with, just who we are not at war with. It must be somebody. All those troops and weapons we sent over there, who are they killing?

During WWII, we knew who we were fighting, we had a formal declaration of war. It was the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 that decided what victory was. It was the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. Once we knew who we were fighting and what we fighting to accomplish, it was possible to make some plans and get it done.

So here's my call to Congress. Time to decide what we're doing. Figure out who the enemy is, publicly declare it. Pass a declaration of war against that enemy. Decide what victory is, give the military commanders a goal. Give them the necessary resources to achieve it.

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.
--Winston Churchill

Fairy Tales

We keep telling fairy tales to ourselves in the face of the facts. Meanwhile, USAToday has a glimpse of reality to harsh out your coexisting mellow. Tell me another time about peace, so I can explain to myself who burned the Christian churches in Cairo, and why.


Explain any of this.

Mobs of ultraconservative Muslims attacked the St. Menas church in the Cairo slum of Imbaba late Saturday

Or

Later the same night, witnesses said a separate Muslim mob, mostly youths armed with machetes and knives, moved to the Virgin Mary church nearby and also set it on fire.

Or

But in the months that followed the toppling of Mubarak on Feb. 11, there has been a sharp rise in sectarian tensions, fueled in part by newly active ultraconservative Muslim movement, known as the Salafis. The once quiescent Salafis have become more assertive post-revolution in trying to spread their ultraconservative version of an Islamic way of life. In particular, they have focused their wrath on Egypt's Christians, who make up 10 percent of the country's 80 million people.

But I am not surprised. Back in the hopeful freedom loving days of February 2011, when the newspapers were full of shit news about the peaceful revolution in Egypt, I warned you how it would turn out.

When he (Mubarak) does fall the Muslim Brotherhood will consolidate power and Egypt will join the other 14th century theocracies in the region. Along the way there will be a lot of blood.
--ASM826, February 4th, 2011

Why Kill Bin Laden?

If you had 24 Navy Seals and one unarmed older man, why kill him? Because he's a bad man? For that matter, if you want to kill him, why not just bomb the compound, why risk your best, highly trained assets just to go in and execute the target? Then while you were doing this, you turned off the cameras for 25 minutes, didn't release any photos, and you immediately dumped the body at sea?

I'd say that makes it all pointless. I will tell you what makes more sense. You blacked out the politicians back home, they only saw the start of the mission, because they couldn't keep quiet about anything. You go in, you kill anyone with a gun, you wound his wife, and you take Bin Laden to the ground, fire two shots very close to him so his wife thinks he's been shot, inject him with a fast acting sedative, then bail out of there with a live Bin Laden.

A live Bin Laden? That's an asset that would be worth a lot of risk. That's an man worth a lot more alive than dead, and having him in a situation where he knows the world believes him dead means that the only bargaining chips he has are information.

There's no doubt in my mind they got him, one way or another, and maybe it went down like they told us, but I wouldn't be surprised if I found out they had taken him alive and squeezed every morsel of intelligence out of him.

Hey, wanna see my nifty tinfoil hat?

I am as innocent regarding any conspiracy as any of you gentlemen in the room.
--Jack Ruby

The New Serfs

The Smallest Minority has a post up reporting that nearly 50% of the people in Detroit can't read. He didn't make up those numbers, they come from a report by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund, an organization funded by a combination of governmental and private money.



It isn't just the loss of manufacturing and the crumbling buildings that doom Detroit. When the system fails to educate children at this rate, it isn't a mistake. It's a deliberate course of action with a predictable result.

Truly, if our education system had been foisted on us by a foreign power, it would have been an act of war.
--Kevin Baker, The Smallest Minority

All I'll Ever Be

Aaron Lewis, George Jones, and Charlie Daniels. Country Boy. This was on the radio last night.

Talk slow, talk low, and don’t talk too much
--John Wayne

Navy SEALs

Let's be clear, Pr. Obama might have given the order, but he didn't get Osama. In the end, it was a team of Navy SEALs that accomplished the mission. That mission came at the end of an effort involving hundreds of people in the intelligence and military communities.

The SEALs would probably preferred to have not been mentioned by name. You haven't heard from them. They are not being interviewed. Everything we know, or think we know, about the execution of Osama Bin Laden has come to us courtesy of politicians.

One thing you can learn about is BUD/S training, the initial training that every Navy SEAL undergoes. Here's an excerpt written by a former member of SEAL Team Six about his experiences in training. It comes from this book.


I can only stand aside and STFU.

As SEALs, though, we believe our surrender would be giving in, and giving in is never an option. I wouldn’t want to be used as some political bargaining chip against the United States.
I wouldn’t want to die in a cage of starvation or have my head cut off for some video to be shown around the world on the Internet. My attitude is that if the enemy wants to kill me, they’re going to have to kill me now.
--Howard E. Wasdin

.22 Challenge Final Rules

2 Categories, iron sights or scope.

No time limits.

Any .22 rifle, owned or borrowed, Anschutz to 10-22. No weight, trigger pull, or other restrictions.

