In an unplanned second in what is looking to become a fairly regular series, we have a follow up to Don’t Trust The Old Gun Guy. Don’t Trust The Veteran About Guns. Not all veterans are created equal. They have wildly different service experiences, wildly variable job responsibilities, and vastly different levels of competence within them.

Veteran doesn’t equate to a weapons expert, a use of force expert, or a valid perspective to comment upon domestic safety concerns. It can be a foundational background that furthers those knowledge bases, but it in no way confers them.

And that’s where we get word vomit like this,

Assault gun ban, Biden and verbal blunders

Just as I was starting to write this column, I heard about the Uvalde, Texas school shooting which killed 19 little children and two adults.

This left me angry

Yes, senseless death tends to do that.

and my anger is directed more towards the politicians and other enablers than it is towards the shooter.

Okay, pause. Why are we again borrowing culpability from the actual murderer? The monster who decided and carried out the massacre, why are we more mad at the uninvolved? In what world are we assigning them the task of predicting and interceding on every bad event ever?

This issue, just like everything these days, will be politicized with each party blaming the other which is their substitute for doing something to fix the problem.

Welcome to politics, if they can get credit for being mad about something instead of doing something they will. Useful idiots fuel this fire.

I am familiar with assault weapons as a result of my wartime service

Here.

We.

Go.

The false expertise fallacy, Veteran edition.

I’ve gone into detail here and others have gone into detail elsewhere about the fact that “assault weapons,” aka service rifles, are the second weakest weapon in the hands and care of US Troops for conducting combined arms warfare. Only the sidearm is less potent. But it is the most effective personal defense weapon design to be used in conjunction with combined arms.

but there is absolutely no valid reason why such weapons are permitted in our civilian society.

Ahhh, valid reason. So this is entirely your subjective opinion, based upon faulty biased data, because it makes you the big sad and you cannot rationalize all the valid reasons people own personal rifles, including literally millions of veterans who disagree with you and hold the same ‘expert voice’ card you do.

It is a fact that such weapons were outlawed at one time

Eh, you don’t understand how the grandfathering and annoying neutered versions of the same guns existed from 94-04 worked do you? Nope, I thought not.

but the prohibition expired during the GW Bush administration and when in control neither political party has acted on renewing it.

It was reviewed and found to be entirely ineffective at stopping mass killings (evidence Columbine) or influencing the general homicide rate. So maybe that was the reason?

It is disgusting that these politicians take contributions from the National Rifle Association and then perpetuate the wishes of the NRA.

Now do pharmaceuticals, energy, oh and simply lobbying for lobbying. No?

The Supreme Court did not help when they issued a decision on a case called Heller v Washington, DC in which they interpreted the second amendment to mean other than what it literally states which is that the right to keep and bear arms should be permitted to “ a well regulated militia.”

Permitted to? Is that “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” meant when it literally states the people? I must’ve misread that. If only there were a place we could look it up, or another court decision where SCOTUS clarified it like Bruen. Just because you’re mad about it doesn’t make them wrong, you right, or anywhere in between, it just means the decision upset you.

A militia is an organization like the National Guard but the court interpreted it to be any person.

Must be that pesky ‘the people‘ part.

And who is the Militia?

“I ask, Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the militia of the future day.” – George Mason, Virginia Ratification.

Since this day the US has adopted a standing military, professionalized it, and brought an increasing number of people into the legal fold as full citizens of the US. They never at any point closed away selective service or declared citizens were no longer part of the Militia. So if anything, we’re just bigger and better than ever baby. Sorry about your reading comprehension.

And, of course the States have laws, which are supposedly within the federal law but are, in fact, less regulatory.

Huh? What? That… they are under Federal law and a State cannot loosen federal law, they can only go further restrictive if there is regulation. Like allowing or disallowing NFA items. States cannot declare you don’t need a NICS check for a Federal transaction, the Federal government can say what counts in place of one though.

Our useless politicians have not only done nothing about assault weapons but are not even able to legislate tough background checks.

