Thank you...

...to all veterans for your service, and your sacrifice.

Yes, I know that Veteran's Day was yesterday.  But yesterday, we were holed up at the ranch, with zero opportunity of seeing a veteran.  So, like the fed.gov, I choose to observe it today, when I am out in the world.

One handed shooting

Do you practice it? How about one handed off hand shooting? You never know when an angry cow is going to break your arm, wrist and thumb and you may have to operate one handed. When it happens is not the time to learn. It should just be reinforcement of why it's a good idea to practice those skills. Just a helpfull int from your drugged up uncle John. I'd post the x-rays but they're really not all that impressive.

Stuffings for your mags

See it every class. People stuff as many rounds as they can into a mag then stuff one more. Middle of a drill, they reload, press the trigger and while the gun fires, the mag decides to exit stage bottom. Usually we see this with double stack standard capacity mags. This past Saturday we had someone with an EMP that if the mags were filled to capacity they would not seat unless you sat on the mag with the gun on the bench underneath it. Loading one round down did the trick. Before discovering that, they had basically beat their palm senseless trying to seat mags during class.

So, if your mad holds 11-20 rounds, load one down, if it holds 21+ load two rounds down. This will save you much grief and embarrassment and who knows, it could even save your life some day.

Next minor gripe, know your gun. practice with it enough to know if it has quirks. Don't buy something new and expect it and you to perform flawlessly together right out of the box.

What a weekend

The weekend started early as some moron called in a bomb threat to TAMU. the response was a prudent evacuation of the entire campus. The UPD, CSPD and BPD along with bomb squads and other outside experts did their very best to clear the campus and get people back to their normal routine. Normal, that's a laugh. This weekend was A&M vs LSA football game. Tailgaters from not onlu TAMU but also folks form LSU were streaming into town for the game and pregame festivities. Huge crowds and LSU were just evacuated last month when they and UT both got bomb threats. So, they strolled into town just in time for the threat and evacuation.

As was pointed out to me late Friday,"Terrorists don't call in threats ahead of time!"

We ended up back on campus late Friday night to get into MisbeHavens lab so she could secure DNA samples that were left out on the lab bench as she was herding students out of the building under the evacuation order.

That bit was after going to the Odyssey Academy fundraiser. These folks are doing a fantastic job educating our future engineers and scientists. They deserve all the assistance that we can give them and I was more than happy to help out in my own small way.

After that long Friday, Saturday was a a long day out at KRTraining. We started the day with Defensive Pistol Skills 2. This is all about equipping students with the skills they need to survive and win a gunfight on the streets. We then played through the afternoon with AT-2 Scenarios. This is what really separates KRTraining form all the other trainers in armed citizen self defense. We have been trying our best to take students form HOW to shoot and move them to WHEN and WHY to shoot as well as developing the mindset or "what else should / could I be doing instead of shooting." This is the closest you can get to being in a gunfight without actually being exposed to possibly dieing. Or at least this is a brief introduction to the beginnings of starting to develop this mindset and thought process. While I really get a tickle out of Basic Pistol 1 classes where we introduce new shooters to the world of handguns and have them try a huge variety of handguns (some good, some bad) so they can gain their own understanding of gun fit and function so as to make a sound and informed decision about purchasing a handgun for themselves, the joy of seeing the light go on for people who actually think about self defense in this way for the first time is what keeps me coming back for these loooonnnnggggg days of work. The "First time shooter grin" is a massively powerful motivation. If you have never experienced it, you should go out and introduce someone to safe shooting. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Seeing a first time shooter turn around grinning and giggling is more addictive than any drug. Now take that feeling and turn it up to 11. When people who have chosen to take their defense and the defense of their loved ones seriously enough to come out and go through scenarios to get a better understanding of what they should and should not be doing and add an extremely important mental skill of learning to think on their feet and plan ahead before the fur flies, the point where the light goes on and they finally click to seeing how important this is and how much sense it makes to think this way is a really satisfying experience. When stressed under scenarios, peoples brains will overload sometimes adn they will realize afterwards that thinking about having a plan and thinking through situations before they happen puts them well ahead of the curve when it come to defending themselve. Better to screwup here where the only injury is to your pride than to screw up on the street where the consequences could be much graver.
We rounded out the night with AT-1A Low Light Shooting. Most if not all of the students that come out for this class have never before shot in the dark. This is a fantastic chance for them to experience everything from low light and ambient light shooting to pitch black shooting and more importantly, positive target identification, while using a flashlight and protecting themselves. We also throw in a night scenario to again get them into the habit of thinking things quickly before applying their ballistic hammer to the problems at hand.

5AM to midnight makes for a long day on the range.

This morning MisbeHaven got a surprise call from a long time friend who she hadn't seen in a couple years that is in town. So she has a visitor for the day. meanwhile, whatever bug has been stewing around in my sinus's' decided to take advantage of me being tired to flare up and kick my butt.