This target

25 yards offhand (standing)

5 shots per target, 25 shots total

Post your target on your blog, and send me a link. Or send me your target as an attachment, scanned or photographed. Include the type of sights, your rifle in as much detail as you like, and anything you'd like to say about the shoot. Please score your own target and include that.
Use ASM826(at)GMAIL(DOT)COM

Scoring is 2 points in the white center, one point in the black ring, no points outside. This is a hit or miss target. Group sizes from target centers will be used to make a final decision only in the event of a tie.

Scout's Honor.

Practice as much as you like. The closing date/time will be midnight, Sunday, June 5th, 2011. Send your best target.

If something comes up or someone points out a glaring issue that needs addressing, I will post it here as an update.

Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.
--Wyatt Earp

Updates:

Scoring Q&A answered.

Sling Q&A, "Hasty" sling okay, or no sling, as you prefer.

I'm going to try it myself this weekend.

.22 Challenge

Borepatch spoke of this last week. Here's the skinny. I picked this target from the free selection at Lucky Gunner. Borepatch is going to give us a distance and a position. His range is the limiting factor.

EDITED TO ADD UPDATED RULES

2 Categories, iron sights or scope.

No time limits.

Any .22 rifle, owned or borrowed, Anschutz to 10-22. No weight, trigger pull, or other restrictions.

This target

25 yards offhand (standing)

5 shots per target, 25 shots total

Post your target on your blog, and send me a link. Or send me your target as an attachment, scanned or photographed. Include the type of sights, your rifle in as much detail as you like, and anything you'd like to say about the shoot. Please score your own target and include that.
Use ASM826(at)GMAIL(DOT)COM

Scoring is 2 points in the white center, one point in the black ring, no points outside. This is a hit or miss target. Group sizes from target centers will be used to make a final decision only in the event of a tie.

Scout's Honor.

Practice as much as you like. The closing date/time will be midnight, Sunday, June 5th, 2011. Send your best target.

If something comes up or someone points out a glaring issue that needs addressing, I will post it here as an update.

Borepatch, link this up too, since you have about 100 times more readers, and let's see how many shooters we get to participate. This isn't as good as a gathering, but if it works out, it's something we could do on a semi-regular basis.

Competition is very good... as long as its healthy. It's what makes one strive to be better.
--Christine Lahti

Knowing Leads to Wanting

Lagniappe's Lair has become one of my regular stops, but I feel completely blindsided and betrayed by this post. He takes new dog Murphy to the vet and while he is waiting he goes to a gun store. So far, so good. Then he drops the hammer on me. He buys a Belgian Mauser, made in 1952, factory chambered in 30.06 Springfield.

(Picture stolen from Lagniappe's Lair, see the link in the first paragraph for more)

See, the U.S. was giving away surplus M2-Ball ammo by the warehouse full. So much that it made sense to make rifles to shoot it. The Belgians had a run of Mausers built to make use of the windfall. I didn't know this ever happened. I knew there were Mausers that had been rebarreled and converted to 30.06, but not that there were ever factory production runs.

Now I want. I blame Murphy.

Suffering arises from attachment to desires.
--The 2nd Noble Truth of Buddism

Justice

Der Spiegel skirts right up close to accusing the U.S. of a crime in the targeted killing of Osama Bin Laden. They question whether capturing him, putting him on trial, and pronouncing sentence on him might have been justice.

Pr. Obama said "Justice has been done."

I disagree with both those points of view. Treating Osama Bin Laden like a criminal would not be justice. Nor was killing him justice. We cannot gain justice in the face of a atrocity of this size. If we could capture and kill every person involved in the attacks it would not be justice. Those thousands of our citizens would still be dead, the families that lost their relatives would still be mourning, we would still be dealing with the aftermath.

There could be no justice in this life for what he did. If we could resurrect him over and over and make him die burning, jumping, screaming like his victims, it still would not be justice. It is beyond our reach. If there is justice, it will be meted out by a higher power than us. We're done with him.

There is still a war to fight, against whatever name you'd like to call the threat. It won't be just either, it will only be war, and we will win or lose.

The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.
--Winston Churchill

A Reminder From the Enemy

From Arab News, Saudi Arabia's English language newspaper comes this short report. It's a reminder that we are at war, a declared war. We didn't declare it, they did, back in 1996.

We mostly ignored it. Lots of people want to ignore it now.


That bumper sticker is a fantasy. We are at war with an enemy that is fueled by an ideology of absolute hatred for anything that is not part of their belief system. We can not negotiate, we can not retreat, we can only win or lose.

When terror comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none.
--Ezekiel 7:25, New International Translation

What Comes Next?

I assume that there are some terrorist assets in place inside the United States and other western countries. Look for some of them to go active in the coming days. They'll want to avenge Osama or make a statement about how we can't win by killing their leaders. It's the nature of the war we're in.

Terrorism, too, must be excised wherever it exists, which will take years, and which can't happen without the total commitment and the everyday involvement of the American people.
--David Hackworth

Update From Alabama

Robert at My Tumultuous Adventure got power back on yesterday. He's okay, and has a few short posts about conditions in his part of Alabama, along with a link to some pictures of the aftermath.
Oh, and he's added to the blogroll. A few pages of his older posts explains why. His posts about 1911s are worth the price of admission.

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.
--Walter Elliot