*Sigh* This UBC garbage again? Alright hotshot, what are we missing in the prohibitive person category that will not prosecute innocent people, jail innocent people, and otherwise have a drastically bigger negative impact while failing to stop the next mass shooter who has no disqualifying background…

Interestingly, I had planned to write about the Parkland, Florida School shooting so I will still go ahead with that since it further highlights incompetence at both Federal and local levels.

Oh, we’re highlighting incompetence alright… carry on.

The year was 2018, the date was February 14 and the place was Marjorie

Stoneham High School in Parkland, Broward County, Florida.

Broward has just covered themselves in glory since then too…

On that day, Nicholas Cruz ,age 18,

19.

used his assault weapon to kill 17 people and wound 17 others.

That he did.

Broward County had hired a new Superintendent of Schools whose name was Robert Runcie. He was African American and came from the Chicago School System, which was one of the worst in America.

I hope this has relevance?

Nicholas Cruz was the perfect example of a ticking time bomb whose “red flag” behavior said loud and clear that he was a sure bet to initiate some sort of horrible, violent event.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office received widespread criticism for its handling of the police response, both for not following up on multiple warnings about Cruz despite a lengthy record of threatening behavior and for staying outside the school instead of immediately confronting him.^[9] This led to the resignations of several police officers who responded to the scene, and the removal of Sheriff Scott Israel.^[9] A commission appointed by then-Governor Scott to investigate the shooting condemned the police inaction and urged school districts across the state to adopt greater measures of security. – Summary of aftermath of police action.

Prior to the arrival of Runcie,

Oh, we’re blaming Runcie. Why did we point out he is Black?

a person like Cruz when at the point of no return

As determined by who?

would have been turned over to the police and probably end up in jail.

Probably not. Evidence says not a great chance of this.

But Runcie was not happy with the fact that the number of disciplinary cases among minorities were far in excess of their numbers in the population so he instituted a new policy called “the Promise Program”

Which is consistent with policies across the nation right now on the equity train, lets not pretend Runcie’s policy is special or surprising.

Under the new program the unruly students would remain in the school system and not be referred to police.

Again, normal in many spots nationwide. Also Cruz was expelled in 2017.

So Cruz remained in the school system while his behavior became more and more dangerous.

But not at the School, he was placed in alternative education as nearly all such cases are. The priority in schools is to try and educate through and around any of a myriad of learning and behavioral problems hoping both that the children will mellow and mature into adulthood and not hamper them if when they do.

This program is completely normal and par for the course in public education and in most circumstances it benefits the student who does make it to contributive adulthood.

On Jan. 5, 2018 a woman contacted an FBI “tip line” about Cruz which, included specific information about his plan “ to shoot up a school”

The FBI completely ignored the tip, which, if acted upon, would have prevented the shooting.

Maybe. The “he was on our radar” meme is a meme for the reason. Do you know how many reports these systems are flooded with and the amount that never escalate to actionable needing intervention?

A lot. It is a lot.

They later paid 127 million dollars to a group of survivors who had filed a lawsuit against them.

As they should, they did fail to do anything.

On the day of the shooting the Broward County Sheriff’s office failed to respond properly and a school resource officer who was armed hid while Cruz killed 17 people.

Yep, they failed utterly too. Maybe since the Feds and State/Local can’t be trusted to ensure reasonable safety we should think about doing it ourselves?

Just a thought.

In October 2021 Cruz pleaded guilty but then had to go on trial for the  “penalty” determination, which would be execution or life without parole.

Yes, this is how the justice system works. Sentencing hearings.

Believe it or not but this trial is scheduled to take four months and is overseen by a Judge who has been called “incompetent”

So has every one of the presidents in my lifetime by their detractors, that means literally nothing. It’s like saying someone called him a big doodoo head. Besides, this is sentencing. He is guilty. He plead guilty. It is just the sentence now, since death penalties require appeals and so forth.

As of now, it has been four years and three months since this tragedy and still not over.

