This rifle is equipped with a 14.5″ Rainier Arms .300 Upper with an OSS Bannar Flash Hiding Muzzle Brake mated to an AAC lower. The rifle was dipped in ODG’s Lupus pattern and outfitted with a VTAC Sling.
Some ODG Lupus Eye Candy
September 28th, 2014We Sent Tactical Fanboy to California to Review Knott’s Scary Farm – Special Ops: Infected
September 28th, 2014Special Ops: Infected is the latest attraction currently available at Knott’s Berry Farm for their ‘Knott’s Scary Farm’ Halloween event.
With the exception of ‘Trapped‘, Special Ops: Infected is quite possibly the most interactive Scary Farm event yet available from Knott’s, and unlike ‘Trapped’ won’t cost you an additional fee. The concept is such: squads of parkgoers armed with laser rifles and led by a squad leader patrol a transformed Camp Snoopy, eliminating the undead while completing objectives, battling Road Warrior-esque militia forces, and saving an important scientist who holds the cure to the zombie plague.
In order to even take part in the Special Ops: Infected attraction, you must obtain a ticket. These tickets are free, but are limited. They are given out at the entrance of Camp Snoopy, and denote the time and entry point you’ll be allowed in. During our visit, they ran out of cards before our appointed 9:15 time. Reportedly, less than half of all parkgoers will be able to participate, and given how rapidly the tickets ran out that seems to be the case.
From one of the two assigned entry points, Alpha and Bravo, which take place on opposite ends of Camp Snoopy, guests were herded into a orientation tent, where they were assigned their guns and given their objectives. There was a lot of showmanship on the part of the squad leader, including his use of the accented ‘zambies’ to denote the zombie targets, and being decked out in tactical gear.
The guns we were assigned were zombie-green plastic, with useable albeit unneeded (and honestly distracting) flip-up iron sights, very large magazine/sensor boxes, and bungee-retention slings. The stocks were fixed, and intended or not, the guns were only capable of semi-auto fire. Additionally, the guns were noted in promotional literature as having LCD screens which would allow for individual score tracking, which was not featured on these guns; overall, not that impressive. Ammo was not an issue, as the guns are set to automatically reload after 50 shots, after which a 5-or-so-second reload was supposed to take place, but never seemed to. They also fired a strange triangular burst of three lights instead of traditional projectiles, which activated a sensor on the zombies’ heads, letting them know when they were shot.
Speaking of the zombies, they were actors strewn throughout the course, made up to look undead. They shambled, they rushed, they went down pretty quickly if their sensor managed to get hit. Their enthusiasm was greatly appreciated throughout the course, as you could tell they really enjoyed playing their part, trying their damnedest to assault our squad. The other enemy, the militia, was more a plot point than a true threat. We were forced to be captured as part of the experience (your guns are worthless as they don’t wear sensors) and were led into a cage, where we were taunted, insulted, told to keep our hands behind our head, and had zombies paw at us through the openings. This lasted for a couple of minutes, until we “escaped”. Kinda fun, but it was also jarring to pump round after round into a screaming man wielding a Beretta and a trash can lid shield only for him and his buddies to take you all hostage.
The objectives were occasional breaks in the action, such as enter a cabin to activate a communications array, or find a point on a map. They were actually a cool way to add a bit of variety to the mission, even if they were always a prelude to a zombie attack.
Ultimately, Special Ops: Infected is a great concept with a flawed execution. It’s a good event, but if it’s to be great, there will have to be improvements to the weapons and implementation of the promised scoring system. An expansion of the interactive events, and maybe a chance to actually battle the militia instead of forcefully playing prisoner, would also be appreciated. We’re looking forward to see if Special Ops: Infected makes a return next year, and if it does, ends up being better than it is now.
It’s also worth mentioning that technically we didn’t get to experience everything Special Ops: Infected has to offer. One of the squad leaders alerted us that both Alpha and Bravo offer different experiences, so it’s likely you’d have to attend multiple days to experience both paths.
www.knotts.com/knotts-scary/ride/SPECIAL-OPS-INFECTED/cat/Haunted%20Attractions
Evolutionary Tactics – Field Manual for the First Earth Battalion
September 28th, 2014I’ve always been fascinated by the work conducted by LTC Jim Channon during his post-Viet Nam service. He spent some time surveying the early 70s Human Potential Movement. His answer to a new way of doing things was the First Earth Battalion Manual.
You can pass it all off as some new-age, hare-brained plan but the guy had vision. Sure, you’ve got the cut through the hippy language, but there are some gems in there.
Here, Jim Channon tells you in his own words about his work.
Way To Go Travis!
September 28th, 2014
My friend Travis completed the grueling Grand to Grand Ultra Stage Race in 38th place! This 170 mile foot race takes place over seven days and is America’s only self-supported race meaning Travis had to carry all of his food, clothing and sleeping equipment the entire way.
So proud of you!
The Hook and Loop Society – I Like It!
September 27th, 2014I received a mystery package today from ITS Tactical. It contained a patch with a Hook and the letters, “HLS”.
Fortunately, the package also contained a wax sealed letter written on parchment from Bryan Black himself, inviting me to join the Hook and Loop Society.
Promising “a community dedicated to the quality and design of morale patches” I’ve got to say, he’s got my attention.
Corps Strength – A Little Shame with the Game
September 27th, 2014Here at the International Training Center we prepare foreign military personnel to attend follow on training in many U.S. military schools. We run prep classes for many different schools. Everything from Aviation to BUDS, EOD, dive school, Marine TBS, and lots of different technical schools. As you could guess the physical training we do varies widely, depending on what the follow on school is. However, the biggest hurdle we face with preparing these people isn’t running or pull-ups, it’s getting their heads in the game.
