We define New Shooter as anybody who has not shot a match with us before, which is a polite way to say I don’t care if you say you just finished a tour with Delta, unless you go through our New Shooter Orientation, you ain’t shooting with us.This is done to check the person’s proficiency with a firearm which leads to have safe matches. We have been forced to deny people the opportunity to shoot a match because they have never touched a gun before or their skills are so poor that they were a danger to the rest of the shooters. IDPA is an action sport and you need a modicum of gun training before attempting it.

That being said, we had some 15 New Shooters yesterday. Some were experienced shooters and even a couple of already classified IDPA shooters new to the area who promptly joined squads and the rest were people that knew enough not to be a danger and after a full briefing, they also got to join in the fun.

For several of the new New Shooters, I do hope the experience was eye opening as they found out that the equipment they had, mostly their every day carry gear or some cheap last minute buys to attend the match failed them miserably.

Clint Smith is fond to say “One is none and two is one.” and one particular shooter who attended found out the hard way. He brought two magazines for his Glock instead of the recommended three. Murphy was his SO and one of the magazines promptly went Tango Uniform unable to complete a stage. We wanted to disassemble the mag and see what was going on but we couldn’t even remove the base plate. Fortunately other shooters had spare mags that he borrowed and he was able to finish the match. Funny thing, the mag was one of the two he carried every day, but it was never put under the “stress” of action shooting. Hopefully lesson learned and he will buy a bunch of new ones.

Uncle Mike also had an appearance with a nylon & velcro model who would not stay put. That damn thing would squirm more than my cat trying to avoid a bath. I am sure the New Shooter got an earful of recommendations and we will see him next time with an honest to God good holster.

But, just because you have a holster does not mean you are set. Practicing the draw is important, specially if your holster has a retention device. One New Shooter I SO’ed had a Serpa Holster and went the timer went off and he went for his gun, he forgot to push the darn button to release it. For the next couple of seconds the shooter gave himself several testicular wedgies till his brain caught up and managed to activate the release. I am going to take a chance here and guess that this shooter had not practiced drawing from this particular holster a lot till it became second nature and it showed at the second worst possible moment. I also got some insight on why some clubs and training schools are forbidding the use of Serpas: the possibility of a Negligent Discharge by a less than trained shooter skyrockets when the brain and the hand decide to have a match of their own and you end up with an episode of Benny Hill right in front of you.

I am firmly in the camp that you should shoot IDPA with the equipment that you carry every day. I do wander off the reservation sometimes and shoot revolver and an ESP gun, but mostly is my trusty FNP-9 with two spare mags. I had issues with the equipment and had them solved so I am realistically confident that it will deliver when needed the most.

I do hope that the New Shooters learned the lessons and come back to have more fun with improved confidence on both equipment and gun operations. If crap is supposed to fail, it better be at the range during a match where the cost is measured in points down and catcalls and not in blood.

Today we had our Veteran’s day match. Not very crowded and with great weather in the 70s it made for a fun and quick day. All the stages were “based” on some actual incident such as Sergent York’s trench clearing from far to near instead of the standard IDPA of Near to Far, two WWII Pacific Front stages and one called the Tunnel Rat honoring Vietnam Vets.

This Pacific Theater stage was simple: String one was moving from right to left and shooting at the targets with your right hand only. String Two was shooting on the move from left to right with your left hand, but the first target would move up and down. The stage was two shots per target per string in Limited Vickers (Only can shoot the assigned amount of shots.) And oh yes, the palm fronds on a windy day blocking the view added a surprising distraction on both strings. A shooter from the “I am Tommy Tactical” club popooed the simplicity of the stage and shot it with a deprecating attitude. He managed to have to Mikes (misses) per target thus validating the old axiom of If You Don’t Take Shooting Seriously, You Pay Dearly.

The winner of the day was Tunnel Rat. The idea behind it was that you were coming up in a vertical shaft to a horizontal tunnel and faced three VCs. You initial position was as follows: one hand had a gun and the other a vintage GI Anglehead flashlight with your head under the plane of the horizontal tunnel. On String One the gun is in your strong hand and the flashlight on your weak hand, at the beep you “pop up” and shoot three targets with two head shots each. String Two is the same, but now you switch hands: Flashlight on your strong hand and gun in the weak hand placing 2 body shots to each target.

Although it is a poor simulation inside a wooden box during daytime on a sunny day, it gave me a new-found appreciation for the testicular fortitude of the Tunnel Rats. Your range of movement is pretty much nil and dictated by the tunnel, it gets claustrophobic fast and it is incredibly loud even with doubled up ear protection. Tunnel Rats were confined in real crappy narrow tunnels in the dark but for whatever poor cone of light the flashlight could provide, no ear protection and targets that would shoot back. Damn!

Here is the video of that stage. The shooter is an unkown blogger from South Florida who shall remain nameless 🙂

All and all we had fun and honored in a very small way our Veterans. I cannot think of a better way to spend a Saturday.

My mother lives with us since Dad passed away. Old School Spanish farmer who will be 80 years old next spring and is finally learning to take it easy and do what old Spanish ladies are supposed to do: Watch Latin TV equivalent of Jerry Springer/People’s Court and argue with the cat instead of cleaning the house top to bottom and do the laundry every frigging day. We gave up on cooking; you do not tell a Spanish mom not to cook or she will make your life miserable with guilt. Jewish mothers are mere amateurs compared to my Mom.

However, she is not naive when it comes to security. Living almost 40 years in a country with a murder rate of 60 per 100 K will make anybody an expert. She will not open the door to anybody but fully uniformed cops, Firemen or people she knows have been vetted by me or my wife. Where she fails is that she sometimes forgets to warn me that somebody has come in and that may lead to awkward moments.

About an hour ago, I am out on the porch enjoying the 72 degree weather while answering some email when the corner of my eye detects movement and a silouette that does not fit with the pre-programmed shapes that are supposed to be in the house at that moment. Next to the laptop lays my .357 Mag Rossi snubbie and I grab it. One very surprised landscaper froze on his green tracks, his eyes bouncing between me and my gun. I said an embarrassed hi and clumsily deposited the snubbie in my short’s pocket as the landscaper finally remembered the mechanics of breathing. The poor guy did his thing faster than usual and I actually had to chase after him to pay for his services. In retrospect that might have not been the most sensitive thing to do. I have a feeling that I might need to find another landscaper.

Mom is taking a nap right now and the contents of my ashtray just caught on fire. I’ll talk to her about early warnings later.

Some asshole by the name of Peter Thottam is organizing Occupy Rose Parade. His reason?

J.R. Martinez is not only an Iraq War soldier, he is a wounded Veteran, former infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division who suffered burns over 40 percent of his body when he was driving a Humvee in Karbala and hit a land mine. He is a motivational speaker and participating in Dancing with the Stars right now.

How much of a Westboro Baptist Church/Fucked up Junkie Hippie do you have to be to target the Rose Bowl because you hate a wounded Veteran?

And the sad part is that the Occupiers will probably succeed because local government in California have been rewarding their bad behavior with inaction . Their screwed up notion of the First Amendment does not include anybody else’s right to it: only theirs is valuable and you should shut up..

Folk music legend Joan Baez to perform at Occupy Wall Street rally  – NY Daily News.

Last I heard of Joan was during the Bosnian War when she wanted to sing in Sniper Alley to “bring  peace.”  She was not allowed.

These “heroes” from the sixties remind me 30+ year old guys going to Cancun to relive their college Spring Break.