You mean the sentencing? No, that isn’t. Welcome, again, to the justice system. What is your point here? Did you want him summarily executed upon conviction?

On another subject I am asking the same question as I believe is being asked by President Biden’s staff members and that is “ How do we get Joe Biden to keep his mouth shut at times when he is unscripted and without his teleprompter?”

Retire him like someone his age normally is.

On three occasions in the last eight months Biden has been asked publicly about our position on defending Taiwan in the event of an invasion by China.

What? Why are we on Taiwan now? What is this oh Veteran expert? I thought my publication was flying by the seat of our pants but this is a trip.

I believe that they keep asking since they cannot believe his reply, which in each case has been that we have a commitment to defend Taiwan militarily, which is not true.

Is it? Is it also strategically the right move with our additional concerns beyond the Taiwanese people, the Japanese and Australians who we do absolutely have obligations to defend.

Here we have the President of the United States speaking in public to the whole world and making a statement on a critical matter that is completely incorrect.

Like his repeated comments on firearms?

In each case his staff members have had to correct him by pointing out that we do not have a commitment that he says we have.

But don’t correct the obvious errors on firearms.

In an interview with George Stepanopoulos, Biden said that our commitment to defend Taiwan is the same as that which we have with NATO, which is completely false.

Again, why did we pivot to Taiwan from assault weapons?

That gets me to thinking about the next hairbrained idea of our President and that is his approval of a “Disinformation Governance Board” which would be part of the Department of Homeland Security and reminds many logical thinking people of the George Orwell classic “1984.”

So assault weapon bad. Biden bad too. Neat.

So we have 17 Intelligence Agencies and a National Security Agency and now we need another similar Agency which would be headed by a woman who Politico said “had a record” which was completely unbalanced politically.

I mean, yes. But we said that about Chipman accurately too and I’d have a hunch you’d like him. Assault weapon bad!

And by the way — one last comment on Taiwan which is that no prior President has stated that we have a commitment to do what Biden says we have and they have completely avoided even suggesting what he says loud and clear but false.

Maybe he needs his private disinformation department.

Maybe you do too, bud.

Wow that was… certainly words.

I read that and reacted as I read and… just… wow…

So yeah, don’t just trust a ‘Veteran’ as that isn’t all that high a bar to clear, has a wide variety of jobs within its title coverage, has a wide variety of experience, expertise, and education levels within those jobs, and any number of other factors that render a given opinion as just that.

An opinion. One that shouldn’t be given any weight of experience or expertise. One that should be cataloged as a mildly interesting if unweighted datapoint that this gentleman doesn’t like ‘assault weapons’ for farcical reasons, doesn’t like Biden because Biden is old and sounds dumb, doesn’t see strategic value in defending Taiwan against China should it become a concern, and thinks that sentencing in the justice system is slow and doesn’t like a judge overseeing one case on it.

In other news water remains wet and composed of hydrogen, oxygen, and rando particulate bits suspended in it.

The term “Everyday Carry” gets bandied about quite a bit in the corners of the internet where self-defense is discussed.

The phrase implies items that one would carry with them every single day.

Well here’s the challenge: I’m not doing the exact same thing or going to the exact same places every single day. Therefore, since mission drives the gear train (to steal a phrase from the late Pat Rogers), what I’m doing and where I’m going might influence my choice of defensive tools.

This is my EDC.

More accurately, these are the elements from which I select my EDC on a given day.

FIREARMS:

– Boresight Glock 19 Gen 5 w/ Swampfox Liberty & an Overwatch PolyDAT in a PHLster Enigma w/ a Dark Star Gear Orion

– Ruger LCR 22 w/ Eagle Secret Service grips in either the Enigma w/ DSG Apollo or a Mika pocket holster

– KelTec P32 w/ a Pachmyer grip sleeve in a Mika pocket holster

The selection is dictated by a combination of risk profile and and the level of discretion required.

