This weekend is the inaugural Blade Show West at the Portland Civic Center in Portland, Oregon.
With so many knife brands headquartered here, this is certainly the place for it.
Archive for 2018
Blade Show West 2018
Saturday, October 6th, 2018TacJobs – Marketing Manager at Berry Aviation
Saturday, October 6th, 2018Marketing Manager – San Marcos TX
About Us:
Berry Aviation, Inc. (BAI) is a trusted leader in private aviation, with a portfolio of services that includes Government, Private Charter, Scheduled and On-Demand Freight, Maintenance, and FBO operations. BAI was formed in 1983 in Austin, Texas. Shortly thereafter, in 1987, BAI extended its aviation services by becoming a Department of Defense CARB Approved Air Carrier with worldwide operating authority and has provided specialty aviation services to various branches of the U.S. Military and other U.S. Government organizations. BAI conducts CONUS and OCONUS operations with a fleet of over 31 aircraft, with past and current OCONUS operations including, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Johnston Island, Afghanistan, Peru, and Africa.
Our customers include all branches of the U.S. Military, Fortune 500 companies, NASCAR teams, and other Part 135 and 121 Air Carriers. BAI has twice been awarded the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Award for Excellence. BAI has grown into a dynamic, customer-focused company with the knowledge, experience and manpower to operate on short notice with turnkey safe aviation services. All flight operations are conducted by comprehensively trained and experienced pilots working closely alongside our 24-hour dispatch personnel to maintain a thorough emphasis on safety and on-time arrivals.
We are experiencing continued success and growth as BAI is always expanding our operations into new markets. Services are provided with the utmost security and safety measures.
Berry Aviation, Inc. is a privately held certified small business employing approximately 2750+ employees. Today the corporate headquarters that oversees the worldwide operation is located at the San Marcos Municipal Airport (KHYI) 1807 Airport Drive San Marcos, TX 78666.
Purpose:
This is a new role as we project increased growth for Berry Aviation Inc. This role is located in our corporate office, San Marcos, TX. This role directs and oversees the organization’s marketing and communications function. This role will report to the BAI President and lead the development of strategies related to driving profitable growth and the increased revenue of the organization’s products and services. This role provides strategy, pricing, business case development, internal/external communications, including promotional publications, presentations, advertisements, or brochures; reviews and edits messages to ensure that they are clear, thorough, on-brand, and seek to preserve the company’s image. Must have attention to detail, relevant business and financial acumen and technology savvy. This is a long-term growth opportunity for the right candidate.
Responsibilities:
1 Manage all marketing for the company and activities within the marketing department (Product – Pricing – Placement – Promotion) through collaboration with sales, operations, HR and engineering.
2 Coordinate marketing efforts with AGC, our parent company.
3 Work with BAI business development personnel and other BAI business line managers, as appropriate.
4 Develop and execute the marketing strategy for the company in line with company objectives.
5 Work with business development and BAI line managers to use customer feedback and research as a key input to marketing strategy and new product development. (i.e., Customer Advisory Groups).
6 Develop business cases for new product opportunities – integrate into the marketing strategy.
7 Support development of pricing through data, marketing research and understanding.
8 Build and execute marketing programs and campaigns to support specific marketing objectives across different channels and segments in support of our overall strategic marketing plan. This includes all tactics like media relations/PR, web, social, collateral, advertising, etc.
9 Analyze and develop potential strategic partner relationships for company marketing.
10 Measure and report on effectiveness of marketing efforts – report performance of marketing campaigns, gained insight and assess against goals.
11 Manage relationships with design resources.
12 Manage the company’s marketing budget.
13 Overall responsibility for brand management and corporate identity
14 Support the BAI President and his staff in the development of and execution of overall strategic plan
15 Manage internal communications to ensure alignment of the brand message across all stakeholders.
16 Maintains professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops; reviewing professional publications; establishing personal networks; participating in professional societies.