Still a good weekend. We shall see how things play out after some good rest and lots of hot tea. Of course the tea is made with extra Love, that's what makes it so powerful.

EVACUATE!

So, now Texas A&M is under evacuation orders for a bomb threat. great!

Selective Reporting?

The old adage, If it isn't written down, it didn't happen has been carried to its illogical conclusion. If there isn't video, it didn't happen. Saturday evening HWY 30 outside College Station had a massive law enforcement presence. Bunch of vehicles with their overheads on and then others from three different agencies parked in various places along two roads, blacked out. Local TeeWee station didn't even mention it even after being asked about it. This morning the radio station had the story. A TPWD officer checking fishing licenses ran one that the owner came back as wanted on an outstanding warrant for Parole violations. He bolted as the officer got out the handcuffs. County Sheriffs officers, Texas DPS units and College Station PD units all converged on the scene. Those where what slowed and or shut down traffic in the area. Yet no mention on the local news. If only they had camera's in the officers cars, or maybe if the TV station had actually called any one of the four agencies involved to ask what happened.

Todays random aircraft sightings

So today we got a visit from an old Beach 18 transport.

And an experimental Eurocopter BK117.

Talk about old and new.

What's cooler than a P-51?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Todays not so random aircraft sighting today is a P-51D. How cool is that? Well, not as cool as a P-51D being chased by 4 Harriers!  This beauty belongs to an Aggie who was in town for a meeting on campus and we knew he was coming in. So, working at the airport and having the wind tunnel take a huge dump this morning meant we had time to pile out onto the flight line for front row seats to see him come in. As we were watching him peel off from making a high speed pass down the runway, we heard quite the roar coming up behind us. Turned out to be four Harriers coming in to participate in the flyby this Saturday at the football game featuring the local sports franchise. Be sure to look over the tail of the P-51 in the video for the harrier making his landing.

 No sooner had we settled down to climbing all over the P-51 and we heard more noise as four more Harriers came in.

Click Click Boom

When things go wrong in the wind tunnel, they go wrong quickly. Like at 200+MPH it takes all of about 0.3 seconds to get from test section to the prop. At that point, all bets are off.
BEFORE:

AFTER:BEFORE:


AFTER:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
When stuff up to and including Aluminum go through a B-29 prop spinning 1200RPM, there is not much left on the other side. I used a broom to sweep up the white bits of housing and the remains of the cooling fan that was inside the housing.

Not a Texas A&M Shooting

Most folks will have heard by now that there was a shooting NEAR the Texas A&M campus. NEAR not on. This is not a Texas A&M shooting or anything like that it was a shooting incident Near Texas A&M Campus in a residential area three blocks south of campus. People should know better. Especially folks on our side of the civil rights movement.

Accidental Release of Info MY ASS!

So the prosecutor's office in the George Zimmerman case has "accidentally" released confidential information covered by a gag order as well to the press. What they "accidentally" released was selectively autopsy photos and Zimmerman's school grades. All designed to make him look bad, evil, not understanding the law, stupid, who knows? But it is interesting what was released "accidentally" by these assclowns. They released these records on purpose and they know it. They are trying to win in the court of public opinion with selective information since they know they have no case to take before a jury. This is nothing more the the systematic destruction of an individual to fit the politically correct narrative of the day. Racist and stupid gun carrying neanderthal brutally murders innocent child who was just trying to get his life together.

What a way to celebrate the 4th

So, the morning started with the sound of chainsaws in the air and the smell of burnt two cycle fuel. Cutting down a bunch of trees that had died as a result of the drought last year. Then took a break and walked over to the range to do a little shooting. Well, it would have been a perfect day but there were mechanical problems to be had. We shall see how things shake out. Next up will be the ritualistic charring of dead mammal flesh and consumption of mass quantities. Soon as I start the fire and get the grille warmed up. Movies from then on out. Fun Day!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

So for the three of you that refuse to stop coming here despite my failure to update lately, Between work (new job responsibilities) and home (dead trees left over from the drought, continued fire danger this year, trying to save the trees we have left, repairing fences, dealing with cows......) I've been busy and am going to be busy for a while. Probably not too many updates here. I haven't even been able to wrangle time in for teaching as much any more either. I guess this is a good problem to have though since things are going relatively well for us right now.

MoH

So, now the truth can be told, I was awarded the Medal of Honor. TWICE! Unfortunately it was posthumously both times.

purse or cell more importnt that your child?

So there is a campaign on the radio to raise awareness and prevent child heat stroke brought on by people leaving their kids in the car. The ad and news stories that are being repeated suggest you should leave your purse or cell phone in the back seat with your child so you don't forget either. WHAT. THE. HELL? Is your cell phone more important to you than your child? If that is the case, you deserve neither. The idea that someone needs to use forgetting their purse as a reminder that they are forgetting their child is laughable in my book. What kind of self absorbed society have we become?