The G19 is obviously the most optimal setup, but the hardest to truly conceal, especially in lighter weight or more tailored clothing. The P32 is my “I’m virtually guaranteed not to need a gun” gun. The LCR is the one that ends up in the rotation most often these days. It’s a good balance of performance and discretion for my needs most of the time. The pocket is slightly more accessible, the deep carry Enigma is lightly more undetectable.

KNIVES:

– Joe Watson CT-P

– Gen 1 Shivworks Clinch Pick “China Pick”

– Shivworks Push Dagger

– Special Circumstances Maleficus G10

– Zulu Bravo Dart G10 (not pictured)

I generally don’t carry a knife. If I AM it’s typically because I’m going someplace where I either can’t or really shouldn’t be carrying a gun, but still want to have a lethal force option available. I’ve been exposed to enough of the Shivworks/IA Combatives curriculum that I know how ugly and complicated it can get.

MEDICAL:

– 3rd Gen SOF-T Wide

– Celox Combat Gauze

– Wilderness Tactical #8 pouch

(Not Pictured)

– Mini H&H Compression Bandage

– FrogPro Ankle IFAK

The medical is pretty self-explanatory. I personally feel like TQs are a little over-emphasized in the private sector for the wrong reasons. I suspect their prominence in LE/MIL is because the presence of body armor reduced the number of penetrating injuries to the torso, so you see a much higher concentration of limb trauma. Not to say that TQs are bad to have, but I think the justification for them is drawing from a skewed data set.

LIGHT:

– Cloud Defensive MCH High Output

– Surefire Stiletto Pro

I’ll carry a light if I’m out in the afternoon or evening. It’s not an essential for me (outside of hurricane season) since I mainly exist in the cities & suburbs, and there’s virtually no instance where total darkness is a reality.

INTERMEDIATE FORCE:

– POM Industries OC

– Boston Leather M1dg3t (trying to avoid getting zukked)

– Shivworks Top Popper

POM is the 100% essential for me. It’s the thing I’ll literally never leave the house without (short of getting on an airplane). This and good verbal agility/social skills are doing to address 90+% of the social friction I’m going to encounter.

Saps are legal in Texas, and have the benefit of being the only tool I’m aware of that can modulate between deadly and less lethal force depending on how they’re applied. Impact weapons also have the added benefit of being the easiest to improvise effectively. Having some purpose build force options that don’t overtly look like defensive tools are also hugely beneficial.

SUPPORT GEAR:

– K’roo Indian River Jack (or other small knife for admin tasks)

– My Bad 20 & Fk Off Fiver

– Wallet

– Car key w/ Trunk Monkey Designs key fob

– Sunglasses (usually Persol 714s)

– Watch (Always analog. Usually mechanical)

The small pocket knives were called “pocket jewelry” in one of Tamara Keel’s recent articles, and she’s absolutely right. I like gear that’s aesthetically pleasing as well as functional if at all possible. All the other support gear is pretty much just to make life easier.

Big Tex Ordnance has Ike! He’s a good man and thorough. I like Ike. Everybody likes Ike.  And you’ll like Ike too. Visit Big Tex Ordnance [today].

[Editor’s Note: I too like Ike. Chris is alright. Chris actually reads these. Hi, Chris!]

And so I did. Recently, I drove over to Conroe, Texas where Big Tex Ordnance has their new flagship retail store and indoor range facility. Big Tex Ordnance is perhaps best known as an online-focused firearms industry retailer that deals in a wide variety of high-end firearms, gear and accessories.

Their signature move is to include pocket sized US Constitutions and themed stickers with each order they mail out. Moreover, if BTO isn’t actually the fastest outfit when it comes to shipping out customer purchases, it is most certainly in the running for the top contender. And while Ike wouldn’t directly admit this to me, he’s probably a stakeholder in the Topo Chico mineral water operation based in northern Mexico across the border from Texas. In short, BTO is a small outfit ran by a handful of very hardworking guys and gals. It was their level of customer service that got them a strong online following and loyal customer base, but they also stock the sort of stuff that a connoisseur might appreciate.