If you’ve never trained any international military people, let me sum it all up for you in a simple sentence; They’re not in the American military. This doesn’t mean they aren’t smart and/or courageous. Nor does it mean they are all overweight and out of shape. I’ve known (a few) that were some very tough bastards, who could out fight, and PT the average U.S. military member into the ground. What I’m talking about here is getting the majority of them to understand why we (as the American military), think that being overweight and out of shape is a bad thing.
For us it’s simple to understand; A high level of physical fitness is absolutely required to prepare our people for combat, and a trim physically fit leader sets the right example to his people. Trying to explain this obvious concept to some other militaries can be unbelievably frustrating sometimes. Some get it, many don’t. I recently had a Lt. (I won’t mention his country) tell me that he wasn’t worried that he couldn’t do a single pull-up, because he would soon be promoted to Capt, and nobody expects a Capt to PT? Really? I asked him wouldn’t you feel like a wimp that you can’t do a pull-up, ESPECIALLY as a officer? He looked at me like I was crazy?
I bring this all up to illustrate a simple point. Without any shame in the game it’s hard to motivate people to get in shape. The same thing goes for the civilian world. As our country has become more overweight and sickly (check the growing rates of diabetes, and obesity), there is also a new requirement to be more politically correct and nice about how we speak about this. When I came in the Marine Corps in 1981, overweight people were referred to by everyone as: “Fat Bodies”. I guess that was insulting, and frankly meant to be so to get people off their ass, and get in shape. Try calling somebody that today and watch what happens?
Of course it’s not because they eat fast food like they’re possessed, and shine a chair with their butt 24/7 playing video games. It’s due to stress, hormones, gluten, carbs, or maybe even a bad childhood? Give me a break please, I know better. People need to wake up, as we are headed for a crisis in this county, both physically and financially with the worsening health of our population (note the chart below). However we’re supposed to all feel better about being overweight and just accept it. Otherwise your being a judgmental dick? Well I for one think a little shame could go a long way. Just the Master Gunny in me I guess, but to me a fat body is still a fat body, and if you can’t do a single pull-up, you shouldn’t be in a leadership position. Sorry.
Be safe always, good when you can.
Semper Fi
MGunz
www.CorpsStrength.com
Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers 
September 27th, 2014
I get people asking me all the time why do I prefer BCM carbines over others I have used or been affiliated with in the past. The answer is simple; mindset. I have found that Paul Buffoni the owner and founder of BCM has the exact same mindset as I do- period. He gets the job done and makes sure that BCM products can be counted upon when you need them the most. There are numerous examples of Paul taking a financial loss when the easy way out would have been selling a substandard product vs. scraping it.
Two examples immediately come to mind – BCM’s first barrels were not to specification, Paul Buffoni discovered this after he had them independently tested, and he trashed them – thousands of dollars worth of barrels – vs selling them anyway. Despite the fact they would have sufficed for 99% of the market he refused to compromise. This put BCM behind the power curve financially for better part of a year and pushed back BCM barreled uppers for even longer.
In addition Paul Buffoni is very pro military and spent time in the Marine Corps which had a dramatic impact on his frame of mind thereafter. This is the core reason why he won’t cut corners and only put the BCM name on products that he would trust his life to – after all, if he wouldn’t count on it, why should you ?
That’s why I’m with BCM – mindset. Plain and simple.
-Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical Inc.
Host of TacTV
Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical is a retired US Army 1st SFOD-Delta combat veteran with years of experience in the firearms industry as a combat marksmanship instructor and industry consultant. In recent years he has hosted tactical firearms related TV shows on the Sportsman Channel with the latest being TacTV of which Bravo Company is a presenting sponsor.Larry Vickers special operations background is one of the most unique in the industry today; he has been directly or indirectly involved in the some of the most significant special operations missions of the last quarter century. During Operation Just Cause he participated in Operation Acid Gambit – the rescue of Kurt Muse from Modelo Prison in Panama City, Panama. As a tactics and marksmanship instructor on active duty he helped train special operations personnel that later captured Saddam Hussein and eliminated his sons Uday and Qusay Hussein. In addition he was directly involved in the design and development of the HK416 for Tier One SOF use which was used by Naval Special Warfare personnel to kill Osama Bin Laden. Larry Vickers has developed various small arms accessories with the most notable being his signature sling manufactured by Blue Force Gear and Glock accessories made by Tangodown. In addition he has maintained strong relationships with premium companies within the tactical firearms industry such as BCM, Aimpoint, Black Hills Ammunition, Wilson Combat and Schmidt & Bender.
Larry Vickers travels the country conducting combat marksmanship classes for law abiding civilians, law enforcement and military and has partnered with Alias Training to coordinate classes to best meet the needs of the students attending the class.
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.
Chris Costa’s Out Of Town Bag
September 27th, 2014
Chris Costa shared some photos of the bag he uses for times he finds himself more than an hour away from home, as well as its contents.
The bag itself is a Costa Ludus x MAP System by London Bridge Trading. The equipment come from the following sources:
Carbine – War Sport Industries, LLC
Pistol – Salient Arms International
Lights – SureFire, LLC
Holster – Raven Concealment Systems
IFAK – Dark Angel Medical, LLC
Survival Kit – Solkoa
Light Accessory Loop – Thyrm
TNVC, Inc