Qualifications (Required):
• Bachelor’s degree in marketing
• Experience marketing to government agencies
• Strong analytical and project management skills.
• Confident and dynamic personality.
• Strong creative outlook/Self-Motivated
• Track record that supports expertise in Client Relationships, Coaching, Change Management, Self-Motivated, Market Planning, Team Development, Customer Focus, Marketing Research, Statistical Analysis, Developing Budgets, Financial Planning and Strategic Planning and Implementation
Berry Aviation, Inc. is committed to providing equal employment opportunity in all aspects of the employer-employee relationship. All conditions and privileges of employment are administered to all employees without discrimination or harassment because of race, religious creed, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, military service, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, special disabled veteran status, or any other classification protected by federal, state, and local laws and ordinances. The Company will comply fully with all applicable state or local fair employment laws that forbid discrimination or harassment on the basis of other protected characteristics.
All new employees will be required to verify employment eligibility in accordance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Berry Aviation participates via E-Verify.
For additional information:
Click here http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf to view the “EEO is the Law poster.
Click here https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/ofccp_eeo_supplement_final_jrf_qa_508c.pdf to view the “EEO is the Law” supplemental poster.
Return With Honor – West Virginia Air National Guard SERE
Saturday, October 6th, 2018
Survival, evasion, resistance and escape (SERE) Instructor training is one of the most difficult and extensive training programs in the United States Air Force. It’s designed to do one thing – save lives in the midst of a worst case scenario – and is exactly the reason Master Sgt. Bob Miner took on the challenge of earning the title, which he now uses to train West Virginia Air National Guard members as the only SERE specialist in the state.
The SERE motto is “Return with honor”, and is what they base they’re whole career off of: teaching members the skills to do just that.
SERE Airmen must endure nearly two years of ruthless training designed to shape them into experts in their career fields. After an initial six-month long school where, on average, only 10 percent graduate, each SERE specialist must complete more than 45 weeks of on-the-job training to complete their skill sets.
This training includes U.S. Army Airborne School at Ft. Benning, Georgia; arctic training at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska; water survival training in Pensacola, Florida; mountain training in Washington jungle training in Hawaii and even desert training in Nevada.
“This is a job you really have to earn. There is so much training that goes into this,” Miner said. “It is critical to be able to relay the skills and information you possess to the others and enable them to get themselves out of a bad situation.”
Training includes everything from land navigation, food and water procurement, shelter building, first aid, the military code of conduct, to shaping an Airman’s mentality that will be crucial for SERE operations in the worst of situations.
The U.S. Air Force is looked to as the subject matter experts for SERE training, and is the only service to operate a full, career-long SERE Specialist cadre.
It wasn’t long ago when the Air National Guard was required to rely on their active duty counterparts to train aircrew members who needed to be SERE qualified. When the National Guard Bureau approved 10 unit-level SERE Specialist positions for ANG Operational Support Squadrons in 2014, Miner took the opportunity to join the 130th Airlift Wing in Charleston, West Virginia and began his transition from active duty. He chose the 130th AW for a simple reason, to be closer to his family in his home state of New York, and hasn’t looked back.
Since coming onboard, Miner has been providing the 130th AW’s aircrew, which consists of pilots, navigators, flight engineers, loadmasters and aeromedical evacuation personnel, with the most current training in local area survival, combat survival, conduct after capture, water survival and emergency parachute training. In addition to that, Miner also assists with unit-level personnel recovery responsibilities such as Isolated Personnel Report Program (ISO-PREP), evasion plans of action and individual issue personnel recovery kits.
The most challenging part of his transition was his arrival, he said, and being tasked with developing a SERE program at the 130th AW.
“It was a big learning curve for me, the Guard is just such a unique and different setting,” he explained. “Here we practically have 48 hours a month, not including the allotted training days every year, to get everyone qualified, on top of trying to realize that you’re only one priority on a huge list of the Commander’s readiness spectrum.”