Who is Ike? Ike is the entrepreneur who started his own business, and at a relatively young age. The first steps of his BTO journey began circa 2014 after selling off his old Ford F-150 pickup truck to buy some equipment to Cerakote guns on the side. After making some money from this initial entrepreneurial endeavor, he eventually sold his Cerakoting gear and used those proceeds to buy a small amount of retail merchandise, which he began selling online.

He ran his first retail operation out of the back of a shed and eventually, that shed turned into a tiny warehouse. From that warehouse, Ike and his team recently expanded into their first brick and mortar shop that also happens to have a full size indoor gun range. Ike and his brother had been frequenting this particular indoor range for years and when the old owner was ready to retire, he offered BTO the chance to buy the business and take over.

[Editor’s Note: I still think they missed a golden opportunity to name the range Big Tex Indoors and keep Big Tex Outdoors as the general business name.]

That’s exactly what BTO did; they had their grand opening a little more than a year ago. BTO’s new headquarters has a classroom area, two twenty yard indoor pistol range partitions, and an additional 100 yard indoor rifle range, in addition to its general retail area and gun-rental counter.

Inside the shooting areas, the counters opposite from shooting stalls have thoughtfully tethered magazine loading gadgets that anyone is welcome to use while they are there shooting. I mention this because this is the first time I have ever seen an indoor range do this. Equally thoughtful is the fact that customers can find lead removing soap to rinse their hands when they are finished shooting in the restrooms.

Ike told me that with this latest and most drastic expansion yet, one of BTO’s goals was to turn their new headquarters into a regional training destination. BTO has been making efforts to host classes with nationally recognizable trainers and firearms instructors at this new facility. Becoming a training destination in Conroe is yet another way that BTO is trying to bring more value to the firearms community. After all, firearms are serious implements that can have lasting if not deadly consequences and everyone wins when training opportunities are easier to come by—especially in underserved geographical areas.

The first time I walked into Big Tex Ordnance’s brick and mortar store, I could not help but to notice how well stocked the entire shop is. Counters, walls, and display cases bristle with firearms like fruit trees in an orchard right before the harvest.

Besides the sheer amount of inventory, BTO also covers their bases quite well across firearms categories: by brand, category, price or style. To say that they had something for everyone at the shop is an understatement, especially for the size of their shop. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that their “menu” is better curated than that of a typical big box store that does put some emphasis on its gun counter.

Considering we’re on this side of the 2020 Covid pandemic, where we saw supply chain interruptions on practically everything, it is worth mentioning that some gun shops still have empty spaces on their walls or display counters. While I am aware that the ammo supply is starting to recover from these events and supply can be seen on most store shelves again nearly to pre-pandemic levels, BTO is ahead of the curve as the storefront sits chock full with all types of ammunition. They even have cases of overflow ammunition stacked like bricks along side part of the store by the range area. Some could say that these extra cases make the shop look cluttered, but after going through this most recent shortage, extra inventory is a welcome sight to me.

I ordered a Surefire X-300-U B thousand lumen weapon mounted light from Big Tex Ordnance some time back in late 2020 after I bought my Beretta 92X Performance. I had never met Ike, nor had I ever been to Conroe, and at the time I was living in the American West, so the fact that my light arrived from the eastern portion of Texas to the mountains as quickly as it did frankly surprised me. (Especially because this happened at the same time most everyone else was experiencing major shipping delays during the pandemic). Expecting to hear about some sophisticated algorithm or other serious technological tool, I asked Ike what the secret to their scary quick shipping is. He just told me as a matter of fact that shipping was just something his team highly prioritized as they are always striving to do better. If you happen to be visiting the southeastern part of Texas near Houston, be sure to drop by and say hello to the friendly folks at BTO, you’ll be glad you did.

One of the least understood of holster types is the cross draw. Now, don’t adopt a carry style because it looks cool or because it looks “handy.” For some lifestyles and body types cross draw has many advantages. Don’t adopt this carry style casually, and then be certain to practice often.

