This clip from Portlandia quite handily sums up about everything that can go wrong while shooting a review video.
Archive for July, 2013
Why We Don’t Do Videos (And Many Other Sites Shouldn’t Either)
Sunday, July 7th, 2013Heroes On The Water
Sunday, July 7th, 2013CMSgt Frank Dailey (USAF, Ret) and I have known one another for many years. He is, among other things, both an avid fisherman and an avid humanitarian. I’ll tell you, Frank is one of the best NCOs I ever worked with and has always went out of his way to take care of the troops.
He recently retired and has been doing a lot with the organization Heroes On The Water. It allows him to combine two of his passions in order to help make the lives of our wounded vets a little better. Several times per month, Frank is out on the water in a kayak communing with nature through exercise and introspection. Even better, he does it with other veterans, some of whom are wounded.
…many of the wounds are invisible: 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan Vets show signs of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or depression.
From 2003 to the present time (2010), there have been 5,773 U.S armed forces deaths and 31,902 ‘visible’ wounded from hostile fire, IED amputations, burns and other injuries.* In addition, it is estimated that there are 300,000 suffering with PTSD and 320,000 with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI). Reports indicate that the numbers of injured military personnel is increasing by 50 per month since mid-2008.**
Alarmingly, there are 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department with an average of 18 veterans committing suicide each day.
Programs like HOW are very important for our Wounded Warriors. Please, take some time to visit their site to learn more. Maybe you are in need of help, or want to spend time with these recovering men and women. Or, you just want to donate. Regardless, this is a fantastic way to help out, especially for those of you interested in fishing.
Things Are Happening at HTC
Sunday, July 7th, 2013We’ve run across a couple of interesting government procurements of High Threat Concealment gear recently. First we find out through a story in Government Security News that “Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is issuing this Notice of Intent to award as a sole source requirement to High Threat Concealment (HTC), 708 Gum Rock Street, Suite E, Newport News, VA 23606 for Low Profile Systems (both Left and Right handed).”
And then a Sole Source announcement is published on FedBizOpps that NSWG2 intends to purchase “66 ea LOW PROFILE CONCEALMENT SYSTEMs. Standard includes 1 ea dual pistol mag holder, 2 ea M4 Mag Holders, 1 blowout kit, 1 gen 3 radio holder and 1 gen 3 pistol holster,” from HTC.
Looks like quite a few agencies are interested in HTC. Check out this video by Progressive Force Concepts covering their gear.
CFF Run With The Bulls Update
Sunday, July 7th, 2013We’ve watched Combat Flip Flop’s Griff train all over the US and Europe as he prepares to run with Bulls in Spain, in flip flops no less in an effort to raise awareness to get the Afghan factories up and running. Here’s a recent training session in the Netherlands.
Earlier today, Griff made a trial run in running shoes and filed this report on Facebook.
Running with the Bulls Day 1:
Success! The CFF crew ran with bulls and made it to the ring successfully. Thanks to DK and Uber Group for providing the training footwear.
The AK’s are on deck for tomorrow’s run.
Challenge: 10000 likes
Dare: Flip Flops in the bull run
Bet: We can raise awareness and get Afghan factories back up and running.
To keep up-to-date on what Griff is up to, ‘Like’ them on Facebook.
www.facebook.com/businessnotbullets
Doctrine Man Does It Again
Sunday, July 7th, 2013
A Former Marine friend sent this to me and asked me to publish it “as is.” Doctrine Man does a pretty good job of sharing interesting insight on Facebook. You can follow him here.
A Little Saturday Evening Motivation For You
Sunday, July 7th, 2013Think of it as an overview video for the GWOT. There are is a lot of AFSOC rotary wing in this video.
Hodge Defense Systems Launches Website
Saturday, July 6th, 2013Hodge Defense Systems has launched their website. Aesthetically, it is unlike anything seen in our industry but I like the look. It’s simple but the are some cool little details that draw the eye and entertain. Kind of like the marginal drawings on restricted unit prints.
But, enough of the website. Now on to the carbines they are actually building. A you will see below, Hodge uses some of the best components available. This is only the AU Mod – 1 which is a 5.56 model. There is also another model planned.
Specs–
Upper & Lower Receivers – Mil-spec,forged 7075 type III hard coat anodize
Barrel – 16″, CHF, CL, Gov, MID, Micro Pinned GB, A2
BCG – M16, HPT, MPI, staked, DLC, 158 carpenter steel
Fire Control Group – ALG QMS
Selector – Reversible billet steel
Handguard – Geissele MK IV 13″
Charging Handle – BCM / Vltor
Buffer – H2 or H (request only-H2)
Receiver Extension – 6 pos, Mil-spec, sling plate, Ambi HK or MASH
Stock – Magpul CTR, with enhanced butt pad
Trigger Guard – Magpul MOE
Mag Catch – Mil-Spec
Bold Catch – Full Serration
Forward Assist – Tear Drop
Gunfighter Moment – Pat McNamara 
Saturday, July 6th, 2013
Last time Mac offered a tip someone wanted to see what the scanner was all about, so here’s the explanation.
Last post I mentioned the Scanner with Stroops drill.
Since you asked, here is the ‘Scanner’ set up.
This is labor intensive to set up, but is a good bang for the buck.
When setting up, place a table five yards from the closets target and a shooting box just on the far side of the table. Place your targets so all are visible, with a CLEAN SHOT’ from the firing box and within the range fan.
The array of should include 12 targets.
Place the cards on the table face down. Make them out of wood or staple to wood on windy days.
Make up three sets of cards. Each set is numbered on the back; set 1, set 2, set 3
Each set will have two false cards in it. Therefore, each set will consist of 6 cards.
The instructions state;
On the go signal, Turn over one card at a time.
Read the top and see the bottom
Shoot the appropriate target once anywhere but in the head (don’t want to screw up the markings)
When you are finished, each target may only show one hit. If more than one hit, you are a ‘NO GO’.
Now read the cards per instructions. The first one should read ‘8 Red’, the second ‘false card’, the third ’10 Blue’, the forth, ‘false card’, the fifth ‘3 Green’, and the sixth ‘5 Yellow.’
Repair targets for next shooter. Issue him set number two in the event he was rubber necking.
Patrick McNamara
SGM, US Army (Ret)
Patrick McNamara spent twenty-two years in the United States Army in a myriad of special operations units. When he worked in the premier Special Missions Unit, he became an impeccable marksman, shooting with accurate, lethal results and tactical effectiveness. McNamara has trained tactical applications of shooting to people of all levels of marksmanship, from varsity level soldiers, and police officers who work the streets to civilians with little to no time behind the trigger.
His military experience quickly taught him that there is more to tactical marksmanship than merely squeezing the trigger. Utilizing his years of experience, McNamara developed a training methodology that is safe, effective and combat relevant and encourages a continuous thought process. This methodology teaches how to maintain safety at all times and choose targets that force accountability, as well as provides courses covering several categories, including individual, collective, on line and standards.
While serving as his Unit’s Marksmanship NCO, he developed his own marksmanship club with NRA, CMP, and USPSA affiliations. Mac ran monthly IPSC matches and ran semi annual military marksmanship championships to encourage marksmanship fundamentals and competitiveness throughout the Army.
He retired from the Army’s premier hostage rescue unit as a Sergeant Major and is the author of T.A.P.S. (Tactical Application of Practical Shooting).
Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer some words of wisdom.