Miner’s reach just isn’t to the 130th AW though, he also gives a hand to units that don’t have the privilege of a SERE Specialist, as do fellow specialists from across the Air Guard. From the 130th AW’s “sister unit,” the 167th Airlift Wing in Martinsburg, to places as far away as Puerto Rico and Washington, Miner’s training has enhanced numerous units’ survival outcome.
“We don’t have a written agreement or anything, just when we have time, we help,” Miner said. “So many units don’t get the proper training since unqualified personnel have to give them what knowledge they can, and we have to try to fill those gaps.”
Miner has grown to appreciate his new home in West Virginia. Being an avid outdoorsman, he claims that he’s enjoyed discovering all that the state has to offer and that West Virginia would be the perfect setting for an east coast version of SERE School.
It is obvious that Miner takes pride in his career.
To Miner, his job isn’t just a day-in, day-out, nine-to-five job. It’s spending nights outside in the wilderness, traveling across the country and experiencing some of the most beautiful places the United States has to offer. More than anything, he said, it’s knowing that if something happened to the people he has trained, he could be the reason they make it back home safe.
Story and photos by Airman 1st Class Caleb Vance, 130th Airlift Wing Air National Guard Public Affairs
_Echelon Software Announces Three New Additions to the Black Powder Red Earth Series
Saturday, October 6th, 2018
October 4, 2018 – New York, New York – _Echelon Software today announces three new additions to the Black Powder Red Earth® series.
First, is Echelon’s first step into miniature wargaming. Partnering with Spectre Miniatures, the _Echelon team has specced a chalk of Cold Harbor Assaulters for play in the Spectre Operations tabletop modern war game. These 28mm miniatures are based on Ember QRF teams depicted in Black Powder Red Earth Yemen and have been modeled to the exact specs of these assaulters. The anticipated release date of the set is Black Friday, 2018.
Steve May, of Spectre said, “We are very excited to be part of bringing BPRE into the world of tabletop gaming.” _Echelon could ask for no better partner than Spectre, who’s miniatures we’ve used in play since the brand launched in 2014.
Continuing with this thread, the _Echelon team is now designing a co-operative PVE board game focused on the application of small unit tactics in asymmetric urban warfare. With a campaign and rule system built from the ground up as an analog for small units working in non-permissive urban settings, the game is laser focused on creating opportunities for meaningful decisions employing cutting-edge weapons, set in real-world locations with real-world challenges as seen in the Black Powder Red Earth graphic novels and mini-series. Spectre will be developing the miniature component of the game as well as advising on creating a frictionless and natural game flow.
Finally, _Echelon has begun development of a Black Powder Red Earth animated mini-series. Conceived of as a 3 episode animated piece, series creator Jon Chang has been researching + developing the scenario since August 2017 with SME’s from US Army Special Operations. As with all BPRE projects, series creators work to insure the missions, tactics and equipment are all kept authentic and that the opponents tactics are accurately reflected.
Screen writing began with purpose in August 2018, with storyboarding set to begin in October in anticipation of a trip to Tokyo in January 2019 where the team will be selected to create this next endeavor. “As life long anime fans, dating back to series like Space Cruiser Yamato(StarBlazers), Macross, Akira, Gunbuster and Area 88 – it has been a dream to take the BPRE story from the page to the moving picture.”
Learn more and directly support these endeavors by supporting Black Powder Red Earth on patreon at www.patreon.com/blackpowderredearth
For more on Spectre Miniatures visit www.spectreminiatures.com or email info@spectreminiatures.com
For further information on these projects contact blackpowderredearth@echelon-software.com
Rosco Manufacturing Becomes Title Sponsor of First Annual “Snipers Unknown” Event
Friday, October 5th, 2018October 5th, 2018: Rosco Manufacturing; a Rhode Island based manufacturer of quality American made gun barrels is proud to announce that they will be the title sponsor of the first annual “Snipers Unknown” event managed by Fenix Strategies (October 6th-7th at the Clinton House Plantation, S.C.).