With the cross draw you draw the handgun across the body, hence the name. The holster is worn on the non dominant side of the body in front of the hip. The muzzle is angled outward slightly and the grip canted to allow a rapid draw.

Most shooters execute cross draw presentation the wrong way. The wrong way is pretty slow and will get you killed if used in a life or death situation.

If you stand squared to the target reach across the body and then bring the handgun to bear you are slow. The muzzle will sweep more across your body rather than onto the threat’s body.  The proper cross draw presentation begins with the strong side foot to the rear and the weak side (carry side) hip pointed toward the target. The strong side hand moves at the elbow to grasp the gun butt. The handgun comes up out of the holster is raised to eye level and is pushed straight toward the target as the support hand meets the strong side hand. When properly executed and the handgun is brought up instead of across during the draw, the presentation from cross draw carry is fast and sharp.

If you are seated at work, in a restaurant, or while operating a motor vehicle cross draw is among the best type of belt holster. You may be seated and inconspicuously have hands near the pistol at all times. If you have rotator cuff injury and have difficulty reaching behind your back, use of the crossdraw will not stress your shoulder. Defending a gun grab is simple. Drop the elbow over the gun butt and strike with the strong side hand. A pistol in front of you is easy to protect, like appendix carry.

Be certain to choose a well designed cross draw. There are plenty of poorly designed examples. Among the better choices is the DeSantis Roscoe for small frame revolvers. Highly concealable and offering a sharp draw, the Roscoe answers a real need.

For large frame self loaders the DeSantis SkyCop is ideal. The SkyCop offers a sharp draw when seated. A tension screw and excellent molding are part of the design. For cowboy action, DeSantis offers the Doc Holliday cross draw. This is a well stitched holster with a good angle. Since I often carry a single action when hiking this holster gets a lot of use. Carefully consider a cross draw holster. It may be the ideal choice for many situations. 

An area of increasing concern for all of us is the occupied home invasion, which can be defined as an incident where the family occupies the house, and they are confronted with an imminent lethal threat by one or more intruders.

Recently, the number of reported violent encounters inside the home has increased. These violent encounters aren’t even limited to your home anymore. You could be thrust into a violent encounter when shopping at a mall or even walking to your car afterward.

This growing concern has prompted a surge of new gun owners who intend to keep that newly purchased firearm for the primary purpose of home defense. Additionally, many states have adopted constitutional carry where gun owners now don’t need to attend any training to carry concealed.

There is a void in the training industry regarding preparing for violent encounters, at least in the context of home defense. Core Vision Training has stepped into that void in a big way.

Why Spend The Money and Time on Training

Self-defense, home defense, and other preparedness training are necessary to effectively defend yourself, your family, and your home when targeted by crime or violence. There will always be criminals who want to take what isn’t theirs and predators who want to hurt the innocent. When you train to become more proficient in these skills, you gain the tools to stand your ground and live to see another day.

As with any training courses you attend, you want to ensure it fits your context of use and goals. However, many “tactical” training courses claim to train students in the art of fighting with a pistol and rifle, room clearing within your home, and a host of other “tacticool” courses. 

Many courses people attend for the experience rather than for learning life-saving skills. Nevertheless, teaching these concepts takes days to execute correctly with the proper instructor cadre.

Core Vision Training employs instructors with proven operational experience, some of which are still operational, which gives you the most up-to-date relevant training available.

Why Choose Core Vision Training

Core Vision Training is the top self-defense training company and facility in the Pacific Northwest. Their instructors bring decades of relevant operational experience to provide their clients with the highest quality training possible.

In addition to their premier courses, they also offer a monthly membership program. By signing up for the recurring monthly membership, individuals who have taken any form of our Structure Assessment courses now have the opportunity for additional reps and recurring training to maintain and master the skills they acquired in our classes.

Recurring training covers medical, structure assessment, teamwork, land navigation, live fire, vehicle work, and several more.