The event will be a Long-Range Precision “Blind Stage” competition, a first of its kind. Over 45 two-person shooter teams will be in attendance and ready to outshoot the competition for a chance at attaining the coveted “Snipers Unknown” Top Team trophy. Shooter teams will range from Military Snipers, Law Enforcement/ SWAT Snipers, all the way to PRS level competitors.
The shooter teams will not be able to pre-game stages by witnessing previous attempts from other teams. This one caveat changes the landscape of how most Long-Range Precision events (albeit most shooting competitions) operate. Rosco has also teamed up with VLTOR Weapons Systems, Vortex Optics, American Defense Mfg., and CMC Triggers to create two awesome GRAND PRIZE rifles for the Top Team.
“The only advantage that teams will have is their knowledge on the subject matter earned through years of training, experience, and how they communicate. These simple concepts have been under utilized by shooters in multiple disciplines for many years. The hope is to start a fire that will burn for many years to come, and we will be there every step of the way” Gabriel Cabrera (Marketing/ Sales Director for Rosco Mfg).
To see the Rosco barrels in action click here: Rosco videos For more information on Rosco Manufacturing and their products go to www.RoscoManufacturing.com
Holosun Showing at AUSA 2018
Friday, October 5th, 2018
City of Industry, CA (October 1, 2018)
Creating innovative optic and lighting solutions since 2013, Holosun is at the forefront of optic, laser and infrared technologies for tactical shooters and hobbyists alike. Holosun is attending the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, DC from October 8-10 this year. Holosun will be available at booth #2948.
Army personnel place the highest demands on their equipment and Holosun has introduced technology and features to address their specific needs. Among these innovations are Advanced Solar Fail Safe, Shake Awake technology, Multiple Reticle System (MRS), and titanium bodies in select models to protect these revolutionary technologies. Available with red or green LEDs, the soldier now has even more options to enhance accuracy and advance their marksmanship.
Army personnel attending the AUSA conference trade show should stop by the Holosun booth #2948 to see all of these features, options, and technologies in person as well as have any questions answered by the knowledgeable Holosun staff.
For more information, please visit www.holosun.com
Chase Tactical Columbus Day Sale
Friday, October 5th, 2018
USMC Seeks P-Mag Compatible Ammo Pouches, Army Take Note
Friday, October 5th, 2018
Although the Marine Corps has adopted the Magpul PMAG, they don’t fit well in the currently issued ammunition pouch. To counter this, Marines have taken to cutting their pouches in order to accommodate their magazines.
But now, the Marine Corps is doing something about it. Yesterday, Program Manager Infantry Combat Equipment (PM ICE), Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM), released a request for information to industry to identify potential sources for M4/M16 Magazine Pouches which will accept the PMAG.
In all, pouches should:
– Accommodate the 30 round MAGPUL M4/M16 magazines and standard 30 round M4/M16 Aluminum magazines.
– Be compatible with the current Pouch Attachment Ladder System for attachment to current load bearing equipment
– Provide a retention mechanism that allows for the magazine to be retained during normal combat operations
– Must allow the magazines to be smoothly drawn from the pouch with one hand.
– Must be configurable to allow for a single Marine to carry a minimum of 6 magazines on their person.
– Must be comprised of materials that meet current Near Infrared requirements.
– Must be compliant with Berry Amendment.
– Must be lighter than the current M4/M16 double/single rifle magazine pouch for a double magazine design (T= 0.27lbs) or lighter than half the weight of the current M4/M16 double/single rifle magazine pouch if a single magazine design (T=0.14lbs).
– PM ICE is planning to purchase a minimum of 60,000 with a possibility of up to the maximum quantity of 500,000 magazine pouches over the life of the contract. PM ICE expects a follow-on sustainment requirement over the life cycle of magazine pouches.
Interested parties have until Oct 31, 2018 12:00 pm Eastern. Visit www.fbo.gov for full details.