Let’s take a quick look at a few of their premier courses.

Core Vision: Structure Assessment Active Defense Course

If you are unlucky enough to find yourself in a fight with an armed assailant, learning to load and clear a malfunction is far easier if you are familiar with that weapon or type of weapon ahead of time. This is something you won’t want to figure out on the fly.

Imagine fighting your attacker in a dark parking lot or inside your home, and gaining control of his loaded weapon, only to die because you didn’t know how to operate the safety.

When you become skilled with your primary defensive tool, learn to use other weapons. Clint Smith said it best “There’s nothing that says you are going to fight with just your gun.”

The Core Vision Training Structure Assessment courses prepare you for just that. The Active Defense course, which is a combination of the home defense course and trauma training, is tailored to the everyday citizen looking to sharpen their skills and better protect their family.

WHAT’S COVERED

• 1 & 2 person structure assessment
• CCW Pistol mechanics & manipulations
• Link up procedures
• Casualty assessment and treatment
• Call up procedures for 911
• Center fed, corner fed rooms & hallways
• Positive Threat Identificatio

Core Vision: Vehicle Escape Concepts

Let’s look at a different type of EDC; your Every Day Car. This is your daily driver, whether a Honda Civic or a Rolls Royce.

When you leave the safety of your home and get into your vehicle to take kids to school, pick up passengers, or go to the store, it becomes your mobile command center.

When you get behind the wheel of your vehicle, think of yourself as the Transporter. It’s not only an excellent movie but highlights some key points. Such as how he maintains driving the car and moves within and around the confines of his vehicle. Everything is done professionally and with a purpose.

The Core Vision Training Vehicle Escape Concepts course teaches you to be ready for a fight in and around your vehicle. Everything they teach you is done professionally and with a practical purpose.

WHAT’S COVERED

• Avoidance
• Preparation
• Movement within and out of a vehicle
• What is and is not cover on a vehicle
• Gear & Equipment Preparation
• Vehicle Considerations

Core Vision: Land Navigation

When many of us first enlisted, there was no handheld GPS to tell us where we were and how to reach our destination. Instead, we had to learn how to use a compass and protractor with our maps. Land Navigation courses were taught with the old school military issue Lensatic compasses and a map whether it was daytime or night-time.

The use of a compass is a perishable skill, much like shooting. It requires practice. Nowadays, we have wrist-mounted GPS units, handheld units, and smartphones that provide us with navigational aids. But what if the batteries run out or your GPS gets submerged and shorts out? Now what? How do you get back home? Do you have a backup method of navigation?

The Core Vision Training land navigation course teaches you how to read and orient a map and navigate using a compass so that you make it back home safely. The two available courses are Intro To Land Navigation and Basic Map Reading.

WHAT’S COVERED

• How to read and orient a map
• How to familiarize yourself with a map using a compass
• Individual Pace Count
• Dead Reckoning & Terrain Association
• How to identify significant terrain features
• How to identify minor terrain features
• How to read contour lines
• How to plot locations on a map

In the end, the time you invest in training for an event that may never occur is your responsibility. The flip side of that is if that event ever does happen, do you want to be the one who lets your spouse and children down?

We encourage you to reflect on the cost of your personal decisions and how you choose to spend your time and money. Remember, when seconds count, law enforcement is minutes away, and a lot can happen in that time. You can lose your whole world in those few minutes.

If you are ready to accept that risk, that’s on you. But, if you believe your life and the lives of your loved ones are worth every ounce of your effort, train like it. Train like they matter. Train with Core Vision Training.

For more information, you can find them on Instagram and Facebook.

_{Featured Image: A pair of No.4 Mk.1 Lee-Enfields. Notice the butt socket directly underneath the bolt knobs.}

The Lee-Enfield rifle, Britain’s last true gun of Empire, was designed in the late 19^th century by James Paris Lee. Like many of the emerging bolt-action battle rifles of the period, early variants made their debut during the conflicts of the early part of the 20^th century.

By the First World War, the current iteration of the rifle was known as the No.1 SMLE (Short Magazine Lee Enfield), and this particular model made Lee-Enfields a known entity. Lee-Enfield rifles were primarily chambered for the .30-caliber .303 British rifle cartridge dating back to the late 1880s. The .303 British cartridge is old enough to have been loaded with black powder for use with the forerunner of the Lee-Enfield rifle, the Lee-Metford rifle.

Like many cartridges of that time period, it is rimmed and its casing had generous tapering. The SMLE and its Second World War younger brother, the No.4 rifle, were both the UK and Commonwealth primary infantry rifles until the 7.62mm NATO L1A1 FALs eventually replaced them along with the .303 British cartridge.

Lee-Enfields always had certain quirks about them: mechanically, visually, and otherwise. For example, the SMLE is arguably one of the most recognizable infantry battle rifles, as it has this reinforced front sight protector and muzzle cap which makes it look like a hog snout. The silhouette of a British “Tommy” with his Brodie and SMLE in hand is probably one of the most iconic aspects of the 20^th century British Military.

For starters, this was probably the first bolt action rifle to use a two position thumb safety (made popular by the Remington 700 design), albeit the safety on Lee-Enfields is on the “wrong side.”

Whereas other bolt-action rifles of the period typically had a five cartridge capacity, the Lee-Enfield held ten. Whereas most of those rifles also had internal box magazines, Lee-Enfields had detachable box magazines instead. (It should be noted that contemporary military doctrine expected soldiers to charge their rifles with stripper clips and not swap magazines. However it can be argued that a bolt-action rifle with a detachable magazine was quite forward thinking for its time). Whereas those other rifles had actions that cocked-on-opening, the Lee-Enfield had a cock-on-close action that could be cycled more quickly.

Since 1909 British soldiers took part in a shooting drill known as the “Mad Minute” where a minimum of fifteen rounds had to hit a 300 yard target. Due to the angle and placement of the action, expert marksmen were able to shoot nearly twice the amount of rounds by using the palm of their hand and along with the smoothness of its cock-on-closing action. Unlike virtually any other period bolt-action rifle, Lee-Enfields had a threaded bolt head that screwed right into the bolt body. Screw-on bolt heads were possible in part because the rifle was designed to lock into the receiver with the main part of the bolt body. This freed up the bolt head from bearing any extra pressure. It also helps that the .303 British cartridge was not known to be a high pressure rifle round either.

Different and interchangeable sized bolt heads meant that armorers could conveniently mix and match suitable parts with regard to proper headspacing: a century old approach to modularity in bolts.

Not surprisingly, Lee-Enfield receivers themselves are different than the receivers of their contemporaries. Besides the main part of the receiver that cradles the action, Lee-Enfield receivers have a circular disk shaped protrusion at the lower rear extremity of the receiver and right above the trigger and trigger guard. This “disk” separates the rear buttstock from the forestock in front of the action; model and serial number information is typically stamped on this part of the rifle.

Not surprisingly, this protrusion is called a butt-socket as Lee-Enfield buttstocks screw directly into them. The manner in which a Lee-Enfield stock attaches to the butt-socket is not dissimilar to the way most shotgun stocks screw into the back of their receivers. While this isn’t remarkable today, a century ago an armorer could fit four different standard stocks that were all sized differently to any Lee-Enfield rifle in order to adjust the length of pull for a given soldier’s rifle. This avoided the issue of the entire British fighting force having to make do with a one-size-fits all rifle stock.

Changing an individual stock is a far cry from the adjustability afforded by an AR-15 receiver extension with a SOPMOD stock. However, it still demonstrates a level of progressive and modular firearms design that was definitely not yet the norm the way it is nowadays. To keep things in context, the Lee-Enfield family of rifles as a whole is an example of modular innovation from a time when the internal combustion engine and aircraft were in their infancy, along with things such as indoor electricity and lighting.